- This topic has 11 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Renderosity has a pretty big post in their recent email. Seems like they are actively stepping up their game against piracy. Not sure what it entails, but I'm wondering if it is tied into how actively some folks are going after the images on postimage.org
I figure it's probably something we should all be aware of regardless. Be careful out there peeps.
MY THOUGHTS ON THIS ISSUE (LONG RANT)
I think part of this is caused by thieves who rip game characters and attack us for stealing their stolen products. Keep in mind that people like RomFX, 3DUK, etc sell at RenderHub, FoRender, Guhzcoituz, Gumroad, DeviantArt, ArtStation and Renderosity, and their products are game rips and wraps and are not original creations. And Renderosity has NO problem selling stolen or copyright-infringing stuff, they have done it for 2 decades.
The original attack on us started with RomFX posting in the Vendor forums at RenderHub giving the vendors there all the email addresses and even forms on how to take down stuff.
EVEN if the stuff is NOT THEIR CREATIONS nor their COPYRIGHT.
If anyone contacts ANY hosting server with a pre-prepared DMCA Takedown Notice form, they will take it seriously, but don't have the time to actually research if the person sending it is actually the OWNER or Copyright Holder. They just have their 1-Strike rule and close down the sharer's account without question. Which is why I have been WARNING EVERYONE to share PRIVATELY at the moment, or if they post in the BLOG, to put multiple download sources.
Several people have been directly affected by this including RuinedClaw and others. Now RuinedClaw posts between 5-8 download links on many different servers - they have much more work to contact ALL those companies with DMCA Takedowns, and by that time - all the other share sites have the links too, and they create their own and post them. This allows us to go and get the new links and rotate them out the moment they are taken down.
I have a BIG RECOMMENDATION to those who have PAID MEGA ACCOUNTS:
Don't use your PAID MEGA space to share files. If anything is reported to MEGA, even if it is a stolen product from a copyright infringing vendor - you will LOSE your ENTIRE MEGA ACCOUNT. And trust me - losing an 8TB MEGA is PAINFUL.
I recommend doing this:
Set up multiple MEGA free accounts, they require an email address for verification at the start but once that is done, you don't need the email again. There are services out there to create temporary email addresses where you can register, verify and send the verification code to MEGA, and voila you have a 20GB free account.
I maintain over 200+ MEGA free accounts to keep my stuff safe. 40 of those are SHARE accounts, where I move the stuff I wish to put on the blog to, and have a listing of what is on that share. If anyone reports something and my Share Mega goes down, I simply set up another free one, copy the same files into that from my Non-Shared MEGAs and make new links, and replace them in the Blog.
To manage the freebies which you must log in to every 3 months, you simply create an Excel Table where the emails/passwords/retrieval codes are stored so you can get the password back if you have issues -- and I have a field for GB Total and GB Used, and a color code to flag it GREEN (has free space), PINK (almost full), and RED (full).
A description column lets me put the names of all the products on that MEGA so I can easily search and find the items.
From the EXCEL File, you have a list of all emails and logins, and passwords - you can then create a script to login to EVERY SINGLE ONE, using a free program provided on the MEGA site called MEGACMD. It has its own script language. If anyone is interested in knowing how I can send that info privately via PM.
======
I've been involved in the Pirate Community or Share Community since EMule/EDonkey and was a team member/moderator on KATFiles (NZ) before the Americans pulled torrent spaces down. This behavior by Renderosity is really just a thorn in our sides but it won't stop us from sharing things we just cannot afford.
Daz used to be a hobbyist's gold mine, and we happily bought stuff consistently because it was affordable and the sales and discounts were amazing. Daz is getting greedy to the point that their deals aren't deals at all anymore. They've priced almost everything into the "rich deep pocket customer" category. Bundles cost over $180.00 with a 30% discount - and LOYALTY deals don't exist anymore. When they released Genesis 9 - did anyone notice that bundles containing stuff that had IDENTICAL ITEMS by the SAME VENDORS for earlier Generations (G8/G8.1) which can be autofitted to G9 are now touting high price tags and just new promos, but the same products you may already own. And NO LOYALTY DISCOUNTS.
I own EVERY SINGLE MALE BUNDLE ever sold at Daz over the past 20 years (and tons of female ones too), and you'd think when a new MALE bundle comes out there would be a LOYALTY discount - like until G8 took place with EVERY new release. NOPE, they offered Genesis 1 or Genesis 2 bundles at a minimum discount, still overpriced - which I already own. So, useless.
Personally, their strategy to not be compatible with ANYTHING PRIOR - was a really bad move. And their representative on YouTube (WP-Guru/Jay Versluis) just rambles stuff and spreads more misinformation about what these products contain or can do - almost like he is making up what he's saying to dump a video out that is monetized. The entire Genesis 9 release to me is a Marketing Nightmare. But the overpriced stuff has increased the reasons why so much is shared within hours/days of their release. No one can afford them. And when there is a choice between paying ridiculous prices for a 3D Asset (many of which we already have) or buying food or paying rent, well the reason for sharing is obvious.
This isn't NEW, just more apparent as their focus is on things that are useless (like stolen NFTs, Cryptocurrency Ponzi Schemes, and selling Game of Thrones crap on an unknown site doing scam business offshore.
Does anyone else for example -- ACTUALLY SUPPORT and USE POSER anymore since Smith-Micro bankrupted and ignored the product before Bondware bought it up for a pittance?
-- answer: have you noticed how many POSER items are now being added to the BLOG going back to RuntimeDNA, PoserPros, Content Paradise, and other defunct sites? Products for M3/V3/D3/F3/H3/A3 and for M4/V4/F4/H4/A4/K4 are now being shared, since figured like LaFemme and L'Homme are ugly and mirrored, and Dusk and Dawn are really awful, and V4/M4 are still good looking and viable figures which have millions of assets out there, that no one really needs to buy new stuff anymore.
So I won't worry about Renderosity threatening anyone for Piracy issues - I think they are kind of delusional if they think stopping people from testing and playing with products THEY WILL WAIT FOR SALES ON and ACTUALLY EVENTUALLY BUY, that just keeps the stuff unknown. Shares/Piracy sometimes is how big companies actually end up becoming BIG, Adobe built it's entire business on Photoshop being pirated. ZBrush, Substance Painter, C4D, Modo, Mudbox, Maya, 3DSMax all built their businesses on the fact that people got their hands on their products with cracks and keys etc, and tolerated it for a while - because it got PEOPLE hooked, and eventually they would go LEGIT and buy it at Christmas Sales or whatever.
Sorry for the long commentary, but I've been watching and participating in this for over 2 decades and that is my take on it.
Cheers everyone!
AnjaBearLike many of you , I collected an nice amount of files over time.
To be safe I just save all the zips on a 8TB HD.
Working on a script for excel to populate excel with the names of all the files.
If I am done, I could make big PDF with what I "own".
Then it is a question of private message, ask and you will get.
This way there are no pics to find, no files to be taken down from sites.
We transfer sends up to 2 TB, so that could contain a lot off Zips
Just a thought.....I'd like to know y this site seems to be the target when other sites like 3DLoad share files and have at least 5-6 different links for the same product to ensure it stays active , and then there are a lot of private sites/groups that share behind closed doors that do way more pirating then the Zone ever will (they have just about every product from every store and have a lot of members that spend $$$ and share).
As I mentioned elsewhere:
"I view sites like this one as “try before you buy.” When I use an asset I downloaded several times or plan to use it multiple times in the future, I go back and buy it. I usually wait until its on sale, but I still end up buying it. There are other assets I downloaded from here that I thought I’d use and never do. I don’t buy them.I also do something similar with software that doesn’t have full featured trial versions. I ended up spending a few hundred dollars on software last year after finding a crack for it and trying it before I bought it."
Also, I don't believe the losses to piracy are as big as the vendors and companies estimate they are. Many of the people pirating content wouldn't have ever bought it in the first place. So they aren't losing those sales.
Another thing related to this. Back in the days of the big MP3 sharing era, I had a huge collection of MP3s. I had an unlimited account at one of the largest MP3 sharing sites because I help them with some computer hardware and software issues in their early days. Due to my unlimited account, I downloaded a bunch of music that I never listened to because I thought I might want to listen to it in the future. There are many people who download Daz content, music, movies, software, 3D printing models, etc... because they might use it and never do.
Here's the funny truth. Until I came to ZoneGfx I purchased almost nothing. I found free stuff and free models and that's what I used. Since I've come here I have now spent a few thousand dollars on stuff from Daz, Renderosity and Renderhub. $380 of it on a single artist in a single day. I know it's odd to equate being here with spending money, but it's absolutely true. Go figure huh? Anyway, I'm not saying what happens here is pure and noble, but I am saying that being here has led me to spend WAY more money on artist's work than I ever would have done otherwise.
It is not just you.
A lot of members here actually purchase a lot of assets.
Plus the vendors get free adverising.
🙂Good luck with Rendo finding me. I use a one email for daz/rendo/other content sites, one for here, and the rest of my online presence except for my financial/important stuff uses a throwaway email. I also use a different username and password on every single internet site I belong to. Used to be difficult and I had to maintain a text document with dozens of usernames and password but years ago I found password safe which I keep locally.
Secondly, I only use what I buy, if I don't get to see it first and try it out first, I don't buy it. I will DL something from here and give it some test renders, if I don't like it, I delete it. On top of that I have spent, on average $5,000-$6,000 per year for the last 12 years on DAZ/Rendo/ and other sites combined. Until places like this popped up I was burned about 1/4 of the time with junky garbage. Now I buy high quality product and still spend about that amount for my hobby so I can do commissions. Remove my ability to test product, I will stop buying.
This is what I've been saying they are biting the hand that feeds them, and they are to dumb to see it.
I feel it is almost time to move on to another hobby and spend money on stuff I can at least re-sell when I'm done with it .
@Ethiopia , yes I have thought plenty of making stuff and I do customize/kitbash the characters and scenes/environments that I use , but to tell the truth making to sell is in a different ball park I'd be crying foul on sites like this as soon as my "work" was posted for free, how ironic -yes
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
