Quote - This is a small market there is no denying it. We all know it.  Its one of our main initiatives at DAZ 3D to attract new users  to this community and create new 3D "addicts" like us. We have been accused and attacked for "abandoning" the Poser users, we have no intention of doing that, which is why I am here, but NOBODY should have any issue whatsoever with us trying to bring in fresh blood.  Are you saying that you wouldn’t give almost anything to reach 100,000 more customers... even if they were complete novices? Adapting to a position where we can appeal to a complete novice AND a seasoned veteran is the goal and we believe it can be done

...I have nothing against attracting new customers to Daz. Over the years since I became involved in 3D CG, I have suggested to many who were interested to fo to the Daz3D site, DL the (then) free version and one of the free content packages (first the 3D Bridge Pack then Anime Starfighter bundle) to get a feel for the programme. This is something I still applaud Daz for as the free version was the full blown base programme (not some "emasculated" 30 day trial) which let you not only render a scene but save the final result with no annoying watermarks or size restrictions.  

However I feel moving the free version to an online only status is kind of a step in the wrong direction.  Not everyone has a 24/7 high speed fibre optic network connection and many have restricted download limits and/or (such as myself) poor or slow connectivity.  Furthermore being online takes valuable processing and memory reources away.  For example I'm runninng FF right now and it is chewing up over a quarter gig of my RAM.

When I chose DazStudio four years ago it was because the core application was free, no strings attached, no cost to join. I didn't need a network connection to use it or under a deadline of some imposed expiration date so I could work at my own speed when and where I pleased.  I would never have explored it's possibilities If I had to base the decision on a hamstrung demo, pony up hard earned cash first, or was required to be connected to the net (as back then I could only do so at a public "hotspot") to do so.

That said, my one concern is that attracting new people into the fold shouldn't be done so at the expense of those who have been on board for years and cannot or choose not to upgrade to the "latest and greatest".  There is an RPG publisher who did that six years ago (not GDW or WotC), who in so doing alienated many of the system's long time customers and supporters (myself for one) by totally gutting the game's mechanics and setting and making it play more like a "Pen and Paper" version of an MMO.  Granted, we were not prevented from playing the older version because we actually "owned" the books and they didn't require expensive computer hardware to use. When an inconsistency or vagueness in the rules arose, we could simply "debug" it through what is known as "house-ruling" which didn't violate copyright (and was actually encouraged by the game designers) as long as we didn't republish the information for public sale. Unfortunately this does not work the same way with graphics software because we only own the licence to the use the programme, are bound by the EULA, and access to the application's source code (along with programming expertise) is required to make any fixes.  Hence we are dependent on the company's development team to do the "houseruling" for us.

Since ver.4 seems to be a break from previous versions of the application, making the necessary long awaited fixes to Studio3/3A does not require retooling or "rolling back" anything. It does not threaten sales of ver.4 for this is now the "SOTA" version of the application that newcomers to Daz will see and most likely buy.

Quote - These are a collection of screenshots from my Studio "Runtime" folder content tree in S3A.  All of the blue highlighted selections are non-content folders (e.g. contain nothing that can be loaded into a scene) which are clearly the result of Daz installers as can be seen from the folder names.  When I install content from Zip files, I do so manually by first extracting to a temp. folder and then moving the individual component folders (Geometries, Characters, Poses, etc.) into their proper locations.  Templates, Readmes & the like go into separate folders outside of the Studio application.

Content "Data" folders, while important for the application, should not be visible anywhere in the Content tab.

This is just downright sloppy programming and I'm not even a programmer.

Quote - This isnt the doing of DAZ 3D. its the doing of PAs and mostly its Poser content compatibility that is the culprit.  Since DS4 came out, this is less of an issue because we check this more.

...so why didn't this go through Q & A in the first place? As Daz only uses .exe installers they should have tested all .exes to make sure that the complete install package was properly set up before it hit the store. These "extraneous" folders make a real mess of the Studio content tree and navigating it a chore.  This is why I am in favour of .zip files for even though it is more work on my part to install content, at least I can have complete control over where everything goes. ...and with that in mind...

Quote - Regarding zips, I think we should keep in mind that 24 'voters' represents maybe about 0.003% of the DAZ customer base, if it reaches 100,000 mark. DAZ needs to do whatever it thinks is best for the majority.

Having said the above I would also personally prefer ZIP files. I would be happy with an executable which requires that I actively accept the EULA, and if I accept the EULA the executable then creates a ZIP file in the same directory.

...Now that would be a good idea as it would allow those of us who design our own runtime structures greater flexibility and would eliminate the situation I mentioned above.  it could be implemented as an option with a check box after the EULA is accepted.  If one chooses the .zip file option, then the .exe bypasses the install process and goes directly to the "finish" page.  Elegant.

---

...forsaken daughter is watching you.

[Intel Xeon 5660 Hyperthreading 6 core CPU, 24GB GSkill Ripjaws 1333 DDR3 Tri Channel RAM, Nvidia Titan-X GPU with 12GB GDDR5 & 3072 cores, 1 x AData 240 GB SSD (boot) + 1 x 2TB HDD, EGVA 850 G5 PSU Antec P-193 with more fans than Justin Bieber.]