@Bunny,
Rather than tie up the thread, I'm sending you a PM.
Very respectfully,
fleet

A little demonstration of how you can mix'n'match different Gen products in Daz4

Model is Genesis with some morphs from the Ethnic Morphs bundle
Texture is Grace for Victoria 4, and the tattoos were some free jpgs I found online that I added using the built in Layered Image Editor.
It was lit using the UberEnvironment lighting, also included in Daz4 Pro.

The tattoos could be improved by using a proper graphics editor. Better lighting could also be acheived, whether via Reality plug-in/HDRI map/3-5 point light set-up etc. This is just to show what you can do pretty much out of the box with stuff from your old run-time.

The eyebrows gave it away that the texture wasn't masculine.

Norse Graphics wrote:The eyebrows gave it away that the texture wasn't masculine.

Remember there's a difference between "male" and "masculine"

Agreed, but as with the tattoos, easy to fix in Gimp or photoshop. I was just pointing out the uses people could put their old runtime to.

i Download DAZ studio 4 a few weeks ago plus now you can get the Pro version Free just in case anybody is interested ......

I saw that they were offering it for free also. I couldn't find much information on the deal. I was trying to verify whether it was a free trial for say 30 days or something. I was just thinking how could they make money on their product by giving it away totally free? I am aware they have add ons that they sell, but it still didn't sound like a good marketing strategy.

game player wrote:I saw that they were offering it for free also. I couldn't find much information on the deal. I was trying to verify whether it was a free trial for say 30 days or something. I was just thinking how could they make money on their product by giving it away totally free? I am aware they have add ons that they sell, but it still didn't sound like a good marketing strategy.

No, it's not a 30 day trial. The only catch to the deal (if I remember correctly) is that you have to sign up for their e-mail newsletter (unless you've already signed up for it). The newsletter is not a bad thing, because it often contains vouchers to get reduced prices for the add ons.

As far as a good marketing strategy, the gave away the 'basic' version of DAZ 3, and it seemed to work then.

game player wrote:I saw that they were offering it for free also. I couldn't find much information on the deal. I was trying to verify whether it was a free trial for say 30 days or something. I was just thinking how could they make money on their product by giving it away totally free? I am aware they have add ons that they sell, but it still didn't sound like a good marketing strategy.

The offer is open until at least the end of this month with downloading available and refreshable until about September and it applies to Bryce 7 Pro and Hexagon 2.5 as well as Daz Studio 4 Pro -- a bloody fantastic deal!

Yup it's the fully functioning product. Daz has always had a base product available for free for the last few years. And just before a major upgrade, the higher spec packages were often released free of charge, or stuck on a cover disc. I started with Daz 2.x and the licence agreement called it "friendware" IIRC. Part of the agreement was you would tell 2 friends about Daz software.

This is because they started out making and selling models for 3rd party software, particularly Poser by Smith Micro. They then started producing their own software to render in. Along the way they bought-out/merged with the makers of the Hexagon modelling software. But content sales were the heart of the business. Now they have a huge product list of content created by themselves and 3rd parties. Remember this product requires very little cost to manufacture. Once the initial investment in money for the hardware and software has been made, you pretty much just have to pay for the time to model, and the bandwidth to ship. You will also find a lot of content creators who make items either for their own use, or as a form of art, who use marketplaces like Daz and Rendo to make a little money afterwards.

Another money maker for them is the Platinum Club (yup I'm a member). For about $70 a year you get a bucketload of content for $1.99 per item, 30% of everything else plus $5 in vouchers each month. Combine this with regular seasonal specials (March Madness coming soon) offering up to 70% some lines and it just becomes too tempting. "Ooh, that village scene looks nice. Not paying $50 for it." Turns into "Ooh, there's that village I liked. $25... 30%off... $5 gift voucher... $10 coupon from facebook... convert to £... £2.50."

No wonder so many of us call it digital crack

As for this quick release of D$Pro so soon after launch, the rumour is that they weren't selling a lot of stuff for their new Genesis figure (which can only run in Daz4 atm*). The previous figures (especially Victoria 4) are so widely used, and the Daz4 interface is rather blocky compared to 3, that most people were sticking to the older models. So by making the pro version free this soon after launch they are hoping to expand their user base significantly.

*Yes you can import it into pro software such as Cinema 3D and Maya, but it's the hobbyist base they market to, so Poser is the main competition.

game player wrote:I saw that they were offering it for free also. I couldn't find much information on the deal. I was trying to verify whether it was a free trial for say 30 days or something. I was just thinking how could they make money on their product by giving it away totally free? I am aware they have add ons that they sell, but it still didn't sound like a good marketing strategy.

The offer are until the end of this month.

They make most of their money on brokering digital content (clothes, textures, props etc.) for themselves and Published Artists (taking 50%). So they aren't stupid using this marketing strategy. Now with free Hexagon (modelling stuff) and Bryce 7 Pro (environments, skies, waters/rivers etc.), you can pretty much create any kind of scenery with your figures.

Update.....yes daz studio 4 and pro are free but theres a big catch........after getting hold of micheal 4 bungle including M4 morph++ i downloaded it in the pro only to discover it does not work??...so i read the terms again and it states that studio 4 and pro are only a trail version with some buttons disabled.....so in a nutshell if your thinking about adding any genitalia male or female with the free version it wont work....

I see no information about the packages being anything other than the full deal being made available free -- nothing about trial versions.

Did you register it correctly with the serial number provided in your account after your order?

I haven't launched what I purchased for $0.00 per package yet, but I will be extremely annoyed if they have been misrepresenting trial packages as the real deal.

Greebo thats what i though too thats why i downloaded it....but when you install it read the terms agreement and licence and its all there in black and white....and yes i did register it correctly with the serial number provided in my account after my order...i hope i'm wrong about it.....let me know how you get on

Bash wrote:Greebo thats what i though too thats why i downloaded it....but when you install it read the terms agreement and licence and its all there in black and white....and yes i did register it correctly with the serial number provided in my account after my order...i hope i'm wrong about it.....let me know how you get on

What's also there in black and white:

"TRIAL VERSION ADDENDUM TO THE GENERAL LICENSE AGREEMENT

IF THIS PRODUCT IS IDENTIFIED AS A TRIAL VERSION [...]"

I've been using it and it is certainly the full pro version. No disabled buttons or functionality, no issues with content not working. I would double-check that your content is installed properly in the right place, and also make sure you're not making some other error (such as trying to apply V4/M4 morphs to genesis).

What is not working? The toast (the DAZ euphemism for M4's genitalia) which comes with the M4 Morphs++ is a separate 'figure' which will load with the 'fit to' option set to M4 (assuming you had M4 selected in the scene). It also has it's own set of MATs which need you to select the toast first before applying.