No encrypted for me.
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Bundles don't. Check the individual products.
Bundles don't, only the individual products in the bundle do -- I'll ask Daz about it.
They -could- do another dumb thing, but why? Every regular customer already wants to be in Platinum Club. Daz Studio used to be pay software (at least parts of it) but they shifted it to free and saw a huge sales boost. I can't think of a single argument on their side for doing it.
Then again they let market research decide so many things these days (hello white website, I haven't forgotten about you) so they will probably implement it next week.
Some hacker is going to break the Connect framework and pirating will continue unabated.
That leaves DAZ with their paying customers who DO value very much the work of DAZ and the fabulous vendors. Sometimes I will buy a product from a specific vendor that I know I'll never use just because I want to support that vendor for when they make that superb superb set I'll use a thousand different ways.
When has a business tried to control customers and come out good in the long run?
And Daz Studio being in eternal beta doesn't help with trying to push 4.9 down custoimers throats... is the thing even REALLY ready?
I have to agree with all the folks out there that really dislike the Daz Connect mechanism for downloading some of the newer products. I for one won't be purchasing ANY and I repeat ANY products that don't allow for manual downloading. I prefer to download my purchases and store them locally until I wish to install them myself. I even refuse to use Install Manager as not everything I purchase will be used right away. Quite frankly, Daz doesn't have the right to control how and when purchased content is to be added to one's library. Furthermore, I am sure they can't guarantee 100% anytime access to purchased products as they don't control a users access to the web, nevermind the problems they have experienced in the not too distant past maintaining customer access to their own site. Very bad move Daz is all I can say.
i totally agree with the above.now daz connect might not be too bad (maybe) but the worst is that encrypted scheed you cant move it around as i have structured my huge runtime the way i want it .yep daz shoot itself in the foot so to speak.
We all have different preferences. I like that I can not only install what ever I want when I want with connect but also uninstall at will when I need to save space. Getting it back is easy so I don't feel like I am going to be jumping any hoops to save space and get rid of stuff I don't use often. I also like that I can check for updates and get those as I need them for the product I am about to use rather than have to remember to check for updates. Overall it has been a huge time saver since the downloads take a minute at most and updates take seconds. I've set it up so that the connect files are where I want them to go currently, but am thinking I will move it all to an external pretty soon. Shouldn't be a problem as I have already moved them once with no issue. I'm not the least worried about connection since even if I took my computer off line there is an offline option and methods to get the files. As far as encryption.. I wouldn't know it was there unless someone told me. I don't often, ok never, go into product files which is really the only encrypted part. I can do anything I need to inside the program as far as adjustment and changes go. And of course my own work isn't encrypted when I am working on it so that is no issue.
Merging with the main thread designated for comments and questions on Daz Connect issues.
While I have had 4.9 Beta for some time and now the 4.9 release also count me out for encrypted products. I've no desire to tie up Studio to download content while this can be done via Manual or DIM. In a sense G3 could be called encrypted since "as is" it will not work in Carrara 8.5 Pro and other programs. Due to that alone I quit buying new 3D models when Olympia 7 came out. Now I have encryption to worry about also. I'm sure that a lot of users of DAZ products won't be slowed down by encryption.... but just wait until they eventually find out about what programs will not be able to read it without it being exported to .obj or .fbx and then not have full functionality.
Still I continue to buy G3 and older content. If/When any form of manual and DIM, non encrypted, are no longer supported is when I can be counted out entirely. Been buying since V1 till today and since Carrara 4 Pro to 8.5 Pro. Been a fun ride... will have to see what the future brings... hope to be purchasing from DAZ for a long time.
I did purchase enough the other night to get the 3 free products only to later discover they required 4.9 to download. I've opened a "return" ticket for 3 items I'd only added in order to get the "DAZ Connect" 3 "free" files which I did not download nor do I intend to ever install any encrypted content. I've asked for store credit rather than a refund. Note that one of the true meanings of Free means "provided without, or not subject to, a charge or payment". The 3 DAZ Connect files are not actually "free". At best they are "no additional charge" items. And yet when I see Free my eyes perk up.
Try finding references to those posts.
Doesn't mean they both can't run concurrently.
However this is pure speculation... Valid imo, but still speculation.
Relating my story as a DAZ customer - I used to spend money at DAZ like a kid in a candy store, but after the encryption plans were first put forth a few months ago it seriously cooled my enthusiasm for shopping at DAZ. DAZ has for a while been an integral part of my workflow for making art, and I enjoyed piling up a sizable library of content. But the idea of DAZ switching over to just selling encrypted content is a scary one - why would I spend money on encrypted content when I can buy unencrypted 3D models from every other 3D model store on the web? The major thing that currently keeps me working with DAZ instead of a different 3D software tool is that I like the integration of the posable figures, and I think the Genesis 3 line is quite good. But the idea that Genesis 4 and it's add-ons will probably be encrypted has already got me weaning myself off of DAZ in preparation, learning more about other software and techniques, and finding other content stores.
I'm still buying things from DAZ here and there, but only at a fraction of how much I was purchasing a year ago (I'm guessing that I currently spend about 10-25% as much at DAZ as I used to - heck, I didn't even make any purchases in December). I definitely have no plans to buy encrypted content, and slowing down in my DAZ purchases is the result of my migrating to other work methods and spending money at other stores, since it's very possible that in a year or two all new DAZ content will be encrypted and I won't be buying any of it.
This isn't me just speculating that I might spend less if encryption becomes the norm - my drop off in DAZ purchases has already happened, and pretty dramatically, just based on the strong hunch that in the future it will all be encrypted. Ultimately, I'm sharing this because I really like DAZ and I will miss it if I have to switch to a different workflow. I'm hoping to contribute another voice that lets DAZ know they are really alienating many of their customers the further they push the encryption. I'm hoping content encryption goes quietly into the night like some other bold DAZ experiments (DAZ 3D printing service, cough cough) and everything can be as it was.
The upgrade price to CS6 was much cheaper than subscribing. All these sub discounts sound gret but when the sub expires try opening or editing CS projects.
I suppose some of the resistance to 4.9 is based on the idea of not wanting to be a party to where this is apparently (or possibly) heading, ie. encrypted only products. Something of a Mexican standoff with disgruntaled users and Daz with guns pointed at each other's heads - who is going to blink first?
As my partner purchases the products here, she's the one who will decide the outcome for me, and she's sitting on the fence at the moment with 4.9. She doesn't actually dislike the option of encription, but she doesn't want to be seen as going along with a policy where that choice is taken away from her in the future. And like many women she doesn't like to be dissapointed, oh no she doesn't.
DIM allows downloading and not isntalling, and you can download the Ofline Authorisation packages for Connect content which can be stored and used to install at any time (as long as DS 4.9+ on that the machine has at least once connected to your account). I intend to either grab the Offline Authorisations packages or possibly write a script to make a shadow copy of selected items (using sort by install, date/upload date) as I am on a capped data allowance and can't afford to regularly redownload (in that respect Connect is a great advance as updates are per file, there's no need tio download a full zip of mostly unchanged files).
Exactly. When DAZ says (I'm paraphrasing here) - "We have no plans to release base characters with encryption in the near future" how I interpret that is that they do have plans to possibly release base characters with encryption by the time Genesis 4 is ready in a year or two. In light of the recent turn of events (DAZ releasing encrypted-only content after recently saying they had "no plans to do so"), it makes me feel that I have to interpret everything they say pedantically to the letter, rather than trusting that they will follow the spirit of what they are saying. And they might very well do the opposite of what they say anyway, as they just demonstrated.
And when you think about all the hundreds of suggestions about what DS users would like to see improved about the program and what they'd like to see in future releases, there are absolutely none suggesting they want encrypted content, soon to become encrypted only content. This issue of Connect is a glaring example of the disconnect between what users want and what they are being given.
No, it just means what it says. As has also been said, encrypting the bases that are free with DS doesn't seem worthwhile anyway. Whether things like Victoria # will eventually be encrypted only I wouldn't care to guess.
Fun fact: there are pirated versions of Studio (4.9 with keys but also 4.8 etc. which had no reason to be pirated) as well as Essentials etc. Kinda makes my head hurt to try and work out what other people are thinking sometimes.
I've been reqesting better animation features like the ability for figures to follow surfaces when walking. For example, I waste huge amounts of time painfully re-editing the floor contant of each figure after stringing a few aniblocks together. It seems that fundemental features that make creating work so much easier have been put on the shelf in favour of encryption. There are a number of other other fundemental features relating to the natural movement of clothing and hair which would significantly improve animations yet this appears to have been sidelined. Some might claim that without encryption DAZ can't survive and offer new features in DS but how has it managed so far then? I had also really hoped that pipelines into Lightwave and other more advanced apps might arise to compensate for the lack of animation versatility in DS but this seems even more unlikely now that the walled-in encyption mentality has appeared. I think all that squandered potential is what disappoints me the most.
I have been a customer and a PC+ club member since before the PlatinimClub became PC+. Not too many people -including myself- liked that change but a least it was rooted in common sense and was logical from an economic point of view. So I stayed with the PC + and continued paying my subscription.
The change to DAZ connect and the use of encryption for DRM is another matter entirely. Far FAR more people are upset with this and in my opinion they are upset with good reason. This time the mass exodus that the community seems to be leaning toward is a much greater possibility.
DAZ Connect on its own is bad but not really deadly. It's inconvenient to learn how to rearrange the directory system to get things close to where you had them before but, with patience, you can sort something out.
The requirement to of in at least once to "register" the sftware is not really a big deal the way it is currently implemented. Various software companies have done that for years.
The offline install/authentification option is not truly that bad but it's starting to get into that "unnecessarily complicated" area that will make a good number of customers throw up their hands in disgust and start looking at other options.
However the encryption thing is the deal breaker. It not only is fairly useless in its original stated intent ( to hamper/ reduce piracy) but it also limits the use of the content that we are purchasing the license to use. sure you can export into other formats but when you do this you end up losing some of the functionality. The encrypted content will only function fully in DAZ Studio 4.9 and higher. DAZ 3D is creating a walled garden and I am beginning to wonder if this is a prelude to making Studio not free anymore. Basically you lock the customers in to needing the software to use their content they have invested in and then you force them to spend even more money to be able to continue to use the investment either by forcing a (probably large) initial purchase or by turning the use of Studio into a tiered subscription service. Yes , perhaps someone from DAZ might see this and address the question by stating that there are "no plans to do this in the future" but they said that about encrypted connect only content and look what happened there.
Customer dissatisfaction is high and customer trust is reaching an all time low. When this happens at the same time customers go elsewhere.
Thinking: Why presume that is occuring?
Just go into the Content Directory mapping tab and edit the location for the "Daz Connect Data" path. You can put this anywhere. Anyhting already loaded to your Documents location can be moved to the new location without issues. My Daz Connect data loads to the same location as the rest of my content, which is an external drive.
It is clear that if customers buy into the encrypted content enough and the upset doesn't hurt DAZ's bottom line, then eventually every new product will be encrypted. Otherwise why would DAZ bother with developing the whole encrypted content thing? They can't have the end goal of going through all this headache to encrypt only a few odd items here and there.
This issue isn't something I take personally, and I understand that DAZ has good reason to want to take measures against pirates. But if those measures make their product more cumbersome, less accessable, less reliable (or possibly all three), or even just make me worry about that possibility, then I'll as a result be buying more often from their competitors instead. Again, it's not personal, it's just the psychology of a customer - I want to buy the thing that I can feel that I own and will never need to ask permission to use in the future.
Jeezz, no wonder there is such a huge problem with credit card fraud here and at other 3D stores.
I wonder if they got a firmware keylogger, or just a software keylogger that can be uninstalled?
Either way, that's some industrial grade stupid right there.
I'll never understand why people put so much trust and faith in random thieves on the internet.
Do they honestly think those thieves wouldn't dare steal from them as well?
I'm not seeing the connection. Why would someone who is a customer here download a pirated version of software that is already free here (that they would have on their account if they had an account to make purchases) ?
As to why others would download a pirate version of a program that is free to legitamately download and use, yeahhh I don't get it. I should also note that I have no idea if encrypted content has been cracked already, which is what I was actually trying to find out while stumbling across the pirated version of the clients.
yes, my opionion, they should fix DS 4.8
You're right it is a separate issue. It is though, I would argue, for now a side-effect of streamlining content management. They just added it in, because it seemed conveniet, not because they actually think that this will be very effective in preventing piracy. It won't stop them, but maybe it will piss them off a little.
That's of course, the nice way of reading it, where DAZ is still kind of naive.
Personally, I think it's much more likely that they are building the framework for a walled garden. Not today, because that's not an idea they can sell us right now, but maybe in a year. Maybe two. I'm sure there will be a great many good reasons why everything will be much more comfortable for their users, if there's no outside content infecting their libraries.
It's not pirates who should be afraid. It's other content providers and Poser.
If users don't want to be locked in, or at least risk that happening, now is the time to prevent it.
But past experience as well as...erm...looking at my own purchase patterns don't quite help my trust in DAZ' customer base :D