EldritchCellar posted at 8:34AM Tue, 22 June 2021 - #4421173

I was pretty impressed when I saw that he had made some of the entities from Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials... that was one of my prized art books when I was a kid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barlowe%27s_Guide_to_Extraterrestrials

I have that book, and Expedition (which is my favorite from Barlowe). Both of them are sitting six feet away from me on a bookshelf. I did not know he did that... now I'm going to have to go look.

Hadn't heard from that dweeb in ages. I live near Portland (and IIRC Dodger lives in Portland Metro) - I know his RL name and we're connected on LinkedIn; I'll see if I can hunt him down. The tech industry around here is hiring pretty well (though mostly startups at the moment - though Intel might still have the CG artist/developer shop at the Jones Farm site in Hillsboro.

hborre posted at 11:10AM Thu, 11 March 2021 - #4414735

Compatibility mode can and will solve some issues but anyone that wants to outright purchase dated versions of Poser must consider the availability of Service Releases, those are not as easy to come by these days.

Completely true, especially when it comes to Poser 5, which had some massive issues in the non-patched release version, if memory serves.

That said, depending on when it was purchased it may have the patches slipstreamed into it, or included on-disk? Not sure about that, though P4 and PPP I believe were fully patched when I bought the disks that I still have back in 2001-ish (and in many ways, PPP was the patch). I had an even older set of disks, but those got losts to the mists of time.

TwiztidKidd posted at 11:08AM Thu, 11 March 2021 - #4413706

You will need to convert the Poser4 RSR thumbnails in your runtime to PNG format also.

Yup - fortunately, there's a utility to do that, it costs $0.00, and I believe it still works:https://www.renderosity.com/rr/mod/freestuff/?item_id=57197

/me rifles through ancient CD pile...

I still got my old Poser 4/PPP disks. No stinkin' idea if they'll load in Windows 10, though (I know they won't load on MacOS, because reasons). That said, you can likely still load the old stuff if you invoke Windows' Compatibility Mode, and then set that compatibility level to 'Windows XP' or older.

BUT - randym is right: If Poser 5 works for you, use it. I think P5 is the bastard spawn of sickly demons, but if you can use it, then no sweat - do that Compatibility Mode thing if you have Windows and want to install/use P5.

(All else fails, your ancient P4/PPP compatible library will totally work on another program that you-know-who makes, that costs $0.00, but we'll not mention the name here.)

So... I was the only mofo that ever owned one of these, then?

Edit/Update - I looked a bit deeper before closing the tab: that quick search also shows two trademark violations against KC HiLites, Inc, one product that violates trademark for MNA, Inc ("BF Goodrich"), and one that violates trademark for Toyo Tire USA, Inc.

WTF, Rendo?

Glad I'm not an IP lawyer... sheesh!

wolf359 posted at 8:37AM Fri, 04 December 2020 - #4406377

A fully functional genesis 3 female wearing a smart propped head prop does not meet any reasonable definition of a "third party figure" in Daz studio.?

That's why I wrote exactly what I did, eh?

They are desparately trying to convince users of the major 3DCC to use Genesis in Maya,Max Blender etc,however they have very little interest in having other figure makers import figures into Daz studio as evidenced by their broken FBX "importer"

To be honest, their problems are not technical in nature, though the exporter issues obviously don't help any. They (and Rendo!) have bigger problems to solve, as outlined above.

Such third party figure would not foment daz store content sales which is why Daz demanded such exclusivity for those HW animals as described by Ken_1171

As a (barely competent) prosumer, I don't have to care about that, as long as I can get my toys to work. It's when those toys stop working that I have to seek out another solution.

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. :)

Ken_1171 posted at 4:35PM Thu, 03 December 2020 - #4406353

Penguinisto posted at 3:44PM Thu, 03 December 2020 - #4406346

Anyway, speaking of which, Hivewire has a similar anime head-graft thingy that I really like as well.

Did not know they kept the DS fires burning over there, but it makes total sense. Just that you rarely see it in DS (outside of HW, naturally).

Would that be one of my Universal heads?

Yup - the Chibi head - cost like $12 or so. I wound up modifying the (pictured) NearMe head anyway, since I had a zillion morphs and hairs and such for it.

Ken_1171 posted at 3:41PM Thu, 03 December 2020 - #4406230

I have been with HW since before they opened the store, supporting Dawn when she was their only figure back in 2013. If you know DAZ, then you probably know who Chris Creek is. Along with Dan Farr, Chris has founded the original "Digital Art Zone" (DAZ), which later got incorporated and became DAZ3D. If you really want to know why the HW store is closing now, we have to look back to see the context. Chris has left DAZ3D by claiming "it no longer does what it was created for". Once DAZ got incorporated, it was then ran by a board of directors - businessmen. Only later Chris understood this was a mistake, because he wanted a company that was ran by artists to serve artists.

Makes sense... thank you for the update.

wolf359 posted at 3:24PM Thu, 03 December 2020 - #4406218

IMHO trying to get a third party, non genesis human figure,adopted by the Daz studio user base, is a pointless excercise as Genesis 8 is the primary figure of the Daz eco system.?

That's not entirely true, as there are total workarounds to get the Genesis flexibility and yet still keep the 'character' of a 3rd-party figure...

(Yes, that's NearMe's head, on a Genesis 3 Female's body. It's drop-easy to do. I whipped it up to razz my stepdaughter over something.)

Anyway, speaking of which, Hivewire has a similar anime head-graft thingy that I really like as well.

Did not know they kept the DS fires burning over there, but it makes total sense. Just that you rarely see it in DS (outside of HW, naturally).

EClark1894 posted at 12:01PM Wed, 02 December 2020 - #4406196

Chris Creek, over at Hivewire is currently making a version 2 of the Dawn and Dusk figures.

This.

I wonder if he just got sick of running a store and wanted to spend more time on the mesh. Running a business is pure drudgery (the reason DAZ ran so spectacularly back in the day is that Chris curated and led development of the products (read: Vicky and Mike), while Dan did the books and marketing - they worked amazingly well together). If that's the reason, I don't blame him at all.

I do wonder at the longevity of Dawn/Dusk though. Nobody in DS uses it that I'm aware of.

Prolly not too apropos, but to answer the OP's question, it is possible... err, with DAZ Studio. They have a free plugin that makes your model (DAZ-based, for legal purposes) ready for printing. Look for the "Gameprint 3D Print Plugin" in their store. With the plugin, you can send the model to be given an estimate (I believe coloring is included?)

look up renderotica (the powers that be won't allow a link in here for competing stores... especially that one.

WARNING: Totally not safe for work, so if you're sniffing around to that site, do it at home and away from any kids.

...times like this that I wish that the 4th MetaCreations/CuriousLabs program, Canoma, actually made it to today (IIRC it's in Corel's massive software graveyard. ) It was supposed to be pretty good at doing this.

• Edit, I checked - Adobe owns it