So...I know from lurking around here that there's a number of members who use stuff like Poser, DAZ Studio, et al. But at a glance the last threads on the subject are from months ago, and I don't necessarily want to necro. If any of you folks see this, some advice would be appreciated. I'm trying to figure out what's the best tool for my own use, and what I should be looking to grab or purchase... at least initially... for my needs. I know the basic DAZ Studio is free, but of course the assets aren't - but then, well, what stuff for it should I be looking to get? And so on.

I've already downloaded and messed with DAZ Studio, since there's no barrier for entry for that one...but I'm the sort of person who likes to research and investigate options. Talk things over, ask around, so on.

The thing is, my requirements may be fairly specific. I'm not actually looking to create finished artwork or animations, you see. I'm intending to use this simply as base reference for regular hand-drawn lineart. Which is to say, I'll pose figures, figure out a camera angle...then just use the screenshots for reference, or perhaps in some cases start drawing straight over 'em.

Essentially it'll reduce my reliance on things like googling stock photos for certain poses, or taking photos of my own damn hands to get fingers right, and so on. 

This probably means that things like clothing libraries and even different hairstyles aren't so crucial to me - likewise other props, background environments, and things like that. Though if there's stuff which still makes sense to grab, I'm not adverse to it. It's just not at the top of my priority list.

Mostly what I was eyeballing was, say, stuff like finding a good collection of different stock poses... or maybe getting hold of different character models, especially ones with varied body proportions and body shapes. Or different facial structures. 

Though I also notice there's stuff on sale that's, like...a bunch of different noses, and so on, which I assume you can somehow mix and match. But I'm not quite clear how easy it is to manipulate and morph character models. Or which software would be best for that. Or, in the case of the DAZ stuff, what are the must-buy options for that on the marketplace.

I mean, I'm completely new to this. I have no idea what the hell I'm looking at here or where to start. 

I should note I'm not adverse to spending money on this, if I should get out my wallet, well, so be it. Though I guess I'm predisposed to liking DAZ Studio since the base software is free and I can decide how much I want to spend. But then I also don't wanna necessarily assume it's the best pick here, I might just be falling for their marketing because I don't know any better.
 
So, to sum up - given my requirements, which application should I try to use? And what are some essential must-get assets to download, considering what I'm after?
-- Acyl

Watch.

Just watch

These lads started out on childrens television here. Explains the children we have.

________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

Would you expect to find digital resources for Día de muertos listed with digital resources for Hallowe'en?

(The question has arisen on the Poser/Daz|Studio 3D-art freebie wiki, where it has been hypothetical until just recently when I found a digital resource for Dia de los muertos.)

Answers from people who commemorate Día de muertos are especially welcome.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

And I hope someone reading can answer.  (And yes, I've Googled the problem, which turns out to be very common and not clearly addressed, at least in the pages I've read; and the solutions therefrom that I've tried do absolutely nothing, or worse, put the app into an endless loop terminating with a stack overflow.)

I'm working for the first time with a DataGridView, in what is fundamentally a simple database application:  The grid holds a filtered set of rows, and the user theoretically can add rows to the filtered set.
Except I can't commit changes to the underlying table.

More detail:  

The grid's datasource is a dataview of a table which I'll call TheTable for simplicity's sake.  The table is a member (along with two other tables) of a very small dataset generated from a T-SQL database I'm accessing across a network.  Basically:  

Quote:dvTable = new DataView(MyDataSet.TheTable);

Grid.DataSource = dvTable;

I made a page for Skysaber over at All The Tropes.   If anyone wants to add their two cents' worth, it's at http://allthetropes.org/wiki/Jared_Ornstead
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

It's been nearly fifteen years since I started the forum on EzBoard.  And at the time I did, a number of my projects were still fresh and new, like my GURPS World of Darkness books, so I made boards for them.
However, these and several other boards have simply sat there, untouched, for a decade or more.  I'm thinking it's time to get rid of them.  Any threads they have will get shifted over to whatever board seems to be the most appropriate area (defaulting to General/General) before the boards (and perhaps entire subsections) will be removed.

Let me repeat that:  no content will be lost.  This is just a heads-up about a pending change that will make the forums look a little different once I get around to it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

So Friday morning about two miles from home the light turned green and those of us at the front of the lanes started forward. Next thing I know I see a pickup truck directly in front of me, then... well it was amazingly like a recent ad on TV that involved a collision. A sudden thud-crunch sound, a moment of disorientation, and suddenly there's a burnt smell in the air and the music on the radio has given way to the Sync system announcing that it is attempting to dial 911. I can't see much because the slowly deflating steering wheel and side curtain airbags are blocking my view -- and my glasses have ended up neatly folded in the toe space of the passenger side rather than being on my nose. All way to fast to be scared. Startled yes, then shocked, and then the police and paramedics were there bringing order to the chaos.
I came out of it in amazingly good condition. I and the driver of the car next to me (also hit by the red light runner) were able to get out of our cars on our own. The guy who ran the light was as well, and compound his troubles by trying to run from the scene (right towards the police offices down the same block -- oops). My poor car is probably done for and it wasn't even paid off yet (but thankfully up to date on the insurance) but with air bag deployment and crumpled front, probably some engine damage... looks like car shopping time again. I'd hoped to keep this car for the rest of the decade and enjoy having a paid off car.
I sure hope your weekends have been far less exciting.
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

The one thing we got really, really right when we started this whole democracy thing here..... An election process than more or less works.

You could have a 4 candidate election and sure in an FPV system the one with 40% of the votes would win, but the system we use acknowledges the fact that 60% of the electorate voted *against* that person - they don't want him in Power. So it asks them, hey, if you can't have your candidate, who would you prefer instead.....

And that might not be the one with 40% of the first preference votes.....

It avoids so many of the adverse incentives of first past the post voting. 2 candidates can't really split the vote, 3rd party or compromise candidates have more of a chance of being deemed 'tolereable' by the electorate when faced with two diametrically opposed alternatives.

Theoretically the system outputs the candidates the majority of the electorate would at least tolerate in government, and the whole system rumbles on.

It also makes it simple to vote against the candidates you *hate*. Just mark everyone else in order of preference, and leave the Sinn Fein box empty and then they will 'never' get your vote.

It'd be curious under an STV type system to see how the US election would turn out.
I'm curious to see how different the result would be using an Irish-style Single transfereable vote system, rather than first past the post.....

Would anybody care to indulge my curiosity? Maybe we don't have enough people to do it, but it'd be interesting to try.

So, let's write up a balllot card

[ ] Clinton, Hilllary
[ ] Trump, Donald
[ ] Bush, Jeb
[ ] Huckabee, Mike
[ ] Sanders, Bernie,
[ ] Stein, Jilll
[ ] Johnson, Gary
[ ] McMullin, Evan
[ ] O'Death, Sweet Meteor

We're making a few assumptions here. For one thing that defeated candidates in the primaries didn't drop out, but clung on. Either as independants, or to try and nail a win for at least one party candidate on transfers. I picked most of the names out on wikipedia so I've no idea who the fuck most of them are.

Mark your card with a number beside the name of the candidate you most prefer, then on down in the order of decending preference. The finished product might look something like this, for example

[ 3 ] Clinton, Hilllary
[ ] Trump, Donald
[ 4 ] Bush, Jeb
[ 5 ] Huckabee, Mike
[ 2 ] Sanders, Bernie,
[ 1 ] Stein, Jilll
[ 6 ] Johnson, Gary
[ 7 ] McMullin, Evan
[ 8 ] O'Death, Sweet Meteor

We would love a Jill Stein presidency (Even though we know it'll never happen), be more or less OK with a Sanders presidency, tolerate a Clinton presidency, find the idea of a three-generation political dynasty amusing, have heard Huckabee's name without major scandle attached to it, Would like to make Johnson jokes, have no idea who McMulin is we just that we think Trump is worse. We never want Trump to win, so we leave his box blank.

That's basically how it goes. You don't really have to mark the card the whole way down, but it helps the system a great deal if you do. Or if you want to vote none-of-the above, leave the ballot blank. It's still a legal vote.

Either post below. Or if you'd like your ballot to be secret, PM it to me.

Come November, I'll count according to Irish presidential election rules and see which ticket would've won. And post the secret ballots anonymised, to see 'how' the count worked through.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

So, Peggy and I finally got to watch this on Hulu tonight.  And sadly, we were underwhelmed.  Great production values, but... about the best way Peg and I can describe it is, low energy.  It just felt like everyone was on tranquilizers.
So, kind of as an antidote, here's an old fic of mine, trotted back out as an antidote, a tribute, and sign of the season.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I present once again...
A Wild and Untamed Thing...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/100-y ... -1.3811500]Engineers stumble on WWI German submarine sunk by 'sea monster'

This sounds sufficiently interesting to add to a Weird War One game or story:

Quote:The submarine was caught by the British HMS Coreopsis on April 30, 1918, as it was floating on the surface during the day. The German crew surrendered without resistance.

When questioned about why his submarine was floating on the surface, the ship's Captain Krech told a wild tale.

He said the sub was recharging its batteries on the surface of the water at night when a "strange beast" rose from the water and attacked them.

Krech described a beast with "large eyes, set in a horny sort of skull … with teeth that could be seen glistening in the moonlight."

He said every one of his crew began firing at the beast until it dropped back into the sea. But Krech said the sub was so damaged in its battle with the "monster" that it could no longer submerge.

Quote:[Historian Innes McCartney] has a different theory of what may have happened, and it doesn't involve sea monsters.

"The submarine was caught on the surface at night recharging its batteries," he said. "It saw the patrol ship coming, it attempted to do a crash dive to get away and the young officer whose job it was to shut the hatch at the top didn't stop it properly, and when the submarine was underwater it began rapidly flooding from above so they had no option but to just blow all the compressed air they had, bring the submarine to the surface, at which point all they could do was surrender."