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That requires one of two things:
DAZ has, to the best of my knowledge, not done anything resembling the latter yet. All their DRM products have other linked variables (pricing incentives, and there are no equvalent pairs and no statistically significant quantities.
In the absence of both 1 and 2, the best thing to do is to look at other industries that have done "big data" on DRM. I provided at least six links in the past to music and ebook publishers that all saw statistically significant sales increases by removing DRM from entire producct lines. The assumed, but impossible to measure "loss" due to piracy is not as large as the real, quantifiable gain due to removal of DRM. So, when you remove DRM, some unknown number of pirates "win" something unquantifiable, but a real, knowable number of content creators AND customers both "win" a lot more.
DRM is, in short, cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.
Is it "worth it" to a creator like Zev0 or Mattymax to go "yes, we stopped an estimated x number of pirates, at the cost of 15% of my total sales"? Is it "worth it" to DAZ? The answer to both questions is "no". So, at the end of the day, it comes down to principle, to saying "I am willing to accept a real, quantifiable loss of income, to take a risk that includes the possible loss of my entire business, in order to stop an unknown number of pirates".
And I pick on Zev0 becase
I generally don't look for updates unless I am having a issue with a model if I have a issue then I will download the model and install it manually. even when I run dim for updates I have not got a lot of updates for the products I have bought most venders I have purchased from are pretty good at getting right the first time. unless its s Update to bring a certain model into Iray, then again I only update what I need to make the model work, I like to be able to break up divide or recognize my content to fit the way I use daz .. I do not use smart content, I prefer to use windows search of my content Drive(s) & folder(s) is much faster and gives me way more options on my content when I am working with a model. Plus I have a lot of content that I did not buy at daz. So I guess I just have to much 3d content s to make smart content to work smartly.
Sorry Ivy but I dont share sales data, not even with other PAs.
For connect, I would say it has two primatry advantages.
1. Installing via connect is very simular to the DIM except that instead of a text list, in the install tab it shows you all the store thumbnails of each product that is available to install so you can recognize it that way. You can install just one or multiple products and like the DIM, its a "fire and forget" system.
2. Updating via connect, ONLY updates the files that need updating and not the entire product. So updating is a lot faster.
As for using it, the organization of the files in DS will look the same as the PA set them up as. If you want to organize it your way, you can do so by making link files very quickly and easily and have them placed directly in any folder you wish including your excisting content folder. In the screen shots below you will see my Amenazador 2 in the Daz Connect folder and the few easy steps to create the link files.
Install Tab:
Daz Connect runtime:
Link File creation:
Folder Location: (my actual content folder for all content, poser included).
Link files in my content structure:
Fully usable like non encrypred content and as stated already, the link files can be moved so you can reorganize them.
And yes, the Amenazador ver 2 and Addon-Kit will be decrypted after one year.
Hmm Interesting... I would think when implementing a DRM server to deliver the Daz connect content they would have added a database to track their content that is sold and installed. its not hard then to use that data that was delivered through connect service. and compare that with sale records of content that are manual downloads to see what sells better. if you have a content that offers both manual downloads or daz connect you can use the download database to see what people are preferring Daz Connect or Manual downloads..I would have thought it be a requirement for tracking sales. Then you can base your sales projections on the data that comes in from past sales and use that as a comparison to encrypted only content to Manual downloads.
that is why I asked .. if there are tools that offer that comparison to give PA's a way to better judge to encrypt or to not encrypt their content .
And when daz said that the content would be unlocked after a year .. they never said if it would be offered as a manual download or Dimm. Or are we still going to be require use Daz connect to get the unencrypted Items. because even if its 3 years later if I still need daz connect to get the item that is gets unencrypted then that defeats the purpose of waiting a year for a product you'll never use because its still delivered by Daz connect DRM server. which I won't use.
Any attempt to compare "Encrypted Connect only" to manual downloads would fail because you can manually download the Connect files as well as the ones for DIM; it's not a situation where you absolutely must use DAZ Studio to download them unless you want to speed an update of your installed content up.
Hi Matty . I really wasn't asking you to share your sales data..lol sorry about that. I was asking if they offer you tools with that kind of data. to help you make decisions if it s worth it or not. . maybe I worded it wrong. you know like the tools amazon give you for selling and track products.
I guess my main question is Will your car be offered as a manual download after it get unencrypted or unlocked in a year,? Because I'll wish list it if so. I have no problem waiting a year for stuff. if i can download manually. if its not going to be offered as a manual download then I have no problem waiting to find a car sort of like yours someday. it was more of impulse buy anyway.
Also thank you very much for your explanation of the connect files system .Though I was aware on how to manually bring the Daz connect Items & content into my manual file management. I just choose not too use it. I should be able to download and install files the way I want to I mean I am the customer isn't the customer always right?... or is that cliche old fashion? I mean after all I though it was my money that Pa's and Daz are trying to get me to spend. I don't see Daz connect much incentive for me to invest in a product.. when I had a tried and true tested way of downloading & installing content for the last 6 years, that never failed me.
curious how often do you pa's update your products? why are products updated where they not right they first time and require updating? . because I never really noticed that got that many updates through dimm unless it was a daz studio software update. or a texture update, nothing really to warrant a major change to my file management. . unless I was having a problem with a model or set i never even bother with looking for updates. Are there a lot of them? maybe its because I don't use genesis 3 that I don't get a lot fo update notices.
In principle, I have nothing against Connect, although not keen on having a database controlled by someone else on my system. Haveing said that, without it's DRM component, I'd likely try Connect.
With DRM, it stands no chance. I have uninstalled the SQL components.
1. I like the DIM layout and I think the 4.9 thumbnail boxes have gotten bigger for no reason. Demoting them to a pane in Studio bloats and blocks up Studio with downloading actions instead of being an outside thing. I would say instead that the advantage of Connect is that it can arrange your uninstalled items via categories etc instead of the not great options DIM has if say, you want to install all G2F items (Actually I'm not sure if the new Install tab can do this but I assume it should be able to.)
2. This is also true...
The problem with these two points is that they were new features built into the Connect system. There's nothing to say that instead of making Connect, they could have been built into DIM instead.
Connect could also have been given named folder names instead of numbers as we requested, which would have made its separate filesystem much nicer.
The problem is that adding Connect adds a whole extra layer of complexity instead of simplifying things, because unless you only shop at Daz, you need to have more libraries to do the usual manual / DIM installs for items from other stores. Connect was supposedly made to make things simpler, but aside from its 'click picture to download' facet it does nothing but add more complexity - unless you are willing to shut out all other sources of content.
Maybe I'm miles off base here, but my solution would have been to rewrite DIM to have updated capabilities and then rewrite the Content Library with a much beefier category system and remove windows file moving abilities from it.
I am not Ivy - but I am downloading with DIM and installing the zips manually. What is updated? I AM one of those strange persons reading Readme's and have a habit of asking support if DIM says updated and Readme doesn't show update.
I can vouch for that Kerya is not me ;)
I noticed no one had a answer for my question.
After a year when the Daz-Connect only Encrypted products become Unlocked. will they be albe to be downloaded manually or with dim , or will we still be required to use daz connect to download the newly unlocked item?
Eeeek - that IS a good question!
@Kerya - I recall them saying that no longer encrypted items would be available by DIM and manual, but since none actually exist yet, we really don't know for sure.
I THOUGHT they said that the content would become available through all methods after a year, but I can't recall and forum search is, well.
Personally, that satisfied me so I immediately put it out of my head and adopted the stance of 'I'll check the content out after a year. Maybe wishlist it'
Really?! :) Is there a link to an official statement to that policy? I don't ever remember someone asking that question or seeing a answer for it. that is why I asked. Thanks for the reply
All I remember being said Will was that the products would be Unlocked after a year. & i don;t remember them saying how they will be avilable for downloads. I am asking this question because I do have a few daz connect items in my wishlist. but after a year I still need daz connect to buy them .. them I'll remove them out of my wishlist. because I won;t be using daz connect even if stuff is unlocked.
Nope but feel free to forum search for it yourself~
Honestly I'd say just wait and see. It was just a short answered post on the forums - they could change policies 50 times before a year is actually up for something.
It was said they would be available through DIM, I'm pretty sure, as long as DIM itself is still being used.
Interesting qualification; no I'm not suggesting you know something we don't.
But it is true, that if DIM is no longer supported, then it obviously will not be available that way; well, manual download it would be, and another reason to shop elsewhere. DIM helps with my catagorisation and installation.
Thanks Richard. the only thing a forum search revealed was my questions on this subject. nothing on actual facts of that being said on the topic so I guess I have to take your word for it , for now.
You could always submit a ticket asking for details.
That was how they described it at the time - when asked to qualify that part, they said that DIM would continue to be supported so long as it had widespread use. So if everyone conveniently hopped over to Connect they could remove DIM.
Which is pretty reasonable. They can't lock themselves into promises of stuff that might happen a year or five down the road.
I intend to be inconvenient... lol... I prefer DIM. It's faster on my system. And I sometimes use it to find where files are located, as well.
Yup can be useful for that.
and it installs things where it is intended to be installed so there is a lot less hide and seek. It takes only a fraction of a time to install vs manually doing it. I can install hundreds in a matter of a half hour.
And most importantly, go and get a coffee while its doing it. :)
Well, I don't install with DIM - but I love it's functionality of telling me about updates.
If DAZ stops DIM, how will I know about updates, even when I still can download via my product library?
Renderosity sends out mails for product updates ...
i remember them saying in future only updating with connect is possible
not dim anymore
But you've already admitted that it has had an impact on you - you've had to segregate it from all your other content (as though its a virus or something). Maybe thats not much extra work, but it has caused you to change your work patterns, no matter how small and if you still download manual zips as a preference then you at least recognise that the encrypted content is less desirable than the unencrypted content. To be honest though, I'd expect you to try it out and probably back it, because you're a PA (no offense), so have the most to potentially gain from its introduction (other than Daz themselves).
I thought there were issues people do understand - like you can't get into the encrypted files to make any alterations etc... like you easily can with unencrypted?
But, hey, if encrypted content is selling better than unencrypted content (which it should if its working because people can't pirate it and have to buy it) then we all stand corrected :)
ps Sorry about the late response. I don't really shop here anymore.