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3D BLOG/ARTICLES/TOP FEATURE REQUESTS DAZ STUDIO USERS ARE ASKING FOR IN 2026

Top Feature Requests Daz Studio Users Are Asking for in 2026

Feb 13, 2026
14 Likes
31 Comments31

Article by Ion Hatzithomas

Over the years, Daz Studio users have had plenty of time to reflect on what works, what slows them down, and what they hope will improve in the future. As workflows evolve and expectations rise, certain topics keep resurfacing in community discussions.

Across community forums, Reddit threads, and long-running conversations, artists regularly compare notes on performance issues, figure design choices, and missing tools that affect everyday work. These discussions are not about one specific software update or figure generation. They reflect broader patterns in what users want from Daz Studio moving forward.

Below are ten commonly requested improvements, based on recurring themes and sentiment within the Daz 3D community.

Top improvements requested by the Daz Studio community

What Improvements Do Daz Studio Users Want to See?


1. Separate Male and Female Figures

This is a hot topic for many Daz Studio users. The unisex character approach introduced with Genesis 9 was meant to simplify asset compatibility, but artists feel it caused more problems than it solved.

A large portion of the community clearly wants separate male and female figures to return. They want to avoid compromises that affect anatomy, proportions, and clothing fit. In short, they want a base figure that looks and behaves more like the real humans that it's meant to represent.


2. Faster Load Times and Performance Efficiency

Slow figure loading is one of the most common frustrations in the Daz 3D community. Users report long delays even on high-end systems, especially when many morphs are installed. Swapping textures or applying things like makeup can also feel sluggish.

Daz Studio users hope an update will introduce a cleaner morph management system, more efficient texture handling, and options for lower-end graphics cards or workstation setups. Even modest improvements would make everyday use feel faster and more responsive.


3. Better Joint Deformation and Bending

The community has been asking for more realistic joint bending for years. Elbows, knees, and other body parts often show pinching, collapsing, or unnatural movements with certain poses. Future figure updates could address this with improved weight mapping, better corrective morphs, or adaptive rigging.

Any improvements here would help characters appear more lifelike and reduce the time artists spend manually correcting these problems.


4. Smarter Clothing Fit and Legacy Support

Many Daz 3D users own huge wardrobes of older generation clothing, so autofit performance is critical. The unisex base in Genesis 9 introduced compatibility challenges that often frustrate users.

Artists want smarter fitting tools and better support for legacy content without relying on third-party fixes. Improving how clothing interacts with the characters would help older assets continue to look great and give new outfits a more natural fit on every body shape.


5. Improved Hair and Cloth Simulation

Hair and clothing simulation in Daz Studio can be powerful, but it is often slow and unpredictable. Many users find dForce simulations time-consuming, prone to crashes, or producing explosions and unnatural results.

Users want faster, more stable simulation performance and results that look more natural. Workflows could benefit from optimized presets and smarter collision handling that let artists achieve great results without hours of tweaking or the use of external tools.


6. Soft-Body Physics and Collision Response

A growing number of users want their figures to respond more naturally to gravity and pressure. This means soft-body physics that can simulate subtle deformations, such as fabric pressing against the skin or contact between characters and objects.

While some third-party tools try to fill this gap, many content creators and artists agree that native soft-body behavior would be a major leap forward.


7. Better Animation Handling and Stable IK

Animating in Daz Studio can be a test of patience. Many users describe pinning joints as unreliable, inverse kinematics as unstable, and timelines as difficult to control. Animators want a smoother workflow, stronger pinning tools, and improved keyframe management.

The platform could shine if it delivers better joint behavior, fewer issues with sliding feet, and a more predictable posing experience. These changes would make the Daz 3D workflow more appealing for users who need realistic, reliable, and dependable character animations.


8. Real-Time Readiness and Lightweight Options

Performance has become a major concern as users experiment with real-time rendering and game engines. Many want the entire process to be more efficient for these environments, with lighter mesh options, lower-resolution materials, and faster response.

Some users will always want maximum detail, but others would trade a bit of fidelity for faster previews and smoother animation workflows. A modular approach could satisfy both groups.


9. Improved Export and Compatibility with Other Tools

Many Daz 3D artists rely on Blender, Unreal Engine, or Unity as part of their workflow. Exporting characters between programs can be inconsistent, often requiring tedious fixes for textures, bones, or rigging.

Users hope a future update will make the figures more friendly to external pipelines, with cleaner export options and fewer conversion headaches. A more seamless compatibility could help Daz Studio become more widely used in professional pipelines and indie projects.


10. Improved Facial Rigging and Expression Control

Facial expression control in Daz Studio has made significant progress, but it still lags behind other widely used character platforms. Users want more control and nuance, improved lip sync tools, and compatibility with motion capture workflows.

Improving the facial motion workflow would give Genesis figures a stronger emotional range, whether for still renders, cinematic storytelling, or animation enhanced with MoCap tools.


Final Thoughts

Taken together, these requests paint a clear picture of what many Daz Studio users value most: faster performance, more reliable tools, and figures that better represent the human form. Rather than asking for dramatic reinvention, the community is signaling a desire for a stronger foundation. They want improvements that reduce friction, respect existing content libraries, and support both still rendering and animation more effectively.

These conversations continue to surface because the underlying needs have not changed. Whether through future figures, tooling updates, or incremental improvements, users are eager to see progress in the areas that matter most to their day-to-day work.

If you use Daz Studio regularly, chances are at least a few of these requests are on your own wish list. What would you add, change, or prioritize differently? Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know which improvements would make the biggest difference for you.


Subscribe

cPpBAAL3Sat, Feb 14
Karma: 121
Re:  Improved Export and Compatibility with Other Tools
Poser 11-13 (including Mac) importing of Daz assets. Used to be easy with DSON, but no more. Turf war, I guess.
jedimangiaSun, Feb 15
Karma: 7,191
for G9 - resolve the reset of expression morph, resolve the mix of face pose expression. G9 IK is better, with more options for the bridge to over 3D software, like better FBX tools and Alembic with better map compatibility.
JohnnyLuck777Tue, Feb 17
Karma: 5,385
Separate Male and Female Figures - YES! The unisex mesh for Genesis 9 was a terrible idea.

Faster Load Times and Performance Efficiency - Yes, please!
Better Joint Deformation and Bending - Yes, please!
Smarter Clothing Fit and Legacy Support - Yes, please!
Improved Hair and Cloth Simulation - Yes, please!
Soft-Body Physics and Collision Response - Yes, please!
paserakTue, Feb 17
Karma: 100
An up-to-date SDK would be strongly appreciated. 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but currently we need to install Visual Studio 10 with Windows 7 SDK if we want to develop a plug-in. 
It would be nice to use Visual Studio 2026 directly. 
shadelixTue, Feb 17
Karma: 538
It would be great if DStudio would work independent of the installed graphics hardware. There should be a possibility to render on CPU.
I don't want to deep-dive into all sorts of graphics drivers just to make dforce work.
grayukWed, Feb 18
Karma: 150
My Content Library became so large, it was taking ages for Daz to run all the Morphs, and figure loading took ages!
So, I no longer use the Daz Library, instead I have an archive with ALL my items logically stored.
Then, each project gets its own 'Directory' and is stocked with Basic Elements and then items necessary for that Project alone.
End result is, due to Daz not needing to scan ALL my Library Content, a figure loading in 5 seconds or so, and a much easier and method of opening & closing a project with all of its items loaded quickly!
tgkadeeThu, Feb 19
Karma: 2,150
One of my dreams is for the parenting window to be searchable. If I am working on a complex scene and need to parent something to the right hand, for example, I would love for a search feature where I could type right hand and the box would filter for that.


Herhey
Karma: 13,010
Tue, Mar 10
That would be handy.
tgkadee
Karma: 2,150
Fri, Mar 13
Indeed, especially when I have multiple figures and need to parent the left hand!
G3 RenderworksMon, Mar 02
Karma: 3,925
All sounds like stuff daz would half ass and sell as a separate plugin to milk users even further.
shadowyartsdirty
Karma: 12,065
Thu, Mar 05
Worst part is some plugins for Daz are now Premier + only so you have to pay subscription. You can't just buy some of the addons anymore.
(`)
G3 Renderworks
Karma: 3,925
Thu, Mar 05
Yeah, they are awful. I'll never pay for a subscription.
shadowyartsdirtyThu, Mar 05
Karma: 12,065
A faster loading of Daz Studio would be much appreciated as well more stable weight mapping and rigging tools. Cause it annoys to no end to see the Daz instance crash straight after I have finished spending 20 minutes on rigging.
Whyte ImagingSat, Mar 07
Karma: 4,739
Daz must be able to look to universal rendering options that take advantage of AMD, Intel and nVidia - and by doing this - Daz would become a far more referenced 3D tool. Right now - Daz is very limited with just nVidia IRay for photo-realism.
Causam3DMon, Mar 09
Karma: 32,858
dForce. Well, we're doing our part there. 
slofkoskyWed, Mar 18
Karma: 14,385
Geesh, I'd be pretty happy if they fixed some simple things:

1) When you click "Render", a big window of white shines in my face for sometimes a whole minute or more depending upon how complex the scene or items within it are. With my ultra-wide monitor it lights up the whole room. Eventually it becomes a grey checker pattern, but to me that's bad and careless coding. 

SOLUTION: Start with a black window or start with the grey window then programmatically work on the other things.

2) It seems that if there are a lot of collision / smoothing iterations on every piece of clothing on a character the user experience becomes painful. You should be able to move an arm, or leg, or whatever and it shouldn't take minutes to see results.

SOLUTION: Allow the user to move whatever of a character, update the move first in the viewer, then apply smoothing and collision iterations AFTERWARDS.

3) ICON images generated for every image in the output folder! This one is fricken nuts to me, that you can have "Create icons" turned off in the preferences but yet everything gets those tiny icon images of every render created. You can put a completely unrelated image into the render folder and it will still generate an icon of that image! I know there is a way to specify the default path for render outputs and then not have it create icons but it is not clear at all.

SOLUTION: When the user says "Don't create icons"... don't create icons!

I can go on and on....
dthtvwls
Karma: 2,997
Wed, May 27
Pretty sure that the white screen you complain about is an artifact of the the raytracing algorithm, and not some kind of design decision. It's uh, making your room too bright? Why not just... minimize the window?

Also, there are lots of settings that enable you to change the polygon count and so on, that are preview only and don't affect the final render. Learn the tool better before complaining about solved problems.
darkart1Sat, May 02
Karma: 3,261
Daz definitely needs to go back to separate male and female figures. I can't believe that anyone would think a unisex figure would be a good idea.
dthtvwls
Karma: 2,997
Wed, May 27
The crazy thing is they tried it with the inaugural version of Genesis back in 2011, and it failed then too.
SincopationMon, May 04
Karma: 4,036
I'd like to see an improved database where third party items and library reorganization is automatically updated in the database and the smart content tab. Drag and drop capability to add and organize items. And a way to customize the presets in the surfaces tab. so much time hunting for items that should be organized better
dthtvwls
Karma: 2,997
Wed, May 27
This is already a solved problem, you just need to get third-party content creators to include metadata for it to work. Every now and then you'll find one who knows how to do it and their packages plug right into the Daz Install Manager and everything just works.
Sincopation
Karma: 4,036
Wed, May 27
I think the onus would be on Daz to improve the program, rather than rely on third parties to do it. Also, I manually load all third party content to make sure the components are in the proper folders, so the meta data still has to added
dthtvwls
Karma: 2,997
Wed, May 27
I hear what you're saying, but Daz can't work with metadata that isn't there--the creators have to include it. I've only seen it in DIM-formatted packages, like the ones you can download from Daz's own website: zip files with the rough name format XXX0000000-01_ProductNameHere.zip

If you pop those into the Daz Install Manager, everything just works.
Sincopation
Karma: 4,036
Wed, May 27
I understand, but I was thinking of a drag and drop or something similar to allow content to be added to the database without having to go through many steps. This would improve the program immensely.
HellcatFri, May 08
Karma: 1,275
Character Creator 5 and Poser both have HD morphs. DAZ needs to let everyone create HD morphs for Genesis figures.
PervDokaTue, Jun 16
Karma: 113
FLUIDS action is seriously missing!
If  Maya, Blender  and other 3D programs   can enable you play with fluids, then that really would be something.
Yes, there's  Fluidos, I  know, but I  think Daz3D should have SOMETHING included as standard.
Just my opinion.
Wayland the SmithThu, Jun 18
Karma: 5,268
An AUTO SAVE feature would be amazing at this point.  I can't tell you how many times I've spent an hour or more creating a scene when Daz suddenly decides to lock up and crash.  It would be awesome if the program had a setting to allow work to be saved automatically to prevent total loss in a crash - whether saving at timed intervals or saving before actions like simulating or rendering.  
tleonhartTue, Jun 30
Karma: 5,860
Resuming a better software kkkk. Blender worked 100% times better on my old potato notebook than Dazstudio, thanks to eevee engine. Optimization will be great too.
tleonhartTue, Jun 30
Karma: 5,860
Resuming a better software kkkk. Blender worked 100% times better on my old potato notebook than Dazstudio, thanks to eevee engine. Optimization will be great too.
MithgarafThu, Jul 09
Karma: 227
One thing that I'm disappointed with in the timeline -- and this has not been fixed in D26 (6.x) -- is the lack of support for surface changes (shading), and no tracking of item parentage.

I use the timeline for sequencing of shots, not necessarily animations; sometimes from one shot to the next, I might be illustrating someone holding a knife against someone, progressing to the "victim" wresting (successfully) the knife from the "perpetrator", and I want $victim's hand to assume parentage of the knife.  I am aware this can be accomplished by both characters having identical props at hand parented to each, and scaling them up/down to give the appearance of the switcheroo, but the point is

-> I should not have to do that. <-
RSand55Wed, Aug 12
Karma: 2,872
I wish dForce sims didn't take as long on lesser systems.
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