BEWARE. You may think that because most of the stuff that is out here is for DAZ models that DAZ is some great company well this is simply not true in my opinion. From what I can tell they may have used to be a great company but since they are in a rush get out their modeling program and new items first they are sacrificing quality in alot of cases and customer service completely. You are going to have to purchase the M3 and V3 models if you want to have use of most of the free items but I reccomend purchasing the accessories from this site or others and not from DAZ. Im not saying all DAZ products are bad. The ones that they actually THOROUGHLY test are great and have no competition anywhere. The problem is they are in such a rush to get new products out there and take your money that they dont test them all very thoroughly. And once you discover the problems it takes forever to get help from DAZ if at all. They are even using a new trick lately by saying when you call, which is the best way to have your problem solved with DAZ dont bother with emails they dont answer them often, that the person you need to speak with is in a meeting please call back later and when you call back you get the same spiel. So be careful buying large quantities of DAZ items and if you have a problem I hope your patience is good because youre going to need it. Why am I up here badmouthing DAZ well let me give you a little taste of my history with DAZ and maybe you will understand. Im very new to the 3D community, Im an old 2D'er. Ive owned Poser 5 for about 8 weeks now. After starting to use P5 I began to search the various websites for tutorials and free items so I could learn to use and make my P5 journey more fun and interesting. Well low and behold what do I discover? Over 90% of the free items as well as the items being sold are made for DAZ models. Being a newbie and seeing this I thought wow DAZ must be the shit cuz everyone is using their stuff. So I went to their website and in this short period of time purchased well over 100 items as well as a club membership (to the tune of over $1200). Thats when all my troubles began. I order hard disk burns with every order I make because I am on a dial up connection and dont like waiting to download. So starting with my second order I began having problems with some of their accessory software and tried to get help from DAZ proper. I was polite and friendly at first but after waiting 12 days just to get even an acknowledgement that my problem was being looked into I began to get angry. It was only after I did send them some angry corrospondence that I got the help I needed. I also made several more purchases during this time. Well to make a long story short I have placed 9 orders with DAZ so far and have had problems with the item(s)out of 7 of the 9 orders so far. Of the 2 that I had no problems with, one was the club membership. Thats not a very good percentage folks and as for the number of items Ive had problems with the count so far is 10 and I havent even gotten around to trying all of my stuff yet. Ive been helped so far, not always satisfactorily, with 5 items. Am still waiting on the others. I should say here that a large majority of DAZ products are good items its the poor customer service and attitude of the folks at DAZ that have really got my ass chapped. And I also think that my problems stem from the fact that I have purchased a very large volume of merchandise from DAZ in a very short period of time and all of my problems are happening at once. That doesnt change the fact that the problems shouldnt be there in the first place or change the fact that when spending the amount of money that I have on the items that I should expect fast and helpful replies to my queries. The only real way to get help from DAZ is by calling them and my problem with that is that I am in the same timezone as they are and I work for a living and rarely get home before 5pm so that option is really not open to me and they have noone to talk with about these problems on the weekends. Their forum staff, the ones that arent rude or cowardly, can help you with questions about use of products but arent much help when it comes to technical difficulties. I want to use another example to point out why I am so angry with DAZ. I have also purchased about 40 other items from this site and others (not DAZ). The ONLY problem I have had was that the first order I made at the Renderosity website thru PayPal where I was promised an immeadiate download, I had to wait 12 hours for this immeadiate download. But the items themselves have all worked fine. Not one problem. And when I asked questions about the products from the vendors I got replies back within a day. Thats quality customer service and how a buisness should be run. There are no excuses for the way DAZ has been acting lately. And I say lately because alot of folks have told me that DAZ USED TO have great customer service. Them working on this new modeling program of theirs is no excuse. Im in the service industry. I clean, repair, build and maintain chimneys and fireplaces, Im a certified chimney sweep. If I was to ignore my customers questions about quotes Ive left them or problems with work I have done for them I would not only lose these customers to my competition I would be plagued with lawsuits. And I would deserve that. But I dont treat my paying customers that way and when I am the customer I expect to be treated the way that I treat my customers. No excuses, no lame promises that the problems are being worked on. I get in contact with them and try my best to resolve their question and/or problems in a timely and professional matter. This has NOT been MY experience with DAZ so far and Im not happy at all about it. So my advice to you newbies is be very leary about purchasing mass quantities of DAZ products all at once and when you do have a problem dont expect to get help with it very fast. I also urge you to purchase your accessory items from this website and others not DAZ because now that my initial DAZ blindness has worn off Ive come to realize that DAZ is trying to be the Microsoft of the poser community and the folks that are making things for their products are putting out better quality products than the parent company. You get items that work and answers to questions in a reasonable amount of time. Another thing I have noticed is you get more for the amount of money that you spend, ie; clothing, textures, props. With DAZ you buy the main item and then have to purchase several more packages just to get the overall effect. So dont purchase anymore from DAZ than you have to. And if you see something brokered at DAZ try contacting the modeler and seeing if they offer the same items at other sites. That way if you do have a problem at least you will be able to have it solved in a reasonable amount of time. If you are happy with DAZ and havent had the problems I have, which I hope most of you havent, then just ignore me. But this is really directed at the newcomers to Poser from another fairly new user. And Im sure this post is going to draw alot of angry responses from the folks I call DAZ groupies. Most of them are modelers who broker their items at DAZ and dont want people thinking poorly of the place they sell their stuff so take what they say with a grain of salt. To these same modelers I am pissing off with this post, well most of you, Im sorry. The company that is representing your items and income has given me such a bad experience that even if youve created a great item and worked all the glitches out of it, if it is brokered only at DAZ then Im not going to buy it and Im going to urge others to do the same. I meant what I said in the DAZ/Microsoft comparison. They arent quite that yet but we need to stop them before they become that. Ive found that the only way I get help from DAZ is by being either angry or negative. Ive tried till I am blue in the face to be patient and polite with no avail. I am hoping that with this post others wont have to go thru what myself and others have gone through with DAZ. Because I want to restate what I said earlier. The products that DAZ THOUROUGHLY tests and then markets are fantastic and have no equals (look at the Millenium Dragon) its just that in their rush to further cement their hold on the poser world they are leaving behind the things that others have told me made them great to start with, ie; quality products and good timely customer service. I really hope that DAZ QUICKLY takes care of this because until they do I wont be spending my money with them and I will be urging others to do the same every chance that I get. And Ive spent over $1600 total on this hobby of mine so far and have more money to spend. I choose to spend it at the sites that treat their customers correctly which doesnt include DAZ at this point. I will be crossposting this post to several different sites forums because I am that angry about this and want others to not have to go through what I have gone through. I sincerely hope that DAZ changes and I can do buisness with them again cuz I really dont like to be an asshole but you folks have made me feel this way. NEWBIES BEWARE!

"I try to save one life a day, its usually my own."
John Crichton