It's tough to justify making purchases
TY3DArt
Posts: 154
For the last 8 yeas, I have bought a ton of products here at DazStudio. I would spend an average of 300.00 a month most of the time. But inflation has put a damper on it, plus now with all the other options out there. It's tough to buy things here anymore. New products are expensive, I wasn't happy about the Gen9 release because I know that every asset, clothing, hair, utilities would have to be upgraded, and that really put a damper on my spending here with Daz. My DazPlus is due next month and I have decided not to renew becasue I am not using it for much more than the freebees now. I can get a lot of freebees elswhere. It's sad, because my experience on th forums have always been negative, and not well recieved even when asking for help. I ended up turning to YouTube for a lot of answers. The same goes for my Galley post, it just seems that people are very bias here. I put up so very beautiful art work only to recieve little attention, or just pushed back. I am retired-disabled person so it's not like I will be missed here or anything. My fixed income can only go so far, and my enthusiasim is running out.
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During the PA sale there have been items selling for 80% off captivating legacy items | Daz 3D
I averaged about $30 a month from March 2016 - March 2022, along with a few hundred dollors in the decade & a half before then, but I simply ran out of models I wanted/needed that DAZ had. They still have some stuff I want and will buy, but the higher prices don't have me in a hurry to buy it.
Ever since the gallery was made over, interacting with it has been a trying situation. Nobody is notified when someone comments on their gallery. There is no way to know when someone whose work you admire, has posted something new. So, it is not surprising to me that you are not getting much response in the gallery. Don't let it spoil your fun. Render for your own enjoyment. You don't need to care what random other people have to say about it anyway.
I try to help people in the forum when I can. I don't believe we've ever encountered each other here. I can't imagine someone giving you a hard time about for asking for help. People here are generally remarkably helpful and generous with their time to even answer the same questions over and over. I'm sorry if you encountered a few exceptions. YouTube is a remarkably helpful resource, too, so good that you found help there.
If you aren't benefiting from your Daz+ subscription, it is absolutely the right thing to let it expire. But be sure that you uncheck the auto renew and CANCEL it well before the expiration date. It will continue to the expiration date, even after you cancel. If you don't cancel, sometimes Daz has auto renewed anyway. And if you paid with PayPal, you MUST also cancel the subscription at PayPal, or they will take the money and pay Daz to renew. You can always rejoin at any time if you change your mind in the future.
Best wishes going forward.
Dont post art here, do it at Renderosity or Deviant art. Also you don't need to spend money to do 3D stuff, just work on your skills and use what you have. Some people have tons of money and content but cant create anything they like. You are better served going to a community college and taking art and photograpy courses than spending money on content. If you are trying to save money look at youtube content concering art therory. Learning rules of art composition, lighting, color, perspective ect, will serve you better.
Good Luck
there is nothing wrong with daubing (painting over) renders either
it's actually what Poser back in the old days was made for
do basic renders and postwork the hell out of them
paint in content
I have similar feelings to the opening post. G8 has been out for so long that it has sort of become the unofficial standard, at least as far as I am concerned. I have so much stuff for it (characters, hair, clothing, poses, etc) that I have no desire to upgrade to a new Genesis and start all over again.
If something is not G8 compatible, I am not buying it. I will buy G3 and G2 stuff but at least for now, I will not be spending any money on G9.
I hadn't bought much at DAZ for a few years. I got mildly excited by the arrival of Genesis 9. I rejoined the PC Club. I cancelled the subscription soon after.
One thing about DAZ's products turns me off. Too many products use "vanity names" for their content. If I buy a "pirate" shirt, I want to find it listed as a "pirate" shirt. I don't want to guess what PA made the product, and look under a PA's folder. And now it appears there is a shortage of male clothing.
That is an EXCELLENT Point! There are things I knew that I had purchased but forgot what it was called and had to spend HOURS looking for it one by one.
I am heavily invested in G8 (G8.1 and G3) as well, but with a few addons most content works fine with G9. I have never understood why many users think it has to be one or none. I use all figures from G2 up (V4 just looks and bends bad) and content from every generation on G9. Sometimes they release a really detailed outfit or accessory that just doesn't autofit well, so it pays to have working versions of all generations figures IMO
The flip side of this, though, is that there is way too much duplication in the store for there to be simply a descriptive name. Otherwise you'll end up with hundreds of items all called Short Skirt For G8F and it would be almost impossible to avoid the redundantly named files that cause errors. Remember, DAZ PAs mostly work by themselves, so it's not uncommon for two PAs to release similar products very closely together. In retrospect, what DAZ really should have been doing all along is using the "Categories" function to create a second default set of default categories that go by the most basic names for products sans PA specific modifiers...
If I didn't categorize my stuff myself, I'd go nuts trying to find it when I need it. I too highly recommend creating your own categorization using Studio's categories feature.
Apparently, the last time I spent money on DAZ was exactly one year ago. The newest product in my library is Taye HD, purchased 21 September 2022. And after that, there is Genesis 9 Starter Essentials but I'm pretty sure I didn't pay for that.
Can you please provide a link on how to do that? And can I include things purchased elsewhere?
This could be me talking - almost. Mind you, I have spent quite a lot by my standards in this PA sale. Over the year it will average out to less than $20 p/m though.
I don't use Smart Content and I organise my folders manually (Windows Explorer).
Very smart! Same here
+1
As for the subject at hand... I agree with what the OP said and have dropped of my spending drastically for very much the same reasons. Another reason for me is there just isn't much content being made that I can use. I don't do pin-ups, sci-fi or fantasy. I basically use DS to set up references for drawing my graphic novels that are based on the adventures of regular folks. Also I've been collecting and making stuff to use since the days of Poser 2, so I'm at the point where I've got pretty much all I need to work for a while yet. Of course I'm open to getting new things- but they aren't appearing in the store. I don't blame DAZ or the PAs- both groups need to make money and feed themselves/keep the lights on. It just is what it is.
the offical daz gallery has almost zero traffic. should have cultivated a following on social media platforms in those 8 years if you wanted more of an audience
Yeah I never visit the gallery. Why? Because you can't find anything there, can't follow anyone, can't search by artist/user. You CAN sort by trending or popular or new, which to me is about the same thing altogether. (I just had a look). To me it looks like the reasons you would want to spend time there are non-existant. Correct me if I'm wrong, I may have missed a search function during my brief visit...
As for shopping: I'm a user of content, not a collector.
I don't use Smart Content or Categories. I use DAZ Studio to make art (or I try anyway). I don't want to Organize or program things.Besides Smart Content doesn't work well at all.
I prefer to use the folder structure that comes with DAZ Studio. I use the Tree View. Stuff is mostly organized beginning with categories such as Genesis 9, Characters, etc. That works well until we run into Vanity Folders.
The vast majority of content does NOT use Vanity Folders. I buy stuff based on the Type of content. Clothes, hair etc. I do NOT buy according to a PA's name. I don't buy anything from PA sales. It takes too much time to look through every PA's "store" to see what they offer.
With the lowLowLOW prices in this sale, I don't need to justify a purchase: I just buy what I need or what looks too good to pass up. I honestly don't see how Daz or PAs can stay in business at these prices, but that's above my pay grade. Listen to barbult, she's right, and she's one of the sweetest, most helpful people on this forum.
Ever since I started doing animation, my purchases are a lot more targeted to the specific projects I'm working on, whereas before I just bought anything that looked interesting because I rendered whatever came to mind after simply opening DS and choosing assets semi-randomly to create scenes out of. I also have very little money at the moment.
Re: vanity and 'generic' names like "Pirate" shirt- the trouble is when files are all named the same for different products- for example if two PAs make a pirate shirt and both are are in the same runtime and Category and location, and if they just name it Pirate shirt, it'll conflict with the other. If two characters for the same figure have the same name, it might overwrite, or call on the wrong fix morphs/jcms and cause other issues. I've had to go back and rename a character because it was the exact same name, spelling, and morphs as another PA's and they'd have conflicted with each other, so things are required to have the vendor's initials in front and separate the folder locations to limit that kind of issue. I thought it was kind of hilarious at the time because I'd looked very carefully for a name that wasn't already used in Daz and another primary market, and yet STILL managed to submit at the same time as another PA who had a character of the same exact name. Glad I caught it in time though, because when that happens people always get upset and blame the PA "why is this morph messing up???? This PA does garbage work!" or Daz "why didn't Daz catch this?" and then we all hustle to fix stuff but the thread is still there complaining about a bad character morph when its really a conflict of two instead. So there's reason for the "vanity" and it's to help keep every data name unique and working without problems. :) That said, isn't smart content supposed to help you find things by category? I don't use it myself ... I'm too set in my ways and install everything manually. ;)
and there's a lot of clothes for G9 if you like lingerie times 1000 :P
I joke but I do get the general frustration with not being able to buy a lot. All I can say is, there's a lot of sales at daz and a lot of very very high discounts. The odds are in your favor.
I've cut back significantly as well - I have close to 200 G8F characters and more tha 100 G8M; probaly the same count for G3. I've actually used somewhere near 40 characters, male and female, from both generations. I now have 6 G9F and 4 G9M - and I'll seriously consider the possibility of doubling those two numbers in time. I still look for male clothing, but I'm pretty well finished with female clothing in general and completely overstocked on underware and swimwear. So as far as clothing is concerned I'm currently interested in period appropriate outfits from the early 1920s to the early 1950s -everyday, not dress-up.
For the most part I'm here for selected props, the occasional environment or setting, and functionality enhancements and spending accordingly.
I think this is a really good explanation of the situation, thanks for making it so clear for us non-Creators!
Just out of curiosity, when you guys say that products cost too much and aren't affordable, can you please name some of those and tell which price, in your opinion, would be the correct one? I'm curious...
it's subjective and relative to the user
for someone living on an income less than the dole and considerably less than the Australian aged pension like me
arguably nothing at DAZ is affordable
but neither is cigarettes or alcohol and I don't drink or smoke
this is my addiction
For people using renders commercially everything is affordable and clients even pay for it
so no one answer
My opinion: The price of Daz Original G9 characters is too high. List price of $59.99 for a single character with one eye color, no makeup, no nail colors, or any of the other extras that often come with PA characters costing much less. Daz characters are only affordable when very highly discounted. And so many of them look so similar, there is not much incentive to buy a lot. I suggest a price of $30 instead of $59.99. I'd certainly buy more, if intro price was 51% off $30 with Daz+ discount, instead of 51% off $59.99.
If NylonGirl for G8 cost $14 last year and NylonGirl for G9 cost $16 this year, that is a small price increase. But if NylonGirl G9 cost $28 then you have doubled the price compared to last year's model. Combine that with how the nylon stockings and bodysuit are now sold separate from the figure and you are now charging twice the price for something that is kind of less useful than the previous model.
For how to name the folders, if you have a shirt called LionShirt, I look in the clothing folder for G8/Clothing/LionShirt. Now G8/Clothing/Rigamaroll/Lionshirt doesn't help. But G8/Clothing/LionShirtRigamaroll would at least show up when I'm looking for LionShirt.