VR - Why DAZ Original items may be prefered & Practical issues working with them
linvanchene
Posts: 1,382
I create this thread to raise awareness why some customers may not anymore purchase as much content as before.
If an item is not a DAZ Original there is a high chance some customers will not anymore purchase it.
There are several different aspects to this decision.
Technological Aspect:
Holographic Computing, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are evolving very quickly in 2015 and 2016.
Several companies allready released or announced Head Mounted Displays, VR Googles and augmented reality devices.
Some of those applications may fall under the standard EULA:
Example: Stereo cube maps are just 360 degree panorma renders in 2d.
3D geometry and content can not be extracted from those renders.
Nevertheless other new technolgies like light field rendering fall under the Game license of DAZ 3D if geometry and textures are distributed in some form:
http://www.daz3d.com/indie-game-developer-license
http://www.daz3d.com/commercial-game-developer-license
Financial Aspect:
From a financial standpoint customers may want as much useage options as possible for their investment.
If one item for the same price can only be used with the standard license and another item with the same price and quality can be used under a DAZ Original Game license then it makes sense to purchase the DAZ Original item.
Practical Aspect - Time consuming Scene Creation with DAZ Originals:
Currently for DAZ Original game developer license owners it is an extremely time consuming process to actually find the DAZ Original items in large product libraries with 3000 products and more.
Neither the DIM nor the smart content have a "DAZ Original" filter.
If customers want to prepare a scene to be used with holographic, augmented reality or VR devices it basically seems necessary to have open the DAZ3D store web page to look up if an item is a DAZ Original or not.
It takes quite a long time to figure out if a product is a DAZ Original or not because there is not a consistent sytem in place.
- Characters of the same artists are sometimes a DAZ Original and sometimes not
- Textures for DAZ Original clothing content are sometimes DAZ Originals as well and sometimes not
- Shader products are sometimes DAZ Originals and sometimes not
- Poses are sometimes DAZ Originals and sometimes not
Therefore for owners of a DAZ Original licenses each item that is not a DAZ Original makes it actually more difficult to find DAZ Originals.
Especially for poses and shader products life could be so much easier if only DAZ Original poses and shaders are added to the library by the user.
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What can DAZ 3D do to make it easier for customers to work with DAZ Orignals?
DAZ Original symbol for product preview images in smart content.
The simple solution would be to add the blue DAZ original symbols to the preview images in smart content.
At a quick glance then users would have a way in the DAZ Studio smart content tab to see if the product can be used with the DAZ Original game licenses or not.
Advanced DAZ Original filter system for Smart Content and the DIM.
An option could be added to the Smart Content pane in DAZ Studio to toggle if all items or only DAZ Original items are shown.
Side Note:
A similar filter could be added to show which Generation of content is displayed Legacy, Genesis, Genesis 2 or Genesis 3.Identical metadata system for store, DIM and Smart content tab
The best case scenario would be if the store , DIM and the smart content tab would offer the same advanced filtering and category system.
Keep in mind that some users might actually prefer not to install all products and also find quickly some uninstalled content in the DIM.
- - -What can DAZ 3D featured artists do to improve the situation?
I honestly understand that some artists who create extremely detailed 3D scenes and 3D content do not want to sell under the DAZ Original licence.
Side Note:
Creators of high quality content do not need to worry because many customers still will want to purchase that content just for the purpose of 2d renderings. Nevertheless a difficult area are all those products where the customer is on the fence.
- Do I really need that?
- Do I allready have someting similar?
- Will that item become unuseable with the next generation of figures? In all those cases it might influence the purchase decision if the item is a DAZ Original or not.
Nevertheless at least some areas could be improved:
- If a DAZ artists does not want to release all their characters under the DAZ original license then at least place them in a different folder in the content library. It is extremely annoying if DAZ Original and non DAZ Original characters are mixed together in the same artist folder location.
- poses could be DAZ Originals.
Poses do not include a 3D mesh but just information how a 3D mesh is placed. The risk that someone somehow extracts the pose and then creates a .duf file to reuse the pose seems very unlikely.
Having all poses released under the DAZ Original license would make life so much easier when creating scenes.
At least at the posing step users would not have to worry if it is a DAZ Original pose or not.- shader products could be DAZ Originals
Shaders do contain texture information. I can understand that some artists do not want them distributed under the game license
But please think how much time it takes to check for users if shaders fall under the DAZ Original license or not.
Especially in large shader libraries this can be extremely time consuming.
Also keep in mind that some other render engines offer free shader libraries to which users add their own free shaders including maps.- - -
Why do I create this post now?
Both Iray and the Genesis 3 Generation was just released.
I can understand that updating smart content, preview images or licensing information for legacy, Genesis or Genesis 2 generation may not be an option without an automatic solution. A manual update of all past products might be too time consuming.
Nevertheless for moving forward an optimized system could be found to more easily find DAZ Originals at least for Genesis 3 and IRAY content.
The choice is of course
- up to DAZ if they find it is worth the time and effort to make the life of those customers easier who did purchase a game license.
- up to each individual artists how and what they want to sell.
But keep in mind that the choice to buy is still with the customers.
The intention of this thread was to raise awareness what developments and requirements will influence current and future purchase decisions from a custumers point of view.
Side Note:
About the timing of this post:I am aware that I might be a bit early with this post because most users are not yet experimenting with holographic computing, augmented and virtual reality.
But maybe some feedback of users allready faced with such options and the current workflow issues might actually help to be ready when the vast majority is looking for solutions that work in a daily environment.
The bottom line is:
Finding DAZ Originals in 3000+ products is currently a horrible and extremely time consuming experience.
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Update / Edit:
I submited a Support ticket with the request to add a DAZ Original symbol for product preview images in smart content.
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Comments
Content library tab shows the authorship of asset - if there is 'DAZ 3D' after 'Author:' the probability of it being 'DAZ original' is about 1 :)
Also typing 'DAZ 3D' in the search line will give you list of such assets (plus some garbage :) ) provided you have CMS filled with metadata.
But yes, it would be better if we know immediately and for sure that item is 'DAZ original'.
easy peasy
1} Daz originals carry the daz 3d Logo in the store. 2} Daz Originals can be found using the vendor list and ticking DAZ 3D.
Update/ Edit:
In the meantime the support ticket was allready updated and deemed resolved.
It seems that DAZ Staff allready received similar requests and are looking for some solutions.
Thank you for the quick reply!
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I leave this feedback standing.
Maybe one or the other description what triggers wasting time in practice when working with just DAZ originals may not be that known...
Now imagine how happy users would be if the same would actually be possible in DAZ Studio itself.
you can not filter DAZ Originals
- in the DIM
- in the content library
- in the product library
- in the Smart Content Tab
- If you have a specific image idea in mind you want a way to filter out all content that is not a DAZ Original item to work in the fastest way possible in DAZ Studio without viewing any content that is not a DAZ Original.
Currently this is NOT possible.
Step 1:
You need to find a character that is a DAZ Original
- If you have the smart content actors tab open there is no indication if an actor is a DAZ original or not.
- If you have a basis figure like Genesis selected in the scene there is not indication in the smart content tab if a character texture product is a DAZ Original or not.
Step 2:
You need to find morphs that are DAZ Originals
- if you have the shaping or parameters tab open there is no indicatoin if a shape or parameter is part of a DAZ original product or not.
Each single morph or shaping parameter could actually have the DAZ Original logo in the preview image of the parameter!
Step 3:
You need to find clothing that is a DAZ Original
- If you have a basis figure like Genesis selected in the scene there is not indication in the smart content tab if a clothing product is a DAZ Original or not.
Step 4:
You need to find textures that are DAZ Original
If you find out that no textures you like are DAZ Originals for the choosen clothing product you have to go back to step 3 and find a new clothing item.
Step 5:
You need to find a pose that is DAZ Original
- If you have the posing tab open there is no indication if any of the 300+ poses is a DAZ original or not.
Step 6:
You need to find props that are DAZ Originals
- If you have the smart content pane open there is no indication if a prop is a DAZ Original or not
Step 7:
You need to find buildings or scenery that are DAZ Originals
- If you have the smart .... well you should know by now
What works is to just use a Jack Tomalin scene for now. I guess they really are all DAZ Originals.
You Jack have earned a huge THANK YOU for making the life of customers easier and supporting DAZ with all your products!!!!
Step 8
You need to find a HDR image that is a DAZ Original
- If you have the smart...
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Btw: @ current workaround with searching for DAZ Originals in the store
If you found an item in the store that you own and is a DAZ Original you cannot just enter the product name in the DAZ Studio search function
Someone maybe found that some time creating metadata can be saved by not adding the product name as tags.
Now in many cases using the product name in the DAZ Studio search will not anymore yield results.
Other forum users made posts about that so I will not dig up the whole metadata discussion for now...
So the only thing you can do is scroll up and down the product libray in DAZ studio until you finally spot the name.
And guess what - surprise:
Sometimes the product name in the store is not the same as the product name in the DAZ Studio product library.
Sometimes that tag V4 or Genesis is added in front of the product name, sometimes a funny artist alias is added.
So that part of the workflow is a guessing game as well....
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Removed obsolete parts.
In any case thanks to the DAZ3D staff for looking into this.