Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=610018

The past few days have been quite a ride watching the Stephanie threads on the Forums. We at DAZ like to use the forums as an indicator of how we are doing with our products and to learn what customers expect from us. We continue to listen to your feedback. At first, with the exception of some, it seems that there was a significant amount of negative feedback around Stephanie. The majority of the negative feedback centered on the thinking that DAZ should have developed something directly for Michael like an article of clothing or hairstyle or some morphs as our mystery model. We at DAZ were very surprised at the amount of negative feedback, expecting that the majority of people would really have loved this as the Mystery gift model. This feedback led to some very significant second guessing of our strategy on this product. In hindsight we reflect on how much easier and less costly (about 10% of the development cost) it would have been to create clothing or a morph character or a male hairstyle as the Mystery Model. If we would have done this we most likely would have earned a significant amount of revenue by selling Stephanie as opposed to distributing her free as a thank you for those who purchased Michael 2 or the upgrade. Not to mention, giving away a neck-tie (or something similar) would apparently also have been less controversial than a new female figure. A few days after Stephanie was released we saw a post thanking us for the gift (see attached link). We were so please to hear this positive feedback as a contrast to much of the prior feedback. (Thank you very much for this, by the way.) Now that there has been time for the dust to settle and for people to play around with Stephanie, we would like to know whether or not you feel DAZ did the right thing in giving Stephanie away as the Mystery model. We had suggested in an earlier post that one of the motives for giving away Stephanie would help to increase the user base of Michael. On that basis we feel that Stephanie has been successful since orders for Michael 2 and Michael 2 upgrades increased last week more than double compared to the previous week. This does not account for the number of people who may of bought Michael 2 knowing that there was going to be a bonus model included. The increasing number of installed users of Michael will make it more rewarding for developers to spend their time developing for Michael. On that note, DAZ, is developing a morphing suit coat and tie that will be available for purchase early next week. We also have some other clothing items to come shortly after. We are also aware of some other great Michael products that will be available in the near future. We sincerely thank you for your feedback. It helps us decide the direction that we take in future. We can only judge overall feelings about products by the people who speak up. So please continue to tell us what you think. Dan Farr President DAZ Productions

My first impression of the feedback was that it was overwhelmingly positive. Maybe I missed something, but it took a few "Stehpanie" threads before the negativity started. But, to answer your question, I think it is a helluva deal and a nice thing to do.

Dan, People who complain about getting something free are (well, I won't go there) I will put it simply, for me, I am a huge Michael fan, I would love more Michael hair, clothes, etc, but was thrilled when I got Stephanie. I love her (I really do, not just saying it) and I have just tonight for the first time started working with Michael again. So for each night (and day on weekend) I have been working with Steph Non-stop. Feedback is important, and I have nothing but good to say about the whole Steph thing. You did great in making Stephanie your Mystery Model, and the hype and suspense surrounding her. JDexter

Well I want to say a great big THANK YOU! for making Stephanie the mystery model. I'm still pretty new to Poser and as much as I wanted to get Mike and Vicky I just can't justify to myself the expense (not that they're unreasonably priced mind you, just a bit out of reach for me to spend on a hobby). But with the release of Mike2 and throwing Stephanie in for free I just couldn't pass that up! Now I have two great, extremely well crafted characters to learn with and I couldn't be happier. I couldn't believe the negativity so many people have shown towards Stephanie. I mean for crying out loud people, Daz has given her to us for the cost of Mike2! How often do you see a "Buy one, get one free" offer like that??? It's one thing when you buy bread like that but something like this? So it wasn't the hair, or the clothes, or whatever for Mike so many hoped for. There's still outlets for that sort of thing. If someone asked the great artists here to make something they needed it's almost a certainty that enough other people would show an interest and before long it would show up in the marketplace or possibly even in the free stuff. Well I'm finished with my rant now. I humbly relinquish the soapbox to the next poster.

Stephanie is a great model. I've been putting her through the paces and she stands up like a trooper. Good move, btw, on making her fit Vicky clothes. Without that, it'd be a major bummer. Besides which, you gave her for free--well, to those who'd already purchased Michael. I, for one, would have bought the Michael upgrade without the freebie so I still consider her as free. You guys over there continue your exploring and know that there are those of us where who appreciate you traveling different roads sometimes.

Thank you for posting here... I was just about to cruise on over to DAZ' site to thank you guys for the improved morph abilities in Steph... I admit that I have yet to test my own copy for the two bugs that have cropped up and mentioned in the forum here (the teeth and the shoulder joint thingy), but OTOH, Mike2 is the first Michael model I've bought, and from first impressions, there's a whole lot of potential in his mesh that I have yet to explore... (Just too busy making props and stuff, I guess :) Seriously - a new tie or some trinket for Mike would've had far less impact on me, a guy who had only the P4 Dork as a male model, and to be honest, I doubt I'd have bothered with Mike if the mystery model were a tie or even clothing for Mike... Now, due to my inexorable greed (some call it "thrift") I have this male character that beats good ol' P4 Dork by a HUGE margin. As far as a wish list, Mike and Steph could certainly use a few more clothing items (even though Steph can wear pretty much everything Vicky has, I notice that Mike is waaay short on clothes. Hint: Get Mike taken care of first grin ) Currently, if you're going to make any clothes otherwise, the Mil Girls could use some basic clothing sets badly: Socks, bikini-style shorts, and full-length pants would top my list. I'm currently struggling to get a pair of socks built from scratch (for home use until I can learn how to do MOR or Objaction Mover files.) BTW - I live just up the road here in Layton; do you guys allow tourists down there in Draper? I'd like to see about dragging a couple of my students (DATC) down there some time and show them how a full-blown 3D shop operates. If they don't go, I'd still like to... Again, you guys have done well. Regd's, /P

I think with the amount of time that passed between the initial announcement and the final release of the mystery model, you would have seen a lot of negative feedback no matter what it had been. There was just too much time for everyone to become convinced it would be that left handed electric toothbrush theyve always wanted and so when it turned out not to be that, they were disappointed. Hence you would have seen a lot of negative feedback no matter what you made. Im sure if it really had been a new clothing item or hair object for Michael, the screams would have been just as loud if not louder. Weve also seen a lot of ungrateful whining about free items lately here at Renderosity and Im not surprised to see that DAZ isnt immune to the trend. I think Steph is great. I cant imagine anything more versatile and useful you could have given us (well, except for the left handed electric toothbrush of course). Im extremely impressed that you would give away such a useful figure. Shes definitely able to fill needs that Vicki cant and thats a very good thing. I can see how at the moment she adds to the user base for Mike, but once the free offer ends, I cant see it. It seems to me that development for Steph is a whole different thing to development for Mike. There is really not that much they can share. Head morphs are the only thing I can think of and not all of those transfer all that well. Are you planning to make some kind of discount for buying both Mike and Steph as a permanent thing? If not, then how do you envisage Steph contributing to the Mike user base once the special offer ends?

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Personally, I like Stephanie... and I REALLY like that you gave her away to us. It makes me glad that I buy from you. You treat me the way I think a customer SHOULD be treated... and that's a rare thing nowadays. So kudos to everyone who made Stephanie possible!

Dan, I hate to have to agree with you on this (because it's too late now), but you're right. You SHOULD have sold her and given away a hairstyle or some clothing. You could have made a pile selling her, especially since there are so many people here with cash burning a hole in their pockets waiting for Poser 5.

I think if you're almost dealing with the "no win scenario" here. Almost everyone has a favorite item wish list and when it comes to a mystery model, that item for over a month will have been the one they were hoping you'd make. For those who wanted another female model, they'll happily go get it & for the most part say nothing. For those who wanted something else, they'll be disappointed and will be the ones you hear from. Please just remember how much negative feedback there was for Vicky when she came out and how its changed once people gave her a chance and learned what she could do. A few months from now all these negative comments will be forgotten, Stephy will be every bit as popular as Vicky and everyone will be glad to have her as a welcome addition to Poser's universe. Let me add my thanks for everything your store does to make my hobby a fun thing to do. NW316

I'm sorry to hear that you feel that Stephanie recieved such a negative reception. I guess it's not said enough, so let me say that I consider it extremely generous of DAS to have given this model away for free. Thank very much John Stroo

Dan, I agree that DAZ could have put together a less expense "Mystery Model" than Stephanie but I'm glad DAZ didn't! I think Stephanie is great and I'm happy with her, not to mention grateful for such a wonderful gift!

I understand that DAZ wants to listen to its customers so they can better accomodate them, however when people moan and bit*ch for stupid reasons then I would simply disregard them. Listen to the customers who are actually making sense and hopefully doing it in a civil manner.

Jazz

Vive Bene.  Spesso L'Amore.  Di Risata Molto.
Live Well.  Love Often.  Laugh Much.

I haven't had time to play with her yet, but, imho, Stephanie is genuinely pretty. Sorry, but I don't think Vicky is pretty...she's too, I don't know, something. Too super-model-perfect-untouchable looking. Stephanie is finally pretty (Posette is pretty also). I never expected anything of this magnitude myself...it was a wonderful surprise. Thank you so much.

All I really remember about it was that someone asked what we thought DAZ should have done about the mystery model. More specifically, something like, "who would have preferred something different?" I don't think it was too terribly negative, really, and most people simply answered the question, but then other people started saying we were "ungrateful" for doing so. I'm grateful. Hell, I wouldn't have cared if y'all had given us nothing! I don't expect the Bud man to drive up to my door one day with a free case of Budweiser because I've been buying it for 20 years. But, Stephanie is a good model, ad thank you, DAZ!

As someone who is a complete tightwad, I must say from my very limited playtime with Mike2 and Steph that my motheaten money was well spent. From all indications these are the most valuable items I've boughten since Poser4...period. The fact that you GAVE Stephanie away with Michael 2 was not only very generous, but a great way to truly enhance Poser for users like me who have only been using the standard figures and wanted to upgrade, but are cheapskates waiting in the weeds for the moment to strike! Mike2 and Steph are each worth what you charged for Mike2 alone. Dont think twice about the decisions you made regarding the Mystery Model, in my opinion you did the best possible thing I could have wanted. Keep up the outstanding work Daz, you've made me a believer. And to anybody reading this thread and still thinking about it, go and Get Mike2 quick before the Stephanie offer ends! You won't regret it.

Dan, I for one think that Steph was a marvelous idea!! You could have done something less expensive this is true, but I think in the long run in terms of customer satisfaction that you did the right thing :) I have not touched Vicky since I installed Steph, I'm sure I will, but right now I'm really entranced with her capabilities and her "real look". My only gripe is that now you have forced me to learn the templates for the big three :) I am going to try my best to port my favorite textures from Vicki over to Steph...sorry but it's a pocket book thing and I just have so many darn textures anyway, I can't justify to myself starting to spend money on a whole new texture wardrobe when there are other things that I would rather spend my money on that will be more useful to me as an artist. :) But I am VERY grateful and happy that you all did what you did. As far as the negative feedback goes, well, it's just going to happen, but I do not believe that it was the majority of the reaction. Thank you again!! Pendy

Dan, I truely believe it's a case of the "silent majority" thing. I'm happy with Stephanie, but haven't said anything on the forums about her. I think you are seeing the tip of the iceburg, with those spotting problems or having problems with her speaking up while the majority of us are just quietly playing away! From this happy "customer", thanks, and sorry I haven't said it sooner. mike

We had suggested in an earlier post that one of the motives for giving away Stephanie would help to increase the user base of Michael. Well, I am one of the publically confessed to have bought Michael2 just to get Stephanie! :) (Just a random thought: if Eve hadn't been a much used name, it would have been a cool name for the girl that was built from Michael's mesh. ;) Oh well, Michael wasn't named Adam... ahh nevermind, I said it's a random thought! :P ) Cheers to you! I'll be sure to get my friends to drink a round at our St Paddy's Day drinkies for DAZ's Stephanie, although most of them won't know what the heck I'm talking about 8D

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a sweet disorder in the dress kindles in clothes a wantoness,
do more bewitch me than when art is too precise in every part

I really appreciate the time and effort you folks put into Stephanie, she is wonderful and the fact that she was provided as a bonus for the purchase of Mike2 was extremely generous. I saw some of the first posts, but after being around these forums for a while I really think that reading an offhanded comment is misleading. I think it is like seeing the wrapped present under the tree...after you tear the wrapping off you look around and think is that it, I thought there would be more....but really you need only look at the texture artists busy making textures, the picture makers making pictures and the prop makers making props....everyone seems to be genuinely pleased with Stephanie....I know I am. She is a wonderful mystery model....thank you so much for thinking of your customers...

Tell 100 kids at random they're getting "something special" next time Uncle Bob visits, you'll likely get 8 to 20 who convince themselves it's a pony, and feel devastated when it's "only" their own DVD player - which works better in a 3 room apartment anyway:-)) I like the Stephanie model. I like how it's both versatile & sideways-compatible with so much I already have. I read the comment in the DAZ email that it was a Character for mike, and wasn't really expecting more than a new morph and texture. I was actually pretty blown away when I learned it was Stephanie instead! I've a lot of positive threads & comments, and a few grumpy or disgruntled posts by some who let their own unrealistic expectations blind them to the huge value Stephanie represents. I've noticed something similar happen pretty much every time a major new character is introduced in the Poser Universe. And the P4 stock figures as well! With a membership of 50-70,000 members (not sure of the total, just now) The fact that a dozen or two folk expected something more in line with their own favorite projects, is hardly remarkable (especially with as vocal a group as this). In fact I'm surprised it's died down so much so soon. I posted a lineup of 20-odd existing Michael textures that could be used with little modification to demonstrate how Stephanie could be used with minimal investment "right-out-of-the-EXE", and a goofy comparison of the morphs that could be done by swapping out the OBJ's between Michael & Stephanie. As more folks take some time to actually check Stephanie out, the holdouts will come around.

I am really grateful to have Stephanie, and for free!! There's more variety in the Poser world now. Just think of the people who are trying to get started with the Millennium characters. It's sometimes hard to find the money for one character. With the DAZ Mystery model, a person could get a first class male and female character in one transaction. Thanks DAZ. Stephanie is wonderful and beautiful. Ron

All you hard-workin' DAZ folks, Stephanie is a fantastic model!! I bought Michael 2.0 back before anything was ever said about the "Mystery Model" and I was more than pleased that I would be getting a little present for buying him when you announced it. I did not expect the "Mystery Model" to be anything as great as Stephanie. Disgruntled about a whole new female figure? NOT ME! I was more than pleased with Stephanie...I was ecstatic...and that was before I ever opened her in Poser. ;o) When I actually did open her...I was all smiles. She's just terrific! Thank you guys so much for all the hard work you did! You spoiled us kids good and rotten with such a great gift! -Emily Thrasher aka. nikitacreed

Being among the silent majority I can honestly say I am happy with Stephanie. I generally dont post here but I dont want the people at DAZ thinking that it was not a good idea to give away Stephanie. Two models for the price of one are is a great deal. A hairstyle or an article of clothing would have been nice but not as compelling as new model.

I'll freely admit, I bought Mike 2 because of the Mystery Model. Since I am always looking for a deal when I purchase a model it was to good an oppertunity to pass up. Though I desperatly hoped for the Millenium Dragon, I figured we'd get the Millenium Necktie :0 When I realised we were getting a whole new figure. I was surprised. When I downloaded her and realised she was a full blown figure, with all the features I was stunned. And she can wear Vicky Clothes too?!! This chick rocks! Not only have you opened people up to the idea to there being more than Vicky and Mike as the Premium models in the Poser world, your generosity has won me over as a customer and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Me too, Dan.. I like her! Stephie is fun to work with and it is great to have the variety. I already told you folks thanks in an email, but thank you again just the same!

I like stephnie. I didnt get her free though. Cause I really dont think I have a use for mike right now. I bought her. and I think that she was well worth the money I spent. Im glad she wears vicki's clothes. Wish she shared vick's textures. Still a cool idea to give her away as an incentive.

I thanked the folks at DAZ in an email as well - I am very pleased with Steph and think I'll probably be using her more than Vicky - primarily because her face is so much more realistic and lends itself well to a number of different looks. Admittedly, Mike needs more "stuffage", but judging from the number of female vs male renders we see in the galleries, there doesn't seem to be enough support or demand for it. As a thought, however, what would REALLY be cool for a "down-the-road" product is to take the Mike/Stephanie thing one step further, and create a character that can be morphed into a male OR a female. Clothing developers can then create clothing that can be worn by both figures (pants are pants, and shirts are shirts, for example). If the same morphs are built into the clothing, they can be adapted for males and females in one step. It will be interesting to see how Poser 5 would fit in with this idea as well. 8-)

All of those complaining about something free can go hang. You guys made a very generous gesture and I for one appreciated it greatly. I'm a full time college student and like others here buying things for poser is quite.. costly. Lately I've boughten a lot simply because I had a little extra and it's so much better to get it when it first comes out and is cheaper... SOOO I was very excited about the you giving away such a high quality model. I think it was a good thing to do and a very nice thing to do. You could have put it out and everyone would have bought it anyway (and probably without complaining as much!) But I want to join everyone else in saying thank you. I can only wish other companies behaved with such regard for their customers. Anz

I think she is great, Dan. I'm happy. :) Beth

I haven't used Poser in several months, but after hearing that Michael 2.0 had been released, I decided I might give it a try again. I thought about whether the expense of upgrading my Michael was worth it, and when I found out I'd get a freebie, too, it clinched the deal for me. I would have even been happy with a free set of poses for Michael, but a whole new model? I STILL find it hard to believe you gave away such a fantastic gift! Daz, THANK YOU! She's just beautiful, and thank you SO SO MUCH that she can wear Victoria's clothing! I am truly grateful for Stephanie and I have to applaud each and every one of the brilliant minds who worked on her. Dan, please tell her developers what a marvelous job they did! I'm not going to put anyone down for being disappointed with Stephanie. I suppose it is understandable for those who were hoping for something extra for Michael. But I, for one couldn't be happier if you'd given me a whole wardrobe for Michael. I am truly grateful. "Tank you veddy much."

I really don't understand the negative feedback either. Okay, when I got to the DAZ store and saw that you'd made a female from Michael's mesh, I was sceptical. But I looked at the renders and found a face that I was immediately more happy with than Vickie's default face. And I had my voucher. So I got her and then purchased a texture set for her and went to make my own renders. I am glad that you made Stephanie. She's lovely and has a lot of potential for developement, and she takes Vickie's clothes. *smirk* I would though be VERY interested in a P4 Version of Stephie. I have a HUGE collection now of conforming clothing for Posette and would still like to use them with the high rez figures and texture maps. So if you want an idea for a further developement with Stephie, that would be it from me: A P4 Version of her. Here's my render. She's wearing the helmet from Xurge's Body Jewels collection with my Peacockblack texture (on sale in the store)and Kozaburo's ponytail adjusted to fit her. Liz Pope Dreamspinner

What with this love fest going on, I tremble to ask this question... What is the deal with males having genitals and females not having any? Neither, OK. Both, OK. But males only? I just find that way too weird...

I like her just fine Dan. Another full human figure wasn't what I expected...it was MORE than I expected. Thanks for the gift Daz!

DAZ- Thanx for a very generous and well done model. I think some folx were disappointed, not in Stephanie so much, but that they couldn't guess what the Mystery Model was! She is more than anyone seemded to expect! I expect you all at DAZ enjoyed your Teaser Campaign for the mystery as much as we all did. -Don

Dan, they say vairety is the spice of life, and Daz and the people whom work there, have certainly added spice to my life with Stephanie. I think it was a wonderful gift, and I am so happy with her :) so thanks to Daz and all those that help make it what it is! And thanks also for the freebies each week, they are so appreciated :)

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Stephanie rocks, Mike 2 rocks, Vicky Rocks, Mil Baby rocks, Daz rocks! BTW, speaking of mesh versatility I've successfully converted Vicky 2 into a Male character, and Mike 2 into a adolescent, using ONLY the preset morphs (I'll include a pic of the Millennium Kid, it isn't perfect, as I only spent limited time on it, but it goes to show the versatility of this M2 mesh). I love Stephanie, and I think Daz is on the RIGHT TRACK! More variety, more power to the artist. I think all of this controversy will, in the end, perhaps, play out well in the end, as it will increase exposure of the product, thus more sales. The free market will decide, and in my opinion, Daz3D is plugged in! There will be nothing but success for Daz3d, as far as I can see, the ONLY question would be the future of Poser (as Daz is primarily developing for Poser), which from what Kupa told us about the features, looks bright. I'm also GLAD to hear the words, "Vicky 3.0"!!! God bless all y'all, Ben Burton MessianicArt.com

Oh, also, SeanG's Mikey 3 is on the right, Mike 2 is on the left. As you can see, it isn't perfect, though, but with some more time, more patience, it could work great. ben

I was a little surprised at the negative feed back as well, it was a gift after all. But, I guess its better to hear what people honestly want so you know whats going to sell. I would have thought that with the amount of images depicting females that a new female would have made everyone excited. I havent had any time to really play with Stephanie but it is an intriguing model. Since its based on Michael Im looking forward to the same adaptability that Ive found in Michael which is so far, my favorite model. Ive said this before, but, your models have added a whole new functionality to Poser and I think the product is better as whole because of them. Youve given the ability to make very realistic images to hobbyist and professional alike but at cost that is only fraction of what I would have expected to pay. I have seen some amazing work done by artists in this community using Poser, your models, and a little post work. As long as your models continue to have the same quality and adaptability that they do now, Ill keep buying them. Thanks

Also, I loved how the Mystery Model was hyped. I guessed and guessed, and thought it was the Mil Baby, or a Millennium Kid based on Mike. Others thought it would be a character for Mike, perhaps a Centaur. And when someone posted with the name "Ms. Trie" and a render of Steph - I loved it! It was great! It topped all of the guesses I heard. The name "Ms. Trie" was kind of exciting to read, and not get it immediately, but then it was like a light turned on, an epiphany! It was great. Another thing I like is Mike's eye textures work well on Steph, and so do the body textures (with the exception of the torso, which is fine, if someone just puts a shirt on Steph. And Steph's textures even work on Mike! This is great! ben

Stephanie is great. I'm really enjoying using her. Thank you DAZ. You won't hear any complaints out of me :)

Count me among the silent majority as well, I'm more than pleased with Stephanie. Sar...

I was a bit sceptical at first too, but now I see what a great model Stephanie is. So thank you Daz! Paula

I still think that the concept of a female model that uses the same geometry, morphs, and [with some tweaking, textures] as the male model is a great idea. So far, in all of the reading I've done, and the images I've seen posted, I haven't seen anything to change that opinion. Plus she can wear victoria's clothing. Plus she has actual muscles - a boon to anyone that likes doing female super heroic characters. What's not to like? I'm looking forward to getting her and trying her for myself. Next do a slender [less buffed] male character based off of Victoria's geometry and you'll have a winning set. Now if you can just do a improved posette and dork, I'll be happy. Hey - I've overcome most of my dislike for Vicki, but I still prefer posette. ;]

"I am a good person now and it feels... well, pretty much the same as I felt before (except that the headaches have gone away now that I'm not wearing control top pantyhose on my head anymore)"

• Monkeysmell

I think the positive feed back here should put everyone at Daz's mind to rest on the subject. Ya'll done good. Stephanie is a great addition to anyone's model collection. Easily raising to the top of the most used list. As someone said, it was MORE than I expected. The wait was a little long, but in the end, worth it. Thank you.

Would have to count myself among the silent majority too, far too busy playing about with the New Stephanie model. I feel you certainly did do the right thing. I for one have been checking in on your site everyday since I first got the voucher. Can not think of any other product that has had me doing that :) Thank you Daz HJ

Dan: Congrats on "your" sex change. Trudi here thinks people who kvetch over getting two models for thirty bucks are hilarious. FWIW she's nothing more than about forty minutes' worth of dial diddling. No custom morphs whatsoever. Constructive crit: add some more positioning/scaling dials for the upper teeth. They keep poking through her cheeks when I'm messing with the mouth dials.

Dan THANK YOU! Thanks for the Stephanie model. I used to be in sales. I used to sell to people face to face and have seen at least a 1000 people during that part of my life. I found from that expirience the first and most vocal are usualy the negative people. Hang around here a while. As you can see here the vast majority are positive and new things for this new character are being made at a record pace. Now that's excitement! Stephanie successfully addressed a need for another choice in Female character meshes. Kind of a 1 1/2 Generation step female mesh. (Mikes mesh just seems like it's base construction turned out better being the second human mesh that was released.) The introduction of her this way gave me the feeling that DAZ is making a great upward move in it's product line with this promo and frankly a lesser freebe with Mike2 would have been an anti-climax. You did good! Only thing that's changed now is Mike2 has SUCCESSFULLY increased interest in Mike based products and so the shift in the demand for products toward Mike is no surprise. I just get the impression after a slow demand for Mike products during the Mike1 period this might feel like whip-lash. :) THANK YOU :) Aza

I purchased Mike 2 prior to the mystery model madness, so Steph is a real bonus for me. She is different from Vicky and I like her because of this. PS: Is there any substance to the rumors that DAZ will morph Mike into the Millenium Horse? ;)

Personally I was delighted to hear we were getting another figure model. When I actually loaded Stephanie up I was overjoyed!

Many thanks to all at DAZ3D for this wonderful gift.

Simon.

I would like to thank you for giving us Stephanie as a gift. I think you'll find that the majority of people don't post messages in the forums so it's probably hard to gage what the popular opinion of her is. As more textures become available...you'll probably see the gallery fill up with images of her. I've been using her all week and think she is a gorgeous model. So don't let the spoiled children speak for the majority here because I think most of us appreciate your generosity! THANKS!!

My idea of rebooting is kicking somebody in the butt twice!

Hi Dan,

you just made the right decision.
Since the Chargre and the Camel, we've never seen such a model offered for free. And what a model !
I really love Stephanie. Another character fillde up with morphs and different from vicky.

I was really surprised to read such negative feeback. I think a lot of people were deceived about the body being similar to vicky ( Stephanie FBM : 0 ) but it needed to be close to vicky's in order to use her clothes.

And people may have been disapointed because they had to get new textures for her. But that's just a matter of time. We'll have plenty of them available soon.

Now, concerning Michael, a lot of people got it. And that's a good thing for him. I see Stephanie as a commercial exercise and a great thank you to people who already bought Michael 2.0. Now, every person who got Stephanie also got Mike. I's more interesting to develop something for him.

So, thank you Daz team for what has certainly be a time consuming figure to do. I love Steph. She's new and versatile, and you just offered her to us ! THANKS !

joelegecko

Credits : Steph texture by Thumper, Hair by Anton, hair texture by Nfredman and everything else by DAZ :)

1. I love Steph 2) I hate whiners Paraphrased feedback. - Gazzy

Dan & the DAZ team; As an example (and since Ironbear mentioned heroic characters), here's my first real work with Stephanie...a work I couldn't have done as well on without her... Something I've always tried to live by: Never second-guess yourself. The game plan you followed with Stephanie was beautiful, and has cemented the DAZ name into the ranks of those few companies who value the EXISTING customer, as well as the FUTURE customer. There will always be the knee-jerk naysayer's with any effort like this...but I think the overwhelmingly positive reaction from those here who are considered 'regulars' speaks for itself. And if not, I'll add my voice to those praising and thanking you for a wonderful gift, which will see plenty of usage in my renderings... Thank you Dan, thank you DAZ...you did yourselves proud... David 'ChromeTiger' Hebbe

Dan Should DAZ have spent less time and produced something else as the mystery model? Looking from a business perspective, yes. Am I glad they didn't? You betch. I bought Michael 2.0 before I knew anything about the mystery model right after he came out. So maybe that is why I didn't have any expectations. It was an added suprise when I heard about it and my voucher was mailed to me. However, if I had to choose between an outfit for Michael and Stephanie, hands down I would have chosen Ms. Trie. As a gift, you were more than generous giving her. Unfortunately I have seen some of the negative feedback. The only thing I can say is that luckily they aren't the majority. Unfortunately, maybe enough of us haven't spoken up. (We have been to busy playing ;) I for one love Stephanie. I think DAZ has been beyond generous and it drives me crazy to see people complaining about the gift. Unfortunately, we have been seeing that all to often lately. But I think as you can see, now that you have started this thread, most of us are beyond pleased. So my deepest thanks for a wonderful gift. Angela

I'll just join this big happy crowd as well ;) Thank you SO much for Stephanie, she is absolutely fantastic and to think you guys gave her out for free for us Michael2 purchasers... so unbelievable! :)) THANK YOU

Just a few random thoughts..... mostly directed in defense... or maybe not... of the nay sayers. Granted my husband was one of the biggest ones when he first heard the news.... They're emasculating Michael and giving him breats, slapping a $30 price tag on her and calling her a bargain? Okay admittedly, that sounds like a bad idea, especially considering how much most of us have paid for Victoria, the supposedly end all be all of Poser Female Models. It would almost seem that Daz was trying to make up for their own in ability to produce a better Victoria with more range. On paper... or rather in text it looks like a bad deal.... You're giving us another female? We've got scads of them already! We've got Victoria morphs and poses and textures and clothing coming out our ears!!! And now you're making something that tosses all that (save the clothing) out the window and making us buy a whole new product line to fit this new wonder you've created? Hasn't Daz got enough of our money with Vicky 2? Okay, now that I've gotten the attention of everyone who is going to likely flame me into next week ;) I'd like to say that this was an innitial impression. On paper, this all sounded like a /bad/ idea for all the reasons listed above... But being one of the lucky who purchased Michael 2 and who has gotten Stephanie and actually had a chance to play with her, I can actually see a great many of the advantages that were not evident in the 'text' above. I personally agree, Vicky is sadly lacking in several departments and Stephanie seems to be addressing lots of these from what I hear. The unfortunate part is that Vicky could not have been used to upgrade into Stephanie... or at the very least that Daz could not have included a Texture map that would have allowed Vicky's textures to be used on Stephanie. I know a great many people are working on this problem privately, but knowing your audience already has spent a fortune buying fantastic female textures for your ultimate female, producing a new female model with michael's texture map only seemed a bit on the side of shabby for me. I know I will hear back on this but that is my only complaint with Stephanie. Not that she's the mystery model, but that while she was intended to be /MUCH/ more versitile than Victoria in morphs, she is about as useful to Victoria fans as a new rock in the texture department. We either have to go to all the expense of buying your new textures or wait for three weeks for someone to put together a work around... or try to make a cheat ourselves. Personally I feel that DAZ could have gone to a smidge more effort and put together a remap so that she could use the textures we already have as well rather than trying to dig deeper into our pockets with yet another new series of Texture maps that have no real advantage over the current ones except now you can use Michael's facial, chest and pubic hair on a woman..... wow... big improvement ;) Again, I love Stephanie, she's a great model and well worth the price. She looks great /BUT/ I'm eagerly awaiting a good remap for her so that I can use her to the fullest extent of her potential! My only gripe is that DAZ didn't do that in the first place. We have all these ultra high resolution Vicky Maps, use em for heaven's sake, don't make us buy new ones or go through three days work to make a 'cheat' just so we can use your free gift!! It kinda takes the point out of 'free' don'tcha think? Lilfox

heyas; oh, everybody complains about new things when they're new. well, maybe not EVERYbody, but a lot of us! what model is perfect, anyway? (not in the poser universe! :) ) yes, i had a complaint, about the hips, but that's been bugging me since michael 1. and like i said in the 'who wanted a different mystery model' thread, i am very happy with a different millenium woman, since i never bothered with vicky. and i do like her and her masculine muscle morphs and stuff. the only thing i am 'unhappy' about is that she takes victorias clothing, of which i have practically none ;) any model/character/clothing/item you put up as the free mystery model would've gotten the same response, more or less. so relax! :) and thank you for the present!

OK, to be honest, my first impression of Stephanie, straight out of the box, so to speak, was "I'm glad she was free because I wouldn't have paid for her" but after playing around with her and seeing what she can do as well as what some people have done by way of textures for her I find her to be a much more versatile model than Vicky. It's something about her face..I find it much easier to portray Stephanie as a teen or adolescent than Vicky...Maybe there's a naturalness about her face, I'm not sure. I do know that since playing with her I've revised my opinion of her greatly.... It was a great deal and I think anyone who didn't take DAZ up on Mike2 at 30% off with a free Stephanie thrown it was dumber than dumb because you can't beat that deal. (I even through in an impulse buy to boot!). I'm having a blast playing with Stephanie it's nice to have something besides vicky to work with. Thank you DAZ for your wonderful gift. Skye

Admin: http://www.artistsagainstcensorship.com
Artist: http://www.skyewolfimages.com

I think Stephanie is much nicer than Vicky, thought so from the beginning and I love working with her. She is much less barbiedoll like. You can see for example our feedback on her at the Ec Guild Forum or the Babelbox on Mecom4D. It is very positive. Thank you Daz for this wonderful model!

My gallery @ Renderosity

OK, my 0.02, for what it's worth. Another Poser female? Pardon me while I yawn. Look, as someone else pointed out, we're maxxed out when it comes to the Holy Church of Vicky. We have more damn stuff for that broad than anyone could find useful in a lifetime, and the best -- the very best Daz can do when it comes to a "mystery model" is ANOTHER female Poser character? We have Poser animals that look like caricatures; we have little for Michael beyond a couple of clothing paks and some RPG stuff created by brokers. Something to address either of those problems would have been, IMVHO, far more useful than yet another means for people to show off their ability to create nekkid broads. But instead, now we have another Poser female. Gee. More T&A for the galleries. Pardon me while I restrain my excitement, folks. And on top of that, discussion already of Vicky 3.0. Damn... I'm just so... excited I can hardly stand it. Sorry, but I think this was a way wrong move on Daz's part. Sure, it motivated people to buy Michael to get the other model free, but how, pray tell, does that increase the worth of Michael, as Daz claimed this would? So people shell out for Mike -- as long as they're getting Steph for free, Mike is something that'll get archived to a CD and forgotten because there's so little to use when it comes to working with him. That's like saying, "Hey, buy this because it's eminently forgettable and besides you get this for free!": you've essentially paid for Steph and gotten Mike for free, when you cut through the nonsense. And under those circumstances, Mike will remain forgotten as much as before. Welcome to the wonderful world of CyberBarbie.

Dan: C'mon, you're telling me that Poser users didn't flood out of the woodwork to purchase Michael when they found out that the mystery model was Stephanie? I'm the kind of guy that finds it difficult to say anything nice about anything without tossing a truckload of criticism into the mix--and yet, reworking the mesh of the original product to give us a great hi-res female model has got to be one of the coolest promotional tie ins that I've ever seen. It appears that you've got a top notch marketing department to go along with a top notch product. Hindsight is never 20/20 when you're dealing with the American consumer. We complain when it's too hot, too cold, and when temperatures are at 72 degrees because we can't wear the sweaters we got on clearance at J Crew.

Animals, animals, animals...YES! More animals at those great DAZ prices with the great DAZ quality! I personally will not be buying anything more for my human characters, because I don't need any more, and I've learned how to morph well enough to get what I want on my own. If DAZ ever wants to sell anything else to me, they ought to start coming up with more animals. Themed sets would be a cool idea, like "Birds of the Amazon", or "Domestic Pets from North America"...you get the idea. OK, sorry for the OT, but VS brought up the animal thing, and I had to add my thoughts on it.....

Dan and all the staff at DAZ, Just wanted to say thanks, not only for Stephanie, but all of the free models of the week. I look forward to seeing what great items will be offered - makes Thursday something to look forward too. My only problem is I'm going to need a second job to support my Poser habit. Thank you! Peggy

LVS - Where Learning is Fun!  
http://www.lvsonline.com/index.html

Perhaps you should include in your feedback analysis the fact that people satisfied find often less interest to write in forums than those who are not. I'm very satisfied with my DAZ gift, but I don't found interesting for anyone to claim it here. Well, I promise next time I will send a big "thank you" to DAZ :-) Serge

Ahhh...the mindset of the niche American consumer. If I were to extract what the community wanted as the mystery model based on the negative posts, I'd suspect that a pair of high-poly pants (with several hi-res textures) for the Poser dog would have been the obvious compromise. Personally, I think Stephanie was the better choice.

I know you're just joking, Freakachu, but I'd REALLY like some quality pants for the dog, cat and horse. I think it's OBSCENE the way they are portrayed here, and don't EVEN get me started on the REAL LIFE OBSCENITY of naked animals. I mean, there are cops on NUDE HORSES in the park! I can see their wee-wees a poopy-holes! And people strutting their dogs around like some kind of WHORES. And I swear, they need to just NUKE those horrible dens of animal perversity they call Zoos. I swear, they might as well just have a "Kids get in free" day at the the PORNO THEATER.

To all the staff at DAZ: THANK YOU!!! I had purchased Mike and then Mike2 with no knowlege what so ever that there would be any freebies attached. As for your choice for the Mystery model, again THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! As for the negativity....well, there always has to be some out there but None of it came from me! I think a new Fem charater is Fantastic. Sure, I'd like more hair or a suit of armor for Mike or Vicky, but a Whole New Charater??!! And with the versitality that Steph has brought to us!!! You folk are FANTASTIC and ever so generous!! (as for those who would prefer to 'look a gift horse in the mouth'; just be it known they do NOT speak for the majority) I think another sumed it up: "they always complain when a new figure is realsed but two weeks later they love it...." -> go figure....

Mr. legeume... I do believe you have just opened the door for you to join my company of Inestimable Individuals

fnord

gesundheit

I haven't read all the posts here, but speaking just for myself, I think Stephanie is absolutely fantastic! I think DAZ was unbelievably generous to offer her for free to prior customers, given the amount of time and effort that must go into making such a detailed model. My God, the texture template alone looks like it took a week to get right! Why would ANYONE complain that the Mystery Model was a new character? This character can wear Vicki's clothes just fine, and there're plenty of clothes for Vicki out there. Not to mention the fact that clothing items at DAZ are usually very inexpensive, about $15-25. Thank you, DAZ, for your generosity, and please don't let a few nay-sayers give you the wrong impression about your customers.

I had to wait awhile to get Stephanie (problems with the download) but I am so thrilled to finally get her. I think she's a wonderful gift and I really like working with her. Thank you very much, DAZ!

I, for my part, purchased Michael 2.0 after DAZ announced what the mystery Model really is. I think Stephanie is a fantastic addition, and I'm defenitly more happy with her than with the Millenium Tie. Thank you for that fantastic bargain. Thank you for your generousity. I like Stephanie very much and everybody who don't like her is free to delete her - after all Mike 2.0 is even cheap without her.

A ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for.
Sail out to sea and do new things.
-"Amazing Grace" Hopper

Avatar image of me done by Chidori. 

I just want to say thanks to DAZ for Stephanie! I think that she is a great gift! I also want to say that I have been very pleased with your company in general. The quality of your models is excellent and your customer service is always very friendly and professional. Keep up the good work! Thanks again! Jay Button

Thanks for Stephanie. I think a lot of what looks like dissatisfaction with Steph is not dissatisfaction with the figure itself, but confusion about what exactly it is inside, which is something one has to understand to use it fully. My skill level is intermediate, and frankly I had, and am still having, a hard time figuring out exactly what can and cannot be done with Steph. The pitch seemed to suggest at first that morphs, texutures, clothing could be moved from michael to steph because the meshes were basically the same. This impression turned out to be false. So she is not really something to mix and match with mike as it first seemed. If there is some way to apply mike armor, sports clothes etc. then I would have appreciated instructions. All in all, I think a few more paragraphs of explanation and instruction in FAQ for example would have avoided a lot of what you see as ingratitude. My efforts at applying mike morphs did not come out worth a darn. So is there some key to knowing when it is worth trying out a mike morph on Steph? Does one have to remove her morphs first or what? Can she be morphed or morph-deleted back to Mike and then morphs applied and tweaked back to a version of Steph? Etc. etc. Again, thanks, but don't mistake confusion for ingratitude. It does not help that the Poser manual and the Mortimer handbook are not very good about explaining the Poser basics that you may assume we all have.

Dan Some people will complain no matter what you do! I think Stephanie is great. She is much more like "the woman next door" than Vicky, and I think this is her greatest asset. Keep up the good work.

I recently saw a 3D Model online, that is NO WHERE NEAR the quality of Vicky, Steph, or Mike - and do you know how much they're selling it for?
$795!!!!!
It is almost insulting, and yet God blesses us through Daz with a CHEAP Mike 2 (40.00!! Plus Stephanie!!!!) and folks complain?!!
It's kind of like the left-wing U.S. hating "Americans" who complain and complain, and bash America, the greatest country on earth, and sympathize with evil communist countries - all the while they enjoy the blessings of being able to live in this great country.
Don't like Stephanie? Then demand a refund of all $0.00 you paid for her. Delete her, and go an buy an 800 dollar model, that is no where near the quality of Stephanie. Go and try to find another company that will give away such a quality model FOR FREE. Look up and down for a model with the versatility, quality and affordability of Mike, Steph, or Vicki, that is compatible with Poser. I guarantee you that you won't find one.
If you like Stephanie, then, as many here have, let Daz know that you appreciate their generosity.

Ben
MessianicArt.com

COUGHS slightly at that last comment Pardon me.... the title of this list is 'feedback' which generally means honest impressions and thoughts freely shared without fear of being bluggened for them. Now while I do appriciate Stephanie and like the model itself, the request for 'FEEDBACK' was just that. I like the model, but I think it was cheep of them to force us to buy new textures just to use her when any of a dozen people who are no where near as good with models are making cheats so that we can use already available female textures rather than having to buy a whole new library just to use Stephanie, with no real advantage to new 'textures' that anyone has commented on. Now I feel this is a legitimate feedback response to this question and if you feel that your point of view is more valid than mine just because you have a .com of your own, you can politely go stuff it. They asked for feedback, and they're getting it, so stop flaming people for being honest and answering the question put to them. If people don't like it, that's fine, it's a free internet and last time I heard, not liking Coke isn't a mortal sin and when given a taste test and asked which a person prefered, it wasn't a sin to say the new Pepsi with Lime tastes like crap.... so what if it was a free drink, they still asked our opinion, and we gave it. Just because someone's opinion doesn't match yours doesn't give you any right to say it isn't valid! THEY ASKED!!!!

"They're emasculating Michael and giving him breats, slapping a $30 price tag on her and calling her a bargain?" 40.00 for both Mike 2 and Stephanie is the BEST BARGAIN online. And How about this "bargain"? http://www.turbosquid.com/HTMLClient/FullPreview/FullPreview.cfm/ID/160323/Action/FullPreview "considering how much most of us have paid for Victoria, the supposedly end all be all of Poser Female Models." Daz has not dropped Vicky in favor of Steph, but have included Stephanie for more range, versatility. "It would almost seem that Daz was trying to make up for their own in ability to produce a better Victoria with more range." Inability? I've seen just the opposite. In fact, I've even heard the words "Vicky 3.0" - and I wonder how one can do better than Vicky? How can they surpass V2? Include more morphs? Sure. But could this mean multiple limbs (that would be cool!). How much farther can one go? If anyone can do it, its Daz. "We've got scads of them already!" We have the p4 Posette, who is nowhere near Vicky's quality, and now we have a new model that can use Mike's textures! Yee-haw. The other model we have is Posette. The more variety, the better! ". . .something that tosses all that (save the clothing) out the window" This is incorrect. They are not dropping Vicky. They are simply "adding" Stephanie. vicky is not obsolete, nor is she going to be left alone by Daz. "Hasn't Daz got enough of our money with Vicky 2?" I haven't spent a dime on the model of Stephanie (I bought textures). She's free. And if you don't want Stephanie, you can stick with Vicky. I guarantee you there are not better female models on the web this cheap. "I can actually see a great many of the advantages that were not evident in the 'text' above." Amen! "I personally agree, Vicky is sadly lacking in several departments and Stephanie seems to be addressing lots of these from what I hear." Even if Vicky is lacking (which I don't see), I guarantee there is not another model that could rival her (aside from Stephanie). "The unfortunate part is that Vicky could not have been used to upgrade into Stephanie" Stephanie isn't an upgrade of Vicky, and in fact, has less morphs than V2 (however, I bet a Stephanie 2 will come along soon) "... or at the very least that Daz could not have included a Texture map that would have allowed Vicky's textures to be used on Stephanie." They are sellign a texture map, and you can find a few free ones in the free stuff section. "producing a new female model with michael's texture map only seemed a bit on the side of shabby for me." What could they have made that would rival Stephanie? "while she was intended to be /MUCH/ more versitile than Victoria in morphs," I also think this is incorrect. I don't remember seeing this stated anywhere. She is simply an additional Millennium figure, and she is not supposed to replace Vicky. "Personally I feel that DAZ could have gone to a smidge more effort and put together a remap so that she could use the textures we already have" You can use the Mike textures, I've done it. The torso will be a little off, but just put a shirt on. Also, I do not see how it could be possible to remap of Stephanie, since she is built of Mike's mesh. I don't think it can be done. "Michael's facial, chest and pubic hair on a woman..... wow... big improvement ;)" This is not the intended use, and is not intended to be an "improvement" - but an innovation. Steph is not supposed to top Vicky. Again, I love Stephanie, she's a great model and well worth the price." "It kinda takes the point out of 'free' don'tcha think?" Not in my opinion. It simply expands the versatility of my library. Ben

As someone who doesn't have Stephanie (yet), a few disinterested (but not uniterested) observations synthesizing the reaction above and elsewhere: 1. The reason people are finding her more versatile for creating characters is the eyes. Vickie's eyes, particularly the slope of the inner upper eyelid is what tends to make Vicky-based characters always look like Vickie. 2. The big lesson for DAZ here should be to not draw out the tease for too long, which I think is implicit in some of the posts above. And having the remap to take Vickie maps probably would have been wise, in hindsight. 3. To repeat an observation from other threads that somehow hasn't been repeated in this one (but should be repeated since Mr. Farr is reading), remember that there was a great deal of negative feedback about Vickie when she first came out. That the tide has turned positive so quickly on Steph speaks volumes. 4. You can't please everyone all the time.

"honest impressions and thoughts freely shared without fear of being bluggened for them." Wait a minute. Sure, it's for honest impressions, and I just gave mine. Why can you give yours, and yet criticize me for giving mine? That's hypocritical. "I think it was cheep of them to force us to buy new textures" No one is forcing you to buy anything. Daz didn't make purchasing the maps mandatory for the free model. And you can go to the free stuff section easily and get a free map. "just to use her" You don't even need a map to use her. "Now I feel this is a legitimate feedback" I never said it wasn't legitimate. "response to this question and if you feel that your point of view is more valid than mine just because you have a .com of your own, you can politely go stuff it." Well, that certainly is "polite", and yes, I think one of us has a more valid point, because I believe there is a such thing as absolute truth, and relativism is an escape for those who don't like to think, or are too busy trying to be politically correct to avoid any disagreement. I disagree with you. Sorry, for posting my disagreement, and like you said, I felt it legitimate feedback, on the feedback. "They asked for feedback, and they're getting it, so stop flaming people for being honest and answering the question put to them." This is hypocritical. You're telling me not to flame you, while you're flaming me? "the new Pepsi with Lime tastes like crap" THE NEW PEPSI WITH LIME TASTES GREAT, AND DON'T YOU SAY OTHERWISE!!! ;) ".... so what if it was a free drink, they still asked our opinion, and we gave it. Just because someone's opinion doesn't match yours doesn't give you any right to say it isn't valid! THEY ASKED!!!!" First, I do think you are wrong, and I do have a right to say that. You have every right in the world to criticize Daz and Stephanie and whoever else, and I have every right to disagree with you, and you have every right to flame me for posting a hot disagreement, and I have every right to respond, and etc. That's freedom. Constructive criticism is absolutely valid. A thanks for the generosity is appropriate. Criticizing whoever you want is your right, but that doesn't make it right. Just my opinion. Ben MessianicArt.com

Good, now we're back to Opinions, thank you Ben. Feedback is intended to make products 'better'. Now As I said and you have so kindly requoted every one of my comments and have kept up with the lists you might want to take a look at the work April is doing. I'm actually quite interested in seeing her work finished as she is attempting to remap Stephanie to use Victoria's textures. This is the idea of versitlity. As many uses as you can get out of one product. Stephanie is showing every sign of being a good addition to the market, however she is not fully versitile in my opinion because she is not interchangable with her female counterparts. In my opinion that is what made the Milinium girls so veritile.... you didn't have to buy entirely new libraries just to use them, they used Vicky's libraries. This is in essance my gripe with Stephanie. If April can make a remap of the body then Daz could of. And if Daz Could have, they could have released a truly versitile model rather than just a remorphed Michael. A model that could have bridged the gap and allowed all Victoria users to use what they currently have at hand to make even greater pieces of art. Instead they released something that has a completely different map and has no advantages to said map. Victoria had better resolution compared to the Posette, therefore a new map made sense, but the only reason that a new map made sense for Stephanie was so that she could use Michael's textures...which are for men anyway. They could have gone through a little more effort and ended up with a lot more versitile product that alot more people would have immediately appriciated. Again, this is my opinion, equally as vaild as anyone else's and as we were asked for feedback not arguements among ourselves or flame wars, I will end my statement here. Daz, you have done a remarkable job with so much, and I hope to see a great deal in the future. My comments of 'FEEDBACK' were just that. How to make your products better so that more people will like them. I would like it more if you did the above, but as you did not, but someone else is, it makes little difference now. Hopefully the communities true feedback will help you in the future.

"1. The reason people are finding her more versatile for creating characters is the eyes. Vickie's eyes, particularly the slope of the inner upper eyelid is what tends to make Vicky-based characters always look like Vickie." YEAH!!! SUPERB OBSERVATION!!! I too like the "eyedea" that you can work with the eyes in a new way. "The big lesson for DAZ here should be to not draw out the tease for too long, which I think is implicit in some of the posts above." I personally liked the strategy. It created a huge excitement, which indeed, some folks would be let down, but in the end, I think it will be a positive thing. " And having the remap to take Vickie maps probably would have been wise, in hindsight." While I agree, I think this is virtually impossible. The reason is that the mesh is totally different. However, I saw somewhere someone has made a photoshop action that could do this. I don't have photoshop though . . . too expensive! "4. You can't please everyone all the time." Good point! ben Messianicart.com

http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=612174 Not virtually impossible, just slightly difficult. AprilSHY has done it already with Vicky to Posette and Michael to the dork.

"Good, now we're back to Opinions, thank you Ben." No thank you! =-) "Feedback is intended to make products 'better'." "however she is not fully versitile in my opinion because she is not interchangable with her female counterparts. In my opinion that is what made the Milinium girls so veritile" This is true, but at the same time, I think Stephanie is supposed to be an addition, rather than a replacement for Vicky. It is this reason that it is like in an entirely new area for the product versatility. Think also about the Millennium Boys. Some were disappointed they weren't built from Mike. I would like to see some Boys built from Mike, but at the same time, the boys being there creates more versatility too. The more options, the better. "If April can make a remap of the body then Daz could of. And if Daz Could have," Well, Daz does have a texture available at their site, for a reasonable price (14.00 med rez, 25.00 high rez). But, perhaps in the future, Daz will indeed create remaps of current Vicky textures to be usable on Stephanie, and perhaps they may charge a small fee/or give them away for free, to those who purchased previous texture maps for Vicky (in fact, I think that will be a brilliant idea for Daz to do). But this is the thing, because Stephanie is such an innovation, it is an entirely new field to work with. "they could have released a truly versitile model rather than just a remorphed Michael. A model that could have bridged the gap and allowed all Victoria users to use what they currently have at hand to make even greater pieces of art." This is a point at which we disagree. I think you may be looking to Stephanie as a "Vicky 3.0", rather than a new model. Vicky 3.0 is coming, and Daz has already mentioned her. But this is an innovative model, a bonus for those who purchased Mike 2. "therefore a new map made sense," A new map was also necessary, because Posette's geometry is totally different. Also, Vicky can acheive photo realism, while Posette needs alot of darkness to get there. "but the only reason that a new map made sense for Stephanie was so that she could use Michael's textures...which are for men anyway. They could have gone through a little more effort and ended up with a lot more versitile product that alot more people would have immediately appriciated." They do have some female textures for Stephanie at their store. In fact, I believe this is only the first installment of Stephanie, meaning I expect a Stephanie 2 in the future (on the template of the previous Mil Models), which will move into different areas of usability than the path Vicky will take. ben

"Not virtually impossible, just slightly difficult." Yes, it is possible, but you have to take the textures from one map, and apply them to the geometric shape of the other's template. I guess what I'm saying is that changing the template would be impossible. ben

Please put another mark in the appreciative column for me, Dan! I tried emailing you my words of thanks, but the email address for you is set to dan@zygote.com, and was returned!

Anyway, thanks for Stephanie as well as all the weekly freebies. And you're to be saluted for taking a "wait and see"/"wait until the dust settles" attitude before drawing any initial knee-jerk conclusions....

Ray

Wow! Thank you all so much for the feedback. It is very much appreciated. No matter what Stephanie ends up meaning for us financially, hearing such great feedback makes her worthwile for us. She was initiated as a thankyou and a goodwill gesture to all of you who keep our business going. If people would not have been happy with Stephanie then we would have missed our goal and one of our main purposes for developing her. This thread has been very encouraging and rewarding. We will do some things like this in the future (although, we can't promise anything on the magnitude of Stephanie in the near future). I don't know that I will be able to address everyone's questions here but I would like to address a few of them at this time. Penguinisto, We'd love to have you and your group stop by our office (it is small but we have a good time here). Lilfox and others, we not only used the Michael texture template because it came with the model, but also because it is particularly suited for this specific mesh. It is more effective (for prevention of streaking, etc.) than Victoria's UV layout would have been. (And even still, we needed to do a few UV tweeks on the mesh to optimize it for Stephanie.) Virtualsite, I appreciate your honesty in your feelings and hope that in the long run we all will see a lot more Michael clothing and accessories available. (As for DAZ, if we learned one thing in particular from the recent threads it is to put more effort into creating products for Michael). PJ-bear. Suggestion well taken. We will look into explaining the compatibilities between Michael and Stephanie better. Thanks again for the fabulous feedback, everyone (both positive and negative). It definately helps us to choose the direction of our development. I also enjoyed the fun images above. Sincerely, Dan Farr President, DAZ Productions

AprilYSH .... sorry April, dislexia is a bitch sometimes.

d'not evne mntioen tit. ;) yeah, Steph to take Vicki skin remapping's done, i gotta get it uploaded... It's not as good as specifically made skin for Stephanie of course, for reasons Dan said above.

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a sweet disorder in the dress kindles in clothes a wantoness,
do more bewitch me than when art is too precise in every part

SMOOCHES Thank you!!!!!!! Chuckles, yeah but with photoshop, close enough is what counts ;) THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think Stephanie is a cool model. She doesn't have a couple of morphs I wish she had, but really.. I can't complain. I didn't buy the Daz textures, I have to admit this, but overall I think Stephanie is very useful and quite feminine, with a lot of interesting possibilities.

Virtualsite, I appreciate your honesty in your feelings and hope that in the long run we all will see a lot more Michael clothing and accessories available. Frankly, Dan, I'm not holding my breath. Look at this thread: huzzahs for Stephanie, warranted or not, but no one is addressing the point you made in your tease: that somehow the Mystery Model was going to enhance the value of Mike. It didn't do that. It created a situation where Mike has become even more disposable in favour of yet another female character. That, IMHO, is misleading the people who thought you were actually doing something with Mike instead of making him yet another after-thought. You want to do something for Mike? Bring the clothing paks in line with the multiple morphs available for Mike 2. Rigtht now, if you use any of the muscular options, you're redcuced to using him as a "barbarian", since the lin cloth will fit, or a "superhero", since you can paint the texture for that. And while you're at it, give us a dress jacket for Mike that actually fits, not some overbuilt piece of nonsense that looks 100% plastic. Is that asking too much?

Virtualsite: I think your perspective is unintentionally reversed. You see another Barbie who'll distract non-professionals like myself from using Michael. My choice not to use Michael much has more to do with my subject preferences, not the other way around. DAZ could have released a Michael with every facial morph I ever wanted and it still wouldn't change what I like to render. Also, I design morphs more than you do (at least, judging from freestuff). About a year ago I begged DAZ here to build the next generation of models off a common mesh as an incentive to morph makers who've grown exhausted with rebuilding morph suites for every new geometry that comes down the pike. While it may seem more commonsense to build a new Mike from Vicky's geometry instead, Dan's pointed out what some of us already suspected: Mike's R&D and geometry is a generation ahead of Vicky's and it's criminal not to exploit it. The investment comes from providing users with a figure that wears all the existing female clothing yet shares a common geometry. Developing clothes for Vicky is developing clothes for Stephanie. Developing morphs for Stephanie is developing morphs for Mike. I know you wanted something more immediately utilitarian for Mike and I agree this isn't it, but it is a step in the right direction. I also agree that it's irresponsible to sell clothing paks that don't conform to the character's full morph set. If I had more disposable cash I'd have that "upgrade" to the Vic clothing pak in a heartbeat. However, DAZ has probably known Curious' plan to incorporate a more sophisticated version of that conformation into Poser5 at least as long as I have (18 months) and I can understand somewhat why they might hold off on implementing a cruder solution.

Hey, I bought Mike 2 because I was much happier with Vicky 2 than the original (and figured Mike2 would be a worth while investment). I was already perfectly satisfied with the new model before your notice regarding the mystery model was made public. I was curious, but not particularly attached to any particular idea. When you did give us a clear indication, I was very amazed (and greatful) Steph does have something that vicky lacks. There will always be value in having very different models, and you have given us a broad range of variability here. For that, I think we all are extremely greatful. VirtualSite, I disagree that this did nothing good for the mike fans. I saw a number of folks who admited that they purchased Mike after the information about the mystery model was released. While some of them will never spend another dime on mike products, some will, and others will contribute items themselves. It might not be as much as you would have hoped, but I'm not sure anything else would have been any better. I think most people who were on the fence regarding the purchase before the release of the Mystey model identity would have not chosen to buy Mike if it had been something fairly mundane (like a clothing pack or hair prop). eric

Eric: I think most people who were on the fence regarding the purchase before the release of the Mystey model identity would have not chosen to buy Mike if it had been something fairly mundane (like a clothing pack or hair prop). ... which misses the point entirely -- why did they buy Mike? Not to use the model or its capabilities, but because they wanted another Barbie for their collection. So Mike sales went up -- big deal. Like no one could have seen that. But does it mean the figure will actually be worked with? Will Daz do anything more to support it? If this thread is any indication, probably not, because the overwhelming voice here is "Oh, gee, wow, STEPHANIE!" Meanwhile, Mike -- and even worse, Mike 2 -- continues as a model barely supported by DAZ. They might as well not even bothered, IMHO, given the "market feedback" here. They could have issued a high-end clothing pak for Vicky, made Stephanie an add-on for that, and I'd happily bet people would have been delerious with excitement. Well, sorry, folks, but I'm not. In my professional rendering work, I use the guys far more than the women, and it's a real pain in the butt when I can't find something as simple as a suit coat that doesn't look like it's three sizes too large. If anything I've gotten real imaginative at using that P4 tuxedo and turning it into a three-piece suit since even the one from Poserworld doesn't quite cut it sometimes. But if I needed something for the dames: hell, I'd have more choices to work with than I'd know where to start. So yes, welcome to CyberBarbie, since that's what DAZ seems most interested in. Duane: You see another Barbie who'll distract non-professionals like myself from using Michael. My choice not to use Michael much has more to do with my subject preferences As I'm sure it is for a lot of non-professionals, but I'm sorry, Duane: that's immaterial. DAZ issues a model and then can't support it by providing the same level of product that they lavish on Barbie? Hell, if they put one-tenth of the effort into Mike, I'd be happy, but they don't. He's a throwaway. They can't even provide something that will allow you to take the basic clothing he does have and make it work for the new morphs -- tell me the marketing strategy behind such a bone-headed move? What was the point of the new morphs if all you can do with them is parade him around naked? And sure that might be amusing for a while, but like too much tit, after a while it just gets a little lame. I know you wanted something more immediately utilitarian for Mike and I agree this isn't it, but it is a step in the right direction Maybe so, but wouldn't it make sense to SUPPORT the models out there with something more than just a female version of the same mesh? Yeah, it's a great idea, but the timing sucks. They haven't done squat for Michael, not in a long time. Even the new hair pieces: you just know the talk about DAZ was "Wow, wouldn't Vicky look cool in a buzz-cut? Oh yeah, and maybe Michael too..." I repeat, why did they bother? He's a throwaway, thanks to the marketing genius at Mattel -- sorry, Daz.

As I mentioned earlier, DAZ is working on a new suit for Michael. Here are a few of the product images. The suit is in the final testing stages and will be released when that is finished. We have some other Michael clothing items in the works as well.

I hope you all enjoy the images.

Dan Farr
President DAZ Productions

Another image

DANG!!!!!! Those images are fantastic! ROFL

uhh, was that second one authorised by your marketing department? lol

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a sweet disorder in the dress kindles in clothes a wantoness,
do more bewitch me than when art is too precise in every part

Okay, Dan, step in the right (albeit way late) direction, but I suggest you guys look at those shoulder areas and the lapel and then look at a suit in the real world. This is what I see whenever someone makes a suit jacket mesh for Mike or the P4 -- it's never given a look that's tailored or fitted. And frankly, IMHO this should have been available long before now.

Hi, Would I be right in thinking that Stephanie is based on Mike, because a quick peruse of the galleries will show you very little but Vicky in one guise or another? So by building Steph from Mike you put Mike's mesh to use and hopefully gain some more airplay for a woefully underused resource... Personally I don't think Mike gets much airplay, for two reasons, 1) lack of clothing, 2) people simply prefer the female form. I've got Mike 1.0 and I've never actually found much use for him, (except to add the odd hint of understated menace to a scene :) but then I've only ever bought him one new skin. All my clothing is free, so... Having said that, the images above are rather cute, and I would have bought her/him if you'd actually take my credit card. From her pictures I'd say she was rather cute, and you're to be congratulated on that score. How does it feel to have your face altered? :) later jb

VS If even 1% of the people who bought M2 for Steph (or in anticipation of the Mystery Model) go on to use Mike himself that's still a boost that wouldn't have happened otherwise, and I suspect the ratio will be higher than that. (And for what it's worth I bought M2 before the Mystery was promised, to take advantage of the introductory sale; V2 is still languishing on my wish list.)

To Dan Farr & all the wonderful people at Daz, I want to personally add in my thank you for all your great products in the past as well as providing Stephanie as a free model. I believe you may have misinterpreted the negative feedback. I believe the disappointment came from a let down of an expectation rather then the product itself. I think most people had a negative reaction simply because they were expecting something directly for michael. Most people that had a chance to play with Stephanie really love her. I for one love all the new morphs that she has and it's great that it's interchangeable with Michael. Let's revisit the core of the problem: Lack of support for Michael-based products relative to Victoria based products. Daz3d sought to remindy this situation by trying to increase sales for M2. I think that in itself is a great idea, but trying to do it by making him into a her might not have been the best idea if the marketing strategy was to get people to develop more Michael-based products. I think the end result will again be a neglect for Michael. People are surely developing more product support for a female model (hair, clothes, etc.), rather then stuff for Michael. If you ask anyone at Renderosity, I think a realistic, modern, flexible, and short hair style for Michael would fly off the shelves. There are plenty of female styles for Victoria that are phenomenal in my oppinion, but very few that are passable for Mike. I personally would like to see more short hair cut styles. I think people's expectations for the Mystery model were just way too high. It was getting to the point of being unfair and unrealistic. I don't think people are ungrateful. They were just expecting something "different". I hope this does not discourage your company from future developments and your continued generosity. I remain a loyal customer. Sincerely, visualkinetics

RH: If even 1% of the people who bought M2 for Steph (or in anticipation of the Mystery Model) go on to use Mike himself that's still a boost that wouldn't have happened otherwise Response: And if M2 isnt put to use, whats the pointOkay, they sold the model. Big whoop. Theres still little support for it, and thats the whole point. People bought M2 just to get another Barbie, RH, not because they wanted Mike.

Oh, man. The charger was a freebie? Where the heck was I? ::groan::