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That's explained in the readme...
Now we just need it to include folder names also. Many products can't be identfied by file names.
Me too.
More times than I can count. This is what I do if it takes longer than five minutes to find my new product. Thankfully I do have my custom categories set up and the first thing that gets done once products are found is that it gets categorized. At least that way, I only have to look for it once. And I still come across stuff I totally didn't realize I had because I never found it when I purchased a large amount of items (pc sale for insance lol)
easy thing to find out, just open the zip with 7zip or similar, look in the folders and they will tell you exactly where each 'item' will install. yeah , it takes a minute or so to do, but that is not a big deal. lol!
I despise video tutorials, unless it really is something that just can't be easily put into words (which is seldom the case). I do NOT want to waste 10 minutes listening to someone stumble through an "off the cuff" description of what they think I need to know in order to get to the 30 seconds where they actually do say what I need. Text is searchable and I can move it to a place where I can easily find it if it's something that I might forget before I use it the next time. If the only docs you offer exist at Youtube, and your product is not particularly obvious to me, then I'll either return it or make a note not to buy from you ever again.
If your time is so much more valuable than mine, then maybe you could pay someone to write one up for you?
(Edited so it can only be taken one way.) It takes the same, if not more, time to do those videos than typing a pdf with images and it's insulting to the vendors to imply they are taking a shortcut. QUITE THE CONTRARY.
+1
Being hearing impaired, video tutorials are almost useless to me. At least dyslexic people can use a text-to-speech program to have a written tutorial read out loud.
Not to mention if you don't understand English very well, with a written tutorial you can paste it into a translating program, with a video tutorial, not so much
I mean.. ouch.. yeah it kinda stung, but its also true. And there have been vendors right here in this thread who have basically said this: why should I spend my valuable time doing something that most people are not going to read.
Short answer: you do it for those who ARE going to read it. Because our time is just as valuable as yours and you are asking me to buy your product.
One thing I have taken to doing....
Whenever I need to consult a product Readme on the documentation wiki, there is an 'Export to PDF' menu option, so I can save a copy of the readme for future reference.
It's a bit of a pain in the never-mind-precisely-where to have to remember to do it every time, but at least I have an off-line copy.
Of course, if it's an older product, there's a better-than-even chance that there won't be a Readme in the documentation wiki, since a lot of them have never been pulled into it; but in that case, there's also a better-than-even chance that you'll already have the original readme in your content library....
A one-page readme is better than nothing. They take under 30 minutes to jot down.
Basic documentation with a few examples is better than a readme. Time to write: 1-2 hours,
Full documentation with more example is better than basic documentation. Time to write (and do a good job): 1-2 days. Only some products require these.
Full manuals ... very few products actually need these, but obviously, they can consume many hours or work.
Videos are extras and benefit the social media footprint. Vendors who like to do videos should also do, at a minimum, a basic readme. Videos get old, outdated, or stale, and are harder to update. Readmes can be updated quickly, and slipstreamed into product updates.
From what I can see, Daz does not require even a readme as a QC item for their curated products. Frankly I find this mystifying. Like I have extra time on my hands to dink around.
And then there are PAs like V3Digitimes, who created A Touch of Dirt for Iray. In addition to the readme in the Daz docs area, she wrote a 15 page PDF Users Guide and posted 6 YouTube videos explaining all the details of how to get the most out of the product. The PDF Users Guide is linked in the Daz readme, and the 6 videos are linked in the PDF, so you can even read and watch all the documentation before you decide whether to buy it. To me, this is the 5 star way to treat customers and keep them coming back for more.
I couldn't agree more. There are several PAs who go the extra mile to ensure purchasers of their products can get the most out of them, and for people new to this art, it's greatly appreciated.
Thanks. For going above and beyond like that, that product just went into my cart.
Video Tutorials could, in theory, contain closed captioning (basically text versions of what the video author is saying) but the software that can do that is less likely to be available to the average content creator. However, I believe SickleYield often does a text version on her DeviantArt account as well as a video tutorial on YouTube.
I am a readme nut so when I was moved from RDNA (where we were required to create readmes) to Daz 3D I was so surprised to be told that I do not need to make a readme for my products. It's not the PAs' choice to not have readmes included when they submit a product. We should included all and any relevant information for the product and QA then creates a readme that they post in the documentation area. Good to have them available there but I prefer them in my product zip. I don't know how to make videos of pdfs. Maybe I should learn to. I've always wanted to post something on YouTube :)
I figure that Daz 3D does this because of all the errors in readmes...missing files, incorrectly named files, missing information and misspelled words. The amount of time to make corrections would be huge and slow down product release. Copying the readme from the documentation area seems to be the best action for me.
One of the things in the past that used to be a pet peeve of mine was vendors who named their readmes 'readme.txt'. When I first started 3D I can not tell you how many times I overwrote 'readme.txt'. For 100 items I have exactly one readme and don't know who made most of my stuff from way back. When I finally realized what I was doing that's when I became a 'readme nut' and started renaming them or moving the information into the vendor's product folders. Easy to find now.
+10
I dump all of the the readme files into a folder on my desktop labelled read me lol. And sort it further from there. There are some products (okay a lot of products although less than there used to be as I gain skill) that I have no idea how to use or get the best use out of without some form of documentation. Its pointless for me to buy it if I can't figure out how to use and I am not generally considered and idiot and don't mind a bit of push this button, press this lever and see what happens. But there are plenty of products that doesn't work for and since I work a day job and have a family, my creating time is incredibly precious to me and spending a whole evening or more trying to get something to work is extremely frustrating. For instance, the products that use geo shells. I had no idea what a geo shell was, where to find it, or what it did when I started. I still don't have a really good grasp on some of the products that use it. (changing the mat from the choices included turns the person pink, or purple or whatever instead of the intended item for instance and I have no idea what I am doing wrong.). Still don't but its on my list of things to figure out. But. a basic set of instructions would allow me to use it correctly the first time.
I'm of the opinion that errors in the readme files are because the authors don't want to make them in the first place either because they can't write or they simply don't care to explain something, that to them, is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer. And so, they just don't care.
One of the drawbacks of manuals of any sort is that they are initially assumed to be trustworthy. However, the first mistake in a manual breaks the trust in the manual, the product, and the manufacturer. So perhaps a thoughtful manufacturer decides to not produce any manual at all. Yielding to the temptation to then explain difficutlies with the product as defects in the user.
LeatherGryphon, I was just suggesting a possible reason for PAs not being able to make their own readmes. I have no knowledge of the real reasons for this process. I've found that most vendors want to make products that customers will enjoy and that means repeat business. Making incomplete or faulty products does not garner customer support. Perhaps some of the products you refer to were made by newer vendors who often times don't know any better. They miss things that more established and experienced vendors know by rote.
As a customer, I get frustrated when I can not reproduce similar results that I see in the promos. For that I'm starting to think that I need to get better at using lighting...that maybe that's key to a good render.
Your frustration with not reproducing promo image quality can also be because promo images are allowed to use any render engine, any software and even post processing, as I understand it. Do you see lovely "god rays" shining through that window? It is likely Photoshoped in. At least, that is what Jack Tomalin told me he did in West Park Treatment Center Iray when I asked how to achieve that promo image look with that product. So, don't be too hard on yourself.
Just continue to do your best, and learn as much as you can, and HAVE FUN.
What has that got to do with the lack of ReadMe's?
The best answer I've seen so far is :
evilded777's
"Short answer: you do it for those who ARE going to read it. Because our time is just as valuable as yours and you are asking me to buy your product."
This is the core of the problem with DAZ and their lack of info!
And a side note:
I buy more from people who provide credit about products used in the promos.
Yeah, I appreciate that also. It's especially advantageous for DAZ to link any DAZ products used in promos...since...we might well end up adding some of those to our carts as well. It's crazy that they do it so infrequently.
My single biggest objection to video tutorials - they're unsearchable. I've several methods of searching text/pdf files, but I have yet to find anything that will generate a topic or feature index from a group of videos. At one time I seriously considered getting Dragon Naturally Speaking to convert the audio in video tutorials to text. I decided in the end it just wasn't worth the effort.
Only the big main promo image is allowed any significant alteration, or rendering in another application; everything else must be done in a supported application (DAZ Studio or Poser, if the product supports the latter). Lighting is the key to a good render.
Reference Greebo, sorry but break in here again but the comment about buying only from vendors who list out supporting product is not fair in this case. Vendors are saying that they list out all the supporting products used and it doesn't get posted on their product pages. Some said it has happened enough times to them that they stopped listing them. Others have said their supporting items get posted. It's a strange situation, and, imo, is out of the vendor's control at the moment until it's figured out why it happens.
Just wanted to share that so people don't punish vendors for something that may be out of their control. The way it is right now it's hard to know if the vendor did not list support items or they were not added onto the product page by QA.
Hope that I don't sound confrontational. Not trying to be...just informational.
This sounds like a managerial issue, which have plagued DAZ for years. Employees either not knowing or simplying not following guidelines. Some obviously do, since we do have products where the products are nicely listed at the bottom of the product page, but many do not. This is a really big opportunity for DAZ to "upsell", since one product's promos may well result in the sale of another. But, the fact that they don't take it seriously is just crazy. I don't know how complicated the product configuration pages are. Maybe doing that is time consuming, but..again...that's a managerial issue. If it is, spend a day's effort of a web developer making it less so, in order to drive up sales.
That said, the same problem exists over at renderosity, and probably other sites too.
I find this concept troubling. Every product should have information direct from the creator that details product usage. At the very least some sort of explanation when arcane abbreviations are used. I would prefer to see less abysmally bad ad copy and more usage guidelines.