Collector v. Creator - what are you?
daveso
Posts: 7,150
I think about this quite a bit, mainly as I've purchased tons of stuff from here, DAZ 3D, most of which has never been rendered, or even downloaded.
Why would anyone even waste their hard-earned cash on doing this?
What kindles my desire to buy a product? Mainly, when I see a product, and one that I buy, iots the coolness factor. I see it and thing, wow, I can make a scene doing this and that, or I can use this prop for this or that. However, it is mainly that the product looks entertaining, looks well put together.
I know my buying has declined the last year or so, becasue of many factors, mainly becasue there comes a time that enough is actually enough. I still see products everyday that need to be in my account though. Its taking a lot of willpower to not buy into more coolness.
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I hear you. Guess I'm a creating collector. Or collecting creator. But maybe more of the first. Own definitely more stuff than I can render in my lifetime.
I create and sell 2D art from the products I've collected. Both.
I'm in both camps ;)
I've been slowly working on a visual novel so I certainly collect stuff that I will eventually use to create the art. And I do make a habit of rendering what I bought before I buy more.
I'd like to sell art at some point... in theory. Except that I also know that when you take money, you then have an obligation to provide service in relation to the exchange of money. It is the social contract.
As a hobbyist, I can just do whatever. I have no impetus other than the personal Muse on my shoulder. Once the exchange of money happens, then at some point, the mind has to consider the monetary exchange as another voice over the shoulder, whispering what needs be done.
I'm not saying that art must be "pure", for expression's sake. (The great Renaissance painters were kept men who owed patrons their time and efforts.) I'm saying that I'm not sure I could do that and still enjoy what I do. I think I'd sour to it.
So, I am a collector of digital stuff. I make no claim to art and I never have.
I dabble in making images, but only to satisfy my own self-expression. If I create, it's only as a hobby.
I was becoming a collector but am slowly weaning myself off that
circumstances forced me to face the need and the hardware requirements of newer stuff pretty much has made it pointless
that said I sadly have found huge rather Epic, marketplaces that have stuff I can use in other softwares, fortunately they do give a massive amount of free stuff away too
To a small degree I have to be a creator. Not of Art, because art & I are barely nodding aquaintances, but of stuff. If I'm busy making stuff, I'm not busy browsing shops, and my budget is rigidly constrained to a fixed sum of £50 every month. This sum is for all my discretionary spending, not just 3D digital products, so includes tooling for my lathe, stitching stuff or anything. So, any time spent creating content has a double benefit. It gives me something I can use and stops me using my budget.
Regards,
Richard.
Both. I wish I could say I'm only a creator but that would be a lie
My collector instincts kick in the hardest with characters. I really don't need any more of them, by now I have a truly generous collection of gorgeous skins and morphs. And yet, when the next sithlordsims hunk smiles at me I'm like... Hey. Hello there! Would you, uh... like to come home with me?
It's ok, though. Shopping for these assets is its own kind of fun. I'm not spending above my means. It's ok to spend resonable amounts of money on things that bring you joy
Collecting to create, but truth be told, quite a few of the characters I've bought are spot on enough that I don't need to create and that's a bummer, well sort of, not too much though. In spite of that I'll not bother changing those characters that are spot on for my needs via morph dials and what not just for the sake of saying that I created them.
Both. I have very specefic tastes and not alot of money to spend on things. So I'm super selective. And taught myself rudimentary hard surface modeling in Blender. So it makes me less inclinded to buy prop/environment sets, unless it's alot of plants, because with some effort I could just make it myself for free.
I collect to create.
https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/user/4855954814271488#gallery=album1854&page=1
I'm both, though especially a collector hehe. There are so many products that I've bought in the past and didn't even remember buying. Just recently, I was working on a render and decided to go see how much the texture set was for an outfit I already owned. Turned out I already owned the set. Hooray? That was enough to convince me to watch what I'm buying. I'm trying to limit my buying to maybe three items or less a month (I mean, I'd prefer none, but sometimes a deal is too tempting). And I try to buy things that I know I'll use right away or within the next month.
Collector who sometimes creates render art. But, then I make films and write a prolific amount of music so...this is my guilty pleasure. I am really trying to reign in the buying every single bundle thing though.
Redacted
Mostly a creator, but I do have several items that were just too awesome to pass on. That reminds me, I still need to pick up the Gatling gun
I have no idea what I would use it for, but it's just so cool. Plus I could never afford a real one (or the space to keep it).
Lately I haven't had time to create. Luckily I also haven't been very inspired to buy either which has kept potential collecting to a minimum.
I used to be a collector. And that was fine.
But that was back when this was hobby, almost from top to bottom.
Everything has changed. It is all about money these days.
I no longer feel like I'm supporting like-minded artists and souls if I spend money at DAZ.
Now, I feel like I am supporting many things I despise about current times and trends.
Gross and rather trashy.
Spoken from the soul.
Collector and Creator.
I am also an Alterer: I changed stuff to suite, usually in Blender, but will also adjust with the Geemetry tool, deleting what I don't need.
I was mostly a collector and only a creator of 2D renders,
mostly as my own hobby and for sharing many of these renders on Daz forums.
But now it all has changed and I work mostly in Unity, creating applications for educational purposes.
When I have first started Autodesk 3D studio (delivered on the diskettes)
more than 35 years ago and rendered the example animation (Achoo)
I was already attracted to 3D graphics and has said to myself:
"That is, what I want to do in the future".
During the past years, I have collected many, many assets from Daz 3D store
to fulfill my collector's nature and discovering, that I do not have enough skills
to create such quality models by myself.
But now, I am mostly saturated with the different 3D models
and want to do something useful by myself.
As I were a programmer after finishing my university studies long time ago
and discovering that right now in my sixties, I am back with my ability of programming,
the choice of developing applications in Unity is pretty much obvious.
It combines my love to the 3D with the programming - powerful combo.
After watching the documentary series on Netflix about 100 people
in different ages, I am even more convinced to do so.
I rarely use stuff as it is. I consider myself a creator. To me, the models are just the beginning. Post work, and alterations, can personalize it more.
Creator. I have a 3D background working for game studios and doing mods and commercial work for lots of games. I mostly create for myself now, but do digital imagery for a couple of publishers and the odd commission here and there.
When it comes to Daz Studio, I rarely ever use anything out of the box, lots of kitbashing, editing textures, custom morphs, etc. All part of the creative process IMO
That's true with lots of hobbies, as long as there is no obligations it's fun and relaxing, but when you start doing it for a living not that fun or relaxing.
Yeah.
Whenever I see someone new come into the forum and immediately start asking how they can sell stuff, I'm like, "Dude."
I'm not saying don't sell or that people who sell are wrong. The exchange of money for services is the second purest form of human interaction. Maybe THE purest one. (The other would be coitus, which often is faked as part of the exchange of money for services.)
I just know I wouldn't have the joy for making Daz-related work into my business. It would be the opposite of joy for me. I'd rather swing a sledgehammer as my day job (which I have done before)... I loved busting things with a hammer in exchange for money. Collecting money is always the absolute last step. It's all the sweat that goes into it, and swinging a sledgehammer is very pure that way. Apply hammer to thing that needs hitting. (The more things you bust, the more you get paid. Purity of purpose.)
Being creative? Nope. Not for me as business... it would be too much. I'm just a simple hammerer. I don't underestimate people who work in this creative space as professionals, but I could not do it. It would probably kill me. I might joke about PAs sometimes, but I don't undervalue what they do.
/This dude abides.
I collect a fair amount of DAZ products. In the case of figures, I always blend multiple characters, morph add-ons, and sometimes textures to get a figure that's a bit unique and fits my vision of what I want. Make no mistake, by far all the characters I've purchased are wonderful out of the box, but I always look to dial up a figure that's not quite what others are using. That's the beauty and power of having all those products and a morph system for fine tuning figures to individual tastes. I do feel a little guilty when showing off my characters that blend multiple vendor's characters together. I don't want them thinking their products weren't good enough as-is. On the contrary, I loved the characters enough to buy them and tune them to my needs/vision/liking. :)
If I decided to get back into 3D modeling, I'd probably avoid figures and do props and vehicles. I have some specific designs for spacecraft floating around in my head that I think I could model well enough to use in illustrating some stories. Being a retro/1930s-1950s Sci Fi fan, that's the general theme that my render universe would exist in. :)
Big hugs to all of our wonderful content creators and artists who keep my DAZ library alive and growing. You all make it possible for me to enjoy this wonderful hobby over the last 27 years (started with Poser 1 in 1995.)
Lee
For me, I have a webcomic that most of my render-time is catered to, and 4 other potentials i wish to explore in some fashion at some point in time in future (comc, stills, etc.), and I also have a particular genre i like (cuz u never know when a vendor will just disappear and their goods along with them). ALL of my purchases fit to serve in one those areas. So i see myself as more Creator then Collector.
-MJ
I'd say 90% creator 10% collector
with a webcomic, a ton of character art and working for commissions, I usually buy what I think I will need in the near future. I'm collection to my wishlist things I see as usefull somewhen in the future so I can grab it at a good price (some of those havn't been put to use yet) but when it comes to the PC for a day I mutate to collector, though even that slowed down lately)
Creator...? but I have a lamentable ability(?) to look at nearly any product and wonder, "What could I do with THAT?" I try to keep it down to whatever idea I am muddling around with (those despised plant give-aways are my favourite thing. I never met a plant, real or virtual, that I can't use!) but sometimes the ideas that pop into my head are all "ooh" and "ahhh" and the next thing I know my cart looks like I went thrift-shopping :-D Not upgrading to the latest version of Daz and the characters has managed to keep me in check, though, so I am grateful for all the PAs of the past who left behind their treasures for me to bargain shop.
I was originally only buying things for a gaming project I was co-creating, but after a bit I started making my own pictures, just for fun. Now they hang as canvases all over my house, because my family is indulgent ;-)
I'm a creative collector.
I have so many wishlists I setup by theme, item, and creator. Like I have a shoe list, a hair list, an environment list
Now that I finished building my PC I'll buy more DAZ stuff again. The real challenge is committing to my list and not just grabbing anything I like just because it's on sale
Since I updated I'll probably buy far more environments now since those made my renders blank and would take forever to make the text that says things like using this many GB of VRAM and would blank out around a couple minutes even if I had enough VRAM but that doesn't happen anymore
And I don't have to keep closing out of DAZ or end process on task manager just to close the app and restart and the iray viewport doesn't blank out anymore. And I'm on NVME for my boot and DAZ drive which freed up half of my art SSD
So I collect but it's because I know I'll use the stuff and mix and match from different sets
Wish I'd thought of this :)