Should I upgrade to 4.9 if I use Poser?

l_cunningham

Is there any difference in compatibility with Poser between 4.8 and 4.9? The content keeps getting less compatible, is that true of the software as well, as far as export and such, or is there no difference? Has anybody upgraded and regretted it? I wasn't going to but then someone told me that the new database behaves less erratically.

l_cunningham

Both applications have features that the other doesn't so it makes sense to use them both together. To me the Poser interface makes more intuitive sense but apparently some people feel the opposite.
I just want to know whether my workflow will be thrown off by the upgrade.

ShelLuser

l_cunningham said:

I just want to know whether my workflow will be thrown off by the upgrade.

I'm not familiar with Poser myself as well, which prevented me from commenting, but after reading that other pretty useless post I felt like trying anyway. Just keep in mind that I can only reflect on the Daz Studio side and not so much Poser specifically. But maybe this will also help attract attention from others.

If you're seriously using DS next to Poser then I'd definitely recommend to consider upgrading. 4.9 has had some quirks at the beginning (Daz Connect for example) but it also applied tons of useful bug fixes. Some reasons why I think you should consider the upgrade:

• Improved CMS. Instead of relying on their own database engine (Valentina) Daz has now applied PostgreSQL as the database backend. This is huge because the reliability and accessibility have drastically improved. Of course one can also argue that it might tax your system a bit more (by adding a full fledged database server into the mix). Still, database corruption is pretty much non-existent here, and database inconsistencies are easy to fix.
• Improved interface. Simple really: My smart content pane sits on the left, my scene pane on the right. Every time I kept both open in 4.8 they'd somehow overlap. So I had to close one before I could close the other. No more in 4.9.

Of course there's more than that but I'm also trying to keep your Poser approach in mind as well. So I'm not mentioning stuff such as Iray, install pane, and improved product accessibility.

Speaking of Poser: I've gone over the release notes several times but I can't find any mention of specific changes in that field. I guess the biggest change here is the CMS (PSQL). When exporting something in my scene I still have the options for Poser CR2 file, Wavefront Object & MDD by aniMate2 (disclaimer: my DS is heavily customized, including the plugins. I've disabled dozens of things which I don't need, including exporters).

So workflow...  I can say that from a DS perspective my workflow didn't really change much. I'm actually quite happy with DS 4.9. However...

In all honesty there are some small caveats which can be slightly annoying, Daz Connect sitting on top. It's not a ground breaking issue, but if you rely on the product manager (Content library => Products section) then you may run into oddities as some products might appear to be not present. All they show is 1 icon which gives you the option to install them. Even though their contents is clearly available. This is a Daz Connect glitch / annoyance.

The next thing doesn't bother me at all but I still wanted to mention because I know not everyone likes it: "LOCAL USER". If you add your own items into DS (which I could see happening with Poser material) then it will all be grouped into 1 product: "LOCAL USER". This doesn't change much in the way you'll use your stuff, but if you use the "product explorer" then you'll find everything bundled into one (unless you make your own products). Some users prefer more separation.

And that's roughly it.

Sorry I can't comment more in-depth on the Poser relationship and a fair warning: a lot of my stuff here is obviously biased. Having only used DS for my hobby (and sporadic Blender sessions) I'm obviously heavily opinionated because I'm unfamiliar with some of the other products out there.

But I still hope this can give you some ideas / impressions.

 

 

Chohole

Valentina DB (http://valentina-db.com/) is not developed by Daz 3D.

Fossil

I use both and would suggest that you upgrade to 4.9 with the following caveats...

-Keep your old 4.8 install software.

-Install 4.9 in a separate directory so that you can use both.  See how 4.9 works for you on your computer before abandoning 4.8.   Leave 4.8 installed just in case.

-don't bother with Daz Connect.  None of my graphics computer ever go online and I don't miss Connect.

l_cunningham

Thanks, I don't seem to still have the 4.8 install software, my computer doesn't have a lot of hard drive space so I am constantly deleting whatever seems non-essential so if I upgrade there's probably no going back, is why I asked before doing it. Install Manager says I have already installed 4.9 but when I open the program it says it is 4.8. The content library issues sound really annoying, like it will make something that's already annoying even worse. Don't want to trash the software but the #1 reason why I only use it for stuff that can't be done in Poser is because it makes me feel like the program is in charge instead of me. It hides my content and decides what I can see when and does a lot of seemingly random things that I don't know how to fix. I guess you can learn to configure Smart Content but I don't want the program to try to guess what I'm looking for, it can't, I want to go into the folder where I put it and get it myself. Making the content library even less user-accessible is not ok.
Now I am having a problem with DSON importer, a certain figure's lower jaw loads outside of his head, so I thought I was going to uninstall and re-install the importer to see if it fixes it but the Install Manager says that I haven't downloaded the importer at all but obviously I have or I wouldn't be able to get the figure into Poser, so when I try to download and install it it says it can't find the path for Poser 11 even though the path is clearly defined and correct in the applications list. I know how to download and install stuff. Everything that is frustrating seems to go back to that same idea of the software wanting to take everything out of my hands. It always makes it harder instead of easier.  Sorry for the rant, but hopefully it clarifies my mistrust of "improvements." I'm going to wait it out for now. 

To say something positive: I've been opening the program a lot more lately because I keep discovering new features of it that I really like. I particularly appreciate all the cross-figure transfer utilities. There's obviously a lot of good stuff in there that I haven't even found yet, so I'm motivated to start tolerating its quirks.

BeeMKay

Products can only show up in Smart Content if they have Metadata. A lot of the older content hasn't.

I use the Content Directory rather than Smart Content, and created my own Categories, where i can sort in things in a way that makes sense to me, without changing any installation directories.

For DSON, I kept reading in other threads about a script that helps with import into Poser, but I don't remember what that was, as I don't use Poser.

l_cunningham

Yes I understand about the metadata but that doesn't explain why things are always disappearing and reappearing in Smart Content without my having changed any settings. The same is true to a lesser degree with the regular library, I don't move anything but it stops showing up for a while. It's unsettling. I want things to just stay put.

If you mean the script by Dimension3D, it is for importing things that don't have Poser companion files so they can't be imported with just the DSON importer. The jaw thing is solved though, I found a thread about it, there's a GenX morph that causes it.