I've been using the 2.8 Beta for many months now and have found it to be (mostly) stable. There's no date for the release but I wouldn't let that stop you. Grab the latest version each Sunday and have a go, it's brilliant! I wouldn't dream of going back to 2.79b.

The best thing about this thread is that it's still going with no interference from the mods. Over in the Daz3D forums this woulda been closed and deleted immediately. It's nice to be have a sense of humour. Please don't stop.

It's interesting that the best and most enthusiastic help came from the sick and twisted folks in several Poser/Studio adult forums with Perverted-otica being just one of them. I followed many links and read a lot of stuff including tons of background material. This is what I've learned so far....

1. Sub division in Studio enables extra details and allows smoothing of mesh for close ups.
2. An item's (object, figure or clothing) mesh must be built with sub-D in mind if the CC (content creator) wants the end user to be able to use it. It generally means that quads of a fairly consistent size must be used, as other forms of geometry don't always sub divide predictably or properly.
3. There seems to be no standard for initial mesh density (size of individual quadrangles). They have gotten smaller over the years as computers have gotten more powerful. This should mean that there's less of a need for subdivision when rendering, however, there's more of a demand for bigger and more detailed renders so sub division is still used. (this is mostly my observation, ie: opinion.)
4. I'm going to stick with a mesh size of about 1 cm square as this is sorta-kinda what I'm seeing in most meshes from established CC's. Items that are predominantly square/blocky/angled (machines and mechanical stuff) can get away with larger and simpler meshes since sub dividing them is of no use as the item will look the same. If the CC has included surface details, sub-D may still be needed.
5. The end user must first select the item, then enable Sub-D in the 'Edit - Object - Geometry - Convert to Sub-D' dialogue. They can then choose a level of sub division for both the viewport and the final render.
6. The view must be set to "Lit Wireframe', Wire Shaded', or 'Wire Texture Shaded' to see this extra geometry (and the resulting smoothing) in the viewport.
7. The level of sub division selected for the viewport changes the mesh density on the model. If you export the sub divided model as an obj. file, that file will contain the level of sub division selected.
8. The level of sub division selected for use during rendering does not change the mesh density. it's all done internally in the render engine.
9. The smoothing seen when an item is sub divided is done by the sub division algorithm (something to do with cats(?)) used by Studio.
10. You can't sub divide only part of a model, it's all or nothing
11. Triangles may(?) be used on items that will not be subdivided, and need to be draped or D-formed. This type of uneven geometry lends itself to realistic draping or 'squishiness' (the pillow). Quads can look too regular. There is a lot of work and research being done in this area for animation and cloth simulation. I read several PDF's on this that got heavy into math. In a nutshell it seems that irregular sized triangles work best for cloth draping. There's also an irregular arrangement of quads called 'Quadrangular' which has the advantage of lending itself to being sub divided. I'm following these discussions on geometry and topology for dynamic items as it's interesting, and I would like to make some long gowns with extensive veils at some point.

Why did you bother posting when you didn't answer my questions? You folks at Daz really don't want people to learn this stuff do you?

Madbat posted at 6:19AM Wed, 27 February 2019 - #4347050

.......I was wondering if renderotica shut down.

Not even a little! We're all still happily playing with all our sick, strange, warped, perverted, weird and just plain messed up perversions and fetishes. And don't think that we don't notice all you 'decent' folks peeking in through the windows. ;-)

Madbat posted at 6:18AM Tue, 26 February 2019 - #4346987

I also just made a purchase with a lot of missing files that I cannot get refunded. (Chambré Romantique by Moyra). I don't know what went wrong there but Basically I paid for half empty zip files.

How can this happen? If you 'just' purchased it then both Rendo and the artist should be falling over themselves to send you a complete set of files. I know that Rendo is both asleep and the switch and has no quality control, but Moyra is well established and well respected here.

We've been complaining about the huge number of threads for years, but it does no good.

Email sent, thanks!

Is it available for others to work on?

I love how the community jumps on projects that they like. When Manuel Bastioni stopped working on his figure LAB, others dived in almost instantly. It's my hope that what you've started will prove popular enough to pique the interest of others.

And thanks for piping up. It's always great to hear from folks who work on the program that I use so much.

Where are you selling? I'd love to see your products. And thanks for that heads up on the site. I'm working on my first product and am looking at possible vendors.

The new 2.8 version fixes so much of what was horrible with previous versions. I've been using the beta for a couple of months and wouldn't dream of going back to my trusty 2.79B. Menus stay put and there are honest to goodness tool bars. I'm sure that this version is going to catapult Blender into much wider usage.

I've been using it for several weeks now and absolutely love it. I don't care who/what or IF it's geared towards anybody (which I doubt). Not having to memorize a pile of shortcuts makes me much faster. I use a wide variety of software and simply can't spend the time required to learn more than a few oft-used shortcuts. This also makes it tons easier for the new person and the occasional user. Long time Blender users treat mastering the interface as a rite of passage. I'd rather just make stuff.

I wouldn't trust any manufacturer's link since 'What's hot' is more likely to be stuff that someone has paid to be pushed (like Ebay's Premier items). The best person to talk to is Sickleyield. She has a great site and deals with that exact subject. https://www.deviantart.com/sickleyield/journal/SickleYield-Tutorial-And-FAQ-Index-624150816 Unlike the other content creators who want to keep their knowledge a secret to stifle competition, she's very free with both her opinion and what she knows.

I cobbled together a distributor-less ignition system for my 50 year old vintage car a couple of years ago out of commonly available components. I plug a tablet in under the dash to fiddle with the ignition curve if I want too, but it's perfectly reliable and I never have to fiddle with points. My next project (coming along nicely) is electronic fuel injection. I'll be able to heave the ancient (and fussy) carburetors and enjoy increased performance, reliability and mileage. I look around at the tech we take for granted and am amazed but not surprised. Have a read through https://hackaday.com/blog/ to see the kind of stuff folks are doing. I get my best hacks from there.

chuckle A bit philosophical this morning? Sometimes I get that way about life in general.
By the way, what's a 'NUC'?