Wow… I have read this thread with interest. I admit that I have spent most of my time over the last few years at another site so I am a newbie here.

The enthusiasm around this initiative is infectious and it is hard not to get caught up in that and feel excited about the possibilities.

The promo images of the figure look good and I don’t want to debate the points that others have brought up like the breasts being too high, the waist being too narrow, the upper arms being too fat, the shoulders being too wide, the legs too short/long, etc.

The figure is what it is and everyone should judge for themselves whether it meets their personal “ideal” proportions.

My bigger concerns are about the fundamental viability of the figure. The concerns brought up by others about CAs having to support both the DAZ version and the Poser version… even if it is easy, it is still extra work. I worry that Dawn will be an Island and only clothing, hair, and morphs made specifically for her will work… and they will only work in either DAZ Studio OR Poser… but not both without extra work by the CAs. 

Even though DAZ has now broken out the male and female bases from Genesis so I can no longer share assets between male and female characters on Genesis 2, I can share assets between all the FEMALE or eventually between all the MALE characters on Genesis 2. While there might be rigging enhancements in Dawn, like extra bones in the hand, overall, it feels like a weight-mapped version of V4, where the weight-maps are specific to DAZ Studio or Poser. None of the clothes that I have for Genesis figures will work for Dawn which means I will have to buy all new content for her which will only work for HER.

It has been great to have Steve and Chris in here posting and answering questions but I am reminded, no offense to either of them, that THEY specifically are the ones I was so frustrated with when they were at another site and were very much involved in the decision to move away from Poser compatibility with Genesis. Even though I eventually embraced Genesis and now Genesis 2 it was not a “no-brainer” and now Dawn is another “standalone” figure.

While there have been promises of more transparency there are still announcements of announcements and promises of the site going live…Ken said in his newsletter that the site would be live July 1, but that date has come and gone it could be weeks before we actually have a live site. Even if the site does come on line in the next few weeks, they have said that Dawn will not be immediately available when the site is live. And the latest is now that Dawn will be ready by week’s end and “when she is in hand”, they will announce her availability. I am not sure what that even means.  Didn’t they just announce that she will be done by the end of the week, but they are not saying when she will be available… YET. I am so confused.

Competition is good for us customers but I am cautiously optimistic because I am worried that Dawn will be an island without supporting content and what content we do get will not be as versatile as Genesis or Genesis 2 or even V4 which could share content with Aiko, The Girl, and Stephanie.

And while everyone deserves the chance to demonstrate that things have changed; from what I see in this thread… excitement and enthusiasm about the possibilities and the old/new team aside… it seems like more of the same.  

I am anxious to see how this plays out.

Sorry for the long first post, but I did pay my dues by reading this whole thread and others which led me here.