Temptations: Opal, Hexagon or VWD?
marble
Posts: 7,500
I've been following the thread in the DAZ Studio forum about the up-comimg DAZ Studio bridge to the Virtual World Dynamics cloth simulation. The simulation program itself is $65 and I'm assuming an extra cost for the bridge software. It looks like a must-have so I've been avoiding other purchases for a while, trying to save for VWD.
Today, I see Opal for Genesis 3 Female and she is exactly what I've been hoping PAs would create - an older female with shape and skin appropriate to her age. Another must-have and kudos to Saiyaness for another remarkable character.
Then there's a sale of Hexagon tutorials. Should I try again with Hexagon? It crashed constantly on my Mac but now I have a new PC - maybe the Windows version works better.
Temptations and decisions on a small budget.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
I don't know the Hex tutorials, but generaly, while I find pro tuts nice, they're rarely the only source of info out there...
@Scavenger your iMac is exactly the same model as mine - didn't you have the Hex crashes?
EDIT - oh, I see you created a thread.
I haven't used Hex enough to know if it crashes..my main issue has been that the Daz <->Hex bridge only works from Daz to Hex....so I then have to save the hex item, load up hex in Parallels and use windows Hex to move it back to Daz...btut that was really 1 use almost a year ago.
I bought and downloaded Hexagon recently. My system is running on Windows 7, 64bit. The first thing I noticed was that there were only 32 bit downloads for either Windows or Mac. I was surprised that there were no 64bit applications. After I started the software and entered my registration code, the program crashed. Then, after restarting the program it was functional. The first thing I attempted was to send a Genesis 3 character to Hexagon. The character loaded in properly. After testing some things, I had several error messages pop up in a short period of time, saying that the program had crashed or something of that sort.
While the price was less than $4 or sale, I didn't expect anything revolutionary. I have 3ds max, Zbrush and other software and thought that hey, why not. Could be fun to test a 3d platform which is fully integrated with Daz Studio. I might have been unlucky with my first attempts, and to be honest, I wasn't sure what I was doing since the menus were new and unfamiliar. However, having crashes so early on isn't a good sign.
Perhaps other Hexagon users have better experience with the program and less problems, these were just my quick impressions from dabbling around for a short while.
I gave up and tried Blender. I have managed to do some crude morphs in Blender but it can be (is) intimidating to venture into the Blender universe. On that subjec, however, I see that SickleYield has a new tutorial about creating clothing morphs in Blender.
http://www.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Creating-Clothing-Morphs-in-Blender-608135973
Hex is 32-bit. On a Mac it won't run on anything after Snow Leopard. Suspect it may be blocked out of more up-to-date Windows systems as well. Don't know what the cutoff point is, though.
since Saiyaness is a buddy of mine.... go buy her product... it's awesome!!
I'm finding Hexagon works quite well on my Windows 10 machine. Maybe even better than it did on my Windows 7 machine. Still wish they'd update it.
I really do want it but I also really, really want the VWD thing. In fact, I really, really, really want both!
On the videos: does anyone know what the relationship between the $16 Dreamlight and the cheaper ones - the same areas seem to be covered, so is the the more expensive version more than just a repackaging of the shorter ones?
I saw that too, and after looking at the menus for all the things listed in the $16 package and cross referencing that with the topics in the individual tuts, I came to the conclusion that it included all that stuff, so I just went for the package.
Never ever Hexagon. Give VWD another month or two to see if any bugs/quirks pop up and need ironing out. Get Opal now.
VWD shows all the promise of being the game-changer that Optitex never was. If it were to be released for DAZ Studio tomorrow (it is already available for Poser) I would be gnashing my teeth trying to find ways to scrape the cash together. I blew a big slice of my savings on a new PC and swore to rein in my DAZ spending for months to come. So, hanging on for a couple of months is not in my nature - as demonstrated by the fact that I bought a GTX970 two weeks before the 1070 announcement.
Still, Opal really does look like the girl for me.
I own hexagon and occasionally use it to create morphs, but I use Blender mostly; it just works better for me.
I agree the character looks amazing; not sure how soon I'll need an older character, but likely to get eventually.
Opal is stunning and I have actually been looking for a something just like her for G3F. Great timing there. I usppsoe the big question for Hexagon is if you will run into the crahses. It can be useful for quick fixes (like dealing with wleded joints) -- just use the bridge to send the object to Hex, fixz it there, and send it back. So picking it up for a couple bucks just to have that option could be worth it.
I have the $16 version which I actually bought on Dreamlight's sight site. As far as I can tell, they are both the same, just different packaging. I can tell you that whichever you get, you are better off buying here than on Dreamlight's site as here you get access permanently. On Dreamlight's site, it is a short term subscription and, if you don't download everything when they year is up, you lose access.
I have Hexagon but stopped using it due to the constant crashes on the Mac. I now have a Windows 10 PC so wondered if it would work better and, if so, should I buy the tutorials while cheap. Nevertheless, that's lower down the wishlist than either Opal or VWD.
If you already own it, is't it in your product library, where you could download the Windows version? Or did you get it with a magazine or some such rather than from DAZ?
Sorry, you are misunderstanding. The sale today is not of Hexagon software but Hexagon tutorials. I have Hexagon (the software) but not the tutorials. I can install Hexagon on Windows with DIM if I want to try it again.
I'm still in Windows 8.1, so I can't speak to WInfows 10 compatibility. I don't expect there to be any though (my game box is running WIndows 10 and I haven't had any issues with older stuff on it).
marble: Actually the sale today includes the software... that's how I got it for $3.
Ah - sorry, didn't spot that. Pity it isn't the new version.
By the way, I gave in and bought Opal.
Runs on Mavericks (10.9.5)... at least as well as it ever did. Save Often!!!
The trick that seems to work for me (most of the time) is to (1) open what you want to send to Daz Studio in Hex. (2) Open Studio and send something to Hex via Bridge, which opens a second iteration of Hex. (3) Go to your first Hex window, and send your item back to Studio via Bridge. (4) quit the second open Hex.
Hexagon is a nice, easy to use modeler, but it is buggy as can be. I can hack my way through Blender, but don't use it enough to really remember it's quirks. That means relearning where all the buttons are hidden every time I use it. Mostly, I use it to make good UV maps of stuff I model in Hexagon. If I had time to devote to using Blender enough to make it up the steep learning curve, I'd probably do more modeling in it.