ken1171 on deviantART

DAZ3D has just released update version 4.6 that introduces a few new features, but most importantly, ships with the choice to select a new interface. Since its first release, DS4 has been plagued with a gigantic interface that has annoyed a number of users because it wasted too much precious screen space with oversized controls. This update has that resolved!

Once you install the update, nothing will change in the interface. You have to go to the main menu and select Window -> Style -> Select Style -> Darkside, and this will replace the annoying giant interface with a space savvy version. You now have way more real estate to work with, and will have way less scrolling to find the options you are looking for. Frankly, this should have been in version 4.5 when we look at the massive complaints from DS users, but now it is finally here. ^__^

Some of version 4.6 new features are:

* New icon, now black instead of orange! OMG! (just kidding).
* New rendering engine: 3Delight has been updated to support more options (see below).
* Subsurface Scattering Shader (SSS): Already in Poser since version 6, now finally available in DS.
* Pixar Subdivision Surfaces: Same that will be shipping with Poser 10 next week.
* Hierarchical selections for groups: Probably the same as Poser selection groups?
* Simultaneous figure posing.
* Support for geometry shells.
* New CMS client.
* Overdriven weights.

I have searched the DAZ site for clues on the new features, and guess what, the manual is under construction, and will probably remain as such forever - the usual with DAZ3D.

You will be happy to see that rendering configuration has some new panels to access some of the new features. And I was happy that the installer has preserved all of my plugins installed and registered, as opposed to asking me to register them all over again as it used to be in the past. There is no update for DSON, so it will probably remain a hit and miss for the time being.

I was a little disappointed that there were no lighting improvements in this version. Although it is possible to create specular lights, you still cannot control the specific values of specular and diffuse components. It can either be entirely diffuse or entirely specular, but nothing in between - and you still cannot control shadow intensity, which can be frustrating if you are coming from Poser. After all, the advantage of using biased illumination is exactly the fact that you can cheat light behavior for artistic purposes.

On the pro developer tools, I was pleased to see that the decimator plugin (sold separately) has finally been updated. It now offers more control over decimation, where groups are now split by material zones instead of body parts. It is now possible to assign more polys at critical parts such as the face, eyes and lips individually, for as long as those parts have specific MAT zones. This alone makes the plugin much more usable, though it still uses generic triangulation, which doesn't take topology into consideration. Therefore it will not preserve edge flow, and that can cause animation issues and poor use of poly count. Nonetheless I did some tests and the results were great comparing to how it was before.

All in all this is a great release, where the major thing was the option to use the new smaller user interface, which allows for much improved use of screen space for all existing layouts. The updated 3Delight engine now supports SSS, which makes me wonder why it took them so long. We no longer have to create complex shaders to produce realistic SSS on skin, but be aware that SSS tends to hit performance quite a bit, and that it cannot be used with external renderers such as Lux and Octane. Those have their own SSS shaders.

I am happy I have upgraded and perhaps this is the version DS users who didn't like the previously gigantic interface were waiting for. Many have claimed they refused to upgrade from DS3 because of it. I found it funny that the DAZ3D ads were asking why should people pay for 3D software when they can have it for free? Well, the new DS 4.6 is nice, but not nice enough to make me drop Poser anytime soon. Poser 10 is being released next week, packed with awesome new features that are not tied up to a single figure sold by DAZ3D.

As a matter of fact, Poser 10 will allow much greater reuse of my legacy contents with any other figure I already have, instead of having to cope with Genesis, which requires buying again much of that same content all over again. I am not about to throw all of my existing contents, so Poser 10 will save me money and give me more reuse value to what I already have in the long run.

I have to give it to SMS the credits for blowing me away beyond my [always skeptical] expectations with every Poser release. After over a decade of mediocre releases from other companies, SMS has been evolving Poser consistently since Poser 8. The new "Fitting Room" may not be as easy as DS's "Auto-fit", but it will allow accomplishing much more with my existing contents than funneling everything towards a single Genesis figure. You may ask why is this important? Let me explain.

If you look into my gallery you will see that I rely on different figures, or combinations of different ones to achieve different character styles. I cannot rely on only Genesis to cover all of those styles, so perhaps that alone is more than enough reason for me to choose Poser instead. It is almost certain that there will never be an AnimeDoll or Terai Yuki for Genesis. Major features such as Auto-fit only work with Genesis, so all other figures won't benefit from it. Conversely, the upcoming Fitting Room will work with any figure, and that has more value for my money in the long run.

So for the time being I am keeping Poser as my primary tool, and DS4 as my secondary one depending on what I want to create. I have to admit I have purchased some content for Genesis, but it is tied up with DS4, so I am forced to keep it installed. DSON remains slow and has questionable support and reliability, so it is not quite as a solution as DAZ3D wants Poser users to believe. Lack of documentation also plagues DAZ Studio, where figuring things out become such a challenge that it removes the fun factor from it. So much that both DS4 and the accompanying Content Creator Toolkit are still pretty much undocumented to this date.

Perhaps it is exactly *because* those things are free that DAZ3D feels no obligation to have them properly documented, or even fully functioning as advertised in some cases. Maybe that explains why I prefer to pay for software than to have my 3D pipeline depending on things that cannot be accounted for. And what's most, people don't complain *exactly* because those things are given away for free, so in the end that becomes a liability.

Comments

~SherbertTCat 17 hours ago Hobbyist Digital Artist

Hey Ken, whacha make of this? [link]

*ken1171 12 hours ago Professional Digital Artist

Sure can, but I wonder how odd would it be with Anime style? Besides, SSS only makes sense in special kinds of illumination I don't typically use in my gallery. For me to give it a try, I would have to find out how to use SSS in Octane, which can kick Firefly and 3Delight butts any time. Or maybe instead just try it straight with Firefly just to see what it would look like. I think Pixar uses SSS with toon characters, now that I think of it.

~SherbertTCat 12 hours ago Hobbyist Digital Artist

That's what I was thinking too, there IS a bit of a pixar vibe to it too.
I might have to buy this, to play with it.

*ken1171 11 hours ago Professional Digital Artist

You don't need to but anything to use SSS. ^^

(1 Reply)

~nucks May 3, 2013

I've made a blog plug for your proposal on a magnets tutorial at CG Pinups - I sincerely hope you receive enough interest to pursue its creation.

*ken1171 May 3, 2013 Professional Digital Artist

Thank you! I'll keep an eye on the poll. ^^

~tman300 Apr 30, 2013 New member

Very interesting material and discussion. I'll definitely be back regularly.

Turning to 3D was a move I anticipated would allow me to "create" what I needed to rapidly visually actualize those parts of a serial story that were already written some time a go. Not being a visual arts professional I thought it would take too long to procure the necessary level of proficiency to become an acceptable "vector" style artist (realistic characters/shading/very thin ink lines). Now I've spent quite a bit of money on both Genesis (for DazStudio) and Gen4 (for PoserPro2012) material. I've only experimented so far, but there are some definite drawbacks trying to learn 2 pieces of software. I now intend to create my own characters using the base figures and manipulate the 40 or so commercially available character morphs/textures I've already purchased.

*ken1171 Apr 30, 2013 Professional Digital Artist

Maybe it is especially confusing when Poser and DS have such different interfaces. Both programs do exactly the same thing, but use very different ways to get there. Until now, very few have used both, but things are about to change now that DAZ3D has departed from creating contents for Poser. The dilemma is that Poser is still the better program, but DAZ3D has always created the best figures. Since Genesis doesn't work in Poser, that creates a problem to a lot of people out there. Maybe many haven't realized that yet, but eventually they will.

~Reactor9Studios Apr 29, 2013 Professional Digital Artist

All I have to say is screw Genesis. Those models don't look that great to me at all, it really depends on the rendering engine your using.
And besides, I'm becoming a lot more interested in Digital Painting even though its a whole lot of work. Some of the stuff in my favorites look a hell of a lot better than the poser stuff and its because it has that theme and feel of the stories that I tell. Its not really fun when your buying other peoples clothing, and hair which other people can easily buy and use it too. IT takes away originally and makes it near impossible for you to have your own stand alone characters even if you design your own characters. If someone buys the same hairstyle or clothes that you have? It kills the purpose, that is why I invest so much effort into my characters. I give them personalities, histories, bios, everything to make them opposite of the average Poser User.
And the only reason why I still use Poser to begin with is because I am a serious writer as well, it takes me quite a long time to write out the material that I write. And no not just the stuff I have listed in my gallery, but things far beyond all of that.
I can't create figures Polygon to Polygon and then add all the writing material too. You have no idea how huge the universe is in the material that I Work with. I have at least 5 or more major story projects but have spent a lot of time on Ghost Runner and Yurei Seed alone. And let me tell you, its too big to do it all polygon to Polygon.
It would require an actual team to do that. So Poser makes it easy for one person to just work on models alone because you can ignore creating skeletons and all that stuff that you would need to do with something like Maya.

Plus another reason why I got into Poser had a lot to do with wanting to get easy access to characters that I can use in major productions. Unlike most people, there is no way in hell I spend all that money on Poser models just to play around with them. I actually want to see my characters go beyond the Poser theme and appear in actual animated media in the near future. Like having them become just as huge as characters from well known sources like Metal Gear Solid Characters, Ghost In The Shell, etc. To do this I would have to take a step away from Poser, because another issue is that too many people are using it now and its too obvious that people can tell when your figures are Poser. The only people that get a lot of props and respect regardless of using Poser models is if their work looks incredibly high detailed. Every time I look at my own renders and notice the lack of comments and I'm fully aware that a lot of people on here that use 3D models are using the exact same program as me but have more comments. I know for a fact they either whored the hell out of their artwork to numerous groups, or their work looks better because they rendered in pro 2012, Octane, Maya, etc. I still use Version 7 of P7.

if you want to know the truth, not too many serious artist consider Poser users as real artist. UNLESS you're an actual vendor. That means designing your own stuff and selling it like a lot of the top pros are doing. Unless you have a lot of serious fans that seriously love your work, everyone else overlooks it as easy to make anyone can do it including a small child. At one point I tried to talk to them about changing the name "Poser." So I stopped even using the term and just preferred "Daz" even though Daz is pretty much still Poser because they both use the same models, similar interfaces, etc. Overall, I'd like to have characters that no one can easily copy simply by buying the same products that I have. Its like when I go through someones 3D art, and spot the same hairstyle that I probably have. I'm thinking "Damn, I don't even want to use that hair style anymore." Same way with clothing. But never encountered that on this site. Still, its the whole reason why I strongly plan on learning how to create my own hair and clothes. Because I do make my own figures and models.

You see Johnny, I agree with some of your points and I understand where you are coming from, and why you jump into those conclusions. I have been using Poser since DAZ3D was called Zygote, and Poser was being released in version 1.0 by the now defunct Fractal Designs. Since then, some things didn't change. There is a worldwide stigma around Poser, but the important thing is not to give it too much attention. We have to remember that Poser is just a tools - it is not "guilty" of anything. It is not up to us to point fingers to the tools we use as the sole source of page hits, or the lack of them. Tools done make art - we do.

In the same way, Poser figures are not good or bad - they are what we make of them. If you look at my renders, I use the same figures as everybody else, but I try to make each render unique on its own ways. Morph dials are not enough? Deform the figure manually with Poser magnets. Existing textures are not good enough? Create your own. Everybody is using the same hair? Modify existing ones or create your own. Look at all renders I have posted this month, and try to recognize the hair. At best you will find ONE you have already seen before. Now compare the looks of each character - it may not look so, but they are all the same figure.

As for using advanced renderers, it is my opinion that only a few people will care what you use. I have been using P4 and Firefly for over 10 years now, and only switched to Octane a few weeks ago. To the average comments, none have been about the renderer - most people can't tell that something changed. Conversely, I am the one who have to work harder because Octane works completely different and doesn't even support Poser materials. Everything needs to be recreated every time. Seems like I am the only one who cares about that, since my viewers don't even seem to notice the difference. What they care if what is delivered - not how it was made or what tools were involved. Remember: tools don't make art. We do.

As for content creation, I use 3DSMAX because that was basically the only program available when I got started, and it was then called "3D Studio" running in DOS. Windows didn't exist yet. Nowadays we even have free modeling tools, like Blender, Wings3D and Hexagon. People who start now have way more tools to choose than I had when I started. It has never been so easy (and cheap) to create your own 3D models as now. So if you want to create your own 3D contents (like I do), go ahead and make something unique that no one else has - I have plenty of that in my gallery - I don't sell everything I make, I save some for exclusive use in my gallery.

But there is one major thing you seem to be missing about Poser. When Larry Weinberg created the 1st version, all he wanted was a way to get a better reference for hand drawing the human figure on paper. Poser was created to become a prime source for 2D artists to obtain better references for perspective, proportion, and shading than a woody mannequin. Therefore you if you want to draw, Poser is your best reference, so don't look down on it. I know of at least 2 successful digital artists here at dA who rely mainly on Poser for references for everything they draw when it comes to the human figure.

*ken1171

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