Unintended Consquences
This discussion has been closed.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2026 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
This is your opinion of it's use, and is in direct opposition to the product as described here: http://www.daz3d.com/content-gatherer
Further if the backup function of this product was not intended to archive all dependant files, then that should have been worked into its functionality. Or it should never have been sold by DAZ to begin with.
And now you understand why we HATE this connect crap. It is messing up our whole pipeline! Why the hell should I have to take my whole 3tb hard drive to another computer, when I could in the past just zip them up easy and take them on a tiny thumbdrive? It's a pain in the ass.
Not really my opinion, it says it right on the main title graphic. "Analyze your content files" "Create zip files of your content" It's really a tool to move content, but no it's not going to work with encrypted content. Now it may move the files, the the operating system definitely won't be able to read it. As far as backup, you should be able to back up your files like any other backup, but those file won't work if you start moving them around.You wouldn't really need to back up a whole drive to work on another computer. Just copy your scene file to the new machine and open it. DAZ connect will download what you need in far less time than you backing up a whole runtime or parts of one. That should speed up your workflow better than running tools and extracting files to a thumb drive.
Yeah, great, except work horse machines do not even have an adapter installed to get on the internet. Not to mention, some of us have monthly data use limits, so not really a viable solution even if they did have an adapter...
Except you are wrong and that won't work. In particular all of the custom instance created geometry files (located under \data\auto_adapted) would not be there.
I really doubt that Daz Connect is going to some how magically create those.
Also, since you like splitting hairs, the product page says: "your content and scene files." In this case "your content" translates, to me, as the content I purchased and now own. It doesn't have to be content I created.
So you agree there's an issue that requires a case... the other things you're saying are in the faq. Thanks!
I'm at 81 pages starting with DAZ Studio BETA 2.3.3.146 (Inactive) back in Jan 2006.
I think what they will end up doing is releasing all Daz Original Products as Daz Connect only products a couple months from now and then in a year from launch date they will announce that all future products released by DAZ will only be in the "Daz Connect" format (no Daz Install Manager or Manual Install). So called offline use will be through Daz Connect.
In my opinion this is the first steps towards software as a service (SAAS). Like Microsoft, Adobe, and Autodesk, these companies are seeing slower product adoption of the latest releases because their software has matured. So they are looking at new ways to monetize their products. It could work, but it depends on competitors (Libre Office, GIMP, Blender, etc...) not maturing enough to be truly competitive and people having the disposable income to make a monthly commitment. Maybe this is a prelude to Platinum Super Happy Smile Time Club. This club includes discounts access to the DAZ entire library of Originals and Software for only $49.95 per month.
I don't think DAZ 3D has the I can't live without factor that would make SAAS viable. Most of these companies don't take into account that if someone has even 5 SAAS that could easily be $400 USD per month in rentals. For personal use that is high. Even for small businesses that may be high per user.
Oh went to look at monthly rental in Canada for Maya. Holy smokes .... $1250/year!!! Wow what a deal. Suddenly shelling out for a private tutor for Blender and other software doesn't seem so unreasonable, since it is the user not the tools that create the art.
I just want a clear and straight link to the zip file for DS 4.9 ... without having to go through DIM, which always seems to manage to scew up my folder system. (double entries, DS giving ID errors on content, etc) It's hard enough to keep track of 2Tb+ without DS ading to the headache with that DIM crap.
So where do we go to simply download DS 4.9? (since your store pages gives you a merry-go-round and ends you up at the same bloody page every time, through DIM install)
(On a sidenote: The second you force this DAZ Connect onto us customers, by making content work only with this, I'll cancel all my subscriptions.) I refuse to go 'cloud' or pay through the nose for something that used to be free.)
Not everyone has a good internet connection. It often takes me days to get a single large product downloaded.
If DAZ is going to take more control then they must want their customers to have less... or less customers... I think the latter will apply.
Why would instances be saved
Let me be very clear. 7 years ago I tried to "organize" the "runtime". Since then I have had 2 new computers and have never ever done anything but a fresh standard install of all Daz content. With newer (read since 4.0) properly set up products (Which is about 90% of what I use by the way) I have no issues finding them. For everything else there was smart content and search. Now I prefer the visual help that smart content gives me over the content library. It is just faster to be able to see the products so clearly. Yes, there were a few content providers who simply refused to get with the program and put products in the correct place catagory wise. But it was a short list and has gotten shorter. If they have not started putting all Studio files in the proper place by now I have simply stopped purchasing from them. It is a short enough list that it has not really impacted my shopping habits.
And this "Vendors toss EVERY SINGLE FILE TYPE into the Pose subfolder - Camera files (.cm2), Character files (.cr2), Face Files (.fc2), Hair files (.hr2), Hand files (.hd2), light files (.lt2), Material Files (.mc6), Prop files (.pp2), as well as Pose files (.pp2). And while I am at it, why are vendors making material .pz2 files - that was dropped with the release of Poser 5 - over a decade ago." I have no clue what your talking about because NONE OF THOSE ARE STUDIO FILES.
Because those auto adapted geometry files are required for the scene. And is only created when the item is added into a scene from the library.
Readding all the items can fix the problem, most of the time, but is tedious and time consuming.
Content Gatherer pulls all of these files, places them into a zip, with the correct runtime directory structure in place. This way the zip file can be archived and the project can be reopened, without errors, a month or years later.
Khory, you're looking at things in one direction only ... and so is ssg.
)
The point is that content creators aren't consistant, one time it is located under their name, the next time under product name ... this odd habit keeps adding to the file structure and bloats your file structure (I won't even start on standard misspelled folder names). This goes for ALL content, whether it is .duf or . flipping obj.
DAZ Q&A are supposed to weed out these errors, but they obviously aren't.
I still find DS looking for files in the wrong place (wrong path) ... THAT is causing one hell of a headache, since you have to go find the file manually. So what is really lacking here is consistency.
This is why I do NOT want to use DIM, nor this DAZ Connect, so I can place the files where I want them to be without having to worry about the clean up I have to do after the actual install.
**EDIT**: I also check the installers for every vendor I do testing for, to verify the paths are correct and content loads as it should. If the structure isn't as should be, I report this feedback to the vendor straight away, before I even start to test the actual product. This I do for several vendors, all of which appreciate the added effort. (and yes, I still have time to take on more testing, if anyone wants me to. Just send me a PM if you're interested.
Exactly... and you can see where the company wants to head towards with this Morph3D. DS soon could be just another expensive tool and only affordable for the TOOLS with a big wallet, who do not care about the small users as long as it bring them the money.
Personally I find it rather distasteful to treat your loyal customers this way, who have been there since DS2 or even before.
That's great for you but I have a HUGE amount of content on the poser side of things that I use all the time. I loathe smart content, it never worked right for me and was for ME counterintuitive. I made my own categories because it worked for me and I am sure there are many many more people who do the same because thats what works for them. Just because its not how you work doesn't mean that its invalid or a stupid question and not everyone just uses the studio side of things. And there are plenty of things that DIM still installs to odd places and I find that I am searching for things for 20 minutes. Categorizing things to my satisfaction improves the speed of my work flow 100%, Just because you don't do it this way doesn't mean its wrong. and I have a ton of stuff that is not from daz so it doesn't show up in smart content nor does it show up in the search. So what you are saying is irrelevant to me and to how I work. that doesn't mean I might not give 4.9 a try. But I have the right to ask questions related to the way that I work with this product so that I can make the best decision for ME.
Attagirl Sonja.
Exactly what I was saying.
Thank you. I was re iterating lol.
Why would they go to something where they would 1- lose money in droves if they went to flat fee vs sales and 2- not draw the same volume of new users as before? Keep in mind that majority of products sold in the store are not Daz owned and it is the ever growing customer volume that makes this a viable occupation for PA's. The whole they will because other companies (who wholy own the software and or products in question) did is just not logical. If the reasoning is because someone used the word cloud so now there must be going to be subscription comming well.. We have been downloading from the same cloud already since we started using DIM and that didn't seem to lead to subscription.
If your saving them so that they are generating them as data wouldn't you just package the data file like we do with any product that generates them? It is still a pretty minimal move and very easy to do (we do it every time we create a product) and does not require anything other than those files and the .duf that they are associated with.
I've not gotten that missing file thing for ages. If your still getting things with those errors they should be reported. As far as organization.. I'm happy with the combination of smart content and properly placed products in the Daz Studio content locations. There is very little I can't find in a matter of seconds and almost all of those things are from a very limited number of PA's. This is true almost exclusively because I do a standard install and don't move anything around. I follow the logic and find the product pretty darn fast that way. I know that people who came from the chaos that was the poser organization system have a hard time with not organizing. But the reality is that most new users start with smart content and will never want or need or even think about some other sort of organizational system.
For what it is worth you could still export FBX and use it in iClone, Carrara you are screwed unless you export it from 3Dxchange pipeline with iMotions like I do for G3F.
Do not use Vue but guess can export a format for that too.
Poser yeah pretty much screwed.
I think you are missing the point. DS automatically creates these files when the object is loaded into a scene for the first time.
They are not generated by the product. Nor are they packaged by the content creator.
Content Gatherer grabs up all these files as needed, automatically.
I am going to try it out on my laptop if I am happy with how it is, I will then upgrade on my desktop. I get the idea about Encryption to help stop piracy, but it could make it worse and more widespread. Hackers will see it as a challenge now to see how quick they can break it.
I am not too worried about encryption as I only use Daz Studio even though I have poser I have opened Daz hundreds of times but poser I keep upgrading but have only used it maybe 10 times. As long as I can still bridge to hexagon and just mess around and send it back and it works I am happy.
Steve.
I am a new user. a lot of the content that I purchased during the the first couple of months was Genesis or v4 during the PC and PA sale and DIM put plenty of that into the poser side of the library. Unless I have things from another site or a freebie I always install using DIM. So in order to stay sane I learned how to organize things to easily find them in a way that made sense to me. I hated smart content from the beginning it never worked very well for me. and there are people on the new user forums all the time begging for a way to organize their content because what DIM is installing isn't working for them. Doesn't make you wrong or them wrong but not everyone intuits things in the same way and no matter how much I would like to like smart content, I don't. I hate it. That's not anyone's fault, not Daz's fault it just does not do what I need it to do and it excludes over 50% of my libraires. So its useless to anyone who loads freebies that are poser based or even freebies for the Studio side of things depending on the vendor.
Morph is set up to cater to a totally different group of customers with totaly different goals than those who use studio. That is why it is a separate company face. Products for it function differently and have a totaly different purpose than the vast majority of products sold here. In many ways it is apples to oranges and has very little to do with this market place other than that some products have or will be carried over at some point in the future potentially. Right now it is totally focused on flexible game figures for game creators which is really not the same primary community as this one. If the company were headed towards what Morph is they wouldn't have started morph to begin with they would have done that here and not gone to the expense of a new site and new staff.
If your using catagories then I am confused as to what the issue is. I thought you were doing that whole "touch everything and move it around physicaly". User catagories don't get changed at all.
I don't pay for products I don't own. I'm gunna download everything I've purchased, back it up, along with Daz 4.8, and ignore this cloud crap. Even if I buy $49 of stuff during this sale, I'm not even going to add the free products to my cart.
they are free so no loss if you do, just add them anyway who knows
Please keep the conversation civil. Please remember to address subjects and not the posters. If you do not wish to participate in part of a conversation, you can just stop addressing the particular poster's comments in question.
The harm is at the end of the sale, they'll say, 'Well, some people were griping about the new DRM, but 10,000 people took the free bait, so full steam ahead on Daz DRM!" In another thread (Unrelated to this) a Daz employee just told me they don't even care about posts like these, because "We only watch the analytics now."
What is yours is yours no matter which server it comes from. Be it one knicknamed cloud or one knicknamed DIM or one named Zip holder. Or they could all be the same server...