Quote - Well said.

I suggest to refer to figures as "character figures" or "base figures" depending on their purpose. Clearly TY2 is a (very good) character figure. Clearly DAZ V3,M3,V4,M4 are (very good) base figures. The requirements are not the same. Characters need to be striking, base figures bland, but have loads and loads of morphs available.

Problems arise when a figure is released by developers that are not 100% clear about in which category it is supposed to fit.

Sydney is a character with a very recognisable face. Should she not have been a base figure? Are the Mikis characters or base figures for asian figures?

Rex and Roxie are supposed to be base figures, but why on earth do they not even have basic body scaling morphs built in? I know the users can learn to do full body morphs, but why not have scaling dials available from the start? I hope for good morph packs, R&R are too good to fall into disuse like some of their predecessors.

 

Quote - > Quote - Since when is it SM's job to follow DAZ?

 

You misunderstood what I was getting at - I'll clarify: 

It is SmithMicro's job to make and include a figure that is morphable enough that you can create a variety of differing shapes and looks, and one that should show off well the feature-set of Poser.

Poser 4 had Posette, a Zygote figure that did very well for the time. From Poser 5 onward however, SmithMicro has utterly failed to do what I mentioned up there. Their efforts have been singularly unmorphable globs of mesh that always look alike no matter what you try to do with it. Unless you're a veritable master of mesh, and spend a ton of time in Z-Brush or similar, the results are almost always too easy to pinpoint as being that figure. 

The big selling-point of the Millennium series of meshes that DAZ made is that it only takes a relatively small amount of skill to make the figure into almost anything you want it to, and it takes very little work to make a face look like 'someone else' entirely.

I've lost count of the number of 'Vicky-killer' meshes that have come down the pike... it's been 14 years of them and counting. Seems everyone keeps missing the point, though.

If this 'Dawn' thing comes through, awesome. Not yet holding my breath though - world+dog had the same wishes for Antonia, Alyson, Renda, DinaV, Natalia, etc etc etc.

Only time and results will tell.

 

Probably for the same reason that most SM products suck in my opinion. i have purchased and downloaded many freebies there and they are usually flawed. Joints don't work properly, texture mapping is awful in many cases too.

For my money DAZ has by far done the better job giving us figures and add-ons clothing/texture/morph support. SUPPORT being the key word here. Many figures have come and gone, dying the awful death from lack of interest and support. So many figures even from DAZ that showed some potential for growth were burned from lack of support from THE FATHER (DAZ).

If DAWN is going to make it the parties that be should remember that if a figure/character human or otherwise is going to be developed and released they better do whatever thy can to support it and gain the support from the community or just don't bother.

 

Though i kept some of the P4 figures for filler, I have deleted all the figures that came with Poser 5 and Poser7. They sucked in my book. I doubt the newer versions of Poser figures are really any better. THe DAZ Mil figures versions 1-4 are so much better I will stick with them for quite a while yet.