Daz Studio 4.9 Beta Now Available..
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If you wouldn't mind doing me a favor, load up the 4.9 beta and dig through it until you find the store panel. Try building some scenes and see if the store panel gives good suggestions as to what you might also be interested in along the way. Let me know if you think it is better or worse than the suggestions given when you add something to your cart.
If you have any suggestions on how to improve those results I would be very happy to hear them. Getting good suggestions is hard even the big guys struggle sometimes, the last time I bought a tent from Amazon my suggestions for the next week was for more tents instead of suggesting other camping equipment that I might be interested in. However I understand that we are quite a ways off but we are hoping that the alternate way the studio-based store can search for things might bring up better suggestions than on the main store.
Yes, I'll certainly do that once I have 4.9 installed.
From a sales-driver standpoint, though, I do feel a more "interrogative" method is better at making targeted product suggestions. Once the program makes a fourth or fifth suggestion that misses the mark, the user will no longer pay attention to it. You won't get many second chances to get this right. I know you know this! :)
I've always thought Daz could benefit by having a member zone where likes/wants are checked off. *Ask us* what art we do. You don't really have to make guesses. Most of us will gladly give this information to you. Rather than just rely solely on past sales, make product suggestions based on an active questionnaire, preferably integrated with the wishlist.
Seems to me a more robust advanced search in the Daz store would do a better job (and that advanced search available right inside D|S). I'm sure you're aware many of us don't even bother with the Daz search feature. We use Google instead, which is not always to your best advantage. Sometimes it's a ShareCG asset that comes up first when I'm looking for a 007-like gun with a silencer...
So, will Install Manager still show updates to products? Or is that functionality now going to be restricted to this DAZ Connect?
I wasn't seeing 4.9 Pro Beta in my product Library for some reason, so I went to the product page itself and put it in my cart. Now when I download it from my product library all I have are the following:
Scene Builder for DAZ Studio Public Build +Beta+
Public Beta Content 1 DS
Where is thePro Beta program itself? Is this all there is with the beta version or am I missing something?
There may be small updates (moving an item around categories for example) that won't be distributed through install manager until there are larger changes that would make sense to redistribute the entire package. We do this currently with the packages so package updates should continue at roughly the same rate as they are right now. People that connect with Daz Connect will get updates more frequently because we can distribute smaller changes efficiently.
Install Manager will still show updates to products it knows about, just like it currently does. However, not all updates will be result in updated zip files, for instance, updated metadata or the Daz provided categorization (doesn't make sense to make you download a 500MB zip file for an update like that). If a product is installed via Daz Connect, Install Manager won't know about it and can't show updates. I guess it is safe to say that Install Manager handled content will have the latest "significant updates" like it currently does, but in order to have ensure the latest in both file updates and meta data updates, Studio handling the install is the better choice. Also, for the time being, you need Install Manager for plugins and Studio itself for this version. That will change in the future with plans for Studio to handle its own plugins install and self updates.
I am not not keen on the idea that the content is encrypted after installion. I can understand the need to protect the artists ip, but for me at least it is very important to see the original installed files. This is paticularly true for the texture files, as I like to view them in an ordinary image viewer, and be able to make any changes I need to them (change text in the image etc). I also like to be able to see the duf files to see how a particular thing is working, given that Daz Studio is not greatly documented, it is nice to see the original files as part of the learning process. When DAZ switched to using zip installed files, rather than using installers, I was very pleased, as I could preview the files (particularly the textures) before installing. It strikes me as a backwards step if this will not be possible going forward.
Not all files are encrypted. So things like textures you will still be able to see, make copies of, edit, etc. One important thing though, if you do make changes, it might be better to make a copy and change that one because if the original file gets updated, it would overwrite your changes when updating or repairing the product. You won't really be able to preview the files before they install because the first place they hit on disk when downloading is where they are installed (download and install are the same thing, no longer separate steps) since it is a per-file process now instead of zip file / extraction process.
There are a lot of ways we have gone about making this an, overall, improvement to the experience of using studio and managing your content while trying to keep it as open and transparent as possible so as not to get in the way of people making use of the content how you want to. I encourage everyone to try out the beta to see how it actually applies to you in practice before getting worried about the theoretically of the different ways we might potentially have implemented something. The developers of Studio are also some of the heaviest and most advanced users, and they take great care in making sure it is still software they enjoy and want to use and that these changes are, on the whole, a step forward.
Thanks Jon, I always copy any texture files I edit, for the the very reason you mention, that a later update can override them. If the texture files can be seen that at least is a plus point, but I like to able to see the user interfacing files as well (ie the duf files). One of the things I have always liked about this hobby, from the early days when I used Poser, was that most of the important files are in a human readable form. This includes the object files, the duf files, the dsf morph files etc. This makes writing scripts to do mass edits and so forth possible, as well as giving the user a better insight to what is happening under the covers. If you encrypt all of these files, then it is like selling me a car, where I can not look at the engine. I am a programmer, and a fairly advanced user, so I like to see how things work. I realise this is not what many (indeed most) users are concerned with, but it would be a shame it DS was to chase away its advanced users to other programs with content you can still see.
Whilst all of the products are available via installation via DIM, then the above is of less concern to me, but once content is available only via DAZ connect, and so is no longer viewable by the purchaser, than I would be much less likely to buy it.
I plan to do this myself, and for the same reasons. Add the V6 Pro Bundle, and get Giselle 6's pro bundle, despite my not having purchased anything fantasy in a large number of years unless it was part of a bundle...
My biggest concern is access to my products, and backing said products up. I maintain the Install Manager download directory on a seperate, portable drive in case I have to re-install DAZ Studio and/or DIM. Doing this means I don't have to spend hours re-downloading products. As is, I installed 4.9 Beta more than two hours ago, and I've only finished installing Genesis and Genesis 3 from the cloud. I've still got 1128 items to go, and DS is sitting at 2%.
So, is the plan then to eliminate the Install Manager?
Install Manager will be around for a long while yet as we have products outside of Daz Studio. The goal is to eventually make it so Studio doesn't need a third party application to manage its own content, so the need for Install Manager to get Studio content and plugins and updates will be gone as Install Manager, while a huge improvement over no Install Manager, is still a clunky way to do it.
There is a feature planned, not sure if it will make it into this release or next, that will "convert" an Install Manager installed product to Daz Connect installed (so it won't need to redownload, will just do the things it needs to to make it so it can be updated and managed automatically by Studio) which would help minimize the need to redownload files.
You can still backup your content you download though and restore your install from that downloaded content (including the meta data). In the mapped folder where your Studio is installing your content, you can back that up and restore from it and it will have all the meta data with it so it can recreate what you would get if you downloaded it fresh.
OK, so yes the plan is to eventually eliminate Install manager. But I think you're missing my main concern, which is this, I keep the installation zips for my products as backups, incase I have to re-install my content. If I understand how DAZ Connect is planned to work, there won't be any zip files to download, and the only way to back up my post 4.9 content will be backing up the entirety of my content directories.
Or am I missing something? Exactly how is product delivery supposed to work?
I am going to be honest. I got reservations about using the Daz Studio 9 & its connect feature. . I tried reading every piece documents I could find on the connect features and its left me rather wanting.. So I hope you daz people who are developed these programs are reading this comment... because I am sure there are some people that have feeling like I do about being targeted with ads. First my biggest concern is if you are planning a future where the only way we are going to be able to download and install or use any new product I buy and want to use in the daz software is to use the connect feature Then I guess that will be when my Daz Studio days will be done. and that thought makes me very sad to think you guys need a feature like this to market your content. . I like to be old school about things going into my computer.. and I always have & will load my files manually or install them to a sand box first . so I can see whats in them & how they work before i Install them. Because since the readme's have disappeared from the product downloads with the file content list. .I want to see what is in what I buy and how they work before i install them.to my system drive(s). That was why I was so Happy to see daz go to Zip files. I use many different external hard drives for my 3D content a drive for each generation type products and a drive for props amd environments etc. Daz Studio is not my only 3d software. . It concerns me that daz has taken the steps that could possiablly be watching everything i do . So Daz Connect it is not a feature I think I will be interested in now or in the future.. I don't need some third party service or a company throwing ads at me when I'm trying to be creative or concentrate on a project using their 3d software. I don't want someone a company looking over my shoulder when I am working on something stealing my internet band width so you can target me with ads..I mean really half the fun of coming to the Daz3d.com site is the shopping for content.. So please don't start throwing it my face. because that will turn me off more than you know.. It makes me feel like Daz3d.com has take a Strategy from MS by targeting ads at its customers. its a feature i did not like in widows10 and I will be honest I don't like it one bit. Not in my 3d software. No sir not one bit. Please do not make us have to use this service to have your customers to retrieve or install new products. I am happy with the zip files. So I am glad this came out n the beta stage and hope people make their voice heard pro or cons. . For me All I ask is please leave in the option for us users to OP out of this connect feature. Please don't try to reinsure me that your not gather data on my usage or how the daz software functions. because it seems pretty clear this is for marketing & tracking purposes.
Thank you for reading my concerns I hope you take them seriously because I have been a loyal long time user and Daz customer and I will voice my opinion right now I do not like the Idea being connected anything so I can be bombard with ads or have the risk of having more than just my shopping habits data harvested.
Backing up the content directory (or sharing it on an external drive) is the preferred way to do it in the Daz Connect world. The current beta needs some extra steps to restore from a content directory backup, but before release that should be changed to eliminate the unnecessary extra steps.
The alternative is when the offline packages are released to back those up and reinstall from them, but just backing up the content directories will be faster and more efficient in almost all use cases. If you are a fan of cloud storage you could back your content directory up to one of those and even rely on that synchronization to keep your installed packages the same between different machines.
" I don't need some third party service or a company throwing ads at me when I'm trying to be creative or concentrate on a project using their 3d software."
You as an end user have to select to view the other products. It involves using the smart content tab and choosing to have the store window selected and given space. It isn't as if they are running across the top of the program or anything.
Here is a pic of what greats you when you first load up 4.9.. :)
As you can see you can tell DC you are not interested and also you can tell the window to no longer pop up when next you start Studio..
But you will notice the green button that will allow you to login anytime after, interestingly the render button is the same colour, not sure why, who knows eitherway you can still render with no issue..
The one thing will be lets hope that Daz Connect is going to have a robust and secure connection as the idea of inputting you financial details via this program could spell one hella lot of problems for people since it sounds like that Daz Connect is going to be similar to programs like Steam and MS's Windows 10 Store and if that is the case then you really really do want robust/secure/safe data encryption..
Not everyone is interested in the "most efficient" method. I prefer to have the offline packages as the ultimate backup plan. Like i said before, I don't want to spend hours having to download content (Llike I am now, I started installing from the cloud around 9:30 pm, it's now 12:35 am - and the only thing I've completed downloading are the Genesis 1 and Genesis 3 starter essentials!)
I take it then there will be downloadble product packages?
I can tell you that this isn't for marketing and tracking purposes. We went out of our way to make sure that Daz Connect doesn't send any detailed information up to the server. Even the store pane was specially programmed to handle the filtering of products without sending information about what is selected to the server (unless you manually type in a search term into the store pane). Although not in the current release we are planning on having an offline package that you could load in to Daz Connect in offline mode so you will be able to use Daz Connect only content even if you are not wanting to connect.
If you load up 4.9 you will be able to see that the shop panel (if you open it) doesn't even have any ads because we figured the best user experience would be to make that panel blend in with smart content.
I looked through the FAQ questions and we could probably spell this out in better detail over there to avoid fears like this for others.
Thank you for your reply to my concerns adding more info on the FAQ would be most appreciated. Now days it seems like everyone wants to track you. or get you signed into some cloud service . lately every time I leave the daz web site I My Kaspersky has blocked over more than a 100 third party web tokens and ads agency request. so it is a easy assumption fto think of of third party tracking when daz says they want to connect to my content.
I appreciate that you guys work very hard to make your customer experiences the best possible. But I still would rather not be connected to anything, and would like to have the option t opt out of this service As it is now I have my firewall protection setting blocking daz from connecting to the internet along with Poser and Autodesk programs and I totally blocked PostgreSQL & smart content so I do not use it because it was using more system resources than it was worth leaving it running in my processes . I just have to many live Hard drives of content and have a better methods of searching my content than using smart content or meta data. so you see I'm not just picking on Daz. My PC is my lively hood and I am very careful what thing run on it. , More documentation and information would be very helpful and Appreciative to keep people like me from writing comments of concerns like I did. I think i will wait until The full release of Daz4.9
Have a good evening .
Wait I re read this over. So does this mean in the future you will need to use Daz connect in order to use new purchased content? Is daz planning on cloud like access only service for content in the future?
Are you still going to keep the Zip files?
The phrase "Daz Connect only content" needs explaining. Perhaps it doesn't mean what it sounds like.
There will be both online and offline ways to get "Daz Connect only content" the key difference is that it will only be able to be installed via Studio directly and not through an intermediate like DIM.
will we still be able to Download and use Zip files of new content without connect through our product libraries ?
Please Clarify! Will there be full product packages available for download?! Like the current DIM Zip files?!
That is correct, there will be full product packages available for download.
I suppose what I basically want to know is whether or not I will be able to keep backups of my new purcheses as zip files in case of a hard drive crash. Or I will now need to re-download and re-install all of them through Daz Connect.
When we're talking about gigs of content, that prospect would seem quite daunting.
Thank You. I've asked elsewhere, but I'll re-iterate the question here: Will there be a way to use multi-directory content setups with DAZ Connect? I'm curerently "installing from the cloud", and it looks like everything is being put in a cloud directory in My Library/data. This means that almost my entire DS content library is getting duplicated, which eats up disk space, and my content directories are being ignored.
Daunting is not the word, ashley9803, I'm basically doing the download and re-install right now, and it is horribly slow. Nearing 5 HOURS, only completed 6%.
Backups of your content library will be recognized by Daz Connect, you don't even need to keep separate files if you don't want to. Might take a little bit of time to make sure your files and metadata match what the server lists as current but if everything was up to date when the backup was taken it shouldn't take more than a few hundred kB of transfer in total.
When the offline support option is complete you could also download and reinstall from those, but then you would have to re-download any updates that were made since you downloaded those offline packages.