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224 S 200 W, Suite #250
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© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.Daz 3D is part of
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DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Yup, at this point I pretty much just go for the sorting tools...female or male, what figure I'm looking for, and then the genre...which even then the genres can be messed up.
The store has just 40460 items, at 120 items per page it's only 338 pages
Perhaps Sirius Cybernetics had a hand in its design?
"He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. The way it functioned was very interesting. When the Drink button was pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centers of the subject's brain to see what was likely to go down well. However, no one knew quiet why it did this because it invariable delivered a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. The Nutri-Matic was designed and manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation whose complaint department now covers all the major landmasses of the first three planets in the Sirius Tau Star system." — Douglas Adams
If I'm buying 3D content like male clothing - I don't want to have to pay a membership fee just to look at what's being sold. The other thing about Patreon and like platforms is that "members" who are "supporting" "artists" can cancel their support at any time. It's one thing to attract someone to pay for access to your art and quite another thing to keep their interest for months or years. The Patreon content of individual artists tends to be endlessly repetative. You can pay to support an artist for one month, go to their account and consume all their content, then cancel your support. Like on Instagram - you can have 2 million followers, and the next year have 200 followers. Desperate Patreon "adult entertainment" artists are starting SubscribeStar accounts and transfering their "art" over there because SubscribeStar isn't AT THE MOMENT censoring what Patreon has started to censor.
Of course, I wasn't advocating using Patreon as a sole income, it CAN be and additional source, that might help a PA bridge the gap between, "oh my gosh, I gotta create more skimpwear for DAZ studio as it is the only thing that sells", and, "I have a comfortable enouch income to make what I want, in addtion to jumping through hoops for XYZ".
Yes, I am sure Patreon has its pitfalls... even those making 6 figures per year from it probably have some complaints. Personally, I look at it as a way to support an artist that I like, I don't look at it as, "what do I get from my $3 per month pledge?" I probably loose more of that in chage per month to my car's seat and sofa.
But I can't understand why folks keep looking at this as "either/or"... Its totally "AND"
Bottom line, if you are an Artist that is depending on your craft for your income, best business practice is to get the biggest net you can and cast it as far and wide as possible. Patreon/Subscribestar are just addtional tools in your toolbox for income generation.
"Yeah but"s will always exist for anything... from leaving your house to get groceries to starting a Patreon, nothing is 100% safe...
Bunkering down in your comfort zone basement provides "some" bit of security, but Its a bit disingenous to complain about being overweight when you refuse to excercise and change your diet... or take advantage for the Free Gym next door.
Setting up and rendering scenes also takes time though? Your comparisons are as condescending as they are confusing.
To be fair... Being a Daz vendor isn't an easy way to make money. Its a lot of hours, and you still have no idea if you'll make money. I recall one vender saying that he put in a good 4 weeks of work on one outfit, but hardly sold any. Its a real eye opener when that happens.
You know what... I think something like kickstarter for 3D vendors would help. Literally create another subforum at Daz, and vendors could present what they want to do, and folks could buy into projects they want. Vendors would know what people want, and how much effort to put in. Stretch goals would also give more incentive to do better. For instance, as a buyer, I'd see a basic clothing item.. stretch goals (enough presales) could add dforce\morphs\poses, add ons, and textures. If the minimum isn't met, then the project could be canceled, and no money spent.
Kickstarters for boardgames have been a real god send for the gaming industry. Before that, manufacturers would have to invest a lot of time and money into development and production, then ship it. After than they'd have to cross their fingers, and hope to make money. But with enough money up front, they can more accurately guage how much effort to put into it. I got Streetfighter the Miniature Game for my son, and the game was totally worth it. (Dials on the cards suck... but the rest of the game 100% rocks and plays super well, and it looks great.)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1821440755/street-fighter-the-miniatures-game
UHF
See, that is what I am talking about! Think outside of the box! We are artist for crying out loud!!!!
Kickstarter for 3D assest, hmmmm.... ArtStart? 3DPalooza... call it something, but it would be an interesting idea. Back the Idea, get some bennies, and then the items go in to the 3DPalooza store for the johnny come latelys.
There might be a way to incorperate a 5ver kind of thing to is as well.
Where artist could see what was wanted and put in bids to make it....
I guess, being a DAZ vendor doesn't be that much different from being a professional clothes designer... it's nice to be able to make stuff you think of as "looking great" but if it doesn't hit the needs of the potential customers it won't sell...
There's a reason why the DAZ vendors are called "PA"s (professional Artists, right?), as the artistic part is considered vital... but history tells us, that many artists didn't make much (or in many cases: any) money with their art... or it only sold after they died (see van Gogh).
So therefor the idea of a Kickstarter-ish base of communication of PAs <-> Customers would probably help both parts greatly (I guess...). On the other hand it probably would take out a good part of the "artistic" part from the PA's business, when they learn that some customers don't less art, but more functionality?!? Might be end up as a negative influx on the artistic process...
With Kickstarters you don't pay or even start the project until minimums have been met. So there is little risk unless the items are being offered by shysters. (It does happen, but not that much.) Typically vendors with solid popularity and a history of delivering good products do the best and garner the most support. (In RPGs, Freeleague Press, have been absolute killers. Heck, one of their first RPGS, Tales From The Loop, has been turned into a TV series.)
The folks to host a 'Daz Kickstarter' should probably be Daz itself. They could hold the cash until delivery (I trust them, but I dunno about the vendors), and they'd be solid arbitors for what gets done and doesn't get done. One reason many vendors sell at other stores is that they just have a ton of pretty identical stuff. (I'm not dissing anyone...) I think that for some projects the vendor may require upfront cash (small Daz Risk) for the vendor as well since some of them may in fact be long projects.
Oh and life is hard for most artists. I'm an engineer and I mess around with rendering because.. its fun and calms the savage beast inside. When I was in university 3D rendering was theoretical and rarely done in practice.
Anyone see the Merlin 8.1 thing that was briefly in the store? LOL.
Looks like the next "base figure" will be a dude... unless this is purely a PA-crafted bundle.
(I have the URL for a couple images, but not sure if it would annoy the mods.)
Doesn't necessarily mean anything about what comes next. Before that, about three weeks ago, there was a pose set for Kola 8.1 which indicated that the figure was supposed to be more than one age. That pose set was pulled back the same way, and he hasn't been seen since, and there have been a couple name-and-number bundles released since then. So maybe Merlin is next, maybe Kola is next, maybe some random female character is next. Nobody knows but the Daz braintrust, and they ain't talkin'. (and yes, I did see the Merlin 8.1 pose set before it disappeared.)
Kola was clearly a mistake, right in the Kota timeframe.
Kota was released literally eight months ago (release date 2021-06-09); the Kola mistake -- and yes, it clearly was one, and so was Merlin -- was only about one month ago. And Kola was a very different figure than Kota -- according to the card images, he was an entirely human African/African American that could be presented as an adult, teen, or youngster. Yes, the name made it very easy to make that mistake, but the fact remains that apparently Kola 8.1 exists, yet has not been seen again. And Merlin 8.1 exists, and may or may not be seen any time soon.
They were both the same sort of mistake. Maybe Merlin is next, maybe he's not. We won't know until it happens. Or doesn't.
That said ... three of the last four name-and-number characters have been male: Ebeneezer, Hans, and Senator Greeves. Granted, two of the three were seasonal, and the third was ... odd. But still. Quite unusual for this place. In fact, counting through the 8.1 characters, they're actually more or less in balance right now -- 15 female, 14 male, with apparently two more males known to be waiting in the wings. (Basically, this three-guy clump balanced out an earlier three-females clump. Also, August gets counted twice, one for each). I can't remember the last time everything was that balanced, if ever they were. (As I recall, 8.0 started with Victoria, Olympia, Teen Josie, and then Michael, so it never really got to balance out.) Wonder how long it will last.
So when will we see the male version of "Trendy thread" megabundle?
If ever?
Redacted
So, a couple interesting things in the underwear bundle today. Three items for male characters, even. My goodness. But that's not the interesting thing. Note the things highlighted in red in the list for the X-Fashion Sexy Boxers:
So both Kola and Merlin are still lurking out there somewhere, imprisoned in the Daz vaults, waiting for their chance to be free ...
(Also, the only thing more wildly inappropriate than morphs for Kayden 8.1 in this would be morphs for Kayden in the Bunny Lace Lingerie set ... but according to both "What's Included" and the file list in the readme, the Bunny Lace Lingerie set has literally no morphs for anything whatsoever. Which seems odd. And sexiness aside, I'm surprised Bunny Lace isn't more of an easter thing.)
George is feeling neglected...
Well, now that you've mentioned it, I'm sure that someone who buys it and has George will be absolutely delighted to do a render to see how he looks!
Check the separate items in the Bunny set and - voila, as the italians say - there are quite a few morphs for different figures (no Kayden or George..) and even some "All Down"/ "side down"/"front down" morphs.
And - fun fact - usually these Figure morphs are only needed with more "special" figures, as autofit handles the lesser deviations from the human figure usually quite nice... so even though not mentioned, the bunny shorts should work on Kayden nicely but not so nicely for George.
And then a miracle occurred! And Teen Kola escaped from the Daz Vaults!
Given the stated theme of his bundle, I wonder if this means that adult Kola will appear in a second bundle in the next four days.
This more ore less what I see with my freebies as well. I attribute it to the item falling off the page...fewer ppl these days want to sit and dig for freebies. If they don't catch it when it's new, they usually pass it by or don't even know of its existence ;)
Yup. Definitely dead. Look at those lot of new female items!
I kind of like the idea of kickstarter projects, but I'm not sure if it would help every PA. Personally I think it would be best used on big projects by known PAs who couldn't afford to take a massive project without getting some cash up front. I mean, if someone like Stonemason puts up a new Daz Kickstarter project and says: "Hi guys, I'm planning to make a new cyberpunk city. Finished product will have 15 different buildings and 30 props and a complete road network. If I make X from kickstarter I'll make 3 more buildings and 5 more props, and if I make Y, I'll make 5 more buildings and 10 more props. I assume this project would take about 4-6 months", and halfway through that sales pich I'm already pledging. There's a handfull of these rockstars that I'd support without any real proof because they have a track record to show that they can deliver.
Then there's the rest. I'd need to see at least some sketches and in most cases some early prototypes, and I'd go through their current catalog to see what kind of stuff they have made ( meaning are they good enough to actually finish what they are promising ) and if I should take the risk. Yes, in kickstarter we are transferring part of the risk from PA to investors, because in most cases we have no real idea what we'll get. So yeah, I seriously doubt I'd be willing to back most of the projects, and would just buy the product if I liked it when it hits the store.
This is of course just my speculation, and I have no statistics to back it up, but I believe there's a risk for less knonwn PAs to spend a week to make a good sales presentation and end up empty handed. Sure, it's better to only spend a week to see if people are willing to back your idea financially, but that does not really tell the whole story. People being afraid to invest their money in a project up front, does not mean that the finished project would not sell.
Unfortunately nothing happened here it seems? Which I find kinda sad. Daz assets can do well in other environments outside of DAZ Studio and is also otherwise attractive; I guess the core DAZ folks have already accumulated a large library by now and aren't willing to buy stuff that is largely similar to what they already have.
Also, I'm under the impression that the typical DAZ PA prefers creating female content. It's difficult to create content you personally don't like if said content is even a commercial risk (here at the DAZ store).
I'm not convinced Daz assets are that easy to use as game assets. They're not always that easy to use in DS! Beyond that, there is the matter of profitability. Ample evidence presented over time suggests male clothing doesn't sell as well as female clothing, is less profitable, etc. Vendors make what they make. No easy fix for that!
My purchases here have almost dropped to zero. Some of it is due to the economy. Most of it is due to the fact that I don't need any more female stuff and almost nothing comes out for males anymore (worse than it ever was and I've been around the Poser/Daz world since 1996 or 97). In 25 years I have NEVER seen it worse for males and their items. Having said that, Daz is saving me money that I don't need to be spending right now, but of course, they've lost yet another customer too ;). Works both ways.
While I was never what one might call a "big spender," my spending has also dropped a lot. It's a tough time now.
I used to be one of those customers that loves male clothing, especially contemporary ones. I used to buy the sets that came out, although there weren't many sets I really liked. I also bought sets where I only liked one piece (e.g. the jeans, good looking jeans for Male characters are rare). But what freed me up was something not related to Male clothing in particular. I wasnt happy with the restraints that came with DAZ Studio. Don't get me wrong, DAZ Studio is great - it's free and it does what it's supposed to do and has some handy features I would not expect from such an app. The barrier to spend serious money on other software and the learning curve might be daunty but ultimately I found out I spent less in total than what I spent during my PC+ days AND I can appreciate the Genesis figures in a way I would never have been able to with DAZ Studio. Needless to say I don't need to upgrade my GPU and other PC hardware is so much cheaper to upgrade.
I wonder whether this also happened to other customers or former avid customers of male clothing sets. If you can't find what you like in one store you look elsewhere. It's already a niche market. If the loyal customers like Laurie @AllenArt and me leave then there could be more.
I just need well-made men's clothing. I find lately the quality has just dropped and the overreliance of dForce as a substitution for fitting clothing doesn't work for me. dForce to me is a bust, for men's clothing, since it just looks really strange on anything that isn't supposed to drape or billow, and most men's clothing isn't like that.