Ok, I've read all the forum postings and have heard the pros and cons here there and everwhere. I am at a crossroad in purchasing Stephanie with those high res tex maps- no BS answers here Stephanie users: should I buy Stephanie? (please start off your comment w/ a yes or no) ~mayhem

Hmmm ... No. Buy Michael2 and you get Stephanie for free. Mazak

Yes, IMHO. As for the texture maps, well, I didn't, I'm having fun changing the ones I have to Steph's, but if you want it, then go for it.

Actually, Mazak is correct, do what he said.

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No. On only a cursory glance I must add. If you want a feminine figure, go for Victoria 1. Stephanie will get better, as more morphs and textures come out but right now she is "bare" on feminine morphs (no real curvy stuff)compared to Victoria. If you want Michael as well then do as Mazak suggests. She is too new right now but that will change pretty damn quick. My suggestion is give it until just before her price is due to go up and keep a close eye on the freestuff and this forum to see how much support she is getting. my $0.02

Yes, if you have the cash, and could use the model ... get it. Niles

welcomsite - there was actually a discussion a long time ago regarding using poser for "clipart" type work. People create a render of a posed character and then offer it as a psd file for designers and others who don't have poser. I always thought it sounded a bit unfair, kept people from buying because they could just get these things and make "tubes", but that was me.

I agree with Mazak. No. I used my voucher to download Steph last night and I am glad I didnt have to buy her. She isnt real terrible or anything, and being able to use the muscle morphs for Mike is cool and all IF you want to make a muslce woman or manly looking woman, but the model seems to lack quality. Half the sizing morphs on her cause the mesh to distort in odd ways. The chest area looks pretty bad even with minor adjustments.. But hey, it's a free gift for purchasing a great model like Mike2. I just wont waste my money buying textures for her.

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oh I should have given my opinion. I'm still messing with her. I like her body shape a great deal. I like her nose and that her eyes aren't overly slanted - but frankly she's pretty plain in the face. However sometimes plain is good, adn since I didn't have to buy her - although I did buy the low res textures.. I'll enjoy playing with her.. I'm sure they'll upgrade her to include more morphs later, but so far she isn't terribly flexible.

yes welcome I saw that. I frankly don't have a huge issue with this new licensing - I always had an issue with the tubes/psd thing. :-) I don't think DAZ will link to my review of this model at The Arena Scrolls. SO far not totally bad, but not overwhelmingly great either... still working with her

yes welcome I saw that. I frankly don't have a huge issue with this new licensing - I always had an issue with the tubes/psd thing. :-)

I don't think DAZ will link to my review of this model at The Arena Scrolls. SO far not totally bad, but not overwhelmingly great either... still working with her

Lady, do you think these tactics would stop with Stephanie, if no one spoke up? Would your concern grow if they gave you an update for Vicky.. and the new license stated that you were now restricted from using her also, as they did with the item Diana mentioned?

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I don't have a problem with it because honestly I don't feel as if they are "sneaking" anything into the agreement. Clipart use was always a problem for me anyhow ;-) This doesn't affect me I can my images and even webgraphics if I chose too. Neither of those are "clipart" images because the product doesn't stand on it's own.. After all the agreement is there to read when you install. As long as they agree to refund the money of anyone who disagrees with the license. Should they post their changes - yes - in the Stephanie FAQ section. Should Dan Farr know what's going on - of course.

Yay or Nay? Definitely YAY! And there will definitely be a remapped Stephanie who can take Vicki textures. I've heard someone is already working on it and if they can't get it done for some reason, I am going to give it a go myself. I have WAY too many Vicki textures to just leave them to collect dust... :P

I don't think anyone should do a review of Stephanie until they have used her extensively for at least a week. Some people were disappointed that they didn't get the freebie they wanted, and some folks aren't giving an objective opinion, more personal opinions. I am personally impressed with her, she is plain, but who wants another Vickie. It seems like everytime there is a new humanoid model out people ask others if they should buy it our not. Daz is not twisting anyone's arm to get this new model free or otherwise. I can't believe how many people are slamming it. Everyone will have thier own opinion on it. I think if you check around you won't find many better deals on a new female model. People complain about the model having some flaws, but there were a lot of people pushing Daz to get it out of the box. Basically if you don't like the license aggreement, don't buy it. If enough people are unhappy with it and don't buy the product, it will change. No one is ever going to be completely happy with a product. My mom used to say... "you can please some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time". Look at some of the models for sale out there. They aren't set up as posable, they don't have phonemes, and try finding clothing for them. As far as refunding, why not read the license first? Then decide if you the product. Marque

I agree with Marque, Does anyone here other then me remember the "Oh I hate vickie" threads when she first came out, or the mike ones or the vickie 2.0 ones??? It happens every time there is a major figure release, and then a week later everyone likes them or loves them.... Give it time, sheesh.

Well Marque, my review of her won't be out for another week at the earliest. But an initial reaction IS part of my review process. Straight out of the box and instant usability - that's what the readers have come to expect and that is exactly what they will get. People want to know how flexible she is - what morphs she had. Nothing wrong with that. As for beig pushed to get it out of the box, they announced it in December wasn't it, so of course people were anxious - it implied the model would soon be ready. Yes she is plain - but the flip side of that is that her eyes are always slanted either... Her inability to accept the textures of earlier models is frustrating - but expected. I have also found that she wears Mike's glasses better than Vicky's (on a side note).

lol that was supposed to read that her eyes "aren't always slanted" So far, I have some issues with her, most especially her lips. I kind of like that she is more "girl next door" But I am saving my final review of her. I would suggest buying Michael and getting Stephanie at this point ;-)

Well I like her... a lot actually... but then I've always liked getting new toys as a kid... while this isn't exactly a toy, it is a new figure for me to work with, and that to me is a good thing. As far as the complaint that Stephanie won't bring about more developments for Michael, I'm actually planning on a character set for Michael and Stephanie, it'll be easier to develop certain types of characters for the two of them together, since their mapping is very similar, and you can apply the same morphs to them with some fiddling.

I agree Traveler- this is probably the case here. I raised this question in part that I am new to the Poser community, in that I became active after the Victoria 2 was already out. I hear nothing but the best about her and the Michael model. If this is normal hype for a new model release- then I might as well shut my eyes to it. Besides- if Stephanie 2 is on the horizon already, why bother? Thanks for your input everyone. ~mayhem

"should I buy Stephanie" Since you are asking, you must not have Mike2. BUY MIKE2! Mike2 is a great model with excellent morphs and he's very much worth having. Getting Stephanie as a bonus eliminates the question of paying for her regardless of her merits. If you don't like her, you aren't out any money because you have Mike2. If you do like her, you got yourself a fantastic bargin. Whether to buy her textures or not is up to you. They will be on sale for a little while, so you don't have to decide today. Others may release better ones, or add ons for their existing Vicki paks that convert them to Stephanie compatible, etc. I'm going to play with the textures I have and her templates first and see what I can come up with on my own before I do anything. If I do buy the textures, I think I will get the low rez ones. They are still a good size, and with the Mike2 hirez ones I ending up making lo rez versions from them and use those 95% of the time. I don't do enough close ups--or nudes--to take advantage of the super hirez textures, so having them hasn't been that much of an advantage for me. But that's just me.

I have a question to ask....I am reading all of the Steph threads here and I see a lot of pros and cons. I just downloaded her (I had purchased Micheal 2) and not even having unloaded her yet, I already like her. I like her because she was a gift from Daz and I think that in and of itself is awesome. I would buy Micheal 2 if I were you mayhem, and get Steph for free :) Hopefully, we will see some freestuff textures before we see the marketplace full of new Steph textures..shivers just go up and down my spine when I think of how much I've spent on Vicky textures and they can't be used by Stephanie...that is really my only gripe about her. I simply cannot afford a new wardrobe of textures for another model. I'm sure I'm not the only one in that position. Traveler, thank you again for your free Stephanie morphs! I can't believe you got them up so quickly!! Your generosity to the community just bowls me over :) Big Hugs to you!!! Pendy

Guess I didn't have a question...oh well LOL!

Pendy: Thanks :) You know me, I always have magnets at the ready ;) As to the texture issue, Well I personally am convinced that textures can be converted from Vickie to Steph. The issue will be "how much work is it going to be". Photoshop actions have been made in the past to convert p4 textures to the p3 fem. Yes this is a little more complex, however that dosen't mean it can't be done :)

As has been already said, why buy her when you can get her included for free by buying Mike? Two decent characters for the price of one sounds like a good deal to me. As for her supposed plain appearance, I view that as a good thing. Besides, I don't do "wet dreams" anyhow. - Jack Valero

ARGH :P aren't you guys listening to me? :) Someone is already remapping Stephanie to take Vicki's textures... and if that person can't get it finished for some reason, I will try it myself. We WILL be able to use Vicki's textures on her... definitely!

Yes, you are always definately prepared!!! I saw the thread where Electricaardvark is working on an action...wouldn't that be awesome if it worked!!!! It's not that I'm cheap (you know I'm not) LOL!!! It's just that I have such a HUGE stable of textures for Vicki that will take me years to use anyway......would be nice if Steph could take advantage too :) This really makes me want to learn how to texture skin...but..I can't hardly texture clothing LOL!! Now where is Destiny when you need her?? Well I'm off to see if I have a fairly hairless texture of Mike that I can possibly use for her for now hehehe...I want to go install her and learn about her and install all of your morphs too :)

I was listening :) But I would also like to be able to convert vickie maps to her mapping, as there are some elements of her mapping I like over vickies. One solution or the other is good, both would be excellent :)

Eowyn, I was listening too, honest :) And I agree with Trav, both would be excellent :) Nah, we don't want much LOL!!!

When Vicky 1 first came out there were all kinds of posts aboug how ugly she was, how she didn't have enough morphs, how the textures didn't work right, and how she couldn't take possette clothes. Now most of the people who were making those comments (self included) have switched over to some version of her. I don't think I've loaded up Posette even once in the last year and a half. So this time around I'm going to keep my trap shut on opinions until I've had time to take a good hard look. Though I will ask questions when I find them.

Yes. I just cashed in my voucher and if I hadn't purchased Mike2, Stephanie would surly have been added to my 'wish-list' any why. Reason: Just read Traveler's first entry above, he said it all. Sweet, simple, and to-the-point!

Buy Mike 2 and get her for free (yes there is an echo in here). On the licensing issue: Dan Farr answered in the thread that's linked above that he would look into this Monday and get back to us. Hopefully they will take this out of the license. Images that we create with their models should not be restricted in any way as long as there is no way to extract the model from the file.

Mike 2.0 is worth the purchase by himself. There's a lot to like about him. Steph is just icing on the cake. I see no reason to buy her now when you can spend a few more dollars and get 2 characters at once.

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Yes, I'm still beating my Vicki's. ;] Ko... I've never been a big Victoria fan, and I've made little secret of it. Further, in my very infrequent postings in this forum, I've often been critical of "the big guys" - CL and Daz - for generally what I've considered good reasons. So, off the bat, I'm generally not a mouthpeice for Daz's greatness. ;] That said... I've been reading avidly every thread and browsing every image posting I can find pertaining to Stephanie, and I'm pretty excited about this one. Shoulda been done long ago - like in the Posette/Dork days. ;] Think about it: Stephanie can use Mike textures with minor tweaking, as evidenced by the image postings up above. Probably the inverse will be true. And she can wear Vicki clothes... Suddenly it's going to be possible to have a few female character possibilties that didn't exist before. Like a female version wearing the excellent Quim Zulu texture for and extremely black female - a thing we hadn't had before. Might take a bit of cloning in photoshop to match the templates... no makey. Morph makers: Suddenly male/female "twin" characters become possible. The same morphs can be done with minor tweaks to give them a feminine and masculine cast - as opposed to having to virtualy design and duplicate the same morph from scratch on two different meshes. Textures can be designed in male/female versions with only minor tweaking... And she can use Mike morphs and vice versa... ringing us to possibilities for: Character Creation: Heh - if she can really wear most Mike morphs with only minor distortions as has been claimed... the Massive Mike, Muscular Mike, and Boris morphs should work with varying amounts of success, in addition to the built-ins on Mike 2/Steph. Think about this from a designer of Super Heroic characters perspective - a toned Vicki 2 with the vicki musclular morph doesn't do the job when you're trying to do a She Hulk character image. Or one of any number of "cut" looking comics babes. Trust me - I've tried. Stephanie could do it, no problems. The resulting character might even be able to use a few clothing items designed for the massive men... This sounds pretty cool to me. I like versatility and interchangeabilty in a character platform.

Keep in mind... I'm extrapolating from all the stuff posted so far. I won't be able to actually test out any of my theories untill I get both Mike 2 and Stephanie to play with - and with my finances, that may be a while yet. But... I'm looking forward to it.

mumbling .. mean ole frigerator.

Amen Marque and Traveler... My sentiments exactly. I've been amazed by this negative reaction. Cherokee's topic was insane and seemed to hinge on the "Why another model when nothing is out for Mike and I only use Mike so a female model is meaningless to me" on the first part, Dan Farr answered that fairly well in a post a few days ago. Maybe this will help get more interest in Michael. Variety is good. Most of us didn't have to pay for it. Just be glad DAZ is so generous. As for the "don't use anyone but Mike" well... The reason Mike doesn't have the support is because ultimately most people use Victoria more. BUT... And I don't know how anyone can really fault DAZ for listening to supply and demand - but there has been a great deal of stuff recently for Mike and Victoria... There's more in the shop (and I've spent more!) than in ages. We have a new model, we have more options, Traveler is giving away a morph package that adds a great deal to Steph (Who I agree is fairly... limited at this juncture compared to Vic2) But thats how it goes. Be happy we have something new and we'll get it all worked out. If not.. well.. we'll live and learn. More models will come out, more gnashing and grinding of teeth and this too will pass :grins: This place has been SOOOOO touchy lately. Geesh. Anz

I agree with Anzan. We do have a great new model and I said my thank yous in another post. I realise my saying dont buy it yet may have seemed churlish, perhaps even ungrateful but it wasnt meant to be. I only said No because Mayhem specifically asked for a "yes or no" answer at the start of each post. I merely wanted to make Mayhem aware that Stephanie is not yet Victoria, with all her flexibility and support, thats why I said wait. I mean Michael is still some way behind Victoria in support. Having looked a bit more I stand by my less feminine, no-curves comment (bigger breasts doesnt mean curvy to me), but its fairly obvious Stephanie is supposed to be different, actually she gets more curvy if you put a negative figure onto the "Stephanie" dial. She reminded me of the research that was done that said the potentially best female athletes have a double chromosome, sometimes giving slightly more masculine features and bodyshape, muscle mass etc. Stephanie isnt Victoria but she will get there, and at the speed Renderosity goes at it will probably happen quickly. Geez, theres already a texture in the freestuff! I look forward to seeing Stephanie`s development. Anyone who has it might like to try the Jamal texture out on Steph, he is fairly hairless. Anzan, who are you calling touchy, eh? eh? B)

Actually I forgot to ask, Mayhem did you decide anything yet? Let us know sometime. B)

:grins: not you :chuckles: But I posted right after it came out about the "curvy" thing myself... And yes.. her breasts are monsterous.. and making them look decent and smaller no easy task. :Grins: I wasn't really refering to you though Rout :grins: you're not nearly as cranky as some. :grins big: Anz

FYI :) Her body had to be similar to Vickies so she could wear vickie's clothing. In the set of morphs at Morph World there are three morphs for smaller breast sizes. (They were the first ones made ;) LOL

:grins: Don't blame you. I've not messed with her too much after I got the new morphs outside of just playing with the face a bit. Thank you though, your generosity is remarkable. Anz

Sorry to come in so late here, but I was gone all day yesterday. I agree with Mazak. Get Mike 2 and you'll get two characters for the price of one since Stephanie will be free and you'll only have to get her textures. A much better buy. I'm starting to see Stephanie textures showing up in Free Stuff, so you may not even need to get her textures if you're watching the pennies. Melanie