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Going to take this in pieces:
First the Install issues:
Okay first, lets backup you and start Again:
First in the Download Filters Check the following:
In the DIM do s Search for “PostgreSQL” and Install it if you haven’t already
then search for “DAZ Studio 4.”
You should see Only the DAZ Studio application and Plugins made for your OS
This should load all plugins for your version of Studio
Standard Plugins are: (If you don’t have the software don’t load the plugin)
Once the software is loaded, close down the DIM and Start Daz Studio
Now let's talk about your viewing and rendering experience.
Okay Viewing first:
Now Rendering:
There is a Learning curve, and things are different than Poser. just like Mac OS is different than Windows or Linux.
But I would say, that in most cases you have more control with DAZ Studio then Poser and more choices.
I hope this is helpful, and you get up and running without issue.
The best tutorial in the store to help you is DAZ Studio Beginner to Advanced by ironman13 and fugazi 1968, and I highly recommend it. I have been using DAZ Studio for years, a former Poser user, and Animation:Master user. It made things much more easy, and it's easy to see how ironman13 can crank out so much quality product after you watch it. Just her explanation of how she sets up her workspace is so clear. It think it's the biggest mistake many make.
My whole issue with DAZ Studio is finding content. I gave it what I thought was a fair try from Oct 2016-April 2017 by trying to use nothing but Studio. In that period I never opened PP11 once and I completely started from scratch, deleted all my old runtimes and just let Content Manager install everything. I still can't find stuff even with Smart Content and everything put exactly where DAZ Studio expects it. Maybe I have a mental block but having issues both with finding content and trying to figure out the the differences between Poser and DAZ Studio without decent documentation just sucked the fun right out of my hobby. I didn't make a single finished render in that time so I gave up and went back to Poser Pro 11 where I know the location of all my content. At least it is saving me a lot of money here because VERY little new at DAZ is Poser compatible and I pretty much have all the older content I could ever need.
I suppose I am a bit of an outlier (as usual)
I never had much of a problem finding my DAZ content.
Remember that you should not rely on Smart Content for any older content (ie content which is Genesis 1 and earlier, so that includes all V4, M4 etc). Some older products have smart content, but they are more the exception rather than the rule. Smart content can be a big time saver, but it is essential to learn how to find your content via the "old" way, ie using the Content Library. In the Poser format part of this tab it is pretty much exactly layed out the same way as Poser content is laid out, and there is no reason not to be able to find anything you can in Poser.
Yep, never liked other people's categories. I make my own categories. Spent hours/days/weeks/years getting it just perfect then one day I carelessly installed a new version of DAZ Studio sometime after they introduced that dimwitted tool appropriately named DIM, without making a proper backup and it all got scrambled or blown away or otherwise f****d and I've been crippled and piecemeal rebuilding my categories for the last year or two.
I never install products with DIM. You'all can if you want to. But I believe that users should become familiar with manually installing products by unzipping them to where they're designed to go THEN manually creating your own content heirarchies by using DAZ's content manager dialogs. But above all, keep backups of your library and the content manager indicies.
The beautiful thing about the content manager's Categories branch is that you can create multiple links to the same object or figure or pose or texture in several different categories without grossely increasing the size of the library, The "Categories" branch is just a database of indices. And no DIM product can anticipate your ideas of where things should be categorized.
For me finding Content in Poser is a nightmare. This part of the Product is in Figures, this part is in Props, Materials are in Poses? (Yes, I know people started putting them there, due to the fact there was no where else to put them.) I explained it this way in a post about Folder Structure:
Poser Method:
Poser uses the Little Sort method. Poser groups similar content together, in the same Root Folder. Figure with figures, Hair with Hair folder, Props with Props, and if there isn’t a specified folder, then it goes in the Pose Folder. (It is the only logical explanation for how Morphs, Mats and other content, which are not Poses, end up in the Pose folder?)
[Thanks to icprncss for the explanation of how this happened:
A note regarding Material poses (Mat poses) and Morph poses (Mor poses). These are user hacks that Poser users discovered back in the days of Poser 4. ERC and JCM’s are another user hack that is now common practice. DAZ didn’t discover these and neither did Curious Labs or eFrontiers. (Thus proving Content Creators and Content Consumers are a powerful force, what were Hacks in Poser 4 are now the Norm, due to users forging into new areas and developers following.)]
So the workflow is to place your figure from the Figures, then go to the Hair folder for Hair, the Figure Folder for Clothes and then the Pose folder to apply Morphs, Mats and Poses, save for Hand and Expressions poses which have their own folders.
The advantage to the Little Sort is the ability to get to the content type you want very quickly, but this is where the apparent advantage becomes a disadvantage. The Content Consumer spends time searching for the Content compatible with the figure you have loaded; for folder mislabeling can send them down the wrong path. So Poser Content Creators have to be very careful how they label their content.
DAZ Studio Method:
DAZ3D Studio uses the Big Sort method. Studio groups content that works with a Figure or Object under the same folder tree. A Dress for Genesis would be in the clothing folder of the Genesis folder and the Surface Textures for the Dress would be in a materials folder in the Dress’ folder.
So the workflow is to go to the Genesis folder, place the Genesis Figure, then without moving out of the Genesis folder you can find Hair, Clothing, Poses and the like that work with the Genesis figure.
The advantage of the Big Sort is that the Content Consumer knows that everything with in the Root folder of the product will work with that product. The Disadvantage comes from misplaced content, outside the Root folder. Another possible disadvantage comes from a possibility of content duplication, for those assets that work with more than one Figure, but this can actually be controlled.
Finding Content is DAZ Studio is easy, even without Smart Content. I'm going to build a Scene with Michael 7, Horse 2, Dragon 3, and put them in “On a Certain Night” which is for Millennium Environment
Getting it now, Most products follow this method. So ask was it is, a sword for Genesis 3 Male, you are going to find it in Props under Genesis 3 Male, the Materials for the Sword are going to be in the Materials folder within the folder you found the sword, including any add on materials. Most Vendors follow this method. I believe most products are bring brought under this method. If you are looking for Dream Home, you will find it under Environments - Architecture - Dream Home - and there it all is.
That is only using the Raw folder structure, you can alway search in Products for the Product Name and do it that way. And if you use Smart Content it is even easier. When you select an asset (anything in the scene) DAZ Studio will narrow the mass of products down to the Assets that will work with the Selected Asset. But say you want to load a Genesis 2 Male outfit onto Genesis 3 Male, you can do that back in the Content Library, and Auto-fit will help make it all look right.
Now if you are looking for something which is Poser Format, then you have to switch your brain to Poser Mode or easier, look in Products for the Store Name, All Products with few Exceptions are given their Store Product Name. so if you are looking for [‘On the Dark Side' for Morphing Fantasy Dress] you can find it in the O’s, even though it is for V4.
Does that explain how to find something.
I hope this was helpful
I'd given up on DS in frustration numerous times over the years because I felt it just didn't work for me. But once I had the layout how I liked it, turned off things that didn't work for me like Smart Content, got my library working for me instead of against me, I was hooked. I watched a lot of Daz for beginners tutorials and they really helped, even if it was just one little ah-ha moment out of it. Patience, perseverance, and practice, my three "P's". :)
Exactly. The last thing I'd want is the program forcing me to put stuff where it says.
I still physically move folders where they make sense to be myself. I've got far too much stuff orgainized that way to stop now.
I sure did in the beginning (not so much now). But it was soooo bad when I started learning Studio that it almost made me quit because I was spending more time looking for stuff than I was doing anything with the software ;). Finally, I just decided there was nothing very smart about Smart Content and used just the Content Library, which is what I still do today. I do make my own categories tho, which makes it easier for me as all my Poser AND Daz Studio content is all in the same place and I can set it up how I want and in a way that makes sense to me.
Laurie
Indeed I never even bothered with "smart content"
in fact, to this Day, I have no clue what the term even means
I suppose I have just memorized the location of everything in my
content library as 99.9percent of it is for G2.
I use the smart content tabs to check stuff I've just bought, check updates (since they added the virtual content folders, I don't mind using connect), and to (occasionally) search by product name.
Otherwise I use the Content Library. (And I really need to get back to categorizing everything)
They certainly did not seem to want to invest even in the talent they had on board.
Take the Guy "Bagginsbill"for example.
A very talented programmer, yet why Did he deliver that horrific flash based runtime library in poser pro 2014?
Bagginsbill himself posted ,in a rosity thread ,that when SM heard his quote to develop a proper,modern content library using C+
They scoffed thus we got that "bargain"Flash version that they were willing to pay for.
Also Poser, because of it price, has always had compete with older versions of itself as people were hesitant to pay for cosmetic upgrades and access to figures that could not compete even with the aged V4/M4.
I don't think Poser is done for as they still have the groundwork to modernize Poser and more tightly integrate it with the game and animation engines using the latest iR&D tech.
However, the revelations I saw at the Unity conference by oToy should give DAZ, Poser, and Adobe all pause for thought and direction. That was some seriously capable technology.
The major benefit of Smart Content for me is it shows you the options you have for what you are working on, meaning you see all the accessories that will work with your specific character or whatever you are working on. Cuts down hunting around for all your options.
It will take the new Poser team some time to get up to speed. Hopefully they won't have a language issue in Portugal.
Well I think the way DAZ & Poser approach organizing content is problematic and they should made as part of the DIM/Content Manager process a dialogue pop-up that prompts on install the myriad of ways to catalogue your content and if there are already some Smart Content tags configured for your product within the install metadata it should tell you what those are with the personal tagging dialogue your are prompted to enter (and there could be a checklist of already existing categories and subcategories). Whether that tagging dialogue functionality was working on not could be turned on and off with a toggle.
They released a "game dev" version a few years ago to horrible reviews
They cobbled together "4 GB " of low poly content and added a rudimentery
Decimator function and FBX exporter and dumped it all into the unity store
for $500 USD (IIRC) , in a market where the average game asset sold for $15-$20 USD.
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/20703
Then they sent the former Product manger steve cooper into the
poser forum to beg the few remaining poser content devs to offer up their
content to help sell that white elephant with no official Clarification on licensing agreements.
I dont really see SM making any serious attempts to move into the Game dev market.
Well as having using both FBX exporters the Poser exporter worked better for me that the DAZ exporter last time I compared them side by side.
I am not so quick to dismiss the efforts of Smith Micro and Larry. It's not like they can't leap-frog DAZ Studio or something like Fuse leap-frog them both or even this oToy technology and make it all obsolete.
You think these virtual changing rooms that Amazon is developing won't be coming to webcams world-wide? Or to your local WalMart, CostCo, Target and so on? These businesses will be able to exactingly take your measurements and order the correct sized clothing and allow 'just-in-time' bespoke clothing to be created by customers on the fly. This will be a massive cost savings and profit enhancer for these businesses as the material waste and labor will be minimized. And that same tech can be used to assist and enhance games, animation, renders, greeting cards and so on.
One thing I've learned as a progammer is you learn business often disposes of your 'indispensible knowlege' faster than you can think or have time to learn the new tech if you are actually busy 9 - 5 maintaining the old tech while new tech is being founded before the business that has the old tech dumps both the old tech and the employees that work on the tech.
At any rate, as a tech nerd I find it very interesting.
The tech is moving fast I believe IClone is more likely to over take Daz than poser .
Well, for SM, Poser wasn't the only program moved to Portugal. So was Moho (formerly Anime Studio Pro), and Stuffit. Their main business is hurting. They put all their eggs in a mobile services basket a few years ago with just Sprint and one other customer using them now. Their stock price is low - around $1.05.
I agree, Wolf. iClone is quite tempting, but the price is still holding me back, and some features, like the curve editor won't be available until 7.1. And you need a 10 series card to get the best performance. Can't afford all that right now.
It seems alot of people made the wrong call on the future of mobile
communications.
"GoFigure" the maker of our aniMate plugin, was started to create custom cg avatars that people would use to represent them on Mobile devices.
The never imagined that, by 2013, a numerical majority of the U.S. population would be carrying a device with hi megapixel digital camera and HD video recording capability for instant self publishing on instagram and other social media platforms.
And I need not even mention how badly Microsoft mis-read the Smartphone landscape.
Nice! I forgot about iClone. the 7 version looks very impressive. I have version 6 they gave away free last year but decided to wait to upgrade if ever as my budget is limited. Much of the UI interface is excellent and intuitive (for experienced UI users) and Unity should take note for the animation timeline and it's own PBR renderer. It looks like iClone has licenced iRay and much other tech and done an excellent job extending and integrating them.
At that price I dont think so, not unless they make a free version
It is reasonably priced for a professionals( not casual hobbyists), who plan to get paid for their work and for the features it has
.
at $500 USD it has many more modern realtime features than the $500 poser pro "game dev" in the Unity store.
and seamless integration with external apps like substance painter.
And the curve editor will be a paid plugin which is dissapointing.
Actually we have the entire version 6 with character creator bundle but I am waiting to get $$new hardware$$ before even installing it
so I am still plugging away with 5.5 pro & 3DXchange
Larry isn't with the Poser group; he left right after they got rid of the the graphics division in California. Smith Micro even let go the creator of Moho as well, and that program helped bring in the majority of the money that came from the graphics division.
I would think the langauge issue is that certain parts of the program was documented in German (for instance the user interface parts).
Wow! Hmmm. Well then that is complete different story! Moho is excellent program and Poser too still yet although it's getting a bit antiquated here & there.
I guess Fuse, Blender, and the Unity Asset Store have had a big impact already!