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.

I am a bit confused with the overlapping funtionality of DazCentral with SmartContent. Is there anything, even a prospect, in DazCentral that is not already there/possible with SmartContent? Or, is this just an attempt to bring SmartContent functionality by replacing the underlying Connect? In the present state, I feel SmartContent to be more cohesive, intuitive, stable and feature rich than DazCentral, so what is the business direction and prospects with DazCentral in the light of SmartContent?

Same here, never understood what's the point of DIM ever since DazConnect was introduced inside DazStudio itself and now this...

DIM has its own usage scenarios (like simultaneous downloads as vanilla DRM-free zipped archives, many user preferred to use DIM to backup their content for fear of getting locked out someday, offline installation for PCs with Studio not connected to the internet etc) which were not covered by Connect. Though Connect did try to address some of those concerns like offline installation with .sep and .sea files but not all scenariuos were covered. For example, in Connect there is no way to download simple DRM-free zip files that you can open in any zip application. So it cannot not be used for mass backups of content without involving the DRM in Daz Studio since the .sep and .sea files are encrypted.

And then I get:

"You don't have Daz Studio!" - YES I DO!!!!

Sorting options are extremely limited, I don't really see this helping me find anything any easier...

For some reason seeming random items are listed as Plugins - "3D Bridge for Photoshop" makes sense, but "Frosty Dress for Genesis 2 Female(s)" ??

Saw several such anomalies, probably a metedata error in their package manifest or something that needs to be fixed at their end.

Clicking almost anything in Daz Central just opens a web page in your browser - Did I just install a program to open links for me in a web browser?

I have almost 200GB and over 2000 products installed via DazConnect, this thing tells me there's nothing installed.

Wait it gets better: Just started DazStudio, it did some metadate update, but everything is marked as not installed. 200GB... HOW DO I FIX THIS?

DazCentral uses DIM paths at the moment whereas Connect installs in a separate path similar to "<Daz Content Library>\Daz3D\Connect\data\cloud" where <Daz Content Library> is the path for the first Content Library entry in Daz Studio. Also note that Connect installs each item in discrete folders identified by their SKU. Daz Central uses paths configured under "advanced Settings > Installation" in DIM which is different from Connect path. That is why your products are shown as not installed. Check your SmartContent tab in DazStudio, that should still be showing your installed content correctly.

That said, if you are uising SmartContent/Connect as your primary download option then not all items have the Connect install options and a quite a few of these content require DIM/manual download so they won't appear in SmartContent tab.

 

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...

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

I am a bit confused with the overlapping funtionality of DazCentral with SmartContent. Is there anything, even a prospect, in DazCentral that is not already there/possible with SmartContent? Or, is this just an attempt to bring SmartContent functionality by replacing the underlying Connect? In the present state, I feel SmartContent to be more cohesive, intuitive, stable and feature rich than DazCentral, so what is the business direction and prospects with DazCentral in the light of SmartContent?

Same here, never understood what's the point of DIM ever since DazConnect was introduced inside DazStudio itself and now this...

And then I get:

"You don't have Daz Studio!" - YES I DO!!!!

Sorting options are extremely limited, I don't really see this helping me find anything any easier...

For some reason seeming random items are listed as Plugins - "3D Bridge for Photoshop" makes sense, but "Frosty Dress for Genesis 2 Female(s)" ??

Clicking almost anything in Daz Central just opens a web page in your browser - Did I just install a program to open links for me in a web browser?

I have almost 200GB and over 2000 products installed via DazConnect, this thing tells me there's nothing installed.

Wait it gets better: Just started DazStudio, it did some metadate update, but everything is marked as not installed. 200GB... HOW DO I FIX THIS?

Are there screenshots to see what this actually is? I really don't understand the improvement over DIM, unless it's faster. DIM takes over 15 minutes to populate with all the products I have. 

It's not so much an improvement over DIM as this is something different.

This is more of a product navigation outside DS. It looks and feels like a web UI of an online shop. It does not sell you inside yet, but is very likely that will be added in the future.

The one thing i do consider an improvement is the search engine compared to search inside daz. Granted i have a very small library, but its instant search filter. Partials and multiple words works fine. It's probably all done in RAM, if that is the case then its memory footprint may be high for bigger libraries if it does not scale well. My library is very small (< 600) and memory was only 176 MB. (DIM is 32MB).

Well i don't know if you are after feedback in general or only bugs. HEre is both just in case:

* Compared to DIM i kind of miss multi selection install.

Noted, I can't promise it will get in there but I like the idea. Thank you for the feedback.

* The fact that in dashboard only shows recent purchases to install may be a good thing. But what is exactly the criteria? If i did not open central in over a week and have purchased but not installed some products, will they not show in the dashboard?

The recent purchases just shows the last few products sorted by when you purchased them. If you make a bunch of purchases over the course of a week they would not be visible.

* What does "Update assets automatically actually mean?" Only models but not main software and plugins gets updated?

Just content is updated, no plug-ins or applications.

* What is the criteria for Asset/Pluging? I have "Look at Me II" in assets and Michael 4 base in plugins. Some things do not get shown at all? I'm not finding scene optimizer

I'll have someone look in to that, DazCentral attempts to sort things a little bit differently than DIM so some things may need a little updating on the store's database to get them to appear in their correct locations.

* Search so far seems really good. Search response is instant, partials and multiples words have no issues. I think it can still be improved by adding more info: specially thinking in artist and also "tags". If its just too many columns, maybe add  the ability to choose witch ones we want to see, but index all by default.

Once again, thank you for the feedback. This will probably have to wait for the refreshed store software in order to get the data in the right places at the right time to make this happen.

Possible bug: I get error when trying to open a base character from central. Daz do open, but i get this:

Are you running the latest version of Daz Studio? It had fixes in it to solve that bug (and also a newer version of Iray with a bunch of fixes and improvements in that as well).

The open DAZ from central directly from a product do works for me now that i updated to latest DS. But i'm not sure about it yet. I will describe for everyone who has not tried it what it does:

It Open DS (with a clean scene) and start a small step by step to point you to the product in Smart Content (product, no files). It's basically start a step by step tutorials, same looks. If you have context filter select, it will point to uncheck it, then to the product tab and then will show you the page where it is, highlight it and you have to say "i see it", then close the "tutorial".

So if there is that elusive product you know you have and inside daz search do not help but you find it with central; then it may help pointing you to it in DS

So, personal opinion, as an "Open DS from the product installer" is overkill. An small corner button to open DS would be the solution (Both Central and DIM need that). As a "point me to the product inside DS", seems useful. I do wonder why not just rework the search inside daz, that would be even better.