Daz should take a look at Epic's (Unreal) Freebies
victor
Posts: 49
When Epic does their Free for the Month, they quite often FANTASTIC products, and not cheap when at full price. Hundreds of dollars sometimes.
Daz's Freebies: "Here's some old crap we can't hardly give away, and you're going to need this other product that costs money to even use it. You're welcome for our generosity".
I've poured $1,000+ into both companies, but the difference in feels is:
Epic: "These guys are doing their best to help me".
Daz: "These guys are doing their best to milk me for every dime".
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Never looked at the Epic store before since I still have so much to learn with Daz that I don't have time for yet another piece of software. I did just take a quick look and their monthly freebies do seem to be some previously-high-priced assets. However, in the interests of fairness what about the other discounts on the store - unless I am missing something they just go from 100% off to 50% off with nothing in-between? Please let me know if I am wrong. When compared to the Daz store which frequently has stuff at 70% off and even more for some older stuff or if you buy a few things to trigger an additional sale feature. My current cart is at 85% off and other carts on previous days have also been in and around there too.
So, from what I can see it seems that maybe Epic offer more freebies but less discounts on everything else where are for Daz it's the opposite. Whether these things balence out or not I wouldn't know. And, of course, either of these two methods could be better for some and not for others.
However, IMHO, the amount and level of discounts in the store should be part of the conversation with regards to whether one company is more or less generous than the other.
Here's the weekly "freebies":
https://www.daz3d.com/free-3d-models
Genesis 3, Genesis 3, Genisis 2, a texture pack that requires you buy the clothing for it to do anything (so not free at all)....
Unimpressive. 1 high quality new freebie per month is worth more than 1,000 freebies/upsales from 2014.
Fun Fact: right now (and for about 20 more minutes or so) we have a flash sale with stuff being sold at $ 10.- each, making them 98% off in some cases... so.. sometimes, but maybe only sometimes, DAZ can be astoundingly generous.
Fun Fact too: even with items reduced from $ 300.-+ to $ 10.- I only bought a single product... and even just one that would have cost $ 39.99 unreduced... yeah, I know.. I'm weird...
Actually looking deeper, 10/12 of the current ones require you buys something to use them.
Not... free... at all.
They should call it the "Weekly upsales".
Thanks for the heads up! Got the Crow 8.1 mega bundle for ten bucks as well as the Bruce Lee look alike bundle. I wasn't going to spend anymore money this year, but couldn't pass those two up.
Epic is an incredibly successful company with state of the Art Gaming software.
I was going to that Sleigh freebie today only to see that I need to buy the sleigh and the freebie was only a texture add-on.
Many of the daz freebies are not free and only texture add-ons that require you to purchase the actual prop, hair or clothing to be able to use it.
The Prime freebies are a different matter, they are great and 100% free, so I can only use so many plants.
I agree that the "Freebies" have always been content I have no need for, though there could at least be some people who had the original product and could use the free texture pack... I basically don't even pay attention to the fact that there's a "Freebie" section at all. The pricing compared to quality here at the Daz Store is hard to find anywhere else. I've spent a little more than ten times what you mentioned here, but to use the Daz Deals Browser Add-On a bit back before it went pay-only there was a way to see the value of your library compared to what you paid for it, and I was able to see that I've averaged around a 70% discount overall on my entire Library and that average is lowered by having purchased many, many products when they release at only 30% off. The real value here is being around for a while and being patient and waiting for sales on anything you don't have to have immedietely. There are great ones all the time and it can really add up.
Epic: Fortnite generated an estimated $5.8 billion revenue in 2021.
Daz: Selling content for pennies is the main business.
Me: Why does anything cost more than 0 in Unreal Marketplace anyway?
So I read everyting and I get it now. Victor is paying all of us and we can make products for free. good deal and thanks to Victor :D
If you are looking at the sleigh textures today, it's possible you missed the 19 other freebies from vendors that have been released this month. You can still get the last few days freebies, and there's always the chance of a catch-up opportunity for the earlier ones. Make sure to keep checking back, since 19 out of 20 of the freebies that PAs have released have not required any other purchased items to use! Expect to keep seeing new ones daily until Christmas!
Yeah, it's like comparing a Boeing 777 Jet liner to a mid size sedan. One company can actually afford to buy that Jet liner.
Actually, back in the day, freebies were great products that didn't require any separate purchase. Those days are long gone tho - they went with the original owners of the company. I can't compare Daz to Epic tho - Epic is a HUGE corp. and Daz is a small, rinky-dink business in comparrison.
At the end of the day the result is what matters. It doesn't matter how big Epic or Daz may be. It matters how they function, and the quality of the content matters. After all, Daz at one time did give away massive amounts of content. During the early days of Genesis 8 they gave buyers 3 pro bundles. This did require purchasing a pro bundle first, but this demonstrates that Daz can give away considerable amounts of product if they want to. You do not have to be a billion dollar company to do that. These are not physical assets that take up material resources. They are not chopping down trees to build Genesis. There is no capacity limitation on these products.
Epic also purchased Quixel and then made those high quality assets FREE for Unreal users. So...there's that. Daz gave users Hexagon, but then they haven't updated Hexagon in forever.
Let us also not forget that Daz sells content for video games as well and has done so for years. Of course you can convert a Daz model into a game model, but Daz has also sold native gaming models. Daz models have been on the Unity store at different times over the years. They also spun off a sister company called Morph3D, which later became Tafi. Tafi has once again placed Daz models in the Unity store. So Daz has attempted to compete with Epic to a degree. That they have not achieved Epic's scale of business is not my problem or concern.
Epic has also purchased Artstation and Sketchfab. In both of these cases, Epic immediately reduced fees for creators on those platforms (which used to be 30%). So in both cases, creators benefitted as they get 88% of every sale on Epic's many platforms.
What is the Daz commission fee again?
So. Yeah. Rethink.
Epic Games Fined More Than $500 Million Over Fortnite's 'Unfair' Microtransaction Practices
https://www.ign.com/articles/epic-games-fine-ftc
All of that is very easy when you rake in billions every year from a video game that unexpectedly became the most popular game in the world. Not to mention Epic wants to peddle Unreal Engine. Does Daz ask a commission for the art you sell the way Epic gets money from your Unreal Engine game sales?
I like free stuff as much as the next guy, but to compare Epic to Daz makes no sense. You're comparing a company that brings in billions annually to a company that probably makes 2 orders of magnitude less.
Let's also not forget what Epic is actually selling. Epic's business does not revolve around selling assets to creators (the 12% fee is likely just to cover the cost of maintaining the store), it revolves around the license fee they charge creators for commercial use of their engine. The assets they give away for free is essentially the acquisition cost they are paying to have users choose their engine (just like how the games they give away for free is the fee they pay to take marketshare from Steam). Unity doesn't offer free assets the way Epic does, nor does Steam give away free games, did you post similar threads there?
Meanwhile, Daz's sole business is to sell assets, and if they started giving away their top assets, they would be cannibalizing their own sales.
I would assume that if Daz were to ever start charging a 5% royalty on all commercial content created using their software, you could similarly expect them to start giving away more premium content for free, but I doubt such a business model would ever work.
AllenArt is correct. I am pretty sure the original DAZ Horse 2 was a freebie and maybe even one of the Dragons. But...that was a loooong time ago. Seems like the dog was free as well. Things were pretty amazing back then, I even took time out of a trip to Hawaii to check in for one of the March Madness sale to make sure I didn't miss any great deals!
I think part of the free texture sets like the vintage sleigh are to help owners of the sleigh use it with iRay; according to my invoices, I paid fifty-seven cents for the vintage sleigh in 2009. The free iRay texture set brings it back to life for many owners. Sure, you can call it an "update" but it's still free. Not every freebie is worth the same or has the same use for every customer, but over time everyone usually pickes up some pretty decent freebies.
Over the years I'm sure I've picked up thousands of dollars worth of freebies, but I'm more impressed with the recurring "DAZ Platinum+ for a Day" sales, where I typically pick up hundreds of dollars worth of current or recent product for pennies on the dollar. My invoice last night, for example, was for $11.96, dicounted $118.77 from $130.73. Not totally free, but on the other hand it was composed of things I chose and each one normally costs more than $11.86.
As well, one should make a habit of going to the store and sorting it by lowest-to-highest, there's often more freebies for the taking that might be missed otherwise.
-- Walt Sterdan
Exactly. Daz and Epic have different business models, and thus different incentive structures.
Can the Unreal Engine assesses be exported to OBJ files? Or other formats readable by Daz Studio? I'd LOVE to for personal use get a bunch of Unreal Stylized stuff into Daz Studio
Epic vs. Tafi/Daz is a comparison of limited value, though I suppose all comparisons are. The last valuation for Epic put the company's value in the $27-28 billion range.
Fortnite is an enormous cash cow for Epic. Unreal Engine is developed for Epic's internal use, and any royalties or other income generated by other UE users is, to use a technical term, gravy. So, they can give up any income from UE assets because it isn't central or even important to their overall profitability. If somebody happens to use UE to make something that Epic can collect royalties from, congrats to both parties. For Epic, it's a very low risk with a potential for rewards.
Meanwhile, if Daz can't make profits from selling content, it isn't a viable business. They're already giving away the primary app (Daz Studio) and the base figures.
Every year, I get a lot of good freebies. Not for the latest generation of figures? Well, I've seen great renders going back to Generation 4. Not Iray? Well, 3Delight can produce great results, different but not inferior. And competence with the Surfaces tab is a useful skill. Tired of seeing Henrietta Heart Hen? So am I, but expecting Daz to give away the majority of its most profitable items isn't realistic.
(Quoting victor:)
Epic: "These guys are doing their best to help me".
Daz: "These guys are doing their best to milk me for every dime".
We all have relationships where we feel we're dealing with a business that feels its success is closely tied to our success or satisfaction. But we also have adversarial relationships (which we maintain because they're the least bad option) where we feel the business communicates with us largely or entirely in sales/marketingspeak, or is uncommunicative. They cut corners. Almost all of their actions are driven by short-term profitability, as if management and ownership has little confidence in the business beyond the current fiscal year (or quarter). Rather than a strategy based in steady growth and consistent profitability, those businesses frequently make half-baked efforts at hitting it big on current fads. So, you're ambivalent about Daz? I think that's most of the customer base.
A DAZ Dragon of some sort. maybe the Milleneum Dragon LE, was a freebie I'm pretty sure a long while back as I got it under an old account I've not used in a long time. DAZ models used to be majorly expensive before 2007 or so that I can remember, even more so than the new higher prices of the last year or so.
Hah! I don't do G8.1 females ('cause I got all the G8F in my harem I could ever need...) but that Bruce Lee was the one item I HAD to buy, even though the bundle was barely 75% off... still, I don't expect it to be reduced like that anytime soon.. so had to get it...
Might have been nice if that flash sale had lasted longer. As it is, all I get to do is hear how great it was.
Four megabundles at $40 (20+ GB's)... Indeed it was great
About once - maaaybee twice - a year the so-called Weekly Freebies include a core figure. Sometimes one as recent as G3, and sometimes even the starter bundle. It used to happen more often.
Thanks. I feel so much better
Ha! I hear you, I missed it too. Maybe next time...
-- Walt Sterdan