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Sandy,
Yes I think that would fool most people into believeing it is a photo of a model. The short depth of field is very reminicent of using a basic camera to photograph a model in available light.
This is absolutely delightful.
Hmm, I think it was at this point that the discussion transmogrified into trains and such. For a moment there I thought we were veering into a Mada Belated Appreciation renderfest.
Is it time to lock up this thread "Not much participation in forums" ... done and done?
Cheers!
I'll stop posting about trains, didn't intend to derail the thread.
Trains.. Derail... Get It? (sorry)
It is all good.
I see what you did there.
<--waves to csaa... the name seems familiar... I'm sure I've seen you flittering about the forums. I agree that comments do keep me coming back and I do realize that sometimes it can become a part time job with all the wonderful artworks that are being posted... so... I decided long ago that I would make sure my threads get most of my comments. I admit I became a little lax when the forums were having trouble last month. I wasn't getting email notices and I'm sure that hurt a lot of artwork commentors too. Glad it is back working... but I agree some kind of emogi system would be great after every artwork posted. At least we would see that people are looking at our art. lol. Same with the gallery... I still haven't figured out HOW to follow someone.
Haaaaahahahahahahaha - that is hilarious - and great job on making it fit!
While I certainly can appreciate the amount of work and skills that went into this, my brain hurts when I look at it
Amazing stuff
Finally got free version of DAZ-Deals to work on Opera (intermittent at best)
and saved myself a Mada PDF of stuff I own
I'll take a stab at getting us back on the topic:
1. There hasn't been a major addition or improvement to Daz Studio in years. Correct me if I'm wrong (or if you disagree profoundly), but I don't consider any developments since dForce (back in 2017) to qualify as "major"--they seem minor or incremental. A bit worrying for a software company, if we can still consider Tafi a software/applications company.
2. The company rarely communicates with its customer base beyond marketing/promotion/sales verbiage and hyperbole. We have little or no idea what Daz considers a priority (beyond cost containment) for the future, and we've already exhausted the discussion of the relevant questions four or five years ago.
3. As outrider42 has already pointed out, Genesis 9 character models are generating a fraction of the forum posts compared to Genesis 8. That may or may not correlate with sales, and Daz is unlikely to provide actual numbers in terms of licenses sold (not giveaways) or dollars of sales, so we're stuck with anecdotal statements. Not worth the keystrokes to argue for or against those.
4. Inflation may be having a negative effect on relatively pricey newer content, and I'm not going to be inclined to post about content from 2015 that I finally got around to paying $2.38 for. The bulk of discussion has been, and probably should be, about current content.
5. The poor categorization of the forums doesn't help. Too much is dumped into "The Commons".
6. Some minor losses to discussion elsewhere, like Discord or blogs.
7. No way for us to know how many users of Daz content are being gained or lost to other applications or activities (Blender, text-to-image generators, trainspotting, interpretive dance, etc.). Volume of forum posts may or may not mean anything for the business, or even the level of interest in Daz content. Or it might be a significant indicator of gains or losses in interest.
So, since I'm participating but apparently not contributing, I'll crawl back into my mudpit and make a couple of new stupid renders for my own amusement:))))
These forums are fine as long as you don't have a particular opinion about anything, it seems. But that's ok, let's tell it with art:)
Happy rendering!
oh my - that is a lot :)
Interesting image - diner from the future looking at the car outside the window? :)
Forum posts, in general, don't correlate to sales. I've seen no drop in sales in my G9 products compared to my G8 sales when stuff comes out. Overall, G9 has sold a little better honestly. In general, my G9 products are getting about 20% more revenue than similar G8 products of mine. Since sales prices are lower than the G8 equivalents at release (with discounts taken into account--not straight sticker price), it takes more sales to equal the G8 revenue. So in general, G9 is selling better for me than G8 did. This isn't anecdotal incidentally. I keep detailed records of product sales and revenue so I can track trends.
still working on that animation, probably will limit it to pirates
I actually now have PDFs of each figure I can reference, only did this one for this render challenge but it did get me to find a better way to sort content
Good to read that Genesis 9 content is doing comparatively well for you. In terms of development time, is Genesis 9 a big saver in terms of time and trouble?
Of course you're keeping detailed and systematic records of your sales, so your info isn't anecdotal. For myself (and the vast majority of other forum posters, who aren't Daz/Tafi employees or PAs), we have no hard numbers to go on. We have only casual, informal, and unsystematic observations--anecdotal stuff. And those types of casual observations aren't likely to produce extended threads with hundreds of responses.
Again, wars and things have been going on long before the current wars got started. There have been riots and chaos all over the world, including America. COVID was killing hundreds and even thousands of people in some countries and yet the forums were briskly moving. Maybe there are some forum users there. But I'd expect that there would be at least one or two users who know where they are from and would mention that this user was from a certain place. We have had numerous unforuneate times when a friend posted the sad news of someone passing.
And perhaps that is a part of it, too. We have lost a number of people over the years, both PAs and forum users, and maybe there have not been as many newer users on the forum.
I hate to state the obvious but it could be because of Machine Learning based image generation the so called AI Art
it correlates and my interactions with former DAZ users on Facsbook supports this hypothesis
as someone who still does a lot of 3D rendering and still buys content I can tell you I know a large number of AI users who no longer do
I too use AI as well and also know many others who do both we are the one's who DAZ really don't want to alienate, the first group they probably have lost already
for me it's a hobby, entertainment, noncommercial so I feel somewhat less ethically challenged
and maintain the stance Stable Diffusion as it is should not be used commercially
however gatekeeping what people do to entertain themselves never went well, be it banning books, alcohol, consensual activities between adults
and we simply cannot point out the other obvious reasons without getting political etc
DAZ doesn't need to embrace machine learning
nobody expects that
but it exists so find ways to work with it encouraging people to take inspiration and use 3D content as well instead of hatred and condemnation
Wars are very sad
My friend, the Gandalf-like last stand at bridge of Khazad Dum is much appreciated. But when the oncoming Balrog leading the horde of Moria orcs turns out to be Mada, with her Taylor Swift level star power, fan boys and fan girls clutching their lovely Daz renders in tow ... maybe it's time to be a little bit gracious and let things be.
After all, this is The Commons where discussions are more freewheeling. At this point we've got rearing centaurs dressed in black tutus, erudite shop talk about locomotives, sad musing about pandemics and war; we even have the Cat Lady waxing philosphical over AI. Take a deep breath, man. It's like a Friday night sit down dinner with la familia. What a cornucopia!
Of course, folks have been on point about the topic "Not much participation in forums", and justly so at it. But so far though this discussion has been like a jaunt in Time Square on a rowdy weekened. You never know what you'll run into.
Cheers!
I thought we were addressing 'Not much participation in the forums' by um, participating.
Sadly, I see this thread heading towards extinction...
It's definitely my feeling that forums are less popular than (say) 20 years ago. Renderosity has stopped publishing the numbers on their site too. Used to be over 4000 a long time ago, and the last I can remember was hovering around 2000.
I've also seen this in cross stitch forums & fountain pen ones. Facebook and Twidder are the two major places now. Shame really.
Regards,
Richard
One of the none 3D forums that I used to regularly visit had, what they described as 'technical problems with the database' which resulted in all image files being lost from all posts going back some 10 years. What used to be a valuable knowledge resource became useless overnight. That sort of thing can kill a forum
I'm enjoying all the renders in this thread, from the centaur in a tutu to the train renders!
Well barbult, keep making them, they're fun!
Thank you so much for the lovely compliments delectro_9f6dc82a97!
I just did a quick look up of mp3.com - it's previous incarnation seems to have been shut down in 2003. Though I'm no spring chicken, that was definitely a looong time before I got into music production! 
Llola Lane I totally agree on having emoji responses to posts here, like is common on Discord. That makes for a much quicker way of responding to posts and render uploads: thumbs up, like, agree, thank you etc. etc. It will also definitely create more participation and engagement in the forums in my personal opinion.
I hate that people might feel invisible just because there's no visible response in the various threads, even though practically speaking many of us reading the threads are liking posts, appreciating renders, laughing at the comedy and being grateful for the heads up or advice, but all inside our heads, as responding to everything is not practical. But rest assured, whenever I come across your posts and renders, I'm giving them a big like in my head!
rcourtri_789f4b1c6b and WendyLuvsCatz Interesting and insightful posts on forum engagement and AI too drawing away some 3D hobbyists.
I feel several social platforms/forums maybe dropped in engagement levels after the 'end' of the pandemic. I've seen quite a few move to Discord, which has its own drawbacks. But I think many people appreciate having a community focused around their interests. So making the space function a little better could easily improve engagement - like supporting quick emoji-based feedback to posts and better forum search features.
LOL - I always fancied myself more like Galadriel than a Balrog
I agree that forums in general are slower, not just here... and while I like discord I prefer the way we can discuss things in a forum so I am invested in seeing this forum active and used.
Something to keep in mind... this is a community forum, a way to connect with your peers and PAs.
If you're posting points in the hopes that Daz management will take note, they're running a business and sitting in meetings etc - reading forums is low on the list of things to do. Their eyes are on the sales page and how the sales are going. Inflation has taken a big cut from spending money worldwide - and so far they have done an amazing job on discounting while still keeping PAs more or less happy with the income generated (its hard to be happy when the cut from a $30 item comes to down to cents because of stacking or promotions).
So while it might feel good to post on every release that you're NOT going to buy something, its not doing anything but making other people rethink their purchases, and making PAs feel like they're failing somehow. If they're not making enough money that is already culling them because who wants to work for free? Less PAs, less chance of getting that product that you really want. My 2 cents.
I'm travelling at the moment so won't be posting for a bit while in the air :)
Or Captain of the Goodship Mada
yes finally fnished my shorts video
i do agree with the TOS of no politics. There are certain things that can really destroy relationships. religion, politics, and so forth. I'vr dropped a couple political phrases, thoughts, into a couple of my posts, that in my mind were more of a metaphor, but they got bounced.