From the looks of it the 0.9 one has max standing closer to Alice, so the different view point makes it tricky to do a direct comparison. After thinking bout it though I prefer the new one, faces looks a lot better.
For folks saying he's changed the model, I'm convinced it's the exact same model, it's just the new lighting that's making it look different. It's fairly easy to make someone go from looking lean to shapeless by removing shadows, just go look at all those gym-bro before and after how-to videos if you don't believe me. Whether or not that was the right move is another discussion. Personally I think it makes the character look more real but unfortunately also makes it look less like a night time scene.
Daz 3D is what you're looking for. Probably Photoshop for color correction and the like. You may find this thread interesting.
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I agree...facial expression is better, but the body and clothes look kinda "flat".
EDIT: Hair is better too, but again...the old render has more details: shadows of the pants, wrinkles on knees and arms...
Conversation from yesterday, but still, wanted to add a little bit of input.
I agree the face is better in the new one, but not the lighting.
I've done a lot of photography, and for the most part the old image is better. Shadows play a very big role in adding depth. They let you see the shape of what you're looking at in a more 3 dimensional way. When everything is evenly lit, like in the new version, it makes images look noticeably flatter. Natural lighting doesn't light all sides of an object evenly like that, unless it's reflecting off of another surface just as brightly as the originating light is shining. Our brains have gotten very good at interpreting shapes based on shading, so when you see the bottom edge of her arm or the right side of her body fading into darkness you can see the curves of the skin even in a flat 2D image.
When someone draws cartoon style characters with evenly-lit skin, they look especially cartoonish - and this effect is present even in 3D renderings like these. Once they add in realistic shadows, though, the characters begin to pop out at you and feel much more real. An example of what I mean (note that the colors are slightly different, but the issue is the levels of change and contrast between shadows and highlights):
There should always good contrast between light and dark in quality images. Within given elements, you want to have bright and dark areas that define shapes for the viewer by popping out the leading edges and sinking back the trailing ones. In studio photography, it's standard to aim for soft shadows in most circumstances but not to eliminate them. Gradiant shadows are often ideal, and sometimes hard shadows provide the best effects on skin (when used properly).