New ideas for new products
I've been purchasing items on DAZ for a couple of years now. It seems that I'm always in the market for some item that's never for sale.
It seems to me that vendors are always trying to crate a market for their items rather than finding an existing market for things that they can make.
If you're a vendor who makes items for DAZ Studio and you'd like to see a separate area on the DAZ website where customers can go and leave suggestions for items that they'd like to purchase, please respond to this with your thoughts and ideas.
While visiting that area, if a customer saw something someone else wanted and they too might like to buy one, they could add themselves to the number of people wanting that item. Venders could visit that area looking for product ideas.
Let's make things better for all.
Comments
Moved to product suggestions, which is the correct forum for this.
Maybe make a list of the most requested items, and then a vote is made to make the items.
Or maybe have a service where custom objects are made for people for a special price depending on the complexity of the object needed.
Or make a catagory that gets published artists to regularly make objects to fill that catagory for a short time (for those who request the same object a lot)
Or make a $1.99 catagory of small items like school supplies or similar small objects. Just one object instead of a group.
Can't think of more right now.
I often look through this section for ideas and what is wanted and to be honest it is not often you get many folks posting wanting the same things. The most recent one I liked the look of and thought what a great prop to make was the Sci-fi apartment until Stonemason popped his head in and showed us an old WIP. :)
An "objects on demand" service is needed badly.
With private model makers it is all about return of investment...it is going to be popular enough to sell, comerical viability in other words. The vendor also has to run the risk of having the item rejected by DAZ3D etc and therefore will have difficulty selling the said item. Some modelers are that good that their reputation goes a long way and avoids a product to be rejected but it does happen to seasoned modelers.
The Idea of the Product Suggestions Forum is just what it states on the label, a Forum where peopl can suggest Products that they would like to see made, either as Commercial Items, or even sometimes as Freebies.
If people would make sure that the title of a thread they post was highlighting the required Product, then it become easier for people who matter to see what is being suggested.
If other people also would like to see the same thing, then they should post to the thread, saying so, this then gives any PAs who peruse the forum an indication as to whether the item suggested would be popular.
Make the service independent from daz (a private service) and the artist gets feedback to build his reputation on speed, quality and a racy of the object. The service or object will be more expensive than daz content but it's custom factor could appeal to those who need a special object badly. That object could also be turned into a daz store item also.
Sorry, I'm new to this forum section. I have plenty of product ideas coming.
Make the service independent from daz (a private service) and the artist gets feedback to build his reputation on speed, quality and a racy of the object. The service or object will be more expensive than daz content but it's custom factor could appeal to those who need a special object badly. That object could also be turned into a daz store item also.
How much would you expect to pay for a custom model? They are likely to be a lot more expensive than most people can afford.
How much would you expect to pay for a custom model? They are likely to be a lot more expensive than most people can afford.
This right here. An artist may be choosing between selling a $10 model to 200 people or a $200 model to one (you do the math). It's quite difficult to get paid as much by one person as you can get from many. If you can, it will often be for something so insanely difficult that you can't really afford the time put in.
I very seldom do commissions, and then only if I am allowed resale rights. This way I can charge the person much less, and recoup my loss by selling it in my store. Basically I'm then selling an option on what I make next and what features it has, plus that person gets the item before anyone else.
How much would you expect to pay for a custom model? They are likely to be a lot more expensive than most people can afford.
This right here. An artist may be choosing between selling a $10 model to 200 people or a $200 model to one (you do the math). It's quite difficult to get paid as much by one person as you can get from many. If you can, it will often be for something so insanely difficult that you can't really afford the time put in.
I very seldom do commissions, and then only if I am allowed resale rights. This way I can charge the person much less, and recoup my loss by selling it in my store. Basically I'm then selling an option on what I make next and what features it has, plus that person gets the item before anyone else.
I know the "objects on demand" service is not sounding too good, but I am just trying to see if there were some way to have special items made that don't currently exist in the Daz Store by popular demand. What if it were a subscription paid monthly and when the item is made, it is also sold in a special part of the store called "special items". These are items that are only for these who are subscribed to objects on demand, and non-members have to pay more for these items.
For example, I need a space ship (the Event Horizon type ship) and its only for Bryce. There exists very little large scale space ships in Daz Store. Like the space cruiser ship and The alien space fleet (http://www.daz3d.com/deep-space-heavy-cruiser) (http://www.daz3d.com/alien-space-fleet-for-bryce) I want so badly but its stuck in Bryce. So are the other big ships.
Will anyone make these ships for Daz Studio? Just make them an .obj file and sell them with the Bryce version at least?
ANOTHER IDEA:
What about "rent a model"? You can download an object and use it in your project. You need a code to use the model. After a month, the object can't be used anymore until you pay the rent fee. If you're done with the model, you don't have to pay anymore, you just delete the model from your computer.
The rental model wouldn't work - if there was enough demand to make a rental viable, there'd be enough demand to make a for sale model viable. Not to mention that it would require a major rewrite of the applications to support a rental model - at the moment the content is all open, and can be exported to formats like OBJ.
The earlier suggestion is like Poser World or the like (not that there are any likes now, but there were at one time).
Oh well, I exhausted my ideas for an "objects on demand" service. I guess its a good idea but too risky finantually.
I really would want a category "maxed out" with objects of every kind. Like the sci-fi category. It would be neat to have this category overhauled by theme. Under "space" there would be like a star trek theme "room" where there are space suits, the space weapons, and various space ships, environments, props and space aliens. If someone wanted to make a space movie in daz, it would all be there to set up. You could even bundle the entire room and buy it at a discount if you need ALL of it. (I did this for a book I'm doing where I bought armor, weapons, poses, and ancient castles. But I had to buy them one by one and search through the store for everything I needed).
If someone needed a school scene, imagine a "room" that had all you needed to do that: Teacher, kids, classroom, school supplies, school bus (there is no school bus in the store by the way) etc.
Sorry for talking so much. Got so many ideas.
These are interesting ideas, but they're suggestions for how to sell content, not suggestions for stuff you would like PAs to create...are you looking for a particular item or type of item?
If you want to commission an item, there are probably PAs here who do that some, but Turbosquid might be more what you're looking for.
When I started this post I hadn't even noticed that there was a "New ideas for new products" topic... which is perhaps the reason that I posted it where designers would see it. Many people visit the DAZ website and they never (or very seldom) visit the forum. They stop, check the new items, perhaps search for a couple of things, and then leave. My whole point is that, in my opinion, the DAZ web site needs to have a visible link to a "Would someone please make a..." area. I've bought items on DAZ for two years and have never come across this topic in the forum... mainly because I primarily use forums when I need the answer to some problem that I'm having.
How about a caption and link on the Shop page that reads something like... "Can't find what you want?... click here." This would take you to an area where you could add what you're looking for to what others are looking for.
I think a lot revolves around vendors not wanting to show their hand until last minute incase someone copies the idea and brings it out first. No I am not a vendor yet but I am in the process of getting my act together designing stuff and with that comes market research. I have to continualy monitor RDNA, YURDigital, Content Paradise, Daz3D and a few more to see what is being made and what people want or think of things that haven't been made before or could be bettered.
The trouble is that with request threads you get a lot of things that one or two people want very badly but that not enough other people will buy at reasonable cost (case in point, a lot of the older, very difficult historical requests). Sometimes you also get things that lots of people will want but that no one has made yet, and it's not always easy to tell which is which. There are some things that the market has nearly infinite appetite for - denim, minidresses, underwear, and monsters are examples - so you're going to keep seeing a lot of those come out.
How many minidresses, underwear and monsters can one buy?
Why don't the PA's make objects that are NOT in the store already, like a SCHOOL BUS. I am ready to buy it if someone makes it. How hard is it to make one? I'm sure I'm not the only one online who wants one.
Then please start a separate thread in this forum called "School Bus" (if Jack Tomalin's Curious Bus isn't the right kind for you, anyway) and other people who want one can add to the thread. Making anything takes time--it's not about what's "hard," but about an investment of working hours by people who do this professionally. If it looks to be a profitable endeavor, someone is likely to take it on.
You also have the option of requesting it as a freebie in the commons; someone may be interested in making one for free.
Freebie requests can be here too -especially as any request, whetehr freebie or commercial, is open to "How about the ..." as a response, as with the Curious Bus heer (which I was going to mention too).
Great idea! If you start a request thread for an item and 20 people immediately post expressing interest in it, you will get someone's attention (provided it's remotely possible to make it). Educators do use DS, so it's not at all impossible a big yellow school bus would do well. That's not super easy (it's a very detailed prop with moving parts) but it's certainly possible for someone experienced in making vehicles.
I already have a complete schoolroom in the store. No, it doesn't have teachers and kids because they're always separate items from architecture. And you wouldn't find a bus in a classroom, so it's not there either. But I think an entire room and its contents for $9.95 is pretty good.
http://www.daz3d.com/interiors-the-classroom
mac
And I might add that my son has already used that school room, to make a slide show video for part of the course he is currently taking at Uni, as a mature student. All credits given of course.
I already have a complete schoolroom in the store. No, it doesn't have teachers and kids because they're always separate items from architecture. And you wouldn't find a bus in a classroom, so it's not there either. But I think an entire room and its contents for $9.95 is pretty good.
http://www.daz3d.com/interiors-the-classroom
mac
I own that school set too. It is a great value for all the stuff it includes. I also bought at least 7 other sets from maclean I will be using in my projects.
I was referring to an organization of all the props, sets, clothing, characters all in one "room" as in a section on Daz store where you could buy everything related to one theme. If you needed space stuff, you would have to find a space suit, then a space ship, then a space scene, etc. I did this and missed a lot of neat things space related. It took me months to finally find all space related stuff in the Daz store that I could use for my project.
I understand the problem, but the solution isn't so easy. For a range of totally different items to be included in one pack, they would almost certainly have to come from different vendors, since not many PAs make varied things, like (for example), buses, spacesuits and office equipment. Usually each PA has a speciality - clothing, hair, poses, architecture, etc.
The only way to do it would be for DAZ to buy all the required items from different people and make up a pack, and to be honest, it's not worth their while to do that. In addition, their choice of items may not be yours, and even if it was, it may not be someone else's.
Really what you're asking for is a bit like going to a supermarket and asking for a trolley pre-packed with food that you need instead of picking them item by item. It's frustrating to buy a pack with 20 objects when you only want one or two, but when you think about it, the ones you think you don't need, may turn out to be useful in a few months time for another project.
I try to put as many things as I can in each pack so people will have a lot of things to choose from. But it's impossible to please everyone, so I can only include what I think will be useful.
mac
Heh. That sounds cool! Glad it was useful.
mac
I think its possible to make a theme that includes all objects from different PA's all in one area for people who need a bundle of related items. Doesn't seem too hard to me.
They already do it now with bundles for Daz horse 2 and the super suit. All they would have to do is link the super suit with like the city sprawl (stonemason set), Jepes elements, and they have a superhero theme to make a superhero project.
Do the same with fantasy, with space, with 1970's theme, etc. I don't know about you but its annoying to buy something and then discover another object that was better in the store or would have worked great with the first object you bought, just because it was titled wrong or didn't have "space" or "ship" in the title, so you would never find it.
Just like the school bus that doesn't exist on Daz store, but they just made a new teen morph for genesis. How will they get to school? Why would the PA's NOT think a school bus would sell right now?
When is someone going to make a Pose construction set (PCS) for Genesis? Did W.H. Whitney patten this or something? Its so useful to have poses for just some body parts.
The horse, supersuit and so on bundles consist of items that DAZ bought from the makers, so there's no problem dividing the income as there would be in a multi-vendor bundle.
That's interesting. I guess its harder than I thought to come up with a working idea for the store.