SimTenero Randomizer2 (Commercial)

simtenero

A ground up re-imagining of an old favorite

Click here for the Store Page.

Click here to see the user guide.

More details are available on the Store Page, but here are some highlights for folks familiar with the original:

• Randomizer2 is a dockable plugin!  This may be the single most significant change for people who do a lot of randomizing.  Randomizer2 is always available, no need to exit and relaunch every time you need access to the viewport or to your other panes!
• The way presets are created and used has been completely rethought.  Presets are now very central to the way you'll manage big libraries of morphs.  It was always possible to save and load presets in the original, but 2 gives you access to all of those presets at once.  This makes it super easy to, for example, randomize parts of the body and face independently of one another.
• Presets are automatically stored with the figure.  When you load a figure or prop into a new scene, just select it and click "Refresh" in the Ranomizer2 pane and all of your previously created presets for that figure will load in!  This can be a huge time saver, especially if you've spent a lot of time dialing in your perfect presets.
• Morphs can be tweaked right in the pane.  This is a small detail, but it's still handy :-).
• Each morph in a preset has its own randomization range.  In the original, it was possible to set a randomization range; a number between 0 and 1 that would limit the max amount of randomization for all of the morphs selected.  Randomizer2 still has that master range, but also includes individual ranges for each morph!  This dramatically increases the value and flexibility of preset creation.  For example, I may want to include "Chest Scale" in a preset, but I don't want it to vary too much.  After adding it to my preset, I'd expand the little arrow next to the preset name, find the "Chest Scale" morph and tweak its upper and lower limit sliders to maybe 0.2 and -0.2 respectively.  Now, whenever I randomize, that morph will stay inside that range.
• You can "tweak" the randomization.  In the original, there was a feature called "Zero before Randomizing."  That concept is now baked into two separate buttons.  The "Randomize" button will always start from zero.  That means it will set each of the morphs in its preset to zero before assigning a new random value.  Tweak, on the other hand, adds or subtracts a new random value.
• Full Undo and Redo support!  The original allowed limited undo, but Randomizer2 integrates with Studios undo stack.  So crtl-z ctrl-y away!

Believe it or not there's more!  Head over to the store page for some additional details.

jedijudd

Looks great, loved your first version looking forward to this one

FSMCDesigns

Fantastic, I use the old one almost daily when creating characters and it is a must have for my workflow. Care to share any details on what makes this one better than the original?

IceDragonArt

Oh my this will be a must have!  LOVE LOVE LOVE the first one.

Artini

I also wonder, how it affects stability of Daz Studio itself, since it is more integrated with DS now (plugin).

 

Imago

It works only on Genesis3/8?

Mollytabby

Is there going to be a Mac version in the future? If not, I'll probably pick up the old version which I have wishlisted.

simtenero

FSMCDesigns said:

Fantastic, I use the old one almost daily when creating characters and it is a must have for my workflow. Care to share any details on what makes this one better than the original?

I'll update the original post with some more details shortly.

 

Artini said:

I also wonder, how it affects stability of Daz Studio itself, since it is more integrated with DS now (plugin).

Randomization presets are only loaded in when you manually click a "Refresh" button in the pane, so it has basically no impact on studio when you aren't using it.  Once presets are loaded in, it's still pretty low impact as it's referencing existing morphs, not duplicating them.

 

Imago said:

It works only on Genesis3/8?

It will work with any generation!  It will even work with other props and figures that have morph parameters. :-)

 

Mollytabby said:

Is there going to be a Mac version in the future? If not, I'll probably pick up the old version which I have wishlisted.

Unfortunately I don't have a Mac environment to develop on, so probably not :-(. 

Mollytabby

Thank you for the quick response @simtenero. I’ll aim for the earlier version 

Oso3D

Simtenero, awesomeness!

I found the original a little overwhelming to use a lot of the time, but the UI improvements and design of STR2 are amazing. Good job!

 

Tanis Volta

Its beyond amazing, finally I can populate with easy of secondary actors with similar features, thanks you!

FSMCDesigns

Wow, thwre are some great improvements in this version, some I had actually hoped for. The old version was amazingly easy and intuative to use (I even use it just to zero out the face morphs only at times).

The price is a bit of a show stopper for me at this time due to my budget, but I hope to get it soon.

lstarn

So how do you make this work? I cannot find any documentation. 

simtenero

Thanks all for the kind feedback!  I really think this is a substantial usability/quality of life improvement over the first version. I hope it works as well for everyone's workflow as it has for mine.

lstarn said:

So how do you make this work? I cannot find any documentation. 

Here's the user guide. The first section, "Plugin Activation" covers how to activate and access it.  Let me know if you hit any snags!

SimonJM

Wroks nicely - thanks for the product!

barbult

Does it work with morphs installed by Daz Connect?

simtenero

barbult said:

Does it work with morphs installed by Daz Connect?

Yep, if a morph shows up in the Shaping pane, Randomizer2 should have no problem seeing it regardless of install method.  It is important to note, though, that this only applies to actual morphs, not "ERC" parameters (sliders that control other sliders).

barbult

simtenero said:

barbult said:

Does it work with morphs installed by Daz Connect?

Yep, if a morph shows up in the Shaping pane, Randomizer2 should have no problem seeing it regardless of install method.  It is important to note, though, that this only applies to actual morphs, not "ERC" parameters (sliders that control other sliders).

Thanks. I looked at the user guide you posted, and I was concerned about the part about saving to the data directory. For Daz Connect installations, the data directory is in the individual "cloud" folders. In general, things a user tries to add in there won't work. Does the randomizer get around that problem because it is a plug in?

BlueIrene

Will there be a coupon/discount making an appearance for owners of version 1?

simtenero

barbult said:

simtenero said:

barbult said:

Does it work with morphs installed by Daz Connect?

Yep, if a morph shows up in the Shaping pane, Randomizer2 should have no problem seeing it regardless of install method.  It is important to note, though, that this only applies to actual morphs, not "ERC" parameters (sliders that control other sliders).

 

Thanks. I looked at the user guide you posted, and I was concerned about the part about saving to the data directory. For Daz Connect installations, the data directory is in the individual "cloud" folders. In general, things a user tries to add in there won't work. Does the randomizer get around that problem because it is a plug in?

Cloud installs still set up folder structures (by default, in your "Users\YourName\Documents folder) which is all the plugin needs.  To be safe I just tested this with a cloud installed item I've never installed locally and verified it works 

barbult

simtenero said:

barbult said:

simtenero said:

barbult said:

Does it work with morphs installed by Daz Connect?

Yep, if a morph shows up in the Shaping pane, Randomizer2 should have no problem seeing it regardless of install method.  It is important to note, though, that this only applies to actual morphs, not "ERC" parameters (sliders that control other sliders).

 

Thanks. I looked at the user guide you posted, and I was concerned about the part about saving to the data directory. For Daz Connect installations, the data directory is in the individual "cloud" folders. In general, things a user tries to add in there won't work. Does the randomizer get around that problem because it is a plug in?

Cloud installs still set up folder structures (by default, in your "Users\YourName\Documents folder) which is all the plugin needs.  To be safe I just tested this with a cloud installed item I've never installed locally and verified it works 

Thanks for verifying.

simtenero

Astracadia said:

Will there be a coupon/discount making an appearance for owners of version 1?

Not that I'm aware of, though Daz could certainly decide to offer a coupon.  I know this can be a sensitive topic for both customers and PAs alike, so I won't punt responsibility entirely .  While coupons and discounts are ultimately in Daz's hands, they are always open to requests and, the truth is, I didn't make such a request.  I know that might seem disloyal to customers who supported the first version, but I had to tackle the very real possibility that many, potentially most, people buying 2 would already own 1.  To offset, I would have had to raise the base price a bit, which would sort of defeat the purpose.  I know that may seem impersonal or calculating, but I want to be honest about the kind of math I have to do when pricing a product.  Sorry for the long winded answer, I just thought it was a fair question that other folks will have as well and wanted to give an honest answer. :).

Ati

Is there a reason for someone to buy version one instead of version two? Or buy version one after having version two?

simtenero

Ati said:

Is there a reason for someone to buy version one instead of version two? Or buy version one after having version two?

If you have already bought 2, then no, I don't think there is any real reason to buy 1.  As for buying 1 instead of 2, I could see a couple of possible reasons.  The first would obviously be cost; The original script still gets the job done.  It doesn't have the slick integration or some of the bells and whistles, but it's still a heck of a lot of fun to use :-).  The second reason would be Mac use.  The plugin is Windows only, so if you're a Mac user, the original script will work for you.

BlueIrene

simtenero said:

Astracadia said:

Will there be a coupon/discount making an appearance for owners of version 1?

Not that I'm aware of, though Daz could certainly decide to offer a coupon.  I know this can be a sensitive topic for both customers and PAs alike, so I won't punt responsibility entirely .  While coupons and discounts are ultimately in Daz's hands, they are always open to requests and, the truth is, I didn't make such a request.  I know that might seem disloyal to customers who supported the first version, but I had to tackle the very real possibility that many, potentially most, people buying 2 would already own 1.  To offset, I would have had to raise the base price a bit, which would sort of defeat the purpose.  I know that may seem impersonal or calculating, but I want to be honest about the kind of math I have to do when pricing a product.  Sorry for the long winded answer, I just thought it was a fair question that other folks will have as well and wanted to give an honest answer. :).

I respect that, thank you. I still use the first version all the time and if theres no 'upgrade' price then I currently can't justify paying even the introductory price for Randomizer2 when I have access to and make use of much of that functionality already. That's the kind of math I do when buying a product :) I'm in no rush, though - even the most coveted of items seems to come on sale pretty quickly around here and I'm having enough fun with version 1 to keep me busy until my 'upgrade' turns up at a price that's acceptable to me.That does at least suggest that the Randomizer is no short-lived product that people are likely to buy and forget they own, and its true to say that I would not want to be without mine! Good luck with version 2 :)

Ati

simtenero said:

Ati said:

Is there a reason for someone to buy version one instead of version two? Or buy version one after having version two?

If you have already bought 2, then no, I don't think there is any real reason to buy 1.  As for buying 1 instead of 2, I could see a couple of possible reasons.  The first would obviously be cost; The original script still gets the job done.  It doesn't have the slick integration or some of the bells and whistles, but it's still a heck of a lot of fun to use :-).  The second reason would be Mac use.  The plugin is Windows only, so if you're a Mac user, the original script will work for you.

Got it! Makes sense. Thank you!

FSMCDesigns

simtenero said:

Astracadia said:

Will there be a coupon/discount making an appearance for owners of version 1?

Not that I'm aware of, though Daz could certainly decide to offer a coupon.  I know this can be a sensitive topic for both customers and PAs alike, so I won't punt responsibility entirely .  While coupons and discounts are ultimately in Daz's hands, they are always open to requests and, the truth is, I didn't make such a request.  I know that might seem disloyal to customers who supported the first version, but I had to tackle the very real possibility that many, potentially most, people buying 2 would already own 1.  To offset, I would have had to raise the base price a bit, which would sort of defeat the purpose.  I know that may seem impersonal or calculating, but I want to be honest about the kind of math I have to do when pricing a product.  Sorry for the long winded answer, I just thought it was a fair question that other folks will have as well and wanted to give an honest answer. :).

Interesting logic. as an owner of the first version I don't feel like I am owed a discount in any way, but it would have been nice.

Seeing this part of your statement " to tackle the very real possibility that many, potentially most, people buying 2 would already own 1, To offset, I would have had to raise the base price a bit, which would sort of defeat the purpose" I have to chime in a bit, while that may be true, you should have also seen the other side that the users have less of an incentive to get the newer version when they aready have a working version with version one, thus hurting sales just as much as offering a discount, it being harder to justify the cost of two versions that bascially do the same thing.

When I see models and textures in the store it is very easy for me to justify the cost since I am a modeler and know first hand what is involved in the creative process and what things to look for to see if the price is justified, at least to me. Not being a coder, I have no idea what is involved in creating a plugin for DS, so I take the high price of this plugin at face value, even though it is quite high in comparision to many other comparible items. Either way, it has some features I wanted in the original version and I do plan to pick it up when I can. Hope it does well for though.

IceDragonArt

I appreciate the honesty and I am really okay with no discount.  ( I did buy a second item I had on my wishlist that gave me an additional discount on both items, which made it a good deal for me, and the way that I tend to make decisions on wether to buy things or not.  Having said that, I was going to buy it anyway lol).  There is always a push and pull to pricing, and everyone has to calculate what's acceptable for their own budget, both makers and buyers.  We all have different ways of doing the math, depending on our own resources and how we spend and make money.

Edited to add, with the new skinbuilder 8 just out as well, the money I will save on purchasing characters far outweighs the slightly higher price (which honestly, is a price increase store wide, everything has gone up several dollars).

I'm super excited to try it, hoping to have a little bit of wiggle room tonight to squeeze it in.

simtenero

FSMCDesigns said:

simtenero said:

Astracadia said:

 

Interesting logic. as an owner of the first version I don't feel like I am owed a discount in any way, but it would have been nice.

Seeing this part of your statement " to tackle the very real possibility that many, potentially most, people buying 2 would already own 1, To offset, I would have had to raise the base price a bit, which would sort of defeat the purpose" I have to chime in a bit, while that may be true, you should have also seen the other side that the users have less of an incentive to get the newer version when they aready have a working version with version one, thus hurting sales just as much as offering a discount, it being harder to justify the cost of two versions that bascially do the same thing.

When I see models and textures in the store it is very easy for me to justify the cost since I am a modeler and know first hand what is involved in the creative process and what things to look for to see if the price is justified, at least to me. Not being a coder, I have no idea what is involved in creating a plugin for DS, so I take the high price of this plugin at face value, even though it is quite high in comparision to many other comparible items. Either way, it has some features I wanted in the original version and I do plan to pick it up when I can. Hope it does well for though.

Fair point, but a Hyundai and a Ferrari both do the same thing  (don't pin me to that analogy, just having some fun).

dreamfarmer

I thought the $20 price point (with applicable discounts) was pretty fair. Potentially a meaningful chunk of my Sale Budget, but I expect it to help me get a lot more out of my various morph packs and morphable props -- way more than $20 worth. That's the magic of utility-price evaluation for me: I always end up comparing them to what I'd spend otherwise, or how much frustration they'll save me. They don't register as 'something new for my library' but function as a modifier on some (or, very rarely, all) of my library to increase the overall value.

I'm one of those coming to the software fresh, though, not as an upgrade.

lcfar

I cannot get the plugin to load. The log contains this entry:

C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins\strandomizer.dll failed to load. Cannot load library C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins\strandomizer.dll: The specified module could not be found.

The file is in the directory. I have installed with DIM and with the exe file. Same results. When I look for it in the plugins, it claims it's not a valid plugin or it's the wrong version of Studio. I am using version 4.10.0.123 64-bit on Windows 7 64-bit. Anyone else seeing this?