One of the bonus offers for new Platinum Club members at DAZ3D is a model of a Hummer. It's a pity about the missing transmission hump, which is what the gunner standa on. But the blatant flaw is the texturemaps provided. They just don't match the UV mapping of the model, so the headlamps end up as huge lumps of grey inside the rear body, and the scale of the camouflage patterns is totally unreal. How this got past any quality control, I can't imagine.

Have you tried to contact Daz about this? and file a complaint? maybe they'll come up with a solution

Message edited on: 10/19/2004 08:14

It looks like Daz is down now, I was just going to ask them why on the order page my voucher was applied to a purchase this morning, but on the reciept they gave me I paid full price on the item.

DAZ is having Dbase issues on the Store and Front pages. Forums are up and running. Is it possible your copy got corrupted, because I was playing with my copy and I had no problem with the texture maps.

https://secure.daz3d.com/forumlogin.php Try that link and see if it helps. I'm gonna have to check my templates on that one. This is NOT the first complaint I've heard about those textures. The first was with the Blackhawk (which is now dis'tah'peered due to some unknown copyright issue) Hope that helps -PAN

It doesn't obviously show unless you open the rear hatch. There's also one of the recognition chevrons inverted. None of the files are bad files, but the texturemaps and UV mapping don't match. I'm off to try DAZ again (And my spell chucker...)

Definitely agree with Daz's Dbase Debauchery! I tried to use $15 of vouchers on a nonPC $14.95 item and was still charged $7.48, failed to get a credit allowed (which shouldn't have happened in the first place), and have not received my item for download or a response as of yet. An email was sent; what a mess... ;(

If the item was not a DAZ original but a brokered item then that would be right - vouchers cover only DAZ's cut of the price. Your download link should be on your Account page (not sure if you are expecting to receive a link by email)

An update: The catalogue pictures of the humvee don't show the obvious faults on the desert version, and the headlights look right on the green-camouflaged version too. I don't know what US law is like on the sale of goods, but over here that'd be enough of a misrepresentation to be awkward for them. Please, if you want to rant about other DAZ stuff, start another thread.

The Daz Hummer has also been pulled, along with the tank. Same reason as the Blackhawk, copyright violations. Details here: http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=100188#100188.

I cannot tell you how disappointing this is. :-(

Message edited on: 10/19/2004 16:04

The free $10 voucher can be used on basically anything except software, including PC items. But they only used my $5 PC-monthly voucher and $2.47 of the $10 voucher was applied... Huh? I double checked the item before purchase - it was not PC and was covered by both (or at the least, the $10 voucher). And during checkout it said $15 in vouchers of which $15 can be used for this purchases (in similar terms).

Something amiss there. I still have $7.53 available from that voucher which backs this (couldn't be the $5 voucher, now could it?).

There is no link. The order is still Open. And I cannot do anything about it until they respond (I've tried).

Message edited on: 10/19/2004 16:08

Who are the copyright violations against? This is getting ridiculous...

They didn't give details, just this from the site admin: "We have pulled the M1 Abrams, and the HMMV vehicles from our store as well. These two items were found to be violation of copyrights as well. Please remove these items from your system. There will be replacements provided for these products as well. We hope to have these three replacements soon, but I do not have a time frame, or any estimate at this time." Ridiculous, I think, is putting it mildly. I'm just glad I didn't install or use any of these items yet. Still a bloody pain finding & dumping them on a 120-plus gig drive.

Hmm, why do I have the feeling that the M2A2 Bradley ODS will dissappear soon too?

Same supposed author. Similar flaws in UV mapping, texturemaps, and even the mesh. Like the humvee, it misses a very obvious, and big, lump of the interior, affecting crew space and visible through the rear ramp. And there I was saying the Platinum Club was a good deal, partly because of that guy's products.

The Bonus Items by the artist involved amount to just three of 24. As of right now, only 2 have been pulled, but I would not be surprised if the third was pulled as well. The Tank was not a PC Bonus Item. There are a few other items that may depart, but until someone explains any particulars the reason is pure speculation. I have even heard the rumor that it was a joint product and the other author/modeler is the complaining party. As far as the Voucher goes, the $10 Voucher can be used on non PC Items, but you need to contact Sales to allow that. Apparently since it is approved for PC Items, the Checkout will only apply it to PC Items. What I was told was to buy the PC Items I wanted and then contact Sales to convert the remainer to a standard Voucher to use in the Premier Store. It took one day to make the change. Remember, that the $10 Voucher and all Vouchers at DAZ are good 100% on DAZ Originals and up to 50% on brokered items. Some PC Items are only covered at 5% to 35% if they are brokered.

That's a real shame. Those military models and the few Sci-Fi products were the ONLY things in the lot of 24 that I wanted. I do hope DAZ replaces them with something equivalent and not just something else for the kiddy-porn crowd.

ratscloset, do they have a chart? ;) Geez, but when I went to purchase, it said that all $15 of the $15 in vouchers would be applied to the purchase. That's not the result. The $10 Voucher said good on all items, including brokered and PC, but not software. Maybe their glitch. I dunno...

They need to have Chart. lol They recently added DAZ Original and Brokered Sort to the Premier Store. I hope they will do the same in the PC Store soon. (Little bug in the Premier where they still have the SALE tag linking to items no longer on sale due to the new Sort method!) The $10 is suppose to work on anything, but I ran into a problem with the last $0.05 not applying to the Premier Store and had to contact Sales. This makes me think that there is a limit to the Store Software when it comes to all the other limits of a Voucher! The $10 Voucher is good on all items, but it is still a Voucher and has the limits of a Voucher. DAZ has indicated that they will have replacements which leads me to believe that the issue is not with the Models, but possibly the Texture or some component of the Model.

Wild speculation here. ;-)

Daimler-Chrysler owns the rights to the Jeep grille design. AM General, the HMMWV/Hummer manufacturer, has a right to use it on Hummers as they were part of AMC motors (along with Jeep) when the HMMWV was originally designed using that grille design. AMC went belly up, Chrysler bought the remains excepting AM General. Chrysler then merged/was absorbed by Daimler-Benz.

Daimler-Chrysler is extremely protective of the Jeep trademarks. A while back, someone here sent them a letter asking if they'd have a problem with a Poser Jeep. Their reply was the WWII military jeeps were public domain, but all of the later CJ designs were off limits.

They sued AM General and GMC over the H2's use of that grille design. That they wouldn't send DAZ a C&D letter over what they see as a violation of their trademark wouldn't surprise me in the least. Not to mention, either AM General or GMC could have done so.

If Daimler-Chrysler is the culprit, odds are it's modeler can fix it quickly and easily with a different grille. If AMG or GMC are the offended ones, the modeler will probably have to replace the model outright.

Then again, I might be completely off base. ;-)

Message edited on: 10/20/2004 00:27

OK, you can only copyright trade marks, product names and designs and logos. A name of a military vehicle cannot be copy protected so as to prevent someone making a model of that vehicle, so you can legally make a Blackhawk helicopter, as long as you don't use the manufacturers name with it. For instance, you can make an F16 Eagle, but you can't make a MacDonald Douglas F16 Eagle. If the names where the problems, they would have to remove half of the models on the internet, because you can get Humvees, Abrahms tanks, Blackhawk helicopters, and every other conceivable military vehicle on the net. If you make a vehicle, you have to omit any logo's or markings that are copyrighted, so you will see that the Mini car in the market place does not have the manufacturer badge on it. If you made a BMW, no-one can stop you, unless you put the BMW logo on the front grill. With military vehicles there are no manufacturers markings, so they cannot stop you. Remember that military vehicles are paid for by tax dollars, and belong to the people of the country, not the government. The only other place where copyrights may apply, is when you are using authentic military markings, from existing military units. You have to fabricate the units involved, and can't use decals or serial numbers from the real world, but this should be obvious, those military units have a right on the use of those names, markings and serial numbers.

Modeling and Copyright of the original vehicle or product is not always an issue, but Licensing Agreements often are. Even then, Licensing Agreements do not prevent a third party from making and selling a model of that product in every situation. This goes for Logos, trademarks, and other unique features. Mak a model of a Chevy Corvette and you can be very detailed. Try to do the same of a Indy Pace Car version of a Chevy Corvette and you will have problems with the details, or even the use of Indy Pace Car in the name.

They said it was an issue of it infringing on another MODEL. Not the subjectmatter. -_-

In other words it APPEARS, someone may have been BORROWING bits and pieces from other models. I say appears because Daz are being pretty quiet about this. Given the legal issues involved, and the liability incurred by the customers who may have used these models commercially, I am shocked that they have not mailed out a warning.

I seldom go to the Daz forum, and I passed on this message several times. I'm damn lucky I didn't use them yet. -_-

I realize Daz couldn't really have forseen this situation, but I can't help being a little pissed.

Message edited on: 10/20/2004 08:39

Actually, if you have purchased the models in question, you should have received a recall e-mail.

Did last night. IMO That should have been the first priority.

Just a reminder. The Tank is not the PCBONUS Bradley.

No, Their first priority is investigating the claim and getting the effective items off the market. Sorry, if this offends someone, but people need to realize that if they start hurling accusations without proof, then they open themselves up to legal action against them. Plus it is not easy to go through the customer database to find out who purchased these models so they had a better idea of the damage done. Right now if you have one (Or more) of the affected models, you can either wait for the new version be built, or call Sales for a replacement item or refund. The HMMV and the Blackhawk were PC bonus items. The M1 Abrams was a Premiere store item and not the tank in the Platinum Bonus Area (just to reiterate what others have been saying.)

You know what I'm finding ironic about all this? The Humvee model doesn't appear to have been assembled in accord with Daz's own recommendations for Brokered products. I wonder if they were scrambling to fill some perceived market need for US military vehicles, to support the recently-released desert soldiers. And now the Black Watch are moving in, and the uniforms are different anyway.