Victoria 8, a bridge too far???
tsarist
Posts: 1,637
A lot of you know me, but this post is not what you might think it is.
I personally think the new Vicky 8 looks fantastic!
I also love the backwards compatibility AND the incredibel buy V8 Pro Bundle get V5, V6, & V7 Pro Bundles Free!
I'm a Carrara user, and V8 won't work for me.
My reason for this post is to ask WHY?
WHY do we need V8 so soon?
Just look at some of the new characters for V4 (in one of the other stores), look what they can do with THAT technology.
Daz has yet to fully push its Victoria 6 to the limits of its technology!
Not to mention Victoria 7.
I just wish you guys let the technology breathe a little. I have no doubt in short order you could have gotten V8 quality renders out of V6!
I'm not saying don't try to make great looking figures, just use what you have and make it stretch.

Comments
You may not get too many comments on this, but I completely understand what you are saying.
I feel that same, I feel like that all previous products are thrown away and never really given a chance to have their full potential realized, when something new comes along.. Just like mobile phones or anything like that all are put on the scrap heap as soon as something new and exciting shows up..
Good points, mate, but Daz makes its money off content, new content. We get a powerful, continually updated program for free. The price of which is a steadily marching market that, like a shark, must continue moving to exist. With the losses of Draagonstorm and Ralf (bless their souls), we need someone to take up the slack in morph conversion and utilities. And Daz could offer an incentive to Zev0, Cayman Studios, and VAlzheimer to get their conversion/morph packages ready earlier rather than later. This thing is not going to stop; no, not even take a break.
If there's any chance at all of updates for Carrara, Bryce, etc, it's only going to happen if DAZ profitable. Thus, the onward rumbling of the content retail leviathan is a necessity.
Be nice to see Bryce 8 or 9 and Carrara 9 of 10 but very much doubt we will ever see new versions of those software packages, it is Daz Studio or nothing by the looks of things..
It's all how you look at it. I don't think anything is being thrown away. I LOVE the older generations and still use them all the time. I'm having a blast bringing them into Iray and also discovering how good they can look in the latest version of Poser. I'm glad there are stores that still make content for them and I pick up quality content for older figures whenever I can. I just bought brand new M4 and V4 stuff elsewhere to use on book covers. My own covers currently have M4 and V4 on one, a V7 on another, and the next one will be a G2M. I like having stuff across all the generations. I do hope Carrara get updated to use the newer figures.
I was not impressed with anything in the Genesis 3 Line and Even less impressed by the Genesis 8 Base and V8. I really don't see any major improvements in technology or anything really.
I just made a G2F dialed morph I really like just the other day. I LOVE the G3 figures and I'll still be using those frequently. Just because G8 is out now doesn't mean the older figures are dead. New stuff for them will slow as that is inevitable, but I'm sure there is still tons of things for ALL versions of Mike and Vicky that you haven't bought yet ;). I'm sure those things aren't going anywhere...hehe. I still buy stuff for Generation 4 thru Genesis 3 ALL the time.
Laurie
I'm just waiting for all these "8" threads to get merged into one big useless confusing thread that will frustrate and bury all dissent and disappointment...
Count with me boys and girls... 10... 9... Cantaloupe... 14... Z... 8...
I would have loved to see G3 given more time to mature. We were seeing creative envelopes pushed further as the figure aged, such as the centaurs. But now we're back to the treadmill of re-releasing the expected named figures like Victoria, Olympia, Gia, etc. At least that's the way I see this going.
I get it, Daz needs to make money, and I can't fault them for doing what they need to do as a business. But from my point of view, releasing G8 puts a damper on where G3 still had the potential to go.
You use the word "mate" so I assume you are not from North America. In the USA and Canada HUGE HUGE HUGE compaines are going out of business every week. Corporate management decisions are destroying companies. Now, one of the largest and oldest department store chains is going bankrupt in Canada - SEARS. It doesn't matter what a company produces or sells if the public loses interest for some reason.
Considering we're always getting the excuse that the reason we don't have the variety of things for Genesis 3 characters that you find in V4 is because V4 was around longer, than I guess at this rate we'll never move beyond skimp wear for the Gen 4 phase.
Typical kvetch storm after a new release.
Not that I disagree with the points being made.
I just keep mentioning that I am still quite happy with M4, G1, and sometimes G2. My impression of my two G3 figures was "why did I even bother?" and I'm not even contemplating V8 (or M8 when it appears). But then I remember: Oh, yeah, this is planned obsolescence and bottom line economics. I used to be a rabid kvetcher because I could see the deficiencies in the operation of the mom & pop shop that DAZ used to be, but now I'm not sure that the slick new corporate mentality that has taken over is not even more kvetchable. But, regardless, I'm tired of picking nits and am just happy playing with my old toys M4, G1 and sometimes G2. Y'all have fun. And I don't think I'll regret realizing that I could have had a V8. I'll peek back in about a year from now to see if anything worthwhile has popped up. 
However, one good thing about the "Version d'jour" process. It does generate some decent sales of older products. I ticked off several old products from my wishlist during the recent sale, just before V8 showed up.
Eh, I will just stick to Genesis, Gen 2 and gen 3, I have a nice little library built up and I am just starting to learn to make stuff for them from scratch, though I suppose I could make stuff for Gen 8 as well.
Sometimes the imperative to invest in the new generation does not come from the technology of the figure but from the quality of the PA products that follow. These artists are continually looking to improve realism and versatility which is what we all want but these improvements don't appear in new clothes for old generations - they only appear in products for the new girl or guy. V4 bucked this trend for a while but lately G3 has become the model of choice in both major stores.
I'm usually a late adopter, waiting for the new generation to find its way into some of the crazy sales and picking up expensive add-ons at bargain prices. I can't see anything about G8F/V8 that will make me change my buying pattern unless DAZ Studio 5 (or whatever it is called) adds some exciting technology that enables better animation or physics/dynamics that require G8 and above.
Sort of hard to disagree with the original post. I don't mind so much, as other like-minded people have said, this will likely bring some prices down on G3 content, over time. I am kind of disappointed because we were just getting some pretty cool fantasy base figures in Centaurs and Demons from Daz and other creators. Now back to Victoria, followed by Michael, followed by another human form from every other generation.
G8F doesn't have anything new from technology standpoint compared to G3F. The most noticeable thing is change from T to A default pose which will make it a bit easier for PAs to model clothes. Some polys added here and there, some JCMs improved, that's all.
Uber shader improvement is actually a property of new Studio release and can be used with any model.
Redacted
Thank you for this laugh... :)
Well they could keep making new content for the many models they already have instead of abandoning them.
At some point, Daz risks saturating their own market. A new Genesis model every 2 years is risking that saturation, and also risks alienating the customers invested in the older ones. We shall see.
Without getting into the forbidden subject of how capitalism works,
The reason we "Needed "a New genesis/Vicky figure
is the exact same reason we "Needed" the new Samsung Galaxy 8
or Iphone 6,7,etc
Publicly held companies need to show shareholders that they are
not standing still.
Not making a value judgement here, merely stating a fact of reality.
I understand the fear of those wanting to "sit tight" for a while
and stay with G3 or G2 even.
NO MORE NEW CONTENT SUPPORT!!!!.
As an animator and G2 hold out
I personally do not have this fear as I am a content
developer and can support any genesis figure I prefer with new clothing
and indefinately,and with my sculpting skills, facegen and my custom dynamics my
future options for my preferred Generation will be unlimited.
My only advice is a bitter pill, but you can only liberate yourself
from this endless pursuit if you learn to create content yourself.
(Pic) New sportswear for the G2 MALE
I'm not sure why people are freaking out about it being so "soon". Did they do this to G2 and G3 releases as well? The figure releases are on a 2 year release schedule. G2 came out two years after G1, G3 came out two years after G2, and now G8 has come out two years after G3. If they stick with the same schedule as they have the past few figure releases, we'll be seeing G9 in June 2019.
Not looking forward to two years from now seeing AGAIN so many complaining posts about it being "too soon". Just get over it. Get on board with the new figure or pass it up. No one is forcing you to keep up with each figure line release.
+1 - expect off powerpose update, but this could be done for G3, so why they didn't do this...?
same feelings here! Studio 5 should come up with some good goodies first! so daz animation tools, where are ya ????
The way the muscles flex and move, coupled with the advancement of facial expressions, make Gen 8 an obvious step above. To say there's "nothing new" makes me think you either haven't spent much time with the new figure or you haven't read what's actually been done. This doesn't even consider teeth, fingernails/toenails, and ears. All with clear advancements to what was there before (nails, especially).
If I recall from 2 years ago there was even more hysteria about "Genesis 3" being too soon, including people that urged everyone to boycott the new figure to punish DAZ from abandoning Genesis 2 too early. Needless to say the boycott was ignored by most, and Genesis 3 went on to become a massive seller. I assume Genesis 8 will do the same, indeed I hope it does, as DAZ needs the money it gets from content in order to make improvements to the software, for which it earns nothing.
Regardless we can not say this release came from nowhere, after all we have had a fair few hints, officially, and through forum guesses that V8 was coming soon, so I am confused why people are surprised at her arrival today, albeit I was expecting it on June 20th, so it came 5 days earlier than I thought.
To be fair people will make the argument
that the eventual abandonement of content support
for the older figures, "Forces" them to upgrade.
People Like new content and the Daz business model is based
on selling new content so "passing it up"
is not an easy option for many users.
This quote right here is the truth!!!! I will probably invest in V8 to just learn the new model and play with it, but V8 is where I'm going to stop. I want to liberate myself, like wolf359 suggests...which is very sound advice.
Well, I can't say that I, or anyone here is "freaking out" over the release of Vicky 8. I even went through a great effort to praise V8. Hell, I even made clear that when I get some more money, I will "get on board."
People actually DID make a bit of fuss (reasonably so) when Daz made the leap from Genesis 2 to Genesis 3.
I was simply LOOKING at the new items being released for Vicky 4 and marvelling at how nice these items look and appreciating the work that went into them.
Daz would still make money off new items being released for Genesis 2 & 3.
Musing aloud the missed opportunity of constantly "upgrading" a character BEFORE exploring its full potential, does not constitute "freaking out."