Mike’s DAZ3D First Impressions for April 11, 2021
A Collection of Opinions and Observations from the DAZ 3D Marketplace
Today’s Promo: Beauty in Spring
Today’s Releases: Punk/ hawkish hair for women, a new female character, fairy poses, a dark-skinned woman, fashion runway animations, chair dance poses, fabric shaders, mini dress outfit, conversation expressions.
Todays’ Song: “Layla” - Eric Clapton
Makenna Hair for Genesis 8 Females
A shaved head with a punk center tuft of hair wig for G8 females from Propschick.
First Impressions: Punk is definitely en vogue right now in the DAZ 3D universe.
Likes: Several different morphs transform the hair into different styles. Natural and unnatural texture options add variety.
Dislikes: No dForce.
Final Verdict: I could have sworn I already had several different wigs similar to this in my Content Library but a quick search of “punk” hair shows that I really don’t. I have one similar to this for the guys. I’ll buy, because even the guy version is different enough than this.
MR Yasmin for Genesis 8.1 Female
A new, young, female character for G8.1F from Marcius.
First Impressions: I can spot Marcius’ figures from a mile away. He’s a talented 3D sculpturer and his figures are not your typical cookie-cutter types. I’m picking up some Asian vibes from the face. She’s definitely mixed-race which is nice, and the body tats complement the figure as well. She’s more stylized than your typical G8 females, but still “normal” enough looking where she would fit into normal scenes.
Likes: The body tats, and the face is compelling. Oh, and she has genital maps, too!
Dislikes: She’s too perfect. Wish there were some options for scars and blemishes. Scars help tell a person’s life story.
Final Verdict: I rarely buy female characters any more, but I’m buying her. She looks fantastic.
101 Series: Enchanted Fairy for Genesis 8 Female
This is a set of 101 full-body fairy poses for G8 Females from 3D Sugar.
First Impressions: A rather full and complete feminine pose set for fairy characters or young female characters in general. While some of the poses show the figure in flight (as a fairy would be), there are a large assortment of photos of the fairy sitting, standing, walking, playing, etc. making this set quite useful with non-fairies as well. 20 facial expressions are also included.
Likes: The large number of poses and added expressions.
Dislikes: None really.
Final Verdict: If you render fairies or even young females, and you don’t already have similar poses, then this should be a good buy.
BD Oshun And Her Outfit For Genesis 8 Female
This is a dark-skinned female character and outfit from Belladona.
First Impressions: She looks like a European character morph with an African skin texture applied. My husband just asked me why she was in black face (I kid you not!) The nose is too small, and the lips are wrong too. This is a huge disappointment because I was excited to finally see some diversity in the DAZ store but this ain’t it I’m afraid.
Likes: The outfit looks nice.
Dislikes: Character looks like a white European female in blackface.
Final Verdict: What a disappointment. Passing.
Runway Animations for Genesis 8
A set of five fashion runway animations for G8 male and female characters from Havanalibere.
First Impressions: This animation set includes five separate walk segments. (3) high-heel walks, (1) low-heel walks, and (1) male walk segment.
Likes: Reviewing the video posted on the promo page the animation appears to be fluid and complete. The addition of breast animation is an added touch.
Dislikes: Only one low-heel walk, and only one male walk limits will lead to repetition if you’re rendering these types of figures.
Final Verdict: It’s going to be a no for me, but if you’re rendering fashion walks you may find this useful.
IM Chair Dance Pose Collection for Genesis 8 Females
A set of 25 chair dancing poses for G8 females from Ironman and Paper Tiger.
First Impressions: Women using chairs as props for dancing is as old as chairs themselves. This set of (25) full-body, and (50) partial-body poses will give you a lot of flexibility to pose your female characters in your scene. Also includes a chair prop.
Likes: There is a wide-variety of poses provided.
Dislikes: Some of the poses look stiff and unnatural.
Final Verdict: For me it’s going to be a no, but if you’re looking for a set of chair dance poses then this is probably for you!
4K Fabric Shader Presets 2 for Iray
A set of (372) 4K fabric Iray shaders from Handspan Studios.
First Impressions: This is a nice collection of vibrant and pastel colors of various types of fabric. Silk, cotton, metallic, and satin fabrics are included, as well as several different options for each. Perfect for breathing new life in your old clothes and props!
Likes: Lots of shaders. (372) in total.
Dislikes: None really.
Final Verdict: A must-buy if you are into re-texturing your props and clothes to make them like new and/ or unique.
dForce NYC Street Outfit For Genesis 8 Females and 8.1 Females
A (5) piece mini dress ensemble outfit for G8 females from Beautyworks.
First Impressions: This is a smart looking mini dress outfit. It features a high hemline, long sleeves, a dropped neck line, glasses, boots, and while not pictured in the promos, shorts are listed in the product description.
Likes: The overall style of the outfit, and it is rigged for dForce!
Dislikes: Those sunglasses! Ugh. I’m getting flashbacks to the 1980s. 
Final Verdict: Buying.
Z Conversation Mix and Match Expressions for Genesis 8.1
A set of (40) conversation facial expressions for your G8.1 characters from Zeddicus.
First Impressions: Zeddicus includes a wide assortment of full and partial facial morphs and expressions for your characters to reflect a wide assortment of conversations and emotions.
Likes: A comprehensive assortment of expression morphs and facial poses.
Dislikes: All of Zeddicus’ expressions are facial morphs. Which means every single morph dial and pose dial you have installed has to be parsed by Studio every time you load a figure. If you have a large number of Zeddicus products installed, this will slow down your Studio and especially impact the amount of time it takes to load your figures. Genesis 8.1 includes a large number of bones in the new rigged-face. There simply is no excuse to continue to include facial morphs when releasing expressions for G8.1 now.
I love Zeddicus’ work, I just really fucking hate the fact that he includes morphs instead of poses. Make that stuff optional please!
But he’s not alone either. Vincent Xyooj is notorious as well.
Final Verdict: If you’re not good with working with the facial rig go ahead and get this, but be careful that you don’t overdo it with buying a whole bunch of expression morphs or your Studio will slow down as you load in your figures.
That’s it for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed it! I know it’s taken me a while to get this put out this morning. Doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on it though.
I hope you’ve found this useful.
Your friend,
Mike