Actually, I did check into it at one point. I have HTML and CSS experience, but not anything that will help me through designing and maintaining a store. So I asked a friend for an estimate and he said even using existing software packages it would have run me about 5K just for him to get a store up and running. That was the first hurdle. The second hurdle was getting around the bandwidth issue. In order to provide enough bandwidth for several products, I would either have to pay a hosting company, or pay for the line and server hardware myself (another thing I'm not qualified to do). More expense that I didn't have. I simply didn't have the skills to do it myself ... and I didn't have the resources to pay someone else to do it for me. There are few who probably can. 8-(

How much do you think Daz paid for PP?
50k, 100k?
Take 20 top-selling merchants contributing 1k each as 5% shareholders and you have your start-up and intial running costs.
You could call it PoserElite.

Time to go to bed here.
'Night all

Message edited on: 02/11/2005 19:59

I don't see the price of Poser stuff going up, no matter what happens at Poser Pros. I think Poser Pros Merchants (like me) are just going to have to eat the smaller cut, I know I don't currently charge less for Poser Pros items compared to stuff I sell at DAZ or even here, I price the items at a "competive" price, and put the couple extra bucks in my pocket. ;-) Poser items prices are driven by supply and demand, just like everything else, so unless the supply dries up...

How much do you think Daz paid for PP? STORM, that is what I was wondering! Somewhere >1K & less than 1000K. DAZ. Hm. They seem to be buying so much. What do they know that we don't? Sweet dreams, sleep tight.

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...I don't blame daz for venturing out of content a bit. As a business model content alone strikes me as a precarious perch since a relatively small group of talented and motivated artists with solid leadership and a small (even $1,000,000 is small as business goes) capitalization could shake things up at their expense relatively quickly. Whether any entrepreneurs will ever try is anybody's guess. On the other hand as somebody in a post on this forum pointed out a few weeks ago 'daz isn't exactly a 3d power house' when you look at the software side of things. Shrug. Who knows.

Message edited on: 02/11/2005 23:27

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As randym pointed out, there's no reason for prices to go up. The DAZ strategy is exactly the opposite. Maximise the number of customers by giving them free software and figures, resulting in an increased volume of sales. If DAZ were so desparate to squeeze every penny out of the poser community, they'd be charging for DS. And even at something nominal like $20 a shot, they'd make a considerable amount towards the development costs. What do you expect them to do? Sit on their asses and wonder why nobody comes to buy their stuff? If the poser community had sites like TurboSquid, we'd REALLY have something to bitch about. Those who talk about 'the free pioneering spirit' or whatever tend to forget that in the early days of this community the figures were crap and unrealistic, and prices were a lot higher. DAZ at least deserve some credit for raising the quality bar and lowering the prices. mac

DAZ|Studio is in beta, and they're getting a very large customer base to help with the testing. Who knows exactly how it will work when DAZ|Studio is released in its final stage? What modules will we need to buy in order to make it functional? DAZ's strategy has been to release the "base" version of various figures, knowing that we'll want to buy the addon packs to gain greater functionality. Again, they haven't done this for every major Poser figure. Sometimes, when they do this, it is for a limited time. Stephanie, the Mystery Model is a good example. There was a long gap between the initial release of DAZ|Studio and getting Mike 3 and Vicky 3 for free. I do like what DAZ has done for the community. I do appreciate their freebies. I have, however, decided not to touch DAZ|Studio until we see its final release. I just have much more to learn with Poser 5, and I also want to learn other software such as Shade.

"DAZ's strategy has been to release the "base" version of various figures, knowing that we'll want to buy the addon packs to gain greater functionality." Well, to get any functionality at all...

I think the base figures are quite usable. They've updated them so that the expression morphs are included. And there's free clothes, hair, and textures out there to use with them, so you're not stuck with a naked mannikin, even if you don't buy anything.

randym77, you're just too nice! ;o). I bet your glass is always half full: not a bad thing. Wish I could feel the same :o). Laurie

'DAZ|Studio is in beta, and they're getting a very large customer base to help with the testing. Who knows exactly how it will work when DAZ|Studio is released in its final stage? What modules will we need to buy in order to make it functional?' Who knows? I know. For functional, none at all. It's already highly functional. I've used every version since the first alpha, and call me biased, but I much prefer it to poser 4. I'm not making any wild claims for studio. For instance, it comes nowhere near the material room in poser 5. But if you check the current thread in the DS forum on displacement and mirror reflections, you'll see that it's gone way beyond P4 already. Making a cool mirror effect in studio is as easy as adding a basic texture in poser. Once the SDK is out and people start building modules, it'll depend on what your speciality is. But for general poser-type use, I don't see the need for any modules at all. Maybe if you need to import animations from lightwave or something weird like that. mac

No, I'm not too nice. I'm pretty curmudgeonly, actually. A "hey, who drank half my glass" type of person. ;-) And when DAZ deserves it, I let 'em have it. As my posting history shows, both here and at DAZ. But in this particular case, I don't think DAZ deserves criticism. I know they aren't giving away V3, M3, A3, and the Emotiguy out of the goodness of their hearts. But the figures they are giving away are quite usable. They didn't have to add the expression morphs to base models. Similarly, it's not like DAZ had anything to do with the fall of PoserPros. It's not a hostile takeover. Sometimes, what's good for DAZ is also what's good for the community. Not always, but sometimes.

Let's face it, many people use the "stock" Poser figures without morphing the bodies or faces at all. Now DAZ gives us Vicky 3 & Mike 3, with their facial morphs free! I believe part of DAZ's motivation for buying PoserPros is that they once considered a partnership, and that DAZ doesn't wish to see PoserPros die during its current crises. The more I think about it, the more feasible it seems to allow PoserPros to exist pretty much the way it has. However, there is a great need to "civilize" Poser Pros by cutting out the flamewars and public executions.