It's a dark day, friends. RuntimeDNA has gone and sold out to DAZ!

Ever since I started doing my own 3D art about ten years ago, my main resources have been Renderosity, DAZ and RDNA. Yes, there are other tiny niche sites and solo vendors that are great, but for the most part, those are the three big stores, each with their own distinct flavors.

DAZ is the ultra commercial store, with sleek, expensive products that generally have a super mainstream look. Although in recent years it's become a DAZ powerhouse that focuses almost exclusively on the Genesis generations, I still buy their huge, sweeping environments (when I can afford them) and the occasional prop. It does get immensely frustrating that they don't offer email notifications, though, because on the rare occasions when wish list products that I'm desperate to buy go on sale, I never hear about it.

Renderosity caters to a more diverse userbse, with a heavy emphasis on cross-compatibility. Most of their products work with both Poser and DAZ, and the occasional Vue, Carrara or Blender products will pop up as well. They have an extensive freebies section, frequent sales, and an extremely intuitive wish list that offers email notifications every time something you want has been discounted (with details on when that discount will end).

RDNA, gods love it, is basically the quiet creative kid in the corner. Its store has a dark, gritty feel to it and is Poser-heavy, with a huge number of original products. The vendors there offer a range but there's no denying that the site is the best place to go for some of the most imaginative sci-fi and fantasy outfits and props on the market. Like Renderosity, it offers instant notifications when items you want are on sale, which is the only reason I now own Terradome2 and all of its add-ons.

With this merger, some vendors will be absorbed into the DAZ store and others will either move their products elsewhere or disappear altogether. Being melded into the corporate machine that DAZ has become means that the great customer service that RDNA offered will be no more. Say goodbye to new Poser products, the famous Deep Freeze, flash sales, email notifications and any sense of individual vendor personality. Poof! All gone now.

I'm sure that they got paid well for this, but it seems like little more than a random business transaction that's forcing together two extremely different communities and will all but wipe out RDNA's legacy. The only one benefiting is DAZ, who gets to squash one of its competing stores, especially one that features so much material and support for their big time Smith Micro competitor. Needless to say, this is an unfortunate turn of events and I guess we'll just have to wait and see what sort of impact it will have long-term.

All right, I've tried. I really have. When DAZ first announced its newest generation, Genesis - a bold new concept that would allow users to mold a single figure to fit their needs - I was on the edge of my seat with everyone else. What a concept! A single figure that could be fashioned into male or female, adult or child. A figure that all clothing would fit, regardless of the gender or body shape of each character. How amazing would that be??

Unfortunately, the reality wasn't all that many of us had hoped for. Apparently, DAZ has finally decided to go at it alone and forsake their tradition of cross-program compatibility. Personally, I was happy with the status quo. DAZ makes the best characters - hands down, nothing from Smith Micro comes close to Michael and Victoria - and a lot of amazing hair, clothing, sets and other products as well. All of those great figures are then imported by people like me into Poser Pro.

With the release of Genesis, however, DAZ seems to have made a break from this long-time formula with the intention of going rogue and creating a major divide in the 3D community. They're promoting the hell out of their own program (DAZ Studio), currently being offered for free, and the Genesis figure is not compatible with any program outside of it! Sure, after ages, they created an "importer," to load Genesis content into Poser but it doesn't work properly. It's nearly impossible to effectively load or create a single character, let alone a bunch of characters in a whole scene. It's a half-assed, totally unviable solution that ultimately boils down to this: if you want to use Genesis in all its glory, you need to use DAZ and nothing else.

Unfortunately, I've tried DAZ. I've attempted to use it on multiple occasions, tutorials and all, and find it to be an absolute mess of a program. The interface is a disaster and, aside from preloading figures and sets, I can't figure out how to do a damn thing with it. Perhaps it would be easier if I had no experience with a different program, but having poured years into learning the ins and outs of Poser, I find DAZ to be really counterintuitive and have no desire to deal with it. Not even for the plethora of gorgeous Genesis products that I'm seeing.

In addition, there are a large number of great products still being made for Poser-compatible Gen4, whereas Genesis seems to be evolving every year and lacking backwards compatibility. Since I have no urge to spend money out the wazoo on rebuilding my 3D library every few months, I'm happy to forgo this latest craze for now and stick with the classics.