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Content Paradise is shutting down
- Thread starter Ken1171
- Start date
I just said the above hypothetically - I don't believe Poser is being sold or that it will stop being developed. However, I remember being shocked when I first learned that CP was being ran by the Poser dev team because they didn't have enough people to do that exclusively. Well that explains a lot of what we have seen with CP so far, as well as it's current demise. I remember reporting a problem with the CP store to Chuck Taylor a couple of years ago, and hearing the person X would fix it, but to do that, he would have to stop working on Poser. That's absurd, and I agree that if this is the way it works, it has to end - even because CP hasn't been performing so great anyway. I mean, how could it? I am a CP vendor, but if it's in the way of progress, get rid of it. It will end a partnership I had for over a decade, but some things come for the better. The Poser dev team being so small, there is no other way.
When Autodesk acquired Maya from WaveFront, the entire world went crazy, speculating they would silently kill it, or integrate the best features into 3DSMAX. Well, none of that actually happened, and in fact, Maya has nowadays become the Autodesk flagship product, while MAX keeps being neglected to a corner where "new" features often means mere bug fixing. Nobody could guess that, but what actually happened was the opposite of what people feared.
Conversely, DAZ has acquired Hexagon, Carrara, and Bryce, and since then, most of what we've seen were more integration with DAZ contents instead of innovation or new features. In other words, these programs have basically stopped in time. I actually bought Carrara 8 Pro from DAZ, but soon realized it was stagnating for years, as opposed to how it used to be with Eovia. Then they released a 8.5 update for free to current users, but later came up with a confusing new paid 8.5 update that was different from the one I have, and VERY expensive. I have just gave up on it ever since. Carrara was great on its time, but now we have much better options that are still being maintained. DAZ hasn't shown us much commitment to push these programs forwards.
We had a similar case when Microsoft acquired TrueSpace from Caligari - where Microsoft support was discontinued a year later. Nowadays, some of it's core have become what we now know as Microsoft 3D Builder we all probably have installed along with Windows 10.
However, things are about to change in the world of 3D modelling and even software writing. NVidia is now releasing Tensor processors with their new line of RTX video cards, which have the ability to accelerate AI deep learning in hardware, which until now was never possible. Some of the areas that are now emerging are AI-assisted 3D modeling and also AI-assisted software creation. There are many other areas affected, but these are my tools of trade, so I concentrate on them. We are about to see things we have never seen before. Things that we (computer scientists) predicted that could happen in the next 10 to 20 years, are happening as we speak. Terms we will be hearing a lot in the coming years are nerdy computer scientist terms, such as "machine learning", "deep learning", and "neural networks" training. Those are things that used to require supercomputers, but now can be executed in your GPU at home.
More down to earth, Octane 4 already benefits from AI-assisted noise reduction, which in my tests in my home PC, work like magic. It already runs super-fast, but with an RTX card, it can be hardware accelerated, along with the infamous RTX real-time raytracing, which is also AI-assisted. I guess the bottom line is that artificial intelligence is getting into our daily lives much faster than anticipated.
When Autodesk acquired Maya from WaveFront, the entire world went crazy, speculating they would silently kill it, or integrate the best features into 3DSMAX. Well, none of that actually happened, and in fact, Maya has nowadays become the Autodesk flagship product, while MAX keeps being neglected to a corner where "new" features often means mere bug fixing. Nobody could guess that, but what actually happened was the opposite of what people feared.
Conversely, DAZ has acquired Hexagon, Carrara, and Bryce, and since then, most of what we've seen were more integration with DAZ contents instead of innovation or new features. In other words, these programs have basically stopped in time. I actually bought Carrara 8 Pro from DAZ, but soon realized it was stagnating for years, as opposed to how it used to be with Eovia. Then they released a 8.5 update for free to current users, but later came up with a confusing new paid 8.5 update that was different from the one I have, and VERY expensive. I have just gave up on it ever since. Carrara was great on its time, but now we have much better options that are still being maintained. DAZ hasn't shown us much commitment to push these programs forwards.
We had a similar case when Microsoft acquired TrueSpace from Caligari - where Microsoft support was discontinued a year later. Nowadays, some of it's core have become what we now know as Microsoft 3D Builder we all probably have installed along with Windows 10.
However, things are about to change in the world of 3D modelling and even software writing. NVidia is now releasing Tensor processors with their new line of RTX video cards, which have the ability to accelerate AI deep learning in hardware, which until now was never possible. Some of the areas that are now emerging are AI-assisted 3D modeling and also AI-assisted software creation. There are many other areas affected, but these are my tools of trade, so I concentrate on them. We are about to see things we have never seen before. Things that we (computer scientists) predicted that could happen in the next 10 to 20 years, are happening as we speak. Terms we will be hearing a lot in the coming years are nerdy computer scientist terms, such as "machine learning", "deep learning", and "neural networks" training. Those are things that used to require supercomputers, but now can be executed in your GPU at home.
More down to earth, Octane 4 already benefits from AI-assisted noise reduction, which in my tests in my home PC, work like magic. It already runs super-fast, but with an RTX card, it can be hardware accelerated, along with the infamous RTX real-time raytracing, which is also AI-assisted. I guess the bottom line is that artificial intelligence is getting into our daily lives much faster than anticipated.
I have to agree with you. They've been practically mute on the SM Poser forum, and CP doesn't have a forum that I know of, so we have to rely on what little, if anything, they "may" tell us about the transfer of everything to Renderosity.
At least when RDNA moved everything to DAZ, we still have access, because everything shows up in our Product Library as if it had been purchased at DAZ. Somehow I just don't see SM arranging for that with Renderosity. Then again, I don't know who would be the naysayer in that arrangement, SM or Renderosity.
At least when RDNA moved everything to DAZ, we still have access, because everything shows up in our Product Library as if it had been purchased at DAZ. Somehow I just don't see SM arranging for that with Renderosity. Then again, I don't know who would be the naysayer in that arrangement, SM or Renderosity.
As far as I know, there is no content transfer from CP to Rendo. Vendors are just being "invited" to sell there. Nothing will happen automatically. Many CP contents will probably be declined at Rendo, though, because they have never been gone through proper QAV. But if CP vendors will wish to move to Rendo is a different story. Products cannot be just moved to Rendo. For once, promo images, store thumbnails, documentation, and EULA have different specifications at Rendo, so vendors will at least have to rework those for their products to be considered, as well as passing each of their products through the Rendo QAV process.
ShvrDavid
Motivated
Last time I checked, CP has over 25,000 items. If just a small percentage of those were to migrate to Rendo, that could take years to go thru QA.
I think it is safe to say that many of those products are done.
Maybe. I am not even sure if there is a significant public for SMS figures like Miki and Pauline. However, I think a good chunk of the CP products are textures, and those are relatively easy to repackage and QAV. Chances are this will be mostly about how willing the CP vendors will be to move to another store. Or like you said, how feasible it would be for Rendo to QAV all of this without clogging their pipeline. Maybe not many will move to Rendo. I guess we will have to wait and see.
aqua1955
Member
It is a pity that again a Poser shop stops with selling there items we like. I did not get a message yet, but I am glad that my purchases move to Renderosity. Is it that Poser will be available or is it that Smith Micro will stop after Poser 11? I will write them and hope that Poser go's on.
I let you know, if I get the answer.
After the stop of RDNA it was like selling out the Poser software. I use it from 2002 and I bought in many shops that are not online anymore and am glad that I burned the software most on a disc. It is like taking your baby away and am glad although the files are so big some vendors make their work in as well in Poser as DS. I hope to keep it that way. Older files are still usable in Poser 5 and newer up to version 11. I still did not use some files after purchases. So there is still a lot for me to do.
Wish all that close their shop well and those who make still Poser files a good and fine selling.
I let you know, if I get the answer.
After the stop of RDNA it was like selling out the Poser software. I use it from 2002 and I bought in many shops that are not online anymore and am glad that I burned the software most on a disc. It is like taking your baby away and am glad although the files are so big some vendors make their work in as well in Poser as DS. I hope to keep it that way. Older files are still usable in Poser 5 and newer up to version 11. I still did not use some files after purchases. So there is still a lot for me to do.
Wish all that close their shop well and those who make still Poser files a good and fine selling.
Hornet3d
Wise
I have not yet had official word but the closure does raise a couple of questions. Firstly in order to have access to your files after the first month you need to pay for the extended download so what happens to those that have paid for a 2 year download recently? Will the download be available elsewhere or will there be a refund? I know Renderosity, like almost all other marketplaces allow further downloads and do not charge, will this be true of products purchased from CP and what about the content that will never go to Renderosity. I did not like the closure of RuntimeDNA but, in fairness, a lot of these questions were sorted out long before RDNA closed and again there was not the problem of honoring extended downloads that had been paid for upfront. Now, with one exception where I made a error, I did not pay for the extended download so it is not a real issue for me but I do feel anyone that has paid CP for this service should not be short changed.
I recently dealt with SM support on a problem I had with a purchase that I had, in the end I resolved the issue with help form people here but SM support did their best to help and they did stay in contact on a regular basis. Again will all that support disappear the moment the store is close even for products purchased recently or will be purchased before the store closes. I can't see that Renderosity will or should supply the support and even if they did, again there is the issue relating to CP content that does not move there.
The closing of the store is already sad but I am concerned that if this is not thought through SM could be upsetting the few Poser users that were loyal to them and purchased from what was their store.
I haven't bought anything for several years, but what irritated me was having to pay a fee for protection so that I could still get my downloads that I paid for during that time. And when they changed their store, we were all told to download all our purchases as quickly as possible, because at a certain point, you'd lose them all. I say...WHAT? So I went to my downloads page and frantically downloaded all my purchased zips, and when I had time, I started looking at them, and they were ALL corrupt. Not one of them worked. I wrote the store and they never answered me, So all the content I'd purchased was just gone.
I wrote as many vendors I could and gave them whatever I had as proof of purchase, so I could get as much back as I could. All the ones I contacted were more than happy to comply. But I lost all the rest of my purchases and of course there was no compensation. It was too bad, so sad.
I wrote as many vendors I could and gave them whatever I had as proof of purchase, so I could get as much back as I could. All the ones I contacted were more than happy to comply. But I lost all the rest of my purchases and of course there was no compensation. It was too bad, so sad.
Those were all clear signs that there was no one dedicated to maintain and take care of CP for all these years since SMS acquired Poser from eFrontier. Remember, it was the Poser programmers who were assigned to do this job, when the team was already too small to handle Poser development itself. There was no way this could have a happy ending, and here we are with the results.
Personally, I can't blame the Poser dev team (the old one that got fired). It wasn't their choice to be put in that situation. The decision came from above, and they did what they could. When the old team was fired, there was no one to run CP again, so SMS now finally decided to get rid of it. SMS have been taking several poor decisions over the years that led things to how they are now. Like I've mentioned above, each of those decisions had consequences.
Personally, I can't blame the Poser dev team (the old one that got fired). It wasn't their choice to be put in that situation. The decision came from above, and they did what they could. When the old team was fired, there was no one to run CP again, so SMS now finally decided to get rid of it. SMS have been taking several poor decisions over the years that led things to how they are now. Like I've mentioned above, each of those decisions had consequences.
I have a few products at Content Paradise, haven't received any notification from Smith Micro yet.
Would it really be asked too much that they send out a mass email to all registered vendors? Preferably before they make an official announcement so the people concerned are forewarned?
True, my products there are old and I probably won't even bother transferring them to Rendo, but what about the people who have new products there, and perhaps only there? That careless, slapdash approach is rather typical of Smith Micro, and has been for a few years now. It used to be different in the beginning.
Would it really be asked too much that they send out a mass email to all registered vendors? Preferably before they make an official announcement so the people concerned are forewarned?
True, my products there are old and I probably won't even bother transferring them to Rendo, but what about the people who have new products there, and perhaps only there? That careless, slapdash approach is rather typical of Smith Micro, and has been for a few years now. It used to be different in the beginning.
I still use V3 and 4 and M3 and 4 - more than I ever used Poser's own figures. Even before SMS got hold of Poser they never gave good support to their figures. It always fell to Reno or some other site to support them.
I personally think thet Daz shot themselves in the foot when they went to their genesis figures and froze out the rest of us that used to use their stuff.
Hornet3d
Wise
Well if Daz shot themselves in the foot I hate to think what SM has done, and I am a real Poser fan. I did every upgrade from poser 5 to Poser 2014Pro and Poser Game Dev but then I discovered the deactivation feature that they had slipped in with very little information, so little that it was only discovered months later when copies refused to launch. Why is that relevant here well, the result for me was I did not upgrade when Poser 11 was launched and delayed my purchase for a couple of years until it was on sale at an insane price, I cannot remember the exact amount but it was about a quarter I would have paid at launch. The point is it was not the feature that upset me that much but the way it was done. Likewise I can understand that shutting CP makes sense if they are not going to support it but the way it closes the marketplace could be important.
Being a real Poser fan and someone which is far too long in the tooth to learn DS, if I am unable to keep using Poser for any reason I would just leave the hobby. More important though, if I was coming to the hobby for the first time I really don't think I would give Poser much consideration and it really bugs me to say that.
Official quote (from SM forum)
As a result, we will be shutting down the Content Paradise marketplace on November 12, 2018, and moving our own content to Renderosity. This effort will give us the opportunity to maximize the value that this partnership will create for the community, and our future efforts on enhancing the Poser software.
I think Poser Pro 11 is the best version ever released, with a few reservations on the new HTML5 library. Poser 10 is faster, but it's also too buggy to be usable for content creation. There is always room for improvement, and in a couple of weeks we will also have HW figures in CC3, which has already evolved more and faster than Poser and DS together. Animating in DS is pretty bad, in Poser it's better, but in iClone7 it's borderline professional level in a hobbyist tool.
I have been posting feature and improvement suggestions at the SMS forums for years, and ironically, many of them are being showcased not in Poser, but in CC3. Those are the things that make me enthusiastic about it. Don't go thinking I am an expert in iClone/CC - I am only a beginner there and there is a lot to learn, but I simply like the direction it's going. Especially how fast it has been evolving. It has many of the things I wish Poser would have, especially with what's coming in CC3.
I have plans to port my Dawn contents to CC3/iClone7, but first I will need to learn how to do it with the new tools that are being released in the next 2 weeks. It's like starting over where the future looks shinny and promising. I am glad HW sees it that way as well. ^^
Note they say "moving our own content", not those of CP vendors.