Sticking with G8, here's a couple of renders of EJ Midori and P3D Marai. Since best is pretty subjective, here are some others: https://www.daz3d.com/p3d-kim-for-genesis-8-female , https://www.daz3d.com/ps-onishi-for-genesis-8-female--victoria-8 , https://www.daz3d.com/hyuna-for-genesis-8-female , https://www.daz3d.com/izanami-for-genesis-3-and-8-female.

These are my faves:

https://www.daz3d.com/michiko-hd-for-genesis-8-female

https://www.daz3d.com/chiyo-for-victoria-7

And I really like Essentials' Lina for G8F product over at Renderosity.

I love Chiyo, but unfortunately the skin doesnt hold up to well, compared to newer textures. The diffuse is beautiful though.

I hadn't thought of Michiko, I'll put her on the list!

Don't think it's the textures; I've transfered them over and like the results.

I think the only thing really shown by the V8 trick is that if you slap the same skin and hair on a character or characters and then shoot them from different angles with different expressions with different makeups it's hard to tell who they are.

Add to it the fact that G8 gets HD expressions and a ton of facial rigging that change the position of the facial features with the expressions, then it makes it even harder to tell.

These are Genesis 3 "Official Daz Characters" and have been out for quite some time. They should be instantly recognizable. And there might be some who CAN instantly recognize them, but I'm sure there are people who can't instantly recognize them, even people who own them who maybe don't instantly recognize them. And these are G3 figures that don't even have the benefit of all the extra facial rigging nor did I use any HD expressions - so the expressions don't change the faces as much as the G8 expressions do.

While I do think there are people who will be able to instantly recognize the above characters (without looking at the G3 DO figures to compare), I think that there are some who will struggle with naming some of them, even though most have been out for years (while the G8 characters have only been out for months). 

While I do think a couple of the DO G8 figures are a little similar, they are still distinctive and unique characters and aren't THAT similar, imo. :) While the trick was an interesting one, I don't think it proved what it was supposed to have proved, but that's just my opinion. :) I could be 100% off the mark, of course. I just think that the V8 test only showed that angles and lighting and makeup and expressions can change the look of a character pretty dramatically. Again, just my opinion. :)

 

but it's also the same with real life though isn't there are a lot of people unrelated world over that have similar features some even look related or actual identical I myself have a few and others who have seen them say we are identical and there have been memes showing actors/singers that were pretty much dead ringers and Kate Perry's current look keep thinking she's Miley Cyrus and Kate's old look she had several looking like her

I think they are the same character too but as I own only Izabella 7, Victoria 7, and Girl 7 she isn't one of them (I don't didn't)

These are my faves:

https://www.daz3d.com/michiko-hd-for-genesis-8-female

https://www.daz3d.com/chiyo-for-victoria-7

And I really like Essentials' Lina for G8F product over at Renderosity.

I love Chiyo, but unfortunately the skin doesnt hold up to well, compared to newer textures. The diffuse is beautiful though.

I hadn't thought of Michiko, I'll put her on the list!

These are my faves:

https://www.daz3d.com/michiko-hd-for-genesis-8-female

https://www.daz3d.com/chiyo-for-victoria-7

And I really like Essentials' Lina for G8F product over at Renderosity.

My 1st Entry

April Showers Bring … Spring Weddings!

Freebies:

Kung Fu Girl2 - https://www.sharecg.com/v/88438/favorite/21/DAZ-Studio/Kung-Fu-girl-for-G3F

Make Human Hair for Genesis (for both) - https://www.sharecg.com/v/85131/favorite/21/DAZ-Studio/MakeHuman-v1.1.0-Hair-for-Genesis-1

Genesis Wedding Dresses - https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/view_product.php?id=57 and https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/view_product.php?id=58

Digidotz Free Shoes - http://www.digi-dotz.com/index.php?start=28 (3rd down)

NeoIndia Veil - https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/neoindia-veil-for-g2f-and-g3f/75797

Wilmaps Lace Design Shader (for veil, shoes and tablecloth) - https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/view_product.php?id=2

Tulip - http://www.3dmenagerie.com/goodies/3d/poser.htm (76th down)

Bruce - https://www.sharecg.com/v/88379/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Bruce-for-G3M

Pinstripe Suit - https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/view_product.php?id=136

Casual Outfit 2 (Shoes) - https://www.sharecg.com/v/87684/favorite/21/DAZ-Studio/CasualOutfit2-for-G3M

Backdrop - https://www.sharecg.com/v/87523/favorite/21/DAZ-Studio/Backdrop

Nature 5 (picture for backdrop) - https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/6-backgrounds/59371

Lights (Made from the files and instructions in this tutorial) - https://www.sharecg.com/v/60195/favorite/3/PDF-Tutorial/Simple-Sunshine-SkySphere-a-DAZStudio4-Tutorial

Wedding Cake - http://trumarcar.francemi.net/foodprops_tc.htm (5th down)

Champagne Glasses - https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/champagne-glass/76796

Champagne - http://trumarcar.francemi.net/foodprops_tc.htm (15th down)

Blue’s Club (table and tablecloth) - https://www.sharecg.com/v/31471/favorite/11/Poser/Blues-Club

Paid Items:

Enchanted Dance Poses for M7 and V7 - https://www.daz3d.com/enchanted-dance-poses-for-michael-7-and-victoria-7

I tweaked a few materials here and there, and added a Distant Light to the light system.  All done within Daz Studio.  No post work except for the watermark.

He made a good point I think. Had this been any G3F character, I doubt there would have been much doubt that it was all the same character. We already knew and accepted, concisiously or unconcisiously, that some of these G8F look alike quite a bit.

I think you underestimate suggestibility. If I am told "these are four characters" or read something written to heavily imply it. I will accept it.

What if I had used Monique?

In all 4 shots with only 1 straight on? yes I probably could've convinced myself it was 4 characters. Now, if all 4 had been Alexandra I would have figured it, but it takes really obvious things to shake me.

In that case I guess we can rule you out as a tell and just rely on the fact that it was pretty easy to convince a whole bunch of other people Victoria could be one of the Vicky-alikes.

"People are suggestible" doesn't invalidate the point, it is the point, that those four characters fall into a group where it's so very easy for average people familiar with the topic to believe they're the same. If everyone had perfect discernment I don't think there would even be questions about distinctiveness in this way.

1)  Which rendering engine are you using?  Which model is it?

2)  Check the textures for the eyes under the Surfaces panel, particularly the sclera, have been loaded correctly.  You may want to try reloading the materials.

3)  What happens if you put the value back to -1?  I'm not sure why you would change this.  If I was to guess, I'd say this has something to do with the number of light bounces that will be calculated: +1 isn't enough; -1 is probably 'infinite'.  I've always left it at -1.

4) Have you checked the log file?  If nothing there makes sense, you may want to raise a support ticket and you will likely be asked to provide the log file so you may as well do that up front.

1. I'm using Iray, using the Victoria model for Genesis 8.

2. Can you tell me how to do that?  I'm completely new at this program and all I know is how to pose a model and add new lights and then click render.

3. If I put it back to -1, then it works.  I was under the impression that this setting controlled how many times iot calculates light rays bouncing off things. So a light ray could bounce off a wall and create some fill light? Or do I have that wrong.

4. I had a look at the log file, and I'm not sure which bits of it are referring to the images I provided, as I've been playing around with it since then.

1)  Which rendering engine are you using?  Which model is it?

2)  Check the textures for the eyes under the Surfaces panel, particularly the sclera, have been loaded correctly.  You may want to try reloading the materials.

3)  What happens if you put the value back to -1?  I'm not sure why you would change this.  If I was to guess, I'd say this has something to do with the number of light bounces that will be calculated: +1 isn't enough; -1 is probably 'infinite'.  I've always left it at -1.

4) Have you checked the log file?  If nothing there makes sense, you may want to raise a support ticket and you will likely be asked to provide the log file so you may as well do that up front.

1. I'm using Iray, using the Victoria model for Genesis 8.

2. Can you tell me how to do that?  I'm completely new at this program and all I know is how to pose a model and add new lights and then click render.

3. If I put it back to -1, then it works.  I was under the impression that this setting controlled how many times iot calculates light rays bouncing off things. So a light ray could bounce off a wall and create some fill light? Or do I have that wrong.

4. I had a look at the log file, and I'm not sure which bits of it are referring to the images I provided, as I've been playing around with it since then.

Great experiment. I was looking at them and couldn't tell which was which. To me, they all looked very much like the same model, but seeing that you listed different characters I tried to spot and see the differences. Should have went with my first impressions, LOL. It's like the celebrity look alike thread where someone says they look like so and so and all I see is victoria in most cases, LOL.

Fascinating. Was anybody anywhere near close in matching the make-ups with their usual characters? I'm wondering how much that contributes to us recognising them. Or to thinking that we do :)

1 was Victoria makeup, and only one person guessed Victoria.

2 was Penny makeup, and by luck of the draw very distinctive, so I was surprised that no one at all guessed Penny here.

3 was Stephanie makeup, and again only one person guessed Stephanie.

4 was Olympia and only one guessed Olympia.

No one got more than one makeup matched to their guess. So there was a surprising lack of correlation between character makeup and guesses.

For the rest of it, I really had three questions I wanted to ask here:

"Can people recognize Victoria well enough to know she is not one of the other three similar characters?"
"Can people tell all four similar characters apart from each other?"
"Can people tell which of four similar characters is in a single picture?"

But due to the nature of this nonsense I could only ever ask one, so I chose the first because I thought it was the most interesting.

And yes this all is because of psychology, but psychology is that thing that makes different people distinctive to us to begin with.

People have really similar problems trying to match colors without reference points. Memory makes things blurry, really blurry.

Okay big reveal time.

Same character with different make-ups/angles

Ah, but who?

They are indeed all Victoria 8. Even the skin, no changes. All that I did was make some expressions, poses, and camera angles that I thought might "feel" characteristic of different types of people, and randomly pulled one makeup from each character set with random.org. This is what people are trying to say when they are saying that these characters are not "distinctive" and that they're "too similar." It's not that you can't tell they're supposed to be different people when you look at them together, because you can, and there are tells that give away who is who when you directly compare. But there are such strong common features to all of them that it's really difficult to be sure if someone in a render is Victoria or Stephanie or...

(also thank god it's not just me and I'm not secretly faceblind)

I'm not complaining about the "endless parade of white girls" because I still like all these characters, and I still have all of them, but I understand the reason for hoping that before we get another girl one could throw into this lineup and people would be sure she was five different morphs, maybe we get a Bethany, or a Mei Lin, or a (M)Ollie, or a ghost white Irish girl with freckles all over her body, or a Native American girl with deeply hooded eyes and strong cheekbones on a soft round face. Because I can and I will use the V8s and the O8s and the S8s and the P8s, but I have a really hard time arguing to anyone else that "this one is a new thing."

I was thinking that those were all Victoria 8 when I was looking at them but the similarity to the pose on number 3 to recent renders of Penny and that Penny is so recent made me think Penny. You'll notice Victoria's face looks much fuller in number 3, I guess because of the angle.

And it's not a surprise now in hindsight that I said I wasn't at all sure about the others, because well there was good reason I wasn't sure, and that's because they are all the same character.

All I knew was the way I read the post with those pictures was that it said one was V8, O8, S8, & P8 but now after your reveal I know I should of looked for a linguistic exactness like a lawyer tries to read and write for. 

So the who's who is like the old joke, "Railroad crossing, look out for the cars, can you spell that without any Rs"?

Fun experiment.  I also thought they were all the same character...but couldn't decide which one...LOL  That tells you how much difference I see in them.  No biggie really, I'll still probably buy the ones I don't have when the price goes so low that it's a no brainer.  But for me to buy a new and exciting character, it will have to either be the aforementioned no brainer, or simply be so intriguing that I can't pass it up. :)  Penny is close.  I think she has some merit...just not enough for me to pull out the wallet, yet.  And, the free pro packs are ones that I passed on before because they were low on my priority list.  It's a good value.  But, I'd rather be more excited about the new character.  Those renders with Diva's shader settings look great.  I might still be persuaded eventually.

I will be buying either the Charlotte 8 or the Penny 8 in the future. Maybe both. 

Okay big reveal time.

Same character with different make-ups/angles

Ah, but who?

They are indeed all Victoria 8. Even the skin, no changes. All that I did was make some expressions, poses, and camera angles that I thought might "feel" characteristic of different types of people, and randomly pulled one makeup from each character set with random.org. This is what people are trying to say when they are saying that these characters are not "distinctive" and that they're "too similar." It's not that you can't tell they're supposed to be different people when you look at them together, because you can, and there are tells that give away who is who when you directly compare. But there are such strong common features to all of them that it's really difficult to be sure if someone in a render is Victoria or Stephanie or...

(also thank god it's not just me and I'm not secretly faceblind)

I'm not complaining about the "endless parade of white girls" because I still like all these characters, and I still have all of them, but I understand the reason for hoping that before we get another girl one could throw into this lineup and people would be sure she was five different morphs, maybe we get a Bethany, or a Mei Lin, or a (M)Ollie, or a ghost white Irish girl with freckles all over her body, or a Native American girl with deeply hooded eyes and strong cheekbones on a soft round face. Because I can and I will use the V8s and the O8s and the S8s and the P8s, but I have a really hard time arguing to anyone else that "this one is a new thing."

I was thinking that those were all Victoria 8 when I was looking at them but the similarity to the pose on number 3 to recent renders of Penny and that Penny is so recent made me think Penny. You'll notice Victoria's face looks much fuller in number 3, I guess because of the angle.

And it's not a surprise now in hindsight that I said I wasn't at all sure about the others, because well there was good reason I wasn't sure, and that's because they are all the same character.

All I knew was the way I read the post with those pictures was that it said one was V8, O8, S8, & P8 but now after your reveal I know I should of looked for a linguistic exactness like a lawyer tries to read and write for. 

So the who's who is like the old joke, "Railroad crossing, look out for the cars, can you spell that without any Rs"?

Fun experiment.  I also thought they were all the same character...but couldn't decide which one...LOL  That tells you how much difference I see in them.  No biggie really, I'll still probably buy the ones I don't have when the price goes so low that it's a no brainer.  But for me to buy a new and exciting character, it will have to either be the aforementioned no brainer, or simply be so intriguing that I can't pass it up. :)  Penny is close.  I think she has some merit...just not enough for me to pull out the wallet, yet.  And, the free pro packs are ones that I passed on before because they were low on my priority list.  It's a good value.  But, I'd rather be more excited about the new character.  Those renders with Diva's shader settings look great.  I might still be persuaded eventually.

Okay big reveal time.

Same character with different make-ups/angles

Ah, but who?

They are indeed all Victoria 8. Even the skin, no changes. All that I did was make some expressions, poses, and camera angles that I thought might "feel" characteristic of different types of people, and randomly pulled one makeup from each character set with random.org. This is what people are trying to say when they are saying that these characters are not "distinctive" and that they're "too similar." It's not that you can't tell they're supposed to be different people when you look at them together, because you can, and there are tells that give away who is who when you directly compare. But there are such strong common features to all of them that it's really difficult to be sure if someone in a render is Victoria or Stephanie or...

(also thank god it's not just me and I'm not secretly faceblind)

I'm not complaining about the "endless parade of white girls" because I still like all these characters, and I still have all of them, but I understand the reason for hoping that before we get another girl one could throw into this lineup and people would be sure she was five different morphs, maybe we get a Bethany, or a Mei Lin, or a (M)Ollie, or a ghost white Irish girl with freckles all over her body, or a Native American girl with deeply hooded eyes and strong cheekbones on a soft round face. Because I can and I will use the V8s and the O8s and the S8s and the P8s, but I have a really hard time arguing to anyone else that "this one is a new thing."

I was thinking that those were all Victoria 8 when I was looking at them but the similarity to the pose on number 3 to recent renders of Penny and that Penny is so recent made me think Penny. You'll notice Victoria's face looks much fuller in number 3, I guess because of the angle.

And it's not a surprise now in hindsight that I said I wasn't at all sure about the others, because well there was good reason I wasn't sure, and that's because they are all the same character.

All I knew was the way I read the post with those pictures was that it said one was V8, O8, S8, & P8 but now after your reveal I know I should of looked for a linguistic exactness like a lawyer tries to read and write for. 

So the who's who is like the old joke, "Railroad crossing, look out for the cars, can you spell that without any Rs"?

All this generations models tend to look the same am i right?

Depends who you talk to, and what your definition of same is; do you mean similar?

 

I don't understand really when folks talk about distinctive; no matter how unique the character that Daz produces, they've sold hundreds and maybe thoudands of them. When there are so many in existence, distinctive? Not really when there are so many looking the same, as a look at Deviant Art will show one.

Distinctive:

https://www.daz3d.com/benita-for-victoria-8
https://www.daz3d.com/uchenna-for-genesis-8-female
https://www.daz3d.com/syble-hd-for-genesis-8-female (ymmv but this body shape is different from a lot out there)
https://www.daz3d.com/pei-and-pei-suit-for-genesis-8-female

https://www.daz3d.com/ollie-8
https://www.daz3d.com/ronen-character-hair-and-briefs-for-genesis-8-male
https://www.daz3d.com/fiore-for-genesis-8-male
https://www.daz3d.com/george-for-genesis-8-male

Anyone indigenous to the US would instantly be distinctive, due to the fact that there are none of them for recent generations. None. While we're at it, Middle Eastern is basically not there either. So anyone looking to make distinctive characters, as in "doesn't look like anything else on the market," there's your huge untapped group of looks.

My point was; as an example, Daz sells a 1000 Ollie 8, yet if one renders un-tweaked, there are going to be 999 the same out there.

That has nothing to do with why people want distinctive characters, though.

My second point: Every single character is distinctive; the fact they may be considered similar doesn't stop them being distinctive as they can be told apart

Are they though? If I render one of the DAZ flagship girls, are you going to be able to tell me if it's V8, O8, S8, or P8 without looking to compare?

I didn't say I would know which was which, only that I can tell them apart; the main criteria of distinctive.

For reference, this is the definition of distinctive in question:

having or giving an uncommon and appealing quality, Merriam Webster

having a special quality, style, attractiveness, etc.; notable, Dictionary.com

easy to recognize because of being different from other people or things of the same type, Macmillan Dictionary

Being able to tell two figures are different figures if they're standing next to each other doesn't even come close to cutting it.

Of course it does;

As all those are subjective; what is appealing to one, is not to another; what is attractive to one, is not to another, and so on. The third one is less subjective, but still depends on how familiar one is with the geno-type; a caucasion, or any other ethnic type will find (as a rule) characteristics they have been exposed to the most easier to distinguish.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/distinctive

They state "Characteristic of one person or thing, and so serving to distinguish it from others." Differences can be subtle; twins, outside of their own close circle can be taken for identical - yet they are never 100% identical.

The fact something is more or less distinctive to you doesn't make it so; that again is subjective, and so open to opinion.

... All it needs to be is not literally identical.

(I'm going to guess that we're not going to agree, and so suggest we leave it as-is.)

I realize that by definition, you can say that distinctive, just means not identical.  But, I think the point is that so many people are saying that many of the G8F releases look the same to them.  Of course, it's subjective.  But, that is the point isn't it?  If a lot of people are saying that all the new products look the same to them, isn't that reason enough to consider making something more interesting and varied?  It's all down to Daz and their artists as to whether or not they think departing from this formula will create better or worse sales.  I think the people that say "they all look the same" are just voicing their opinion that they would like new figures that bring a different look to the table.  Of course, if you're satisfied with the new release offerings, you're not going to complain, eh?

Okay big reveal time.

Same character with different make-ups/angles

Ah, but who?

They are indeed all Victoria 8. Even the skin, no changes. All that I did was make some expressions, poses, and camera angles that I thought might "feel" characteristic of different types of people, and randomly pulled one makeup from each character set with random.org. This is what people are trying to say when they are saying that these characters are not "distinctive" and that they're "too similar." It's not that you can't tell they're supposed to be different people when you look at them together, because you can, and there are tells that give away who is who when you directly compare. But there are such strong common features to all of them that it's really difficult to be sure if someone in a render is Victoria or Stephanie or...

(also thank god it's not just me and I'm not secretly faceblind)

I'm not complaining about the "endless parade of white girls" because I still like all these characters, and I still have all of them, but I understand the reason for hoping that before we get another girl one could throw into this lineup and people would be sure she was five different morphs, maybe we get a Bethany, or a Mei Lin, or a (M)Ollie, or a ghost white Irish girl with freckles all over her body, or a Native American girl with deeply hooded eyes and strong cheekbones on a soft round face. Because I can and I will use the V8s and the O8s and the S8s and the P8s, but I have a really hard time arguing to anyone else that "this one is a new thing."

Actually this may be more of a demonstration of psychology... that if you say "these are different people" people will believe you and justify it. For instance, on first glance I was completely confident 1 was victoria, but at second look I absolutely knew that 3 was because of a very specific  feature (the ears I recognize figure ears is that weird?) since I knew 3 absolutely had to be Victoria I knew the others logically couldn't be.

Yes, and I was looking for Steph's angular jaw and in 2, it looks more angular and I couldn't find the cleft in Olympia's chin or notch on nose so I thought that might be a normals thing and it has different textures with different or no normals... I guessed number 4 as Penny but thought she looked better here than in the promos. So because I thought they were 4 different characters, I made excuses for each one. Interesting psychological experiment really...

Imagine I did this with Monique, Alexandra, and Victoria, no one would have been fooled at all even if I outright said they were all different. Distinctiveness.

The point others are making is Studio IS NOT A MODELER.  Studio has some tools/functions to make changes to a mesh but not anywhere near as many as a true modeling program.  Developers of the Studio or any plug-in have to consider whether enough people would see the benefit of the additions.  Making the floor grid's units and scale user definable and adding snap to and an easier way to change a models point of origin is the only CAD functions I would find a useful addition to Studio.

Fair enough.  But, it doesn't need to be a full fledged modeler in order to add the CAD functionality I'm proposing.  I'm talking about taking advantage of what already exists in content and an opportunity for more content to be made available.  Daz does have some modeling capabilities.  It already creates primitives to any scale required.  And, content that would be otherwise require additional modeling is already available (door openings, windows, appliances, furniture...etc.) or could be made available as furniture packs.  It doesn't have to be what you call a "true modeler" for this idea to work.  It can do all of the things I've mentioned.  It just needs a plugin to convert the current scaling morphs that are based on percentages to the Daz inch / mm - a scale that already exists, but is not apparent in the dials.  A few extra convenience scripts for snap to placements and materials placement, along with things like wall specs, and you have a mini CAD system that takes advantage of Daz resources and uses Studio commands.  It does not have to be able to do framing layouts, roof calculations, electrical placement or any of the multitude of additional requirements that would be necessary in a full architectural arsenal.  

Consider this simple example:  I own the "Modern Farmhouse" or something similar.  I like the kitchen but would like to change the layout and increase the wall height and change the materials.  I can already do all of this in Daz, right?  The issue is that doing this is mostly guesswork on size and placement.  I can scale the walls up by a percentage, but not by measurement in English or Metric units.  But, just by the fact that these models are already created to Daz Human scale, we know that the measurement already exists and that this measurement is consistent across the board for most every Daz environment and architectural product.  So, what I need is a product like Measure Metrics, that can measure this scale and then apply any inputted measurements to the model in question - or to a box primitive to create a new wall, or to another wall model from another item in your library.  I don't have to create a model.  It is more a matter of adjusting the models and materials that are already available to a user defined size.  And as I mentioned before, a script for easily changing materials would be helpful.  Once again, this is already within the capabilities of Studio.  The script is a front end for easily specifying surfaces without having to go into the usual tab and sub menus.  When I want to move the wall on my floor to a different location, the measurements would show me where the wall is according to dimensions, rather than the +-  xy slider.

So, you can see that this isn't a major reworking of Studio, but a user interface that allows you to choose dimensions rather than percentages or coordinates, and offers the ability to use Daz as a visualization tool for real, if small, projects.  Considering the number of people that do home remodels every year, and the number of those that might also be Daz users, don't you think that it could be useful to them?  And, what about the folks that would just like the ability to define the dollhouse for our digital dolls?  Might they also have fun with a product like that - putting Victoria in a kitchen or bathroom, or castle of their own design?

Of course, there are people that won't find this useful...those who have no interest in such things, or who are already well versed in more powerful CAD design programs, or who just prefer to use existing content as is.  But, there are plenty of products that have a limited audience that still are a viable sales item.  This thread is about suggestions.  If no PA or Daz in house developer is interested in pursuing it, that's up to them.  I'm merely making the suggestion for something that I think would be useful.  The very things that you say you might find useful are a large part of what I'm proposing.

You pretty much outlined why such a project wouldn't be undertaken. Understand the business model that is the reason that DAZ Studio is offered for free: so that you buy premade content from DAZ and PAs that is loaded into it. What you're suggesting is for anyone to make content in the program, overriding that model... that's simply not going to happen if the program is going to stay free. That's why you have outside programs like zbrush, modo, hexagon, etc.. because the building of the content takes place outside of the program, and anything within is done to render or manipulate existing content. I don't see something like that, which would shift  the business model from being incorporated.

Not at all.  You're still buying content.  The plugin would allow you to place and scale content accurately along with using purchased shader packs to change surfaces...all things you are buying already.  Modifying content is nothing new to Daz.  Morph packages exist to create new characters.  Shader packs are available to change textures.   And, you can already create a wall like primitive within Studio. There are products already available like Room Creator, Castle Builder, Sci Fi Construction set and so on.  And, Measure Metrics does already do something like what I'm proposing for the human figures.  My suggestion still means that you are buying models to modify in the first place.  Manipulating existing content and modifying structures from within Daz are exactly what I'm talking about.  I'm not seeking to crash the Daz business model. 

Consider this:  Daz operates on giving away a set of base models within a modifying program which is Studio.  What they sell are 1. additional mesh targets to modify characters, 2. additional skin textures, 3. additional fully created characters based on the original free versions, 4. premade environments with modifiable parts, 5. shader packs to modify any surface, 6. scripts to modify skins, and export new ones.  Of course, this isn't a complete list.  There are many more products and tools to modify them.

What I have been suggesting is that all these things are already incorporated into Daz.  My modifying them to make my own scale rooms doesn't take anything away from Daz or the PAs.  Is there some reason that I shouldn't be able to make my Daz kitchen have ten foot walls, or my castle have a 15 foot wide hallway instead of a 50 foot one?  I can already kitbash anything I like.  Is there any reason that I shouldn't be able to have a better way to scale and place the items?  The items are not generally Merchant Resources.  So, it's not like I'd be creating content and selling it.  I'm still using it for the intended purpose.  Like I said, the technology already exists in the program via scaling.  It's just a matter of making a few front end scripts that can use dimensions instead of percentages and units. 

And as to the sales model:  If I don't buy x, y, or z, environment because it isn't really what I need, but it has most of the elements I wanted, knowing that I have a plugin that allows me to change the layout and surfaces to what I really want might cause me to buy it rather than pass.  All of these models are already modifiable.  Have you noticed that most premade environments and figures advertise this fact?  The models are for sale as a group of parts but include a premade Set that mimics the promo pics.  So, it's pretty clear that the PAs expect the models to be changed as needed.  It's just a pain to do it without some sort of dimensional reference.  And also, there is a likelihood that PAs or DO can create plugin friendly model packs for custom room creation.  I'd buy any number of fixture, appliance, cabinet, furnishing packs if I knew that it was fairly easy to place them in my custom room.  I think other users might do so as well.

I really don't think that being able to customize environments is going to stop or even slow the sales of premade sets.  As has been argued before, a lot of people would just rather buy something than build it.  No worries...Daz is a useful tool for a variety of levels of users.  And besides, all of those premade sets have finely crafted models that I can incorporate into my custom room.

Seriously, I have thousands of dollars worth of Daz content, and I rarely use anything as is.  Just being able to easily change a room to my liking isn't going to keep me from buying more.  In fact, it might make me start wishing for new furniture to fill it up.

I am not suggesting at all that Daz suddenly try to compete with its own products like Hexagon and Carrara {which are often available for free BTW).  I'm not even suggesting that users build custom furniture and fixtures within Studio.  What I am suggesting is a plugin to use purchased Daz models and shaders to create custom room layouts according to dimensions instead of the current percentage and unit scaling.   This changes nothing except to make it simpler to do what Studio is already capable of doing.

I want to apologize for sounding defensive.  Really, I think I must not have gotten my original thought across to everyone.  The other day, I was looking at various remodeling software packages and I thought to myself, "Hey, I already have tons of content and an excellent rendering software...There must be some way to take advantage of that to create a scale accurate room.  After all, Studio already has all the capability."

When I got to looking at it, I realized that the only thing that is really missing is the ability to input accurate dimensions.   That's what got me thinking about this in the first place.  I think that by using the term "CAD," it immediately made everyone think of Autocad and other professional level tools.  But, the plugin doesn't need to create the models - just make them fit.  I suppose what I'm really thinking about for a plugin is a simple dimensional modifier script with texture and floorplan layout options, that allows you to work in inches or millimeters instead of the percentage or unit.  If I knew how to script a plugin for it, I would do it myself.  But, since I know nothing about scripting, I hoped some enterprising PA might take up the challenge.

Okay big reveal time.

Same character with different make-ups/angles

Ah, but who?

They are indeed all Victoria 8. Even the skin, no changes. All that I did was make some expressions, poses, and camera angles that I thought might "feel" characteristic of different types of people, and randomly pulled one makeup from each character set with random.org. This is what people are trying to say when they are saying that these characters are not "distinctive" and that they're "too similar." It's not that you can't tell they're supposed to be different people when you look at them together, because you can, and there are tells that give away who is who when you directly compare. But there are such strong common features to all of them that it's really difficult to be sure if someone in a render is Victoria or Stephanie or...

(also thank god it's not just me and I'm not secretly faceblind)

I'm not complaining about the "endless parade of white girls" because I still like all these characters, and I still have all of them, but I understand the reason for hoping that before we get another girl one could throw into this lineup and people would be sure she was five different morphs, maybe we get a Bethany, or a Mei Lin, or a (M)Ollie, or a ghost white Irish girl with freckles all over her body, or a Native American girl with deeply hooded eyes and strong cheekbones on a soft round face. Because I can and I will use the V8s and the O8s and the S8s and the P8s, but I have a really hard time arguing to anyone else that "this one is a new thing."

Actually this may be more of a demonstration of psychology... that if you say "these are different people" people will believe you and justify it. For instance, on first glance I was completely confident 1 was victoria, but at second look I absolutely knew that 3 was because of a very specific  feature (the ears I recognize figure ears is that weird?) since I knew 3 absolutely had to be Victoria I knew the others logically couldn't be.

I didn't say they were different people, I was very very careful not to, I actually thought this would give it away.

Okay big reveal time.

Same character with different make-ups/angles

Ah, but who?

They are indeed all Victoria 8. Even the skin, no changes. All that I did was make some expressions, poses, and camera angles that I thought might "feel" characteristic of different types of people, and randomly pulled one makeup from each character set with random.org. This is what people are trying to say when they are saying that these characters are not "distinctive" and that they're "too similar." It's not that you can't tell they're supposed to be different people when you look at them together, because you can, and there are tells that give away who is who when you directly compare. But there are such strong common features to all of them that it's really difficult to be sure if someone in a render is Victoria or Stephanie or...

(also thank god it's not just me and I'm not secretly faceblind)

I'm not complaining about the "endless parade of white girls" because I still like all these characters, and I still have all of them, but I understand the reason for hoping that before we get another girl one could throw into this lineup and people would be sure she was five different morphs, maybe we get a Bethany, or a Mei Lin, or a (M)Ollie, or a ghost white Irish girl with freckles all over her body, or a Native American girl with deeply hooded eyes and strong cheekbones on a soft round face. Because I can and I will use the V8s and the O8s and the S8s and the P8s, but I have a really hard time arguing to anyone else that "this one is a new thing."

Actually this may be more of a demonstration of psychology... that if you say "these are different people" people will believe you and justify it. For instance, on first glance I was completely confident 1 was victoria, but at second look I absolutely knew that 3 was because of a very specific  feature (the ears I recognize figure ears is that weird?) since I knew 3 absolutely had to be Victoria I knew the others logically couldn't be.