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DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
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© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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I did the merge, open recent is gone. I imagine we're supposed to use the recent tab in the new pop up.
I appreciate that as well even though I'm just not happy with the new 'New...'
As above mentioned, load your saved Layout instead of U&M... for the time being.
My apologies for not quoting the relevant posts, but since there are a number of points relating to the Nw dialogue on which we have been given notes I am going to block address them (I hope).
Yes, the removal of the recent files entry in the File menu is deliberate. Both it and the New scene dialogue would need to populate live when invoked, though the menu doesn't need to read thumbnails which may speed it up. If you use the Recent tab to create your scene then the dialogue will open to that next time (in geernal it remembers your last used tab). The dialogue populates from local data and displays/functions - slow remote access will not affect its function, though it may of course mean the notifications are slow to display. The notifications are cached and are not refreshed until "stale" - in order to avoid consuming system resources.
The unintentional delays caused by the dialogue have been noted, and a number have beena ddressed in the private and/or PA testing (which is part of the reason for the wait for a Public/General release). That doesn't mean the team is resting on its laurels as far as performance goes, so thank you for the reports.
Suggestion though, more than new asset dialog and low hanging fruit improvements, why not focus on animation, IK etc.? those are for years desperately needed by the community, been cried on, and I don't recall anyone asking, can we have a new dialog UI? I'm just saying guys, let's make DAZ #1 already, and your customer not have to spend thousands that could be spent on the asset store on animation software.
I'm not sure what proportion of the userbase actually asks for aniamtion features, but I would suspect that a major overhaul might well be a major version thing given the way some aspects would probably propagate through multiple parts of the application, while the new dialogue (which is certainly something I can see personal use for once I have some templates/favourites set up, and I would image is potentially very helpful for newer users) seems to be using existing feawtures for the most part, or features that certainly look as if they would be self-contained additions. Desirability is likely to be a major factor when project management decide where to devote resources, but so is impact (how much will need to chnage, how much harm it might do to other features) and resources needed (how much programming time etc.)
People interested in new animation features should look at the Daz BLOG.
Thank you for the notes, Richard. Where are notifications cached? Are they someplace on my computer? What about those store tiles; are they also cached or reloaded every time I open the New window?
I thought that before version 4.21.1.104, that if I didn't log in inside Daz Studio, there was no internet activity between my Daz Studio and Daz 3D. Was I wrong about that? This new connectivity concerns me. Now that Daz is pushing content (notifications,, and store info at least) to my computer, even when I am not logged in, is there a privacy statement some place that describes what Daz Studio might be pulling from my computer and sending back to Daz? If I don't want data flowing back and forth, is there and opt out in Daz Studio, or is my only option to unplug the Ethernet cable?
I don't knoww here theya re cached, but yes it is local. It is my understanding that these will be updated, generically, if the machine is online even if the user does not log in (but not naging a connection at all won't stop DS from running). But without being logged in there is nothing unique to you - it is the same for everyone, only if/while you are logged in will you get personalised information (and only then will Daz have any idea that it is you).
In addition, before I even dive on a reply and expand on what I meant: Why isn't there a snap to vertex, snap to edge feature, is very, I mean extremely simple yet so powerful, especially when composing a scene.
I don't think what I said requires a brand new engine to be develop. In reality, DAZ already has the infrastructure that is needed, what it doesn't have is proper mechanics to leverage the potential of the animation tools. The basics, the core, the ability to record keyframe for every single keyable element within a scene is there, and so are the underlying code and logic to edit said keyframes. But the tools that allow you to edit or create those animations, the graph for example could use major improvements, even going to the keyframe you click on has accuracy errors, more than that, PIN Rotation... PIN position, my god guys, if I'm pinning why does it move? UX is pretty bad as well, as a new user (and I assume this is something DAZ cares about) just going to edit the animation on a particular limb is threatening, why would 1000 elements appear on the timeline hierarchy if I have the arm selected? Most of the time you just want to edit animation rotations or translation, not morphs and the like, you can, just like you do on other sections in DAZ hide all that and make it available upon some button click (advance, context menu whatever) and let the hierarchy clean for those who are trying to edit several bones on a single figure.
That is what I mean, Improve IK, finally fix pining bones, cleanup the animation UI, fix bugs there too, improve UX of anything posing, animation related.
Having said that, I am an engineer, and I worked on CAD applications from 2003 all the way to 2008, before moving to mobile, and now I'm a platform architect, nothing to do with CAD, but I mention that because I know what I'm referring to and I understand what it means when I say "Is so easy..." I'm not referring to some product manager saying 'do x is easy' who hasn't write a line of code since college. What I'm suggesting are easy, low hanging fruits that greatly improve usage of the tool WE ALL LOVE SO MUCH, but has stagnated for almost a decade.
Except that there are features not currently used in the main posing workflow (only in the Geometry Editor) so I suspect it would be more complex than you think.
But however familiar you may be with development in another field, albeit one with a degree of overlap, you don't know what would be involved here (and nor do I - maybe it really would be relatively simple on the mechanics, though I think the UI might be another matter).
Of course there is, given your background, https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-4-5-sdk - you could create and sell a tool if you wished.
Here is an example of bad UX... If I'm position at frame 30 on a 150 keyframe animation track, and I reduce the maximum amount of frames from 150 to 30, why does my current frame becomes frame 5 or some other frame not frame 30, why does it shift? If I was position at frame 150 it would make sense for the current frame to shift to MAX(animation track size) right? but if this is not the case, why I'm I now on frame 5 I didn't change my current frame. Why is this an issue? Is not really, unless you don't realize it and begin editing things thinking you are still at frame 30... But is a bad and unintuitive behavior.
I'm not going to quote you Richard because is a pretty big size of text. All software development is complex, what I mean by easy, is more for hopefully the senior engineer, or whatever his title is to stumble by my comment, and give it a few thoughts. Then he would have the pushback from the other engineers in the team... Generally, on a morning standup JIRA meeting it would go like this:
Engineer 1: "But man, that section of the code is so spaghetti, so ancient (maybe is just 5 years old but hey, engineers...), I don't want to touch it..."
Engineer 2: "Remember the 80/20 rule... or was it 20/80... anyways is a rule boss"
Engineer 3: "if it ain't broken... you know the saying"
I hope however, there is will to improve DAZ, it was already the best in other areas, but for most standard users to take advantage of those areas DAZ so greatly excels, it needs to improve the UX by a mile, and for me in particularly, is anything related to posing, placing items on a scene, and animating.
P.S. Richard, snap to vertex/edge for placing objects on a scene is not related to the geometry editor, perhaps I confused you, I'm not referring to editing geometry, only positioning objects which yes, would require the code helping the user place an object traverse the geometry the cursor is over to provide the possible position of the object being placed on the scene (I'm oversimplifying it). I'm not suggesting DAZ becomes Blender, nor it becomes motion builder, just for it to improve and make it easier to say, place series of fence objects, or move the torso while pining the fit correctly calculates other bone relative rotations etc, etc
Not sure, but it seems to be a plugin to import ready made animation data? Not something to make animation within DS better?
And, will there ever be a DS 5?
In-app notifications are a pull, not a push.
Frames count from 0 - if you hae 30 frames then the last is frame 29, so it has to move from frame 30 (and apparently does so proportionately). Do note that the frame count also updates live - so if you have 31 frames and up it to 151 you will actually drop to 11 briefly as you type, but this doesn't affect your example which is dropping a digit.
What gets developed is, as is usually the case, down to product management rather than the engineers.
Snapping too vertex/edge requires that theer be ways to select those - it would not, I think, be helpful to have every vertex and edge in a scene, or even in a model, a snap target. Currently the only tool that works directly on vertices and edges is the Geometry Editor, so this would either require people to use a more advanced tool or a rejig of the toolset.
I know about zero base arrays. The UI however if you look at my shared GIF file, shows I'm setting frame 0-30 not an array of 30 elements, and the UI itself, shows frame 30 on the GIF/Screenshot. Besides, the same behavior happens if I were to set max 35-36-37-pick your number frames.
It doesn't seem Richard and I'm not trying to underestimate you, my comments are for you, I do appreciate your responses but I don't feel you understand me, maybe is me and not you.
Debatable, you would be surprised... Is not the subject of my suggestions though, product management can say I want X, engineers say can/can't do, not without YZ, and as is usually in my experience product should, unless the product manager was the lead engineer/architect/prior, ask the engineers first before deciding on a product road map if of course, they really want to succeed, I know some product managers with zero knowledge of the subject matter that still go their own way and of course, fail miserably. (Not talking about High level, although high level can be derailed based on accrued tech-debt, so on and so forth, or simply how absurd the product manager original idea was compared to what can actually be done.)
Have you used blender, maya or any and most CAD apps out there? Yes you select in a way the edge or vertex you want your geometry to snap to, but you don't go pick the specific vertex in fact sometimes you don't even see it if you are in shaded mode and the geometry is very smooth. Again, I'm not sure you understand the feature I'm referring too: See Screenshot.
Of course, a programmer would understand that if you have ten million edges on the scene, you don't sample ten million edges... that is why there are models that make it easy to partition geometry, binary tree partitions for example / or simple bounding box hit-tests before evaluating smaller components etc, but this is going into the weeds of how such a feature is implemented, I'm not going into that debate.
Is just an example from blender, it doesn't need to be as detailed or controllable since DAZ is not a modeling tool, I'm not editing geometry only moving a cube to be aligned with the edge of plane, it would automatically snap to whatever edge it detects my mouse is over.
P.S. I think I have posted more today than the 10+ years I have been a member of this forum heh.
P.S. Another P.S. I know most of my effort here is a waste of my time, yet, I do hope one of them would be considered, especially around animation improvements and better inverse kinematic, but I still hope... just like I hope for world peace.
Could be - kind of like aniMate and aniBlocks perhaps.
Will there be a DS 5? Probably eventually, when it is ready, but I have no insight.
Thanks for the info. Does the user have a choice to opt in or opt out to that service?
Your screenshot shows the before educing the frame count, and I ddi test - for me going from 151 frames to 31 frames with the playhead on frame 30 the playhead does not move, going to 30 frames total by typing the number over the top of 151 it jumps to frame 2 (as I mentioned above, because the 3 replaces the 151 before the 0, or 1, is added). If I paste 30 over 115 the current frame becomes frame 29, just moving it in. I an't get it to jump to frame 5 at all.
Simple, sparse emshes are easy - but a complex mesh, which Daz would have to allow for, would amost certainly require some way to sub-select targets. That may or may not be an issue, but I still think you are overgeneralising in your assessment of how easy something would be to implement.
Not going to quote, now that one was a large post. I'm not referring to modifying the Total: < frame count, but modifying the Range top number. Like I said I appreciate your responses Richard, that was but an example of a "not a bug but an inconvenient behavior" (although could be thought as a bug) that's been there since I can remember.
Complex meshes are as easy as simple meshes for today's machines, but more importantly, for today's algorithms. I'm not going into the weeds like I mention even though you do tempt me heh, but Is not very flattering to say that DAZ engineers are subpar to those who have develop similar feature in every single modeling application out there (Note I don't think that's the case in the least...), (and note again, I'm not referring to a modeling feature).
P.S. Is not a screenshot what I shared, is an animated gif file showing the issue, sounds like attached GIF files get stripped? Shame, I took the time to record the issue :(
Sigh... cry.... heartbroken...
My interim solution for the new 'New...' has to be: create a custom action for an empty Scene, assign Ctrl + N to it. Then assign a Alt + Ctrl + N to the new 'New...'..., well just in case one day I may really need it.
(1) Thought right away, this is likely when DS 5.0 will be released with new QT, when saw that blog news a few days ago.
Cannot see Heat writing script for DSplugin twice. Is totally possible of course, just doesn't seem efficient unless QT changes are that minor.
(2) TBH, my heart sank when i saw that blog news.
Went to "HEATS" website, and all i saw was a basic website showcasing pre-canned animations for sale.
Anims I saw were all singles. Maybe like aniblocks?
HEAT does say users can make and sell their own anims.
Concern is that TAFI (daz's parent) is focussed mostly on pre-canned, and less on animation development, with all of its Complexities.
Will of course see what that looks like before render feelings.
Still initial skeptical impression is sales are not just first, but the main focus.
GIVEN - that using all the DS poses, expressions, materials is best in DS with jcms etc in background, do NOT think it is fair at all if TAfi focuses mainly on a quick turnkey anim solution only.
Bridging, only after countless hours and compromises and new software etc, and even then forget DAZ library of poses/expression ease.
TAfI, prove me wrong please.
DS Animations and DS native poses/expressions should be quick to work together in timeline that is improved to next level, or that is my hope as a user who paid alot of $$ to DAZ.
On final note, DAZ thank you very much for the animation timeline changes. Every bit helps.
That sounds like a great workaround. Will do that too when i upgrade my beta.
When saw the changelog, guessed there would be some upheavals, so am waiting as don't have time rn nor energy to deal with that.
The forced adverts for store and not being to disable - hopefully will be a way around that too.
Yeah, it works just like my old beta baby
And no hurry, take it easy pls !
Probably another 'bug' in here:
If I Save As whatever kind of Presets / Subset to overwrite an existing preset duf file, the existing '*.duf.png' file is not replaced at all while a 'big tip png file' is generated as expected. Then if I Save As a new preset file, everything seems fine.
I haven't touched any setting in F2 after updating PB version. So what is stated in the thread seems not working - https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/654446/thumbnail-saving-daz-studio-4-21-1-103#latest
I'll further test it....
PS: There seems no problem when I do the same with Save as a Scene file... so the issue results from Saving As presets...only.
1) When Save As to overwrite existing Preset duf file, with 'inclusive - strict mode', neither '*.png' nor '*.tip.png' will be saved and replaced.
2) Even when saving as a new scene file, with 'inclusive - strict mode', if there is another 'dot' character berfore the 'dot' with extension, like 'Scene Vol.1 - 001.duf', the thumbnail files are wrongly saved as : 'My Scene Vol.png' and 'My Scene Vol.tip.png'... wrong substring !
PS+: Request Submitted - #445638
Yay!! Glad you got workaround the way you like.
haha on take it easy.
Work has me focussed elsewhere and fighting with new beta, nah. Rather be working on more DS scene content instead. 
So thx to you and others for sharing issues and any workarounds!.
You're welcome! And Thank You !
I second this, animation tools are left there with lots of bugs and missing features. It's time to fix things, Richard.
In the New Scene window, if I multi-click on several scenes and right click and select Open As New, what it is supposed to do? Does it make sense to offer "Open As New" in the menu when multiple scenes are selected? What seems to happen is that it opens the last selected scene and then leaves the New Scene window open with all of the previously selected scenes still highlighted.
You get a new, unnamed scene and the selected scenes are merged into it:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8392406/#Comment_8392406