I would be more inclined to support DAZ if they focused the material on their site on how their products and models are being used in film and other large projects rather than the scantily clad model images that they use now.
Does it concern you in the least that stuff like that is taking precedence over the development of some of the 3D software they acquired over the years (which have stagnated)?
Anyway, my opinion also includes the idea that I prefer to make my own models (you can’t call your work completely original if you join the pre-built model purchasing crowd).
For my work, offering base human models I can pose and just texture etc DAZ is fitting the need.
Architects I think would think the same way.
They found for themselves a content niche making those models etc for all this fantasy stuff.
But at the end it also comes down to the user how and where they apply it.
I think they found simply a profitable market to develop and sell this content. And in addition to Poser
DAZ has a lot more to offer.
Personally I am not happy with DAZ that they let go of AmapiPro (best NURBS poly modeler at that time)
and also let down Hexagon and such.
But often what we want and what a company thinks will bring in profit are two different stories.
I was part of the beta test users of Studio some 8 years ago and used Studio 1.0 as part of a one hour animated film that was made in 2006 called God’s Companion.
I haven’t yet used the version you mention although it is installed on my computer and I have a lot of beautiful models which I bought from Daz3D or other artists who created skins for their human models.
Studio has a kind of software hidden armature system - you directly maniuplate the model, not an armature. It is an obvious system to use, much more intuitive than having to build and apply an armature, but the software was not meant for modelling.
The problem I have is that models that worked beutifully in Studio need to have an armature applied in Blender and the armature rips the models apart.
i don’t think that selling models in DAZ’s shop takes anything at all from the software’s progress. sure they could have done a few things differently, but i wouldn’t blame that on their shop. after all, most of the stuff there is made by 3rd party individuals.
i also prefer to use my own meshes in my artworks. but even so, DAZ studio makes it really easy to visualize my character before i begin modeling. once i’m done modeling, DAZ studio once again proves useful by allowing me to reuse my clothes and props on the character.
And in the end, all the meshes in my artworks are 100% original
@beachdancer,
you should try the collada export in DAZ studio. it works well for most simple purposes. and if that’s not good enough, there’s always rigify which is probably more feature-rich than the armature in DS.
I do miss the way DS is able to handle so many morphs without consuming a whole mountain of RAM unlike blender, though. And the fact that blender can’t take advantage of JCMs to smooth out the joints in extreme poses
A lot of people have already mentioned this but it is basically: What are your needs? Does this fit your needs? Yes? Then use.
However, if you want to make an actual living with 3D I doubt going “pure” DAZ is the way to go. The best paying jobs in the 3D industry are the hard ones. One of them is rigging. I don’t think DAZ will teach you how to be a good rigger. Do you want to be a character artist for a studio? You better know Zbrush/Mudbox along with Maya or 3DsMax. Modo is catching up and Blender as well for smaller studios.
That’s not to say DAZ is useless. Aparenly that Rosa film was animated in it which is pretty cool (I have to admit though, the person who animated her walk didn’t do a very good job at it but otherwise it was a pretty good short film), but for larger studios they’ll want you to animate in something like Maya (Largely because of pipeline). Also Animators don’t get paid all that much compared to Riggers. So if money is a concern rigging is the way to go.
Freelance is another thing. But chances are you’ll have more clients wanting an original character rigged/modelled than some sort of tweaked DAZ character.
I honestly haven’t used DAZ really, but I haven’t seen anything really impressive come out of it “Purely” - I’ve seen some decent renders with it and I’ve seen some other software use the character models from it for clothing nicely (Usually the cloth is from Marvellous designer and they render it in a 3rd party software, last one I saw was rendered with Octane).
Sorry if this has been said already. I think I read most of this thread but I could have missed something.
TLDR; My main point is that you’ll make more money doing the harder stuff. And although DAZ has it’s uses, it can’t compete with animating in Maya or character creating in Zbrush. It’s easier but because it’s easy you’re not going to make as much money from it by itself.
Also as a side note, the Rosa Movie site has been converted to a blog about gadgets. Such an odd name for that kind of blog…
I used Bryce, Studio v1 (and also Studio BETA) plus wings and some other stuff to make a 60 minute animated film back in 2006. Bryce makes beautiful scenery and skies but there’s no articulated models (no legs bend, nothing can walk). Studio does smooth articulated movement and applies textures far more easily than Blender, but it doesn’t do modelling and it was geared to flat image backgrounds and no reflections or glass transparency.
I used Studio to render animation in front of a green screen and then composited it with backgrounds usually produced in Bryce. (My animation made up for lack of quality by offering lots of quantity)
Now I use Blender and I struggle constantly with things that I don’t understand (as I did back in 2006, but more so with Blender). I built most of the models in the 2006 film, but the humans were all bought from DAZ for the geometry and from individual designers around the world for the morphs and textures/skins of the characters. The human, and some of the animal models were superb, in my opinion, and the work that my designers in Germany and Brazil did to turn those models into multiple characters were a delight.
But the film has dated and looks like junk compared to what is being done these days.
(On another part of this site there is a closed thread about how to export rigged modelñs from Daz Studio into Blender. Unfortunately it no longer seems to work - the model isn’t rigged when it is imported.)
I know several folks who make a comfortable living producing comics in Daz or Poser. One of the gents is absolutely brilliant and his comics, despite being sorta adult oriented, are outrageously hilarious. While it is a narrow niche market, they are obviously reaching enough buyers to make it worthwhile.
I did some experiments exporting a Genesis 2 figure using the Collada format and I got into Blender the figure, posable using bones and with materials (for Blender Internal, not Cycles). Things worked (as far as I checked, which is not very deep :D) right out of the box.
I’ve used DS4.7 for some projects, but I enjoy making my own models. That being said, one extremely useful way I’ve used DS is to create a morphed model, then T-pose it and export the front, side, etc. views as images, then use those images in Blender to create original models. So in that way, it’s useful to create your own model references for free. Sure, real pictures would be ideal, but I can’t afford to pay a model/photographer, and I haven’t found good stylized references that fit what I’m looking for. DS fits that area very well.