Quote - I didn't read the whole thread, but just wanted to add my 2 cents.

Genesis expands the ability of morphing and mix matching characters beyond any other figure, but if Victoria 4 works for you right now, and there isn't a point for you in which you say "I REALLY can't do this with Victoria 4" (like turning her into a Troll, along with her 6 years old child),  then I don't see there's a reason for switching to Genesis other than trying a new figure.

All that flexibility obviously comes at a cost, you have to buy every morph pack again, muscle morphs, detail moprhs, etc. Or buy tools that allow you to convert old stuff to Genesis.

To me, it all comes down to real "need". For example, I'm working on some sort of bestiary of fantasy creatures, and up until now, I had to create a creature twice, male and female, using V4 and M4 (M4 not being WM yet), now I have to create it only once and dial the female and male dials on Genesis up and down. It's a very particular need, but that's the point.

I'm not sure if it was mentioned earlier in the threads, but another advantage to the user and the vendor creating clothing for the Genesis line, is the need to only add the clothing to Genesis and have the morphs project onto the clothing, saving the user and vendor creating content time and even better money purchasing all the clothing for each figure shape.

Quote - > Quote - Here is a youtube video where we showed the differences in bending in Genesis vs the 4th generation products from DAZ 3D. I hope this will help as well.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqYFMoAoLoI

...but that isn't a V4 weight mapped, isn't she?

You are right it's the V4 out of the box.

Here is a youtube video where we showed the differences in bending in Genesis vs the 4th generation products from DAZ 3D. I hope this will help as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqYFMoAoLoI

Quote - > Quote - The good news is that we are also working on it internally. So with input from the community experts and our internal team, we can get it done a lot faster.

what about good full tutorials (video vs pdf)

that explain all steps for a scene

• the idea

• the model proces character vs clothes, conformed vs dynamic

• sculpting (zbrush)

• the rig & weight paint

• the animation proces

• the lightning & rendering

that 's what you have to teach people. not how you pose and put clothes on character. (people aren't dumb)

 

Yes, I agree, these are needed. In fact the team (production and documentation) here at DAZ 3D Met for hours yesterday to outline and begin the process of fully documenting all of these processes.   As these are not easy processes it will take a bit of time, but it is being worked on.

Quote - I can set and watch it all load, still no clue where it is loading from. I see textures being applied, but not how they are applied or where they are applied from. I see the figure posing, not how the pose was applied or from where. And so on.

If these preload scenes where to made to be educational; as with my game example, studio would walk people through how what is loaded from where, how the textures are applied, how the figure is posed, ect. As there are all they show is what can be done, not how it was done. Looking at a painting doesn't tell me how it was painted, what brushes where used, or what paints where used.

Now if these scenes where included with/as part of a video tutorial that would be different. The scene would be the end result with a clear; for some, tutorial of how to get there.

I personally have difficulties keeping up with video tutorials, they loose and confuse me fast, but that is just a me thing.

What is the biggest problem newbies have? Finding and using content, finding and applying poses and textures, and knowing the difference between clothes and mats. These are the top most posted newbie questions. And I think even DAZ will have to admit that CMS has done little more then complicate the matter.

I forget whom's screen cap of their smart content tab I saw, but my first thought was "that is suposed to help????". :lol:

Let me expand on my point. If while the scene was loading the studio interface grayed and the tabs and steps in browsing to the content were highlighted, and the steps for appling the poses and shaders were done the same way, then some one might actually learn something from these scenes.

Stan:

I think you are not seeing the big picture. If the CMS is installed and you are a new user following the tutorials like this one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FTyI2zYHppA

You could follow step by step seeing where the presets are located, materials, clothing, everything. Nothing is hidden or kept from the user. And the RTR scene is a step off that tutorial. If someone wants to see the "How Too" they can follow a tutorial, not just see the RTR Scene.

As you have chosen not to use the CMS, and don't see the same info as a new user would I can expect you would have a different user experience. But a new user is given these "Sets" of tools (tutorials, RTR scenes) examples as a way to learn. Because you don't learn that way, please don't generalize and say we are not doing it right. That is an opinion. We at DAZ are working very hard to help the new users be successful. Is that a problem for existing users? Maybe, but we need new users...many more new users to support this business.

These are business choices we are making. It may not agree with everyone but we believe it will help many more come to enjoy these tools.

Once again, I ask to not tell us everything we are doing wrong, but tell us how you can see us improving to do it better. Constructive criticism is much better than negative rants all the time.

Help us, by giving us suggestions to improve, not how we did it all wrong. I don't think that's asking too much. But just my opinion.

Understood, your opinion is just that. Some people want to open a free software package and quickly find out just what you can do with it. In a few minutes see results. If they like it they may continue. If they just can't get any results (which is the case for many users) they won't become customers.

We are looking for many ways to help people see what is possible in DAZ Studio. The RTR scenes is one way. The tutorials like Fiery Genesis and the Dragon Slayer videos help as well. Also the presets are a good way to see what can be done with cameras, lights and poses.

All these are small tools to help someone get started. We should not shoot down efforts to help new people. Stan, you are a good help to many getting started in Carrara, These are tools to help people get into DS. Not a fix all end all, just another tool.

The information regarding needing the CMS installed is to allow the newer users who don't understand or know the tools, have the ability to see results quickly. If we said to everyone that the CMS is not needed, then someone new would get lost trying to run the RTR scenes.

Can you use it without? Sure, is it perfect without? No. Thus the recomendation to have it running. Remember we are messaging to those with not as much experience as you guys. And I don't think that is a bad thing (My opinion).

The good news is that we are also working on it internally. So with input from the community experts and our internal team, we can get it done a lot faster.

DAZ is working on doccumentation for DS4.  there is a forum post at the daz forums linking to it.  its a far cry from being done. but its in process.

Great input thanks!

Oh Manlystanly, You are so good at knowing what DAZ is doing. I wish you were the one writing the specifications. In fact the discussion I had with the development team last week was in fact that this feature is not fully specified. So don't you worry so much that you ruin your lovely holiday, set back and give some input that could be useful to the development team.

Just how would you like to see the install and update process work. Remember that your use case is just one of many thousands of others. One of our biggest complaints is to make the insatllation of content easier/faster. We also have more users confused on finding the installed content in the applications.

What's the right solution. Put your thinking cap on and help us solve the issue, not rant about how bad it is. By the way it isn't even coded or started at this time. Help us do it right my friend.  :>)

Quote - Now we have Genesis, which is a great product, and I would love to use it on my next project, but I have no reliable way to get it into C4D. Are there plans to extend compatibility with other packages? Perhaps you can talk to Kuroyume about how to do it!

If C4D can import FBX, that will be the best way to export the models from DAZ Studio including Genesis. We have many people asking the best current export for Maya and other packages. We are seeing the best results using the FBX Exporter.  Hope that helps.

There is a build scheduled to be released early in January. Watch for that. I'm just not sure what was fixed in the exporter. Sorry.

I'm not Randy but I can say that from what our Development team here at DAZ has heard there is a fix in SR1 that should help with the exporter from DAZ Studio (4.0.3.19 and later builds) work better.

Our team here at DAZ has not had access to the final sr build, but it was mentioned to them from SM that the fix would be in. So that's all that we can say at the moment.

In version 3 and earlier the DAZ Studio process will continue to run for a bit even after the program has been exited. It is doing some clearing and memory management, but it won't hurt any data that you've saved if you kill the process.