Sorry, but if you can't actually "see" that the 3rd gen morphs are sharper and more well defined than the Genesis morphs there is not much to discuss, is there ?

It's simple logic that a mesh with twice as many vertices allows twice as many different morphs than a fgure with only half as many vertices.

With a high res mesh, I can follow edgeflow, but I also can morph against it if I want.

That shapes can be much more well defined if I can create sharp creases because I can manipulate directly neighbouring edgeloops and not just any other.

And of course displacement maps interfere with joints because what looks good on a bend joint won't look good on a straight one because the displacement map is oblivious to the changes in shape of the underlying mesh.

No problem for a high res mesh that uses JCMs to give bend and straight joints completely different shapes.

Poser figures also have to work in scenes made of dozends of high res props, using clothes that multiply their original poygon count, so any "memory saving" advantage is theoretical only.

 

Here's what I think this is all about:

LowRes + SubD + Displacement maps are more "efficient" in a professional production pipeline where time is money.

For professional CGI artists who can easily paint a new displacement map as fast as the hobbyist Poser user spins a few dials, this is naturally "the way to go."

DAZ (And to a certain degree SM, too), both have this "dream" of entering the "Pro" market, that's why they all of a sudden push "Pro" techniques.

DAZ also tries for some time (Starting with V4 and her embedded magnets) to make cloth creation as efficient as possible.

Easier cloth creation = More clothes made = More $$$ earned.

The problem of course is:

1. Poser and Studio will never be a tool used by professionals (Except for some cheap pre-viz)

2. Figure and cloth realism suffers because there are less details possible and less elaborate rigging

3. Figure modification becomes less accessible to the amateur as now you need zBrush and a 3D painting app to create morphs and textures.

 

But to hell with amateurs, they are supposed to buy the stuff the "Pro" vendors create, not make their own, right ?

And to hell with realism and details, as long as the figures are "good enough to sell", right ?

Sorry, but as a Poser artist I'm opposed to every attempt to "dumb down" figures just to earn more $$$.

For me, it's quality over quantity.

I want figures that are photorealistic out of the box. Or at least as photorealistic as current tech allows.

I also rather pay double for clothes that took twice as long to make but bend correctly and look correctly.

 

Sorry, the 3rd Gen figures were made in a time when "money wasn't everything". When it was just about making the best figures possible.

I never said they were perfect. In fact, out of the box most are quite horrible.

But they are easy to work with and you can pretty much do with them whatever you want.

So unless someone comes up with a better mesh, I'll continue to use them.

The low res figures are an aberration. For Poser.

Even Daz has already noticed that.

(After finding out that Michael 5's shape is just a 10 minute dial spin of David 3, I've gotten quite cynical about DAZ' marketing. But not that cynical to think that Genesis 2 is only about the money, and not about improving realism, too)

So Genesis 2 has more polygons than Genesis 1.

And Dawn will have twice as much from the get go.

 

Given that it's now so easy to transfer rigging and morphs between different meshes, what is the problem having a dedicated High Res mesh and a dedicated Low Res mesh of the same figure ?

We had it in the past and absolutely noone complained.

Are profit margins so small that it's impossible now to let the end user decide ?

If you think that low res meshes are the bees knees, please and by all means, use them. Years ago I even posted a tutorial to show how to make the various LOD SubD meshes of V4 useable in Poser.

But do not try to push them as the only valid standard, nor claim they are superior without being able to give hard evidence.

I've seen pictures of nice figures and nice morphs. You all are very talented and please have fun with whatever you do.

But I've seen nothing that couldn't have been done better with high res figures.

And again, I'm ONLY speaking about photorealistic humans. Not fantasy, anime, stylized reality, whatever.

I'm not interrested in those typical ZBrush "Look how much detail I can squeeze into that impractical armor" demo reel sculpts.

My only point here is:

What is the best technical way to portray a realistic looking human in Poser.

Not in a game, not in a movie, not even in a Poser animation.

In a typical Poser still render.

 

With the change from high res figures to SubD low res figures, we made the change from:

"Best possible product" to "Good enough to still make a profit"