Ken_1171 posted at 7:57AM Fri, 04 December 2020 - #4406384

@randym77 and @Penguinisto THANK YOU for using my contents and supporting me! :D

What wolf359 said is pretty much true - DAZ has been trying to get into the gaming market for many years now. That's the biggest market in the planet, moving more money every year than many other industries combined. They first incorporated Digimi's decimator and texture atlas plugins way back in DS3, when DS was still quite expensive. They then spent quite some money advertising DS as a way to create game characters on 3DCG magazines. They started a new company called "Morph3D" to use their contents to enter the real-time mobile avatar market, but that has fluked as well. They have partnered with Reallusion to bring DAZ figures into iClone, and sacrificed Genesis 3 and up to become game models, with low poly, simplified topology and simple-bone game engine rigging. They did everything they could, but I don't think the gaming industry will ever take them seriously. At least they tried.

A "change my mind" moment ahead:

This is because they missed the two biggest reasons why most CG/Gaming/Movie shops roll their own meshes (or pay $$$$! for a reputable meshmonger to make one for them, pay for (and provide you with) a model release if a certain shape or photographic skintex is involved, etc.): Intellectual Property and Creative Uniqueness (for lack of a better term).

Using pre-baked figures is fine for base-level commercial stuff like the animated 'guide' at the self-checkout stand or ATM. Generic stock figures that look like nobody in particular are practically required in courtroom animations. But... if you're trying to market a game that stands out, or make a movie that gets attention, the absolute last thing you want is for half the audience to recognize where it is that your figures came from, let alone be able to place them in some other studio's product. So, you make your own. From scratch. Smaller shops buy one from a reputable shop, yes, but it comes with exclusivity - and for the same reasons. Half of a video game (and at least 75% of a movie's) unique appeal is its visuals, and you definitely do not want to skimp out in this department.

Intellectual Property is a very ugly game in the creative world. Some would even call it the coin of the realm. Because of this, unless you have full chain-of-custody for your assets (that is, you can prove that you made them, or can reliably point to a vendor who has that proof), your work product is in jeopardy from the first hungry lawyer or struggling corporate entity to make even a tenuous-but-credible-enough connection to their stuff. Doubly so if the plaintiff relies on royalties to make a living. Even if you're in the right, the process is the punishment, and it's gonna cost you one way or the other. If you can provide a full chain-of-custody and irrefutable proof, it's enough to make the vultures go away. If you can't, then you're either writing a check in settlement, or you're paying for a lawyer and perhaps paying a judgement levied against you.

So, wait, that second half... why would that be an issue with DAZ (or Renderosity, or...?) We all know why: lax-as-hell copyright and trademark policy.

Not joking about this, BTW: A 20-second peek-see here shows me two very blatant trademark violations against FCA Automotive ("Jeep" is a registered trademark. "Liberty" as a model name is a registered trademark. The grille 7-slot count is trademarked and is a design patent.), and one against FOX Factory, Inc.

(It would've been a five-second peek, but the rendo search engine blows goats, so it took longer to return results.)

And, to be perfectly fair, I bet I can find issues at the DAZ store just as quickly.

The responses from either store are going to be the same - hide behind the DMCA, and " Caveat Emptor, bitches! "

Now, if you were a game or movie studio, would you touch either place with a 10-meter pole, knowing this? I already know my answer: F$#@k no!

For the rest of us, I am not a fan of trying to bring Genesis into Poser because we don't get all the features. Genesis is best used in DS.

Agreed, big-time. It's the same reason why, even though I really, really love what Erogenesis did, I won't use it - I got the freebie one to see what the hubbub was about, and it's totally broke in DS (obviously, since it was built to take advantage of Poser and Python.)

And when Rendo makes Poser unimesh-compliant, it will be FINALLY easier to move morphs back and forth between Poser and DS.

I've been banging that drum for years... literally. Good luck with that. :)