Those who know me well will all-too-enthusiastically agree. I keep falling for the same ploy. This Hallowe'en GrabBag is the proof in the puddin'... I know I shouldn't bite, I'll probably end up with something that I will not use and feel ridiculous even downloading.
Which is what happened.

At least I did something on my wishlist I had forgotten was on special. Now, I'm sure that a Bryce or Max user would have been thrilled with this item I got as a freebie, particularly when you look at the going price of the thing, but I don't have Bryce or Max and it sounds from what the developer wrote that Poser was a bit of an afterthought, so it's going into the same folder as the Grungy Basement, which I still haven't found a use for since the last GrabBag.

Oh, but I am a sucker... saw scads of prittty piccies of things I did want... greedy me. Why did I think - with my crappy luck - that I'd end up with one of those?

So, never again.

Edited to add... Note To Self: Look for an Item You won't want on that list of 25 items they are luring you with... that is what you will end up with. Guaranteed.

I'm sure you'll find a use for it.  You will have to spend some time composing scenes and less time in the material room!

love esther

What's the grab bag? Some deal where you pay to get a random prize? Like in a gumball machine - only digitially?

Did you ever get the ring you wanted from the gumball machine?

--- break ---

This is not apropos your thread but ... occasionally I am given gift certs for the Rendo store. I have had $35 sitting in my account for over a year. I try to find something I want every week. I cannot. Everything looks flawed to me in some way that suggests I'd rather make it myself or is just not something that interests me. (For example, large black man with blood splatters on him - hmmm - excellent texture work but - nope don't need a bloody texture. Breast morphs - nope. Hair that looks like 3 polygons - nope.)

What should I do with it? I sometimes think I should buy something that is fairly popular but needs shaders and then put together a proper freebie shader set for it.

What would that be if I were to do that?

It would be an add-on product.

why don't you buy those new movie sets that are out.  They look great as is.  (mind you the promo could be vue render I suppose)

Love esther

No no - I did not make that clear.

I don't mean "tell me what you call an add-on product".

I meant, if I were to make an add-on shader set for a product, what product would that be - what product would you like better shaders for?

oh I see.  well probably all the daz shaders that came with the latest mil figures for a start.

And there you have a tip to the OP...breasts are your friends,  

hehe.  nice render.  fringe would probably fall towards the floor a bit.

Hair is your enemy

Well, don't feel too bad. It was free, so no harm done. And you did buy something you wanted. Maybe consider it a challenge to use it in at least one render? ;)

The real prize, though, would be bagginsbill's musings on what to re-do textures for.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3721796&ebot_calc_page#message_3721796

Well the grab-bag was #1 on the What's Hot list, so I guess a lot of people went for it.  And ya I remember my first Halloween grab-bag...I got the rock. 

did the rock morph?

I never do grab bags...lol. I have the same luck as Robyn. I learnt my lesson early ;o).

I'm also with bb in that I just don't find much anymore that I can't either make myself or that really trips my trigger. Dry spell I guess.

Laurie

Poor jerr3d, a lump of coal for you, my pretty.

Funny, I found a nice river rock in, of all places, the cereal aisle of a grocery store, just sitting on the floor. It's now my favorite paperweight.

My apologies to TC for the disturbing imagery.

Robyns, I know what you mean.  There's a few things I'd like from the grab bag, but I figure I'll end up with one of the two M4 ones and I don't even use M4.

Quote - if I were to make an add-on shader set for a product, what product would that be - what product would you like better shaders for?

I guess the smart move would be to get a product that is very popular (like an aery soul product or something) so more people would use the add-ons, probably something with a great mesh but a bad texture set.

However the problem with an add-on is if you do a leather or metal mat, you don't really need to buy the product to being with.  Likewise if you wanted to do a hair-mat, that'd possibly be a shader that uses the existing textures and would be better off as a VSS template.

Another thing you could consider is to take one of the 2d texture sets out there if there's one you really like and make a group of shaders to go with that.

I seem to be misunderstood. I'm getting advice on how to make money with an add-on product.

I am not asking about making something to sell.

Let's start over.

Some people gave me Rendo gift certificates. So...

I have some free money that is not real money - it must be used to buy something at Rendo.

Rendo does not have anything I want to buy. Everything I see here is either something I dislike, or something I have no interest in, or something I could do better myself.

Rather than let the money go to waste, I would like to use it to inspire a freebie.

I would like to buy something that OTHER people have so that a freebie shader set would be useful. Then when I actually have this thing I would be able to see it and fix it with my own hands and eyes. Usually I have to help people shade a product I do not have, so I cannot show you the best results - I can only give instructions. If I actually have a product in my hands, I can do things with it and share the outcome.

This would give me something useful to do with the money. At the moment the money is essentially worthless and creating no value.

I am not interested in making a product for sale here. I'm talking about a way of converting my useless $35 into a benefit for the community.

So the question I'm asking is - what product should I buy so that I can personally work with it and produce a better version of its shaders to give away?

At least you got something for your grab bag!!!

I got a grab bag too, but all it says in my account is "grab bag" and no download link to anything.

When I said add-on, you can replace it with freebie or whatever.  My points stand. 

Ideas:

A popular product that a lot of people would be able to use

Something that you think has a good mesh but a bad texture/shader

2d textures that you think would need a good shader to look right

I'll add these two things as well:

1.  Something you'd think would be fun/challenging to work with

1. Create your own art style and pick an item that would look good with that style

I could just pick a random thing from my runtime, but I don't think that'd be productive.

Of the things you can get at RO that a lot of ppl use...Mavka comes to mind. It's not because I have her, it's because she seems to be really popular, as are Nursoda's figures. I just can't see you having much use for those tho bb...lol.

Laurie

Nice rock render, jerr3d! That's taking lemons and making lemonade!

Acadia doesn't even get a lump of stone? That's not right.

Someone must have an item they'd like to see bagginsbill make alternate textures for.

I know the feeling, that I suspect many Poser users share once they gain some facility with the program, when a product makes me think "I could make that myself if I really wanted it." Not as polished or with as much detail, perhaps, because I wouldn't be making it for sale, but I would feel some measure of accomplishment.

And then there are the (thankfully not common) products that make me think, "Congratulations, you can move the Hue slider in Photoshop."

I suspect that as one transitions from a noob to a jaded user, fewer and fewer and things that hit the market will catch one's eye. Not only because the eye has become jaded, but because honestly what don't you already have in your runtime?

That's OK, because noobs drive this industry and the more items that noobs buy, the healthier things are overall. So the Bikini Du Jour or the latest collection of hair colors don't do it for me, but I wouldn't want to see them go away. Rendo limiting itself to one or two fresh innovative products per week would be a dull place.

Anyway, is there really nothing among Rendo's gazillion products not worth your $35? If I was running Rendo, that wouldn't make me feel very comfortable, coming from a member of the Poser team. There are many things I would buy if they were $20 or $30 cheaper!

Quote - Acadia doesn't even get a lump of stone? That's not right.

I guess The Great Halloween Pumpkin didn't think I was worthy this year!

EDIT:  I looked more closely at my purchase and the grab bag shows 2nd from the top without a download link.  At the end of the purchase there is a zero item called "Simonee"

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=77386&keyword=simoneeSo I think I did get something in my grab bag after all!

Quote - What should I do with it? I sometimes think I should buy something that is fairly popular but needs shaders and then put together a proper freebie shader set for it.

What would that be if I were to do that?

I'm sure everyone would want you to work on something they have and since I don't know what's popular or not here are two products I'm planning on working with and would love to have shaders from you.

Firstly, your hosiery mat is one of my favorites so naturally I'd like something for this bodystocking:     http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=64693   I haven't tried it with your stocking mat but since it requires a skin map it probably won't look good without it.   Other materials for it might be nice as well.

Secondly, an environment that could benefit from a setup for PoserPro utilising IDL and GC would be this one:  http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=82306   It's relatively generic and maybe some nice grungy shaders as well would be good especially if you can make realistic grime and dirt in corners etc as part of the shader.  And of course a clean version would be welcome as well.

I'm not sure if this was exactly what you were looking for, just some suggestions even if they're just to get the ball rolling and have others give ideas as well.   I'm pretty sure that even if I don't have something, your shaders alone would be reason enough for getting it!

Thank you for the offer, it's most generous of you and very much appreciated!

i chipped a tooth on that thing, I thought it was some sort new-style jawbreaker! T.T

Seems everyone has risen well above the sorry-for-myself bleating I was doing... I'm so impressed with you guys and gals!

@ Acadia: I'm delighted for you. She looks like a nice character. It would have surprised me if Rendo hadn't given you anything, and it would have been so ill-deserved, after all you've given to the Poser community!
@ Laurie: I should have learned from the last one. And I've been really good, too - saving up for a new machine because my old one died, so Rendo hasn't seen much of my custom these days. Oh well, once a shopper, always a shopper, I guess. :blink:
@ Esther: apparently, this item I did get was made primarily for Bryce and Max, so Poser is a bit of an afterthought, looks like to me. So, if I had a need for a floating personnel carrier, I'd probably be spending a fair bit of time in the Mat roomto tweak the shaders.
@ Bagginsbill: Heck, I'd be going to the "What's Hot" section of the Marketplace, pick just about any original item, have a look and a re-do of the shader, and then - I know you said freebie but! - sell it to us groupies as a lesson on how to make the correct shaders for that particular sort of item!
I'd be paying for that! Wouldn't the rest of you??!? :biggrin:

LOL @ jerr3d... you're too fast with that! I have a great dentist for you, and, though Miss Nancy ain't a lawyer, I'd have a chat. ;)

There's an idea: have bagginsbill list a few items he thinks would be interesting for him, and see what would be in the most peoples' runtimes.

I go into the grab bag thing with this mentallity   ...I'm going to buy something I need or want ... the grab bag item is FREE, so whatever it is is just a bonus,. If I can;t use it, trash time...no loss

What would be cool though is if Rendo would allow you to gift an unwanted grab bag item to someone.

At Bagginsbill....you can gift me that $35 and I;'m sure I could find some stuff to spend it on..plus get a bunch of grab bag items :)

As far as what you could buy to present a bunch of good shaders for it, its hard to tell, really. What would you be interested in working on? I can;t imagine anyone buying something that really wasn't of much interest just becasue a bunch of us neophytes thought we would like better shaders for something.

Hey, is this turning into one of those DAZ-style complaint threads? :lol:

I'm disappointed that I can't find anything compelling to use my 31% discount coupon on.

I'm also disappointed that there isn't anything compelling in the grab-bag, and like RV, I know I'd get something non-compelling anyway, so why am I even considering it?

I'm even more disappointed that, looking through the list of things I've bought from Rendo, I can't find a single thing that absolutely needs a BB shader set. Anyway, I prefer using his inventions that don't require a specific purchase - like the stocking shader, or the Matmatic loom.

But most of all I'm disappointed, in looking through said list, to find that there are so many things that I can't even remember buying, quite apart from the ones I do remember buying and feel guilty for not using.

:)

I spent 2 days rolling over the rendo site to find items i could buy at 31% off. it was a challenge.
Guess the point is that I really didn't need any of it, but i saved some money on what i did buy. Now that's shopping.