Jason Galterio said:There is also the tendancy for DAZ to abandon initiatives...  Example: going from DIM, to Connect, to Central. With very little notice or documentation. Instead of improving on a base, a new base is devised and that gets the attention. And usually just inherits the flaws of the previous bases.

DIM hasn't gone anywhere. That is all I use. Each of the others was an attempt to make something that was easier and more approachable for new users. But DIM has always been there.

Crescent said:

Side note - when people are comparing the old DRM scheme DAZ tried to implement to this new NFT scheme, they're referring to how well the DRM went over in the forums (a.k.a. it went over as well as a lead balloon near a black hole.) People were angry, refused to buy anything with DRM, and eventually DAZ relented after several months of trying to promote how great an idea it was. Us old timers are saying, "Yeah, this NFT thing is about as popular as the DRM was and will probably end up discarded by DAZ after months of being telling us how we'd learn to appreciate it any day now." Although the technologies have nothing to do with each other, the basic principles of "What does this accomplish?" and "How does this help me with my art?" have the same answer - neither does a thing for what we care about. NFT doesn't solve anything for us. It's a weird, new shiny that is taking away resources from DS - catching up on customer tickets, fixing filament transparency issues, improving render times, etc.

plasma_ring said:

While I've liked a lot of their moves in the past year, Daz has made very little effort to organically build a community outside the forums. Big flashy promotions that don't make sense to existing users are like trying to catch a comet's tail--you wave your arms real big and try to get the attention of people who are outside your usual audience and don't know they need your product yet. 

But Daz really likes that kind of marketing, and I have very rarely seen them do advertising that actually describes what their product does for a user in a straightforward way. They don't meet existing customers where they are and they don't seem interested in growing communities around common uses for the assets they sell. 

Clip Studio Paint built an enormous, loyal audience that basically advertises for them, and they did it by finding Artist Problems and explaining how their software solves them. You do comics? Look how easy it is to set up panels on pages. You do digital painting? Check out all the free brushes you can download. Then they go into specific use cases, showing practical applications for different features. On social they're always giving away graphics tablets and spinning up art contests, which spread like wildfire. They reach out to people at the entry level and encourage them to join the community. 

Maybe Daz could catch on with influencers who want their own digital avatars and blow up that way, but they could also go a little more down to earth and find a wider variety of people using their stuff who would then be willing to tell their friends, and so on. 

Yes!

There is also the tendancy for DAZ to abandon initiatives...  Example: going from DIM, to Connect, to Central. With very little notice or documentation. Instead of improving on a base, a new base is devised and that gets the attention. And usually just inherits the flaws of the previous bases.

As someone who remembers the days of hundreds of individual install packages that had to be clicked through, at least I can say there was progress at first.

BradCarsten said:

marble said:

I'm one of those old-timers who don't understand what's happening with digital trading so I have a simple question: how does this NFT thing affect me, as a mere hobbyist who never displays any of my "artwork"? I just make pictures for fun and, apart from a personal project where I'm recreating scenes from my own family life, I delete most of the stuff I create. 

So, to be more precise, is this going to end up costing me when I want to buy store content to make my hobby pictures? Will I have to use tokens to buy from the store? Will the prices start to go up and down depending on the trading of these tokens? Or is it all limited to selling the completed images? I mean, even the promo pictures for store products might be considered completed artwork and any subsequent artwork created using that product might be considered derivative. Oh, so confusing and, to me at least, quite senseless: tulips indeed.

This won't affect you in the least. It doesn't change anything. the Blockchain is simply a massive online register that can record transactions, that no one can alter. that's all it is. So if I sell something to you, using the blockchain, that record will be there forever. If that person sells the same item, that record will also be recorded. Now, a future owner can retrace all the sales to find the original owner.

Not exactly: they can trace it back to the account which provided the material. But the link between account and actual person will not be part of the blockchain itself, so in the end it relies on trust. And that is also the archilles heel because you won't have any guarantees that the account actually belongs to the person. You'll only have hearsay to go on. This is fully implied because of the de-centralized setup of a blockchain, it means that anyone can add to it thus there won't be a central account registration. Anyone can make any kind of account, and it'll be up to them to make it publically known which account(s) they own.

Which is also information which can be easily forged. Good luck proving me wrong that $artist didn't have 2 accounts and that my NFT isn't even worth more because they seldomly use that other account. Unless you can contact the artist themselves to verify (good luck when it's someone like Rowling) then....  you're open for a good scam.

(edit)

melissastjames said:

This totally reminds me of an episode of Star Trek Voyager when the crew visits a planet that has a very hush hush black market all built upon selling the memory of a person's illicit experiences (mostly violent if I remember correctly) so others can essentially get off on them. Or was it Star Trek Enterprise? Now I can't remember which one. 

That was Voyager, the original series.

Hey guys, I have Octane Render ToolKit installed, but none of the Octane elements are available within DAZ.  I have set my Workspace to City Limits (I've tried them all and Octane still doesn't show up).  I have the latest Nvidia Drivers, I am using a 1070 Ti and a Ryzen 9 3900x.  I even uninstalled and reinstalled the OctaneRender Toolkit via both DAZ Central and DAZ Install Manager, neither makes a difference.  Any help would be appreciated.
Edit: Nevermind, I think I figured it out, I didn't realize you ALSO needed to download Octane, I thought it was included *smdh*

This hapened to me a week ago, when new products did not show an appropriate icon in the smart library.

I think I have discovered the problem and an easy fix, partly alluded to in the posts above.

It seems that either at source or during download the .JPG icon files are corrupted. This can be seen by trying to view them in explorer as tiles, the file is there but will not show in the ICON view mode.

Referring to a solution presented above, I reviewed the missing file icons and made a list of them. Then going to DAZ central resources, opened the relevant products via a browser. Saving the product advertisement imagefile to the 'My connect library\data\meta'. but, and this is important, using the product ID as the file name, prefixed with1_  (Example : 1_ProductID.jpg)

The icons must be in JPG format. Some of the product advertising pictures are in webP format and will need to be converted first to work.

The Power Pose Templates can be found in your "My Account->Product Library" here at the site, they are part of the "Genesis 8 Starter Essentials", the update should also be found on DIM and/or DAZ Central.

Images duly removed. As SimonJM says this is most likely to be a corrective morph kicking in when it shouldn't. Check, via Install manager/Daz central if you isntalled through them or via the Updates installatate filter at the bottom of the products tab of Smart Content if you installed through DS, that you are not missing any product updates, then do the check through Parameters with the figure selected and only the leg bend that causes the issue applied.

...sadly us renters can't take advantage of modifications homeowners can, so we have to do what little we can. Oh there are a number of modifications I would like to make (such as converting more efficient central heating/air conditioning or installing a heat pump, having a fibre optic connection, or full unit surge protection) but which are either against the rules of the lease or are just not practical  as this is a multi unit building I'm in.

Yeah, I know, there's headaches a homeowner deals with as well, like property taxes/assessments, insurance, repairs, and maintenance, but to have a place I could set up the way I would like it would be nice.

Alas, at my age and being on a fixed retirement income I'm pretty much stuck with flushing money down the rental dunny every month with nothing to show for it and no building equity (not even a front porch to sit on), unless I score big on a lotto or a wealthy relative I didn't know I had (who is not a Nigerian prince) leaves me a nice fat inheritance (yeah I know, for wither to happen it's far less of a chance than being struck by lightning while in the depths Cheyenne Mountain).

First, with regards to storms.

A few years ago, my electrician showed me my breaker panel.  He had removed the steel trim piece so that we could see all of the "bars and wires".  They were beginning to show signs of arcing. Serious arcing that was leaving the metal discolored.

Arcing like that can come from thunderstorms (we have a lot here in central Florida during the summer), but they can also come from inconsistent power from your power company.

They wanted to install a "whole home surge suppression system" for $900.  I agreed to it.

That was at least 5 years ago.  The device was about $300 on Amazon, I think, so I paid $600 for the installation.  In retrospect, I think that was fair.  You know, high voltage and all.  Besides that, losing an air conditioner, pool pump, TV, computer, washer, dryer, tablets, phones, oven, microwave, water softener, garage door opener, or audio equipment would have been super expensive and is probably not fully covered by homeowner insurance.  I think the garage door opener is just about the only thing worth less than $400.  So mitigating this risk was a smart thing to do.

The only time I shut off devices is when a hurricane is coming or if the lightning bolts are right on top of me, as evidenced by houses or trees being struck next door or across the street.  Assuming that I haven't already vamoosed the state by that time.

I also haven't had any "brownouts".  I used to have anywhere from 1 to 10 brownouts a week before having that surge suppressor installed at the main house junction.  I also have a power conditioner in my audio device rack in the home office.  Before the suppressor was installed, the meter on the power conditioner used to go up and down by 3 or 4 pips, pretty much all the time.  It used to look more like an audio meter, but now it's rock solid and hardly ever moves.

And the arcing stopped.  The junction box and breaker box bars and wires still have the original discoloring, but it's minor, hasn't gotten worse, and doesn't require costly repair.

All in all, I would very much recommend having a whole home suppressor installed.  It's a 10 minute job and the device shunts surges to ground...and not through your electric blanket.

kyoto kid said:

mwokee said:

Watchdog, no, I've seen them, I think they are horrible.

...using some actual RL locomotives as a basis would be fitting. 

  +

One of the other issues is there are no appropriate carriages 

That New York Central Mercury Streamliner was such a gorgeous train!

..Joe

ok, I found a solution.

Go here C:\Users\Pierre\Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\My Daz Connect Library\data\cloud\meta

and delete all .jpg files with 0 size

then open Daz Central, go to Daz Studio Assets and click Open on any asset.

retiretomaui said:

Because I like having easy access to my plug ins and tutorials without having to search for them. Also, DIM was buggy on my machines, despite repeated installs and redos. The dreaded Postgre message was an almost daily occurrence with DIM, not so with DazCentral. For the casual user, its often simply the better option.

Central uses the same Postgres.

Now, on multi selection. I tested DAZ Central during its Beta and that was the very first thing i missed from DIM and said so to DAZ. They told me it was something to consider but i never tried it again, so i guess they haven't added it yet.

Richard Haseltine said:

Totte said:

Chronopunk said:

Totte said:

Chronopunk said:
So I got the new machine set up, I've verified that all of my network settings are correct, both machines can see each other and communicate normally across the network, and I have verified that all network issues are resolved.
However! (There is always a however)
I have DIM on the new machine pointing at (Network/Macbook Pro/My Daz 3D Library), I click the refresh icon, and I see... Nothing.
I would expect to see the contents of the directory and be able to retrieve them, but... Nothing.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I going to have to download everything from Daz and Rendo again? Gods I hope not.
 

The problem is probably that the CMS/Postgres is not accessible from machine 1 to machine 2, which is not, it only accepts local 127.0.0.1 accesses in default setup.
Than can be fiddled with, but not recommended unless you know how.
My setup is two machines, both with their own content library and their own cms, but my DIM download directory is on another disk on one of the machines, so I only download once and install twice. 

Hmmm. That's vexing.

I don't suppose there'd be a major issue with me simply copying the files out of my Laptop's Daz 3D Library folder and dropping them directly into the Desktop's associated directories, would there? I don't have any scripts or software that are OS-specific, and the last time I checked, .duf and other files are platform independent, so they should work, yeah?

If DIM won't do the network transfer, the old fashioned way may be best.

The problem is the CMS, as it points to every item by a full path and when you move stuff that breaks. If you only render on the "other machine" that wont be an issue, but if you rely on CMS functioning this will be an issue.

As far as I am aware the CMS uses relative paths, it's only the DIM/Central manifests that use absolute paths (and content that isn't in a content directory).

It was couple of years ago I tried to do this but on machine A the path was /Volumes/DAZBoot/  on machine it was /Volumes/DAZBoot/DAZContent/ and CMS failed to find anything so I cleared the the db and reimported metadata at it was up and running, maybe it was something else.. 

Totte said:

Chronopunk said:

Totte said:

Chronopunk said:
So I got the new machine set up, I've verified that all of my network settings are correct, both machines can see each other and communicate normally across the network, and I have verified that all network issues are resolved.
However! (There is always a however)
I have DIM on the new machine pointing at (Network/Macbook Pro/My Daz 3D Library), I click the refresh icon, and I see... Nothing.
I would expect to see the contents of the directory and be able to retrieve them, but... Nothing.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Am I going to have to download everything from Daz and Rendo again? Gods I hope not.
 

The problem is probably that the CMS/Postgres is not accessible from machine 1 to machine 2, which is not, it only accepts local 127.0.0.1 accesses in default setup.
Than can be fiddled with, but not recommended unless you know how.
My setup is two machines, both with their own content library and their own cms, but my DIM download directory is on another disk on one of the machines, so I only download once and install twice. 

Hmmm. That's vexing.

I don't suppose there'd be a major issue with me simply copying the files out of my Laptop's Daz 3D Library folder and dropping them directly into the Desktop's associated directories, would there? I don't have any scripts or software that are OS-specific, and the last time I checked, .duf and other files are platform independent, so they should work, yeah?

If DIM won't do the network transfer, the old fashioned way may be best.

The problem is the CMS, as it points to every item by a full path and when you move stuff that breaks. If you only render on the "other machine" that wont be an issue, but if you rely on CMS functioning this will be an issue.

As far as I am aware the CMS uses relative paths, it's only the DIM/Central manifests that use absolute paths (and content that isn't in a content directory).

Hi Dobit

When I import a .wav I get warnings such as "bad quality at 1 MS: the sound recieved is too loud for discrete recognition" Then at 185 Ms: then at 425ms and then 635ms:

I press okay

I lower the sound in audio software and then anilip tells me the sound is too low.

Can you advise what sound level I should use? Also I installed through Daz Central and have no idea where the user manual is? Can you give me a pointer as to where to find it?

Thanks

If the Content Management System is not seeing them as installed through DIM/Daz central then make sure that the CMS is actually runnign while installing (if you close DS and immediately open the installer it is possible for wires to get crossed - better to leave DS open or to wait a while before starting the installer0. If that doesn't seem to be the issue then there is some kind of communication issue - installing through DS would resolve it for those products (and I think people are unduly phobic about the feature) but wouldn't solve the underlying problem.

I just downloaded Daz Studio for a second time on my Mac. I can open Daz Central no problem, but whenever I open Daz Studio itself it crashes.

Is it no longer compatible with Mac, or at least the the current or more recent OS?

Don't forget that this is a Poser character, and is an add-on for Victoria 4. Install both Victoria 4 and Girl 4, which should be available in Daz Central as far as I know, and they will be in Poser Formats>My Daz 3d Content>Figures>Daz People.

Hi all.

I bought long time ago the Girl 4 pro bundle. 
How can I use it with the new / latest DAZ Central?
I have not been able to figure out how to install all the files, poses and materials..
Thanks for possible help..

-M

Any chance you know what the default paths are? Even the Install Manager has the custom ones I set up via Daz Central (or my older ones) and so I don't know what they should be to try and start fresh.
Here are my current directories and I want to get the default paths for each of them.  E:/ was my old drive. F:/ is the new one and any with the F:/ drive are ones I was messing with last night via the Daz Central app trying to get things to work (incl. the one with the Application folder that Daz created, not me). "Expanded Library" is the normal content library. I just renamed it a long time ago.