...woke up today to lots of email alerts from our transit system.  Service on all LRT and street trams has been suspended for the day while more than half the bus routes in the city have been cncelled, all due to the ice fro the freezing rain that will continue through tonight.   The issue with the LRT and Tram  is they use overhead catenary for power and the were experiencing ice and frequent cases of debris on the lines (the latter due to the high winds yesterday and last night).

Layered on the clothing today to try and stay warm .  My computer desks are on teh eat wall of he apartment and the heat doesn't reach very well to that area. Modern building and we get these cheap inefficient in wall heaters you see in old cheap motels.. They should have provided for a central boiler and steam heat system when they built it.  These last few days will probably add about 50% to my month's power bill.

Hot cocoa and cookie time.

Still colder than normal here, -4° (24°F) but the winds have calmed down since last night.  

Heard that some cities experienced temperature drops between 35° and 40°F in less than an hour.

Indeed, people stay safe in areas being affected by the storm and bitter arctic air to follow.  Here in the Northwest we should be back to our "balmy" normal temperatures by Sunday.

SofaCitizen said:

Wonderland said:

I just added to my last post while you were posting this. DS was updating metadata through Connect so I must have several items installed through Connect which maybe leads to duplicate formulas. I logged out of DS and now all products are in the wrong order but how do I uninstall all Connect items/? 

Yeah, having Daz Studio able to connect to the internet just seems to break stuff unfortunately. You'll want to specifically uninstall all products that Daz Connect thinks is installed and then reinstall them dia DIM (or Central I suppose). Working out which products to uninstall is the tricky part. It's been a while since I have done that and I know how to find them by connecting directly to the CMS using a PostgresSQL client but again that is a route for someone who is comfortable with such things.

It might be possible to find them within the filesystem, however as I don't have any Connect products installed this is a bit of guess-work: See if you can find a folder called "My Daz Connect Library" - for some reason on my machine this is in the Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio folder. In there you can ignore the files in the data/cloud/meta subfolder as those are Connect's updated metadata and not related to Connect installs. However, if there are any other files/folders in there then I think that will be what you are looking for to tell you what products Connect has installed. If you find any references to a product in there then try and uninstall that product from within Daz Studio and the file/folder should hopefully disappear which means you are on the right track.

Thanks, I will try that. For now I logged out and set it up so it won't connect me automatically. I'm now not getting the Migration Failed notice but it's already been 30 minutes and G8 still has not loaded. Just says reading asset... I'll check the log after it finally loads...

Wonderland said:

I just added to my last post while you were posting this. DS was updating metadata through Connect so I must have several items installed through Connect which maybe leads to duplicate formulas. I logged out of DS and now all products are in the wrong order but how do I uninstall all Connect items/? 

Yeah, having Daz Studio able to connect to the internet just seems to break stuff unfortunately. You'll want to specifically uninstall all products that Daz Connect thinks is installed and then reinstall them dia DIM (or Central I suppose). Working out which products to uninstall is the tricky part. It's been a while since I have done that and I know how to find them by connecting directly to the CMS using a PostgresSQL client but again that is a route for someone who is comfortable with such things.

It might be possible to find them within the filesystem, however as I don't have any Connect products installed this is a bit of guess-work: See if you can find a folder called "My Daz Connect Library" - for some reason on my machine this is in the Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio folder. In there you can ignore the files in the data/cloud/meta subfolder as those are Connect's updated metadata and not related to Connect installs. However, if there are any other files/folders in there then I think that will be what you are looking for to tell you what products Connect has installed. If you find any references to a product in there then try and uninstall that product from within Daz Studio and the file/folder should hopefully disappear which means you are on the right track.

SofaCitizen said:

I would probably avoid using Daz Central or Connect in that situation - infact if you setup the base library on the external drive properly you won't even have to run DIM after Daz Studio is installed. Once DS is installed, immediately go into the list of base libraries and remove the pre-created ones which will be on C: - you will probably want to manually remove those folders. Then you can add the base library from your external drive and within Content DB Maintenance you can check Process Metadata Queue and Re-import Metadata and this will import everything into Smart Content (after several minutes).

However, even if you fully clean up and uninstall everything before you go home you would have to check the T&Cs to see if that is allowed. It probably would be since you would not be loading paid assets onto your friends computer but it's best to check for sure.

Iray preview does run on non-nvidia cards - albeit slowly. However, I don't know what the minimum spec would be for that, or filament or even just textured preview.

I don't want to screw up my existing DS (which already has multiple issues!) so I'd bring a fresh HD and install probably just what I needed on the new HD or who knows, maybe a fresh install would clear up my current issues. I don't see another way except through DIM but I have issues with DIM when I want to install into different folders (ie; I have a separate G9 folder) it will not show the items (all greyed out) on the folder that was not used in the last download. So if I download G9 items into its folder through DIM then open DS all my other content is greyed out and vice versa. I'm having so many issues with DS I 

I would probably avoid using Daz Central or Connect in that situation - infact if you setup the base library on the external drive properly you won't even have to run DIM after Daz Studio is installed. Once DS is installed, immediately go into the list of base libraries and remove the pre-created ones which will be on C: - you will probably want to manually remove those folders. Then you can add the base library from your external drive and within Content DB Maintenance you can check Process Metadata Queue and Re-import Metadata and this will import everything into Smart Content (after several minutes).

However, even if you fully clean up and uninstall everything before you go home you would have to check the T&Cs to see if that is allowed. It probably would be since you would not be loading paid assets onto your friends computer but it's best to check for sure.

Iray preview does run on non-nvidia cards - albeit slowly. However, I don't know what the minimum spec would be for that, or filament or even just textured preview.

Same issue. It get stuck at 86%, I shut the daz central instaling window and try whith the instalation button on the daz studio in the applications part on central. It manage to install all correctly.

Just wondering: if you need this tight amount of control and yet still get items from the Daz 3D webstore then you should consider using DIM vs. Central, aka the Daz Install Manager:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/382131/daz-install-manager-dim-1-4-0-94-now-available-updated

It can be used to install Daz Studio itself, and only Daz Studio, but also gives you full control over whatever more you'd like to install. For example... on my system Daz Studio (the program) resides on my system drive (C) but all my media files (except those I made myself) are all located on D. Whenever I buy something from the store it gets cached on D and installed on D.  Can't do that with Daz Central last I checked.

ctfortunato30 said:

Hello, 

I am trying to download the new Daz3d Version 4.21 in the install managerm but everytime I try to do this, it just says the download failed. I am farily new to this program. Anyone have any ideas as to why the download won't go through? 

Are you using Daz Central or DIM? 

Where can I download ONLY the DS installer not the pachage manager application etc?

Where download just installer file NOT Daz Central which put in a bunch of unwanted stuff I don;t need and which I have to go remove again.

Thanks.

Epic vs. Tafi/Daz is a comparison of limited value, though I suppose all comparisons are.  The last valuation for Epic put the company's value in the $27-28 billion range.  

Fortnite is an enormous cash cow for Epic.  Unreal Engine is developed for Epic's internal use, and any royalties or other income generated by other UE users is, to use a technical term, gravy.  So, they can give up any income from UE assets because it isn't central or even important to their overall profitability.  If somebody happens to use UE to make something that Epic can collect royalties from, congrats to both parties.  For Epic, it's a very low risk with a potential for rewards.

Meanwhile, if Daz can't make profits from selling content, it isn't a viable business.  They're already giving away the primary app (Daz Studio) and the base figures.

Every year, I get a lot of good freebies.  Not for the latest generation of figures?  Well, I've seen great renders going back to Generation 4.  Not Iray?  Well, 3Delight can produce great results, different but not inferior.  And competence with the Surfaces tab is a useful skill.  Tired of seeing Henrietta Heart Hen?  So am I, but expecting Daz to give away the majority of its most profitable items isn't realistic.

(Quoting victor:)

Epic: "These guys are doing their best to help me".

Daz: "These guys are doing their best to milk me for every dime".

We all have relationships where we feel we're dealing with a business that feels its success is closely tied to our success or satisfaction.  But we also have adversarial relationships (which we maintain because they're the least bad option) where we feel the business communicates with us largely or entirely in sales/marketingspeak, or is uncommunicative.  They cut corners.  Almost all of their actions are driven by short-term profitability, as if management and ownership has little confidence in the business beyond the current fiscal year (or quarter).  Rather than a strategy based in steady growth and consistent profitability, those businesses frequently make half-baked efforts at hitting it big on current fads.  So, you're ambivalent about Daz?  I think that's most of the customer base.

It's saying it can't find the folder in which it is told to place the downloaded zips (and, for Daz Central, delete them once the installation is done. The drive may be full or the location set for the zips may be inaccessible, for example a disconnected drive or drive identifier changed.

Can someone tell me which "Package Archive" in which "Downloads" page of which "Settings" dialog this is supposed to be? It's as clear as mud.

Also, when I click OK, whether in DIM install or Central install, this popup goes into an endless loop and I have to Kill the process.

I was using DazStudio fine until a few months ago and now it doesn't work. Can't reinstall, I keep getting this message in the attached screen shot.

Suggestions appreciated.

es_b199eb1e said:

NorthOf45 said:

I assume you installed with DIM or Central, and not Connect. Connect is another method to install content, in a different location. If you use DIM or Central, you do not need Connect to use Smart Content, so you do not need to log in to DAZ from Studio. The "Install" icon is Connect's way of telling you it wants to nstall, but don't do it. You will have a second, overriding installation of the content, and possible conflicts. Much has been discussed about this subject, and the general rule is that if you use DIM/Central, do not use Connect, do not log in to DAZ from Studio. You can set this in your Preferences (F2). If the Product thumbnails are in colour, nothing is wrong.

Is that the 'automatically login with remembered credentials' checkbox? 

Yes.

BTW, re-import metadata can be done at any time, but for the whole library, hopefully just once. You can re-import metadata from DIM for one or more selected products in the Installed tab.

NorthOf45 said:

I assume you installed with DIM or Central, and not Connect. Connect is another method to install content, in a different location. If you use DIM or Central, you do not need Connect to use Smart Content, so you do not need to log in to DAZ from Studio. The "Install" icon is Connect's way of telling you it wants to nstall, but don't do it. You will have a second, overriding installation of the content, and possible conflicts. Much has been discussed about this subject, and the general rule is that if you use DIM/Central, do not use Connect, do not log in to DAZ from Studio. You can set this in your Preferences (F2). If the Product thumbnails are in colour, nothing is wrong.

Is that the 'automatically login with remembered credentials' checkbox? 

I assume you installed with DIM or Central, and not Connect. Connect is another method to install content, in a different location. If you use DIM or Central, you do not need Connect to use Smart Content, so you do not need to log in to DAZ from Studio. The "Install" icon is Connect's way of telling you it wants to nstall, but don't do it. You will have a second, overriding installation of the content, and possible conflicts. Much has been discussed about this subject, and the general rule is that if you use DIM/Central, do not use Connect, do not log in to DAZ from Studio. You can set this in your Preferences (F2). If the Product thumbnails are in colour, nothing is wrong.

Hi everyone im so happy that there is another update for Daz studio its been awhile since I have updated and just logged in to my Daz central but for unknown reason the install cannot complete and stop retried it many times but unsuccessfull why is Daz central having this problem? I need an alternative or direct download link was it possible instead of using daz central? thanks.

Central and DIM are broadly different faces of the same thing - it's just that Central hides a lot of options to make a simpler experience. Central does have the ability to launch the application and tell it to load a piece of content correction, have DS run a guided lesson to show how to load the content, which DIM lacks (currently - see http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/install_manager/change_log#1_4_0_108 for 1.4.1.1 to 1.4.1.3). Connect is not affected in any way by using either of the external installers.

In DIM click the gear icon at top-right to get a menu offering basic and advanced settings. That includes setting paths for downloads (the zips), manifests (the reciords of what it has installed), the database (used by Daz Studio, Carrara, and the Installers to track the content available to the application), and the content isntalls (Daz Studio and the installers need to know where the content is being placed - if you chnage the location in DIM you will also need to change/add that location in Daz Studio).

I am leaning toward DIM, I like the part about storring the zip files  when setting up DIM. Do I make the choice to use the HDD when setting up right?

\When I setup DIM there is no Connect or Central rigtht?

Daz central lets you set one location and places everythign in a sub-folder, so it is simpler to do but less flexible. Daz Install Manager uses separately settable locations for different types of content (and my default keeps the zips, which can be handy if you frequently uninstall/reinstall content). You will get the default paths for whichever application you install first - if that's Install Manager the the Daz Central configuration screen will say that paths are managed by Install Manager.

I think the reason people suggest not installing content to an SSD is simply size - a cotnent library can grow very large, depending on how much content you buy/download and how scrupulous you are about uninstalling things you don't need. There isn't a lot of benefit to having the content on SSD, but it would probably give at least some speed boost to loadign large objects or sending data to be rendered (when the full size versions of images need to be loaded).

DarkElf said:

Everytime I click on the "Get DAZ Studio" download button it wants to download DAZ Central. I don't want that. I just want to download DAZ Studio 4.20

Could someone please tell me how?