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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.
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Sorry to hear this, and thanks for everything. I still think your 'Ruined City' model was one of the best pieces of content I ever bought. Best of luck with your future ventures.
...It comes in real handy for my cyber apocalypse scenes.
That sounds like an interesting site-scraper, does it only zip the "visible" parts of website - by that I mean only the stuff that could be seen directly via a browser - or does it web-whack the whole domain ?
I ask because - in common with many CG artists - somtimes I don't just make things for myself, but also for other people. From direct commisions, to CG artists who sell that work under their own brandname at many popular 3d sites. The freebie and commerical folders also contains material that belongs to other artists who didn't want their work included in the commercial thingy.
I also use the site to host files for stuff like real world projects, such as the attached photo. This shows the test version of a model I made in 3d and converted to a card/paper model, it's 1 of 3 models that will be used by a community Outsider Art group (run by a major gallery) at our local cathdreal in October.
(I can show this image because the group has seen it, but not the other ones).
For anyone that doesn't know the term, Outsider Art is art created by artists who are not associated with the "mainstream" art world, not by choice but through circumstance.Such as mental health, phyiscal disabiltys, not having the chance to do a traditonal/formal art education or just being skint.
OA also tends to cover genres, tehchniques and themes that the mainstream wouldn't touch, such as digital art. It's something close to my artistic heart and whenever the chance comes up I volunteer to take part. It's also a great way to escape from everything over the last few months.
Indeed if you look my freestuff...http://www.poserdirect.com/free_modbook.html.. heres one I made eariler:)
So I guess you can see my concern here about something like a site scraper.
That said I think your approach could have it's uses, perhaps as an ISO after the files in the zip have been checked ?
So, if you don't mind me saying, just not right now - I'd like to let things run their course. maybe sometime in the future ?
For what I know it only grabs what can be viewed in or downloaded publicly from a browser - you select the main page as a starting point and then it just follows the links and sublinks from there. There's nothing in the Help file either that talks about anything else. They say it also can download password protected sites, but that's only if you have the login.
Grabbing hidden parts of a site is usually a challenge anyway as you need to know the file names, and if the site is configured correctly these are not publicly accessible, and in that case all you can do is try to guess the file names. There may be security holes through which you can get this information, but then we're talking hacking.
I can create a directory listing of the downloaded site, then you can check for yourself what it has downloaded. I searched for the file name of the picture you uploaded here (workshoptest2.jpg), but didn't get any matches so it didn't grab that one.
For what I know it only grabs what can be viewed in or downloaded publicly from a browser - you select the main page as a starting point and then it just follows the links and sublinks from there.
Sounds like it's more of a whacker than an scraper. Whackers work like you describe this, scrapers aim to grab the whole site.
OK those are not exactly pure definitions, just working standpoints when I did my degree.
Probably means something totally different now as well, as that was a while ago :)
There's nothing in the Help file either that talks about anything else. They say it also can download password protected sites, but that's only if you have the login.
That makes sense.
Grabbing hidden parts of a site is usually a challenge anyway as you need to know the file names, and if the site is configured correctly these are not publicly accessible, and in that case all you can do is try to guess the file names.
Yes guessing could work, and if memory serves if theres an browser index document [asp/html/etc ] in the root of a folder, then it shouldn't be possible to scrape using wildcards.
There may be security holes through which you can get this information, but then we're talking hacking.
Yep and theres also the question of copyright to consider.
Which wouldn't be insurmountable if a route like this was taken.
I searched for the file name of the picture you uploaded here
(workshoptest2.jpg), but didn't get any matches so it didn't grab that one.
Thats right and it's because it's an attachment to the forum nothing on the site.
I can create a directory listing of the downloaded site, then you can check for yourself what it has downloaded.
You can do, though I wouldn't want you to waste any time on this.
Purely as I'm totally undecided at this time about what the future of my 3D freebies will be.
At the moment my typical shifts are 12-14 hours, indeed it's 3.30am now, so I like to use any "art time" productively or for fun.
Not being horrible to anyone, but as the 1st post said poser stuff isn't hitting my arty buttons right now.
Instead I'd rather do something like the attached images, doing roughly an hour or so every few days.
The red thing is the lid of a storage box some of us are making for a neighbour, who's sadly life-limited.
I decided to engrave the name of her dog into the lid using a homemade router stencil.
The font used is a quickly customised version of a freeware Disney font. Thats taken about a week so far.
I also made the 7ft cabinet for her as well, took around 3 months, all hand sized/cut apart from the door slats.
Nice furniture you're making there. I understand your decision - personally I also feel a bit tired of making "pretty renders" sometimes - it has its own charm, but there is an extra dimension to creating things that you can actually use in daily life. And that way you also get some physical exercise.
As for the copy I grabbed of your site, if you should want a copy yourself at some point, just let me know. If I get the time maybe I'll try to remove all the unnecessary stuff so I just get the content info and promos. I'm just doing this because I hate downloading and categorizing files and promo pictures manually - so much that I'm writing software for it myself (see my signature link).
Btw, I purchased your $5 bundle (great deal, thanks!) but only got a PayPal receipt. How/where do I download the files?
When I hit "return to merchant" from Paypal it returned me to the site with a link...
MrSparky, well wishes to you! Have enjoyed a few site items from you in the past, and always loved seeing what you planned to make next
It's always fun to delve into new stuff! Most of all, keep having fun! 
Hm, OK, must have missed that.
you may need to contact him via PM or the email on your paypal as it would have timed out
I wish you the best Mr. Sparky. Thank you for your contributions to the 3D community!
Yes, I guess so. Thanks.
Good luck on future endeavors, Mr. Sparky
mrsparky, I'm so sorry about your loss and hope the job sitation get better. I know how stressful that combination can be.
A question about the website - I got the whole-thing offer but a lot of the items don't really match the filenames. Is there anything I'm missing on the product page that would indicate what zip file to look for? (e.g. The 4 Seasons and Christmas Village)
Email or PM MrSparky and I'm sure he will help you.
Taoz - yea a bit of real world art can help when the 3d burnout hits and it also makes other people think you've got a "proper" day job :)
Re - the zip and stuff - someone excellent soul has expressed an interest in hosting the freebies.
So do you think you could send them a version with just the links and page/images etc relating just to freebies?
Most of the rest of the site was writtten into an access database and then some old software called Access2web was used to create static pages.
But with the freebies I just added stuff as I went along.
sandman_max - thanks, though would like to say while it's long hours/incredibly low paid, in some ways I kinda like my job as a carer as it makes a real difference to others.
Anyone who's having problem = if anyone has any issues with the "commerical" side, could you please email or IM me.
Gotta respect the TOS here and also because I can check email while working, but can't easily use the forums (here or elsewhere).
Generally you'll also get a quicker response that way, even though I'm in the UK.
With some URL filtering I've managed to create an online version with only the freebies. I can't test it offline so I've put it up for test here:
http://taosoft.dk/poserdirect
You'll still see all the now dead (except Customer FAQ and Freebies) links on the left side of the pages, and the download links point at poserdirect, so the pages need some editing with a grep editor or a script. Some pictures are missing in the Guest Artist section (missing on the original site), otherwise everything seems to be there. I can remove or add stuff from the original site, if necessary.
I can also create an offline version containing only the pages for the commercial products, for browsing the info and promos for these. You could include it with the bundle if you want, so people have a handy reference for their products. But that's up to you.
It's been confirmed, you have a place for your freebies, I sent you a message.
seen and replied - plus a suggestion - if you and Fantasy Attic worked with Taoz on this, his freebie version might be useful to you all.
My feeling is leave anything that's not a freebie alone, mostly as other people have copyrights, feelings etc on gallery/comm stuff. While I know it wouldn't be an issue, I think we have to do the right thing here. As for the freebies, as Faeryl Woman says, someone has kindly offered to host. Which is where I know your stuff would be really handy for them, so could I suggest you folks all work together on this?
My condolences on your loss. Last I checked LetsEncrypt is a free service so it should not add to your bills provided you are willing to invest some initial time and effort in setting it up. Even certificate renewals are free there so there is no hidden costs, but it has its own limitations like no org/extended validation etc. Not sure which hosting provider you are using but unless you are relying on their managed hosting services you should not be tied to the SSL options provided by your hosting provider. If your hosting costs are becoming prohibitive, that can be alleviated by considering various mix and match options like sourcing the servers from one vendor and services from another. You should check out the WebHostingTalk forums http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ . There are lots of competitive offers being posted regularly there.
Taoz, the person to speak to at Fantasy Attic is Dark Angel, I am simply a go between and internet hunter if anyone is ever looking for anything...lol
As someone that has enjoyed your content and someone that enjoyed our collabs on other content, im very sad to hear this. Thanks for all the freebies, this very generous sale, and best wishes going forward, you will definitely be missed.
-MJ
mrinal - yea I know LetsEncrypt is free, and read somewhere the only real issue is you have to renew more often a host bought cert. But like you say that's no biggie to do, though here the issue is the current host (who fair play is really good) doesn't allow that service. In a way can't blame them as theres good money to made from selling certs, but it's still annoying.
Annoying enough on top of everything else to make me think time to knock things on the head. Which as I've said before isn't set in stone.After 20 odd years in poserdom it's hard to give something like this up, maybe I'm wrong here, maybe it just needs a break and a restart.Just don't know right now, though I won't be gone totally from the 3d world. Bit like nicotine, darn addictive and hard to quit :)
mj - thanks mate - though as above - will still be doing the odd collab/ghost build. Just not as much as I done in years past. Also won't stop doing the tutorials/ideas thing, especially when that's a combo of 3d/real world stuff.
Indeed whats now avaliable for real world modelling is astonishing at times. Normally the only time anyone would get excited about glue would be if you lived in Bognor
But if you look at things, like the stuff that Deluxe Materials makes, the artstic opportunitys are almost endless.
Same with kit like electronic paper cutters and 3d printers. It's like having your own Big Kid toy factory:)
OK.
OK, not sure what/where Fantasy Attic is though?
I recently shifted from MidPhase to HostXNow because someone at webhostingtalk recommended them, I can highly recommend them too. I had problems with making secure email work and their support was very fast and did everything they could to help. Eventually it appeared that it was my email program that wasn't up to date and didn't support TLS 1.2 (updated now). They also support LetsEncrypt.
http://thefantasiesattic.net/attic/
Are they US based ? I ask because I'm in the UK and if I need phone support it won't be cheap to phone the host.
...it is another hobbyist CG site that also has a small store associated with it.
http://thefantasiesattic.net/attic/index.php
OK, thanks!
HostXNow is UK based, but they have data centres in other countries also.
https://www.hostxnow.com/about-us
I downloaded HTTrack to download the Poser Direct description pages for future reference. It was easy. I just created a project and gave it poserdirect.com, and that was all I did. It downloaded about 8,171 files (about 82 MBs).
Here's a quick review of it, the second on the list. It's open source.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-do-i-download-an-entire-website-for-offline-reading/