Ask the PAs: Environments

zombiewhackerzombiewhacker Posts: 670
edited December 2018 in The Commons

I'd be interested in hearing from DAZ P.A.'s who specialize in environments -- be they props, buildings, or whatever -- whether certain types of sets sell better than others. Do period and fantasy scenes sell as quickly as nature and modern architectural sets? (Like, say, did Stonemason's Wild West set do anywhere near as well as his Urban frachise, etc.?)

For anyone interested in a future as a 3D resource creator, be it in DAZ or a similar platform, it might be a worthwhile discussion.

 

 

Post edited by zombiewhacker on

Comments

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 8,745

    Interesting question.  I imagine that the answer really depends on the PA, as only a few are crazy enough to tackle epic projects like Skymason's big city sets.  That said, going by what's actually made and marketed, it seems like bathrooms, bedrooms and living rooms are the interiors that are produced the most, followed closely by bars/nightclubs, diners and coffee shops, so one would assume that there must be a strong market to keep all those PAs occupied., . 

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Well, I certainly can't speak for PA's but what I buy are fantasy/medieval sets, post apocolyptic sets, nature sets and sci fi sets, indoors and out.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,022

    We even have a thread here in the commons forum devoted to bathrooms.  There are certain places that people tend to wear fewer clothes.  This includes bedrooms, hotel rooms, bathrooms, saunas, swimming pools, beaches, locker rooms, and medical facilities.  People who obsess over the number of pores in a skin shader don’t really want that skin covered in a parka or other heavy winter clothing.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552

    Bedrooms and bathrooms sell wellwhen it comes to interiors

  • I'd be interested in hearing from DAZ P.A.'s who specialize in environments -- be they props, buildings, or whatever -- whether certain types of sets sell better than others. Do period and fantasy scenes sell as quickly as nature and modern architectural sets? (Like, say, did Stonemason's Wild West set do anywhere near as well as his Urban frachise, etc.?)

    For anyone interested in a future as a 3D resource creator, be it in DAZ or a similar platform, it might be a worthwhile discussion.

     

     

     

    The good ones ;)

  • Daz Jack TomalinDaz Jack Tomalin Posts: 13,085
    edited December 2018

    Truth is there are so many moving targets - demand and tastes change over time, along with peoples budgets.. add into that sales etc and all that means basically that nothing is guaranteed to be a good seller.   Slow burner sets often end up selling well over time, some just never do well regardless of the genre.   I've had similar products sell completely polar opposite, but I'm at a stage in my 'career' where really it doesn't matter.   What really matters is consistency - putting out a consistent number of products over a long enough time and it will all average out :)

    Do what you're passionate about, do it well.. the rest is really in the laps of the gods.

    Post edited by Daz Jack Tomalin on
  • macleanmaclean Posts: 2,438

    It's not really a question that can be answered by one PA. For the simple reason that most PAs tend to work in one genre, rather than making a modern set followed by a medieval set followed by a sci-fi set. And as Jack said, not only do tastes change over time, but once a customer has bought half a dozen sets of one type, they may not need any more of that type.

    Creating good content isn't about what might/might not sell. It's about wanting to do something that looks great.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780

    Have a team of people give you valuable feedback before you submit. Environments that have kitbashin potential are a good thing for the users, as they can be altered to the different needs.

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 8,745

    Truth is there are so many moving targets - demand and tastes change over time, along with peoples budgets.. add into that sales etc and all that means basically that nothing is guaranteed to be a good seller.   Slow burner sets often end up selling well over time, some just never do well regardless of the genre.   I've had similar products sell completely polar opposite, but I'm not at a stage in my 'career' where really it doesn't matter.   What really matters is consistency - putting out a consistent number of products over a long enough time and it will all average out :)

    Do what you're passionate about, do it well.. the rest is really in the laps of the gods.

    "but I'm not at a stage in my 'career' where really it doesn't matter." = "but I'm at a stage in my 'career' where really it does matter."  Curse you double negatives!

     

     

  • Cybersox said:

    Truth is there are so many moving targets - demand and tastes change over time, along with peoples budgets.. add into that sales etc and all that means basically that nothing is guaranteed to be a good seller.   Slow burner sets often end up selling well over time, some just never do well regardless of the genre.   I've had similar products sell completely polar opposite, but I'm not at a stage in my 'career' where really it doesn't matter.   What really matters is consistency - putting out a consistent number of products over a long enough time and it will all average out :)

    Do what you're passionate about, do it well.. the rest is really in the laps of the gods.

    "but I'm not at a stage in my 'career' where really it doesn't matter." = "but I'm at a stage in my 'career' where really it does matter."  Curse you double negatives!

     

     

    Heh, you get my point ;)

  • FirstBastionFirstBastion Posts: 7,218
    edited December 2018

    You can't really second guess the market.  Make what you want to make, what you enjoy making. Make what you need.

    Given how long it takes, you might as well have fun workng on it. Odds are, other people will want it too.  There are too many variables at play.  Consistantly release products and build up a catalog of quality,  usable,  and well made items that have variety and reusability.  Eventually they'll make you some money.

    Post edited by FirstBastion on
  • E-ArkhamE-Arkham Posts: 733

    I find that products I feel particularly passionate about, and therefore spend ridiculous amounts of time on (95+ hours), flop almost always, while products I manage to produce in a more reasonable amount of hours always do better.  This is probably because A) the things I'm really into are not things stylistically that most people would like, B) the more hours you have on something, the more you have to sell to meet any given arbitrary hourly rate, and C) there's a law of diminishing returns, where after you reach a certain point, adding another 10 hours onto a product doesn't actually make it 10 hours worth of being a better product.

    Otherwise, what FirstBastion and Jack Tomalin have said rings pretty true.  You just keep making stuff.  My catalog is not the biggest you've ever seen, but I'm already seeing that the bigger your catalog is, the more freedom you have to indulge in the off-center stuff.

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584

    Do some sets sell better than others? Yes.

    Have I managed to work out the magic formula of making a set that's instantly going to sell thousands of copies and make me a millionaire?

    . . .

    No.

    Thing is, even if you have a set that did really well, making another set of the same type / genre / series is no guarantee that that one is going to sell. The market is constantly changing, so it's probably best to make what inspires you. The one thing you can guarantee is, you won't sell the set that you don't make.

  • nicsttnicstt Posts: 11,714

    If it has a door, then it should open; the more of this type of prop opens, slides, pivots (etc?), the more use it has.

    If it doesn't I and others expect to pay less, or wait until it's heavily discounted.

    Build a reputation.

    Build a catalogue.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,878

    A very important thing:

    Don't listen to customers.

    What the vocal few claim they want, they often don't end up buying, and they don't accurately reflect the market at large. They also have no idea what goes into making products, so their estimation of what things are worth is laughingly inaccurate.

    So, do your thing, and see what works.

     

  • Stuff that moves should move. Separate items grouped is good for alternative uses and gimme more rather than less "material zones". Sjow me some "out of the box" promos too to help get me thinking of multiple uses for the pruduct. Can the walls fly apart to get good camera shots?

    Bigger is not always better.

  • MattymanxMattymanx Posts: 6,873
    Linwelly said:

    Have a team of people give you valuable feedback before you submit.

     

    Question is, how much time do you want to spend catering to someones opinion when no one can predict how well the product will sell.  What should be done for each set varies, depending on the set and what type of content it is.  Speaking personally, a great deal of thought and planning goes into each set.  But every thing is unpredictive and is likely to change to some degree.

     

    Funny story for you...

    The entire time I was building the Amenazador Ver2 plus the Addon Kit and Roadster version (all one big project) I kept everything under wraps about it.  Didn't tell a soul.  However, I was uncertain about a few things on the rigging and a few other deatils in DS.  So on several occations, I was about to post a question to the other PAs in chat about the rigging and such and tell them about the car, but each time I was about to ask, someone else in chat posted the exact same problem and got the answer I needed.  So I was able to keep it all under wraps untill it was released. :)

  • I'm not a PA, but here's how it seems to me...

    Popular items balance themselves out. People like buying bathrooms, but there are a lot of them in the store - so any one you make is only going to pick up a share of that market. If you dream up some really niche item, it might not appeal to so many people, but the ones that want it will buy it from you.

    So find something you love, something you're good at, and work on that. You can't predict what the market will do, but you can predict that you're going to be spending a lot of time on the whatever-it-is. You might as well enjoy it.

    We now return you to people who know what they're talking about...

  • StonemasonStonemason Posts: 1,160

    I'd be interested in hearing from DAZ P.A.'s who specialize in environments -- be they props, buildings, or whatever -- whether certain types of sets sell better than others. Do period and fantasy scenes sell as quickly as nature and modern architectural sets? (Like, say, did Stonemason's Wild West set do anywhere near as well as his Urban frachise, etc.?)

     

     

     

    nope

  • Now that spoke volumes.

     

  • AllenArtAllenArt Posts: 7,140

    I'd be interested in hearing from DAZ P.A.'s who specialize in environments -- be they props, buildings, or whatever -- whether certain types of sets sell better than others. Do period and fantasy scenes sell as quickly as nature and modern architectural sets? (Like, say, did Stonemason's Wild West set do anywhere near as well as his Urban frachise, etc.?)

     

     

     

    nope

    Hey, I did my bit and bought them both. LOL

    Laurie

  • Thanks to all the PAs who chimed in, though Stefan/Stonemason pretty much confirmed what I suspected, that not all genres are created equal in 3D... even when the individual product is exceptional.

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