@livepassioneveryday    well done for studying and playing with lighting. I recommend looking into 3 point lighting rigs. They are simple to set up and if focussed on your central character allow them to stand out against a back drop. Used in conjuction with HDRI lighting (I buy up any offers on HDRS all the time), then you will get the best of both worlds (the scene lighting the figure), and the shaders on the character + clothes reacting to the lighting rig. For example (just a quick WIP to demonstrate, not a great example but an example).

Here is Bonnie against an HDRI backdrop. Now I haven't matched up the scenes lighting with the rig accurately, but you can see the character stands out and the rigs lighiting plays with the metal on her costume, her hair and skin. The HDRI is also lighting the figure. The combination plus choice of duller backdrop, plus a bit of depth of field on the camera, gives me a range of lighting and display options.

By the way, I create to animate so if that is where you are heading as well, then you might be interested to know this "cheap/quick" ligthing set up rendered out in just 15-17 seconds per frame!

Ok, another odd wrinkle.  I installed Central as a last ditch effort (it did not work either), but it reset the download directory in DIM.  With an empty download directory, rather than reusing my existing zip files downloaded through DIM, everything seems to be installing correctly now, and Smart Content is even responding.  It's been downloading and installing since last night, and thus far there have been no failures.  I'll update the thread again when it finishes in a couple of days with how it went overall.

I am having the same issue but I don't see where on the site I should download Daz Studio. The only thing I see is Daz Central.

Since I couldn't get DAZ to work on Big Sur (constant, unrelenting PostGre sign in issues, I decided "What the heck" and installed Mac Monterey. After re-installing DAZ Central twice, it hangs up while I'm trying to sign in to that.
Would love to get to my library of stuff.

Ok.. so its not a car - but its got wheels... New York Central Dryefuss Hudson,  as seen on the 20th Century Limited.

Richard Haseltine said:

Try uninstaling and reinstalling DS - it's certainly there for me.

Honestly: what's the best way to do that? There's a "Download Studio" link on the Daz3D homepage but when you click it it tries to download Daz Central. I use DIM for content installation. Do I need to use Daz Central to re-install Daz Studio? "Daz Studio" doesn't even appear in Windows Add or Remove Programs list for some reason. When I try to open Daz Central it forces me to "Install Selected Applications" (which is Daz Studio) before it goes even a step further... and of course I already have Daz Studio installed. Pretty confusing.

strezoiualexandru said:

Richard Haseltine said:

strezoiualexandru said:

Hey everyone, 
I've made the mistake to update Daz to 4.16 before checking here( on the forum ) and now, most of my hair has no transparency, glass shaders the same, etc... 
How could I go back to 4.15.30? 
I've tried looking into Daz Central, but it won't let me see any other versions, just the 4.16 one.

That's 4.16.0.2? If so the rendering shouldn't be any differnt as it has exactly the same version of Iray as 4.15.0.30. The Public Build, 4.16.1.08(?), does have a newer version of Iray, and that does have soem issues (which is why it isn't in the new general release).

So, my version is 4.16.0.3 and my Out of Touch hair's are broken. The skull mesh has no transparency 
So, there still is something wrong with the render in this version. 
I have ben able to fix ( relatively speacking ) it somehow, by applying a diferent hair material ( from a diferent product ) but still this is broken, as most of my hair props are like this now. 

That looks to be a preview, not a render. this si what i get with the Super Messy Updo in 4.16.0.3 after applying the Apply First and base Colour 1 presets:

I got a  new PC and I've been busy re-installing things. I own this product. I have a serail number. But the product does not appear in Connect or DIM. I see that this product is part of the current sale. It says that it is a manual install. It appears it can also be installed with Daz Central, which I don't have. If I go to my product page, I find the product. But the only manual download is for the product manual. If I open DS, and check the plug-ins, I find face transfer, but there is no box to enter the serial number. I thought maybe things changed and it was now included in DS, But then I saw it for sale today so it must not be included.

So how or where do I enter the serial number? I checked the pane, but I don't see a place to enter it there either.

Thanks.

Haha! I have just seen this so sorry for the delay in responding. I did look at it a long time ago but it uses so much replication in Carrara that it proved impossible in Daz Studio. But now with tools such as UltraScatter, it might be possible, even if I just concentrated on the central area, or maybe make it modular so that you load only the areas that you need. It really is a huge set!  So no promises, but I might look at giving it a go - but maybe not for at least a few months as I have other projects planned.

P.S. Did you know it is based on Linton in North Yorkshire!  That pub does some great meals!

Richard Haseltine said:

strezoiualexandru said:

Hey everyone, 
I've made the mistake to update Daz to 4.16 before checking here( on the forum ) and now, most of my hair has no transparency, glass shaders the same, etc... 
How could I go back to 4.15.30? 
I've tried looking into Daz Central, but it won't let me see any other versions, just the 4.16 one.

That's 4.16.0.2? If so the rendering shouldn't be any differnt as it has exactly the same version of Iray as 4.15.0.30. The Public Build, 4.16.1.08(?), does have a newer version of Iray, and that does have soem issues (which is why it isn't in the new general release).

So, my version is 4.16.0.3 and my Out of Touch hair's are broken. The skull mesh has no transparency 
So, there still is something wrong with the render in this version. 
I have ben able to fix ( relatively speacking ) it somehow, by applying a diferent hair material ( from a diferent product ) but still this is broken, as most of my hair props are like this now. 

strezoiualexandru said:

Hey everyone, 
I've made the mistake to update Daz to 4.16 before checking here( on the forum ) and now, most of my hair has no transparency, glass shaders the same, etc... 
How could I go back to 4.15.30? 
I've tried looking into Daz Central, but it won't let me see any other versions, just the 4.16 one. 
 

You can't, you need to back up the original install files because Daz does not allow for earlier betas to be downloaded...

Also, this version cannot load the same amount of objects as earlier versions without the viewport slowing down to 1fps; it's looking to become a crappy feature as no one else seems to have the same issue, that same bug has come back!

I'll be writing a bug report as well I just wanted to know if anyone else had this same issue...

Richard Haseltine said:

Don't forget that Daz Central can roll mutliple files into one entry, if it is failing as a high percentage like that it is probably installing the application correctly and having issues with one of the accompanying sets.

I'm not saying DC is a great app, but I've not seen it fail to install yet... the issues I've seen are akways connections related.

strezoiualexandru said:

Hey everyone, 
I've made the mistake to update Daz to 4.16 before checking here( on the forum ) and now, most of my hair has no transparency, glass shaders the same, etc... 
How could I go back to 4.15.30? 
I've tried looking into Daz Central, but it won't let me see any other versions, just the 4.16 one.

That's 4.16.0.2? If so the rendering shouldn't be any differnt as it has exactly the same version of Iray as 4.15.0.30. The Public Build, 4.16.1.08(?), does have a newer version of Iray, and that does have soem issues (which is why it isn't in the new general release).

Hey everyone, 
I've made the mistake to update Daz to 4.16 before checking here( on the forum ) and now, most of my hair has no transparency, glass shaders the same, etc... 
How could I go back to 4.15.30? 
I've tried looking into Daz Central, but it won't let me see any other versions, just the 4.16 one. 
 

I've been using DAZ for years. So, I recently tried to first update DAZ using DAZ Central  (I will never do that again, this is the second problem i've had with DC) this ended up with me getting the white screen issue upon opening the program (which is still 4.15 even after the "update" installs). I know for a fact that DAZ was not open during the update. I tried just about everything on the forum pages and nothing has worked. Finally I decided to do a complete uninstall and re-install. The problem is, I can not uninstall the program with either DAZCentral or DAZ Install Manager. As you can see, when I try to uninstall in DAZCentral it goes to Uninstalling 86% and completely stops dead every time I try. OK, when I try it in Install Manager it says it is uninstalling but gets completely stuck at 0%. Keep in mind with Install Manager everytime I go into DIM it gives me the list below that needs to be installed and I let it install them.(See PIC) Even right after it finishes installing if I say to uninstall it just sits at 0% forever. The same thing happens everytime I go into DC as well. It says I need to install DAZ as well, and even when I finish that, it still can't uniinstall. Here's the fun part,  if I try to go into my Control Panel and uninstall the Daz Studio program through Windows, it says that Daz Studio is not an installed program, even though I can still launch the exe and run the program (the old version with the white screen) whiile it is telling me that! I'm stumped. All I know is that I have a version of DAZ stuck on my computer that I can't use, I can't update, and I can't uninstall....

Any help would be appeciated, cause I have some DAZ things to do.LOL Thanks.

contedesfees said:

Try updating to 4.16 by using the Daz Install Manager.

It seams to have worked.

I started Daz Install Manager and even it there was no update to 4.16 listed in the ready to download section, there were a few things that I queued to install after download. Then after openning Daz Studio, it was the 4.16 version that oppened. I don't understand why it didn't do that with Daz Central yesterday.

But thanks for your answers... problem solved.

PerttiA said:

nonesuch00 said:

PerttiA said:

nonesuch00 said:

What agravates me is something like this situation:

2) Now, almost a year after purchase, the Genesis 8 Female Centaur shows up for no good reason this week as needing installed via DAZ Connect? Why? 

Because you are logging/signing in to DS, that is the trigger for DAZ Connect to go and check your purchases and notify you that you haven't installed them with DAZ Connect.

If you want your eye to stop hurting, stop poking it with your finger. 

No, I'm not poking it, poking here means to bag. It's DAZ 3D that's bagging those metadata and product files. The problem needs fixed by DAZ, not by me refusing to use DAZ Studio in way it was intended to be used.

The only reason to log in/sign in to DS, is to use DAZ Connect within DS to install content.
If you then notified that there is something you haven't installed with DAZ Connect, that is what it is supposed to do.

You need to choose your installation method and act accordingly, ie. if you use DAZ Central/DIM/Manual installation => Do not log in/Sign in to DS.

No, it updates some others things in CMS too, what I don't know. Anyway, that I have a conflict points to both install methods having problems with validating currently installed. They should never cause problems for each other and so DAZ 3D should fix those problems. Because, well, I have almost 7000 products in DIM but only about 25 of those over the past couple of years have not been recognized by DAZ Connect as being not installed when they were. That's a pretty good ratio for the DAZ 3D packagers, but still a mistake on their part, not on my part, by logging in. They will find out, clean it up, and then the problem goes away never time I do a clean install of my Content Library & DAZ Studio Pro.

Richard Haseltine said:

The version in Daz Central shoSuld be the updated version - Daz does not generally do patches, it's a full replacement.

Still, the version indicated in Daz Central is 4.15 not 4.16 

Leanna, you are a peach and a wunderkind! Very good of you to take the trouble. Frankly, I couldn't find the link. Someday, I'm going to buy you a virtual beer for being so sweet and helpful!

Michaelrdavis, you have nothing to be sorry for. DAZ Central is not a software triumph. Whoever wrote it should be sorry. I use manual installations whenever possible; failing that, I use Daz Install Manager.

My installations fail with both Daz Central and Install manager. Is it a general problem, as it happened recently, or is it just me?