you bought the tools, do you know how to use?
daveso
Posts: 7,919
There are tons of great tools to use with Daz Studio. Light sets, skin enhancers, eyes, brows, things to make other things fit on other things. etc etc
Do you know how to use all that stuff?
I've been thinking, for instance, Altern8 .. https://www.daz3d.com/altern8--skin-shader-system-for-genesis-8
Do you know how to actually get the most out of it? And that question goes for any tool purchased.
I know I "dabble" with them, but rarely use them to their full potential. I think it would be good to do so :)
Read the materials, maybe find a good video, and just plug away at each one until skillful.
What a concept 
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Ha! I wish. With the lack of adequate documentation that DAZ continues to refuse to address, there are still a lot of features in DS itself that I'm hazy on at best, and probably more than a few that I'm still completely unaware of. Unfortunately, it's pretty clear that decent documentation isn't a DAZ priority, as even though we're now on DS 4.12 , we're still looking at a DS User's manual that hasn't been updated since version 4.6, pre-freaking iray and with the "new" figure being discussed being Genesis 2. Then again, maybe now that Poser actually has a company behind it that's seriously invested in 3D assets and software, DAZ will finally start having to work like a real software company again...
As for purchased add-ons, while there are a handful of tools I've bought that I either a) just couldn't figure out, b) simply didn't work for me as advertised, c) turned out not to do something as easily as something else that I was already using, or, and most frequently, d,) that I bought and then forgot that I bought them. As the most recent example of the latter, I didn't realize that I hadn't actually installed the first set of 3D Universes scene tools, for example, until I saw the ad for set 2 the other day... And then there are things that are contingent on installing the very newest version of DS that I tend to take forever getting around to, as ever since the introduction of DS4 killed dozens of my add-ons in one fell swoop, I tend to put off upgrading to any newer versions until I'm sure it's not going to stop something I already have from working.
Because of my hardware, which isn't bottom of the barrel, and the stuff I'm interested in doing, there's a limit to how many renders I can do in a day or week, so there are still tons of things I've not experimented with. For example, I've yet to spend any time with D-formers or weight maps, but have every intention of doing so. In the meantime, I kind of try to use some new asset in every render, and try to use a new technique every couple of renders. I'm also just starting to learn how to use a 2D image editor, so there's a lot to take in.
On the other hand, it's nice to have a satisfying hobby I won't soon find the bottom of.
Yes, I feel delighted every time I 'discover' something new, either from experimentation, a chance comment, or finding something instructional I manage to comprehend and absorb. It's slow, and probably pretty random, but it's like exploring a new world every time I attempt to do something a little different than what I did last time. It isn't always successful (I never got Reality to install, Ultrascatter looked awesome, but I couldn't get it to actually place anything, and Dforce is DOA for me even though it looks so cool!), but I treasure my successes and use them to propel me forward with a little more courage than before. I dabble with delight :-)
Loads of scripts I never used ..
...the one good thing is Daz's 30 day return policy. I've usedit a number of times when I found something didn't work like I thought it would or it overtaxed my old system.
Yep, and that's the main reason I'm willing to keep taking gambles on new utilities. That said, I've found that most of my "just don't works" tend to be due to either how I've got my libraries arranged and sheer massive about of stuff I've got installed, or something that USED to work and has gotten confoobulated by an upgrade.
By the time I download it, try it, wander off for a bit to see if I can find a tutorial, try again, get distracted by doing something else, try again with intent, pound my head against my screen... I'm way past any 30-day window :-D That's my problem, though, not Daz's!
I think one thing I'd like to see more of in descriptions of utility products is an idea of the skill levels they're intended for. Early on I bought some stuff that offered Easy One-Click Solutions!! and that was true...it's just that they either were intended to automate an extremely complex process that would be tedious for advanced users, or I'd need to learn how to do some intermediate-advanced projects before I could do the type of thing they were intended for. I've eventually made use of all of them, but "easy" can mean almost anything when you're talking about software.
I don't think anyone sets out to make their products sound easier to use than they are, but I appreciate when vendors are able to critically evaluate how different people might approach the product. It's also nice when advanced utilities contain presets anyone can use without messing with advanced settings; Altern8 is one of the ones I think works great out of the box but I've been able to use it to do some really wild stuff.
yeah,unless the utility makes sense to me from the promos, I don't take a chance on it since I really don't have the time to spend learning something new. It seems quite a few really don't seem that intuitive from the promos as of late. Then again, I have a hard time paying for a utility that does something I know i can do myself in DS just to save me a few clicks or seconds
I love Altern8 and use it often. It's mostly just settings that change the look on the skin. I use it almost every project at least for skin specular and lip settings.
I don't buy anything unless I plan to use it...a lot. The only time I have not done this is with the dynamic plugin and that was due to computer issues along the way. Now that I have a decent enough computer to use it, dForce arrived, now I am learning that and soon animate2.