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As any kind of comment that is not something like "this is good and awesome best marketplace ever (lie)" get's censored in the official Forum, I'd like to open a thread to rant freely.
-If we don't know about 9.1 or whatever yet I guess it won't happen, whenever someone talks about it the comments banish. G8 got discontinued without a proper successor or the intention to give us one.
And if they jump straight to G10 before launching some G9 improvements I won't be buying it at all (yes I lurk and use this website but also buy GOOD products when they work as intented and were made with love).-Most of the DO G9 characters look the like twins. It feels like they are using the same template for all of them since 2024 and releasing them as new because they have some to-do's to tick.
-They are releasing the laziest shit products for exagerated prices daily. It's depressing to check the marketplace every day.
-How many times are PA's releasing the same characters with 3 Vinme morphs applied and sold as new? Basically 99% of them are. Even sharing Normals, Roughness and Specular with slight changes on the diffuse (Hue value and 2 moles) across their products, if you have 1 you have all of them.
And impossible clothing created using the most basic tutorial Marvelous Designer shapes with 0 decent skinning?
And AI generated props and enviroments with hell topology pretending to be "not made by AI" products?
And the "spend 20 bucks on a shit new product to get a discount if you buy it on a blood moon night and it's slightly rainning outside while you dance naked in front of a silver mirror with a coupon that doesnt work" sales?Omggg this is good and awesomeeeee best shop eveeerrrr~~~~
I think I credit them with some nous, that they know damn well they are scamming their customers, but obviously they would never admit to it.
They suffer from a level of delusion that they are offering quality products.
By and large they are not, when compared to the quality of the legacy generations.There is an increasing level of laziness & slap dash even with the better quality vendors, which Daz seems to encourage with its marketing policies. I don't wish to write off all their vendors, there are still some who try to offer good quality at a reasonable price, but they are very much in the minority, and it must be difficult for them when they see other vendors making money hand over fist with poor quality output.
As I have said before, I particularly dislike their arcane marketing discount templates 'Buy this to get a discount on that.' I might appreciate a discount on 'that' but don't even want to buy 'this'.
The moderation in their fora is dictatorial.
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The key to get the most out of your money on Daz are the tokens you get for every 10/15 bucks:
1-Stop buying items daily/weekly and save your money
2-Get a 1 month membership
3-Make one or more somewhat small initial purchase that's gives you 8 token
4- Wait for the best sales in the next 2 weeks
5- Combine daily sales/coupons + tokens + memberships and spends hundreds of $$$ you saved in step 1.Result: you get hundreds of items for 60 to 99 cents each instead of paying the big price tag. If you can resist impulsively buying stuff, you will get SO MUCH MORE for the same amount out of your money
....or just grab stuff from here and the other pirate sites.
....or take a REALLY good look at the thousands of items you already have and realize that you have several items that are pretty much the same as what you're looking to buy. Characters are bad for this.
....or do some soul searching and realize that you only want the item because it's gorgeous/cool/fun but you'll almost certainly never use it.
If you have a creator you REALLY want to support, buy from their personal site if they have one. I've occasionally bought directly from a vendor on Rendo and Renderotica after telling them that I love the product but don't want to support the site AND I want them to get all the money from the sale.
@heetee Also...if you are planning a purchase AND there's a gift card sale, buy the gift card first. It's essentially an additional discount on items you were already planning on purchasing.
In addition to what I was saying above, apart from the arcane intricate marketing, there is never any indication of the expiry of the discount when items are put on sale.
Other outlets state the expiry of the offer.
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The other aspect of Daz that harshes my buzz is the joke of an update to Studio. It was at least 4 years ago that one of the devs, DazRaub announced (with much fanfair) the start of Studio 5 development. He promised a beta by the new year, about 8 months away. Not long after, the cancer known as James Thornton (or Thornton James) and his equity firm took over with Tafi and all news stopped. Nothing happened on the Studio 5 front and any questions regarding same where deleted. Now, a few years later we have an alpha that's displayed endless problems and will have most components tied to a fucking paywall. It's exactly what the fucker did with the Cricket printer, forcing hackers to come up with workarounds. My neighbour has one and she was thrilled when I introduced her to the hacker world. I guess we'll we have to do the same with Studio 5 if it ever goes live. It's been a year(?) with the alpha and I'm not holding my breath for it ever being completed. I can see him giving up in the face of AI and lagging sales due to a shitty economy, and selling Daz off to try and recoup at least a little bit of his investment.
This is why I'm obsessive about archiving all my content AND every version of Studio as it comes out. Daz may die but the hobby will go on.
Or someone who's not stupid will buy Renderosity, rewrite Poser so that it natively supports Daz stuff, fixes the ridiculous GUI and the legeandary instability. It's maybe built on a better/faster render and 3D engine like iClone or Reality so that it's what we've been dreaming about.
This is why I'm obsessive about archiving all my content AND every version of Studio as it comes out. Daz may die but the hobby will go on.
This is the most important part of the whole thing. I've been having fun with CG for almost 30 years now (back when Bryce was talked about in awestruck tones.) I have stuff going almost that far back. I don't want to get off the ride yet, and after an initial fling with AI, I'm finding that it's nowhere near as fun.
I can admit that the ride won't last forever - my ancient copies of Poser 3, Bryce, and RayDream probably won't install (let alone load) without a LOT of emulation layers to make it happen (you never know, though.) OTOH, there's always WINE, no?
I think I need to buy a brand new laptop, load it up with everything, copy off all my stuff onto an(other) external drive, then shut it all off, carefully wrap it, and store it in a cool dry place. Maybe open it and test it once a year, and update the drive with new stuff?
I'm finding that it's nowhere near as fun.
I'm glad you've re-discovered that aspect of 3D. Playing with dolls never gets old.
The DAZ3D sales are ridiculously arcane. Their sales remind me of the headmaster scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life in which he cryptically instructs the students in a run-on sentence.
"Now, before we begin the sale, will those of you who are planning to make a purchase this afternoon move your discounted products into the cart immediately after having selected a new release, in order to see the discount on the discounted vendor store item or items, depending on the stipulated limit of the number of items, provided those items are included in the sale, and depending on whether the items are 'Legacy' items, 'Genesis 3' items, 'Genesis 8' items, or 'Genesis 9' items, and if they are included in your wish list prior to today, which will all gain different discounts, for which you will gain a discount token to be usable on a future purchase, unless the total does not exceed the minimum total required to gain a token, which offers a slight discount unless the item is a DAZ Original, for which you will receive a different slight discount, provided the duration of the token discount has not expired, choose the number of discount tokens you would like to redeem, and then enter the required discount code in the allotted space, unless you've purchased more than one new release which will require a different discount code should you wish to gain the discount,...and, of course, if you have a membership, depending on which of the three different memberships available, the discounts...will be...entirely...different."
@3demon, You've GOT to post that in Daz's forums. There's always someone complaining about Daz's sales.
It seems that a lot of AI slop has been released on the marketplace for months now as professional products. Anyone would understand using AI Assisted methods, but allowing Meshy 3d trash and such to be sold on your official storefront... shame.
@otero33, Do you have an example? I'd love to have a look at it. What's being used to make this stuff? Thanks!
@Ethiopia I would say these are the most obvious,
https://www.daz3d.com/3dlab
https://www.daz3d.com/polish
https://www.daz3d.com/giko
https://www.daz3d.com/xivon
https://www.daz3d.com/dreamlight
https://www.daz3d.com/kubramaticAI-generated 3D props often show over complex geometry, flawed symmetry, and messy topology. Textures can look detailed but lack logical wear, with inconsistent materials (metal behaving like plastic, etc.).
Design wise, they may have functional nonsense (buttons/screws that do nothing), unclear scale, or feel “almost real” but impractical. Consistency issues, uneven detail distribution or mixed styles are also common.
No single tell is definitive, but these patterns together raise flags.
Once you spend some time on generative AI websites and train your eye, you’ll be able to spot AI models at first glance.
@otero33, Thanks, it sounds a lot like identifying AI people. I can see how AI wouldn't generate efficient meshes since it doesn't understand topology in general, and certainly not on different items.
Thanks....and I did find 'Meshy'. At first I thought you where using the word as slang for AI Mesh. I'm going to give it a try on some pictures.
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