Daz Studio Pro BETA - version 4.9.0.21!

fixmypcmike

splitboxers said:

I can't seem to get DAZ Studio Pro BETA to download when I click on the button.  I have the current DIM.  I'm using Windows 10.  Any suggestions?

Launch DIM and if the beta doesn't show in "Ready to Download", click on "Downlaod Filters" and make sure "Public Build" is checked.

GrapeGrandpa

I have adjusted every firewall, permission, antivirus and security setting I can find. I still can't get the postgenSQL CMS to set up. Let's face it. 4.9 id Daz's Vista. No one like it but the creators. 

fixmypcmike

GrapeGrandpa said:

I have adjusted every firewall, permission, antivirus and security setting I can find. I still can't get the postgenSQL CMS to set up. Let's face it. 4.9 id Daz's Vista. No one like it but the creators. 

What security software are you using?

JDStrider

Well I have spent countless hours adding all of my content purchased from other sites into the CMS in version 4.5 to 4.8. over 1500 items that were perfectly linked and working great. Then I installed 4.9 after reading that it would work just fine with my custom content. Well that was a mistake, thank god I always backup before trying any thing new. I lost everything from my custom smart content and when I tried to re-import the support files, that made things worse. None of the products had any names, they showed up in the Products section without names and the rename menu item didn't work. I had to delete everything again. I tried recreating a new custom entry to see if the resulting dsx files would give some clue as to why my existing ones failed to import and that was a bust. I compared the new file to my exisitng one and they are identical, so what gives here?

I cleared all of my content and let 4.9 download all of my purchased products from the 'cloud', over 2000 items which took over 8 hours to completed, and that was a royal mess up too. Hundreds of useless and empty categories. a Lost and Found (which is a nice feature, by the way) full of items that had no categories assigned, just garbage meta data that simply doesn't work. Really guys, the new layout and new feature seem awesome and I look forward to working with them once you get the bugs worked out, but this was one very unpleasant experience.

Will we be able to remove unwanted references? I cannot seem to get that to work. I don't want references to mc6 files that don't work in DS or duplicate meta data for the Poser files etc. It seems that there is some connection to the encrypted files that prevents the bad data from being removed

Will we be able to add images to the custom enties we make in the Smart Content DB?

Right now it doesn't seem possible. My investigation has shown that only items in the new ..\data\cloud\meta folder that have a matched pair of jpg and json files will display their images in the Smart Content tab, is this an oversight or a bug?

Encrpytion and artist protection is a great idea, but as others have pointed out, trying to make computer files secure simply doesn't work.

GrapeGrandpa

Fixmypcmike said:

GrapeGrandpa said:

I have adjusted every firewall, permission, antivirus and security setting I can find. I still can't get the postgenSQL CMS to set up. Let's face it. 4.9 id Daz's Vista. No one like it but the creators. 

What security software are you using?

Avast and Defender.

Fishtales

Check the Firewall logs and see if it is being blocked and on what what port then tell the Firewall to allow it.

I have Comodo which I run in training mode. When the CMS was first installed and started up it needed allowed access three times, I think, before it ran properly. In Task Manager there can be up to six or seven instances running while DAZ Studio is open but it has never once triggered Comodo for me to set permissions so the three accesses must be enough for it to run.

ZarconDeeGrissom

Fishtales said:

Check the Firewall logs and see if it is being blocked and on what what port then tell the Firewall to allow it.

I have Comodo which I run in training mode. When the CMS was first installed and started up it needed allowed access three times, I think, before it ran properly. In Task Manager there can be up to six or seven instances running while DAZ Studio is open but it has never once triggered Comodo for me to set permissions so the three accesses must be enough for it to run.

good point. DIM doesn't work threw my firewall, so I needed to set up a 'bypass' for when I look for updates or install new stuff. As much as I don't like "running barefoot", it's the only way here with Daz.

as for the 4.9 stuff, it may be nothing more then a blocked port. Tho if the ISP is running a 'proxy' of sorts, then it may be other issues out of your control.

ZarconDeeGrissom

As for DRM, encrypted files, and why I don't use steam. Despite having spent so much for faster computer stuff.

It's like getting a new car to do your daz renders with, it's a really fast car with lots of engine power. However, to save the local authorities some troubles and to save the county the gas money. A police car is permanently attached to your new car as a trailer for your new car to toe everywhere you go. Just to make sure that you are the only one to use your car, and to make sure that you do not exceed any of the speed limits.

Now who is happy with this arrangement. Who foots the bill for the gas, the costumer. who is harassed every time a trip to the corner store is needed, the costumer.

Now on the toss side of the coin, of course the merchants are happy with the new arrangement. The gas stations are now getting to sell twice to three times the gas, twice the cars are selling, etc.

Unfortunately, others figured out, that in order to break the speed limit, that new car is not better then the old one that actually can go faster, because it is not toeing anything extra, lol.

Now consider how the costumer feels, when the merchants say something that hint's at, "Any one that dose not won't the new car, is a bad driver that likes to break the speed limits", Regardless if they can even foot the gas bill for the new car or not.

nicstt

I've stopped trying to sort the new system out; simply put, I can see the value, I don't have the days needed to do it.

What might be an idea, is for there to be the ability to share the library arrangements with other users, those products one doesn't have it simply ignores.

BurstAngel

Fixmypcmike said:

BurstAngel said:

Thanks, but to be honest it is easier the organized from scratch. Trying to organize content that is already organized is a complete headache. I think its better just to use the content library and build catagories from there I could move whole folders! I wish I could move whole folders(product) from the smart content tab to my catagory of choice rather than just single files. This is taking too long and the smart content tab feels too all over the place for me to use.

Smart content tab NEEDS a "Create a Catagory from" when we right click on the product. It will certainly help.

Isn't that what you already have in Content Library > Products?

Well I'll be ... So that's what is for. Never bothered with that cause I've never used smart before.

larsmidnatt

So after reading I realize I won't ever buy any daz connect content because I prefer to sort my content manually. Thats why I never used DIM. Because of DIM I don't try betas anymore. Daz connect is a more extreme DIM. At least with DIM people wrote up solutions on how you could use it to only download content, but then still install it yourself how you wanted. 

With Daz connect, Daz controls how I sort my content...which is overreaching. (you can't move Daz connect content...excuse me? My computer...not yours) If I pay for the content, I will put it where I want...It's not some trival matter either. I have my own system that works for me, and any content I get needs to adhere to it. My workflow is much better without using the Daz database. I don't want to waste countless hours fighting smart content.

I will never use smart content cause I tried that years ago and it's far more work than just old school folder sorting. The advantages of the old tried and true method outweigh any benefits the Daz solutions claim to offer for consumers. Removing more control from the userbase is excessive. 

Last time I checked, music from Itunes was plain old drm free files. Been that way for more than 5 years. They are still doing well...(and I turned off that AutoSort feature of itunes years ago, because I sort my music how I want...iTunes does have a database but at least it's never given me issues...)

Spit

Richard Haseltine said:

larsmidnatt said:

I can't read this whole pile, can someone tell me this:

I don't use smart content or categories. I'm old school, i manually sort stuff into folders I want.  Will all my stuff stay where it is, how it is with 4.8? or is this new data system and organization required. If it's only the DB I don't think I care, I just don't want my content shuffling around.

 I don't use dim and have no interest in any system like that. For as long as I recall daz studio always had a login in option, is that now required or something? 

Yes, your files wills tay put. No, you don't have to be logged in (even if you do use the Connect system) to work. However, if and when there is content that is Connect-only you won't be able to use that - but your existing, and currently forthcoming, content is not going to change (unless and until almost everyone abandons DIM, at least).

Yes, but file sizes are growing and growing so it won't take as long for all those Connect products to fill up your harddrive. It took years to get to where I am today, it might take only one or two to repeat that. I'd end up uninstalling and reinstalling constantly even more than I do now (since I currently have several content/runtimes on externals).

Speaking of which, are the filenames of the Connect products just the product id? One of the nice features of DIM are the tabs of 'ready to download/install' files with human readable product names and also the thumbnails make it easy to refresh memory as to what the prod actually is. If the names are only prod id's it would be less convenient.

 

DAZ_Rawb

larsmidnatt said:

So after reading I realize I won't ever buy any daz connect content because I prefer to sort my content manually. Thats why I never used DIM. Because of DIM I don't try betas anymore. Daz connect is a more extreme DIM. At least with DIM people wrote up solutions on how you could use it to only download content, but then still install it yourself how you wanted. 

With Daz connect, Daz controls how I sort my content...which is overreaching. (you can't move Daz connect content...excuse me? My computer...not yours) If I pay for the content, I will put it where I want...It's not some trival matter either. I have my own system that works for me, and any content I get needs to adhere to it. My workflow is much better without using the Daz database. I don't want to waste countless hours fighting smart content.

I will never use smart content cause I tried that years ago and it's far more work than just old school folder sorting. The advantages of the old tried and true method outweigh any benefits the Daz solutions claim to offer for consumers. Removing more control from the userbase is excessive. 

Last time I checked, music from Itunes was plain old drm free files. Been that way for more than 5 years. They are still doing well...(and I turned off that AutoSort feature of itunes years ago, because I sort my music how I want...iTunes does have a database but at least it's never given me issues...)

As I have previously stated (somewhere in the 60 pages of both threads), we are working on a solution to let you categorize your content using the filesystem instead of just smart content. Check the change logs of the future betas to see if it made it in that release.

The Blurst of Times

I know what the 4.9 FAQ says, but I can't help but be distrustful of what the long-term goals of Daz Connect will be... especially enforcing the library.

Richard Haseltine said:

Yes, your files wills tay put. No, you don't have to be logged in (even if you do use the Connect system) to work. However, if and when there is content that is Connect-only you won't be able to use that - but your existing, and currently forthcoming, content is not going to change (unless and until almost everyone abandons DIM, at least).

I can use Steam offline. I don't always have a secure internet connection, so I don't like logging in everywhere I am at. This helps out Steam as well as myself because people who are not me are less likely to steal my credentials. 

Making me log in to Daz when I'm in an unsecure location? That would be... short-sighted (to be polite).

Connect should be used offline.

Superdog

The Blurst of Times said:

I know what the 4.9 FAQ says, but I can't help but be distrustful of what the long-term goals of Daz Connect will be... especially enforcing the library.

Richard Haseltine said:

Yes, your files wills tay put. No, you don't have to be logged in (even if you do use the Connect system) to work. However, if and when there is content that is Connect-only you won't be able to use that - but your existing, and currently forthcoming, content is not going to change (unless and until almost everyone abandons DIM, at least).

I can use Steam offline. I don't always have a secure internet connection, so I don't like logging in everywhere I am at. This helps out Steam as well as myself because people who are not me are less likely to steal my credentials. 

Making me log in to Daz when I'm in an unsecure location? That would be... short-sighted (to be polite).

Connect should be used offline.

 

if and when there is content that is Connect-only you won't be able to use that

So when content is updated to Connect only (including, I assume, all older content) we'll need an internet connection to use it? So if I'm using DS on location I need to log in somewhere? If so that necessitates a VPN otherwise nothing is secure. More expense, more ways for 3rd parties to log usage and nothing is ever 100% secure while online.

The reason I use DS is because it's free, easier to use than some other apps (although that's debatable) and, most importantly, because of the content. But what I loved about DAZ is that it still retained that hands on approach to content use that is a distinguishing feature of the 3D content market - at least at the lower end of the market. Now it seems we're going to be locked into a DAZ ecosystem somewhat like Abobe products. I know the rule is never make predictions but this closing of the walls suits subscription models like Adobe use where access to software and content is controlled by a monthly fee - outright ownership is forbidden and access is only available while the subs are being paid. Scary stuff, but why else activate software and content online? The line appears to be that change is a good thing because alternative models cultivate diversity but invariably this is marketing speak for ultimately wanting to migrate all customers to a single approach.

DAZ_Rawb

Superdog said:

The Blurst of Times said:

I know what the 4.9 FAQ says, but I can't help but be distrustful of what the long-term goals of Daz Connect will be... especially enforcing the library.

Richard Haseltine said:

Yes, your files wills tay put. No, you don't have to be logged in (even if you do use the Connect system) to work. However, if and when there is content that is Connect-only you won't be able to use that - but your existing, and currently forthcoming, content is not going to change (unless and until almost everyone abandons DIM, at least).

I can use Steam offline. I don't always have a secure internet connection, so I don't like logging in everywhere I am at. This helps out Steam as well as myself because people who are not me are less likely to steal my credentials. 

Making me log in to Daz when I'm in an unsecure location? That would be... short-sighted (to be polite).

Connect should be used offline.

 

if and when there is content that is Connect-only you won't be able to use that

So when content is updated to Connect only (including, I assume, all older content) we'll need an internet connection to use it? So if I'm using DS on location I need to log in somewhere? If so that necessitates a VPN otherwise nothing is secure. More expense, more ways for 3rd parties to log usage and nothing is ever 100% secure while online.

The reason I use DS is because it's free, easier to use than some other apps (although that's debatable) and, most importantly, because of the content. But what I loved about DAZ is that it still retained that hands on approach to content use that is a distinguishing feature of the 3D content market - at least at the lower end of the market. Now it seems we're going to be locked into a DAZ ecosystem somewhat like Abobe products. I know the rule is never make predictions but this closing of the walls suits subscription models like Adobe use where access to software and content is controlled by a monthly fee - outright ownership is forbidden and access is only available while the subs are being paid. Scary stuff, but why else activate software and content online? The line appears to be that change is a good thing because alternative models cultivate diversity but invariably this is marketing speak for ultimately wanting to migrate all customers to a single approach.

You are able to use all of your installed Daz Connect content while offline. Only when you download do you need to be online. We are even working on a system so you will be able to install Daz Connect packages while offline as long as that machine has connected at least once.

 

There are no additional online checks for loading, posing, rendering, morphing or anything. Just installation, same as if you download through DIM or get the zip straight from your product library. Any products you currently own will always continue to be available in unencrypted zips.

 

There are also no plans any sort of subscription service attached to Daz Studio, nor any plans to start charging for Daz Studio again.

 

Additionally, there are no plans to cut off any third party content. Even if we wanted to restrict third party content we couldn't because content you generate yourself looks identical to content from third parties.

 

Finally we have a "poison pill" piece of software that will decrypt all content on your system that we will distribute if Daz ever stops (goes out of business, changes to focus on Korean hair care products, is attacked by Godzilla and Mothra, etc) running the Daz Connect servers.

larsmidnatt

DAZ_Rawb said:

larsmidnatt said:

 

As I have previously stated (somewhere in the 60 pages of both threads), we are working on a solution to let you categorize your content using the filesystem instead of just smart content. Check the change logs of the future betas to see if it made it in that release.

That's good to know.

Richard Haseltine

JDStrider said:

Well I have spent countless hours adding all of my content purchased from other sites into the CMS in version 4.5 to 4.8. over 1500 items that were perfectly linked and working great. Then I installed 4.9 after reading that it would work just fine with my custom content. Well that was a mistake, thank god I always backup before trying any thing new. I lost everything from my custom smart content and when I tried to re-import the support files, that made things worse. None of the products had any names, they showed up in the Products section without names and the rename menu item didn't work. I had to delete everything again. I tried recreating a new custom entry to see if the resulting dsx files would give some clue as to why my existing ones failed to import and that was a bust. I compared the new file to my exisitng one and they are identical, so what gives here?

I cleared all of my content and let 4.9 download all of my purchased products from the 'cloud', over 2000 items which took over 8 hours to completed, and that was a royal mess up too. Hundreds of useless and empty categories. a Lost and Found (which is a nice feature, by the way) full of items that had no categories assigned, just garbage meta data that simply doesn't work. Really guys, the new layout and new feature seem awesome and I look forward to working with them once you get the bugs worked out, but this was one very unpleasant experience.

Will we be able to remove unwanted references? I cannot seem to get that to work. I don't want references to mc6 files that don't work in DS or duplicate meta data for the Poser files etc. It seems that there is some connection to the encrypted files that prevents the bad data from being removed

Will we be able to add images to the custom enties we make in the Smart Content DB?

Right now it doesn't seem possible. My investigation has shown that only items in the new ..\data\cloud\meta folder that have a matched pair of jpg and json files will display their images in the Smart Content tab, is this an oversight or a bug?

Encrpytion and artist protection is a great idea, but as others have pointed out, trying to make computer files secure simply doesn't work.

Reimporting the non-user files (the ones for individual products listed below the Userdata line in the import dialogue) is not working in this build. To restore just close 4.9, open 4.8 and do a normal re-import there.

JDStrider

Richard Haseltine said:

JDStrider said:

Reimporting the non-user files (the ones for individual products listed below the Userdata line in the import dialogue) is not working in this build. To restore just close 4.9, open 4.8 and do a normal re-import there.

Thanks for the information Richard, that is helpful.

What about the new images for the Smart Content tab, (the 182 x 254 images in the data\cloud\meta folder) will be able to provide those for our custom entires?

Richard Haseltine

JDStrider said:

Richard Haseltine said:

JDStrider said:

Reimporting the non-user files (the ones for individual products listed below the Userdata line in the import dialogue) is not working in this build. To restore just close 4.9, open 4.8 and do a normal re-import there.

Thanks for the information Richard, that is helpful.

What about the new images for the Smart Content tab, (the 182 x 254 images in the data\cloud\meta folder) will be able to provide those for our custom entires?

I think so, for products at least, but I'm not certain and don't know the requirements if so.

Bendinggrass

Could someone please tell me how to re-download all my content? 

I need to do this as much of my content has been lost, and I am now using a new computer.

Sincere thanks.

R

Richard Haseltine

Bendinggrass said:

Could someone please tell me how to re-download all my content? 

I need to do this as much of my content has been lost, and I am now using a new computer.

Sincere thanks.

R

In DIM/from the Product Library or using the new Connect system? If you want to install everything using Connect log in, then just click All in Smart Content Products tab, click the first item,.scroll to the end and shift-click the last, then right-click and Install. Bear in mind that the content won't be available in the current Production Buld, 4.8

hzr

I hope you are reading the clear message you get from your customers in this thread. I have not seen any positive feedback towards Connect. Noone wants to use it, why do you see it as something that has to be implemented? What is your motivation behind it? Explain yourselves, because you have not yet done so. The only answers from your side are related to non critical feedback as far as I am aware.

This might sound bitter, but afterall this is the only power that we as customers have: to vote with the wallet. And if you do not give us any other chance, this is exactly what you will get from the people who are deciding to open it for buying content... or not.

DRM for games or applications that is not intrusive is something you can sometimes live with, as long as it does not hinder the user, but for content, which the user wants to edit and export to other applications etc... this is too much. I can understand that you want to protect the content from piracy, but the first who suffer from this are the loyal users who buy the content and have to fight with these mechanisms.

Richard Haseltine

hzr said:

I hope you are reading the clear message you get from your customers in this thread. I have not seen any positive feedback towards Connect. Noone wants to use it, why do you see it as something that has to be implemented? What is your motivation behind it? Explain yourselves, because you have not yet done so. The only answers from your side are related to non critical feedback as far as I am aware.

This might sound bitter, but afterall this is the only power that we as customers have: to vote with the wallet. And if you do not give us any other chance, this is exactly what you will get from the people who are deciding to open it for buying content... or not.

DRM for games or applications that is not intrusive is something you can sometimes live with, as long as it does not hinder the user, but for content, which the user wants to edit and export to other applications etc... this is too much. I can understand that you want to protect the content from piracy, but the first who suffer from this are the loyal users who buy the content and have to fight with these mechanisms.

Exporters are still working, as are the editing tools.

DAZ_Rawb

hzr said:

I hope you are reading the clear message you get from your customers in this thread. I have not seen any positive feedback towards Connect. Noone wants to use it, why do you see it as something that has to be implemented? What is your motivation behind it? Explain yourselves, because you have not yet done so. The only answers from your side are related to non critical feedback as far as I am aware.

This might sound bitter, but afterall this is the only power that we as customers have: to vote with the wallet. And if you do not give us any other chance, this is exactly what you will get from the people who are deciding to open it for buying content... or not.

DRM for games or applications that is not intrusive is something you can sometimes live with, as long as it does not hinder the user, but for content, which the user wants to edit and export to other applications etc... this is too much. I can understand that you want to protect the content from piracy, but the first who suffer from this are the loyal users who buy the content and have to fight with these mechanisms.

The reasoning why we did this is posted in the FAQ.

 

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/932631/#Comment_932631

 

Also, I urge you to try 4.9 for yourself and see if it stops you from doing anything you would typically do with even the encrypted content. All of the exporters (for example) still function the exact same as they did in 4.8. The reason that content that is currently available unencrypted is encrypted using Daz Connect is so that everyone can see for themselves what the content encryption will do.

The Blurst of Times

The issue really isn't 4.9. The FAQ really doesn't tell us anything beyond 4.9. 
It's the future state, when Connect really does hinder what we want to do (i.e. the things that do require an always on connection to the internet). It's really not a fair test to use DIM products for the future state of Connect & Connect-only product.

As for exporting/importing... If we can export it, then we can reimport it to get around the gate to the Walled Garden.

What good are the walls then?

The question for many of us is if/when the gate to the Walled Garden will be closed. The Daz store does not contain everything I need to render what I want to render, and if the gates close to using non-Daz items within Daz, then that's a major breaking point for a lot of people.

Steam is often an immense pain in the tuchus, and that's the "good" of DRM.

DoctorJellybean

The Blurst of Times said:

The Daz store does not contain everything I need to render what I want to render, and if the gates close to using non-Daz items within Daz, then that's a major breaking point for a lot of people.

 

DAZ Connect doesn't prevent users from using non-DAZ items. The user will still be able to use content from elsewhere.

BurstAngel

BurstAngel said:

Fixmypcmike said:

BurstAngel said:

Thanks, but to be honest it is easier the organized from scratch. Trying to organize content that is already organized is a complete headache. I think its better just to use the content library and build catagories from there I could move whole folders! I wish I could move whole folders(product) from the smart content tab to my catagory of choice rather than just single files. This is taking too long and the smart content tab feels too all over the place for me to use.

Smart content tab NEEDS a "Create a Catagory from" when we right click on the product. It will certainly help.

Isn't that what you already have in Content Library > Products?

Well I'll be ... So that's what is for. Never bothered with that cause I've never used smart before.

No good, can't duplicate folder from the Content Library>Products? It will only let you move individual files.

fixmypcmike

BurstAngel said:

BurstAngel said:

Fixmypcmike said:

BurstAngel said:

Thanks, but to be honest it is easier the organized from scratch. Trying to organize content that is already organized is a complete headache. I think its better just to use the content library and build catagories from there I could move whole folders! I wish I could move whole folders(product) from the smart content tab to my catagory of choice rather than just single files. This is taking too long and the smart content tab feels too all over the place for me to use.

Smart content tab NEEDS a "Create a Catagory from" when we right click on the product. It will certainly help.

Isn't that what you already have in Content Library > Products?

Well I'll be ... So that's what is for. Never bothered with that cause I've never used smart before.

No good, can't duplicate folder from the Content Library>Products? It will only let you move individual files.

You can right-click on a product and choose "Create Category", works for me in both 4.8 and 4.9.

jpb06t

The Blurst of Times said:

As for exporting/importing... If we can export it, then we can reimport it to get around the gate to the Walled Garden.

What good are the walls then?

A question DAZ_*** are keeping not answering.