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Keep Calm : There's always another Sale (Daily Sale Talk)

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  • barbultbarbult Posts: 26,235

    I'm back home now. Here is the metadata tutorial link. Not hard to find. I just searched for "slosh metadata tutorial". It was the first result. There are other results of that search that might also be helpful.

  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,581

    I am a heavy user of smart content, I just don't rely on it, because like others have said, it is not always there, particularly for older products, or products from other stores. I guess it has acquired a bad reputation among many users precisely because it could not be relied on for all their content. Its standing was also lowered due to a perception that it de-skills new users if they rely on it, and thus don't know how to find their content "the old way" (ie using the content library).

    It is a shame that many users have decided not to use smart content at all, because, speaking as a "reasonably-experienced" user, I find it helps my productivity a fair bit. I love being able to click on an item of clothing or a hair, and then dropping into smart content to see all the textures that are supported for it. Likewise for poses, if I am looking for a run pose, I can use smart content to browse through many running poses, rather than having to look through dozens of separate pose sets. Naturally you can reorganize your content to be similar to smart content by putting texture sets with their clothing, or rearrange poses by type, and I am aware that many users do precisely this. However this is a lot of work to do this, and maintain it for new stuff you buy.

    To get round the problem of products with no smart data I have written my own little program that creates the metadata needed for smart data automatically, although this tends to need some manual work before hand to arrange the set to be suitable for this. This is not something I would expect others to do, just a testement to how useful I personally find smart content to be. I package smart content I create myself into installation zip files, and install these through DIM like other products. I only create metadata for a handful of sets I know I will use a lot, like certain pose sets or expressions, it would be far too much work to do it for everything, and quite unnecessary for products I would only use rarely.  

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,488

    I find smart content useful for finding initial figures (most of the time) and materials. Other than that, I find it faster to use the product library unless I'm just browsing items for the fun of it. If smart content were smarter... or if the searches on smart content on the product library worked better, I'd save so much time, I could probably take a vacation using the hours I saved not looking for content.

  • mtl1mtl1 Posts: 1,508

    I spent money on purchasing the Hero FX series a few days ago and wow, it's pretty versatile once they're converted to Iray :D

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,772

    Glad to hear they can be converted. I took a chance and bought those, haven't loaded them up yet. I think I have almost all the packs.

  • OverdrawnOverdrawn Posts: 580

    Just FYI. There's been some "MSRP" price reductions in Dreamlight's catalog:

    Specifically these three--which I picked up a few days ago during the "tools" sale:

    http://www.daz3d.com/ds-dynamic-clothing-mastery
    http://www.daz3d.com/animate-2-mastery-complete
    http://www.daz3d.com/hexagon-revisited-create-models-money

    I haven't noticed a pattern with them yet...perhaps they're from an earlier era? :) Anyhow, thought it was worth sharing. ^_^

  • 3Diva3Diva Posts: 11,973
    firewarden said:
    Charlie Judge said:
    Llynara said:

    I am still experimenting and learning as I go. There are a surprising amount of fitting morphs in the clothing, but you have to look for them in the sub menus of the outfits. Most of them are extra bones. Some things just fit weird. Or only on one thigh or shoulder when they should go on two. I have no idea how diferent the material zones are. So I've got a barbarian outfit on a G3M and he only has one thigh band and one shoulder paldron. I turned them both off and got this (attached.) The textures are a mess but the outfit itself it pretty neat. It's Northar for M3.

    I also tried fitting Dark Mage to a Genesis and then a V7 and had trouble with posing, but only on one piece of the costume. Unforunately, it's the coolest piece! Rough draft attached below.

    Someone mentioned that you can fit V3 stuff to V4, that there's some kind of clone or something. I haven't tried that method yet. 

    Have  you tried Cross Dresser from EvilInnocence yet? For $10 you can get a V4 license that lets you fit clothing from all supported figures (including V3) to V4 and for another $10 you can get a M4 license. I bought the all license bundle last December when it was on sale for $25 but I haven't tried it yet

    Where do you get Cross Dresser? I'm not finding it.

    If you just want to use Cross Dresser to wear any of the supporting figure's clothes on Genesis 3 Females and you have Star 2.0 - you could just get the licence for Star and all the clothes should be wearable on G3F then. As Star 2.0 comes with an clone that lets you wear the "Original Star" figure's clothes on G3F. I plan on doing that once the license goes on sale. 

  • 3Diva3Diva Posts: 11,973
    L'Adair said:
    Wonderland said:
    Nath said:

    There's the item list instead of the product library, though you have to dig to find it.

    Smart content is only an issue if you use it :-p

    Is there a way to add other products not sold here, freebies or even your own creations into smart content? Smart content seems to be the easiest way to see what you actually have unless I'm missing something. When I go to the regular content pane, I have to look alphabetically if I know exactly what I want, unless you want to spend days catagorizing everything as mentioned in another thread..

    In DS v4.9, oopen the Content Library tab and click on the menu icon, (a square button with several horizontal lines and small arrow.) The resulting pop-up menu should include "Content DB Maintenance." Click on that. In the resulting pop-up window, select "Re-import Metadata..." and click on Accept. In the next pop-up window, (titled Import Meatdata,) you will see a number of options inluding a list of all products. (I usually leave everything selected!) Click on Accept.

    I don't know if you have to be connected for this to work, but after running this utility some time back, I noticed 3rd party products showing up in Smart Content. YMMV.

    Oh sweet! This was a HUGE help! It found stuff I forgot I had. lol Thank you! :D

  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,581
    divamakeup said:
    L'Adair said:
    Wonderland said:
    Nath said:

    There's the item list instead of the product library, though you have to dig to find it.

    Smart content is only an issue if you use it :-p

    Is there a way to add other products not sold here, freebies or even your own creations into smart content? Smart content seems to be the easiest way to see what you actually have unless I'm missing something. When I go to the regular content pane, I have to look alphabetically if I know exactly what I want, unless you want to spend days catagorizing everything as mentioned in another thread..

    In DS v4.9, oopen the Content Library tab and click on the menu icon, (a square button with several horizontal lines and small arrow.) The resulting pop-up menu should include "Content DB Maintenance." Click on that. In the resulting pop-up window, select "Re-import Metadata..." and click on Accept. In the next pop-up window, (titled Import Meatdata,) you will see a number of options inluding a list of all products. (I usually leave everything selected!) Click on Accept.

    I don't know if you have to be connected for this to work, but after running this utility some time back, I noticed 3rd party products showing up in Smart Content. YMMV.

    Oh sweet! This was a HUGE help! It found stuff I forgot I had. lol Thank you! :D

    It is also worth connecting to DAZ Connect every now and again, as this will provide you with a list of updated metadata, even if you have installed all your content using DIM.

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,488
    divamakeup said:
    firewarden said:
    Charlie Judge said:
    Llynara said:

    I am still experimenting and learning as I go. There are a surprising amount of fitting morphs in the clothing, but you have to look for them in the sub menus of the outfits. Most of them are extra bones. Some things just fit weird. Or only on one thigh or shoulder when they should go on two. I have no idea how diferent the material zones are. So I've got a barbarian outfit on a G3M and he only has one thigh band and one shoulder paldron. I turned them both off and got this (attached.) The textures are a mess but the outfit itself it pretty neat. It's Northar for M3.

    I also tried fitting Dark Mage to a Genesis and then a V7 and had trouble with posing, but only on one piece of the costume. Unforunately, it's the coolest piece! Rough draft attached below.

    Someone mentioned that you can fit V3 stuff to V4, that there's some kind of clone or something. I haven't tried that method yet. 

    Have  you tried Cross Dresser from EvilInnocence yet? For $10 you can get a V4 license that lets you fit clothing from all supported figures (including V3) to V4 and for another $10 you can get a M4 license. I bought the all license bundle last December when it was on sale for $25 but I haven't tried it yet

    Where do you get Cross Dresser? I'm not finding it.

    If you just want to use Cross Dresser to wear any of the supporting figure's clothes on Genesis 3 Females and you have Star 2.0 - you could just get the licence for Star and all the clothes should be wearable on G3F then. As Star 2.0 comes with an clone that lets you wear the "Original Star" figure's clothes on G3F. I plan on doing that once the license goes on sale. 

    That would let you use all clothing from all the other various figures on G3F via the original Star?

  • sandmanmaxsandmanmax Posts: 992
    deathbycanon said:
    donovancolbert said:


    ​I just realized I picked up the Ultra Aging morphs but they're Poser morphs. *sigh*... I always forget to check at least one item that turns out to be Poser content in these sales.

    oh crud, that one got me too, and I was being sooo careful! It was my last purchase and the clock was going on 1 - I was in a bit of a hurry lol 

    Don't panic yet.  I'm working on a solution.

  • sandmanmaxsandmanmax Posts: 992
    sandman_max said:
    deathbycanon said:
    donovancolbert said:


    ​I just realized I picked up the Ultra Aging morphs but they're Poser morphs. *sigh*... I always forget to check at least one item that turns out to be Poser content in these sales.

    oh crud, that one got me too, and I was being sooo careful! It was my last purchase and the clock was going on 1 - I was in a bit of a hurry lol 

    Don't panic yet.  I'm working on a solution.

    Well, drat!  They're all complicated or expensive.  The easiest solution (as I think others have mentioned) involves Poser, which I have.  I loaded all the morphs onto Vicky4 and saved it as a new cr2 file.  Then you can either use that Vicky4 in DS4 or use GenX2 to extract the morphs into the Genesis series. It also extracts the PMD into geometry so if somebody is good at hacking cr2 files, maybe that will work for you.  I found some nebulous reference to using a manual cr2 file to read PMDs http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/8100/

    and another about savings morphs via EXP (which I totally don't understand) http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/751891/

    Also, somebody mentioned Poser File Editor, which is still available on Rendo. I have this and looked at it but I've never been good at using the tool, so couldn't make sense out it either.  It only works with Poser files.  But it was written by Dimension3D, who's one of our PAs.  He also has a tool called Binary Morph Editor, which creates PMDs and maybe it can be used to save them into something useable. But I don't have that so I can't test it.

    I gave up trying since my real goal was to get the morphs into Genesis.  But maybe, just maybe, we can just lobby with Syyd to convert all these wonderful morphs to something that loads, since she's also one our PAs.  Hey Sydd, you out there?

    Sorry, I wish I had better news.  (Other than Poser 10 is available on Amazon for $44.  That's one version behind the current one and is really a great price and really is very useful for converting content to DS.)

  • nicsttnicstt Posts: 11,715
    Llynara said:
    donovancolbert said:

    I'd actually been considering getting a Premier membership at that OTHER site and spending some time over there with their content because this sale was not as exciting as previous sales and I've got most of what I really wanted over here. I ended up putting the money I would have put into that into gift cards here... so people letting me know about ways to maximize the sales over here really encouraged customer loyalty to the DAZ store. 

    I have it, and use it all the time. I've finally figured out their sales cycles and am enjoying some big discounts there as well. But there's no thread in their forums for these things and can't really talk about it here. Yes, good deals to be had. No smart content when you load that stuff, or Product Library (though there is a pretty decent order history.) You also can't hide what you own. Kind of like Amazon. At both places, I've gone to buy something only to realize I already had it, LOL.

    That is of course a plus.

    ... And a reason I spend cash there and bought a gift card.

  • sandmanmaxsandmanmax Posts: 992

    Here are the results from my V4 Ultra Aging Morphs tests.  Female is V4 Horizon aged and the male is Genesis with some of the converted V4 Ultra Aging morphs applied.  He's got the Phoenix1976 Stefan skin.  Vicky's hair is the HikariHair and I used UHT2: Ultimate Color (http://www.daz3d.com/uht2-ultimate-color) to add grey streaks.  This is the first time I've used and it's TOTALLY AWESOME.  You can add effects to any material zone, keep layering in different colors with different masks, create ombre affects, change gloss level, tranluscency, there are tons of options.  And it's on sale.

     

    V4 Horizon-55 and Genesis UltraAged Stefan.png
    1100 x 900 - 1M
  • sandmanmaxsandmanmax Posts: 992

    I was just looking at the various PA stores on sale and started wondering something.  What happens to a vendor's store when s/he passes away?  DraagonStorm's store is still there and her products are still being sold.  Do they ever go on sale?  Who controls the store?

  • deathbycanondeathbycanon Posts: 1,227
    sandman_max said:
    sandman_max said:
    deathbycanon said:
    donovancolbert said:


    ​I just realized I picked up the Ultra Aging morphs but they're Poser morphs. *sigh*... I always forget to check at least one item that turns out to be Poser content in these sales.

    oh crud, that one got me too, and I was being sooo careful! It was my last purchase and the clock was going on 1 - I was in a bit of a hurry lol 

    Don't panic yet.  I'm working on a solution.

    Well, drat!  They're all complicated or expensive.  The easiest solution (as I think others have mentioned) involves Poser, which I have.  I loaded all the morphs onto Vicky4 and saved it as a new cr2 file.  Then you can either use that Vicky4 in DS4 or use GenX2 to extract the morphs into the Genesis series. It also extracts the PMD into geometry so if somebody is good at hacking cr2 files, maybe that will work for you.  I found some nebulous reference to using a manual cr2 file to read PMDs http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/8100/

    and another about savings morphs via EXP (which I totally don't understand) http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/751891/

    Also, somebody mentioned Poser File Editor, which is still available on Rendo. I have this and looked at it but I've never been good at using the tool, so couldn't make sense out it either.  It only works with Poser files.  But it was written by Dimension3D, who's one of our PAs.  He also has a tool called Binary Morph Editor, which creates PMDs and maybe it can be used to save them into something useable. But I don't have that so I can't test it.

    I gave up trying since my real goal was to get the morphs into Genesis.  But maybe, just maybe, we can just lobby with Syyd to convert all these wonderful morphs to something that loads, since she's also one our PAs.  Hey Sydd, you out there?

    Sorry, I wish I had better news.  (Other than Poser 10 is available on Amazon for $44.  That's one version behind the current one and is really a great price and really is very useful for converting content to DS.)

    Thank you for trying and letting us know how it went, that was really sweet of you.Your ageing morphs turned out great! 

  • Charlie JudgeCharlie Judge Posts: 13,251
    sandman_max said:

    I was just looking at the various PA stores on sale and started wondering something.  What happens to a vendor's store when s/he passes away?  DraagonStorm's store is still there and her products are still being sold.  Do they ever go on sale?  Who controls the store?

    Since I have seen some of Dragonstorms products in Fast Grab since her passing, I guess they still go on sale. I would assume that her rightful heirs receive the proceeds from the sale of her products.

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,488
    sandman_max said:

    I was just looking at the various PA stores on sale and started wondering something.  What happens to a vendor's store when s/he passes away?  DraagonStorm's store is still there and her products are still being sold.  Do they ever go on sale?  Who controls the store?

    Someone posted in another thread that all proceeds go to the heirs. I would assume DAZ would control sales and such, but that's an interesting question.

  • NorthOf45NorthOf45 Posts: 5,692

    Gift cards at 10% off, combined with your MMBB discount of 10% means 19% off (0.9*0.9=0.81), the highest I've ever seen. Just include 3 (cheap!) items to trigger the deal, so almost any gift card amount is worth it (where the discount is greater than the amount you spend to get the discount in the first place). I got three PC+ for <$10, and will use the gift card to get the pricier stuff later...

  • FrankTheTankFrankTheTank Posts: 1,481
    NorthOf45 said:

    Gift cards at 10% off, combined with your MMBB discount of 10% means 19% off (0.9*0.9=0.81), the highest I've ever seen. Just include 3 (cheap!) items to trigger the deal, so almost any gift card amount is worth it (where the discount is greater than the amount you spend to get the discount in the first place). I got three PC+ for <$10, and will use the gift card to get the pricier stuff later...

    . In Sept I got one for 40% off, and earlier this the week I bought one for 37% off. So there are occasionally better deals, but they don't last long, it pays to be an early morning shopper.

  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 2,885

    I want to thank whoever at Daz decided that the 11th was close enough for a Catch Up sale.  I was just Thursday bemoaning having missed Maclean's store when I realized I had yet to buy the Everyday Labels and Signs yet and needed something in them for a scene I am working on.

  • WonderlandWonderland Posts: 7,133

    I always have a weird glitch with gift cards. I get two emails at the same time telling me I have a gift card. When I try the first one, when I click through it says "Sorry, wrong gift card code" or something like that, but then the second email with a different code always works. This happens EVERY time I order a gift card, going on for probably a year. The second one always works, so I've never complained, but still, a very weird glitch...

  • Charlie JudgeCharlie Judge Posts: 13,251
    edited March 2017
    Wonderland said:

    I always have a weird glitch with gift cards. I get two emails at the same time telling me I have a gift card. When I try the first one, when I click through it says "Sorry, wrong gift card code" or something like that, but then the second email with a different code always works. This happens EVERY time I order a gift card, going on for probably a year. The second one always works, so I've never complained, but still, a very weird glitch...

    My take on this is that it is probably morre the way store woks than a glitch.

    Did you pay with PayPal?  I have only had this happen when I pay with PayPal. I think the store issues a card before it get the PayPal payment; then issues one on receipt of the payment rather than apply it to the first card. The first one is invalid because there is no payment for it.

     

    Post edited by Charlie Judge on
  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    Wonderland said:

    I always have a weird glitch with gift cards. I get two emails at the same time telling me I have a gift card. When I try the first one, when I click through it says "Sorry, wrong gift card code" or something like that, but then the second email with a different code always works. This happens EVERY time I order a gift card, going on for probably a year. The second one always works, so I've never complained, but still, a very weird glitch...

    Yep, happens every time for me too. I use PayPal - seems that's the significant factor.

  • NathNath Posts: 2,942

    I've had the gift card issue too for a long time; it seems to have stopped now for me - and that's with a credit card, not Paypal.

  • LlynaraLlynara Posts: 4,772

    Yep, every time!

  • Griffin AvidGriffin Avid Posts: 3,817

    I was trying to buy a gift card with a gift card balance. I was ready to send a support ticket that I got ripped off, until I did the math.

    OHHH that's why you can't. surprise

  • WonderlandWonderland Posts: 7,133

    Yup, I pay with Paypal. Guess that's why...

  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479
    divamakeup said:
    L'Adair said:
    Wonderland said:
    Nath said:

    There's the item list instead of the product library, though you have to dig to find it.

    Smart content is only an issue if you use it :-p

    Is there a way to add other products not sold here, freebies or even your own creations into smart content? Smart content seems to be the easiest way to see what you actually have unless I'm missing something. When I go to the regular content pane, I have to look alphabetically if I know exactly what I want, unless you want to spend days catagorizing everything as mentioned in another thread..

    In DS v4.9, oopen the Content Library tab and click on the menu icon, (a square button with several horizontal lines and small arrow.) The resulting pop-up menu should include "Content DB Maintenance." Click on that. In the resulting pop-up window, select "Re-import Metadata..." and click on Accept. In the next pop-up window, (titled Import Meatdata,) you will see a number of options inluding a list of all products. (I usually leave everything selected!) Click on Accept.

    I don't know if you have to be connected for this to work, but after running this utility some time back, I noticed 3rd party products showing up in Smart Content. YMMV.

    Oh sweet! This was a HUGE help! It found stuff I forgot I had. lol Thank you! :D

    I'm glad that was helpful for you. smiley

  • boisselazonboisselazon Posts: 458

    did i miss something? i'm pretty disapointed by this march madness. I don't see what is stacking...I bough some interesting things in the end of last year but I'm wondering now: why no good price on G3 pro bundles? the best i can get is 38. No, just no. I got them at 12/17 3 month ago (i don't ask for such deals but, at least something hot). But if you guys have some insigh to let me know how to get some good deal, i'd be glad to buy some new toys....cheeky

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