DAZ Studio

DAZ Studio
User interface of DAZ Studio Version 1.7.1.5
Developer(s)	DAZ 3D
Stable release	4.7.0.12 / 18 November 2014 (2014-11-18)^[1]
Operating system	Windows XP or later Mac OS X Leopard or later
Platform	IA-32^[1] and x86-64^[1]
Size	About 457 MB^[1] About 180 MB MB for the Studio. About 250 MB for the Genesis Starter Essentials download. About 250 MB each for the Genesis 2 Starter Essentials downloads for Male and Female.
Type	3D computer graphics
License	Proprietary software Professional edition: Freeware^[1]
Website	www.daz3d.com/studio/

DAZ Studio is a 3D figure illustration/animation application. It is compatible with most files intended for use by Poser. It is available for free but registration is required.^[2] Version 1.0 was released in Fall 2005.^[3] Until version 1.7 it was officially known as DAZ|Studio. On February 1, 2012, DAZ 3D Inc. announced it would be giving away DAZ Studio Pro for free.^[4]

The latest stable version is 4.7.

Overview

Unlike most 3D software, where 3D objects are usually created from scratch, DAZ Studio is designed to allow users to manipulate "ready to use" models and figures. It is aimed at users who are interested in posing human and non-human figures for illustrations and animation, but who do not wish to incur the expense—in terms of time and money—of higher-end 3D and CAD software. It was created as a direct alternative to Poser by DAZ Productions, the company that (as Zygote) created the built-in content for earlier versions of Poser.

In comparison to Poser, DAZ Studio uses a different core business model. Poser provides a large set of components, not all essential to the creation of imagery, in a commercially available program. DAZ Studio provides a core free of charge program with the required features for the creation of imagery, while relegating other features to add-on 'plug-ins', usually commercial, which the user may add.

DAZ Studio is capable of importing most Poser content, with the notable exceptions of dynamic clothing, dynamic hair, physics, Poser mixed rigging, Poser weight mapping rigging, and Poser weight mapped magnets. As a result of the different lighting models, lights may need to be tweaked or replaced, and while textures are generally usable between the two (other than Poser node-based materials), optimum results may need slightly different lighting values for each.

Features

A Skeleton Warrior made using DAZ

DAZ Studio has a simple interface allowing the user to add and manipulate models within the scene, add and manipulate morphs (body-shape changes), adjust the textures applied to models, add and adjust lighting and fine-tune the render process.

DAZ Studio is bundled with a hard-linked (non-standalone) version of the 3Delight renderer, which is compliant with RenderMan (commonly used in the production of blockbuster visual effects). The renderer is able to render higher order surfaces like true subdivision surfaces (already implemented in DAZ Studio) and supports true 3D motion blur and depth of field. As of version 3.0, DAZ Studio has been updated to exploit more features of the 3Delight render engine. Some advanced features may still require use of an exported scene file and the stand-alone version of the tool.

DAZ Studio does not yet support dynamic hair, tapering of body parts, or (in the Mac OS X version) texture maps in the PICT format. Dynamic clothing support was added using a plug-in released in 2009, however the Poser and DAZ Studio implementations of dynamic clothing are mutually incompatible. Other commercial plug-ins provide alternate rendering, lighting, animation and other capabilities.

DAZ Studio 3.0 was released in June 2009. The basic DAZ Studio 3.0 follows the free software model of earlier releases, retaining all previous features while adding in several new ones. At the same time, DAZ Productions introduced a commercially available version, DAZ Studio 3.0 Advanced which introduced additional features beyond those in the basic version:

an animation keyframe editor
a faster render engine
better Open GL display
Morph Follower improves the fit of clothing to different morphs (DS3A only)
Figure Mixer allows the creative recombination of the features of different figures (DS3A only)
Shader Mixer allows the creation of new shaders (DS3A only)

DAZ Studio 4.0 was released around the Fall of 2012. At this time it had a few software options. Some of the options were Standard, Advanced, and Professional. At the general release of v4.0, Standard was free for download with a registration. Later the company decided to have only one version of software available, DAZ Studio Professional. This was free for download with a registration. This version had the same options as the previous software versions.

Included the new Genesis Model Structure.
Included the Genesis Starter Essentials as a download with the software.
This structure allowed free morphing for all attachments without worrying about the unimesh restriction structure.
The autofit was updated for the use of unimesh fits for Genesis.

DAZ Studio 4.5 was released around Fall 2013. This version had all of the same options of v4.0, but is available as the Professional edition only.

Introduced the use of Genesis 2 models.
This feature also included the New Scene Builder, for quicker access and scene building.
Included the Genesis 2 Starter Essentials as a download with the software. These are 2 separate downloads, one for Female, and the other Male.

DAZ Studio 4.6 was released around Fall of 2013. This software is the Professional Edition only. This version had all of the same options of the previous versions, but small changes were implemented. This option updated more abilities of the 3Delight Renderer.

DAZ Studio 4.7 was released in November 2014. This software is the Professional Edition only. This version had all of the same options of the previous versions, but small changes were implemented. The Scene builder was redesigned for windowed options instead of one window.

More in-depth information on the abilities of the software, and the users guides are available at the DAZ3D Document Website.^[5]

The Studio's requirements are great for low-end systems to start with. More RAM and a better Video Card will decrease the time required to complete renders. It is preferred to have a multi-core system for better performance. Below are the latest information about the system requirements for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh:

Windows ® System Requirements:^[6]

32-bit

Intel Dual Core (or equivalent) or greater
1.6 GHz (2 GHz dual core or faster recommended)
Windows 8, 7, & Vista, (Windows 8 or 7 is recommended)
1 GB RAM min (2GB+ recommended)
1GB free hard drive space for installation
OpenGL 1.6 compatible graphics card with at least 128 MB RAM (Hardware accelerated OpenGL 2.2, or higher, compatible recommended with 512MB RAM)
DirectX 9 (used for audio processing only)

64-bit

WHQL-64 certified Intel
Xeon/Core 2 Duo or Quad /Core i7 or AMD Opteron/Phenom processor(s)
Windows 8, 7 & Vista (Windows 8 or 7 is recommended)
2 GB RAM min (3GB+ RAM recommended)
1GB free hard drive space for installation
Hardware accelerated OpenGL 1.6 compatible graphics card with at least 512 MB RAM (OpenGL 2.2, or higher, compatible recommended)
DirectX 9 (used for audio processing only)

Mac ® System Requirements:^[6]