Name: Sir Fartsalot

whose gaseous indiscretion were renowned throughout the Realm. 

Behinders, also known as Ass Tyrants, Elderberry Orbs, and Gastators, are probably among the most feared when it comes to monsters that use foul gases as one of their weapons. Some have even been rumored to put adult Green Dragons to shame when it comes to lethal gassings. It consists of a large round floating body having two large cheeks and a central orifice, above which a large eye is located. From the top of its main body sprouts several or more appendages of which to the ends are attached what appear to be the lower torso, behinds, and strong legs of humanoids. Each also has its own eye positioned just above its respective central orifice between the "hindquarters". Besides having the ability to shoot waste & spew gases for various effects(some potentially lethal and far-reaching), death from Behinder kicks, stomping rampages, and cheek smotherings are also real possibilities; especially when the Behinder wants to mete out punishment up close and personal. Never mess with those "cheeks of many reeks" unprepared, or your adventuring party could find itself kicked, stomped, and gassed... hhhorribly

Third Serious Gamer: "Those buttholders are really nasty..."

Sixth Serious Gamer: "Worse than beholders - not just eyes but ane-eyes too. So you have to be extremely careful if you want to try and incapacitate them by poking them in the eyes"

First Serious Gamer: "Oh lordy, I remember that - the Lair Of Khazi, wasn't it ? Absolutely horrible..."

[a sudden whimper of terror]

"No way, NO WAY ! I'm not going on a quest with a turkey-zombifying Blacksmith-Necromancer if there's even the vaguest chance of running into behinders ! Not again ! You obviously do* remember what happened last time... !"

P.S. Coming up with this rubbish, and reading it again later, always gives me a good chuckle. I'd definitely recommend it as therapy in these gloomy days. Give it a try !

*Okay, if you insist I'll explain.
But be forewarned - although the explanation is brief, it's unpleasant... in the extreme.
So if you're of a delicate disposition then please close your eyes while reading what follows....

Have you got your eyes firmly closed ?
I don't believe you !

So just to be on the safe side the explanation is also protected by virtual hazard warning tape**:

The description of behinders in the "Grimoire Arcanus" of the mad magus Madmagus reveals that the 'legs' on the ends of its appendages are actually articulated mandibles.

Being eaten alive by a behinder is probably the most unpleasantly embarassing way any adventurer could shuffleoff this mortal coil

** to temporarily peel off virtual hazard warning tape you have to do some sort of click-draggy thing

DIM has been updated, anyone who hasn't updated wont be able to log in with the old version.

EDIT

Scratch that, the new DIM and that Central don't recognise my password, same one I'm logged into the site with, guess the coders made an ass of it somewhere.

You may need to update your password, especially if it's short or simple.

It's definitely a different experience depending on where you live...the NYC metro area that encompasses most of Connecticut and New Jersey is a nightmare zone (I live in central Connecticut). People often forget that this thing doesn't care about borders and state lines. My cousin who is a paramedic was born and raised in Connecticut and only recently moved to South Carolina...and even in that little time, his mentality seems to have shifted. With his being a paramedic, I was dumbfounded that he wasn't taking this as seriously as I would have thought...I'd gather his mindset as a front-line responder would be something rather different if he was back home. 

I've stopped looking at the news...otherwise I don't think I'd get out of bed. Though I recently learned that as of 5/20, there is a plan to re-open restaurants, retail including indoor malls (seriously, wtf here), and salons. Sorry. No amount of hair growth would push me to go to a salon right now. Restaurants will be outdoor dining only, and masks will be required...have no idea how that is going to work. But still...nope. Delivery and home cooking it is for the forseeable future for me. I'm not playing with fire. My money is on everything getting tightened back up in three weeks once another wave of people getting sick hits. We're still at our peak...it's a mistake. 

The only thing that bothers me about DIM is how unintuitive the UI is.  There's still no easy way to find just your tutorials, for instance.  And coming to the forums in hope that someone will provide a sequence of letters they can copy/paste into the filter box is not a substitute.  

 Daz is marketed as a consumer/hobbyist product, but its interface doesn't reflect that.  So rather than design DIM so that it's easier for everyone to use, Daz Central will provide a colourful interface with what looks like fewer options that will frustrate users as soon as their requirements expand.  Then they will be told to use DIM and just deal with it.

DIM has been updated, anyone who hasn't updated wont be able to log in with the old version.

EDIT

Scratch that, the new DIM and that Central don't recognise my password, same one I'm logged into the site with, guess the coders made an ass of it somewhere.

 

Plugin installation/update support could have been added to SmartContent. V4/M4 capability and content development is pretty much frozen wrt Daz store, so once installed via DIM/manual don't require further maintenance. Doesn't justify building an entire "parallel" product for it.

Yeah, I don't think ease-of-use is the point of this, but rather DRM.

...

Never did see an answer to the multiple questions about Daz Central and ... 'foreign' content. This continued silence is likely to become an answer in itself.

--ms

That question is way easier asked than answered. Just to give an idea of the complexity involved:

Automated access -
Most marketplaces are designed and optimized for manual interactions and not for automated bulk access using any tool. Not all sites have the need nor the capability to handle automated downloads. In fact, several of these marketplaces may have safeguards to prevent such automated bulk access in order to avoid spikes of overload or prevent any DOS attack to their servers. Daz may be handling this scenario by routing calls from DIM/Studio to different servers than those that are used to access content catalog/description using web browser. So if you try to circumvent such site-wide measures using a tool, you risk getting flagged as a malicious user.

Proprietary metadata -
3rd party marketplaces sell their 3D content according to formats supported by popular tools used by professionals. Each additional format require additional effort from their publishers to support that format. For the few sites that support the Daz format (such as duf files) outside Daz, there is a severe lack of formalization to provide metadata that would facilitate categorization and searching inside studio. Publishers just get away with providing a path to access their content in the content library in a readme file and that have been deemed sufficient so far. As revolting as it may sound, but the support for arbitary manual installation of content diminishes the requirement for formal metadata. So in the absence of Daz prescribed metadata, your content is "invisible" to any tool that relies on the presence of it.

Of course, there are further concerns regarding standardization of - access to content "repositories", federated content search/discovery using content "registries". But those challenges are way beyond the simple hurdles I mentioned above.

 

With a tool making metadata before installation is enough. I use for rendo products and freebies a  Rstudio script to create metadata, manifest, support files, generate ID and introduce a custom category, then I zip all and set in DIM package folder, and DIM install the product. So, If I can do it, daz can do it better. The same using Riversoft content wizard plus doctot jellybean content package (I can't afford the money for these so I needed be creative and write my own primitive version)

In fact, we don't need DIM if we don't care about the capacity of uninstalling or be tired reading the metadata in Daz Studio. A well made metadata is enough..

To have (metadata), or not to have, that is the question. Many power users find it empowering if the content they download doesn't contain the metadata(categorization, tags) to their liking or style. That way they can start with a clean slate for categorizing and tagging each item rather than rely on the artist's perception. Those users have the necessary tools and knowhow to add their own custom metadata. Similary many artists realize this empowerment, so they publish their content with minimal required metadata or sometimes none at all. Some artists on the other hand, may find it an unproductive chore or don't have the tools/knowhow to add Daz specific metadata assuming(?) that most users don't use SmartContent so the cost/benefit equation doesn't weigh enough. In any case, not having appropriate metadata at the source (i.e. on the server) hurts the development of content management tools that rely on the presence of metadata at the source before it can help the user in deciding whether (if and when) to download the content based on their current needs.

Let me try to illustrate how DazCentral might approach this for Rendo (or any other site for that matter):

1) Authenticate with the external site (can be automated)
2) Navigate to the user's account section to retrieve the direct download links for assets. (can be automated)
3) Categorize the assests or try to identify tags without downloading those assets. (well....)
4) List the external assets in the DazCentral interface based on user specified criteria (gated due to #3 above)

I hope you can now see the importance of having metadata (or atleast some rudimentary form of categorization/tagging) at the source that is accessible within content management tools. That is where the need for standardization for content "repositories" across marketplaces wrt to Daz Studio come into play.

My first impression is that I really like the look and feel of DazCentral. I am optimistic about it!

I have two suggestions for improvement:

1) I would like the ability to configure which version of Daz Studio is launched when an item is clicked. I would like DazCentral to launch the latest beta version of Daz Studio by default as that is what I mostly use.

2) I would like the ability to perform more complex (e.g., boolean and metadata) searches. Like others, I have a fairly large content library. I would like to be able to search within current search results. Also, to be able to tag items from multiple searches and view all the tagged items as their own group or category would be very handy.

Going forwards, I will use DazCentral as much as possible. However, it will need to have the same functionality as DIM before I switch permanently to DazCentral - I have come to really appreciate what DIM can do!

I am the same, I will use Daz Central more when it has the features that DiM currently has such as custom folder install, and new features such as better sorting of content into catagories..

As was expalined earlier, this is aimed at new uers who find DIM overwhelming - so I think we can be confident that it won't be getting all the options DIM has. DIM will continue to be avaialble for those who need the additional options.

 

Plugin installation/update support could have been added to SmartContent. V4/M4 capability and content development is pretty much frozen wrt Daz store, so once installed via DIM/manual don't require further maintenance. Doesn't justify building an entire "parallel" product for it.

Yeah, I don't think ease-of-use is the point of this, but rather DRM.

...

Never did see an answer to the multiple questions about Daz Central and ... 'foreign' content. This continued silence is likely to become an answer in itself.

--ms

That question is way easier asked than answered. Just to give an idea of the complexity involved:

Automated access -
Most marketplaces are designed and optimized for manual interactions and not for automated bulk access using any tool. Not all sites have the need nor the capability to handle automated downloads. In fact, several of these marketplaces may have safeguards to prevent such automated bulk access in order to avoid spikes of overload or prevent any DOS attack to their servers. Daz may be handling this scenario by routing calls from DIM/Studio to different servers than those that are used to access content catalog/description using web browser. So if you try to circumvent such site-wide measures using a tool, you risk getting flagged as a malicious user.

Proprietary metadata -
3rd party marketplaces sell their 3D content according to formats supported by popular tools used by professionals. Each additional format require additional effort from their publishers to support that format. For the few sites that support the Daz format (such as duf files) outside Daz, there is a severe lack of formalization to provide metadata that would facilitate categorization and searching inside studio. Publishers just get away with providing a path to access their content in the content library in a readme file and that have been deemed sufficient so far. As revolting as it may sound, but the support for arbitary manual installation of content diminishes the requirement for formal metadata. So in the absence of Daz prescribed metadata, your content is "invisible" to any tool that relies on the presence of it.

Of course, there are further concerns regarding standardization of - access to content "repositories", federated content search/discovery using content "registries". But those challenges are way beyond the simple hurdles I mentioned above.

 

With a tool making metadata before installation is enough. I use for rendo products and freebies a  Rstudio script to create metadata, manifest, support files, generate ID and introduce a custom category, then I zip all and set in DIM package folder, and DIM install the product. So, If I can do it, daz can do it better. The same using Riversoft content wizard plus doctot jellybean content package (I can't afford the money for these so I needed be creative and write my own primitive version)

In fact, we don't need DIM if we don't care about the capacity of uninstalling or be tired reading the metadata in Daz Studio. A well made metadata is enough..

My first impression is that I really like the look and feel of DazCentral. I am optimistic about it!

I have two suggestions for improvement:

1) I would like the ability to configure which version of Daz Studio is launched when an item is clicked. I would like DazCentral to launch the latest beta version of Daz Studio by default as that is what I mostly use.

2) I would like the ability to perform more complex (e.g., boolean and metadata) searches. Like others, I have a fairly large content library. I would like to be able to search within current search results. Also, to be able to tag items from multiple searches and view all the tagged items as their own group or category would be very handy.

Going forwards, I will use DazCentral as much as possible. However, it will need to have the same functionality as DIM before I switch permanently to DazCentral - I have come to really appreciate what DIM can do!

I am the same, I will use Daz Central more when it has the features that DiM currently has such as custom folder install, and new features such as better sorting of content into catagories..

As was expalined earlier, this is aimed at new uers who find DIM overwhelming - so I think we can be confident that it won't be getting all the options DIM has. DIM will continue to be avaialble for those who need the additional options.

This is priceless. DAZ hasn't yet produced a good Content Manager. postgresql cms still doesn't work on a Mac. Now you're introducing DAZCentral which won't work on a Mac. Has DAZ stopped supporting Macs? Shouldn't you get one product working before moving onto a replacement?

PostgreSQL does work on the Mac, though there have recently been some (fixable) configuration issues that seem to affect new installs.

 

Plugin installation/update support could have been added to SmartContent. V4/M4 capability and content development is pretty much frozen wrt Daz store, so once installed via DIM/manual don't require further maintenance. Doesn't justify building an entire "parallel" product for it.

Yeah, I don't think ease-of-use is the point of this, but rather DRM.

ding ding ding...

You can't ding ding ding something that plainly isn't correct, and has been confirmed to be incorrect.

exactly who asked for this? anyone?

I could see this as a good long-term strategy for DAZ and its future customers, but I honestly don't think the voices in these forums were asking for this 'feature' over other improvements  - e.g. clean DS shutdowns, animations that load the way they were saved, BVH loading/saving that works, etc...

Of course I understand that priorities are likely to differ and the future is not the past, even if for its own sake. The natural tension of the marketplace continues. Vote accordingly.

I would recommend to the mothership that manual downloads and DIM remain enabled over the long-term, else another 'connect'-like event is likely to be looming should that change.

Never did see an answer to the multiple questions about Daz Central and ... 'foreign' content. This continued silence is likely to become an answer in itself.

--ms

It is for new users who have trouble with the options in DIM, as explained above. Since it uses the same system as DIM (just with a streamlined UI, as explained above) it will presumably not do anything with content that isn't set up to work in DIM - I dion't know if it will work with the small number of items from other sites thata re set up to work with DIM, though.

My first impression is that I really like the look and feel of DazCentral. I am optimistic about it!

I have two suggestions for improvement:

1) I would like the ability to configure which version of Daz Studio is launched when an item is clicked. I would like DazCentral to launch the latest beta version of Daz Studio by default as that is what I mostly use.

2) I would like the ability to perform more complex (e.g., boolean and metadata) searches. Like others, I have a fairly large content library. I would like to be able to search within current search results. Also, to be able to tag items from multiple searches and view all the tagged items as their own group or category would be very handy.

Going forwards, I will use DazCentral as much as possible. However, it will need to have the same functionality as DIM before I switch permanently to DazCentral - I have come to really appreciate what DIM can do!

I am the same, I will use Daz Central more when it has the features that DiM currently has such as custom folder install, and new features such as better sorting of content into catagories..

May have found one nasty bug where during installation the installer decided to do a system restart, if not for windows halting it and allowing me to cancel I would be rather angry.. Thing is when I tried again the installation went without a hitch so just to let you know about this..

While Daz Central looks nice going to have to stick with DiM for content installation, since there seems to be no option in Daz Central to install content to custom folders..

That's a deal breaker.

I wasn't going to bother until they'd removed the forced restart; if this is the case, I'm not interested at all.

I am still putting this down to still being beta but there is no asset sorting either such as people, props, clothing and so on, all this really seems to be is just a really fancy version of the DiM that can't install to custom folders..

May have found one nasty bug where during installation the installer decided to do a system restart, if not for windows halting it and allowing me to cancel I would be rather angry.. Thing is when I tried again the installation went without a hitch so just to let you know about this..

While Daz Central looks nice going to have to stick with DiM for content installation, since there seems to be no option in Daz Central to install content to custom folders..

That's a deal breaker.

I wasn't going to bother until they'd removed the forced restart; if this is the case, I'm not interested at all.

May have found one nasty bug where during installation the installer decided to do a system restart, if not for windows halting it and allowing me to cancel I would be rather angry.. Thing is when I tried again the installation went without a hitch so just to let you know about this..

While Daz Central looks nice going to have to stick with DiM for content installation, since there seems to be no option in Daz Central to install content to custom folders..

thanks so much i wasnt sure what it was for thanks  

Can I use DazCentral with a Mac?

Unfortunately, Mac isn’t a supported operating system at this time.  Mac users should continue to use DIM.

Huh? Then why am I seeing "DazCentral Mac64" at the top of my Product Library list in my account? See attached.

And why don't I see DazCentral at all in DIM? I have DIM 1.4.0.36.

Shhh... DIM isn't supposed to know...

Somehow I thought we were supposed to install it with DIM, because people talked about uninstalling it with DIM. I guess that would be dumb to install it with DIM, it this is supposed to allow new users to skip DIM.

Can I use DazCentral with a Mac?

Unfortunately, Mac isn’t a supported operating system at this time.  Mac users should continue to use DIM.

Huh? Then why am I seeing "DazCentral Mac64" at the top of my Product Library list in my account? See attached.

And why don't I see DazCentral at all in DIM? I have DIM 1.4.0.36.

Shhh... DIM isn't supposed to know...

Can I use DazCentral with a Mac?

Unfortunately, Mac isn’t a supported operating system at this time.  Mac users should continue to use DIM.

Huh? Then why am I seeing "DazCentral Mac64" at the top of my Product Library list in my account? See attached.

And why don't I see DazCentral at all in DIM? I have DIM 1.4.0.36.

Can I use DazCentral with a Mac?

Unfortunately, Mac isn’t a supported operating system at this time.  Mac users should continue to use DIM.

Huh? Then why am I seeing "DazCentral Mac64" at the top of my Product Library list in my account? See attached.

 

Plugin installation/update support could have been added to SmartContent. V4/M4 capability and content development is pretty much frozen wrt Daz store, so once installed via DIM/manual don't require further maintenance. Doesn't justify building an entire "parallel" product for it.

Yeah, I don't think ease-of-use is the point of this, but rather DRM.

...

Never did see an answer to the multiple questions about Daz Central and ... 'foreign' content. This continued silence is likely to become an answer in itself.

--ms

That question is way easier asked than answered. Just to give an idea of the complexity involved:

Automated access -
Most marketplaces are designed and optimized for manual interactions and not for automated bulk access using any tool. Not all sites have the need nor the capability to handle automated downloads. In fact, several of these marketplaces may have safeguards to prevent such automated bulk access in order to avoid spikes of overload or prevent any DOS attack to their servers. Daz may be handling this scenario by routing calls from DIM/Studio to different servers than those that are used to access content catalog/description using web browser. So if you try to circumvent such site-wide measures using a tool, you risk getting flagged as a malicious user.

Proprietary metadata -
3rd party marketplaces sell their 3D content according to formats supported by popular tools used by professionals. Each additional format require additional effort from their publishers to support that format. For the few sites that support the Daz format (such as duf files) outside Daz, there is a severe lack of formalization to provide metadata that would facilitate categorization and searching inside studio. Publishers just get away with providing a path to access their content in the content library in a readme file and that have been deemed sufficient so far. As revolting as it may sound, but the support for arbitary manual installation of content diminishes the requirement for formal metadata. So in the absence of Daz prescribed metadata, your content is "invisible" to any tool that relies on the presence of it.

Of course, there are further concerns regarding standardization of - access to content "repositories", federated content search/discovery using content "registries". But those challenges are way beyond the simple hurdles I mentioned above.