Tell me why would anyone download a mat file if they didn't have the object or textures to go with it? What can you do with a mat file without the rest of it? Sharen

Ummm...good question. Unless they plan on looking at it in a text editor to learn how it's done...I don't see why they would. :o

Ron Knights has in the Freebies section the Mat files for our Saloon, I see that 134 people have downloaded this file and I can't for the life of me figure out why, we haven't sold 134 Saloon models? Can someone give me a reason why this is so? Sharen

ALso some people are "Pack Rats" they like to download everything just in case they need it for some future purchase or they don't realize they can't use it with out the prop, character or whatever.

Place a simple black color in freestuff and you will get 1000 downloads :-)) Maybe more :-))

LOL People download it for the same reason I've had 449 downloads of the texture I made up for the SMV Essentials II swimsuit... I even sent a message to Jim Burton to see if he had sold that many copies yet... nope... you can't really do much with the texture if you don't have the swimsuit, unless you cut it apart and reuse it... People don't read what they're getting... they just know it's free so they download it.

hmmmmmm, I was shocked to see the amount, and thought did I miss all these orders....LOL, thanks for the explanation. Sharen

Exactly Sharon...this last comment IS the case! LOL When the Manchu Emperor was up for sale at Renderosity... its textures were too many so I had given the casual ones as freebies.... they were downloaded by the hundreads while the character had sold a dozen! LOL Rena

Very weird....they must do something with this? Sharen

As a pack rat I downloaded it, I never know if I will buy the saloon, but if I do, I'll have the extra texture.

Yeah, but Lee you download EVERYTHING! ;)

Sites disappear all the time. People run out of space and take the older stuff off....... I know we haven't sold 500 copies of our cavern but there's 500+ placement poses downloaded. You can't use them for anything else either. :) I think it's just the nature of the beast Sharen. I just want to know how everyone keeps all that stuff organized!!! :)

Uh, folks, can you say Mo*****us?

514 people have downloaded my Shari clothing magnets even though the thumbnail clearly says they need Shari 2.0 from the MarketPlace. Now, if I had sold 514 copies of Shari in only two weeks, I'd be the happiest girl on R'osity. However... that isn't the case :P And I also refuse to believe that hundreds of people already got Shari 2.0 by using Mo*****us... So there's only one explanation: people just download whatever they possibly can and don't care if they can use it or not :P

With clothing textures, I might download one for an item I don't have if I think I can slice and dice it for use with something else. MATs I download only if I'm considering buying the object and want to grab the MAT now before I forget.

I downloaded it. I don't have the Saloon, but I argue with myself to get it. > I just want to know how everyone keeps all that stuff organized!!! :) Well, I have this big folder with zip files (over 5 GB). Sometimes I drop into it and find some kick ass stuff. ;)

And I also refuse to believe that hundreds of people already got Shari 2.0 by using Mo***us At any given point, you can find half a million users on Morpheus; thats what my housemate the DJ tells me. A couple hundred people with Shari would be nothing.

That's what I had before I discovered that Ron and I both submitted the same item to Free Stuff :) FWIW, the link just passes through to a downloads page on my local box; I'm not 100% sure on how Renderosity counts downloads (pass-through or domain/URL?)... perhaps that may have something to do with it? Also, if you want a real accurate count in the future, perhaps I can get up a perl script that counts HTTP requests for a given file (there may be one of those already - if so I'll hunt it down and install it, or at least force a poor student to write one up it if y'all feel you want it :) /P

You can actually make an .obj file from a cr2. Could this be a reason?

I'm not sure why, but I think there are people who just download every new item everyday without even looking at what it is. I've seen some very odd things in free stuff that I can't even figure out what they are, yet there are numerous downloads shown on them. Go figure! I only download things I know I can use. Why clutter up the hard drive or use up CD's for things that I'll never use? And I'm still on dial-up modem, so the time it takes to download some things is just too much to waste for something I can't use. I think there are people out there who will just take something because it's FREE. [shrug] Melanie

I'm a bit mystified here. I did label the thumbnail the best I could to say it was for the saloon. All that is in the file is the "MAT" or Pose file (I couldn't even get an rsr for some weird reason.)and a short readme file. I was careful to explain that you needed to buy the wonderful saloon and the texture(s) separately. There is no texure in the zip file. I wouldn't do anything that would compromise SAM3D's copyright or sales. All this MAT really does is setup the textures with a click of a button. It took me awhile to get all the textures right, and I wanted to make it easier for another customer. I can speak for the Packrat mentality. I saw early on that some artists had retired their characters or withdrawn their work, etc. So I knew I had to "get it now, or never." Heck, I was downloading free Mike and Vicky stuff several months before I bought them. And I'm glad I did, because some of that stuff is indeed no longer available. Mike and Sharen, be sure to tell me if this freebie causes you any problems or discomfort. If it does, I'll yank it in a second. Ron

Some people download stuff, even if they can't use it now, because it may not be available later when they do need it.

Ironbear and ronknights are right! I'm one of those guilty people who does sometimes download an item I don't yet have because I can never find the freebies when I finally buy the item. And I have a horrible time finding anything on my HD because I'm such a pack rat so half the time I have to do a search on here to find the freebie again anyway :-)

Heh. I didn't say I didn't do that, Rain. ;] Matter of fact, I'm a packrat also. I DL things because I've gone back later when I actually needed it and it wasn't there. Whereas, if I have it and don't need it, oh well - it's only eating up space on a CD. ;]

Don't worry about it Sharen. I have two packs of MAT poses in the free stuff. They are both clearly labled and clearly state what figures they are for (both figures from my store). I haven't sold even 5% of the number of downloads on those MAT poses. I know it isn't file sharing software because I check regularly and my stuff isn't being shared as far as I can see - not en masse anyway. I haven't seen yours either. Besides, I don't see the galleries full of pics of my stuff. If you really want to reassure yourself, make up an imaginary model that doesn't exist then post some MAT poses for it (make sure the thumb looks really attractive and tempting). I'll bet you get lots of downloads.

Don`t forget to factor into all this the Power of the newbie! I remember downloading many items when I first found Renderosity just to see what they were, or in my ignorance items that were unusable.

Well, I appreciate all the imput, this was a real learning experience. So many different views. I really don't care, I just couldn't understand it, I am like Melanie, why download it if I am not going to use it, but I do understand some of your thoughts. Get it now or it will be gone type of thing. I thank you again. Sharen

Sharen - another "reason"/justification for downloading things is that it serves as an offsite storage for artists when they themselves are looking for a copy of something they posted long ago. I was able to recover a pair of Traveler's undies from 1999 and send them along. Hmmm..that sounds a bit sordid ;-)
Ray
P.S. Finish up that Sheriff's Office - I have my PayPal info at the ready to scoop it up!!

Oh, yes, I downloaded everything when I was a newbie, too. :) I still have a stack of old floppy disks full of items I downloaded about 3 or 4 years ago and I've never used them. I'm in the process of sorting them out and transferring the useable things to CD and just deleting the ones that I don't even know what they are. LOL It was such fun to download things that were free. It was like Christmas everyday. I think I have about 50 floppies to either transfer or delete. Now I use a bit more discretion in what I download, just because it takes a lot of my time and I really have to think about whether I'll use something or not. Anyway, Sharen, I wouldn't worry about why people are taking things that relate to your purchase items they haven't bought. Hopefully, they plan to buy your items. They're certainly excellent things you have there. When my wage increase kicks in after March 1, I really want to get some of your things. Melanie

Sharen, sometimes people will see a "supporting item," and then get excited about the item that is supported. Someone might see the Saloon MAT files, and decide to buy the Saloon!