Content Paradise is shutting down

[Rowan54]

I tend to do a "save page" when I buy something (or even when I get a freebie), and then save that page with the new product. That page tells me when, where, what, how much, who by, usage permissions, and other information that's useful later. After all, websites remove pages, remove products, or like the ones we've been discussing (Content Paradise, Poser World, Poser Direct, RDNA, YURdigital) fold up and vanish entirely. I have things from a half dozen places that no longer exist that aren't on that list.

Then I burn the item & the page to a disk. (Well, when I get enough collected to take up a whole disk). This saves several problems...but leads to the problem of not being able to find what's on the disk. That's a different discussion, though.

 

[Janet]

I've always wondered about why their feet and legs are blue. They must have an evolutionary function but I sure can't figure out what it is.

 

[Hornet3d]

I tend to do a "save page" when I buy something (or even when I get a freebie), and then save that page with the new product. That page tells me when, where, what, how much, who by, usage permissions, and other information that's useful later. After all, websites remove pages, remove products, or like the ones we've been discussing (Content Paradise, Poser World, Poser Direct, RDNA, YURdigital) fold up and vanish entirely. I have things from a half dozen places that no longer exist that aren't on that list.

Then I burn the item & the page to a disk. (Well, when I get enough collected to take up a whole disk). This saves several problems...but leads to the problem of not being able to find what's on the disk. That's a different discussion, though.

I use a database from many years ago which sadly is not available today but I find invaluable. It does the same as your system as such but the big difference it is searchable so I can search for a category, artist or figure and so on. It also stores the date and I keep all my downloaded files in year and month folders/sub folders which allows me to go back to the download should I need to reinstall it, look at the runtime structure or read the readme file. I use if most often to look for something to match a render so if I need a spaceship I can search on that or maybe even jewelry if I am looking for something to match the mood of a portrait I am building. The other advantage with all these stores closing is I can search to see if I purchased content elsewhere before I buy again from another site.

It can even show how much you have spent on your hobby over the years, or at least I think it does, I have never had the courage to find out.

 

[Hornet3d]

I've always wondered about why their feet and legs are blue. They must have an evolutionary function but I sure can't figure out what it is.

The males are said to use them in courtship dances when trying to attract a mate so I guess the brighter the colour blue the more chance of success. They are said to use carotenoids found in their diet such as mackerel, and sardines and anchovies to produce the pigment. Not that I am any sort of expert on boobies.

 

[Janet]

The males are said to use them in courtship dances when trying to attract a mate so I guess the brighter the colour blue the more chance of success. They are said to use carotenoids found in their diet such as mackerel, and sardines and anchovies to produce the pigment. Not that I am any sort of expert on boobies.

That makes sense. Thank you!

 

[Miss B]

Also, sometimes, when a product is unavailable if the vendor is still active I have been able to reach out and make arrangements to acquire it. Not all vendors are receptive to this, but you never know unless you try is my opinion (and I have gotten some downright rude answers over the years too - but I have also purchased some products).

True that. I've had "some" success at times, but not always. Either they no longer have the product files, though who would dump them just because they aren't selling them anymore is strange or, like you, have either gotten no response whatsoever, or a rather rude one.

 

[Faery_Light]

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 may look them over and see if I think they could be edited for here and then check with Alisa, LisaB and Chris to see if they think it would be worth it.

 

[Alisa]

I may look them over and see if I think they could be edited for here and then check with Alisa, LisaB and Chris to see if they think it would be worth it.

Just a few things to note:

1-Anything that was at CP would have to go through the normal HW Submissions process - would be good to note in the submission that it was previously at CP so we can put that on the product page.

2-The lowest versions of the DAZ figures HiveWire supports are V4 & M4

3-Lisa is really the person to talk to if someone is wondering in GENERAL if a product would be acceptable/worth bringing over to HiveWire . Or, submit and that decision will be made by Lisa / Chris. I don't make decisions about what is or isn't going to be put through for QAV processing.

 

[Faery_Light]

Thank you, Alisa.

 

[Alisa]

Welcome!

 

[carmen indorato]

I usually save the main promo of each product I purchase, though certainly not all the promos from a product, so at least I remember what it looks like. I find, sometimes, even the converse is true, and I'll remember what something looks like, but I can't remember the full name of it, or who the vendor was, so it's nice having the main promos to scan through.

I just don't see the purpose if it's no longer available. Maybe if they placed a tag that it's no longer available somewhere near the name of the product above the main promo, that would work. I just hate thinking all I need to do is add it to the cart so it's mine, and then find out I can't after scrolling half way down the page. I find that very annoying.

Got into the habit of saving and archiving with my purchases, all the promo images and best of the artist renders of products I purchase for future reference. Makes looking for stuff not previously used, or no longer working, easier with visual references.

 

[carmen indorato]

I have read most of the posts in this thread and realized I did not see anyone mention 3dCommune. It was a good site back in its day and i remember the war going on at the time between it and Renderosity when it first opened.
Does anyone know what became of Syyd Raven from RDNA? I recall for some time she was at DAZ but I also read somewhere she had left or was removed for unreconcilable differences.
I never liked most of the content at CP. Many vendors there did good work but a lot of the stuff I came across was way inferior (I guess due to lack of QV?). I purchased a lot of stuff there because some of the tiny promos looked good but when I got the product and worked with them, they really sucked. Especially true are the animals and creatures and nature sets. A shame really.
I used to love using Macromedia Freehand...it was the first vector app i worked with and it came on a single floppy disc back in the day!
I cried when they sold Freehand to Adobe who killed it after version 10. I hated Illustrator though i was forced to use it as "the industry standard" for designers and pre press work. What is really funny in pre-press when ever we got work from designers still using Freehand we all groaned because we learned to hate it preferring Illustrator interface and hated pre-flighting Freehand work....yeah....including me! Now I rarely use Illustrator at all anymore.....oh hell...I rarely use anything anymore!

 

[Miss B]

Syyd Raven is still at DAZ as a PA, she's just not actually working in their office anymore. Whether she's created anything new in her store, I have no idea.

I also liked Macromedia products, especially back in the day when I was using Flash for web site designs, though Flash is on the way out these days because it's no longer compatible with a lot of the newer browsers. I also liked, and still use, Macromedia's Homesite+ for web coding. I don't think I ever used Freehand, as I already had Photoshop, which comes with ImageReady, and is what I always used for vector images, and still do, as that's how I create my UV Maps.

As far as 3dCommune goes, I think the only vendor there I liked was Fabiana, and she moved everything to Renderosity before 3dC closed.

 

[Ken1171]

though Flash is on the way out these days because it's no longer compatible with a lot of the newer browsers.

Well, it's not like Flash isn't compatible - it is being boycotted by Apple and Google to protect their app stores. Flash was dominating 75% of the web market, so there was no way their app stores could compete unless they first killed Flash by using good'old slander. And what's worse, there is nothing to replaced it. Flash was the only artist-friendly tool out there, while HTML5 and JavaScript are for programmers. Google itself admitted HTML5 cannot replace Flash, so this is a perfect example where artistic freedom on the web goes down with applause.

 

[carmen indorato]

I get frustrated when I have to upgrade Flash (I think?) to use the libraries in Poser. I read somewhere( where the frell I don't remember!) there is a way around that need but have not been able to figure it out. I took Flash classes when it first came out but again, pardon the redundancy of my plight, could not wrap my head around it despite having used vector apps prior to it.
Despite how much we like or dislike an app the companies do take advantage of users to get and keep their patronage and Adobe is pretty aggressive in that...in my dolted opinion!

 

[Deleted member 325]

@Ken1171 It is correct - Renderosity no longer removes any products through clearance. Official word from Store Manager. Any product previously sold there may be reactivated by updating thumbnails and images to current requirements, and providing any desired updates to it.

Sorry for the delay in confirmation, I wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding and that discussing it did not violate the NDA.

 

[Ken1171]

I get frustrated when I have to upgrade Flash (I think?) to use the libraries in Poser.

The old Poser library (Poser 10 and older) will work fine whether or not you update Flash. Software updates seem to be one of these "damned if they do, damned if they don't" kind of things. For the record, Poser 11 has dropped Flash in favor of the new HTML5 library, which SMS couldn't make it work no matter how much they tried. Keyboard navigation and drag'n'drop are both still broken, as well as random freezes and the interface jumping around every time we launch it. Google has invested millions over 1 year, while trying to replace their web site systems with HTML5, but at the end of the year they gave up because, like SMS, they couldn't make it work. So that's the great and awesome HTML5 Google has been pushing all this time. They couldn't make it work for themselves, but it's still good for the rest of us.

@Ken1171 It is correct - Renderosity no longer removes any products through clearance. Official word from Store Manager. Any product previously sold there may be reactivated by updating thumbnails and images to current requirements, and providing any desired updates to it. Sorry for the delay in confirmation, I wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding and that discussing it did not violate the NDA.

Thanks for the info, Kage. ^^

 

[carmen indorato]

The old Poser library (Poser 10 and older) will work fine whether or not you update Flash. Software updates seem to be one of these "damned if they do, damned if they don't" kind of things. For the record, Poser 11 has dropped Flash in favor of the new HTML5 library, which SMS couldn't make it work no matter how much they tried. Keyboard navigation and drag'n'drop are both still broken, as well as random freezes and the interface jumping around every time we launch it. Google has invested millions over 1 year, while trying to replace their web site systems with HTML5, but at the end of the year they gave up because, like SMS, they couldn't make it work. So that's the great and awesome HTML5 Google has been pushing all this time. They couldn't make it work for themselves, but it's still good for the rest of us.



Thanks for the info, Kage. ^^

I have version 11 but got frustrated trying to set up my work space in it and gave up. Stuff just doesn't process for me sometimes. Sucks not having a brain that works! So, I just keep working in 2014 Pro.
When the darn flash utility expires I have to DL an new version or I just can't access my Poser Libraries. It really pisses me off. I wish I can remember how to turn off the need for Flash for them to work.

 

[Miss B]

Well, it's not like Flash isn't compatible - it is being boycotted by Apple and Google to protect their app stores. Flash was dominating 75% of the web market, so there was no way their app stores could compete unless they first killed Flash by using good'old slander. And what's worse, there is nothing to replaced it. Flash was the only artist-friendly tool out there, while HTML5 and JavaScript are for programmers. Google itself admitted HTML5 cannot replace Flash, so this is a perfect example where artistic freedom on the web goes down with applause.

Flash IS incompatible, as my latest version of Firefox refuses to accept it. It won't even let me update it, and even when I was still able to update it, Firefox wouldn't allow me to activate it.

I have a favorite online greeting cards site that went through their ENTIRE inventory and redid EVERY SINGLE ONE of their greeting cards because of an overwhelming complaint from customers, myself included, who couldn't view the old Flash based greeting cards in order to decide which ones(s) they wanted to send.

That said, I used to work in Flash years ago, but more and more of the sites I used to see back then which were, if not totally then partially, Flash based, have been updated without Flash, or are using HTML5. Don't bad mouth HTML5, as there are software packages that can give you the same results without having anything to do with Flash. It IS on the way out. It's not going to be overnight, but it will be gone for good eventually, and Google and any other company that wants to bad mouth it can do so, but that's not what's killing Flash. It's the outdated technology that's killing it.

 

[Miss B]

I have version 11 but got frustrated trying to set up my work space in it and gave up. Stuff just doesn't process for me sometimes. Sucks not having a brain that works! So, I just keep working in 2014 Pro.
When the darn flash utility expires I have to DL an new version or I just can't access my Poser Libraries. It really pisses me off. I wish I can remember how to turn off the need for Flash for them to work.

I don't believe Poser 10/Poser Pro 2014 or earlier versions allowed for external Library setups, but that's what I'm using with my PP11, where I view my Library in my Firefox browser, and needless to say, you would be able to view your PP2014 Library as well. Unfortunately, that's not available from within PP2014 itself.

I know when I could no longer get my internal Library for my Poser9, I was lucky I had grabbed ShaderWorks Library Manager 2 before RDNA closed down, so I use that now, if for some reason I want to render something in P9.