Character Creator and iClone tend to use the one file philosophy of 3D content. For example, if I create a character is CC, add clothing, and add accessories, when the result is saved as a iAvatar files all of the content is saved in that single file. This makes it really easy to transport or move and it ensures that if the iAvatar file is moved to a different computer it will work just fine because all of the sub-content (such as clothing and accessories are embedded in the one iAvatar file). DAZ Studio, on the other hand, seems to use references. So when you build a complete character, the file is actually just a reference to installed content with some settings indicated. I always disliked this concept because it made it harder to re-organize files (because you could end up breaking the links) and it make it difficult to know what is all the sub-content you needed to move the content to a different computer.

It wasn't until I started to try to make some detailed characters that I started to see the advantage of the reference system. For example, I was making a character that was armed with multiple knives and multiple hand guns. This meant that the character's accessories contained multiple knife sheaths, knives, gun holsters and hand guns. In a reference system, it would not matter how many knife sheaths, knives, gun holsters or hand guns the character was carrying because each copy of the content only needed to include the reference and some minimal information about the instance (e.g. location, orientation, etc). This meant that each additional copy of the content was only a minor increase in size to the character. However, in iClone/CC (which does not use a reference system) each copy of the content added the complete mesh, textures, etc for each instance of the content and thus increased the size of the character significantly.




"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast