This is the worst 3D rendering software EVER...
stefan.haeger_6fe948c568
Posts: 0
Seriously. You let users download the install manager - which could have been a great idea. But - oh let the customer find out - the install manager does not support proxy servers and thus is totally useless in any company environment that is larger than the one of a toy store. OK you can install it manually after some searching and you have an app installed that was unable to even create a start menu item. ANyways, you fumble your way to program filesDaz Studio which is not that hard if you're a windows veteran and just doubleclick the exe. Yay it runs, but no content at all. When the website says it is "bundled" with Genesis 3 and loads of other stuff they meant "bundled" as in "You can download it yourself if you need it". As the Download manager doesn't work i of course download these manually and what do i come up with? Some zip files containing binaries. So what to do with them? Gotta google again but oh yeah look in the program options for content directories - that's where it searches for your stuff. Found that folder - threw the content of the zip file in it and BANG i finally have genesis 3 female in subfolder #99 so after just a half hour of clicking i finally load the figure.
Then it loads and BANG - dozen error messages about which files it can't find.
This is BY FAR the worst software ever. I copied the content folder that YOU creators of this pile of crap put in the zip file into the content folder that YOU defined by default, how is it possible that i can see the icon, load the figure and then is unable to find some files? You guy put the hirarchy into this zip file.
I am just fed up and already de-installing.
Just google for Daz install manager proxy and you find some threads by people asking here in these forums and noone ever bothered answering - and that was YEARS ago.
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Comments
Can you use Connect (Connect>Log in) or is that too blocked? If you can you could either download through Connect or log-in once to verify the system then use the Offline Installers by placing a copy in the \Data\Cloud\Install folder in you Daz Connect folder and using the Install Offline Packages command. You can also place the manually downloaded zips in the Install Manager Downloads folder and then use Install Manager to handle their placement. Your problem with the manual install is, however, probably easy to resolve - most likely you copied the "Content" folder from the zip, that's a place-holder for the actual content directory on the system so you should take everything in the "Content" folder and place it in you actual content directory - My Library or My Daz 3D Library by default.
I recommend you go and send your complaint to the guys who are responsible for things, so someone there actually knows what problems you encountered: https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Here, it's just the forum where your fellow forumites can do zilch, and the DAT people who could are not coming to the forum.
EDIT: as for the content, when you copied it, make sure you leave out the "content" top folder in the zip file. Only the below that folders, like /data, /people and /Runtime, need to go into My DAZ 3D Library.
denn ma tschüss nä
Actually you should be forwarding your complaint to your IT support group so they can unblock the ports on your firewall that is needed to connect. They are in charge of making sure no unauthorized access is made on their network and it seems they are unaware that you are using this program to as part of your workflow.
I haven't tried running the program on a proxy server, but I run it on 2 seperate machines. You can get all of your files installed onto any computer by logging onto the DIM with your password, You can't keep the DIM running on more than one computer, but why would you have to? Once the files are installed you can close it. It is, of course, a free program. That being said you can do some great things with it if you have the patience to learn how. I've tried Poser a few times and I was just lost. Wouldn't write off Daz so soon.
Interesting post.
One has to wonder why though.
It looks like a work computer with restrictions
considering the convolted mess many other 3D softwares are to set up and use at least in my experience,
Recall when I first opened Blender and stared at that cube ....
I still do the Sphere in Zbrush ......
I'm sure I'm not the only one who's work computers are NOT allowed online. We have some older Linux boxes for online stuff but everything else has no net connection. This made us dump 3DS Max for Blender and stop updating Adobe programs. We have no worries regarding viruses, ransomeware, or being hacked. We don't even use USB sticks from home.
Yes, that is so me. This bloody cube was sticking on my cursor and I didn't know how to get rid of it. That day I knew, I am gonna hate blender.
I am actually surprised this post is online since the forum told me like "Blah your post while be visible once it's approved".
I think for all bigger companies it's normal that you use a proxy server. All other 3D software i ever used supported proxy servers. And i do have local administrator rights, otherwise i could not have installed the useless download manager or Daz studio at all - coming to think of it that would have saved me loads of time.
I can't even decide what was the worst part of this experience - that there weren't even any items in my start menu? Hello? I am using a normal Windows 7 64-Bit so how can that happen? I did have a start menu item for some weird SQL database (probably some part of the awesome install manager) which I don't even remotely care about as an end user.
That the "manual download" content packs are distributed in a way that no normal user can use them without googling the stuff about content folders first is such a joke. How hard would it have been to make a proper installer for these? And that the top level folder is named "content" but you may not copy that is also a joke. I mean if that is so bad then why do they include it? And why can you even load the figures - but they can't find their own files? As an IT pro things like "relative path" go though my head and i wonder if they ever had any beta testers that didn't already use this app since years?
I think this app could have been a nice addition for some stuff - I could have lived with some small flaws, but this was the worst out-of-the-box experience ever for me.
Daz did, at one time, use executable installers - and received a stream of complaints about them, as well as having periodic problems when an OS update broke one installer type and older content had to be updated. The zips are set up for the Install Manager - which can handle content, plug-ins, applications, and add-ons for other applications (Photoshop brushes, Vue items, Lightwave plug-ins and so on) so the top-level type folders are needed. If you look at a non-content zip you will see folders specific to the application instead of the Content folder. Daz does recommend using Install manager or Connect simply because a high proportion of support issues have always been related to installation errors. You can see and load the file because it is in the content tree, just a level too deep - all paths in content are relative, otherwise it wouldn't bre possible to use the same content on different machines (and, as long as you access the content from within a mapped directory, any saved content will also use relative paths).
I understand your frustration, but you do need to understand that Daz is under competing pressures and that the content provision techniques have evolved greatlyu over the years in response to those pressures. I can only suggest making a feature request for support for proxy servers (or, if support is already there, more accessible instructions on taking advantage of it): http://www.daz3d.com/help/help-contact-us
Every company sets up its networks and proxies differently. That's an IT issue on your company to provide appropriate port forwarding through the proxy for any apps which require it. That's not DAZ's fault.
If you NEED a start menu item, they are pretty simple to create. But rather than have the installer automatically create one, it was designed to run under DIM so it could run unattended (i.e., without user interaction) to allow for multiple downloads to be progressing and installed without halting and waiting everytime it needed to ask a question.....
MOST 3D applications bundle included content files in a separate installer. SOME of those installers will prompt you to install the content as well IF they find the installer for it in the same directory.....
Um, your google-fu is weak, grasshopper. http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=daz+studio+manual+install+content
Almost EVERY one of these tutorials goes over the whole "don't put the content folder in the zip into the main content folder, just the contents of it."
Unsurprising. The content wasn't installed correctly.
Wow. If you are truly a windows 'veteran' and DS 4.9 is the 'worst' software ever that you've seen, you haven't worked with very much. Installing older versions of 3DSMax, AutoCad, LightWave3D, and more were a LOT more error prone (often centered around their old copy-protection schemes and dongles.) And a lot of freeware/shareware/plugins don't have hardly any support to help when there is a problem.
...and they expected it to be installed by DIM, which knows how to install it properly. Or that the person installing it manually would take the time to look up how to correctly install the package.
Probably for the best. If this little install problem put you off this much, actually working with 3D rendering would be way too much frustration for you to handle.......
That is because every proxy is configured differently, and there is NO single solution. Furthermore, the solution is for the Proxy Server, not the installer package. While it is possible to query the proxy server, there is NO guarantee that the software installer can properly function and authenticate without correct ports forwarded.
If you are a new user (less than a certain 'age' as a registered user) posts/posting have to be approved. This prevents spam bots from getting in here.
Some do, some use VPNs, some use other security measures. And what 'other 3D software' have you used? And FYI, local admin rights aren't necessary to install software, only to install it for the whole machine as opposed to being installed for a single user.
Again, you didn't bother reading ANYTHING about the product before grabbing it and assuming it would just 'work'. PostgreSQL is hardly 'wierd', and is one of the major SQL DBs in use today. It's used by MANY parts of DAZ Studio and DIM, And yes, you SHOULD care about it as an end user, as it is what allows all the metadata about installed content to be kept track of.
Because in order to support compatibility with Poser-based products (which include a LOT of legacy content) and to support DSON export to allow Poser to use DAZ Studio content, there is a convention in place to use that nomenclature. Which you would have found out quickly enough if you did a little research on it. Google is your friend here. So is the DAZ documentation.
They DID originally make 'proper' installers for the content packages. People didn't like them. They caused a lot of problems, and it was decided to go with simple archives.
Most 3D content files do NOT maintain links between themselves. And 'as an IT pro' you should have been able to realize most of what I mentioned above. Yes, relative paths ARE used in some of the content files. But if you put the main file in the wrong place, not everything WILL work correctly. Blame the original Poser architecture on that one, because, horror of horrors, they allowed products to share elements since there were fixed relationships for TYPES of content files (textures, for example.)
You've never tried to install Linux on a machine before, have you?
Sorry, but DAZ has a brilliant piece of software here. It has some bugs, yes. Haven't found a program more complicated than 'Hello World' that didn't. It's incredibly powerful, flexible, comes with some very capable and detailed content, and it COSTS YOU NOTHING. And considering how much it USED to cost, you have the audacity to complain about a little hiccup with your company's firewall and in how you didn't install stuff correctly? Instead of coming in here and simply asking what you did wrong, you come in and blast the software and company. Not a good start. Then when you are given a few suggestions, you just keep blasting away, rather than trying to do it correctly?
Just wow....Maybe you should just try to start over, and try being a little more polite and friendly.....
You are my hero. :)
I'm a "IT person", you know the one setting a proxy server to anno..harass..to help enterprise users to not waste bandwith and use efficiently the internet connection.
So, yes DIM not supporting proxy settings (at least HTTP proxy would be nice, and Socks, and taking the setting from the internet explorer/edge setting panel) is frustrating but there is a lot of ways to work anyway:
to download DIM and install it. To manually download zip contents and to give them TO DIM and let DIM to do the work. You're not forced to download content (packages) with DIM.
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Daz has now what.. year, a decade or so of contents from Poser and DAZ store (two different things) to support and still allowing to mix all together. It's not a mere thing.
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PostgreSQL is a very efficient and known SQL database. You can find it inside or besides many products.
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I don't understand the point about a desktop file. Didn't Windows menu automatically integrate all binaries from Program Files folders ? anyway, it's there like any program. The same with the macOs version : inside /Applications, like always since..hu.. forever.
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Is it only me or no one here works with hundread of students every year trying to understand and install Adobe Creative Cloud and crazy Autodesk Installer ? (I'm working for universities)
In a corporate settings, with computers having antivirus/malware restrictions, whatever, it can be difficult to accomodate all kind of installers and expectation from all editors.
All are able to help if you read their forum and dare to contact them.
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in a professional situation, I'm sure you could explain your situation to your IT desk and they will be able to open special access to your computer to bypass the proxy.
it's not that easy because DIM simply try to use HTTP and HTTPS ports, so your computer needs to be authorized to contact the web directly, to open the network firewall to let your computer access the web without the proxy. It kinda the opposite of why you put a proxy in the first place (to control, analyse, improve the use by cache and stuff, and so on). But if needed, it's always possible to accomodate special needs for a user.
Or.. simply download manualy the content packages from the DAZ Store and give them to DIM (not just unarchive them in the DAZ content folder), let's DIM to manage and install them properly.
An other solution would be a VPN through the proxy. Ask your IT desk what they can provide.
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for what I can say, for example ZBRUSH remote activation is a PAIN in corporate settings. Still, Zbrush is a brillant software. The industry is like that: schizophrenic, complex, diverse and very creative.
For DAZ, it's quite a good software: it allows to pose, modify (some of its abilities are basic; others a lot more elaborate) and mix contents efficiently and to render nicely thanks to 3Dlight and Iray and even octane or lux thanks to plugins. It allows a quick workflow to easily create pictures or references and work from them.
hphoenix