DAZ Quality Control (or lack there of).

[ShadowDemonLord]

I have noticed in the last 6-12 months the quality control on assets at Daz has dropped markedly.

The main area of concern for me is the meta data which of course directly affects smart content.

I install all assets via DIM (I like the history and searchability). If an asset is non Daz Store I use CPA to make it a DIM installable file.

Now to the recent problems I have norticed.

1. Install a new figure asset - load daz - go to smart content and the asset does not show upo. Go to content library and check the asset using db editor. For some reason the main figure file is set as preset -> character (which is how a PA saves it when they arer creating it). It should be actor -> character to show in smart content correct location. 10 second fix but how does this get missed bt QC team.

2. This second one is even more annoying and takes a lot longer to fix. Loaded up the new OOT mega upload hair 2. So far so good - loads as expected. Decide to change hair colour - nope - clicking on any of the hair materials does nothing. CHeck and found I have a new smart content library called materials. Yep - they missed loading the materials into the default smart content library (which just means you put \default\ in front of the file path to your materials/shapes etc. ONce again load up the .dsx file that controls this and add \default to the front of all the material settings. Fixed.

Now I consider myself reasonably advanced with my knowledge of meta data, hjow it works and how to fiox it or even create it from flat for non Daz store files. I would presume a lot of users would not feel comfortable doing what I did above - and to be honest they should not need to.

Yes we get a lot of content for free - but I also buy a lot (more than I dhould). Maybe the pandemic is hard on their QC team who I presume are working from home. BUt seriously people - load the asset and click on a few random icons - oh look it did not work - fail it and push it back to the PA to fix. Then release it.

Sorry for the wall of text but just getting frustrated having to write to DAZ and say I pirated your asset and it is broken - please hurry up and fix it and send me the updated file. 🙂

SDL.

[Amber]

Funny you should write this now; I've been having the same struggle with metadata.
Not so much Daz QC (which IS in a poor state lately), but the fact that I have well over 2k assets, the vast majority of which have NO metadata, and ALL of which I've made into DIM installers if they weren't already (basically all of Daz products).
I have a massive runtime of 3 quarters of a TB, and trying to find an asset I want to use, much less remember where it might be, who made it, or even the fact that I HAVE it... well, let's say it takes up 80% of the creation cycle. That's unacceptable. I need to have proper meta for ALL products for any of it to be worth anything.

SO... I've used CPA to build the installers, for a few years now. Yes, it works, yes it saves time, NO, it is not very useful other than quickly hacking together a zip that DIM can eat. It has serious bugs and missing features.
I've been using Content Wizard lately, to quickly generate meta for products. Yes, it does a magnificent job of solving meta for all assets in a package, and then limits you in some very stupid ways. It also makes malformed installers and slightly bugged DSX which require manual editing before it will work seamlessly in DIM and Content DB... and that negates any time-savings you would get from it. It only saves you from the tedium of editing XML by hand.

THEREFORE... I set about some time ago writing a crazy script. I'm well into it now, many of the parts are finished. The aim is to have a tool set that generates meta for ANY product, installed or not, in a package or not, and is able to both inject it in the database, AND "backwards" into an installer, existing, or created. This is becoming a full-fledged content management system, capable of taking any loose set of files (like what you would download from ShareCG, or DeviantArt, or Rendo), making a perfect install package COMPLETE with metadata inside, and has tools for managing the DB directly, such as making and editing stores asynchronously (Which Daz *can*, but doesn't let you do).
It's not just for one-off packages either, it is intended to manage an entire collection, able to analyze an entire archive of zips and folders, give reports on what is valid and what needs attention, the ability to bulk-edit meta across products, and manage the runtime meta... heal broken packages and create new ones as well.

If the product "Extra Info" feature is something you use, you'll love my new rendition of the <store>.dsa, it doesn't just take you to the product's URL based on an SKU... many stores don't use one, or require other info... this can build a URL from the SKU, product name, and/or author name - Renderotica requires SKU and product name to make the URL, DeviantArt requires all 3! Not only that, but for those odd stores that have no proper URL for a product, like some indy bloggers, the function actually gives you the option to search the product in Google, straight from the Content Pane. :^)

Lots of the individual pieces are complete now, like the store manager and file IO, I'm working on the heuristics to analyze assets and present meta solutions for editing. There's a lot to work out, like what is the best way to display, since there's SO many levels of data to digest. It needs to be a speedy tool for *anybody*, not just for a metadata doctor.

ONLY PROBLEM IS... and this is SOOOO ironic... I really would have to sell it on the market. Seriously, for what it does, it would be one of the more expensive scripts on the market.
Imagine Me, The Pirate going PA in the Daz store (or Rendo?) and competing with Riversoft lol.
And then of course, it would wind up here... >.<
But such a tool would be far too useful to keep it to myself.
Dilemmas, dilemmas....

[AnjaBear]

I'm grinning at your cheeky straightforward attitude. You are absolutely right Daz QA has been off for almost a year. You must note that the entire Daz crew has been replaced by Tafi employees and most who used to test products are gone. They replaced their art director yet again and the number of new vendors who don't have the level of quality and expertise that Daz PAs once had and were known for, is significantly lacking. Daz seems to be raising prices to a ridiculous level so that even a pack of 20 poses costs over $17.95 at 30% release sale prices. I noticed this when the Shark Tails came out, they released 4 pose packs that would have cost me over $50.00 for all 4... So I skipped buying them.

At the moment Daz is selling tons of old items that are Poser format and not Iray textured, and most are for V4 even V3 and Genesis which most people don't use anymore. But hey, i got almost $500.00 worth of stuff the other day, including two Stonemason sets for 0.99¢ each, and the whole thing cost me...drumroll...$13.50 !!!

But most stuff that's new, well mostly overpriced.

And much is released either broken, or worse... Not in the downloads!

Makes shopping at Daz an adventure.

SDL, let me know what Daz Support says to your "I pirated this and it's broken, please fix it and send me the corrected file..." Support Ticket....

Hugs
AnjaBear

[Amber]

Old items. HAHA.
Check out the Weekly Freebies.
Utter antique junk. Also, mostly add-ons for long-lost products.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Grouchy Old Fart]

I honestly haven't been there in awhile.

Apologies, but I never had a use for metadata or the Smart Content feature... ever. I guess it's part of being old-school, where you had to organize everything on your own and just remember where it was and what it did (or name the folders to guide the way.)

Not sure what the QA situation is, but on a longer historical arc, I think things began slowly going off the rails back when Farr decided to go play Scrooge McDuck in some money vault and retire, then Creek decided to go start Hivewire. After that things became all corporate, and it started to show in the product lines.

@ethiopia: I agree on the Vicky4 front, but (please don't take offense, but) that body is way too spindly for my tastes - it takes a ton of work to remove any vestigial trace of the default stick-figure look. She got a lot of stuff, though, enough that I converted most of it for use in G8 (I'd be even happier if xD had a G8 plugin, so I didn't have to take 40 steps to get an item from V4 -> G8).

[Author]

Posts