Daz Studio 4.9 Beta Now Availa…
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Daz Studio 4.9 Beta Now Available..
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About Piracy, DRM, and the like:
Piracy is always going to exist no matter what format your content is in, the question really is this: What percentage of people using pirated versions of your content can you turn into customers by making it difficult to obtain pirated versions of your content, versus how many existing customers are you going to lose by putting restrictions on their use of content they have paid for.
For example, if I listen to a Justin Bieber song *shudder" because it's free, does that mean that if I can't listen to it free, am I going to buy it? OK, bad example, say it's a Rolling Stones song...
The answer is the same in both cases: No. I don't have any need to listen to either, if I'm of a mindset to only listen to free music I'm not going to pay for it. On the other hand, if I regularly pay for music, and you put restrictions on me even when I pay for it like what device I can play it on, I'm going to stop paying you for your music and listen to something else, which is what the music industry found out.
Same thing here. Most of the people doing 3D art are hobbiests, we don't need to do 3D art to make a living, there isn't any pay in it. Those that are getting around paying licensing fees are frankly moraly defective, but the chances of turning them into customers by locking down content is remote. I don't think there is a snowballs chance in hell your are going to increase sales by adding DRM, really, do you? Do you think that anybody using a Warez or other file sharing site is suddenly going to go "My gosh, I'm going to have to start paying for content!"?
I've probably spent well over $10K with you over the last 5 years and I haven't made a dime off it, it really wasn't a goal. I enjoy my hobby. Making it more difficult to use content I buy from you is going to do nothing to make me buy more content. You need to be very careful with this.
That said, I'm keeping an open mind about all this. I use DAZ on two computers, a big honking workstation and a laptop. I probably will connect the laptop to the store and see how it complicates things. If it destroys my file structure, or gets in the way of me using either new or existing content, I will not be a customer for Connect content, and if DAZ goes in the direction of forcing me to use it when it doesn't work for me at that point of course I cease being your customer.
The question for your business office is how you weigh that against the volume of people you pick up from the warez sites. Remember, just because they are using your stuff for free does NOT mean you will ever get them to pay for it, they simply stop using/listening to/viewing it. Or find a way to continue to use it for free.
DRM has consistently turned out to be a very poor business decision, which is why the movie and record companies went into heavy handed legal attacks instead. Frankly at some point they are going to figure out those are counterproductive too, that's where the indie movement came from and it's killing them.
Mimic 3.1 works Victoria 4 and Michael 4 as well, and Mimic 3.1 Pro works on those plus any other Poser 7 (or lower) figures that you have vismes set up for them.
Mimic Pro for Carrara works on all the the Poser figures which work in Carrara (Poser 7 or earlier), that have visme's or that you can create vismes for, Genesis, Genesis 2 Female and Genesis 2 Male and any Carrara native content that you have vismes set up for it.
The license for the engine for both Mac and Windows is a license for the 32 bit version of the engine. The company that the license was obtained from never did a 64 bit version of the engine.
Yes it did. :) Likely more substantiaal than you are expecting. :)
How do two PAs' feelings about DRM be reconciled? I'm sure neither likes their products being stolen.
sometimes google does remove links, it seems to be if you are in the entertainment industry you can have stuff blocked. movies, music, books I sometimes look for guitar tableture for songs I want to learn and those can get blocked - Yes, someone else with a guitar posting a bunch of guitar notation that is not sheet music for their interpretation of what a song comprised of - that can get blocked but they cant do the same for warez sites? I don't get it.
Existing content will continue to be available unencrypted, through DIM and (I assume) the Product Library. Content that isn't for DS will likewise be available through Dim etc. and unencrypted. Poser content downloaded through Connect is not actually encrypted anyway.
This is not a a Rant .. this is my resignation from buying Daz products once they have changed officially to daz 4.9 Or Daz connect/cloud encrypted only products.
I've been so unhappy about the announcement of the new changes at daz to the point it has thrown me into depression. Daz has always been my home outlet for creating fantasy worlds or for me to tell my stories. . with. the new changes and seeing how the new daz4.9 wanted to restructure my file system after I installed it. I would not have any Idea how to get Maya or Blender to work with daz connect models because as it is now I can access my 3d content in Maya through my Non Encrypted content files. & Daz Connect/cloud also bloated my Hard drive with 2 content directories. NO THANK YOU. so I uninstalled Daz4.9 and replaced my system with a shadow copy I had made to get my files back to the way they were, So I can say I TRIED Daz 4.9 &* what I learned is after that changes to Daz connect or cloud so will being able to access them the way I always had in my work flow with other software.. I've been a 8 year user & fan of Daz. But now I really hate the direction they took. but guess that is a way things are going, I was hoping daz would be different. But I'm not restructuring my PC drives for a software upgrade ever . there is 8 years 1013 gigs of stored content. Does daz have any idea how long it would take me to restructure that .. the alternative is to have 2 content drives.. No thanks.
So after feeling sorry for myself all night I started doing some research into Alternatives for 3d and I think I found something new I can work with besides Poser Pro. I figure if the future is that I'm going to have to be forced to use a cloud base software for my 3d and Illustration content by software company's then its going to be on my terms not theirs and I will do my speaking with my Wallet. It seems money is the only thing a company will listen too, instead of loyal long time users. crying foul. Daz3d you really have Offended me with this change.
Anyway I think found a new alternative for me to replace daz for some of my 3d needs and maybe save myself a few bucks too when it come to using figure for my 3d printed ceramics molds .. So if you are like me, this maybe will fit your needs as well. it is cloud based also and it will run on PC, android and Mac devices so when your sitting waiting for the bus for school you can be working on a new project on your Mobil device. the software Also allows for saving AutoCAD format which will save me a lot of time in converting models.
I'm going to keep looking for more 3d Alternatives , because I figure if I'm going to buy a 3d model I'm not going to be nannied on how I have to install it into my system or verify the item with encryption every time i want to add a new device or PC on my private Home network to access my content drives.I am not a computer DumAss . not to mention all the other laundry list of problems that Daz connects going to cause me in using the content . Daz has gone to far this time and I have spent way to much money on 3d content to be lumped up with the criminal elements of the web. . I have always been forthright and up front with daz 3d when it comes to using their products. I Gave credit for the products I used in my production animations. and if I was not sure about the legal issues on using their content for a project I contacted them to get the information I needed to use their content legally. I am not a criminal or a pirate . and I hate being Nannied or treated like I am after I have spent thousands of dollars on content here at daz. Once google asked me to verify my daz content for a Youtube video which was easy done with a screen short of my Sales receipt .. and that is all that should ever been needed for validation of a product.
This move by Daz3d has offended me to the core. . So Screw it. Daz has been fun but they have sucked the fun right out of 3d modeling for me with every new change they have made it has been slowly cutting out poser support. I paid for poser I did not pay for daz. So maybe a change to something new will bring back that excitement of 3d for me again . I have a regular 3d budget. so what 3d modeling site or company do I want to spend it at now that I won't be able to use Daz clound based content? I hate this new direct daz has made and I am going to protest it the only way I can. With my wallet! maybe my 100 bucks a month in sales is no big loss to daz3d.( check my Account records for proof.) . But some new company is going to welcome it I am sure. It seems the on;y thing companies listen to anymore is the money . so hear my money talk Daz or wave good buy to it.
I think we'll all lose out in the end, whether or not we're on board with the idea of Daz Connect. The hackers are always up for the next challenge, but the average consumer doesn't want to be challenged by their digital experiences, they want ease of use, control and flexibility, and will just stop buying if these aren't a factor. The PAs will be the first to be affected by the resulting drop in revenue, and will eventually vote with their feet by going off to sell elsewhere or finding something more profitable to do.
No content management system is going to be much fun once there's hardly any new content for it to manage, even if it works for you.
The people that Daz Connect is aimed at losing were never going to put their hands in their pockets anyway. Irritating the people who do spend money here will just prompt them to stop doing so and we'll lose the PAs when they do. Bad news all round.
I have to start asking. I am not being mean, or picking on you, I genuinely want to know. How does the encryption of the content challenge you? What does it prevent you from doing?
People have been predicting the doom of Daz for years now. I find smart content and DIM extremely easy to use and works great for workflow. I'm sorry not everyone agrees.
The 'challenge' of the digital experience will only be for people who curate a very particular directory structure and refuse to ever have to be online, ever, to unlock the newest content (whenever that happens). For the vast majority of users, that is utterly transparent.
It's unfortunate when progress leaves people behind, but for those willing to move with it, the benefits are great.
It's also unfortunate that people seem to think that screaming at and castigating Daz as wicked people up to no good is appropriate dialog, and I'm really debating taking a protracted vacation from this forum.
Disclaimer: The following collection of words and punctuation marks is in no way meant to demean or insult anyone at DAZ 3D or whatever the new spelling is, their ideas, methods or business practices nor is it meant to actually mean anything at all. This is purely a random collection of words, numbers and poorly placed punctuation marks, which in no way was intended to form coherent sentences or thoughts. Any resemblances to real words, thoughts or ideas is purely coincidental and highly unlikely. In the event that anyone observing these words, numbers and punctuation marks does find some pattern they believe actually makes sense, it is highly recommended by the author of those random letters,words,numbers and punctuation marks, that you seek professional medical consultation and or confinement at a psychiatric facility of most convenience.
Now moving along to the collection of words, letters, numbers and punctuation marks as they were before I added the above disclaimer...
You know, I'm just concerned that if I use 4.9 that eventually some DAZ sanctioned killer robots are gonna come to my house and try to shoot me... I already have enough robots mad at me... Literally every night I have at least one or two Roombas trying to get in the house and kill me... It's really tiresome. While I do trust that up front in the present, the new "improvements" may be benign and designed to actually be helpful, and I do believe the DAZ folks who currently in the present say that these improvements are for our benefit in their eyes... My real concern is the evolution of improvements that gradually lead to things that are not necessarily in the best interests of the users... Rarely do we see things that just flat out intrude on our rights directly in one swift move... It's the gradual erosion of the consumers rights that is the most common course of action prevalent today...
Parallel Universe Earth A161-6673B7 Timeline- 2002 thru 2024
Hypothetical Software Example... RendaRama Suite 1.0
Head programmers: Larry and Joe
• Versions 1 though 11- Great and easy to use, some bugs, but still a very cool program.
• Version 12- Great and easy to use... Now with some advance online options.
----RendaRama is purchased by UberTechCo as part of their 3D digital art assets portfolio.---
• Version 13- Great and easy to use... With advanced online "features" not options.
----Larry and Joe are let go with most old staff in favor of newly formed UberTechCo "New Assets Development Team" at UberTechCo headquarters.---
• Version 14- Great and easy to use, but now has proprietary content features and software to check if content is legally owned.
• Version 15- Great and easy to use, same as above, but now due to some bugs, software rejects some freebies, outside vendors and older content.
---- UberTechCo moves "Online Developemnt Department" to former monastery in Tibet to save on costs and improve development time and avoid certain legal issues---
• Version 16- Easy to use, but kinda starting to crawl up the user's butt... Due to the aforementioned bug, a decision was made to require online connection to use content library and avoid issues with content rejection.
• Version 17- Okay, but what choice do you have... Still online, bug still exists, but now all content needs to have some sort of complicated registration tag to prove its legitimate, requiring more work from outside vendors and freebie artists.
--- UberTechCo is featured in MoneyLove magazine as one of the ten hottest tech companies to watch article mentions RendaRama and many of its new upcoming features that are bound to make investors happy---
• Version 18- Same as above, but now it has come to light that new hidden tracking software is watching where you go and reporting what sites you visit and tagging you for any visits to "unapproved" sites or searches....
• Version 19- Press the wrong key and killer lawyer robots are dispatched to your home to eliminate you.
Okay, the last one is a little extreme... (At the moment)... But in the tech world, not something all that fantastic or impossible... Hardly so... And definitely not the future of the software that Larry and Joe envisioned when they were coding for Version 12.
So you see why me and many other people may believe in the good intentions of those working in the present, but be wary of what doors certain improvements open for future individuals to exploit.
Its like my grandfather used to say: " It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye and all their consumer rights and is being spied on constantly"... Granted he also claimed to be a Time Lord and have personally known Attila the Hun and that the washing machine was really a Dalek trying to kill him, but that's besides the point... It's a slippery slope to follow certain trends and sometimes those that make certain decisions must look to their conscience and ask themselves if what they are doing is really in the best interest of everyone, even if in only the smallest way it contributes to a decline in people's rights and freedoms... Be it on only that one level, need it be at all if it has the potential to embolden other to take it further? Probably too heavy a take on one small change, but still a way of looking at how simple changes can escalate exponentially.
Note-
Larry went on to program software for a Tokyo based Techno-Toilet company and eventually moved on to form his own company and develop the MagLev Seat which used powerful electromagnets to lift users inches off the seat, ensuring clean buttocks cheeks in public lavatory situations. Over time Larry continued to work on improving his levitation units for other applications, eventually designing the first levitation drive. After the passing of a close friend he sold the company to a benevolent medical supply company for use in levitating wheelchairs, they in turn developed the first prototype Heavy Armed Lawyer Drones.
After being let go Joe became depressed and turned to a life of booze and generalized debauchery, until one day waking up naked in a pig pen at a heavy petting zoo... It was at that point he decided to turn his life around, he sold his last remaining Faberge egg for a deposit on a comic book store in Milwaukee. Six months after opening, he was trampled to death by a runaway circus elephant as he was opening the store. As per his request he was buried in his RendaRama tee-shirt and hot pants, in memory of happier times.
Reminder- If any of this begins to make sense, seek immediate medical help.
IVY,
DAZ Studio is NOT going to become cloud based! Perhaps cloud was the wrong choice of word because of how it is used in other industries but DAZ Studio is STILL installed on your computer AND so is ALL your content! DAZ Studio 4.9 with the connect option is just an merger of DAZ Studio with the Download install manager. The encryption (being refered to as DRM in this thread) is to help curb piracy of our products going forward. Honest customers have NOTHING to be concerned about, why, because they are honest! Keep in mind that these mesures to protect the content would not be needed if no one pirated our stuff. The same it true for ALL laws in every nation across the world that are in place to help combat crime.
DRM
Yes iClone has it, guess what content I use in iClone
not much Reallusion stuff
This is what I mean when I say 'whether or not we're on board with the idea of Daz Connect' - personally, I don't have a problem with it. What bothers me is the sheer volume of people who have their own reasons for feeling differently - if this weren't such an obviously overwhelmingly big issue for so many people then by now we would have had scads of pages and competing threads discussing the new implementations of 3DL and iRay, yet they've barely had a mention. Since the render engines aren't the main focus of conversation (and with 3D software, they probably ought to be!), this suggests that there are an awful lot of people unhappy with the idea of Daz Connect. If it proves to be enough to have them heading for the door then the loss of revenue will have an affect on the PAs. Once they're off as well, it will have an impact on us all.
I think Rawb said it best here...
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/934809/#Comment_934809
I know what you mean, the ranting on these forums is starting to get old and fast and even I am thinking of taking a vacation from this forum..
On other things:
At first I was a bit shocked by these changes but then after thinking long and hard and with a level head I realized that sooner or later Daz had to do something to try and stem the flow of content being swiped and posted elsewhere.. I mean when you look at it people hate when they get their house broken into, their car being stolen and so on you get right peeved about it and after it happens you put an alarm system in your house and car to try and stop it from happening again..
I am a hobby artist who has done some work for a small website, and over the years I have see some of its premium content being posted on other sites for all to see, and that means loss of revenue for such a small site that relies on people paying to see it..
And well people will not pay for it if they can get it elsewhere for free, so is the same with content here the only way Daz can recover the costs of supplying Daz Studio for free and via the store content, and some folks may want to see how much it costs for a 3Delight license it is not cheap and I can only imagine how much Daz pays Nvidia for the use of Iray in Studio..
In the end is seeing something like this happen with Studio 4.9 and into the future in the first place, no it isn't but while you have the undesireables posting paid content out on the Dark Web for all to download things like what is coming with Studio 4.9 will continue..
The encrytion of content doesn't challenge me unless it starts getting in the way of what I am trying to use legitimately purchaced content for. By the descriptions staff have given, I don't think that is going to happen which is why I am not jumping up and down and turning red. The problem is I also do not believe it is going to help your piracy problem any, and in no way is it going to increase your sales; the non-customers are going to stay non-customers. The question is, at that point, does management see that DRM is not helpful, or decide that they need further restrictions to make it work. And I think THAT is what is casuing all the angst.
Not what you are proposing now, but what that path will lead to in the future. From other companies that have gone the DRM route, it usually isn't pretty. Sony went so far as root-kitting computers to attempt to stop piracy.
I really need to be able to put stuff where I can find it, if I had started out when smart content was finally working I could probably use it - but I have years and years of stuff I have meticulously put where I can find it, and I don't have time to set it all up as metadata in a database. Again, you have covered that aspect of it, and I am aware you guys understand that, so I'll drop it.
My bottom line is that DRM never has turned pirates into customers, I'd love to see an industry study anywhere that shows it has.
what about a daz connect rental like pay XX/month access all content for free?
I didn't go to those depths, but will say all this dumped rain on a perfectly nice PC party.
Can we get the fun back?
This. The two product delivery novelties in 4.9 are really independent. DAZ Connect will, as intended, be a boon for new users, and is, near as I can tell, just another way of doing what DIM currently does, without a separate application. Power users may have to devise some cleverness to relocate things, but as long as the assets aren't being hidden, these are soluble problems. I see no advantage to DAZ, the artists, nor the customers to NOT making DAZ Connect's operation as transparent (and optional) as possible, in perpetuity. DAZ should always remember that there is a _lot_ of old content out there, and that even people new to the hobby will make use of the 'old ways' of doing things for non-DAZ content (e.g., from sharecg).
DRM is separate. We could have DRM/encrypted files delivered manually or through DIM. Or through DAZ Connect. And, for the reasons others have stated here and in many technical forums, it does absolutely nothing for the customer, with the possible exception of maintaining a lower price for products (granting a dubious assumption that the artists and DAZ currently pay some measurable penalty for 'shrinkage' due to piracy, and another dubious assumption that the scheme will actually reduce piracy in substantial amounts), and undermines things like interoperability. It also (like all such schemes) tells us that the vendor considers all its customers to be potential criminals. Is there, then, any surprise that customers will begin to consider the vendor with equal suspicion?
Does your government consider all its citizens to be crimals? A law is in place to help prevent a crime from happening because we all have the potential to do evil. By doing NOTHING to protect our work we leave the door wide open for pirates to do as they please. By introducing the encryption we help reduce the piracy while HONEST customers continue on unaffected since they are NOT breaking the EULA.
Is there any improvements to iray? Can we now change settings on the fly without starting from scratch? I dont do betas cause I dont use DIM..
For me Iray is a lot more stable and faster compared to 4.8
What you saty
I respect your comments and been a fan of yours a long time. So please do not get me wrong in this comment this is only a rebuttal to your comment.
I installed daz 4.9 I seen how it was restructioning my files and how I would have to handle them in the future. I do not like it Period. I don't just use Daz Studio for 3d software. I have poser pro and Maya as well. I have more than 2 desk top pc & more than 2 portable devices that can run 3d .so that Daz connect puts big crimp in that work flow and I do not like it. Daz ELUA tell me now every time i get a new device i have to allow daz access to it order for daz to place a encryption key on my device so I can use the new product content I paid for REALLY? . F$#^*k That.. its not North Korean, But close. I use the new content I purchase in my all my devices, for professional and hobby compactiy from my Home based 2 -2TB HHD drives in a home HP Server I connect too. with 2 more tb external drives for extra content management. Daz connect does not allow for that unless I allow daz access to all my Devices.. Who they think they are NSA? I do not like it and will not support it no matter how much honey you try to pour on it. some Devices I take on the road with me and network into my home server using the internet. which make my content accessible for all my devices using my home network server with out having to have daz snoop on the device I am using to to make sure I am not using their content illegally I call Bull Spit. . it all smells like yesterdays fish. I did not like it when Adobe went to DRM and have stop buying into Adobe CC especially when I still have a useable legally bought copy of Adobe creative suite. master edition which does everything i need it too. I have a fresh copy of daz pro4.8 that is the last copy I will download and I will continue to buy Daz Products as long they as offered in zip file format I do not use content manage DIMM or smart content. so this feature has no interst for me. . When daz studio supporting zip files that is where my support for buying daz studio products ends . i have already been clearing my wish list out for anticipation of this new change so I will have all those new g2f products I bought in zip format and no daz cloud connects. My daz days here are numbers and I relies that.now. and this is my protest. like it or not. I speak with my money.. I do not like this new change and no one wwill never sell me on it
I don;t care what other people choose to do.. I'm not standing up and speaking for them only myself. so please people stop trying convince me of something i will never do. just like I will never use windows 10 nor will I use Daz connect products.
I have no problem on how you want companies run your content. But I do. have a problem with them telling me. So I will just take my money else where. you can choice to spend your money the way you like.. this is my protest right or wrong Agree or disagree this is my only way to make daz see I am serious and I will move my shopping habbits once i can not continue to use the content in the way I have for years in zip files ,
could you imagine that if you bought a car and every time you filled it up with gas or had the oil changed on you had to be logged into Ford connect to make sure the gas was legal to use. .. you see my point..In my opinion this is really offensive to me period. to the point I will do like Nerd3d and a few other venders have done and move to a new location for my content. and with the new sites being developed by many of the venders here I should be able to get the content I want with otu daz anyway.
My final wod. I do not care what people say about me for my opinion. that is my stance.. there are site that sale daz content besides daz. I change what I can change and the stuff that change I can not adapt to then its time for me move on and take my money with me.
Thank you for allowing me to get that off my chest
Zev, I love your products, but believing that all this crap will actually prevent piracy and bring in customers that were previously lost is IMHO rather naive. Considering what is pointed out here, the removed usability and flexibility for legit customers may actually drive people towards piracy. It is not a matter of *if* this encryption crap gets circumvented, it is a matter of *when* it happens.
Doing this amount of effort and hit some portion of the legit customers on the head in the process is just a very bad move. I am likely one of the stores top spenders and this will just drive me away.
Well, so much about generality around he piracy thing. I knowa bit about it, but I won't argue.
I'll just say:
Bluray: drm --> first craked within weeks, then new DRM craked within days, last DRM ->> craked on day 1 (and even Day -1)
Music, same thing but older. It didn't matter. New offers, new companies ->>> still make tons of money! WITHOUT DRM. The last one? Apple launched recently its own music offer via rent.
Same thing goes with graphic content.
So, my guess, Daz is trying its best to limit the piracy but It won't change a lot of things. This was / is / will be a lot of energy to do it. Market said already, it is a waste. Piracy will remains.
The only viable solution: moving fast forward, being always the best, giving a lot of new features that invit people/hobbyist to invest/buy more because they are happy to do it.
It's not being naive. People like getting things for free if they don't have to pay for it, even people with the highest moral ground. How often do you hear of users waiting for discounts and refuse to buy a product at full price? Now imagine if some can get it for free off illegal sites. Think they are going to say no? On my products alone, there are more warez and torrent Downloads than purchases. Naive? Sorry. If they aren't made available for free, more would buy. This whole saying "those who torrent or DL from warez won't buy anyways" is a load of rubbish.They would buy if the free temptation didn't exist.
The thing is all these measures *will not* work effectively against piracy. So content will still be available for free at whatever place.
How do you know? Did you even see the encryption Daz is using? Hell some companies still don't know how they wrote the HD tool. Don't always assume these methods do not work. Some systems are really affective. Yes the old DRM systems were crap, but new ones companies are using are seamless and do not impact your working experience.
just to let you know: NOONE ON THIS PLANET has demonstrated for sure either point of view.
But, market experience have demonstrated for sure that spending the energy to create something will make you make more reward (think money) than spending the same amount of energy on repression/protection.