The amount of new PAs coming here is a very welcome sight!

NewGuy

Good points! Having all the software is much more powerful for sure.  Just wanted to make sure you were aware of it.  

apocalypse_cow

All I am saying is that the stores are comprised of individual product makers, and as a product maker I don't feel competition between the shops, I feel it between individual product makers. In my case people like Josh Crockett and Joe Quick have both pushed me to make better products, and that was within this store. So it really doesnt matter what store they are in to push competition. (and I have broducts in both stores)

Competition will exist no matter now many stores there are.....because each PA is a store unto themselves.

This is not quite right. As a vendor you have a deal with DAZ wich means they do certain things for you (marketing, providing and maintaining the website, QA etc.). In return, they get a cut of every sale or they might purchase products from you to sell as a DAZ original. The same is true for other stores like Renderosity, Renderhub etc. What store(s) you sell at depends on what kind of deal you get and how good they are at promoting your stuff. And if they don't give you a good deal, or they make the deal that they have worse, you can go elsewhere.

This is basically what seems to have happened with Rendo - Rendo gave vendors a deal that they didn't like - and many walked out.

But if there is less competition between stores, they can get away with giving you a worse deal, because you have fewer places to (realistically) go to.

And the same is true on the consumer side as well - The fewer places there are to shop, the less the remaining stores need to give to consumers to still get a sale.

 

Now of course there are always limits, because at a certain threshold people will just stop creating/buying alltogether, but generally more competition=more power for consumers/PAs

 

Torquinox

NewGuy said:

Good points! Having all the software is much more powerful for sure.  Just wanted to make sure you were aware of it.  

Thank you! I appreciate that.

NylonGirl

3-D Arena said:

Torquinox said:

Rendo has now told their side of it, from their newsletter this morning:

The last eighteen months have been eventful here at Renderosity. Read on for a brief timeline. In Feb ’23 we released an updated version of the Renderosity marketplace. This marked the final phase of a two-year site modernization effort designed to improve the site and streamline future
development work.

Faced with unexpected staff turnover in summer ‘23, we decided to revitalize the business by hiring key new staff, updating business strategy and implementing new processes such as professional customer and vendor support.

In Nov ’23 we implemented new Vendor Terms to ensure the long-term success of the Renderosity business. This created friction with some vendors who preferred the prior terms and that would set the stage for some vendors to migrate to competing sites in Apr ’24.

While we hate to see vendors leave, we ultimately know that competition is a good thing. The alternative is a monopoly with one provider of software and digital content for the community. This doesn’t usually end well.

So, on behalf of the Renderosity team, the best we can do is to ensure Renderosity is a healthy business and that we will be here for buyers and vendors when they need us in the future. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who has tolerated the dust and occasional growing pains
as we have worked to improve the site over the last 18 months. It has been far from perfect and we’re working continuously to improve, but we greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve.

Tim Choate
President/CEO, Bondware, Inc. DBA Renderosity.com

That's very 1-sided and implies that their changes were policy changes only and doesn't address how those changes affected vendors. 

Well, I suppose it would have to be one-sided to balance out the one-sided DAZ comments. What were the other changes besides policy changes, and how did they affect... vendors? 

Torquinox

takezo_3001 said:

I have a whole new respect for modellers, though I'm taking the ZBrush sculpting route as I simply don't have the patience for it yet, I say yet because when I'm sculpting morphs I don't just brush in the sculpts rather, I follow a cage-like process where I follow the polygonal structure, in order to build up morph instead of brushing it in, it comes out a lot more even than before, as I would have random lumps and divots; so one day I may try modelling those bloody chess pieces again! x^D

But yeah IF I had the money, I would snag both Maya and Max, as well as the CC4/Iclone prog!

Modeling badly is easy. Modeling well is much harder - especially if you care for surface topology. If you have ZBrush, you have an industry standard tool for making character morphs and more. So, you can definitely keep going with that. Do try your chess pieces again! You'll reach the point where brushes become your friends.

Re: Max and Maya: even if you have the money, it's probably wiser to pick one program or the other and go with it. You want to be comfortable with the software you're using so you can load it up and get on with the task at hand. I'd pick Maya, others might pick Max. And I'm pretty sure there are trial versions available for both.    

takezo_3001

Torquinox said:

Modeling badly is easy. Modeling well is much harder - especially if you care for surface topology. If you have ZBrush, you have an industry standard tool for making character morphs and more. So, you can definitely keep going with that. Do try your chess pieces again! You'll reach the point where brushes become your friends.

Re: Max and Maya: even if you have the money, it's probably wiser to pick one program or the other and go with it. You want to be comfortable with the software you're using so you can load it up and get on with the task at hand. I'd pick Maya, others might pick Max. And I'm pretty sure there are trial versions available for both.    

You know, I just might do that, as I have learned patience and moving polys in ZBrush would help with those chess pieces, and yeah, if I were to choose a product it would definitely be 3DSMax, thanks for the advice and encouragement!

Torquinox

takezo_3001 said:

You know, I just might do that, as I have learned patience and moving polys in ZBrush would help with those chess pieces, and yeah, if I were to choose a product it would definitely be 3DSMax, thanks for the advice and encouragement!

Excellent! Glad to help. I noticed you also made an inquiry for your Rendo account problem over there. I hope it's successfully resolved!

takezo_3001

Torquinox said:

Excellent! Glad to help. I noticed you also made an inquiry for your Rendo account problem over there. I hope it's successfully resolved!

Both yes and no, yes, it was resolved, yet I still had to purchase something in order to change my info... 

Torquinox

takezo_3001 said:

Torquinox said:

Excellent! Glad to help. I noticed you also made an inquiry for your Rendo account problem over there. I hope it's successfully resolved!

Both yes and no, yes, it was resolved, yet I still had to purchase something in order to change my info... 

Messy, but I'll call that a win. Glad to hear.