Announcing The Platinum Club Plus [Beta] Program
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As one of those "little guys" I'm pretty thankful that DAZ is so even handed with how we are all treated. I can not imagine that the little guys will be ignored in the rotation. I'm sure that the bigger draw PA's will be up first to point out that they are on board. They may also look at selection based on who has new releases and so forth as far as scheduling goes. As to how we get included in promos and sales, it has much more to do with who has new products or what products fit some theme they are dreaming up. Some sales we plan ahead for participation in (PA sale for example) and some we luck into (my last product made it into the last promo by the skin of its teeth because of when I submitted it). It is really rare for there to be a sale that limits participation to a few "select" people. Most importantly we are all treated the same for pretty much everything "behind the curtain".
You were doing fine until the points in your last paragraph...the middle paragraph has some very pertinent questions.
DS has had a lot of updates that included new capabilities and features. It has a very rapid development cycle, comparatively to the competition, Almost to rapid in some opinions. For what is predominately a static scene rendering system, the basics are very well implemented (documentation excluded) in DS. Its also got a decent rendering engine. The add-on modules are not required to achieve that core capability, but some can be achieved easier. Also note some of these modules are independent (like dynamic cloth or hair) because they were developed independently but in cooperation with DAZ. Its like Photoshop where many external plug-ins add to functionality. I paid the full DS4 Pro price when it was released and still thought it was a great value. I was concerned that they abandoned development when DSPro went free. Also recall when DS4 was released, DAZ offered ALL('cept Carrara) its own modules and complementary apps free for about 6 months. Not to mention tons of free content. I was floored with the 2011 Holiday Gift (Kong lover).
I bought all my plugins (some on sale) so I didn't get the offer you mentioned. I own Carrara and while it is a lot more capable, the development of that is at a snails pace too. Having used DS to create quite a lot of animations recently I'm very aware of its limitations. As far as I'm concerned that's a limitation that's difficult to live with as my experience has grown. So when members outgrow DS because it isn't developing then what are our options? We've bought all this DS specific content - what now? I'd be happy to buy more advanced plugins but apart from the hair plugins nothing new has arrived in ages. How about an ecosystem or bullet dynamics? I'd even pay for a overhaul of the animation system but the chances of anything like that being developed this side of hell freezing over are unlikely.
I really like using DS so it has many things going for it hence my frustration at its limitations. For comparison, I used to use ACID Pro 7 but Sony stopped developing it so I changed to Reaper. Many other AP7 users moved to other DAWS because without development AP7 fell behind. But I still miss many things about AP7 and if Sony updated it I might be tempted back. The difference is I could use my Sony samples, midi files and VST's in any DAW. I can't do that with DAZ content.
So when members outgrow DS because it isn't developing then what are our options? Well there are several good options, some pipelines are very user friendly, and other more complex but have more capability. First I do recommend the IClone 3d pipeline exchange. IClone is a very flexible real-time animation and rendering system and the associated Pipeine 3d EXchange upgrade provides a means to bring in fully animated DAZ Characters including facial emotions. Its in the hobbyist price range, a bit mre affordable than Vue. A new version (IClone 6) is imminent that hints at an external rendering option that will permit HD quality.
Another great, affordable option that is super user friendly is using Messiah3d, expecially for toon and advanced effects. It has a speed rigging tools for OBJ, and will import collada & fbx exported DAZ figures. Then there is the ever improving Blender (FREE)...whiuch imports FBX & Collada. Poser & Vue as mentioned... and of course the ever capable Carrara. Then there is the plethora of professional apps that import the fbx standard. I am not certain why you feel the DAZ figures are not as transferable into other systems more than any other companies fbx or collada export compliant animated figures. And don't over look TrueSpace (free) but that is frozen in R&D.
Lightwave & Modo can be used for rendering but are mostly modeling packages. Neither of their vendors offer a dedicated content stores so you need to contract a modeler or build it yourself from scratch. That takes a lot of time and its why the DAZ store was developed. DAZ figures & props work fine in most animation rendering systems, however they must be exported from DAZ Stiudio, Poser or Carrara to achieve compatibility. There are no open source standards (that I am aware of) for 3d geometry & animation formats so DAZ chose to develop their own based on proven technology and then created exporters for common standard formats such as obj, dae and bhv. These formats are standard with a documented structure, but not necessarily open, unified, or jointly version controlled so can not be used for advancing animation and 3d technology. Thats why DAZ Studio now used the DUF to contain teh parameters for using a common sub-dividable mesh and UV structure (genesis) that can be morphed into nearly any creature. Without the ability to develop their own content standard and export mechanisms none of this would be possible and its what differentiates DAZ from other 3d enterprises.
I just find the PC Club Plus benefits confusing. I sort of understood the PC Club as it stood. Now... Do we still get intro prices on vendors? How does this new weekly rotational pricing differ from the 30% intro we got previously?
You were doing fine until the points in your last paragraph...the middle paragraph has some very pertinent questions.
DS has had a lot of updates that included new capabilities and features. It has a very rapid development cycle, comparatively to the competition, Almost to rapid in some opinions. For what is predominately a static scene rendering system, the basics are very well implemented (documentation excluded) in DS. Its also got a decent rendering engine. The add-on modules are not required to achieve that core capability, but some can be achieved easier. Also note some of these modules are independent (like dynamic cloth or hair) because they were developed independently but in cooperation with DAZ. Its like Photoshop where many external plug-ins add to functionality. I paid the full DS4 Pro price when it was released and still thought it was a great value. I was concerned that they abandoned development when DSPro went free. Also recall when DS4 was released, DAZ offered ALL('cept Carrara) its own modules and complementary apps free for about 6 months. Not to mention tons of free content. I was floored with the 2011 Holiday Gift (Kong lover).
I bought all my plugins (some on sale) so I didn't get the offer you mentioned. I own Carrara and while it is a lot more capable, the development of that is at a snails pace too. Having used DS to create quite a lot of animations recently I'm very aware of its limitations. As far as I'm concerned that's a limitation that's difficult to live with as my experience has grown. So when members outgrow DS because it isn't developing then what are our options? We've bought all this DS specific content - what now? I'd be happy to buy more advanced plugins but apart from the hair plugins nothing new has arrived in ages. How about an ecosystem or bullet dynamics? I'd even pay for a overhaul of the animation system but the chances of anything like that being developed this side of hell freezing over are unlikely.
I really like using DS so it has many things going for it hence my frustration at its limitations. For comparison, I used to use ACID Pro 7 but Sony stopped developing it so I changed to Reaper. Many other AP7 users moved to other DAWS because without development AP7 fell behind. But I still miss many things about AP7 and if Sony updated it I might be tempted back. The difference is I could use my Sony samples, midi files and VST's in any DAW. I can't do that with DAZ content.
So when members outgrow DS because it isn't developing then what are our options? Well there are several good options, some pipelines are very user friendly, and other more complex but have more capability. First I do recommend the IClone 3d pipeline exchange. IClone is a very flexible real-time animation and rendering system and the associated Pipeine 3d EXchange upgrade provides a means to bring in fully animated DAZ Characters including facial emotions. Its in the hobbyist price range, a bit mre affordable than Vue. A new version (IClone 6) is imminent that hints at an external rendering option that will permit HD quality.
Another great, affordable option that is super user friendly is using Messiah3d, expecially for toon and advanced effects. It has a speed rigging tools for OBJ, and will import collada & fbx exported DAZ figures. Then there is the ever improving Blender...whiuch imports FBX & Collada. Poser & Vue as mentioned... and of course the ever capable Carrara. Then there is the plethora of professional apps that import the fbx standard. I am not certain why you feel the DAZ figures are not as transferable into other systems more than any other companies fbx or collada export compliant animated figures. And don't over look TrueSpace (free) but that is frozen in R&D.
All the pipeline options are going to cost at least $500 unless you're lucky enough to get them in a sale which are few and far between (once a year?) Secondly, you have to learn how to use them and the results aren't worth the outlay imo. iClone animation just isn't good enough to justify the added cost on top of DAZ content. iClone and VUE also means buying into another expensive collection of compatible content to use them properly. Once you start paying for all that you could have bought Lightwave or Modo. Messiah Pro cost $600 and isn't that great for realistic animation based on examples I've seen. Many of us are not creating toon animation. FBX and Collada import of DAZ content into Lightwave is woeful and is not taken seriously by the LW community because it doesn't work in many cases - check out the LW forums for confirmation of this. The only potential option is to buy Poser Pro for their PoserFusion plugin but so many people have complained about DSON support that I'm less than tempted.
As one of those "little guys" I'm pretty thankful that DAZ is so even handed with how we are all treated. I can not imagine that the little guys will be ignored in the rotation. I'm sure that the bigger draw PA's will be up first to point out that they are on board. They may also look at selection based on who has new releases and so forth as far as scheduling goes. As to how we get included in promos and sales, it has much more to do with who has new products or what products fit some theme they are dreaming up. Some sales we plan ahead for participation in (PA sale for example) and some we luck into (my last product made it into the last promo by the skin of its teeth because of when I submitted it). It is really rare for there to be a sale that limits participation to a few "select" people. Most importantly we are all treated the same for pretty much everything "behind the curtain".
Hearing this makes me happy. :)
I signed up for PC+, figured I might give it a try. OK, my take.
Honestly guys, at this point, 30% IS retail. Those regular prices are just too loopy to even consider unless you have a dying need for a particular item, and I am long past that. So 30% off the "regular" price is not going to entice me to keep paying you $70 a year to be a member of the club. Of course that isn't what happens.
In the current sale, you could get a 50% discount for buying three items at 30% off, and a lot of the PA stores in that sale were + stores which gave a 30% discount to start with. 50% of 70% is 35% which gave me a 65% discount total, which is well enough to make me bite, I spent $75. I would have spent more if I had the money at the time.
On the $1.99 items, meh, who cares. I was picking up some items there is very little chance I will ever use, which means I paid $1.99 too much for them. I much rather get a better discount on the one item I do need. Plus, you were better off waiting on PC items because there invariably would be a sale where you could buy them in a bundle, or at 99 cents.
The $6 coupon was next to useless with the restrictions, the new coupons are actually quite a bit more useful.
What it is going to make more difficult is figuring out, when it comes time to make that next $70 decision, whether it is a good move or not. I think the club can be more beneficial in it's new form, but you have to pounce on the opportunities, rather than them coming on a regular basis.
65% off PC+ PA stores sounds pretty good but did you have to have 3 items in the cart to get that discount? Secondly, is there any way to find out which PA's are PC+ before signing up to PC+? If I can get 65% off PA's plus use the $6 coupon on PC+ PA's then maybe not having the $1.99 releases any longer might be worth it. Most of the $1.99 items now days aren't that enticing (how much fantasy skimpware does a person need?)
The 65% comes from your regular 30% stacking with a 50% off. To get 50% off you have to buy three new items from the summer stackup sale @30% off
http://www.daz3d.com/sales-promotions#savings (scroll down about 1/4 or 1/3 of page) The vendors that are also PC+ have a pc+ in their picture. Not sure if all of this weeks PAs are in the summer stack-up.
I've noticed the PC+ vendors being listed at the top of the platinum club items page
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items
There are a number of threads on DS, including one on what people want in DS5 - I would suggest that the discussions of DS and other applications belong there, rather than in a thread on the PC Plus Beta.
The 65% comes from your regular 30% stacking with a 50% off. To get 50% off you have to buy three new items from the summer stackup sale @30% off
http://www.daz3d.com/sales-promotions#savings (scroll down about 1/4 or 1/3 of page) The vendors that are also PC+ have a pc+ in their picture. Not sure if all of this weeks PAs are in the summer stack-up.
I've noticed the PC+ vendors being listed at the top of the platinum club items page
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items
Ok thanks! I'll have a look. I've notice that if you're a PC member but not yet PC+ it tells you on the cart page how much would have been saved with PC+. I'll try a few experimental stacks to see if I like the discount.
Ok, will do. Anything to improve DS. Now that I've got Octane Render for DS I'd give my other arm (offered the right one for more everyday content) for a better animation system especially now we (nearly) have Octane Render 2!
And as I posted in my art studio thread- if you ARE buying summer promo items and getting stacking discounts, be sure and open two windows if you want some of the V4 M4 sale items, have one window for that sale, the other for the list of participating PC+ vendors, then go to the side menu on the V4 M4 sale and check out those vendors (AFTER you put the summer promo items in your cart. Do those first) I got things showing up at .55 and $1.11 if I bought 3 of the summer promos. I was just testing the cart though, I already had the items :)
Where is the 50% off. I was a PC Club member. I signed up for plus. I have cancelled renewal on my account. I should still be in til Aug 17th, my renewal date. I am signed in. So why do I not have the 50% discount since these items are listed as "stackable" or at least these are three of the items under the banner that advertises stackable items. Again, paint me terribly confused here. It shouldn't be this hard to make a purchase and understand the program.
What Have I done wrong? This reflects NO MORE than a 30% discount.
Star Girls - Trooper for Genesis 2 Female(s) and V4
Edit
$24.95 $17.47
Empire for Star Girls-Trooper
Empire for Star Girls-Trooper
Edit
$9.95 $6.97
Fitness Pole Dance Poses and Prop for Genesis 2 Female(s)
Fitness Pole Dance Poses and Prop for Genesis 2 Female(s)
Edit
$11.95 $8.37
Grand Total $32.81
Subtotal $46.85
Discount -$14.04
Tax $0.00
These items remain at 30%. You stack discount for the PA shops..... Meaning, if you have those three items in your cart, and now add, for example, something from Stonemason's catalogue that isn't "new", you will get 50% off that item.
Yes, the new items are at 30%, when you buy 1/2/3 of them you get 30/40/50 off the PA stores listed, excluding new items.
That's quite an investment to make to reap a 50% discount on one item.
Is that supposed to be a benefit of the new PC Plus?
And if the additional items you buy are not new, you can use one of your two coupons on them. If your order is over $18, you can use the PA one (just not new releases, gift cards, memberships.) Remember to scroll down on the summer promo page and look at the artist stores where additional discounts apply- the PC+ ones are marked- shop there first :)
No, that's your regular sale. It has nothing to do with PC+. You'll get those stackings whether you're in PC, or not.
The benefit of the Plus is that you get an additional discount of 30% on those 50%. Check out the attached image. Stonemason is a PA+ shop, so when I "stack" the 50% discount of the regular sale, I will get an additional 30% on the item from his shop - in this case it gives me "Streets of Asia 3" for roughly 11 bucks.
You don't want to buy just one item. If you're getting three of the summer promos, if it's in your budget to get more items, that makes more sense. This definitely is a program that rewards stacking discounts and multiple purchasing all at the same time (to get the most benefit.) That's already been established :)
65% off PC+ PA stores sounds pretty good but did you have to have 3 items in the cart to get that discount? Secondly, is there any way to find out which PA's are PC+ before signing up to PC+? If I can get 65% off PA's plus use the $6 coupon on PC+ PA's then maybe not having the $1.99 releases any longer might be worth it. Most of the $1.99 items now days aren't that enticing (how much fantasy skimpware does a person need?)
Yes I did, two of them I would have bought anyway, the third, eh.... It was textures though, and I had the base item.
Thanks for the help guys, but this new program is not something I can afford. I knew I was going to miss the 1.99 items, but there is NO way I can spend that kind of money each month. Some months yes, but not each.
I was hoping I was wrong when I made my first appraisal of the PC Plus. As I said earlier, I immediately kicked myself for not enjoying the PC Club for my remaining time. My husband bought me the membership last year for my birthday and would most likely do so again but not if things are going to be like this.
I will indeed have to go elsewhere except on a few items when I catch those on sale as a non member
Just one more question ... will my membership revert back to how it was at the end of July? I have 17 days left beyond that. I'd like to make a few more purchases before it expires.
You did read the intro posts of this thread...? t's been stated there that the membership will revert.
Thanks ...I think.
It's Sunday.
Family Day.
I haven't read each and every post.
Well, it's the first two posts, and it explains all about the PC+, including a FAQ. I thought you would have read that yesterday, before joining PC+.
I'm not seeing a lot of fantasy skimpware in the PC items. There's one bikini with one texture add-on, and one set of lingerie textures, but the last fantasy skimpware was "Spear Maiden for Olympia" and that was almost 3 months ago.
I'm not seeing a lot of fantasy skimpware in the PC items. There's one bikini with one texture add-on, and one set of lingerie textures, but the last fantasy skimpware was "Spear Maiden for Olympia" and that was almost 3 months ago.
I don't know, that Viking attire is showing an alarming amount of wrist, not to mention neck :P
Thanks ...I think.It's Sunday.Family Day.I haven't read each and every post.
Enjoy it :) This can be overwhelming to keep up with. You'll have 17 days left once this reverts back- BUT there's no guarantee it will revert and STAY back to the old PC for 17 days. I imagine you are going to be a busy person the beginning of August :)
I'm not seeing a lot of fantasy skimpware in the PC items. There's one bikini with one texture add-on, and one set of lingerie textures, but the last fantasy skimpware was "Spear Maiden for Olympia" and that was almost 3 months ago.
And I think that was poses (and maybe the titular spear).
And I think that was poses (and maybe the titular spear).
That's right, poses and spear. So we need to go back further. There's the 2 sets of lingerie, each with an add-on texture. The last thing one might call skimpwear (and it's not very skimpy) would be Darkish for Emotions from last October.
I think the PC team needs a stern talking to. Maybe that's why they're losing money, not enough skimpwear.
And I think that was poses (and maybe the titular spear).
That's right, poses and spear. So we need to go back further. There's the 2 sets of lingerie, each with an add-on texture. The last thing one might call skimpwear (and it's not very skimpy) would be Darkish for Emotions from last October.
I think the PC team needs a stern talking to. Maybe that's why they're losing money, not enough skimpwear.
I call this skimpware (disguised as swimsuits and lingerie):
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/beach-bunny
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/moyras-lingerie-boutique-tinseltown
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/lucilles-bikini-for-genesis-2-females
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/strapless-intimates-collection
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/intimates-collection
etc. etc. Poor old Vicky - her underwear draws must be stuffed to overflowing over the past 3 months! Not strictly fantasy I agree but skimpy nonetheless. A disproportionate emphasis on that genre in PC in the last 3 months?
Even Mike has one:
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/fantasy-collar-set-for-genesis-1-2-males
Fantasy props:
http://www.daz3d.com/platinum-club-items/spear-maiden-for-olympia
Not so much but lots of fantasy costumes in the last six months.