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as CUSTOMERS, we have the right to know where the product is leading.
Many of us have spent dozen even hundreds of dollars/euros in content. When you see the swithch from G2 to G3 with a big interrogation point on the G2->G3 converter, we have legitimately the righ to be doubtful about a major evolution of our fav product Daz studio.
This is a matter of good sens about communication if you want your customer base's trust!
Fir the most part the atmospheric cameras work exactly the same as they always did. The only thing that "broke" is the flagging that was added for the EZ Atmosphere camera that was added as a free update, so I'm not complaining about it. But the original atmosphere camera plus the fog, depth, and colorize cameras, as far as I can tell, all work exactly as they always did.
Sometimes I feel like a lot of these "thing x is broken" is like a game of telephone. Forumite x says "after the update this product doesn't work quite the same/as well" and then five posters later "as forumite x said: this update has proken every product they have!"
The version number has nothing to do with you spending money or not; the decissions Daz makes effect your decisions, but if everything else was the same, other than the version number, are you suggesting you would be spending cash; well you are, you just indicated that in your post. I just disagree on it being the version number.
There was a similar thread in the past; the answer was that, as long as there would be no need of updating the SDK, the 4.x series would continue therefore I expect to see a 4.9/4.10 etc. in the future.
Revision numbers are thoroughly abused in the software industry: 1.5 does not mean "half way from 1.0 to 2.0" it means fifth revision in the version 1.
There's also the new/updated feature X, which is a definite improvement to feature A and is directly replacing it, but is now called something else or operates in a different manner being equated to feature A being broken.
And in general, flagging/categories in 3DL still works. Why the AoA flagging doesn't has to be down to something specific to Studio/ShaderMixer and it...maybe it was implemented in ShaderMixer in a non-standard manner?
AoA flagging, that cartoon shader, I believe, and a few other things...
I tallied it up recently have have spent well over $10,000 on this little hobby so far, $7,000 was here at Daz, and an an equivalent amount at Rendo.
I'm a Carrara user, btw, and we had a recent forum post over there detailing the amount of products we've purchased of daz content (I'm a pretty thrifty low spender compared to many other Carrara enthusiasts). Also bear in mind Carrara is not a freebie app, it costs money to buy Carrara pro, and every upgrade costs too.
Yet despite all of this, I can't remember the last time we had any word from Daz on any development. New beta releases come without warning or fanfare, or don't come at all, despite the fact that all the time there are forum posts wondering about the future of Carrara. (It's irksome because for fully workable dyamic cloth Bullet is now so close... in fact I can even make it work for cloth, but it's difficult/nearly impossible for someone who is not familiar with the current limitations, which is frustrating since it would take so little to make it an easy and workable cloth solution).
Don't mistake me, I do agree with your point, but from past experience I wouldn't hold my breath.
The AoA flagging and Cartoon shader are the same 'problem'.
Actually, no, we don't have that right. That's something about closed source software. The customer has no rights, except those the software company grants them. And no where in the Daz software EULA is there any right to 'update notification', roadmap or even any updates at all.
It's 4 years ago since the step to the first 4.0 (2011) and almost 2016, only shows the dev team is not big or other projects are more important.
it's not only content about content anymore, it's the software that would make it fun to play with and use the content well, workable animation setup (with IK that works) is huge wanted on the list! same with physics and interaction with marvelous designer cloth designer as optitex is out of reach for the hobby market.
use Iray was good step in right direction, more and more people would see there lovely software grow before invest in more content.
+1 it all start with good communication and specially "listen what the users/customers wanted to see..." as they invest $.
...my only issue with 4.7 is that it broke several of AoA's utilities. like flagging SSS surfaces when using the Advanced lights, as well as both the Sketch and some functions of the Atmospheric Cameras.
...as the AoA lights and cameras I mentioned above are 3DL based along with promos not including 3DL (or Lux) renders, it does make me a bit concerned that support (content wise) is shifting more to Iray.
...the AoA Colour and Vignette cameras haven't worked since 4.6 and I have yet to see an update that fixes this. I was a bit miffed by this as well as the flagging issue with SSS since I depended heavily on the Advanced Lights and Atmospheric Cameras as UE took way too long to render.
There are times I really miss being able to flag surfaces when using Iray.
You can claim to have some sort of moral right, it wont get you far though. Customers, however, only have the rights as set out in the Terms and Conditions... And T&Cs are written for the benefit of companies, not customers.
Ergo: customers have no rights, other than those they are granted.
They can however vote with their feet: literal or digital.
No they vote with their bucks! the ultimate vote out there is buying more or not. With trust and long term vision, you can build assets (buying content, add-on, plug ins and more important spending TIME ). Without, you just can't/won't.
It's nice to see Blender is really embracing AMD/ATI along Nvidia functionality in upcoming releases. I'm hoping Daz has opportunities to add some of that flexibility into their software.
Blender chimps will at least admit Daz Studio chimps are artists. It's not like those snobby Autodesk monkeys who tell you it's not art and then fling a lower class of pooh at you.
and I did learn if you leave a banana peel on a linoleum kitchen floor it works just as well as it does in a cartoon, sometimes too well!
Short of DAZ adding another renderer, then it is not their decision about whether or not ATI/AMD cards are supported. That is up to the owners of the iRay software, ie NVIDIA, and I can not see any circumstances why they would want to add support for a competitors hardware.
it seems that the upcoming Reality 4.1 (september 21) is kinda answering this problem at short term at least...
Hopefully Nvidia technology wont become the focal point behind Studio development and decision making, it could leave an existing user base and potential user base with a less than utilized set of tools for their setups to pick through. Apple has no 4GB (or better) Nvidia options their next system release cycle and many of the tech sites are giving the AMD cards better marks than their Nvidia counterparts for performance. Other 3D applications are embracing both platforms, Daz Studio does not appear to be at this time.
While I agree with those who say that it is free software and the users should be happy about that, I also have to say that I use DS on a daily base for posing and setting up characters and the posing tools in the current software are lacking. The control gizmos in the viewport are often hard to interpret correctly because it is hard to spot in which direction rotation orbits are facing. It is really easy to miss an axis for some weird reason, and the selection process seems to have some internal lag to it and sometimes it even feels like it does not even register that you clicked the gizmo, even though you are 100% sure you did. This happens randomly, so you cannot be sure that you did select things and sometimes instead you just select something else and this gets moved around. This is one of the most annoying things about DS right now.
The posing tools themselves are also unintuitive and rather sluggish right now and you have to move between the viewport, where you select joints, and back to the parameters pane alot, mostly because the rotation gizmos are uncomfortable and sluggish to use and the parameters pane just gives you ALOT better control.
I have to say that I am a bit confused as to why there have been no efforts to actually smooth out the user experience in that regard. Posing figures is one of the most used things you do in DS, yet it seems like it is an afterthought if you look at how much has changed there since 4.0 . Take a look at other 3d applications. Maya, C4D for example, how they display their rotation axis, how you select them there, how you work with them there. They all usually have some nice things that you can take away from them and try to emulate in DS, also Fusion 360 from Autodesk has some very nice ideas for manipulating viewport selections. They display the values for the action you are doing with your current selection inside the viewport and you can directly jump between those by hitting the tab key. That way you have broad control by dragging things around but also easy access to precision control by simply typing a value you WANT, without having to move the mouse around to some other area of the screen.
Powerpose still does not work correctly for G3F, because it does not pin the feet properly. The pins keep sliding around when you pin the feet, this has been mentioned by a number of ppl since G3F came out, yet I have not seen any mention about it from the dev side.
And here it is me hoping that you adress this IF you are going for a DS 5.0 anytime soon, or if not, then please take some time to focus on improving the user experience for posing the figures for one of the next updates. I am pretty sure that every user and customer will be more than happy to have a smoother posing experience. While adding some additional functionality is always nice, it is always a good thing to sometimes take a step back, look at your core and see if you can improve some of that, to have a better product that everyone will enjoy using.
Here is a screen shot of my DS48 plus G3F. The only tools I use for posing are the node selection tool and the dials on the parameters tab. Since DS never had the fancy viewport tools in the beginning I just dock the controls which matches what they have been from the beginning. Occationally I do have to go back to the scene tab but rarely. I usally just use the drop down option in the upper left of the parameters tab to select a node that cannot be grabbed with the node selection tool.
Call me a synic, but maybe the fact it encourages the sale of poser sets is no small reason; I could be wrong, but use the few I buy as a starter; a better system may actually stop me buying almost all.
Tweaking a pose can be time-consuming because of the how IK doesn't work as it should.
That isn't the argument that has been made. What has been said is that since Daz doesn't have to sell upgrades to keep the revenue flowing, DS being free, it doesn't have to produce regular "new versions" but can instead roll out new features as an update to the existing 4.x version. 5 will not, necessarily, have anything bigger than the 4.x updates - what it will almost certainly have is a new SDK, requiring the recompiling of plug-ins.
I'd love to see AMD cards supported, especially since Apple at the moment is not using Nvidia. I'm glad that got a machine (Dell) that has a Nvidia card, because I probably wouldn't be upgrading a new card anytime too soon... From a discussion at another site, it looks like Nvidia cards are probably going to be a staple for near future...
"There's a lot of talk about the new renderer I revealed last time. We continue to refine the implementation of Cycles inside Poser. We're trying to preserve as much compatibility with legacy content as possible while at the same time exposing the full potential of a physically based renderer. It is something of a balancing act. We’re working with texture and material artists from the community to achieve that balance.
We've also implemented GPU support for SuperFly. Currently this is based on CUDA and is for NVIDIA GPUs only. For systems that don't have compatible hardware SuperFly will run on the CPU too."
That is in reference to the next version of Poser that with Cycles as its PBR... It seems to suggest that Superfly will favor Nvidia... If both Poser and DAZ are leaning to Nvidia it really looks like at least for a while that with the built in render engines, most users of both Poser or DAZ will have less of a choice, perhaps unless they get something like Reality, or whatever else may be available... If that even makes a difference.
I'm wondering if there is some incentive from Nvidia, or if it is easier to code for or something... It's starting to look like the old Mac or PC platform problem... Even if your system is more capable, it won't matter if nobody makes anything (affordable) that is compatible.
At least that's what Mr. Bananas said when he called last night... The chimps are currently on the run across several states and they just wanted to let me know they won't be around for a while.
I was not disputing any of that. My point was that you should try to focus for a while on improving the user experience instead of adding new features, and it does not matter which version this might happen with. A new version with new SDK could be seen as a fresh start to overhaul some of the tools, but if you can do it with 4.x that would be equally good. I have not seen any substantial change to the posing tools since 3.x . Things were smoothed out a bit in some ways, the parameters pane got tweaks; some good, some not so good ones. But in general there is no improvement in these areas. You should consider that there are users who are posing ALOT with DS. And the people who are buying poses now, because they are not as skilled with it, or are just not willing to put the effort, those folks will buy professional quality poses in the future too, even if the posing is easier and smoother. What you get out of this is less frustration from your users when working with the posing tools.
Back in 2009 NVidia hinted that another card manufacturer may come to support Cuda; that hasn't happened as yet; I take from the statements I have seen that NVidia were prepared to allow AMD to use their technology, so either AMD weren't interested or a deal that suited both parties couldn't be reached.
I have been a fan of ATI cards for years; when AMD took them over I continued to support them; I bought my first decent NVidia card only a few months ago; partly that was due to IRAY, but also, the lower power consumption and noise available without resorting to closed-loop water-cooling solutions, was also a significant factor.
The card I bought was a 970 and I have since bought a 980ti.
I like a quiet computer; I only use SSDs in the local machine, there is slight fan noise as I write this as I am using both cards in the current render. Part of that noise is due to the fact the case is open. AMD tend to be louder and more expensive to run; I prefer the integrated system that IRAY offers, yet when the new Reality version is released I will try it out; I like the save option, and one or two other features offered.
I used to use Cycles all the time with Blender; there was no support at all for GPU rendering with AMD as their opencl implementation was the problem (according to forums and questions from AMD); whilst NVidia's was also problematic, it did at times support GPU rendering, and that situation made it increasingly likely I would have switched to NVidia; time constraints meant I stopped using Blender as much, so became moot. NVidia's GPU rendering worked, with no discernable difference between GPU and CPU, I liked that and began to investigate.
You guys are too much. Didn't you know that ZBrush 5 and DAZ Studio 5 are going to be released at the same time??
Kidding aside, I think that's the best answer and it's true. You change the SDK and you have havok and freaked out customers nipping at your heels!
OMG! really...
HAHA, the only difference Zbrush, have a big library of tutorials you can buy and explain every details of how you work with the program, and "nothing hidded for it's users".
Daz, we all know the support, no tutorials for the more advanced goodies and no HD support only for PA's. HAHAHA,
up to ZB5 and the first well explained ZB tutorial for dazstudio and daz content in the dazshop.
Where are the DAZ alternative's in dazshop? This is what daz is missing at it's shop (figure support), and not the same booth upgrade again from G1 to G2 to G3.
You have to keep in mind, DAZ makes it's money on content. Giving away all the secrets via tutorials like that would probably not be in DAZ's best interest or the merchants here. You have to ask and ask and ask and eventually some good soul like Sickle or Cath will give you some info. Most of the rest don't share! lmao!
that idea about only thinking content is wrong, if studio is more advanced and have better info i actually would pay for the program.
But 'm getting mad, that only a few from the PA club get all the info they need about the software and the community is getting dumb and dumber.
If more users now how this software actually works, more people would use the program if there are no things kept hidden (like the HD...),
also more content would be available (save time if you need a specific object/figure, and don't have to model it again) if more users can create content = more content in dazshop, more objects to choose from
Give new people a chance to learn the things, not everybody would start creating content, but give the few that would do it at least the info and a chance to do it.
In all the years hanging around here i've learned almost nothing from this forum here, all the info i get at other place's like digitaltutors, gnomon,...
Only result is that i lost my interest in the daz software,