Complaint:  Windows10 feature update 2004 appears to have broken my NikonTransfer application that imports images from my camera to my computer.  At first I thought that is was the camera not working, but I removed the memory card from the camera and put it directly into the memory slot on the computer and initiated the NikonTransfer application with identical non-results.  So, then I was worried that the images on the camera were scrambled.  But no, when viewed as a simple folder of images, PhotoshopBridge sees them just fine.  So, I guess I need to go looking for an updated copy of NikonTransfer or possibly researching the Internet to see if other people are having problems with image transfer utilities after upgrading to Win10-2004.

Non-complaint:  I got my pictures into the computer the old fashioned way.  Among them was the one I took this morning of the baby groundhog that has been appearing in the yard outside my kitchen window.  Last year I showed y'all a photo of the adult groundhog that was living under the storage shed on that property.  Well, I haven't seen the big one since late fall, but now this little one has been sniffing around in the mornings.  Yeah, yeah, I know, hard to tell the size of the critter without any size comparison, but take my word for it, it's smaller.  About the size of a cat instead of a small dog.

The OMG department: Tomorrow's the first day of summer.

Edited to add:  Ooh,ooh, there's two of them.  Two little groundhogs.  No sign of momma yet, but two small ones out on the lawn at the same time for about 30 seconds.

w10 has become bvuggy and unstable lately. insideous happenings.

Lately?

Makes total sense.

XTransfer cannot find some files because it searches drive E:, but on my PC there is no drive E, only C: and F:
Why are you looking for files on a drive that does not exist?
I have already uninstalled and installed the XTransfer module several times with Daz Imstall Manager, but the error persists.
See attached image.

You have a setting somewhere that X transfer is looking for I'd guess; it's either a bug, or something set incorrectly by the user; we don't like admitting it, but we do all make mistakes. Took me an hour yesterday to realise why something wasn't rendering correctly in Blender - called myself some pretty uncomplimentary names once I'd realised.

If uninstalling X transfer hasn't solved then look elsewhere; hopefully Zev0 can offer a suggestion as it may be a bug.

I made some changes:
I changed the letter of the disk to E:
I uninstalled and installed Xtransfer more than twice and now it does recognize the disk, but it has other errors that I mention in the files I send below.
Xtransfer installed and uninstalled it with DIM, I even downloaded it from DAZ3D.com and installed it once with the same results.
I also uninstalled and installed DAZ Studio, and it's still the same, plus PostgreSQL CMS doesn't work for me.
Attachment files with errors and log.txt.

I know, this is a strange request. But ever since watching the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie, featuring the giant Hindu statue that comes to life and moves around, I've had the idea of taking one of the curvaceous female sculptures found on the walls of ancient Hindu temples, and making it into a posable character in Daz Studio. 

This is a very odd idea, I know, but I've already found some awesome ancient Hindu-like backgrounds that might work with this idea, and I really want to make this a reality, a sort of fantasy adventure render series where this statue comes to life and begins dancing  for the viewer. I'm attaching specific examples of these statues that I think are ideal for my design. 

If I were to throw some cash into the project, would someone be willing to help me out? Maybe create a morph and texture set for G8F?

Si puoi farlo, ma devi anche correggere i percorsi del DIM e di DAZ Studio, altrimenti non li trovi nei Tab Content e Smart Content. Ricordati anche di reimportare i metadata alla nuova posizione dal Content Management.
Tuttavia, dovrai correggere tutte quelle scene che contengono cose create da te, tipo textures o morphs. Quelle cose non sono integrate nei metadata e il loro percorso viene salvato all'interno della scena.
Se la scena è abbastanza recente non avrai bisogno di correggere i percorsi delle geometrie, in quanto vengono salvate all'interno della scena stessa (occhio quando condividi le scene!) a meno che tu non le abbia salvate nelle tue librerie creando una voce Metadata.

Grazie!

Non ho mai creato metadata per nulla.
Devo lo stesso fare queste operazioni coi metadata? I prodotti Daz non li hanno già integrati, ovunque io li installi?

Sì lo so dei percorsi.

Si, sono intergrati e in genere dopo aver corretto i percorsi funzionano senza problemi, ma alcuni prodotti come plugin, addon e in alcuni casi morph, hanno necessità di reimportare i metadata. E a volte anche riattivati tramite seriale.
Quanto a quelli "user" vengono salvati in automatico quando, per esempio, salvi come Asset una maglia o un morph. Anche quelli vanno reimportati in certi casi.

 

 

Attenzione, lo dico da utilizzatore di Merchant Resource, molto spesso chi vende o regala le Merchant, dice esplicitamente di non creare freebiees con quelle. Io ho un intera parte della mia wishlist piena di Merchant dela DAZ, ma nessuno permette di fare freebiees, solo prodotti da vendere.

Quello è uno dei motivi per i quali evito le Merchant Resources, sia commerciali che gratuite. Non sai mai cosa puoi farci, specia quando rimandano a licenze confusionarie o incomplete.

Molto meglio fare da sè e disegnarsi le risorse da sè o generarle con i programmi appositi.

E visto che si parla di mercato, uno di voi PA mi potrebbe togliere una curiosità? Vedo un sacco di bravissimi artisti "relegati" su altri store, spesso mescolati a robaccia per Poser, senza traccia di loro su DAZ... Voglio dire, con quella qualità, per quale motivo non vendono (anche) qui "da noi"? Avrebbero parecchia più visibilità e un bacino di clienti molto più ampio, almeno credo.

Appunto ti dicevo, io al momento ho solo Merchant Resource della DAZ, o di qualche creator con cui ho parlato direttamente e a chi ho chiesto, licenza alla mano, cosa si poteva e non poteva fare. Per il discorso dei creatori che sono strafighi e non stanno qui sulla DAZ, è perchè magari non vogliono sottostare ai dettami della DAZ, che sono più restrittivi degli altr store se non sbaglio. Ma dovremo chiedere lumi a @muscleman o @maclean

Ma io non parlo di artisti "bollenti"!
Che restrinzioni possono esserci su un morph di una bambina o sul modello di una maglia?

Dipende dal PA in realtà, io voglio lavorare per i migliori in questo campo, e i migliori è la DAZ, e mi sta bene l'esclusività dei prodotti che posto qui,  non ci stanno frottole. Mentre altri preferiscono fare diversamente

Sono d'accordo. Io mi ricordo quando avevo il mio primo prodotto pronto e chiedevo nel chat a chi darlo. Tanti mi hanno detto, "Rendo, perche prendono qualsiasi prodotto senza discutere. Invece DAZ e molto particolare". Io l'ho dato a DAZ. Pensavo se non lo volessero, potevo sempre andare da Rendo. E in tutti quest'anni, (dal Giugno 2001), ho dato tutti i miei prodotti a DAZ.

Il discorso e questo. C'e chi non si fida del proprio livello di qualita, o non vuole la concorrenza forte, o preferisce altri ambienti. Non dico e sbagliato. Ognuno fa la sua scelta, e buona fortuna!

Oh wow...ma sei tu! :O :O

Mi ricordava qualcosa il nome, ma non avevo mai fatto il collegamento!

Li uso molto i tuoi prodotti, sono unici e mi salvano quando devo creare qualcosa di nuovo che non esiste, complimenti! :D

Si puoi farlo, ma devi anche correggere i percorsi del DIM e di DAZ Studio, altrimenti non li trovi nei Tab Content e Smart Content. Ricordati anche di reimportare i metadata alla nuova posizione dal Content Management.
Tuttavia, dovrai correggere tutte quelle scene che contengono cose create da te, tipo textures o morphs. Quelle cose non sono integrate nei metadata e il loro percorso viene salvato all'interno della scena.
Se la scena è abbastanza recente non avrai bisogno di correggere i percorsi delle geometrie, in quanto vengono salvate all'interno della scena stessa (occhio quando condividi le scene!) a meno che tu non le abbia salvate nelle tue librerie creando una voce Metadata.

Grazie!

Non ho mai creato metadata per nulla.
Devo lo stesso fare queste operazioni coi metadata? I prodotti Daz non li hanno già integrati, ovunque io li installi?

Sì lo so dei percorsi.

Si, sono intergrati e in genere dopo aver corretto i percorsi funzionano senza problemi, ma alcuni prodotti come plugin, addon e in alcuni casi morph, hanno necessità di reimportare i metadata. E a volte anche riattivati tramite seriale.
Quanto a quelli "user" vengono salvati in automatico quando, per esempio, salvi come Asset una maglia o un morph. Anche quelli vanno reimportati in certi casi.

 

 

Attenzione, lo dico da utilizzatore di Merchant Resource, molto spesso chi vende o regala le Merchant, dice esplicitamente di non creare freebiees con quelle. Io ho un intera parte della mia wishlist piena di Merchant dela DAZ, ma nessuno permette di fare freebiees, solo prodotti da vendere.

Quello è uno dei motivi per i quali evito le Merchant Resources, sia commerciali che gratuite. Non sai mai cosa puoi farci, specia quando rimandano a licenze confusionarie o incomplete.

Molto meglio fare da sè e disegnarsi le risorse da sè o generarle con i programmi appositi.

E visto che si parla di mercato, uno di voi PA mi potrebbe togliere una curiosità? Vedo un sacco di bravissimi artisti "relegati" su altri store, spesso mescolati a robaccia per Poser, senza traccia di loro su DAZ... Voglio dire, con quella qualità, per quale motivo non vendono (anche) qui "da noi"? Avrebbero parecchia più visibilità e un bacino di clienti molto più ampio, almeno credo.

Appunto ti dicevo, io al momento ho solo Merchant Resource della DAZ, o di qualche creator con cui ho parlato direttamente e a chi ho chiesto, licenza alla mano, cosa si poteva e non poteva fare. Per il discorso dei creatori che sono strafighi e non stanno qui sulla DAZ, è perchè magari non vogliono sottostare ai dettami della DAZ, che sono più restrittivi degli altr store se non sbaglio. Ma dovremo chiedere lumi a @muscleman o @maclean

Ma io non parlo di artisti "bollenti"!
Che restrinzioni possono esserci su un morph di una bambina o sul modello di una maglia?

Dipende dal PA in realtà, io voglio lavorare per i migliori in questo campo, e i migliori è la DAZ, e mi sta bene l'esclusività dei prodotti che posto qui,  non ci stanno frottole. Mentre altri preferiscono fare diversamente

Sono d'accordo. Io mi ricordo quando avevo il mio primo prodotto pronto e chiedevo nel chat a chi darlo. Tanti mi hanno detto, "Rendo, perche prendono qualsiasi prodotto senza discutere. Invece DAZ e molto particolare". Io l'ho dato a DAZ. Pensavo se non lo volessero, potevo sempre andare da Rendo. E in tutti quest'anni, (dal Giugno 2001), ho dato tutti i miei prodotti a DAZ.

Il discorso e questo. C'e chi non si fida del proprio livello di qualita, o non vuole la concorrenza forte, o preferisce altri ambienti. Non dico e sbagliato. Ognuno fa la sua scelta, e buona fortuna!

Hi all

I have my original DAZ studio 4.12.086 installer 64 bit

If I do a vanilla Daz studio install on my new Ryzen rig (win 10 pro)
is it possible to manually copy over my old content data
base ,across my network ,from My old (win 10 home) toshiba and REPLACE the Default base content that installs
with DS 4.12.

FYI I dont care about any Application plugins I am only using Daz studio to morph ,dress,& export Characters out.

I only want all of my current genesis1,2,3,8  figures&morphs clothes etc
as they were on the old machine.

my rigged LAMH  never goes well as I get stretched vertices

I understand what you are doing but it needs to be done on a zeroed figure not the load figure and you will get the stretched vertex issue

same as any DAZ figure conforming clothing with the transfer utility 

I have done plenty critters with rigged fur myself but pretty much given up because of that issue

your cat looks cute 

Exactly. Figures are exported in a zero pose, but the I'm not using the Transfer utiliy in Daz to transfer weights.  I'm waiting for a tool that I can then surgically fix the wt map issues.  Poses are exported using the option for exporting just the base figure, which translates to just the skeletal rig.

Complaint:  Windows10 feature update 2004 appears to have broken my NikonTransfer application that imports images from my camera to my computer.  At first I thought that is was the camera not working, but I removed the memory card from the camera and put it directly into the memory slot on the computer and initiated the NikonTransfer application with identical non-results.  So, then I was worried that the images on the camera were scrambled.  But no, when viewed as a simple folder of images, PhotoshopBridge sees them just fine.  So, I guess I need to go looking for an updated copy of NikonTransfer or possibly researching the Internet to see if other people are having problems with image transfer utilities after upgrading to Win10-2004.

Non-complaint:  I got my pictures into the computer the old fashioned way.  Among them was the one I took this morning of the baby groundhog that has been appearing in the yard outside my kitchen window.  Last year I showed y'all a photo of the adult groundhog that was living under the storage shed on that property.  Well, I haven't seen the big one since late fall, but now this little one has been sniffing around in the mornings.  Yeah, yeah, I know, hard to tell the size of the critter without any size comparison, but take my word for it, it's smaller.  About the size of a cat instead of a small dog.

The OMG department: Tomorrow's the first day of summer.

Edited to add:  Ooh,ooh, there's two of them.  Two little groundhogs.  No sign of momma yet, but two small ones out on the lawn at the same time for about 30 seconds.

w10 has become bvuggy and unstable lately. insideous happenings.

Face transfer doesn't work for me either. "Face Transfer failed to create. Please try another source image." I get an error message. I’ve read a lot here and see that it’s not just with me. Experiencing this, I don’t think I would buy the full version for the money!

Did you try several different photos?

Yes, more. Before I wrote here, I read the experiences of others. I also tried a photo editor.

Face transfer doesn't work for me either. "Face Transfer failed to create. Please try another source image." I get an error message. I’ve read a lot here and see that it’s not just with me. Experiencing this, I don’t think I would buy the full version for the money!

Did you try several different photos?

 

Yes, more. Before I wrote here, I read the experiences of others. I also tried a photo editor.
Mod Edit  :- to sort out the quote

I only tried on my own machine. There is no other option.
I feel like I have to wait to use Face Transfer. If you need a lot of photos and a lot of computers, then something is wrong there. This needs to be improved.
Could you help me with ImageMagic Denoiser? (Supposedly making rendering faster) write the error message "No file or directory to display." Daz Studio was installed in IM. Everything is where the Install Manager installed it. Windows 10 is my system and the program is on an HP laptop.
I already wrote in the forum, I wrote to the creator of the Denoise script, but I didn’t get a response from anyone. If you could help me with this, I would be very happy for him. Thanks in advance.

Complaint:  Windows10 feature update 2004 appears to have broken my NikonTransfer application that imports images from my camera to my computer.  At first I thought that is was the camera not working, but I removed the memory card from the camera and put it directly into the memory slot on the computer and initiated the NikonTransfer application with identical non-results.  So, then I was worried that the images on the camera were scrambled.  But no, when viewed as a simple folder of images, PhotoshopBridge sees them just fine.  So, I guess I need to go looking for an updated copy of NikonTransfer or possibly researching the Internet to see if other people are having problems with image transfer utilities after upgrading to Win10-2004.

Non-complaint:  I got my pictures into the computer the old fashioned way.  Among them was the one I took this morning of the baby groundhog that has been appearing in the yard outside my kitchen window.  Last year I showed y'all a photo of the adult groundhog that was living under the storage shed on that property.  Well, I haven't seen the big one since late fall, but now this little one has been sniffing around in the mornings.  Yeah, yeah, I know, hard to tell the size of the critter without any size comparison, but take my word for it, it's smaller.  About the size of a cat instead of a small dog.

The OMG department: Tomorrow's the first day of summer.

Edited to add:  Ooh,ooh, there's two of them.  Two little groundhogs.  No sign of momma yet, but two small ones out on the lawn at the same time for about 30 seconds.

My bad - it wasn't the Korvath figure. Seems the poses coming with the Rococerous are faulty ...

 

i've got the same problem

none of the pose work for g8 male ...

 

 

 

 

Well... Rococerous isnt a G8 morph, it's a standalone creature according to its store page or am i missing something.

Face transfer doesn't work for me either. "Face Transfer failed to create. Please try another source image." I get an error message. I’ve read a lot here and see that it’s not just with me. Experiencing this, I don’t think I would buy the full version for the money!

Did you try several different photos?

 

Yes, more. Before I wrote here, I read the experiences of others. I also tried a photo editor.
Mod Edit  :- to sort out the quote

OK, I'm not sure what to suggest then. You might want to try opening a support ticket.

You can have two or more active dForms and when you use Spawn Morph it will create a single morph that is the compound effect of the dForms

 

Yes, dForce will stack with other modifiers - once a mesh is dForce you can do anything to it, and if you run a simulation it will drape over the morphed or dFormed shape of the target items.

Thank you! :)

I've been having really great luck converting & exporting via FBX furred, LAMH animals until I tried this older one with the European Grey Squirrel, or rather the Rodent Polymorph.  The end result is the base figure isn't fitting to the fur items. Its some sort of morph or transformation issue though that just isn't getting baked, in that the result is the base rodent & not the breed initially selected. Figure is zero posed with the exception of the Jaw opened 1/2 range.  OBJ export works fine in retaining the shape.

Here's a screen grab: OBJ in black wires, the FBX result in White.

It's not just a scaling factor; there are subtle morphs to a given breed as well.  I'm not exporting any morphs though (can't use them), only baking.  Wish I could use the OBJ but they have no weight map info as the FBX does.

In DS, I've tried every combo of selecting, baking, memorizing, etc. but doesn't seen to have any affect in this case as it has before.  Not having proper docs for the process of course certainly doesn't help so flaying around with with trial & error.  

Hoping someone might know what I'm missing here.

You might test it on the Daz poser squirrel if you have it. it already has included ik-chains too boot https://www.daz3d.com/daz-squirrel and see if you get the same issue. you might be able to trouble shoot the problem anyway.  I haven't used any AM rodents for my animated projects.  I bought one set & they do make nice renders in daz studio.  but that all I can use it for .  it didnt carry over into poser with DSON very well   But posers all I ever tried using them in too so thats the extent of my exprience with AM rodents 

I would join you in complaining about lack of documents for daz studio  but it appears now when I do it gets my comments removed.

No, I don't have theDaz Squirrel.  I might take a look, but what this is largely about is taking the figure + LAMH fur into a form that the fur responds to bone deformation.  Don't think it has a preset.

And ya, I've severely reduced my forum participation for same reasons.

 

The daz squirrel is pretty old too. The reason I mentioned the daz squirrel was because it came with the .obj so  you  could test the scene with it you can always cover it with one of oso shader or fiber mesh hair if it worked

edited for spelling sorry for my dyslexia

Face transfer doesn't work for me either. "Face Transfer failed to create. Please try another source image." I get an error message. I’ve read a lot here and see that it’s not just with me. Experiencing this, I don’t think I would buy the full version for the money!

Did you try several different photos?

 

Yes, more. Before I wrote here, I read the experiences of others. I also tried a photo editor.
Mod Edit  :- to sort out the quote

 

And of course once you really Start deep diving Blender you  may find it a
better environment for scene setup and rendering as Daz has been very generous
with their  free export options

That is what I was thinking.  Blender seems to touch upon many areas of 3D Art.  Even my sons use it to animate 5 Nights At Freddy's figures.   Also Blender came up when I was looking into Z-Brush for sculpting, so it seems like the program does quite a bit and it is a serious contender.  And one of the best parts is that it is free!

 

 

I was speaking more of pinning a broach on a blouse and such things. Rigid buttons and buckles and such aren't exactly strong points on DAZ Studio products that I've purchased.

This is a pet peeve I have with many Daz Studio products...particularly earrings.  Sometimes something that is supposed to be rigidly round and you know it to be round, ends up totally distorted.  The same is true of rings and other pieces of clothing which might look fine in the static T or A pose, but just try and twist the body and the round ring becomes a parallogram!  So creating a rigid item in Blender transfers over better to Daz Studio?

 

 

 

You can import hard surfaces as either 'avatar' or 'trim'.

'Avatar' will interact with your simulated cloth i.e., collide with it, but it wont follow your cloth.  So you have to strategise around that limitation.

'Trim's will follow your cloth but will not interact with it*.

*Trims can be assigned a specific weight in grams, so they will pinch,pull, and drag down your garment accordingly.  But they will have no physical geometry, they will just be a point weight. 

Ok, this I don't know anything about.

So in all, being that I am mostly dealing with static pictures, I would be best off to start with Blender?  So say if I create a skirt, I could create manual morph sliders for parts of it so I could adjust it for say a seated position or walking?  If so, I am good with that.

I have seen some products in Daz that just alter a garments position.  So I am wondering if I would take a skirt that doesn't have many options, bring it over to Blender and then add some more morph dials so it could better fit a character?   Is it also possible to fix the armpit and crotch stretching issues when trying to use Gen 2 and 3 clothing on Genesis 8?

Could I create a complete outfit from scratch?

If that is a Yes, then it does look like Blender would be the road I will be heading down.

Thanks,

Geo

disclaimer: i have never made a daz product nor followed the full garment creation process for Daz studio.

All i was doing in my post was commenting on the capabilities of Marvelous Designer for interactng with hard body objects that you import.  Cloth will not necessarily ever need to interact with rigid objects besides your figure, that is if you're just making simple cloth garments, but you might have accessories, overlayed armour, etc., which would need to interact with the cloth.  I was just describing the potential of MD to do that.
 

I dont have much experience with Blender, but there are lots of sculpting tools there, so you would be able to fix any problematic clothing areas with them, i.e., create a joint controlled morph.  For movement and fit morphs, you can do those in blender or theoretically in Daz itself (using mesh grabber).

I've been away from the rendering world for a long while and see the Werts M4 celeb morphs can no longer be had on sharecg. Does anyone know if they can still be found anywhere?

 

If these are the M4 morphs you're looking for, it still appears to be there.
https://www.sharecg.com/v/41628/Poser/werts-Movie-Stars

 

Alas, that is merely a small percentage of what Werts once created.

To this day I still kick myself in the teeth (metaphorically speaking, of course), for not grabbing everything when he (or she) first shared them.  But, no, I reasoned, "I can wait.  I don't think th site is going anywhere."  While the site remained , I never considered the contributor would, along with the invaluable freebies.  Usually, the content is just "abandoned".  The maker leaves for whatever reason, but their contributions stay, accessible for any and all.

Sincerely,

Bill

I will let you know if I find my old copies anywhere. I was last rendering in 2014, so that computer is long gone, and the hard drive crashed as I recall.  But I'm still going through some old external drives that might yield some of his morphs. 

Remember that you can't transfer products without the creator's permission!

 

And of course once you really Start deep diving Blender you  may find it a
better environment for scene setup and rendering as Daz has been very generous
with their  free export options

That is what I was thinking.  Blender seems to touch upon many areas of 3D Art.  Even my sons use it to animate 5 Nights At Freddy's figures.   Also Blender came up when I was looking into Z-Brush for sculpting, so it seems like the program does quite a bit and it is a serious contender.  And one of the best parts is that it is free!

 

 

I was speaking more of pinning a broach on a blouse and such things. Rigid buttons and buckles and such aren't exactly strong points on DAZ Studio products that I've purchased.

This is a pet peeve I have with many Daz Studio products...particularly earrings.  Sometimes something that is supposed to be rigidly round and you know it to be round, ends up totally distorted.  The same is true of rings and other pieces of clothing which might look fine in the static T or A pose, but just try and twist the body and the round ring becomes a parallogram!  So creating a rigid item in Blender transfers over better to Daz Studio?

 

 

 

You can import hard surfaces as either 'avatar' or 'trim'.

'Avatar' will interact with your simulated cloth i.e., collide with it, but it wont follow your cloth.  So you have to strategise around that limitation.

'Trim's will follow your cloth but will not interact with it*.

*Trims can be assigned a specific weight in grams, so they will pinch,pull, and drag down your garment accordingly.  But they will have no physical geometry, they will just be a point weight. 

Ok, this I don't know anything about.

So in all, being that I am mostly dealing with static pictures, I would be best off to start with Blender?  So say if I create a skirt, I could create manual morph sliders for parts of it so I could adjust it for say a seated position or walking?  If so, I am good with that.

I have seen some products in Daz that just alter a garments position.  So I am wondering if I would take a skirt that doesn't have many options, bring it over to Blender and then add some more morph dials so it could better fit a character?   Is it also possible to fix the armpit and crotch stretching issues when trying to use Gen 2 and 3 clothing on Genesis 8?

Could I create a complete outfit from scratch?

If that is a Yes, then it does look like Blender would be the road I will be heading down.

Thanks,

Geo

Yes, autofit has problems that DAZ 3D should add a parameter or two to their models capabilities such as to keep rigit objects rigid. I'd really like DAZ Studio to get to the point that it can animate as easy and dForce as easy as Blender but if they don't then at least the products I've bought/licensed are exportable to SW that can. As my licensed models from DAZ are must easily storyboarded in DAZ it makes sense to use DAZ so I wait. I'm not in a hurry either way.

HowieFarkes has done wonders for making DAZ Studio more usuable for nice storyboards.

You do realise there are rigid follow nodes in Daz.  All hard body accessorys to clothing should be attached as rigid follow nodes.  You can edit any existing Daz clothing you have which arent making use of the rigid follow node option, and you can make the buttons etc rigid follow nodes (as long as you can select the offending geometry in geometry editor.)

My understanding is that there is also the option to use the weight mapping brush in Daz to make different parts (at least bones) of the outfit follow the character rigging to different extents.

Well, I've downloaded your scene and tried it, and the issue really and truly is just that you don't have enough light in the scene. The question is, how much light do you need for the effect you're going for. Do you want a dimly lit night time scene? Is it meant to be sunset/sunrise? Full daylight?

Below are three renders. The top render shows the results of the scene exactly as you posted it. The only change I made was to put Quentin's texture and morph on G8M.

Second image is your scene, but with the intensity of the lights at 200%, intensity scale at 1. It's still pretty dim, but you can actually see him much better.

Third image is with light intensity still at 200%, and intensity scale at 2.

I didn't do anything to your scene lights other than change the intensity and scale. They're still in the same locations.

Depending on what exactly it is you're trying to accomplish, I might recommend aiming a spotlight at him, and then using a linear point as fill on his face, if needed. Or using an Advanced Ambient light, if you have that, to provide some global lighting. You just need something more in the scene than you have.

my rigged LAMH  never goes well as I get stretched vertices

I understand what you are doing but it needs to be done on a zeroed figure not the load figure and you will get the stretched vertex issue

same as any DAZ figure conforming clothing with the transfer utility 

I have done plenty critters with rigged fur myself but pretty much given up because of that issue

your cat looks cute