I would like to Know?

john_bli

I have both DAZ 3 and DAZ 4 and POSER on my pc. I am getting ready to go to Windows 7 (I have Vista Ultimate 64 bit but I want to try 7. don't like 8's looks. Any way I would like to know if I need to put both back in, and if I should both files together. I usually let the installer choose the place and folders needed. Also, what I really want is to design the clothing. What do I need? I am going to do a clean full install when I go to 7 so there will be no files to start with other than what windows does

John

Please place this post where it needs to be

Fisty

You really don't need to have both DS3 and DS4 installed as 4 will do everything 3 will plus a lot more. So I would suggest DS4 and Poser.

As far as where to put things.. depends on a couple factors. If you have one hard drive then it's a bit easier. I have two and I put my runtimes on my non windows drive. The benefit of that is if I have to reinstall windows I don't have to worry about remaking my runtimes. For Poser you need to have a runtime in its install folder. You can install with the bare bones content it needs to run and then put the stuff you actually use somewhere else, either where Daz puts content by default or another place of your choosing. If you only want to have big runtime with everything them install Poser first and tell DS and the Content Mangeger download thingy to use that Poser runtime... cause you're going to have to have one there no matter what for Poser to run.

Now DS doesn't care where your runtime is in the least.. the plug-ins that need to be in a specific place the installers are smart enough to put them in the right place and they all work. With Poser if you want to use python scripts and your main runtime is not in the poser install folder you have to install part of it in that dedicated poser runtime and the other parts if there are any in your main working runtime.. it's kind of a pain.

As for making clothing, you will need at least DS, Poser for compatibility if you want to share or sell (or use it in Poser yourself).. so you have that covered. Then you will need a modeling program.. I use Hexagon, I hear Silo is a good and easy to learn one too. If you want free there is Wings which is pretty basic but gets the job done once you learn it, and Blender which is harder to learn than the aforementioned ones but is extremely powerful. Carrarra also has modeling capabilities though I don't know of anyone who uses them for your purpose. Modo, 3DSMax. Maya, and ZBrush are also great modeling programs but they'll hit you square in the pocketbook with a lance. But.. basic thing is you need a program that can work in 4 sided polygons and will save out models in .obj format.

Then you'll need some way to UV map your models. Most of the modeling programs have some sort of UV mapping capability, some good, some bad, some utter rubbish. If you want to do it the easy way invest in UV Layout and take the time to learn its copious hotkeys, it will save your sanity. If you can't afford it you'll need to learn your modeling program's tools. UV Mapper classic is free and an invaluable tool for cleaning up random things, and also for mapping cylinders, cones, flat things, etc.. I got along for quite a while with Hexagon's mapping tools and UM Mapper to fix things that Hexagon mangled. As it is I still us UV Mapper to fix material zone assignments which Hex almost always messes up in some way on export.