ShareCG now selling stuff?

[mininessie]

i hope so too!

 

[3dcheapskate]

No "Free" section on the main bar, but they now have a filter option. And it seems to work too.

(screenshot from the 'Poser' section)

 

[mininessie]

that will work!

 

[StudioMartillo]

When I noticed that there were suddenly things for sale I was instantly offended, and found it insulting. Yes! Insulting!
I had experimented with selling things, but it was just an aggravation. Especially when I started getting bad checks from the hosting site. I really don't need the paltry sum that comes from the sale of my toys. And maybe it's paltry because I create things only for myself. But I thought it would be nice to share things with others because this can get to be a stupid-expensive hobby.
When I found ShareCG it made me happy that there is a way to just have fun and let others enjoy my stuff too, if they want. I put a hell of a lot of work into my toys. Try to get everthing working right, tested carefully and looking good. And then offer it all with no restrictions on use. If someone wants to take parts of it, or all of it, and try to sell it, fine. Good luck, 'cause it's already proven to be worth very little. Promotion could increase sales of course but the ROI is still a joke.
As to the advertising, it's interesting to know that McGyver is seeing the same wacky stuff. I thought it was a targeted type system, and the adds were like they are because my profile says I'm an engineer. I can see how useless those adds would be to an actor or a hairdresser. No wonder ShareCG isn't getting much income. Those adds probably don't pay much per hit, if anything.
Well it's too bad this has to happen. Maybe I won't put any more of my toys there.

 

[McGyver]

I thought about it being targeted ads too, I often purchase manufacturing supplies and materials, but when I saw it on a friend's computer too, I was really confused as to why that made sense to SCG...

I don't completely know the whole story behind SCG, but a long time ago it really seemed like a one man show...

This may be entirely off base, but somewhere I picked up the idea that it was started by a retired engineer or lawyer (or his son was a lawyer and encouraged him to do this) as a thing to occupy him and encourage beginners in 3D CGI...
Back then, any time you got a reply email from SCG it was that guy, any update blogs were his, site news was by him... You didn't see anyone else's name...
Then not long after they reset everyone's download counts and changed a few things... I think it was when they were thinking of making it a pay site (you pay to upload stuff as well as download), his name stopped showing up on stuff...
Now when you look up the site, it shows it is run by two guys I never heard of and there is no mention of the architectural "sister" site...

Don't take any of that as facts, it's just how I remember it now, but it definitely felt like there was some change a while ago...

I'm kinda bummed out by this change... I feel like I've neglected adding new stuff, but to be honest, it's been my stupid pride and wanting to perfect stuff before I put it up... In some cases it makes no sense... A bunch of huge models I was working on were fairly usable and at least as good as the older DAZ weekly freebies (the architectural ones that often appeared like they were made out of triangulated n-gons), but there would be some little flaw and I'd shelve it... Really, there was one set that is a whole fortress on an island and I didn't like the moat textures so I put it away...
I feel like just maybe taking all the old stuff and just labeling them the "Old As-Is Series" and at least someone could use them for something...

I say that because based on the way I feel things are headed, SCG might not be around too much longer...

I remember when I first found SCG you could hardly keep up with the uploads... I put stuff up and the next day it would be three or four pages back, and most of the stuff was pretty useful...
Now you can check back weeks later and it's more or less the same stuff...

But it kinda feels that lately everything 3D is slipping away from that community spirit...

Megh... I should stop reading technology news sites... All the net neutrality and copyright nonsense is depressing me...

Hey... Who knows, maybe in a couple of years some of us might not be able to access SCG without "premium" Internet packages, so this will all be a moot point.

I'm a real bundle of joy and sunshine today, ain't I?

 

[eclark1894]

What's their download policy? I know that was one of the problems many people had or have with Content Paradise.

 

[McGyver]

What's their download policy? I know that was one of the problems many people had or have with Content Paradise.

Well, you have to register... Then as far as I know, you can download whatever you want... As far as I'm aware it's unlimited... My comment was in regards to the future possibility ISPs changing the norms of Internet access.

 

[CajunBeauty]

Maybe everyone from SCG should share all of their freebies here in the freebie section?

 

[StudioMartillo]

Oh, is that possible? I thought the freebies here were supposed to be just for items that support the HiveWire products. Although a lot of my toys are simply Poser props some are made for DAZ's millennium characters. Would that be cool to promote old products that have nothing to do with HiveWire? I think quite a few of the members here do have galleries on ShareCG.
Hey! I think I have bigger ears than you do.

 

[Jeanne Harmon]

I thought about it being targeted ads too, I often purchase manufacturing supplies and materials, but when I saw it on a friend's computer too, I was really confused as to why that made sense to SCG...

I don't completely know the whole story behind SCG, but a long time ago it really seemed like a one man show...

This may be entirely off base, but somewhere I picked up the idea that it was started by a retired engineer or lawyer (or his son was a lawyer and encouraged him to do this) as a thing to occupy him and encourage beginners in 3D CGI...
Back then, any time you got a reply email from SCG it was that guy, any update blogs were his, site news was by him... You didn't see anyone else's name...
Then not long after they reset everyone's download counts and changed a few things... I think it was when they were thinking of making it a pay site (you pay to upload stuff as well as download), his name stopped showing up on stuff...
Now when you look up the site, it shows it is run by two guys I never heard of and there is no mention of the architectural "sister" site...

Don't take any of that as facts, it's just how I remember it now, but it definitely felt like there was some change a while ago...

I remember that as well. They tried to make it into a pay site and when you accepted that before it went live, the price would stay the same for you, around 10$ IIRC. And then nothing happend before they announced months later it would stay free but targeted ads, related to CGI industry, were coming.

 

[McGyver]

I think that really bugged a lot of people, and rightly so, it was a stupid idea, but a whole bunch of people pulled their stuff from SCG back then and that may have changed their minds.

 

[StudioMartillo]

You know what? I can't find any way of uploading free products here. Maybe you have to be a regular vendor to do that and just put some items in your 'store' for $0.00
Anyone have some info on that? Just curious.

 

[StudioMartillo]

I think that really bugged a lot of people, and rightly so, it was a stupid idea, but a whole bunch of people pulled their stuff from SCG back then and that may have changed theimr minds.

Well I just pulled all of my stuff, but even if this store business changes it's not going back. Might as well put my own website together and post stuff there. And I won't put any adds, and you won't have to be a member. Just dash and grab!

 

[3WC]

You know what? I can't find any way of uploading free products here. Maybe you have to be a regular vendor to do that and just put some items in your 'store' for $0.00
Anyone have some info on that? Just curious.

I think you just go to the "Resources" tab and click "Add Resource". Not sure what kind of restrictions there are, though.

I think I will just leave my freebies on ShareCG until I have a reason to remove them, but will probably upload any future resources here.

Guidelines for Resources EDIT: Found guidelines.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Thanks 3wComics. I think I saw that before, only when I wasn't thinking of uploading, just putting a link. And then when I edited my Resources posts it didn't seem like the links were editable. So the Martillo confusion factor took over and I was looking in the store to see where the freebie section was. Ha! Well good. At least there's a place to put the Jazz Trio poses for those who downloaded the instruments. Got to keep an eye on that 100MB limit though when deciding what to upload here.

 

[Jeanne Harmon]

Well I just pulled all of my stuff, but even if this store business changes it's not going back. Might as well put my own website together and post stuff there. And I won't put any adds, and you won't have to be a member. Just dash and grab!

You could also put it on deviantart instead. Just another option. And there file size limit is around 180MB I think...

 

[Hornet3d]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels it's kinda messy that stuff is all mixed in... A separate tab, or section for pay items is great and I don't want to deny anyone an opportunity to earn income... But mixed in like that it's a mess and in a way, it's kind of not fair to people who contribute free items that stick to the "Share" concept to have to "share" the same section with pay models... Come on, it bad enough when you upload something new you've been working on and suddenly your stuff is three pages back because someone uploaded a ton of converted game models or different color cubes... But now you are going to have to share the same place with pay models.

Then you have the other factor which concerns me which is people pirating free models from other sites...
There are still at least one person who routinely uses 3D warehouse models from different artists and takes credit for them... (So far he is not charging)...
A while back there was a fellow who was doing the same thing and people were openly commenting on it there and it took months for anything to be done... Complained several time to SCG and provided links to the origin models... I even found a DAZ car over there too (and to thank me for mentioning it a DAZ mod deleted my post asking about it)-(megh) it was quickly removed but still the guy persisted...
To be honest I think EnglishBob and some Star Trek modelers were probably the ones whose voices finally got that joker banned.
That guy probably only received praise for his stolen models, but the idea of someone like him (he had a donation link, so I don't think he was above accepting money) not just getting praise and thanks for someone else's work, but money as well... That really bugs and I'm pretty sure soon enough the lax policing of content there is gonna result in more nonsense...

Then you also have the fact that over the last couple of years the amount of Poser/DS stuff showing up there has decreased... I'm guessing people who were cutting their teeth in modeling moved on to providing pay content, and the whole way the Genesis series seemed to overnight cut down the number of free characters, the widening of the Poser/DS divide... Maybe even content providers not having as much free time due to economic difficulties... It really cut down the amount of new stuff showing there... Not to mention that a lot of stuff requires you to already own an item, a morph or other character...
So already the choices were diminishing, now you are dumping another factor into the mix...

I often feel like I have that "the sky is falling" attitude, but right now I feel like before long much of the stuff there is gonna be overpriced novice pay items.

Already one guy seems to be charging for all of his new stuff... And realistically, based on the equivalent items at established stores... For a single item, the price is not realistic.

Maybe it will all work itself out.

Who knows...

According to posts elsewhere another site is now charging for posters of art work they have no right to sell so that might be the latest trend. I certainly share your fear that the latest sight changes will only encourage the pirates to wade in.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Well I figured out that Forum Resources can be deleted, even ones that link to external sites. So did that rather than have the comment sitting there saying 'no longer available'. Pretty clever huh? But then I tried to upload my songbird owl perch and the early celtic instruments I made for Mythocentric and got a file too large error. So now.... watch my ears twitch!

 

[StudioMartillo]

Jean...
Is 180MB the limit on a single file? or is that gallery limit. I've got a bunch of renders there but they get badly compressed when linked to. So I leave my renders on ShareCG because a link returns the original .jpg file.
I checked out the cost of a new website on my ISP, which is $180 for the first three years, including a new URL, and that is unlimited space and bandwidth. After 3 years it will probably be about $180/yr when renewed. I think I could afford that, so first thing will be to build the website with MS Visual Studio and see how that goes, and if it's alright then get the hosting and upload the website. Oh won't this be FUN!

 

[Jeanne Harmon]

Jean...
Is 180MB the limit on a single file? or is that gallery limit. I've got a bunch of renders there but they get badly compressed when linked to. So I leave my renders on ShareCG because a link returns the original .jpg file.
I checked out the cost of a new website on my ISP, which is $180 for the first three years, including a new URL, and that is unlimited space and bandwidth. After 3 years it will probably be about $180/yr when renewed. I think I could afford that, so first thing will be to build the website with MS Visual Studio and see how that goes, and if it's alright then get the hosting and upload the website. Oh won't this be FUN!

18o MB is a single zip archive uploaded there, there's no real info on the file size found in the Help area. Most probably 200 MB may be the limit, but I haven't had such a big file; 180MB was my biggest to date.

Images have a dropdown menu with various options including original (aka original filesize) and then several smaller ones. Everything but the original size can be used together with the dA watermark (to prevent art theft).

Gallery limit is 250 folders with up to 5346 deviations (aka images) in each