Getting on the 9 train, or not

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  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,057

    ...I got on board because Daz dropped the Tri-Ax weight mapping which .which made it easier to port to other software. I will admit 8G offered the most diverse selection of characters, but at the time of release I wasn't about to dump money into a new generation that I felt was a minor improvement over G3 and (at the time) looked that it would only be around for 2 years before the next generation.

  • MadaMada Posts: 1,991

    vrba79 said:

    kyoto kid said:

    ...well as I feared pretty much al the new releases cheracter/clothing/pose wise are now for G9 save for a couple G8/G9 ones. 

    I'm just speculating, but I think PAs are given incentive to drop the old like a hot potato.

    Yep... they give you a G8 shaped potato that's boiling hot - personally I prefer mine with some sour cream.

    and some melted butter. and salt.

    now I'm hungry. lol

     

    Seriously - only incentive PAs get is their sales in the Daz store - which is driven by the customers :)

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,057

    ...well appears that  after picking up the few resources for G8 I need for creating custom  characters, my purchasing will end focusing on props, vehicles, and environment sets.. 

    While again I do like the move back to the unimesh, much of what I read here (excluding just opinion) makes me say it's time to let the bus continue on without me and just work with what I have. 

  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,598

    Mattymanx said:

    Diomede said:

    On topology and edge loops. - Reply to Oso3D but really a clarification for people less advanced than Oso3D.

    Why do vintage modelers emphasize edge loops?  Recall the picture of the G9 torso mesh does not have any edge loops outlining the oval stomach musculature on the front of the human torso, nor does it have edge loops for the lower border of the rib cage.  Instead it has a flat grid.  As a result, if one were to just shrink wrap the base torso to a slim and healthy adult human, the edges of the grid do not line up with the edges of the rib cage or stomach oval.  It may still look OK depending on how dense the mesh is, which subdivision can aid, but major features would be dependent on internal deformation of squares, not outlines by edge loops.  (See attached pic).  However, that is inefficient if you know ahead of time that the shape you want has an oval stomach and a slope for the lower rib cage.  The same shape could be achieved with fewer polygons, less subdivision, less strain on computer resources.  In practice, people who struggle to have 3 or 4 Daz figures in a scene could have 7 or 8 if the mesh was more efficient. 

    Other examples of issues include several joints. There have been complaints about rubbery joints reminiscient of V4 and M4.  Some of that is due to JCMs being occasionally deactivated, a bug which I am sure will be fixed (Thank you, Mada, for monitoring the forums and helping diagnose and solve that problem for users).  But another part of the issue comes from poor edge flow of the mesh in the joints.  If the edge loops better matched human skeletal and musculature structure then the rigging and weightmapping would have better results and there would be less need for morph fixes like JCMs.  

    I have used the word 'vintage' in the term vintage modelers to try to signal that I know Daz believes the mesh of G9 is a step forward, not backward.  Daz3D is well aware of the points I have made about edge flow, and consciously chose the G9 mesh as is.  One possible good reason to do so would be a decision to rely more on mesh density and sculpting to define shape than selecting and manipulating individual edge loops.  

    Just clarification.  I am on the Genesis 9 train.  I have had occasion to dabble in ZBrush and similar.  Looking forward to the people who open ZBrush for the first time and who can't figure out why they can only replicate a seemingly infinite number of spheres instead of sculpting the starting sphere.  :) 

     

    There is a right time and place for doing edge loops to define a specific shape in any model, but Genesis 9 is a canvas to be built on top of, and it's mesh is the way it is to allow more creative freedom to those who build on it.  From the start, the Genesis figures were meant to be a multi-use figure that could be 1001 different people of all shapes and sizes.  So lets say the stomach area is defined for muscles, then morphing it into a pregnant belly or someone who is very heavy set becomes a problem as you have to sculpt out the detailed areas.  But doing a well toned body who is fit is much easier in this example.  Where as in the case of Genesis 9, with the mesh the way is it, is much easier to sculpt the body into either.

    Well said. The base figure is just that...a base to build on. 

  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,598

    Oso3D said:

    PerttiA: Good question!

    Consider the favorite topic, nipples. What if you want a character with nipples in a different position? In G8, one would think 'oh, I'll just pull the mesh over here.' And at that point... all your clothing gets distorted horribly. Woops.

    What if you want four+ nipples? Well, only one pair might have edge loops, hrm.

    Also, if you've ever used a smooth brush around looped nipples/navels/etc, oy. The topology gets distorted super fast and you have to keep correcting.

    'missing hints'... well, what I do is have Daz Studio open with wireframe so I know 'the male nipple is around that square' and eyeball it on the zbrush (or Blender or whatever) mesh. It's not super hard.

    The other option is to load 2 figures one with thing's you're unsure about dialled in as a general guide. Also many modelling programs have methods that allow you to bring in reference diagrams.

  • i like the new eyes so genesis 9 will be my go-to for close up portraits but i'm not convinced the genesis 9 content currently being sold represents any improvement over the previous generation.

  • plasma_ringplasma_ring Posts: 1,025
    edited November 2022

    Attempting to do this (while hoping someone who knows what they're doing rescues me from committing Mesh Crimes) and the position of the legs seems to be better for this kind of shape. I'm getting much fewer weird results when using poses. 

    demonlegs.png
    1545 x 2000 - 2M
    Post edited by plasma_ring on
  • MadaMada Posts: 1,991

    Looks good :D

  • maikdeckermaikdecker Posts: 2,752

    DustRider said:

    lol!

    I'm sure it's the customers that give the PA's a huge incentive to drop G8/8.1 like a hot potato.

    Starting with a "lol!" usually invalidates a contribution to a discussion, but for you I make an exception and still take it serious: Yes, some customers might jump the train, which is obvious when reading the posts here. Others won't, as obvious when reading the posts here and seeing the fact, that at other places than DAZland even for Vicky4/Michael4 new products are published. And at other shops PAs seem to still go "both ways" mostly, presenting the same clothing items for G9 and G8(.1), which indicates that there probably IS some incentive by DAZland to go full out on G9 here. Which is to be expected and nothing but proper marketing, when a company wants to push a "new and upgraded" product. Still it doesn't work with all customers.

  • LeanaLeana Posts: 11,715

    vrba79 said:

    kyoto kid said:

    ...well as I feared pretty much al the new releases cheracter/clothing/pose wise are now for G9 save for a couple G8/G9 ones. 

    I'm just speculating, but I think PAs are given incentive to drop the old like a hot potato.

    Yes, it’s called "getting more sales from content for G9".

  • There was a time when PAs tried to support previous generations, but the sales spoke for themselves. PAs have to make things that will make them money. Markets which are smaller will still get support if enough money is made to warrant making things for them. Diminishing returns will dictate what markets those are and at the point where too little profit is made, then the PA may consider not supporting it at all.

  • maikdeckermaikdecker Posts: 2,752

    Leana said:

    vrba79 said:

    kyoto kid said:

    ...well as I feared pretty much al the new releases cheracter/clothing/pose wise are now for G9 save for a couple G8/G9 ones. 

    I'm just speculating, but I think PAs are given incentive to drop the old like a hot potato.

    Yes, it’s called "getting more sales from content for G9".

    You're sure it's not "Getting sales for stuff that was already done for G8 but can be done now again for G9 with little effort for people who just want to jump on the train"? 'Cause that what it looks like to me and as it looked already when G3 was upgraded to G8 and G8 to G8.1...

    Innovation and new ideas are not really often to be found here in DAZland, imho. Many if not most PAs are happy to deliver variations of the same old products, adjusted for new figures for the reason "they sell", which of course is a valid argument, but still leads to boring products.

    Of course many customers don't seem to mind to buy the same products with minor adjustments to their older counterparts, even though the reason to do so isn't quite really obvious to me, but others don't. Both is okay imho. I would still prefer to see more compatibility and real technical advancement from a new generation of figures. When there isn't, I can just go on to wait for the old stuff in my wishlist getting reduced to a price that makes it impossible for me to not buy it, while all the new stuff can be safely ignored. Kinda win-win for me devil

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 14,056

    maikdecker said:

    DustRider said:

    lol!

    I'm sure it's the customers that give the PA's a huge incentive to drop G8/8.1 like a hot potato.

    Starting with a "lol!" usually invalidates a contribution to a discussion, but for you I make an exception and still take it serious: Yes, some customers might jump the train, which is obvious when reading the posts here. Others won't, as obvious when reading the posts here and seeing the fact, that at other places than DAZland even for Vicky4/Michael4 new products are published. And at other shops PAs seem to still go "both ways" mostly, presenting the same clothing items for G9 and G8(.1), which indicates that there probably IS some incentive by DAZland to go full out on G9 here. Which is to be expected and nothing but proper marketing, when a company wants to push a "new and upgraded" product. Still it doesn't work with all customers.

    Like some have said, there is no incentive for anything. Our incentive for doing packs is supporting our families with a paycheck. Daz has always been very forward with us saying to do research and decided what is the topic of the week, month, year and build on it. They have never said "no you can't do this" It is 100% up to the PA to decide what to make unless it's a contract or a DO. Even with DO's I'd venture to say 95% (speculative) of the time the PA did whatever they wanted and submitted it, that was it. No incentive, no giving orders no nothing besides if it needs fixes or not. Daz has never once said that "if you do this you will get this" that I've heard of. 

  • MadaMada Posts: 1,991
    edited November 2022

    maikdecker said:

    Leana said:

    vrba79 said:

    kyoto kid said:

    ...well as I feared pretty much al the new releases cheracter/clothing/pose wise are now for G9 save for a couple G8/G9 ones. 

    I'm just speculating, but I think PAs are given incentive to drop the old like a hot potato.

    Yes, it’s called "getting more sales from content for G9".

    You're sure it's not "Getting sales for stuff that was already done for G8 but can be done now again for G9 with little effort for people who just want to jump on the train"? 'Cause that what it looks like to me and as it looked already when G3 was upgraded to G8 and G8 to G8.1...

    Innovation and new ideas are not really often to be found here in DAZland, imho. Many if not most PAs are happy to deliver variations of the same old products, adjusted for new figures for the reason "they sell", which of course is a valid argument, but still leads to boring products.

    Of course many customers don't seem to mind to buy the same products with minor adjustments to their older counterparts, even though the reason to do so isn't quite really obvious to me, but others don't. Both is okay imho. I would still prefer to see more compatibility and real technical advancement from a new generation of figures. When there isn't, I can just go on to wait for the old stuff in my wishlist getting reduced to a price that makes it impossible for me to not buy it, while all the new stuff can be safely ignored. Kinda win-win for me devil

    Actually yes I am quite sure - having actually done it and not just "speculated" on what I think it looks like based on assumptions. Rigging something is not the little effort like you seem to think it is, and I would much rather make something new than rig it twice.

    Post edited by Mada on
  • HylasHylas Posts: 4,988

    plasma_ring said:

    Attempting to do this (while hoping someone who knows what they're doing rescues me from committing Mesh Crimes) and the position of the legs seems to be better for this kind of shape. I'm getting much fewer weird results when using poses. 

    This looks fabulous! yes

  • IceCrMn said:

    What little new character stuff I've been buying from the Daz Store has been for G8/8.1.

     What I've been buying is G8 too, but not from the Daz Store. Other sites are introducing more new G8 items than Daz so I end up doing my shopping over there.

  • ColinFrench said:

    IceCrMn said:

    What little new character stuff I've been buying from the Daz Store has been for G8/8.1.

     What I've been buying is G8 too, but not from the Daz Store. Other sites are introducing more new G8 items than Daz so I end up doing my shopping over there.

    It's very good of you to support alternative stores, they must be seeing a big drop in sales if they don't have G9 content. 

  • background said:

    ColinFrench said:

    IceCrMn said:

    What little new character stuff I've been buying from the Daz Store has been for G8/8.1.

     What I've been buying is G8 too, but not from the Daz Store. Other sites are introducing more new G8 items than Daz so I end up doing my shopping over there.

    It's very good of you to support alternative stores, they must be seeing a big drop in sales if they don't have G9 content. 

    They have some G9 content too, mostly clothes, but I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. laugh  It's just that they are offering stuff that I want to buy (G8) and Daz isn't (as much).

  • vonHobovonHobo Posts: 1,682
    edited November 2022

    Pardon me if this has already been asked, but will G9 clothing and hair fit on G8 figures?

    I'm not springing for G9 figures yet, but I see a lot of clothing and hair items that are released for G9 that I would like to buy for my G8 characters.

    I have not purchased any G8.1 figures yet either, but I have been purchasing G8.1 clothing and hair for G8. Most of the products say they fit G8.1 and G8. But all the G9 clothes I have wanted to buy just say G9 on the Compatibile Figures line, and that's it. Confusing. If it does indeed fit G8 shouldn't it say that?

    I can't afford to move to a whole new generation yet.

     

    Post edited by vonHobo on
  • LeanaLeana Posts: 11,715

    von Hobo said:

    Pardon me if this has already been asked, but will G9 clothing and hair fit on G8 figures?

    Not out of the box, no.

    Hair can generally be made to work on other figures by parenting it to the head rather than fitting, though.

    For clothes, there are curently no autofit clones provided to go back from G9 to earlier figures (there will most certainly be products for that in the future). You can try to create clones yourself, there's a tutorial here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/599231/making-clones-of-g9-tutorial#latest

  • maikdeckermaikdecker Posts: 2,752

    background said:

    It's very good of you to support alternative stores, they must be seeing a big drop in sales if they don't have G9 content. 

    Using the argumentation used by others in this thread this probably isn't the case, because if they would, they wouldn't. And there have been a couple pieces of clothing for G9 and G8(.1) and unlike here in DAZland, one is able to buy the products for the two generations separately, which on one side offers twice the money from people who want to buy both products, but also satisfies customers who only want to buy for one generation and don't have the - usually - higher price for a generations spanning bundle.

    Mada said:

    Actually yes I am quite sure - having actually done it and not just "speculated" on what I think it looks like based on assumptions. Rigging something is not the little effort like you seem to think it is, and I would much rather make something new than rig it twice.

     Ah.. yeah, I don't know anything about rigging, as it always seemed to way to complex and complicated for me to bother with it. Makes me wonder how other PAs (at other shops for example) find the time to produce their products for several generations at the same time. Probably some personal thingies or so...

    frank0314 said:

    No incentive, no giving orders no nothing besides if it needs fixes or not. Daz has never once said that "if you do this you will get this" that I've heard of. 

     My fault, probably. I was thinking more of non-monetary incentives, like help with market analysis and predicting sale outcomes for products a PA wants to sell at DAZland. And colour me surprised, but I think I remember to have read about PAs stating that some products they wanted to sell weren't accepted by DAZland, which make them sell these products elsewhere...

     

  • LeanaLeana Posts: 11,715

    maikdecker said:

    Leana said:

    vrba79 said:

    kyoto kid said:

    ...well as I feared pretty much al the new releases cheracter/clothing/pose wise are now for G9 save for a couple G8/G9 ones. 

    I'm just speculating, but I think PAs are given incentive to drop the old like a hot potato.

    Yes, it’s called "getting more sales from content for G9".

    You're sure it's not "Getting sales for stuff that was already done for G8 but can be done now again for G9 with little effort for people who just want to jump on the train"? 'Cause that what it looks like to me and as it looked already when G3 was upgraded to G8 and G8 to G8.1...

    I'm pretty sure, yes. Because even for vendors who do produce G9 version of their older products, contrary to what you apparently believe it's not just "little effort" to do so. Depending on the type of product, it might require a bit less work than creating a new product completely from scratch, but even that is not always the case.

  • CHWTCHWT Posts: 1,179

    ColinFrench said:

    IceCrMn said:

    What little new character stuff I've been buying from the Daz Store has been for G8/8.1.

     What I've been buying is G8 too, but not from the Daz Store. Other sites are introducing more new G8 items than Daz so I end up doing my shopping over there.

    It's very good of you to support alternative stores, they must be seeing a big drop in sales if they don't have G9 content. 

    Well, who knows?
  • CHWTCHWT Posts: 1,179

    background said:

    It's very good of you to support alternative stores, they must be seeing a big drop in sales if they don't have G9 content. 

    Using the argumentation used by others in this thread this probably isn't the case, because if they would, they wouldn't. And there have been a couple pieces of clothing for G9 and G8(.1) and unlike here in DAZland, one is able to buy the products for the two generations separately, which on one side offers twice the money from people who want to buy both products, but also satisfies customers who only want to buy for one generation and don't have the - usually - higher price for a generations spanning bundle.

    Mada said:

    Actually yes I am quite sure - having actually done it and not just "speculated" on what I think it looks like based on assumptions. Rigging something is not the little effort like you seem to think it is, and I would much rather make something new than rig it twice.

     Ah.. yeah, I don't know anything about rigging, as it always seemed to way to complex and complicated for me to bother with it. Makes me wonder how other PAs (at other shops for example) find the time to produce their products for several generations at the same time. Probably some personal thingies or so...

    frank0314 said:

    No incentive, no giving orders no nothing besides if it needs fixes or not. Daz has never once said that "if you do this you will get this" that I've heard of. 

     My fault, probably. I was thinking more of non-monetary incentives, like help with market analysis and predicting sale outcomes for products a PA wants to sell at DAZland. And colour me surprised, but I think I remember to have read about PAs stating that some products they wanted to sell weren't accepted by DAZland, which make them sell these products elsewhere...

     

    More shops to shop is always welcomed.
  • WonderlandWonderland Posts: 6,880

    I'm on the G9 bicycle.

  • vrba79vrba79 Posts: 1,398
    Renderosity is my go-to alternative. Three of my favorite G8 products are exclusive to that store.
  • DustRiderDustRider Posts: 2,744

    maikdecker said:

    DustRider said:

    lol!

    I'm sure it's the customers that give the PA's a huge incentive to drop G8/8.1 like a hot potato.

    Starting with a "lol!" usually invalidates a contribution to a discussion, but for you I make an exception and still take it serious: Yes, some customers might jump the train, which is obvious when reading the posts here. Others won't, as obvious when reading the posts here and seeing the fact, that at other places than DAZland even for Vicky4/Michael4 new products are published. And at other shops PAs seem to still go "both ways" mostly, presenting the same clothing items for G9 and G8(.1), which indicates that there probably IS some incentive by DAZland to go full out on G9 here. Which is to be expected and nothing but proper marketing, when a company wants to push a "new and upgraded" product. Still it doesn't work with all customers.

     While it is true that there are new products still being produced for V4/M4, that seems to be more of an artifact of Poser users that are still waiting for a new flagship figure for Poser. Even though Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 were "supported" in Poser, it was a less than a fully pleasant experience. As a result, many Poser users have continued to use V4/M4, but the new products being released for V4/M4 have reduced significantly over the years. Go to the gallery at Renderosity and you will see new images posted using V4 virtually every day, and I would guess that almost every image is created using Poser, not DS. It would seem that La Femme has finally overtaken V4 as the go to figure for Poser based on the number of new releases, but it could also just be that V4/M4 users have almost all the content they would ever need by now.

    So really, I think the V4/M4 argument is more of a Poser issue, than a DS issue. You see very few (if any???) new items being created for G1, G2, and G3. It seems logical that new users will typically start with the newest figure. Existing users who are actively purchasing new content and/or interested in new tech will typically purchase for the newest figure. Of course there are many who seem to think that G9 either is not an improvement, or doesn't show enough improvement to jump on the G9 train (I'm not convinced if it's better for me or not yet, but I'm not buying new G8 content I don't absolutely need now, and will probably spend my limited funds on G9 stuff for a while). Given what I have seen over the years, most people (vendors) will jump on the G9 train, with some limited new stuff for the previous generation for a few months. If most users prefer G8/8.1, then G8 stuff will continue to be made in the future, If most users prefer G9, then it will dominate the market.

  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 1,984
    edited November 2022

    vrba79 said:

    Renderosity is my go-to alternative. Three of my favorite G8 products are exclusive to that store.

    I rather wish some DS stuff vendors would switch over to DAZ. 

    Post edited by Masterstroke on
  • vrba79vrba79 Posts: 1,398
    I assume they have their reasons for not doing so.
  • PetraPetra Posts: 1,154

    I was not sure, at first, but I feel head over heals for G9.

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