The most efficient way to do this while maintaining similar user experience, and limit the amount of work for creators that support both versions, is to go with the individual axis (TriAx) method of rigging. Currently it is the weight map system supported by both programs.
I agree. The decision for the Genesis platform to move to general weights with dual quats was because DAZ has started a new division (Morph 3D) dedicated to creating contents for game engines, so their Genesis 3 and up had to be sacrificed to fit that profile. I have posted many observations of the pros and cons of using game engine standards in DS, and my general opinion is that this is not in the best interest of this market because things have to be sacrificed to comply with real-time game engine requirements. That is not what this market is about. People who want real-time contents would be better suited with Reallusion iClone and CC3, because that's what that market is dedicated to. Among the compromises comes poly reduction and topology simplifications that will require subdivision to render or sculpt morphs for. It also becomes harder to rig for a figure that has just a single weight map per joint, as opposed to 3 with TriAx, not counting the extra weights dedicated to bulging, smooth scaling and (in Poser) smooth translations. I think that was too big a compromise for DS users, even if they don't notice, because the cons were compensated with subdivisions, HD morphs and loads of corrective JCMs that blow up on content creators. In short, these figures became more suited for real-time game engines, and less suited for what DS was meant for.
If we want Dawn 2.0 to be the best it can be in Poser/DS, it should be rigged using what's best for us, not the real-time game engine market, which has nothing to do with us and what we do. Therefore Paul is correct to assume the best for us is TriAx. Even in the rare case where some of us may want to use the HW figures in real-time applications, Reallusion CC3 does the job independently of what the figure was rigged with, it's poly count, or even what topology it may have. And what's best, Dawn, Dusk, Baby Luna and HW Gorilla are already supported natively in CC3, so they already have all the advantages of real-time environments without having to sacrifice the Poser/DS versions. This way HW figures have the best of both worlds with no compromises in either markets.
I thought that Poser didn't support Triax?
TriAx is the equivalent of Poser weight maps in basically all aspects. The only difference is that they are mutually incompatible due to the way they were implemented. But when it comes to how they work internally, they are basically the same thing, so it's Ok to refer to TriAx as the same rigging used in Poser.
PS: this is why V4 works natively in both Poser and DS: her weight maps are dynamically generated, and the feature set in Poser and DS are identical when it comes to joint weight maps. This is also how it is possible to convert figures from Poser to DS, and from DS to Poser. Even though the weight maps are incompatible, their feature sets are identical.
That's not it.
