Been out of the loop for 4 years. What have I missed?
xavierpayne
Posts: 2
Hey folks,
Title kind of says it all.
I've moved across the country and changed jobs a couple of times the past 4 years.
As such I haven't had the time / disposable income required to keep up with the DAZ scene.
Can any of the long timers here tell me what the major things are that I've missed since 2011?
:)
Post edited by xavierpayne on
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...well for one as you first saw, a totally different website and store (actually two changes to the latter).
The "short list".
A totally new version of Daz Studio (now at ver. 4.7) that includes:
--The Genesis Figure which allows for mixing different figures/characters based off the Genesis base (kind of like the old "Figure Mixer" but a lot more comprehensive in that you can even mix Genesis toon characters with "realistic" ones)
--Genesis 2 (separate base male and female figures), basically an improvement in the base mesh to better facilitate morphing of male and female characters.
--Easier cross-fitting of clothing between figures (including male to female and vice versa) via the Autofit tool.
--A much improved 3Delight render engine.
--A Content Management database.
--Improved Shader Mixer
--"Smart Content" which makes locating content easier.
(Available as a free download)
A download and Install Manager (known as the DIM) that lets you batch download and install content/plugins.
Subsurface Scattering (the base, another free download) with additional expansions available
High Definition morphs and textures.
A Morph transfer plugin to transfer morphs from Gen3/Gen4 Figures to Genesis/Genesis2. (Generation X2 - not free)
A bridge to Octane Render
A bridge to ZBush
A somewhat different Platinum Club.
Lots of new content.
I'm sure others have more to add.
Isn't that built into DS?
I believe he is referring to the AoA set which is used for most new figure texture sets.
http://www.daz3d.com/subsurface-shader-base
OK. But you can create SSS textures that will work without any add-ons, can't you?
I believe some of the Ubersurface Shaders have SS capabilities. But not with the standard default shaders.
The Subsurface-shader-base is a Shader like Ubersurface or the default shader bases.
Its generally required for a lot of the new figure material presets and a bunch of other products in the store.
A Shader as in this context:
Its generally considered part of the base install for DS these days.
...also, many of the Gen 6 characters include SSS.
As AoA's plugin is free it is essentially "built in".
The manual is here, its well worth a look if you're not familiar with it.
http://docs.daz3d.com/lib/exe/fetch.php/public/read_me/index/16324/16324_subsurface-shader-base.pdf
But DS itself needs to have SSS capabilities to utilize SSS shaders/textures doesn't it?
I recall SSS capabilities was introduced in Poser recently (PP2010 ?), AFAIK you couldn't utilize SSS shaders in Poser before.
DAZStudio is free now
Its getting a little OT from the OP but I believe at the base of both Poser and DS SS capabilities is a shader node. Which translates SS information to the renderer. The AoA Shader base uses this node plus others to create a more complete SS shader solution. If you have the knowledge you can use this base node to build your own SS shaders but tbh the complexity goes way over my head.
So I guess in a way you're right that Daz Studio did need to have the SS shader node built into it. I believe it was implemented in 4.5.
But the AoA SS Shader utilises the node together with lots of other functions to create a more complete SS Shader which has pretty much become the standard for DS and SSS.
----------------
Also the content Creator tools are now free as part of Daz Studio Pro.
OK, thanks!
the Reality plug-in you may have missed.
http://www.daz3d.com/reality-4-daz-studio-edition
I would add, Age of Armour's Advanced Ambient, Spot and Distant lights. These render faster than UberEnvironment or the default lights, so it's possible to compose a larger scene with less strain on system resources in 3Delight. Not useful if you're exporting to Octane or Reality, of course, but if you want to render in 3Delight I consider them essential. When combined with the Amazing Skin Shaders you can get better-looking things faster in 3Delight than with any other combo - UberEnvironment plus UberSurface 2 shaders might look more photoreal, but they're slower.
...Reality4 also now supports Daz SSS. Lights, yeah, you still need to use the Reality ones.
if rendering in 3DL, by learning how to adjust the SSS shaders and Advanced lights, one can get pretty close to realistic looking results as well. The one feature missing is Global Illumination which UE does have (which is why using it takes so much longer to render because of all the calculations involved).
Speaking of reality... There was a script or plugin I though for DAZ Studio (3.x) that allowed one to tweak some parameters and it would generate "idle" animation for the character. I was hoping it got upgraded to 4.x. But after searching the site and after some googling all I've found is Ockham's "Naturalizer". Pretty good but it's for Poser.
http://ockhamsbungalow.com/Python/
Man the bit rot in my brain has really set in. Did I imagine the DAZ Studio script/plugin?
Four years! My goodness, it's all different! They succeeded in creating a mind reading "Make Art" button but removed it from the current version because there was no challenge anymore. All dreams, visions, and nightmares were possible instantly. Contests had no meaning, and there were no questions to answer in the forum. But now with that feature removed we're back to delightful complexity, catalog growth beyond any normal person's ability to keep up with, and the forum is rife with confused newbies, befuddled hobbyists, and beknighted experts. And of course every now and then some idiot throws in a nonsense post.
...and its free now with many starter content
but we still have no scrollability for big forum pics
PretA3D (Reality) and Age of Armour (AoA) both make phenomenal products IMHO if your interested in one or the other.
4 years! They have the internet on computers now too!
It was called Life, and works well with DS3.1, but there was no update for later version and is no longer available in the store.