RHaseltine posted at 2:06 PM Wed, 23 July 2025 - #4498044

That is mostly speculation built on speculation, but to address one more substantial point:

With all due respect, but it's kinda easy to brush something off without providing any further argumentation. It's simply a matter of a fact that companies don't start pushing subscription models for no specific reason, and that reason is always based on revenue; or needs thereof. And when looking at the market as-is then there's quite a bit of competition going on, which means that markets can't "just" increase their prices without risking the loss of potential customers.

> ... speaking of which: the 3Delight engine itself has been in continuous development, latest release is from last year. But Daz3d couldn't be bothered to keep up it seems.

Any update beyond the version of 3Delight in DS would have stopped supporting RSL shaders, meaning every material would need updating and every sahder set would need rewriting.

I'm aware, NSI vs. RSL.  While I know (much!) better than to "just" question your opinion I still can't help having some doubts when it comes to the actual impact of such a conversion. I base that opinion on both my own experiences (albeit small!) with the current version of the 3Delight NSI render engine, but also on my many experimentations with using assets that were fully build for one engine (RSL or MDL) and then use those with the other. These experimentations obviously involved more software other than Daz Studio, but still...  it doesn't take away the fact that in many cases (definitely not all of them!) the results were actually pretty good all things considered.

Now, this may be a bit of an unfair comment on my end (sorry!) but wouldn't it also be fair to say that the involved costs were also a major factor?

I also have to point out that Daz did in fact release several new versions of both Bryce and Carrara, and has of course added many new features to Daz Studio (without needing to update the version number each time, one of the benefits of a free application).

Absolutely true.. but.. also easily ignored others. There's still a working bridge for Daz Studio to send assets into Bryce 7, but doing it the other way around (= from Bryce to DS) hasn't worked for many years.

Anyway, one way or the other: thanks for your comment, I very much appreciate it. Seriously, a bit off topic perhaps but I never stopped valuing your input and/or comments. I still highly admire your devotion and your willingness to help out others. My respect for you never changed.