I remember you Dalinise! It doesn't seem that long ago. I am partial to PoserPro2014 with the game developer add-on. Game developer has a few neat items such as polygon reduction, but a drawback in that SM put in a "Check in with us every six months or deactivate" Kill switch. I think Game Developer was integrated with Poser Pro 11 and that by request you can get a code that doesn't require the cumbersome check-in process if your have a virus firewalled stand-alone machine not connected to the web for your expensive graphics business work. You do need to look into the split with DAZ though, as characters you wish to sell product for might determine which software you go with.

Structure, May I suggest that it is probably in your own best interests to keep your account if only so you can download items that you previously purchased. The management at Renderosity is not likely to care sufficiently to make changes based on whether or not you leave, so don't "cut off you nose to spite your face" as they say. If you lose a HD it can be a real PITB (B=Buttocks). It may feel good at the moment to disassociate, but in the long run anything can happen and these are items that you shopped for and bought and which Renderoisty, like DAZ, is allowing you to access when you need to. Think about it, what if down the line Renderoisty merges or is taken over or buys another 3D company?

I myself haven't spent much time shopping here lately (Daz and RDNA and SM haves been getting most of my 3D money - more than I planned to spend with them) but I'm still checking the forums here hoping for changes or deals that I like, albeit with less frequency.

Thanks, 3DArena.

This is something where Renderosity's moderators could have answered quickly with a link like this. Very Helpful. Appreciated.

https://www.renderosity.com/mod/emarket/index.php

I might have taken up the coupons on January 25th had I known of their existence. I've had a sale item waiting in my shopping cart for more than a week and I was looking for an additional reason to add something else to it. Oh, well. Wait for the next one, maybe. Also didn't see the vendor sales.

KimberlyC posted at 2:59AM Sat, 30 January 2016 - #4251784

" Hi guys!

I wanted to clear up some stuff as well:

"I am immediately less interested in this site because of the prohibition on linking to other marketplaces." - This was something we always have done. It was included within the commercial images/links. It was asked to make it a bit clearer as it could be confusing. So this is nothing new. "

Hope this helps a bit! :)

I am sorry your company feels that way and is now choosing to dig it in in black and white. I never knew this prohibition existed and have frequently linked to other sites when writing here and elsewhere whenever I thought it was helpful. Poser belongs to Smith Micro, and is on another marketplace site. As are the Daz and Carrara programs. Renderosity does not have any such programs of their own and is dependent on artists and customers coming to them from those sites. You have a cross-over on artists with Daz and RDNA and Content Paradise and many others. This is all part of the community you are saying you want your company to be a part of. I did not originally find Renderosity until AFTER I had found Daz and Content Paradise. I came to you through them, and ultimately anchored to you as my favorite 3D site when Smith Micro revolutionized Content Paradise. To some extent you are dependent on them and cannot succeed if you cut yourselves off.

I've offered you my thoughts in three posts above and reiterate that I think this new addition to TOS, this prohibition on linking to other sites and market places is flat out wrong. I will not be hurting your efforts on your Poser threads -ever- that would be something bad for the community, but I will not be participating to help your version grow as long as that aspect is in place. You've lost me. I feel you do not see the big picture of our 3D community. Good luck, Peace be with you all.

I am immediately less interested in this site because of the prohibition on linking to other marketplaces.

I haven't seen a coupon since last year. Did they stop? Or are they PRIME only?

Nobody from Renderosity answered the two questions in the opening post.

Years ago I had a friend that did some consulting work for Will Vinton Studios, the experts in Claymation that once did something called "California Grapes." Spending some time there in Portland with the actual artists of the company, and also with a number of artists that worked both on their own in and around the city and as contractors to the studio I can say that as a whole they were a fun but really odd bunch. They were at once leaders in technology -perhaps geniuses- where art grabbed them but also Luddites and often fearful of computers where they did not pertain to art. Similarly outgoing and vocal and even egotistical where it pertained to art and art techniques, but also very private and retiring on many matters.

I can see how some of those artists would embrace a Facebook type approach that Rendo seems to be pushing. I can also see how some of the quirkier perhaps more genius types would vehemently denounce it.

I see humor in this this thread which so far to me is a bit of a mirror of a bigger real world community that I once briefly experienced. If Renderosity does not like the negative comments in this thread they are probably ailenating at least half of the community, regardless of age. By the same token, by starting this thread Hope may be engaging about half of this community.

I'm not at all into the Facebook approach (do not equate with my genius comment), which is a complete turn-off, though I've offered you a bit of personal information here in the spirit of the thread.

May I additionally suggest that if Renderosity is suddenly finding an increase in comments they don't like to see on the forums it might be that they are no longer engaging the people they want to (i.e. have turned them off)? You tend to get negative comments more frequently when people (customers/artists) are unhappy. At first they will be constructive as long as they feel someone who cares is listening. After the customers that you want to engage get tired and leave then what remains will likely be the more vocal negative outliers. I don't know if this is the problem here, but management should consider the possibility. Again, IMHO. If it is, the harder you crack down, the less valuable and more cranky the forum will become until finally even the outliers realize they are shouting into the empty wind and go away.

I think the 'no linking' to other marketplaces is a huge mistake, both for Renderosity Artists and Staff. As a company I would encourage the opposite.. to a degree.

In the past if there was a sale at Rendo on an item an artist was interested in I'd post it at Daz or RDNA and vice versa. For the size of the community it's not like this is a big secret. Generally an artist spends time on a company forum if they like that company and if the time they spend on the forum gives them additional value in return. An artist's time and where it is spent should be considered of value to the company. By curtailing the sharing of information you lessen the value of me logging in and sitting on your site.

If this is going to be Rendo policy don't look to me freely saying as many good things about Rendo on other sites. What goes around comes around. And if the staff and management doesn't want insight to what we artists think is better, so be it. That's how a business declines. Very young and naieve IMHO. I can see a prohibition on abject shilling for other sites as being absolutely reasonable..

I'm kinda curious about the 'freebies', too. Saw one back in October. Rendo touted them as a big positive of the changes but they're not particularly easy to find. I'd expect them under a prominent button such as 'Deals' or 'Notifications' or even the pretty much useless (to me) 'Activity Feed' thingy.

If they are still doing them (the freebies), can we get any or all of them (the back issues) still or do they expire with the month?

Sorry about the snarky tone. That's just the way I'm feeling at the moment. I used to have fun browsing product at Rendo. Now I seem to spend more time browsing the forums. At least the forums I can see all at once.

Thank goodness they haven't oriented forums for vertical appliances like they seem to have done all the other screens in the marketplace. 3D Graphics stations are high end, not hand held consumer items. I'd think they'd want to cater to the higher end of the market.

One possible suggestion is that Renderosity step in and fund a crossover project that makes the Gn characters work properly and easily on Poser. Add in one person from Daz and one from Smith Micro to work on the team.

I believe a successful project would benefit all three companies and the 3D graphics community.

A long term view of such a team would be to have it funded equally by all three companies - (or a consortium of more - like Cablelabs for TV) and work in the direction of a universal character that could take in full body scans of real people so that vendors can in the long run design clothing and adornments that can be made for sale to a larger public.

My understanding is that Renderosity's and Renderosity Vendor's cash cow of V4 was on the decline and there was nothing new coming out of Smith Micro and Poser that was creating the major crossover that V4 had. Deep sales on V4 were great for customers, and 3.50 Prime was good for customers and vendors but was bringing in no revenue for Rendo for all its management overhead. By going to V6 and Gn characters they would not interest a Poser based clientele.

So they had to try something.

I like Hornet's summary. But where do things need to go from here? Does anybody out there have any thoughts?

One of my beefs, not a direction, is that they seem to have vertically oriented the screen so that no matter how big my laptop or station screen I never see a whole image. I spend so much time mouse scrolling just trying to see properly what they are selling it is ridiculous. I think they should determine where their customer base buys from and hold off on catering to the mobile fad a bit. Sales will eventually come from there but my feeling is that they are killing their core business by catering too early and too heavily to a future business that is not ready for them. If I'm wrong on this, it is a major change and I'd like to be contradicted.

I believe 3D Graphics needs High Horsepower. Tablets and smartphones cater to low horsepower.

If someone is buying on a smartphone or tablet, the implication is that there still has to be a more powerful machine lurking somewhere, and that tablet is an addition not a substitution for where the real activity occurs.

Also note that while Daz is more highly ranked than Renderosity over the period, it is also more stable (both good things for a company). It's rank ranges from a low of 14.5 to a high of 9 over the period while Rendo ranges from a low of about 36 to a high of about 24 over the same period. The way the graphs are presented, however, it makes the improvement (changes) in Daz look more dramatic than they actually are numerically.

Conversely, ShareCGs rise from a low from worse than 100 to a high of 50 is much more dramatic than the graphs appear to show.

Of the things that I see in these relative graphs (personal opinion only), when Rendo instituted changes the site's popularity took a negative turn and RDNA got a slight bump. Daz and ShareCG were on the rise already so it's hard to tell if people started looking there for content as a substitute for shopping at Rendo, but the Rendo stumble may have helped fuel the rise. And/or it could signal customers long term beginning to give up on Poser, which doesn't really have well-supported characters, and going for G3 products while making a more permanent commitment to Daz Studio. Content Paradise, which used to be a major player, is not even in the running anymore. When Smith Micro ignored customers and aligned the site more to their enterprise business practices rather than the artistic market they were supposed to be addressing, Content Paradise pretty much died. A free posting site with minimum vendor and customer support such as ShareCG beats the pants off them. Finally, when Smith Micro brought out Poser11 in November it has given Rendo a slight bump, and RDNA a blip-bump. Throughout the year RDNA has been generally improving. Poser 11 introduction appears to have taken some of the steam out of Daz popularity for the moment. It remains to be seen whether the program delivers on its promises.

Alexa's "Estimated" rankings of sites as of today. A lower number is better (#1 is better than #100).

Renderosity:

Daz3D:

my.smithmicro:

Runtime DNA (RDNA):

Content Paradise:

ShareCG: