Daz 3D Human History

Scott Livingston has an excellent thread on the History of Daz 3D Figures on the Daz 3D Forums:

Daz 3D Human Figures - A History

His history article goes into great detail on when things occurred and what works with what as far as Daz Studio/Poser are concerned. There's a lot of very useful information there!

Thanks Scott!

Victoria - The Shape of Things to Come

I still believe that all generations of Daz 3D figures are some of the finest to work with anywhere. I stuck with V4 until very recently. In fact, I don't think that any other single 3D human has had nearly as much support by way of additional content to purchase or obtain freely. 

I have a write-up on her here: Victoria 4

I see people still using generations 1, 2 and generation 3 and they are also quite immense in capability and availability of additional content and support. Especially when it comes to Aiko and Hiro, Freak and The Girl. The Generation 4 Kids have had a Lot of support as well.

Each generation of Daz 3D figure has brought with it an incredible upgrade in the latest technology toward articulate human 3D figures of their time. 

Generation two was an upgrade to the first, which paved way for generation 3, Daz 3D's first "Unimesh" design - where all figures are derived from the same base mesh. 

Generation 4 revolutionized 3D figures. They were the first 3D characters of their time with high polycount, high-resolution modern UV maps, and abilities for infinite morphs, along with a unique morph-following feature for conforming items. 

Does anyone remember the early-on "Magnetize" pose files? :)

Generation 4 had perhaps the longest run to date before a new generation came along - Genesis.

With Genesis came a whole new software version to support this amazing technology - Daz Studio 4.0

Genesis' androgynous figure base added the unique ability to share clothing between genders, and Genesis was among the first platforms to offer morph projection, which allowed clothing to conform to figure’s body morphs. 

It also introduced Sub-D Cage technology to the world of Daz 3D Human Figures. Daz 3D and their Premier Artists went Wild making all manner of shapes of all different sizes - creatures, animals, monsters, giants, fairies, adults, toddlers... there is an absolutely Enormous availability of shapes and textures for this fifth generation, and most of them use their own custom UV mapping!

The unisex nature of Genesis was an amazing feat of genius, but proved a bit problematic for clothing artists, so Genesis 2 brings on the sixth generation with separate Male and Female versions once again.

Genesis 2 also, among other technological improvements introduced HD Morph technology, allowing artists to utilize high density modeling from Zbrush and the like into the Sub-D morphing capabilities of Genesis, allowing for an unprecedented new level of detail and realism.

Generation 7 - Genesis 3 started paving the way towards higher definition and photo-realism. Genesis 3 brought incredible detail, compatibility across the platform, and unique facial expressions with improved eye reflection and twice as many points of articulation for life-like movement. 

Although it wasn't out very long before the next generation comes along, there is a lot of content available, perhaps even still being made for this incredible generation.

...and that brings us to today. Generation 8 took on the name of its generation to help keep from customers getting confused. If some folks say V4, most of the people of my Daz 3D generation would think they're talking about Victoria 4 of the fourth generation, for example. So instead of being called Genesis 4, Daz 3D made the wise move to simply call them Genesis 8.

Once again, Scott Livingston has an excellent thread on the History of Daz 3D Figures on the Daz 3D Forums:

Daz 3D Human Figures - A History

His history article goes into great detail on when things occurred and what works with what as far as Daz Studio/Poser are concerned. There's a lot of very useful information there!

Thanks Scott!