I'm trying to decide which program(s) to use, and what figure(s) to use.

I own Poser 10 and I downloaded DAZ Studio, and I've looked at both a tiny bit. I am a 2D artist.  I need to use Poser and/or DS to create static renders that I use as references for my hand-drawn art.  I want a only slightly-idealized realistic figure (not some super-leggy out-of-proportion fantasy sex goddess), whose body I can alter (height/weight/muscularity/skin tone/etc), have long flowing hair, some clothing, be able to setup lighting, and get a decent render.  My render standards aren't too high since the render isn't the "final product".  Though I suppose the more interesting or realistic the render, the more it might inspire in my drawing.  For now I just need women, but later men too.

I would prefer to use 1 product rather than 2.  I'm not super-price-sensitive.  Though I don't want to waste money, or spend a lot on features I won't need.  I'm certainly fine with using free content and programs, though I'd prefer to spend some money if it will save me time and pain.  

I do need the figure to look good, since it's a reference model.  Since the 3D render is only an intermediate step in my artistic process, it is worth it to me to spend money to give me quick-click fixes to save me time.  For instance, if I went with DS & Genesis 2 figures, I would be considering easy realism add-ons like http://www.daz3d.com/ultimate-natural-for-victoria-6-body, http://www.daz3d.com/i13-squish-soft-body-effect-morphs, http://www.daz3d.com/beautiful-bends-for-genesis-2-female-s (or for V4 http://www.daz3d.com/beautiful-bends-v4, http://www.daz3d.com/ideal-beauty-for-genesis-2-and-v6, etc.

It seems a big choice is what figure?  The free Hivewire Dawn/Dusk?  Some purchased Poser figures (which are good?)?  Genesis 2 figures?  A weight-mapped V4?  Realism, and saving time, matters a lot to me.  Which is why Genesis 2 + time-saving DS add-ons like "Ultimate Natural" caught my eye.

And then the question is work-flow.  Like if it's a Daz-centric figure (G2 female?), given that I hear DSON isn't so good, do I need to use DS to get best results?  If it's a Poser-centric figure, I'm wondering how much I'm going to miss those DS add-ons linked above that help you get a better, more realistic look (I'm guessing those add-ons may not function so well in Poser).

Any thoughts?

Poser 10 and  Vicky 4.2 after that  the  choice  is  yours 

 If you're doing 2D and you're using the models merely as reference, then I would simply use the Poser native figures, like Roxie and Rex. And if you have Poser already, then you might as well use it. You have nothing to lose since DS is free. It's those little add-ons that will break you.

 If you're doing 2D and you're using the models merely as reference....  It's those little add-ons that will break you.

The problem is, if one reference is not as good as another, and I use the poorer one, I'm going to make a poorer drawing.  Like if Roxie doesn't look as good as a Genesis 2 Female with an add-on pack...or it takes me a lot longer to tweak Roxie to make her look as good...well, then, I'd be better off not using Roxie.  I'd rather spend the money for a better & less time-consuming result.

If you're only using it for reference and not a final render, then I don't see why DS shouldn't be all you'd need. The male and female figures come with the software and should be good enough for you to use as reference in your drawing. Buy a couple hair pieces you think look like what you're after and  you should be all set. Just be aware that there isn't much in the way of realistic in the Genesis figures - they're idealized humans and not really realistically proportioned. That being said, I don't find the Poser native figures reasonably proportioned either, tho for different reasons. I do think the Poser figures are probably closer to realistic proportions than Genesis tho. it's all subjective ;).

If you REALLY want a realistically proportioned female, try Miki 2 (Content Paradise). Sydney would work too.

Laurie

be aware that there isn't much in the way of realistic in the Genesis figures...I don't find the Poser native figures reasonably proportioned either, tho for different reasons.

Is it easier to adjust Genesis 2 vs the Poser figures to get them the way I want (perhaps closer to reality)?  I notice a ton of morph packs for Genesis 2 to allow extra adjustments, which kind of confuses me.  You have to buy the ability to adjust the figure?  I can understand if some things aren't part of the base figure...maybe muscularity (unless I individually hand-tweak each bulge?).  But in either DS or Poser, do I need add-ons just to change height, bulges, skin tone, etc?

I think you can adjust the height and stuff (I could be wrong about that) with Genesis without buying anything extra. You can with the Poser figures as well, tho it may take a free script to unhide the xyz dials so that you can adjust the length of limbs ;). Skin tone can be changed in the material room of either software. Bulges are more along the line of morphs which you will have to pay for or learn to make on your own.

Laurie

You will need to sample both programs and decide which meet your needs.  They both have strengths and weaknesses, and only playing around with the features will help you make an educated decision.  You may wind up spending money to obtain morph features and content but that is according to need.  Besides, DAZStudio and Genesis/Genesis2 are free.

You will need to sample both programs and decide which meet your needs.

I'm more concerned about figure choice than program choice.  I'm completely confident I can make myself comfortable in any program, and even use both in tandem if that's the best solution.  If G2 females (+ add-ons?) give better results, or same results with MUCH less manual tweaking, than using, say, Hivewire Dawn, then G2 is the way I want to go.  And IF G2 doesn't work fully in Poser, then I'll go DS, otherwise I'll compare both programs. Do you have any recommendation on figure choice?  And if you recommend G2, does G2 work ok in Poser?

You need to use the DSON importer to get G2 to work in Poser. It works better in DS. And, not all content available for G2 has Poser companion files. It depends on the item and whether or not the content artist chose to make the Poser files. 

It works better in DS. 

Can you elaborate on that?  I've heard there may be lag with DSON.  Is that it?  Or is actual functionality compromised?  I understand if a figure or an add-on doesn't support Poser/DSON, then you can't have that figure/functionality (unless you can hack it yourself).  But if it does support Poser, does that mean it works fully (except for lag)?  Or, what kinds of things end up not working even with DSON?

I think your best bet is to just experiment with the different figures you have available to you before you buy anything and see which one gets closest to what you are looking for. No one here can really tell you which figure you should be using, and everyone has their own opinions. G2 is native to DS, so it will work best in DS. Various people have problems with it working as intended in Poser even with DSON, while others don't have any issues at all, so it likely depends a lot on your system and what you're trying to do. 

You mentioned weight mapping. The only figures that are weight mapped in Poser are Rex and Roxie, and Alyson2 and Ryan2. There is a free version of a weightmapped V4 available somewhere - RDNA I think - but it stll requires purchasing V4 from DAZ if you don't already have her. Miki4, Tyler and Anastasia (both are morphs of Ryan2 and Alyson2) - those 3 have to be purchased separately. I think Tyler comes with Anastasia here in the MP. None of the other Poser figures are weight mapped, so you would need to do that yourself. And content is rather limited for all of them. 

Um, Shane, Miki4 is weight mapped

The following figures are weight mapped and available for use in Poser9+

Miki4 (Miki4 was free with Poser9/PP12, now requires purchase)

Roxie/Rex (free with Poser 10/PP14)

Antonia (free)

Dawn/Dusk (both free at Hivewire3D)

Victoria4 (requires purchase of Victoria4 at DAZ)

Anastasia/Shae (requires purchase)

Tyler (Tyler was free with Poser 9/PP12 I believe)

Then, there's the DAZ Genesis bases which are free with DazStudio and useable in Poser with the DSON importer, if you can get DSON to work on your computer

Genesis/Genesis 2 are designed for DS, that is why they work better in that software than Poser.  DSON importer makes it convenient to port over Genesis/Genesis 2 from DS to Poser retaining much of their functionality and poses.  It is a compromise to extend the use of these meshes across 2 separate applications.  By all means, the conversions are not perfect.  Lags can be overcome by tweaking certain features, other problems may need DS to refine the issues.  

For example, my issue in PP2014 and Genesis 2 is applying genitalia to the figure. Always, the secondary rigged figure for the genitalia appear when conforming to the main character.  Essentially, you have two Genesis 2 figures, one poseable, the other not.  My workaround this problem, load both figures into DS, save out the scene in DS format, then import the scene into Poser using a 3rd party free app (Dimension3D's DSONLoader)  This is a little inconvenient, but it's the best workaround I can figure out ATM.  

BTW, I would use the term Genesis 2 rather than G2, G2 is a different set of models available from Content Paradise.

The following figures are weight mapped and available for use in Poser9+

Glitterati, do you have any opinions on the for-pay figures (Miki, V4/WMV4, Anastasia, etc) as compared to the free ones?  i.e.--"Miki is great because she's got more polys than any of the free options (even Genesis 2?) and she bends better", or whatever.  Keeping in mind I want to be able to tweak the figure to be more realistic than out-of-the-box V4, and that I don't really care that much about clothing (I can solve that other ways).

For example, my issue in PP2014 and Genesis 2 is applying genitalia to the figure

hborre, I'm curious to understand your problem better, and, more importantly, how well the work-around works (& how time-consuming is it).

So you bring a Genesis 2 figure into Poser with DSON...and you also tried bringing in some kind of genitalia add-on into Poser with DSON (do you know the name of the add-on and what site you purchased at)?  But you end up with a second, non-posable human attached to those genitalia?

What do you do back in DS, delete the second, non-posable human?  Once you load back into Poser, is your figure posable, and everything works fine then?

The genitalia is part of the Pro package which you must purchase from DAZ.  The application of the aforementioned body part is perfect in DS, it conforms as it should without a secondary, non-poseable figure.  I simply save the figure as a scene in DS .duf format.  That scene is imported back into Poser and the new figure appears and responses as it should and everything works fine.  I have researched this issue on the internet and have not found any significant mention nor a solution.  I spent quite some time finding a workaround that actually worked.  Now I am trying to understand the why this is happening.

That scene is imported back into Poser and the new figure appears and responses as it should and everything works fine.

hborre, I'm curious, why do you choose to bring it back into Poser rather than stay in DS?  Because you're combining with other Poser-only content, or you prefer Poser for some reason...interface, clothing, lighting, rendering, whatever?

Hi there

Please have look on AlfaSeeD V4WMAS which is too free script for injecting the WM(Weight map),just search on Google...

Those issues with Genitalia and G2F I've never have and I'm using too Poser Pro,I've tried last time and everything has worked as should,no issues at all.

Agree with Miki 4,its great figure although I'm not using her as I would want,I still prefer to use V4 with SSS(EZSKin is great plugin for making SSS skins from non SSS or with this you can tweak too SSS skins which sometimes comes better after you will run through this plugin and yes its free)

I still think Poser SSS is bit better than Studio one,but this is my view on that...

I prefer Poser due the easy setting up the lighting,interface is good too and few addons which are there like Cloth Room,Fitting Room and IDL etc

Thanks,Jura

The following figures are weight mapped and available for use in Poser9+

Glitterati, do you have any opinions on the for-pay figures (Miki, V4/WMV4, Anastasia, etc) as compared to the free ones?  i.e.--"Miki is great because she's got more polys than any of the free options (even Genesis 2?) and she bends better", or whatever.  Keeping in mind I want to be able to tweak the figure to be more realistic than out-of-the-box V4, and that I don't really care that much about clothing (I can solve that other ways).

Truthfully, for your purposes, I don't think you can do better than Anastasia and Tyler.  Because the artist who created these figures paid attention to muscle and shape detail when creating the morphs for these figures.  Blackhearted is the best of the best.

Sorry, jasond22, the forum software is being silly tonight and wouldn't let me finish my post.

I wanted to add......please keep in mind that I have never used Genesis or Genesis2.  I don't use Daz Studio nor the DSON importer, so I can't give you an opinion on those figures.

The genesis figures are all based on the same mesh,they  can be made into anything from what I've seen here and other places.  And I haven't played with ds for, well, never seriously.  You have poser ten, a lot of the things that you'd have to pay for in DS are included in Poser ten already.  I have never wasted any money on any of the genesis things, first, dson does nothing but crash my computer, and my opinion of DS itself is worse than a virus.  It may have "improved", but I'll never know.

Dawn and dusk are genital free.  if you want genitals, that means additional expense from another vendor that makes them.  I had Dawn, thought so much of that, she ended up in the recycle bin fast.  I have vicky 4.2 and most of the morph packs, were I looking for that kind of figure, she might get some use.  For bending cleanly, Roxie and Rex are the best in my opinion.  Mike 4, maybe usable the way he comes with the morphs ++, but like all daz offerings, without the added morph packs, not much use.  Dawn and Dusk are free, and without added morphs, solid oak.  Expressions limited,(may have been fixed by now, I don't know) weight mapped, I don't know how well.  Glitter gave a list of weight mapped figures but they are poser only, will not work in DS.  Some have had luck with using DSON and Poser, I start DSON and my computer reboot is the only way it does anything after that. 

Firefly render engine in Poser, poor as some say it is, still much faster than DS's native engine.  You'll see a lot of third party render engines for DS, with reason.  Poser has occasional updates available, free with the s/n of your copy.  DS gets another verson, another interface instead.Poser has a manual on disk, DS doesn't have a manual.  Third party blogs are not a manual.  The much hated Alyson included with poser is not a bad figure if you use what is included in morph capability.  Anastasia, nice for a younger figure, based on Alyson.  However, an "out of the box" Alyson is anything but pretty.  Turning dials is required and effective.

DS dynamic cloth has exactly one vendor, Poser dynamic won't work and the other way around applies.  Poser weight mapped figures don't work in DS.

I don't know if Poser 10 has the morph tools, I have poser pro2014 and that one tool cures a multitude of pokethrough sins easily.  The fitting room for clothing requires a bit of working with, but works.  These are not simple softwares, they require some getting used to.  Personal taste plays a huge part in deciding which to use.

Choice is yours as you have them both, what works for you is something nobody else can tell you, that's something you have to decide.

Doric

I have heard, that although Dusk is genital free, M4's genitals fit him just fine. Umm, let me rephrase that... will work on him. Hmm, you know there's no way to really say that without it sounding dirty.

"hborre, I'm curious, why do you choose to bring it back into Poser rather than stay in DS?  Because you're combining with other Poser-only content, or you prefer Poser for some reason...interface, clothing, lighting, rendering, whatever?"

I cut my teeth on Poser and I am more familiar with it's features than I do with DS.  Plus, I'm a troubleshooter, I love to figure out software problems.

Genesis/Genesis 2 are designed for DS, that is why they work better in that software than Poser.  DSON importer makes it convenient to port over Genesis/Genesis 2 from DS to Poser retaining much of their functionality and poses.  It is a compromise to extend the use of these meshes across 2 separate applications.  By all means, the conversions are not perfect.  Lags can be overcome by tweaking certain features, other problems may need DS to refine the issues.  

For example, my issue in PP2014 and Genesis 2 is applying genitalia to the figure. Always, the secondary rigged figure for the genitalia appear when conforming to the main character.  Essentially, you have two Genesis 2 figures, one poseable, the other not.  My workaround this problem, load both figures into DS, save out the scene in DS format, then import the scene into Poser using a 3rd party free app (Dimension3D's DSONLoader)  This is a little inconvenient, but it's the best workaround I can figure out ATM.  

BTW, I would use the term Genesis 2 rather than G2, G2 is a different set of models available from Content Paradise.

I must apologize to you...I've tested now and yes seems genitalia seems is wrong.. What is best workaround on this there?

I've tried to save scene as DUF in DAZ3D,but Genitalia on G2F is same and mat doesn't apply like should  and I've been using too DSONLoader

Thanks,Jura

Um, Shane, Miki4 is weight mapped

Yes I know. I was listing the WM figures that come with Poser. Miki4 is a separate purchase.  I had forgotten about the AlfaSeed V4. Downloading her now, haha. 

Dang, I forgot about Shae too, and she's my favorite of the BH girls. 

It works better in DS. 

Can you elaborate on that?  I've heard there may be lag with DSON.  Is that it?  Or is actual functionality compromised?  I understand if a figure or an add-on doesn't support Poser/DSON, then you can't have that figure/functionality (unless you can hack it yourself).  But if it does support Poser, does that mean it works fully (except for lag)?  Or, what kinds of things end up not working even with DSON?

The genesis figure was designed to work fully only with DS. 'Genesis' is a system, not a figure, and part of the system in built into DS. While it is possible to use it in Poser, you do not get all the functionality. It -is- possible get most of it, but there are several python scripts you would have to run to do so. Essentially, it boils down to whether or not you feel the number of hoops you have to jump through is justified by the end results. If you do nudes where the presence of genitals can be somewhat crucial, hop over to renderotica.com and check out the for purchase items. Then ask around. There are for free items that people can direct you to. Poser tends to use more industry standard file formats, and all its internal files like the CR2 are simple text, so it is easier to get Poser content into other applications. I animate, so this is one of the reasons why I stay with Poser (Poser and Vue is still a lovely combination). Much of the nifty ideas everyone uses today came about a decade or so ago as hacks to get around the P4 limitations (morph injection, ERC, and several other neat tricks). At the moment, there is the most content, free or otherwise, for the Victoria 4 mesh...including morphs to change the figure as much as it can be changed (that gets into modeling, and nifty things like winding order, mesh flow, topology edging, and the like).

It is very hard to beat the PoserPro -Blender combination.

See it this way:

You pay for Poser and get 4GB of content for free.

Or?

get DS for free and pay for the content.

But with Blender any end user can modify each and every Native Poser figure into . . whatever he/she likes.

Hard to beat.

Yes, because it's just that easy ;)

There is a huge difference between Poser 10 and DAZ Studio 4.7 for this market's content. Poser 10 is only 32 bit with the significant memory limitation that includes. If you are happy with rendering NVIATWAS images then that limitation should not bother you much, however once you want to add a bunch of things for her to use that sword on, you run out of Ram really fast. :) 

With full OpenSubdiv Support in DAZ Studio, the need for the, historically, high poly count of Poser/DAZ Studio Content pretty much goes away. 

I will also point out that asking the same question in the  DS forum, would probably have gotten you much different responses. 

Yes, because it's just that easy ;)

Well, you gotta admit, for Vilters, it IS that easy. 'p)

*** Yes it is that easy; Poser + Blender here above..

This is the PoserPro Low Poly Female. (Default they are the most UGLY creatures ever, LOL, but even those morph pretty well in Blender.)
So into Blender she went, and morphed into something I liked a bit better.

Then added some Dynamic hair in Poser.

Then went on to build the dress in Blender.

Then back to Poser to add the precedural texture on the dress. (A combination of the cloud and Weave node)

Next some shoes....

So Poser and Blender are a nice combination.
The rest? Is in the fingertips.

For more Blender results, please feel free to check my freestuff here
All come from Blender and Poser procedural textures.

 Sorry mods, I forgot the Nudity flag, and with the new forum lay-out it is impossible to add afterwards.

Like the search, that is still broken too....

When?
Please. . Whew?

I fixed the nudity tag for you Tony.

The search is not broken, it just works a bit differently. Give me an example of something you want to search for and I'll pull it up for you.

As for the Poser to Blender, the part you're leaving out is that a lot of people don't have the time, patience or interest (or some combination of the 3), in learning how to do all of that. Many that have been using Poser for years still haven't the slightest clue how to go about modeling a piece of clothing, or even a prop, or trying to rig something, or even setting up their own materials. And even those that do can't always do it very well. It takes a lot of time and practice to learn each of those aspects. So that's where content vendors come in. 

 Hi Shane, In 2006, I wrote a tutorial named "Basic Dynamic clothing" or something.

Poser5 had just come out with the "then new dynamic clothing".

I could link to that full page before the "new" forum.

Now when I do the search, only some of the posts show up, each as individual results with their pictures.
But it is impossible to link to the full tread.

I tried the other day.

Do a search for "Vilters" and "basic dynamic clothing", and try to get a working link to the full page, and post it somewhere.

Even the links I posted in the past in different treads to help new Poser users do not work any more. ( Yeah, sometimes individual post returns, but never to the full tread header as before.

 And on your second chapter.

Yeas agreed, the Load - dress - render guys, will be better off with the free DS and buying content as required.

IMHO, Poser is the better app, but it requires time and effort of the end user to learn all the tips and tricks..

it's Vicky 5 super model but I didn't follow 100% just used as guide lines .they will stack if ya want to see the difference. 

there's no DAZ Poser characters that's perfect for what I want. I'd like Keiko 6 long legs on Vicky.

 ----

 Clip Studio Pro aka Magna Studio has possible mannequins and a anime character.

 http://static1.squarespace.com/static/51264ee5e4b0beeaf9d382e8/t/51c8de51e4b04e2fd09c4fd6/1372118661356/Screenshot+(2).png.

 And on your second chapter.

Yeas agreed, the Load - dress - render guys, will be better off with the free DS and buying content as required.

IMHO, Poser is the better app, but it requires time and effort of the end user to learn all the tips and tricks..

ROFL, like there's not a ton of load, pose, render folks using Poser. No less time is required for DS users to learn all the tips and tricks - at least there wasn't for DS3.  I can't imagine much changed with DS4, particularly since there is still no user manual.

None of these apps are "easy" and Blender certainly isn't required to use Poser.  No other app is required.  The fact that you like to combine the two is your personal preference, nothing more.

Genesis2 in action  Roxie in action

To the OP:

If you choose to go with genesis 2, it might get very expensive, even with the free Daz Studio. The base characters alone costs $44.95 apiece. And most content at Daz has skyrocketed in price recently. Of course, for your use, it might be enough to simply use the genesis 2 male and female bases, which are free with studio, but if you want more versatility, you need to purchase the character packs.

For the use you are describing, I would try out Antonia. She is free (at RDNA), weightmapped and has quite a few freebies available, both for clothes, poses and morphs. If all you need is a reference render, it should be plenty.

Since you already have Poser, play with the included figures. The add-on morph packs for the Poser Generation 2 females and males are very inexpensive at RuntimeDNA - search for the ultimate head and body morphs. The Poser Generation two females are

Sydney (Caucasian, comes with Poser)

Olivia (separate purchase, African)

JessiG2 (Caucasian)

Males:

Simon (Caucasian, comes with Poser)

Kelvin (African, separate purchase)

JamesG2 (Caucasian)

KojiG2 (Asian, separate purchase)

The Poser Generation 2 figures can share clothing, the heads are different.

JamesG2 and JessiG2 are available as a free download if you have a valid Poser serial number. Basically, if you have Poser, you already have Sydney, Simon, JessiG2 and JamesG2. You can add the extra morphs for very little money, they are all in the Deep Freeze section at RDNA, heavily discounted.

All these figures work in the Poser face room, and also come with additional face shaping morphs. If you add the 'ultimate' morphs, you have a huge amount of versatility.

Poser user taking here - I freely admit that I am not objective. I am not sure how much you have to spend on Daz add-ons to equal the functionality of Poser - every now and then I begin to add it up and then stop. Dynamic cloth and hair for instance, seem very expensive for Daz Studio. And I don't know if Daz Studio has anything like Poser's morph brush. In Poser Pro, you can weight-map any figure with one click.

@Zev0
Great work on the Roxie animation, I enjoyed that, it's the sort of thing that needs putting about for Roxie :-)

@RorrKonn
Using a Vickie for reference, that was brave :-D

One thing that hasn't been mentioned I think is dynamic clothing. Correct me if I'm wrong as I don't use Studio often but the dynamics in Studio require Optitex (or whatever) clothing. So there's a cost for the plugin and the clothing is supplied by a single vendor. Poser cloth is built in and I frequently convert conforming clothing to dynamic simply by saving it out as an obj and reimporting. Not to mention all the freebies you can find around. If you need total realism in your renders dynamic is a must unless all your characters are standing or wearing close fitting garments. Something you might want to take into consideration.

Genesis, Genesis 2 Female and Genesis 2 Male are the base figures and they are free either with DAZ Studio or the DSON Importer plug-in for Poser.  There is no need to buy the other characters for them if you don't want, what you will want is their morph bundles that allows you to change their shape and proportions.  The only downside of not having the other character morphs like Victoria 6 is you wont have the extra UV mapping many of them come with.

Aiko 3!

I do a lot of portraits, and I use DS and Poser, and a myriad selection of figures from Michelle, to Dusk, to V4, to Roxie, to Genesis 2 HD. I'm just going to offer my opinion, however.

As far as I'm concerned, the most realistic figures on the market are Genesis 2 model varieties. Not the base, but the base figure addons (Victoria 6, Olympia 6, Lee 6, etc -- and especially the $30 HD morphs for each figure), Proportions can be changed, but you may need to buy scaling add-ons for that. Also, you'll need morph packs to change the shapes and faces. Yes, you can spend a lot of money making the figures look truly realistic, but at least it can be done. Short of modelling in Zbrush yourself, none of the Poser figures will come as close (when it comes to muscle definition, bony protrusions, and skin fold and flesh shape details AND versatility). Just look at the promos. WYSIWYG.

You'll spend just as much getting Victoria 4 up to speed and the result won't be as good. As far as I know, there are no morphs that make the Poser native figures even come close to the level of realism, with the exception of Anastasia and Tyler. But while they are very good indeed, they also lack a lot of the versatility that Genesis 2 has, especially in the face and expressions. 

Genesis 2 works well enough in 64 bit Poser to render a single figure, easily. However, if I'm not mistaken, Poser 10 is only 32 bit.... so probably not so good.

Out of the box, Poser has a much better renderer than Daz Studio -- IMO -- thanks to IDL. However, if you're not concerned with having beautiful lighting for final render and just need the shadows in the right place because you're going to sketch or paint the render, then Daz Studio will work just fine for you.

What you'll primary be missing in DS is dynamic clothing. I find dynamic clothing to be essential for non-nude portraits because almost all the conforming clothing -- except the stuff of the finest quality (and usually highest price) -- looks, well, not very real to me. Fantasy clothing tends to perform better, but I may just think that because I don't see people wearing armor every day. :D However, if you can live with the look of conforming clothing, again, DS will be just fine.

My advice would be for you to install Genesis and the DSON importer so that you can see how it performs in Poser. If it's not to your satisfaction, then I'd go with DS without much further thought. (And I say this as a Poser user who only uses DS when I HAVE to). So, no agenda here. Just my opinion based on my personal experience. :)

Out of the box, Poser has a much better renderer than Daz Studio -- IMO -- thanks to IDL. However, if you're not concerned with having beautiful lighting for final render and just need the shadows in the right place because you're going to sketch or paint the render, then Daz Studio will work just fine for you.

What you'll primary be missing in DS is dynamic clothing. I find dynamic clothing to be essential for non-nude portraits because almost all the conforming clothing -- except the stuff of the finest quality (and usually highest price) -- looks, well, not very real to me. Fantasy clothing tends to perform better, but I may just think that because I don't see people wearing armor every day. :D However, if you can live with the look of conforming clothing, again, DS will be just fine.

While I respect your opinion, and each person has their own eye when it comes to how an image looks when it is done, from a Technical standpoint both 3Delight and Firefly are based on the Renderman standard. The render engines are, technically, equivalent. DS has had IDL aka Global Illumination since at least DS 3. UberEnvironment2 Bounce (GI) is the way to make that happen in DS, though for most art, using AO correctly, is going to get you very similar results in a much shorter amount of time.  Further you aren't missing Dynamic Cloth in DS, though you are missing a way to create it. Optitex is the Fashion Industry standard software for draping cloth and that cloth engine is in DAZ Studio.

Does UberEnvironment2 come with Daz Studio? Or is it an addon purchase? (I thought it was an addon, which is why I said "out of the box").

Optitex dynamic cloth works in DS without buying the plugin, but after reading the forums, I concluded that it's missing a lot of vital functionality without that plugin.

I didn't mention the morph brush, either, which I find essential in smoothing over some of the errors in simulation of complex, multi collision scenes (two figures wearing several items of dynamic clothing each, dancing the tango, for instance ). 

I don't know about DS, but in Poser AO is no substitution for IDL.

Not saying you can't get fantastic renders out of DS. You obviously can, and lots of people do. But it takes practice (and -- I thought, though I'm willing to be corrected on this -- likely the expenditure of some cash on addons). Poser takes practice. Unless you enjoy playing with modellers, both will require the purchase of content.

Moriador Wrote:
"Optitex dynamic cloth works in DS without buying the plugin, but after reading the forums, I concluded that it's missing a lot of vital functionality without that plugin."
Yup, you have to buy the 'Dynamic Clothing Control' to be able to get the most out of it.  It would be a great system if DAZ tried sticking to their word once in a while.  They said years ago that we would be able to clothify our own clothes, and years later, we're still waiting.  They pulled the same crap with Carrara Pro, said that it would get a dynamic clothing system, that was when version 6 was out, so again, we're still waiting multiple releases later.

Moriador Wrote:
"Optitex dynamic cloth works in DS without buying the plugin, but after reading the forums, I concluded that it's missing a lot of vital functionality without that plugin."
Yup, you have to buy the 'Dynamic Clothing Control' to be able to get the most out of it.  It would be a great system if DAZ tried sticking to their word once in a while.  They said years ago that we would be able to clothify our own clothes, and years later, we're still waiting.  They pulled the same crap with Carrara Pro, said that it would get a dynamic clothing system, that was when version 6 was out, so again, we're still waiting multiple releases later.

Actually Optitex reneged on the agreement, not DAZ because the sales weren't there from customers for the budget tools to be created. Dynamic clothing isn't really as popular as some may think, otherwise it would a larger part of each store in the Poserverse. Conforming clothing is much more popular across the board, especially when you consider there's not much need to clothify skimpware. ;)  DAZ probably hasn't pursued another solution because of it. Also uberenviroment is part of DS; DAZ bought out omnifreaker for most of his utilities when version 4 released back in 2011.