Penguinisto posted at 6:51PM Thu, 18 July 2019 - #4357333

Back on topic......

That's the case across multiple vendors (at least the ones who all use the same texture/morph/etc resource kits.) But this is the case with any product.

DAZ vendors will spend to get merchant resources - Poser vendors won't. If I need characters from the Indian subcontinent for example, DAZ has a bunch, Poser doesn't. That goes with every category outside of early 20's Caucasians. That also applies to every niche outside of hookerware and impractical armor..

Now here's the thing - a figure should, as mentioned 10,000 times, be morphable out to differing ethnicities, shapes, sizes, ages... and by and large, a lot of good figures can do that now, to varying degrees. For those cases where it's not native, the market usually (and eventually) provides. BUT - the market should only be relied on for edge-cases, not mainline features and shapes.

The only place that a rational market place exists is in an economic textbook. Morphs without skin textures is pointless. DS & Poser both have ways of dealing with this. And just like everything else, the DS solution is both more expensive and more limited in capabilities. Poser vendors weren't providing a solution (as usual) , so a coder stepped up to the plate (also as usual). The same can be said for clothing. Good for end-users, not so good for Poser vendors.

Indeed - But it wasn't Smith Micro's fault, since they only provided a product and some default content to get you started. It wasn't Rendo's fault , since they were just a digital bazaar that helped people sell stuff.

You keep going back to the concept of one figure to rule them all , that concept is dead in 2019.

It is no more! It has ceased to be! 'It's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!

Fact is nobody made and sold figures that were 1) exclusively for Poser and 2) widely supported enough to be considered the real default. But that's not entirely true, is it? Up until 2011, DAZ filled that role.

We have a V4 killer - it takes full advantage of Poser's capabilities AND it was even made by the guy that made the original Victoria (can't get a better pedigree than that) - Dawn.

It has the exact same freak show proportions that V4 has, it (now) has a full set of head, body, and expression morphs that V4 has. What it doesn't have is the cottage industry of fixes that V4 (and the G figures) have, although a lot of them aren't necessary.

Most vendors at 'Rosity refused to make content for her (and her male counterpart). A lot of the content made for her initially was built using a Poser 6 workflow that vendors were using with V4 (Stugeon's Law also applied) - they were not going to take the time to learn the features of Poser 9 to get the most out of her. In 2019, end users have a choices of which figure they use - They can use a V3 or V4 (stock, or weight mapped, subdivided, & chipped), or Dawn, Or Anastasia, or Antonia, or, well, you get the idea. As an enduser, I can use any of those figures - vendor support (outside of shoes) is not as important as they think it is.

So - here we are.

Various efforts have arisen - Dawn, Erogenesis, LaFemme... all competing to become DAZ' successor.

The single figure concept for everyone is dead. We use whatever figure we want to use, based on our interests, budget, and skill level with Poser - the more familiar we are with the tools and add-ons, the more choices we have.

I get the accessory and clothing diversity angles, but we'll table that. I believe a basic set of clothing and tools for merchies to make other clothing, with other incentives to get them started on that, should be sufficient. It's the flexibility that counts.

I won't table it - It is directly related to vendor financial health. A LOT of people here conflate Poser health with that of vendors - they are 2 completely separate issues. No one has ever bought a new version of Poser for the figures - we buy for the tools. In 2019, if vendors want to halt declining sales, they need to up their game and understand the marketplace as it is, not how they wish it was. Which brings us to....

LF is the latest figure out - why should I use it? She isn't any better supported than Pauline - and no one has demonstrated why she is better than say, Sasha-16.

Why should I pay for a figure for LF that looks EXACTLY like the character that the vendor made for: Alyson 2 (Anastasia), Victoria 4 (GND 4.3), Victoria 3 (GND2), Stephanie Petite 3 (Irina). Hi Blackhearted!

This is the situation for most character vendors. Moving onto clothing....

There are literally thousands of hookerware outfits. Why should I buy another one @ $15 - especially when it isn't any better made than content that was made a decade ago (and can be picked up for between $1.99 to $3.50).

Mind, I'm not in the one-blob-fits-all school of meshmaking for humanoid figures. One male, one female, and one kid (yes, unisex, since pre-pubescent children have the same body shapes, etc... Anyrate - just three base meshes. Make it morphable in multiple dimensions. Provide logical texture-mapping. Normal maps are a must. SubD? Yes, please. Weight-mapping, etc etc etc... hard to be all things to all people, but do what you can - it's been done before to reasonable extents, even if the application has to accommodate it to complete the featureset (see also Genesis), so maybe Poser can emulate that?

What is your plan to get end users to move to a new figure en mass? That is a requirement for vendor support. What is your plan to get vendors to support that figure? Most vendors here didn't make 1 product for any post-V4 figure. That question has never been answered.

As an end user - what any Poser user outside of a rank beginner needs:

A reason to use a new figure (Most important). Texture Transformer support. (For Skin Textures) Hair Control System Module (for Hair - but a V4 morph like LF has will do in a pinch). Knowledge of Shoe Last (for shoes - shoes are the last place that content decoupling is needed.). Batch Material Converter - because we all know that many vendors are not going to make .mc6s to go in the materials folder.