DAZ Studio ... deep. lots to learn, AND VERY EXCITING
daveso
Posts: 7,789
I had trouble even using DS for a very long time, so as a Poser user forever, just kept going back to Poser. Perhaps I was not giving DS a real chance, overall, as it just seemed difficult. I couldn't even get a render to work, ended up with black or blank screens, could not figure out the catalogs/library, as everything changes depending on what is selected in the window, on and on.
Anyway, I think it was version 4.9, I finally decided to give it a real go, especially as the products here at DAZ became more and more for DS ... G3 and then G8 content. The figures started to look a lot better than my previous go to V4, plus the images I was seeing in galleries were so nice....
Now, I'm finally starting to understand the features, but also realize there is so much to learn. As I produce scenes, render, etc, I am now trying to learn different segments as I go. Surfaces, posing (which is still strange to me, as is selecting a part of a figure), lighting...wow, so much going on there, rendering .. another very deep process. Tons of tutorials, now dforce.
Some of my renders are now starting to look acceptable. I'm having fun again, much like when I first discovered some of my oldie moldie programs, like Bryce, Poser, Ray Dream Studio, and Vista Pro ..from way back land.
THE EXCITEMENT IS RETURNING 
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Comments
Very nice!! Like you I was a long time poser user, but was never happy with the lighting from the firefly renderer. I had used high end renderers such as Vray and Maxwell and Arnold in the past working for a game studio, but had no access to them after and was trying to find another solution. Then came the attempts at getting Luxrender to work in Poser and I tried all the options with poor results. I had tried Daz Studio several times, but the Interface never agreed with me, so always went back to poser.
Then came Reality for Daz Studio and I was determined to make it work. After continued use DS started to make sense and now it's pretty much all I use. I tried going back to poser when the latest Reality was released for it only and then picked up the latest version, but now it feels alien to me and navigation clumsy and unintuative.
Cool thing is, I have been DS only for years now and I still learn new things about it.
I worked with Poser, then Poser/Reality/Luxrender from about 2007 to last year. Trying now to get set up for DS/Iray, Carrara and Vue. Hoping this old dog (or dinosaur, some might say) can learn some new tricks. : )
Wow...that is almost verbatim what I said when DS finally started sinking in. LMAO
I stagnated in Poser for many years. I made stuff FOR Poser for a long time but didn't really make anything IN Poser. DS changed all that and 3D started to become fun again. I felt exactly as you do, and after doing this for almost 20 years it was a welcome feeling and something I needed...hehe. I haven't had so much fun in a long time. I hope you continue to do the same and if there's anything I can help with, just ask. I am still learning too, but I'm in about two and a half years now, so I know my way around a little ;).
Happy Rendering! :D
Laurie
..this old dog (who used to work in traditional art media) has been doing so for the last decade, and yet, there is still so much that I haven't touched.
Almost exactly what I did. Having used Poser for a long time I was unable to "get" Daz Studio despite trying with every new version. I'm not certain, but it felt to me that something changed with the Content Library in 4.9 - after many attempts to get it to show both new and old content, suddenly it worked. That, along with the iray renderer, convinced me to give it a proper go last August and I've been using it ever since. I think that in all that time I have used Poser only once, which is a shame because it is a program that I still feel a fondness for. However, technology moves on and the ability to render high quality in a relatively short amount of time with iray is what convinced me to stay...and to spend way too much on new Daz content.
...I was sort of the opposite started with Daz (1.7) tried Poser (6) but found it's UI to be somewhat not the most intuitive and it's lighting system somewhat odd so went back to Daz even though back then it still didn't have cloth dynamics or a GI plugin..
As someone who was also an avid Poser used and took my time (especially as far as merchants go) in trying out Daz Studio I can empathize LOL That said, once I did finally convince myself to try it, I've found I like it better (personally - each person likes what they like and what is most useful to them). There is so much in DS you can do. Its amazing all the things in the app to explore. I still happen on new things every day. That said, if you would like some help or want to get information on anything, Id check out the New User Challenges. Each month there is a new topic (Lighting, Posing, Materials, etc) If you go to any of the threads for any topic you will find lots of links to advice, information, tutorials etc on the ins and outs of each topic and how and where to adjust things within those topics in Daz Studio. So even if you don't participate, there is a ton of useful information in those threads.
Hopefully in the not too distant future, the Community Volunteers are also going to be starting a more Intermediate Challenge as well going over additional topics.
thanks. I will check it out.
I agree strongly. I am a long time Carrara user trying to learn Studio (and Hexagon, and...) and just started doing the new user challenges. Even if you don't do the challenges, the links that they gather by topic are amazing. The qestions that get asked and answered always help answer a few of my own questions. There are a lot of tools in Studio that I would not have thought to look for had I not watched someone struggle with an issue with their image. That someone struggling is usually me, but not always.
I personally have ZERO loyalty to operating systems
or specific software companies.
For me the only prevailing factor is how easily I can integrate My 3D characters into my final render destination ,Maxon Cinema4D.
For years Poser was the obvious choice as it had a third party plugin Called"Interposer Pro" for C4D that essentially enables full
functionalty of poser figures & content within Maxon C4D with direct loading from my poser runtime.
As a retired Professional Graphic Designer for print I was( foolishly) All Mac OS based until about the year 2014.
still running Daz studio 2.6x but only for the aniMate Plugin
with the poser format exporter to send nonlinear created motion
out to poser to render in C4D.
After Buying my first Windows machine since the win 95 era,
I suddenly had access to a whole Exciting new world of options
most notable of which, was the amazing realtime Character animation tools of the, windows only, Iclone Pro pipeline 5.5 with direct genesis support &natural motion endorphin that I aquired years ago beforethey went defunct.
Along with every useful third party option for Daz studio Like GENX 2 &aniMate2 with MDD export of genesis meshes to C4D.
I jumped fully on the Genesis bandwagon toward the end of the G2 Era which was good because everything really cool for G2 already existed for me to hoard.
Suddenly I had a miraculous "NZT brain Drug" style epiphany with 3D modeling of clothing and external morph creation skills to support My G2 figures indefinately.
I now have a truly seamless animation production pipepline
of Character motion creation with Iclone 6.5 pipeline& Endorphin
for Character collision physics
Lipsynch with mimic pro3(that still supports G2 via Cr2 export)
Final Character prep in Daz studio 4.8 (Skins Morphs&Clothing)
to export Via /obj/MDD for lighting& rendering in Maxon C4D.
yeah.... exciting times for many of us.