Rhia474 posted at 8:14 AM Tue, 14 March 2023 - #4458397

Yeah, that's what I thought. For a second there I was hopeful, le sigh. Content creation is so different from what people buy Poser for and requires other programs to build...definitely not why ppl get into this hobby. Content creation is an income stream, not something you get into for fun. I think, at least. It's an additional job. Probably why people don't just say 'hey, screw this, no one builds decent historical clothing, let me whip  it up', lol.

Therein lies part of the problem. A lot of people want/need content that is somewhat "niche."

I love making historical clothing, especially medieval era clothing. But it's "niche" and doesn't sell as well as even real-world clothing does. And even real-world clothing doesn't sell as well as the skimpwear that most people gravitate toward.

Sure, I can try to create stuff for V4. But after 18 years of V4 content, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything that she doesn't already have, which means you try to create something that fills a void. And typically, filling a void also means "niche." And reduced sales as a result.

In my case it doesn't matter much, I use content sales to supplement retirement income for "rainy day" type expenses. And even to cover software upgrades now and then. But looking at this from the perspective of someone whose content income is their bread and butter, it's not practical to design content for an 18 year old figure that already has pretty much everything. I'm just trying to be objective and honest here. I don't want to cause a firestorm .. but "it is what it is". 8-(

So ... let's go back to medieval clothing as an example. Let's say you create a set of clothing that consists of 7 pieces of clothing, all which layer over each other. Vest over shirt, jacket over vest, shirt tucks and untucks from pants, boots over pants, you get the idea. Each of those clothing items has to be modeled, UV'd, and textured with at least three different material options for variety. Then you have to test each layer of clothing with various morphs and poses to make sure that pokethrough is minimized. After that you have to create all the library files so that users can use the product easily. And then there are the promo renders and marketing stuff. By the time all is said and done you are talking 2-4 weeks of work, depending on the complexity of the outfit. So let's continue with worst case.

So now, how to price it? If this is your primary source of income, 15 dollars is not an unreasonable hourly wage these days. At 4 weeks of time, 15 dollars an hour is 2400 dollars. Since most content marketplaces take 50 percent cut, that means the product would need to sell at least 4800 dollars worth to cover the time invested in making the content. If the product is priced at 20 dollars, that would mean it would have to sell 240 copies to cover that 4 weeks of development time at a reasonable wage, regardless of the figure being designed for "Niche" products don't sell anywhere near that, sorry to say.

I've tried to explain this objectively, and without attacking anyone's opinions.  I'm sure users would love a "make content" button in addition to a "make art" button. But unfortunately, there is a lot more involved to creating content than many realize.