I like DIM, and it's a big reason I shop here
mmitchell_houston
Posts: 2,535
I have not yet tried the new Daz Connect. I'll give it a try when I finally get around to installing DS 4.9 (possibly this weekend on one of my computers, and next week on my other computer).
But I thought I would say that, amidst all this hullabaloo about encryption and people discussing how they will never use it and how they hate the DIM, I wanted to say that I like the Daz Install Manager and it is a significant factor in why I shop here at Daz, instead of over at RuntimeDNA or Renderosity. I do buy from them, but not nearly with the frequency I shop at Daz. I looked at my purchases for last year, and Daz got about 95% of my business.
The main reason, of course, is the high-quality of the content here at Daz. It’s just usually better than what I get elsewhere. Renderosity stuff is hit or miss on quality. And although RDNA has very nice stuff (and I have a bunch of it) with comparable quality, there is less of it that fits into projects I’m working on. One thing that puts Daz3D above RDNA for me is that I can automatically install my purchases with the DIM. I don’t have to mess with fiddly zip files or with using the Content Tab in Poser to manually bring in each item (is it only one at a time or can you do them in bulk? I really don’t know). With the DIM I can just select what I want, click DOWNLOAD and walk away. It’s all done when I get back.
I like that. It’s a selling feature to me. Am I giving up control by letting it put things away for me? Yes. Do I care? No. I prefer the convenience of the Daz Install Manager, so I’m more than willing to give Daz Connect a fair chance.
Oh well. I'm done here. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go drink some more Kool-Aide.
PS: I know about Content Paradise. And I never shop there. They just don't have any content that I want. Honestly... it's more than a little sad going over there. It's kind of like a store that's going out of business, but is somehow holding on, spacing its scant product offerings out on the shelves so people won't see how empty it is. I just get sad going over there.
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Comments
I too like DIM because I can usually count on everything being installed correctly. Also, I really like how easy it is to uninstall everything and then immediately reinstall it. I only had to do it one time, but his really helped me fix some major issues with the content management database on my system .
I like dim too. I find performing manual installation tiresome.
+1 on that. The DIM was one of the best things that happened back in the day. I disliked manually installing content so much because of all the time it took away from being creative. I rather prefer having an automated system with categories set up by DAZ3D.
After two more years shopping at DAZ I started to have too much content to have it all installed.
What was missing was a way to search through all content in the DIM and install only a small selection that is really needed
- install only those products that are compatible with Genesis 3 female.
- install all wardrobe products from your favorite artist
- install all environments from your favorite artist
- install all animals
- install all props of a certain type etc.
Now those issues are completly resolved with DAZ connect.
With the help of filters, categories and an advanced search function with tags you can do everything you could do with the DIM and now even search for specific selection of products directly inside DAZ Studio.
If you are interested in examples with screenshots check this guide:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/69942/guide-how-to-search-for-your-content-inside-daz-studio-4-9#latest
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I agree DIM is one of the 2 best time savers for users that DAZ has created... the other being the identification/filtering out of products we have already bought including within bundles. These were both clearly built to enhanse the user experience purchasing at DAZ3D. The new moves to encryption seem more focused on protecting DAZ and its PAs and not putting the user's concerns first.
I like DIM too, and it will be phased out once enough people stop using it.
But 4.8 doesn't have connect.
Greetings,
I also love DIM, mainly because I remember launching 10 installers at once, setting them all up to install, then clicking one...and...waiting...until...it...installed, then closing it and clicking the second...(repeat). It was pretty awful, and upgrades were a PITA.
Here's the thing... The way I'm fairly sure it went, and I know that folks who want to feel outrage will disagree, is that they realized that moving DIM into D|S would allow them to fix the problem of 'Where's my content?' (a VERY common user issue), and allow them to streamline updates by only updating the specific changed files. Once they got a little bit into the details of the architecture, someone realized, 'Hey, wait... If we encrypt at THIS step, and decrypt at THAT step, we can secure content just a little better, and maybe reduce shrinkage...'
DAZ Connect does so many useful and good things for the user's concerns that had to be designed in from the get-go, that it's (from a software development perspective) VERY unlikely that the tail wagged the dog here. I don't think you can easily get to DAZ Connect's features by starting with 'How can we encrypt content?' But you can easily get to 'Hey, we can encrypt...' from DAZ Connect's core user-oriented feature set.
-- Morgan
I love reading your posts! You are always the voice of reason and insight - an NO, I'm not being sarcastic.
I'm looking forward to seeing what changes they have made with Connect and Smarter content. I'm hoping the whole CMS will be more stable. I'll make up my mind after I actually get to use it (which probably won't be until next week, the way things are going right now).
Heck, I remember that from last Sept. when RDNA had a big sale. It took me the whole evening to install everything I bought. A whole block of time I could have spent on creating art (or just fiddling around with my new stuff) was spent unzipping, unzipping, unzipping, unzipping...
I like DIM too and have been using it to install all my products since it was released. It makes installing products easy, and I buy a lot of products.
The other thing is it makes updating products easy. Before DIM I don't think I every recall getting any message from DAZ about a product being updated. I have gotten a few emails from PAs at other sites. Every week now I get a large number of updates from DAZ with fixes and sometimes with enhancements. I get updates for old PC club items adding DAZ Studio versions for old Poser products. Some PAs have been adding fit morphs to clothing for new G3 character that DAZ releases or adding Iray materials for older items. The PAs that are making those enhancements to released produces are special, but DIM makes it possible to get those updates out to most of their customers.
From reading all the threads on 4.9 and DAZ Connect, I gather that one enhancement that DAZ Connect brings is the abillity to update individual files in a product without downloading the whole product again. At least that is the impression I got from reading the release notes and threads. The process with DIM where you download the whole product zip again, uninstall the existing product and install the updated version works fine, but I'm sure it puts more strain on the DAZ download servers. I think the goal of DAZ Connect is to reduce the strain with making all those updates.
The file level product updates have not been talked about much, but I think this is the main enhancement DAZ Connect provides.
I have to say I was also a major fan of DIM and think content installation was one of the major issues in the industry. When DIM was introduced it met its own fair share of resistance too. With cries of 'Who needs "Dim" i always do my content manually".
One other thing I have been liking with DC is to see what products I have available but not installed (Available for download) . So many times I see a freebie or something on special and buy it and think, I will download that later when I need it. And forget all about it. With DC for example if I was looking for some hair for Genesis 3 Male. WIth Genesis 3 Male loaded and selected I can check what I have installed, and then look what I have available (Purchased but not downloaded) and finally if I'm really keen see what store options there are for hair for the figure all in DS.
I found a Genesis 3 Female hair yesterday through DC Available tab, that I purchased and forgotten all about. Clicked install kept working on my scene and the hair was available in a couple of minutes without leaving DS. I think DC could be as big a leap forward from DIM as DIM was from .zip in the long term.
+1
I've only used Daz Connect for an evening, but I'm puzzled about how to get it to download everything at once. I don't want to click and wait a minute for something. I want it all there now, and I have the hard drive space to hold it. I'm hoping that there's some way to get it to bring everything down at once. I'll keep poking around and see what's what.
You can go to available select the first product then scroll to the end and shift click the last product right click, Install.
I like DIM, and like the potential of Connect - without the DRM component.