Okay, for all you who can recognize Victoria, Olympia, Stephanie, and Penny at a glance, I'm curious. Who's who? Can you tell without looking back at promo shots or digging into your own runtime? (I can't do this even a little so I'll be highly impressed.)

Eyebrows, eyelashes, hair and eyes are all addons and always the same. Makeup was chosen by a random number roll. Camera focal length is always the same. Morph is always either V8, O8, S8, or P8 at 100%.

Same character with different make-ups/angles

Okay, for all you who can recognize Victoria, Olympia, Stephanie, and Penny at a glance, I'm curious. Who's who? Can you tell without looking back at promo shots or digging into your own runtime? (I can't do this even a little so I'll be highly impressed.)

Eyebrows, eyelashes, hair and eyes are all addons and always the same. Makeup was chosen by a random number roll. Camera focal length is always the same. Morph is always either V8, O8, S8, or P8 at 100%.

I'm not good at this at all either and don't even own but one of them so far (I tend to favor G8F unmorphed as I like her average good looks):

1) Stephanie

2) Olympia

3) Penny

4) Victoria

I didn't look at other's statements of who's who so I wasn't influenced by that. The one I feel surest about is Penny is at number 3. I felt she was clearly meant to be more old style Hollywood pinup and it shows.

Oooh the angles and makeups (and stupid daz sss settings) make it more of a challenge but think Victoria, Stephanie, Penny, Olympia?

 

edit 1 and 3 are the hardest imo I think I'm switching to penny, steph, vicky, olympia

I only own Victoria out of all these and even I'm not sure which one is her - number 4, I think. I'd say that three was very definitely Stephanie and Penny is possibly number 1, which makes number two Olympia.

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.

All Links Check Out Plz Move To The Entries Thread

Let me try! :D
Penny
Stephanie
Olympia
Victoria

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.

Okay, for all you who can recognize Victoria, Olympia, Stephanie, and Penny at a glance, I'm curious. Who's who? Can you tell without looking back at promo shots or digging into your own runtime? (I can't do this even a little so I'll be highly impressed.)

Eyebrows, eyelashes, hair and eyes are all addons and always the same. Makeup was chosen by a random number roll. Camera focal length is always the same. Morph is always either V8, O8, S8, or P8 at 100%.

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

I find many of this generation Daz original main female models have large jaws and a tall strong look compared to the cuter rounder look of gen 7.

Gen 8 also seem to be a bit older and often get secondary creases on their cheeks when they smile (look at the store pics of teen Josie 8)

Its just this Gens style I guess or maybe they have the same creator ?

 

Obviously this doesnt apply to all - Karyssa and Sakura are amazingly cute.

Again, this can all be easily changed with some morphs and a few spins of a few sliders.

This is a really weird argument.

"I don't like buying characters that look the same."

"Well you can make them look different by adding other morphs you already bought."

How does that add actual value to buying two copies of very similar morphs? You can already change the one you have.

 

I think it makes sense depending on what you want view the value of the characters to be. Personally I find the utility of the Daz sculpts to be the *finer details*. I think you'd probably agree that shifting the proportions of Victoria into something more average is way easier than taking a figure with Victoria's general proportions and morphing it into an exact likeness of Victoria. Likewise making the jaw width narrower is pretty simple, much simpler than adjusting a bunch of fine detail in the nose or eyelid shape.

 

It's honestly not so much of a Daz morphs thing as a custom morphs are easier to get more exact detail and whoever does the Daz morphs happens to be pretty good (seriously I'm always strangely impressed with the noses, mainly because I'm really bad at morphing noses).

Oh I agree, I have all the DAZ 8 figures except that fairy one, I just don't think telling someone that if they think a character looks to similar to three or four that they have it's fine because they can morph it is going to convince anyone.

I think I agree, if the complaint is to same'y/looks dial spun than saying so dialspin is a bit silly. I think the "so dial spin" kneejeck comes from seeing a lot of complaints like "the jaws to big" (often phrased pretty rudely, although not in this thread thankfully) and after a while I just want to scream "THERES LITERALLY A DIAL CALLED JAW SIZE"

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.

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

I find many of this generation Daz original main female models have large jaws and a tall strong look compared to the cuter rounder look of gen 7.

Gen 8 also seem to be a bit older and often get secondary creases on their cheeks when they smile (look at the store pics of teen Josie 8)

Its just this Gens style I guess or maybe they have the same creator ?

 

Obviously this doesnt apply to all - Karyssa and Sakura are amazingly cute.

Again, this can all be easily changed with some morphs and a few spins of a few sliders.

This is a really weird argument.

"I don't like buying characters that look the same."

"Well you can make them look different by adding other morphs you already bought."

How does that add actual value to buying two copies of very similar morphs? You can already change the one you have.

 

I think it makes sense depending on what you want view the value of the characters to be. Personally I find the utility of the Daz sculpts to be the *finer details*. I think you'd probably agree that shifting the proportions of Victoria into something more average is way easier than taking a figure with Victoria's general proportions and morphing it into an exact likeness of Victoria. Likewise making the jaw width narrower is pretty simple, much simpler than adjusting a bunch of fine detail in the nose or eyelid shape.

 

It's honestly not so much of a Daz morphs thing as a custom morphs are easier to get more exact detail and whoever does the Daz morphs happens to be pretty good (seriously I'm always strangely impressed with the noses, mainly because I'm really bad at morphing noses).

Oh I agree, I have all the DAZ 8 figures except that fairy one, I just don't think telling someone that if they think a character looks to similar to three or four that they have it's fine because they can morph it is going to convince anyone.

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

I find many of this generation Daz original main female models have large jaws and a tall strong look compared to the cuter rounder look of gen 7.

Gen 8 also seem to be a bit older and often get secondary creases on their cheeks when they smile (look at the store pics of teen Josie 8)

Its just this Gens style I guess or maybe they have the same creator ?

 

Obviously this doesnt apply to all - Karyssa and Sakura are amazingly cute.

Again, this can all be easily changed with some morphs and a few spins of a few sliders.

This is a really weird argument.

"I don't like buying characters that look the same."

"Well you can make them look different by adding other morphs you already bought."

How does that add actual value to buying two copies of very similar morphs? You can already change the one you have.

I think it makes sense depending on what you want view the value of the characters to be. Personally I find the utility of the Daz sculpts to be the *finer details*. I think you'd probably agree that shifting the proportions of Victoria into something more average is way easier than taking a figure with Victoria's general proportions and morphing it into an exact likeness of Victoria. Likewise making the jaw width narrower is pretty simple, much simpler than adjusting a bunch of fine detail in the nose or eyelid shape.

It's honestly not so much of a Daz morphs thing as a custom morphs are easier to get more exact detail and whoever does the Daz morphs happens to be pretty good (seriously I'm always strangely impressed with the noses, mainly because I'm really bad at morphing noses).

Just a point on some of the comparisons.

Laptops and Desktops today are priced in pretty much the same ballpark that they were a decade or two ago, but are orders of maginitude more powerful... in some respects, they've gotten cheaper, unless we are talking high end hardware.

As technology advances, it gets cheaper to produce the same thing.  That applies to 3d art assets too.  There are tools available now to assist with the creation of those that simply weren't around, or nearly as capable 20 years ago.  Plus the templates for the characters and such have advanced a lot too, giving content creators a much more detailed starting point than they've had in the past.

Net result is that the time investment to create this stuff hasn't went up all that much, but the results you can achieve have increased greatly.

And also, the 'customer pool' for the people that use these products has increased by orders of magnitude.  In the 1990's, not many people did 3D art, but thanks to Daz Studio and other programs, a LOT more people are in this hobby today than in the past.  Hence, more potential customers to buy your products, making it much more more cost effective to design said products.

So comparing prices from 20 years ago to now isn't really a worthwhile comparison, as 20 years a go a lot of this stuff simply didn't exist yet, and was just being introduced.  Victoria has evolved a lot over the last couple of decades, but it's a progression from the original model, not an entirely new 'standalone' creation each time a new generation lands...

So in my mind, the difference between Genesis 3 and 8 isn't really all that much overall.  Sure, there's some tweaks, but that's what they are, tweaks.  The only siginificant Daz advancement recently has been D-Force, so I'd expect D-Force products to cost a bit more, but other than 'fitting' something to Genesis 3 or 8 when you build it, yeah not a lot of difference.

And, skimming a few of the 'charts' that the Daz Deals plugin provides, the retail price hasn't increased really at all (except for those times when the Daz sales team spikes the retail price temporarily to hit a 'final price' target on a discount), but as I said before, the discounts have often been, on average, at lower percentages than say a year ago.

The 70% off flash sale discount has become more significant recently, as not a lot of sales approach (or occasionally exceed) that percentage now.  But several sales last year exceeded that percentage.  So yeah, 'The New Normal'...

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.)

That Oxford definition is the definition of distinctive when applied to a characteristic of a person or thing, not when applied to the person or thing. No one said DAZ characters don't have distinctive qualities, only that a lot of them are not distinctive, i.e., they are not "easy to recognize because of being different from other people or things of the same type." As even you said, you are not sure you could tell which one was rendered without comparing to others. "Able to tell apart" is not the requirement for distinctiveness, only a single very slightly distinctive characteristic is required to do that.

"Differences can be subtle; twins, outside of their own close circle can be taken for identical - yet they are never 100% identical." As you've ably noted, twins are not distinctive compared to each other.

Maybe I'm remembering this wrong, because it was so long ago, but I seem to remember the very first Victoria was something like $99, but I could be wrong. Was that back when it was Zygote? Didn't Dan Farr break off from Zygote and create DAZ? That's ancient history!

You are correct. $99. Seems like that was 2nd half 1999 and Poser 4. 

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.)

Hi everyone! This is my new character for Victoria 7.

Bring realism and uniqueness to your renders with this beautiful new character for Victoria 7!

Lydia is a high-quality character with HD morphs and two head and body shapes handcrafted in Zbrush, no additional morphs needed. This set includes face asymmetry for more realism and three Iray translucency options to choose from, as well as makeup, eyes, and nail materials for both Iray and 3Delight.

https://www.daz3d.com/lydia-hd-for-victoria-7

Have fun!

Isabelle

 

 

Does this character load with additional shaping from Victoria 7?
I mean does it activate Victoria 7 head + body sliders?

It seems the presets for Lydia will only load the Zbrush morphs for her. If you manually dial in the Victoria 7 Head and Body morphs and the Genesis 3 Navel morph to 100% you will get a result that very closely if not exactly resembles the promo renders. I am thinking when she was originally released everything was working properly, but when she was updated it must of threw some things off. 

Thank you for pointing that out, @Naruim. I just blurred out about Lydia's lack of likeness to herself, and I thought it might be something like the Vincenzina incident (a PA-made dial-spun character somehow intergrated herself into every Genesis 3 Female that was loaded. I fixed it by deleting her from my hard drive. A while later, Daz issued an update, which is still sitting in downloads for me because that was more excitement than I want).

@xyer0 I am not sure if it was your topic or someone else's, but I do remember seeing a topic about that in the forums back when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my install file for Lydia. At the end of the day we are all human and stuff like this happens. As long as someone brings it to the attention of the right person in a respectful matter things seem to get adderessed or at least worked around with the help from the community. Lydia is an amazing character and she diserves all the good/positive attention she gets!

Male and Female figures used to use the same base figure (Generation 4), so posing (and morph dialing) between them for a complete spectrum of gender was much easier... but there were definitely downsides to that approach.

It's nice to have poses that are combinations of feminine, masculine, and even gender neutral.

Although the generation four figures (Victoria and Michael 4) used the same base mesh their rigging was not the same and it's the latter that matters for poses. The comment would be somewhat applicable for the original Genesis (which would be Generation 5).

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 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.

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; so what do folks mean by distinctive? I'm pretty sure there will be lots of replies that relate to the style of character said individual is waiting (hoping?) for.

Your examples are different to many, and certainly distinctive; yet Daz has never yet sold us the same exact character with two different names, even the same named characters across generations are distinctive; some like 'em, and some don't.

Some are more recognisable (not the same as distinctive) and a more unsual shape than others - I'm thinking about Ollie 8, and George here.