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DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
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© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.Daz 3D is part of
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DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Ha, yes!
If you have stuff and you can do work with it, do that work. Hundreds of figures and thousands of items might be too many or not enough. I think it's both at the same time.
The organization issue is real. The more stuff you have, the worse it is. I've forcibly tamed a lot of mine. There are still pockets of resistance, but they are all falling into place. Problem is, not everyone wants the same organizational structure. Also, items from other stores have to be carefully managed. Generally, it's easier to manage newer items that live in the Daz file structure. Poser file structure is more of a nightmare. My management of those products is only good for Daz. Nothing to do for it!
I don't have to buy anything ever again, but I like a lot of the stuff I've seen. Plus, I've got some items that are made from bits and pieces of many other items. You can't do that if it's not in your library. And yes, I've got stuff I don't know I've got. That's always interesting.
Ironically, budget shortage is not especially a limitation to accumulation. Perhaps enough is never enough.
June, 2023, when I finally retired. I've purchases way, way too much 3D stuff over the last 25 years and only used a small fraction of it. My view was that *eventually* I would have time to use more items and that I was building a virtual studio (actors, wardrobe department, scenery department, etc.) with a wide enough range of stuff that I could set up a photoshoot or movie set where I had anything I needed.
The problem, of course, is that when I see something unusual my first thought is always, "what could I do with that?". In "the old days" if I could come up with a use for it, I'd usually grab it, even if I might not ever use it but just in case...
Now, I see something new and unusual and my first thought is, "what could I do wtih that?" followed very quickly by my second throuhgt, "But am I *really* going to do that?". Full stop.
I'm stil picking up the "DAZ Plus for a Day" types of items, and other DAZ Plus items that fit into the things I'm working on now, but for the most part I've decided to pause on spending until I see what DAZ Studio 5 will allow me to do that I can't do now. Should it open up my possibilities, it'll probably open up my wallet a bit too.
-- Walt Sterdan
That's really where I am too. Since G9 was released, the amount I've spent in these past like six months is what I normally would have spent in a month before G9. But after being underwhelmed with G9, and I've picked up like five or six characters and I think I'm good, I'm really waiting to see what Daz 5 has in store with fixes to animation, if any, before I decide to go back to spending what I used to or not.
What helps for me is narrowing down things by genre. I really only work in historical and fantasy, so I limit myself to those genres. I also ask myself if a product is similar to something I already have or if it's something I have an immediate use for. The stuff I pick up without immediate uses for are things on sale, and then I make use of the DAZ deals plugin and check to see if I can likely get it at a better price if I wait. I end up adding a lot to my cart and removing it. Sometimes I'll also leave stuff in my cart and come back to it, so I can re-evaluate. Often that will help me remove even more.
It's never enough. :P Just the other day I had to buy a shader pack at full price because I needed right then. So that's why I buy everything that I can possibly ever use when it's a good sale.
I tend to chase the deals with items on my wishlist, and am more liberal when I have store credits from gift cards, on so called discounts, I gave myself. In my mind, I am saving on top of savings. I tend to mellow out when I run out of store credits, at least until the next gift-card sale. I have also found reviewing items in my inventory helps. It reminds me I have no time to render everything. On top of that, I also love freebies...To alleviate my deal finding habit, I sometimes add what I think is the perfect combination of items for maximum discount to the cart, then simply let the cart expire.
look at all the purty things. I'll slow down soon, said for 20+ years. I've not rendered anything from G2 bck, so all that stuff is collecting dust now. G3 close. I ask why after every purchase. It does not end.
I'm finding myself cutting down on my spending lately. I've got work that needs to be done on my house, so that's where my money needs to go.
I developed a real life shopping addiction, not only of DAZ items but material possessions as well. It took coming to the brink of bankruptcy to scare me straight, and I am engaged in treatment for my addiction. I certainly do not blame DAZ for developing a shopping habit. It was my way of coping with some toxic relationships in my life, but I'm learning to work on the root cause of my issues so that I can spend less money and have a happier life. All the new shiny is very tempting, but I think I'm going to spend more time actually learning to use the content I have effectively and hold back on the spending until I pay down debt and get my addiction more under control.
xyer0 I found the view you mentioned. The view is spoiled by all the Lost and Found icons. This is the view I use.
It's easy to stop. How many elf, pirate, and cyberpunk bundles do you need? Same old, same old, but a few surprises here and there.
I stopped figures at G3 (I have a few G8 monsters that I may or may not use because converting materials is sometimes more pain than it is worth) so now I only am tempted by very cool, useful props and the very rare set. I have a massive wishlist, but I am waiting for an equally massive sale, which has yet to happen. I still have a weakness for hairs, because they are so easy to use on any generation, but they have to be really unusual now for me to even glance their way. I have all the toys I really need (except for wishlisted things, which I may or may not really need depending on what picture I am currently trying to make) so my buy-it-all impulses ebb easily in response to increasing prices and reduced usefulness/ease of use.
I keep saying I will stop
but I don't
I now own 2 G9 characters and a few outfits
This ! Except I am not really good in making my own stuff. Most of the time, I just add morphs or alter the items.
Genesis 9 is a blessing. It saves me so much money.
when you have enough stuff so that if you miss the cart time change by a few minutes and see it went from $30 to $105 .. you just clear cart and ask daz, who lost? Not me, I saved $30 and with 12k items I won't even notice.
One question is my ultimate decider "How much use am I really going to get out of this?"
That is good when you know the one item you are looking for, but when you want to browse clothing or hair for the figure, alphabetical list of everything (and the kitchen sink) installed does not help.
Without the vanity folders, you can just go to the clothing folder and start going down the list with the down arrow on your keyboard and see the available pieces of clothing as you go through the list
But the technology isn't there yet and I would find quite interesting to be able to communicate with my characters
This LOL. Seriously, the assets don't run away from the shop they're there for you when you need them. It is better to just take what you need for the current project, also because time passes and technology grows better, so after some years everything is changed.
Buying has slowed way down. Before retirement I had the money but not the time. After retirement I have the time but not the money. Now I try to enjoy the content I have and watch for sales from my wishlist.
That's pretty much where I am. I still have stuff going back to the old Zygote days! Mind you, I would've bought into G9 on day one, but bringing back the "one mesh fits all" approach doesn't work for me aesthetically.
This ^^
Experience really helps. I've now got a better idea of the sorts of products I'll actually use... eventually. I joined the Daz world near the beginning of G3 and G2 was still going strong, and bought all sorts of stuff while imagining the renderings I could produce, but often never got around to it. When G8 was released, that experience helped me focus my purchasing. That experience also helped in that I knew to switch to a new generation I would want certain types of products (various morph packs and shaders usually) and so I wasn't as likely to migrate over until those became available.
Maybe they'll release DazGPT so we can chat with our characters!
probably where that chatbot product is heading
https://www.daz3d.com/d-talks--realtime-talking-chatbot-for-daz-characters
If my DAZ characters start talking to me I've probably had too little sleep and have done a face plant on my desk and am dreaming!
There's certain things I key into. Medieval/fantasy/viking stuff? I can never have enough of that. Contemporary? Well, only if it's interesting. Sci-fi? Only if it's very interesting. Try to limit myself to specific vendors as well, some of my favourites in particular. Though, I won't grab ALL of their stuff, maybe only about 90% of it.
I've just slowed down andhave become more selective about my purchases. I've pretty much have left characters behind. I've been focusing more on interior rooms, vehicles and props. I had to chuckle at the comment that when G9 came out it pretty much killed their buying. I must admit I fall into this category myself.
Enough, yah a content library exceeding a terrabyte, there's lots there to work with.