Survey Monkey DForce survey: Digging Deeper
Brugan
Posts: 365
I regretted submitting it as soon as I hit the "done" button.
The only answers available to me did NOT give an accurate picture of how I feel about dforce.
After letting the survery know I haven't used dforce, it basically took me down a rabbit hole where my only options were to give less and less support to dforce.
I haven't tried dforce, but I would LOVE to try dforce. As I finished up the survey I realized that my answers to the survey basically added up to "I hate dforce and would never use it" when the simple fact is, I would LOVE to try dforce but have no clue how to even begin!
I would be MUCH more likely to try it if there was easily searchable documentation and an interactive demo, within the studio software. If these exist, DAZ has not effectively conveyed the availability of this information from within the studio software.
Basically since the addition of dforce, it feels like the message from DAZ has been, " YAY! Here's DForce!!! Now go have fun figuring it out! :D "
The problem has been that forum posts aren't documentation. Searching forums is incredibly time consuming and results in WAY too much inaccurate information. If there's a youtube video showing how to use it (no not a video showing dforce results, I mean a deep, instructional video) I wouldn't know it and I literally use the software 5 days a week.
If you want more people to get excited about dforce, please do better at explaining dforce, within the studio software.
I didn't have an opprotunity to add this in the survey, so I figured "why not start a discussion?".
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Comments
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/203081/dforce-start-here
The only thing I can add to this discussion is load a dforce item and then hit the simulation button. I honestly hardly ever look at documentation and find the best way to learn is to push buttons and see what happens.
Then you, Michael, are exactly the kind of user that is being catered to by most software and gadgetry, especially Daz. Daz has given up, it seems, on documenting their software; since it's free, we should shut up and get on with it, (or so I infer as their philosophy).
The only issue I have with dForce (besides needing to upgrade my computer to get quicker results) is that the fabric appears/is too thin (I don't know which) at the edges.
That's how the vast majority of users are. Technical documentation is rarely read, when its put online we can monitoring how often it's DL'd and the numbers are shockingly low. So the managers simply won't pay for it any more.
My point wasn't to diminish the importance of documentation, but to encourage users to actually try out a product and/or functions before dismissing it. There have been products I have used in the past that I was lost on and there wasn't any info for me to learn from so I had no choice but to try and figure it out. Using Dforce is one of the easiest things to do in DS, you load the figure, add the clothing, apply the pose, and then hit simulate. Since Dforce clothing is also rigged, it's even easier to use than dynamic. Now if you want to use it in more complex ways and fine tune the results, you will need to know more about it, and the innner workings of Daz Studio more.
So my initial reaction to the OP, was just try it, you won't break anything and you might gain some knowledge in how it works.
I did that and it didn't work. I loaded one of the extremely simple scenes that come with the base program, the one with the blanket falling on a sleeping figure. It only crashed my program.
Through research and luck I figured out which configurations I needed to change; now dForce works just fine.
My point is, "just push simulate" is a little simplistic. It would be good for dForce to be that user friendly, but it isn't.
There was one question that bothered me. Does dforce support make you more or less likely to purchase a product? Actually, neither. I don't typically use dforce as I'm just messing around. DForce is an extra step that I might not need when I'm just fiddling with the items. But the question only gave more or less likely as a possible answer, with no option for "I'm barely paying attention."
Try something simple:
Load a cube, give it a size of 50cm and 10 div.
Load a plane, size 1m and 100 div.
Move the plane vertically so it's above the cube.
Apply a Dforce Modifier to the plane (see image).
You should end up with something like the image; note that I had a pre-existing plane at ground level - not needed for this.
Simulate (button shown in image).
You should end up with something shown in the later image.
If you zoom in after you've done the simulation, you'll see the number of divisions in the cube are highlighted by how the cloth is resting on it.
For many it is. I have never had a crash, but a couple of explosions when adding dforce to a non dforce item, but for the majority of dforce clothing in the store it is that simple.
Open the tabs at the bottom of the pane, if closed
Play the interactive lesson
Edited to show correct link in image
[edit]
(being snarky on the internet... not a great look! I take it back.)
This thread may be long but its well put together and well organized for teaching how to use dForce - https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/208141/
I found the questionnaire to be poorly designed. It didn't give enough options (I don't care/doesn't matter/that isn't what I'm trying to say probably should have been an option several times!)
D-Force may be great, but I didn't see it. I am very much a 'click-push-try' software person... and after the fifth or sixth crash, I gave up - if I want crash-y, I'll go back to using dynamic and watch my stuff fall through the floor some more. If I had time to play around sometime, maybe... but I was really excited when it came out, less excited when the clothing was designed for characters I didn't use and the parameters didn't make any sense, and DOA when my computer decided it had issues with it anyway. I certainly wouldn't use it for a big project, because I can't justify the time for my learning curve, assuming my computer was willing to play ball.
I love all things that make Daz a more successful and creative toolbox... DForce just didn't do it for me. I won a copy of Poser last Christmas, maybe if I ever have a lot of time to learn something, I'll take the Clothroom for a spin. At least it does have a manual, for when intuition and monkeys-on-typewriters don't cut it. The magnet-y things that came out today looked like a good tweak... for people who already got things to work.