To get back to the original question.

I will also only speak for myself, as that's the only one any of us truly can speak for.  

Yes.  Dawn is the white knight this Poser user was looking for.  She has completely replaced V4 in my runtime, and I no longer purchase V4 products.  For me, Dawn has been successful, and I have seen her release mend some of the bridges ... for those people who are interested in bridge mending.  

Neither Smith Micro nor DAZ 3D will be able to heal the breach between DS and Poser users.  The techology in both programs is too different, and it would not be healthy for either company to adopt the other's technology.  Hivewire is attempting what neither DAZ nor SM can, and for that they have my respect.

While, I'd liked to have had a Morphs ++ type package available when Dawn was released, it is not a deal breaker for me.  Nor do I believe the soon to be released Morphs and Expression packages need to be the holy grail or "revolutionary."  They simply need to be morph packs with enough bits and pieces to make it easy to customize or create our own visions of a character ... without having to learn to manipulate the mesh in Zbrush or other programs.  Although, that's really fun to do.

It's rather silly to declare Dawn a failure after three months.  By those standards, all figures released have been failures.  Though who knows, I wasn't around for the earlier Gen 1-Gen 3 figures, so maybe they were massive successes in their first three months with everyone quickly dropping their previous figure in favor of the "new and improved" figure.  However, the V4 being held up as the figure Dawn must kill to be considered a success is a 4.2 version.  Y'all remember there was a .0 and .1 before .2?

Now, since others insist on bringing Genesis into the question of Dawn's impact on the Poserverse ... 

Insisting a new figure must be a high tech, innovative mesh is ridiculous, when the Genesis mesh is not. Outside of DAZ Studio, the Genesis mesh is rather disappointing and difficult to work with. It's DS that's provides that technology, and the Genesis mesh takes advantage of that DS technology.  Just like the Dawn mesh takes advantage of the same technology.

It then comes down to subjective opinions as to which base mesh and the characters developed for that base mesh appeal most to you and fit your definition of beauty.  For some, that's V4, for others Genesis or Genesis 2, or some other figure ... including figures some consider to be the most hideous figures in the universe ... Smith Micro figures.  Yet, for some of us, that figure is Dawn.  Imagine a world where we could only drive SUVs.  How terribly restrictive that would be.  On a positive note, we wouldn't have to worry about having no choice in cars for all that long ...

Quote - I ask this here because both DAZ and Hivewire would be too biased one way or the other. It's been a little over three months since Dawn's arrival in the Poserverse and I'd like to know everyone's opinion of the impact she's had on the Poserverse?Has she succeeded in mending some fences or merely widened the gulf? Is she the white knight that Poser users were looking for, or has she just become another figure that's out there until the next one comes along?

I'm looking for honest critiques, not criticisms so let's keep personal attacks to ourselves. If someone says something you don't like, just ignore it and let the mods deal with it.

 

Now, this is why I far prefer to use Poser over DS and Dawn over Genesis.  It's an extremely painful process to use DS, and an even more painful process to attempt to use Genesis with DSON in Poser.  Talk about hoops!  and being limiting.  That really does describe both DS and Genesis to me.

Using Dawn in Poser is a pleasant experience for me.  Pre Dawn, I was content to use V4, but I never found it horrendously difficult to make the minor tweaks she required ... while others did.  However, I see no point in doing so now, since Dawn far exceeds my expectations.  But that too, is a subjective opinion.  

Clearly, not everyone find Dawn to their taste.  But ... not everyone likes chocolate either, and I rather find dark chocolate to be unpleasant compared to milk, and white to be not chocolate.  While others consider milk chocolate to be dull compared to dark, and totally swear by white chocolate.  But then, you also have to consider the brand of chocolate, because chocolate from one brand can be rather tasteless compared to another brand's.

It'd be rather pretentious of me to go around evangelizing my preference for chocolate when it's just so subjective ... 

Quote - To me, it does matter what oils and crayons (products) you use, especially the canvas. (figure or software) Did you enjoy making the art or was it a painful experience? Was the figure or app a pleasant experience or was it limiting? Was it a simple process or did I have to jump through hoops to get a specific result? These factors are just as important to the user as the final result. If I drive the car, its not just about me reaching my destination (render), its about the journey there (process). Did the car give me problems? Or was the ride a smooth and pleasant one? The journey there, as well as the final destination are all part of the experience.

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Burning within each of us are Fires of Creativity

Satira Capriccio