iSourceTextures vs. Krashwerks

I don't see how krashwerks can have a more defined mesh, because they are on Renderosity. isource is on Daz's own site, and has HD characters, meaning they have access to creating true high poly models. Krash being on Rendo has no access to the HD plugin, so all Krash models (and all Rendo models) can only be sculpted at base mesh. The HD plugin is exclusive to Daz models. The only way a non Daz seller can compete is buy using normal maps or displacement.

@legolas18 That's right! Textures and maps.
Both are very beautiful! A good choice for comparison. I could have put the mousso too!

@Luiz Otavio Oh, I see, LOL.

@Legolas18
They can sculpt in HD, sure. But they cannot transfer that HD mesh into Daz without the exclusive HD plugin. So they would lose all that detail. The only option is to bake that detail into the normal maps, which is what a lot of vendors do. But normal maps are a compromise because the effects is fake, it is essentially a video game trick.

Daz limits the HD importer strictly to their own products. They have legal contracts prohibiting sellers from exporting HD mesh to any characters sold outside the Daz store. If you ever noticed, you will see characters branded "HD" in the Daz store, and this is why. You have to be a Daz vendor to even get access to this plugin.

On the flip side normal maps are easier for low end hardware to render, which is a reason why video games use them. So Daz vendors still often use normal maps anyway.

It is worth mentioning that somebody actually uploaded the HD import plugin here once, but it only works on Daz 4.6! So you also need that specific version of Daz. Good luck finding that.

It would be pretty awesome if some disgruntled vendor uploaded a more recent version of the HD import plugin. I personally think the whole HD thing is pretty dirty. As normal users, we have no access to this, and why? Because Daz wants to be greedy.

Oh yeah...that reminds me of how that male-m3dia guy is one of the most stuck up individuals around. One time several different software people with 20+ years of experience called him out and he took serious offense to it, literally writing "don't you try to pull rank on me" in response to them saying he was wrong. He simply cannot ever be wrong, and he is an expert on every topic. You can tell from that thread with how he repeatedly says that people need to know how to sculpt before using the HD tool at all. He is a real piece of work, and I wont even download his crap for free here.

There were a lot more posts in that thread you linked, but they got deleted and thread locked. And I just love how the mod says people shouldn't speculate on why Daz does it that way. You know, maybe people wouldn't speculate if Daz stepped up and told them why. What a crazy idea! At any point in time a Daz rep could just step in and explain it, but they chose not to. One of their people even posted a comment in the forum, but would not answer that question. People speculate because Daz will not say a damn word. So yeah, screw them.

At any rate, it is possible to find the 4.6 version of Daz to go with the HD plugin. I've tested it, it works. There are no real restrictions, so it would be cool to see what some talented people could do with it. I don't think anybody knows this is possible.

@jrnkmail
I don't doubt his skill. Just is integrity and character. Just search his name. Use Google to site search the Daz forums, and you will find some. A lot of the threads/posts that brought out his worst have been deleted though.
I think the thread that was already linked displays some of that attitude to a small degree. There is very little reason to take Daz's side on that subject...unless you are PA making money off them. Daz already has HD exclusivity in their PA contracts and EULAs, so it would be just as easy to extend those same terms to regular people. "Here, you can make morphs at HD now, but you cannot distribute them in any fashion." Or even limit it to HD 1. Just having access to HD 1 would make a huge difference.
Is that so hard? It still protects Daz from anyone who would try to sell a HD model at another store. It is fairly easy to spot the mesh details that only HD would be capable of, so Daz could very easily take an entire store website to court if they sell such products. That threat alone would keep most in line, because Daz could go after the store itself, that means the store has to stay on top of it even more than the sellers. Besides, what is stopping the PAs from doing this now? Daz has hundreds of PAs. The list is massive. Any one of them could just sell a HD mesh under another name at another store. Nothing is stopping them, other than the contract. And PAs do sometimes steal from others. It is rare but I've seen it. I wont go into detail on that.
Sure, sites like this exist outside jurisdiction, but they can never be mainstream. This is not an argument for keeping HD exclusive to PAs at Daz. Just like it is not an argument for creating DRM content. I think he was in favor of that, too, BTW. But I can't remember. There were absolutely several people who argued in favor of DRM content.

There were discussions about how the genital prop is exclusive to "pro" bundles. This brought out all kinds of wild arguments, as people claimed that somehow Daz has no choice but to do this because of the nature of it. I do not buy that for a second, and I could list lots of reasons why.
Because he had a website at some point in time, he knows everything about this subject. Oh, and he also knows all about the laws regarding the internet as well.

This is pretty much the flow of any topic he posts in. Somebody might suggest a consumer friendly idea. He jumps in to say no, this can never happen, and that you need to learn to do this yourself. Sure, sometimes this is valid, but not every single time. Daz is a software designed around being the "easy way to make 3D stuff". So it makes sense to look at ideas that might help that. This guy just never wants anything to change and potentially disturb his happy existence. In a technology driven field. A field that moves constantly. A field where if you stay still for too long, you might get passed by competition.