Is it possible to get and install DAZ Studio without having an account? Maybe some cracked version? (Preferably up to date) I'm wary of any kind of art/modeling software that requires communicating with a remote server for no good reason.
- Aug 17, 2019
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. ZoneGFX often puts up the latest versions as they're available. If I remember correctly, you will need one for Daz Install Manager and Smart Content (if you choose to use it.). But it can just be a throwaway account for the sole purpose of Daz. If you're referring to pirating, they don't really enforce anything as the way they have their systems currently set up, it's nigh impossible to trace whether something was pirated or just manually installed. Expect that to change with Daz 5, though.
But as it stands, even if Daz does phone home, nothing's going to happen. Just try to avoid Daz Central and stick to Daz itself and Daz Install Manager.
- Sep 6, 2021
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I created a new account just to get the main programs (Daz Studio and DIM) and also, I grab some freebies every now and then.
Other than that, I installed DAZ without DazConnect and I use DIM offline. Like MissFortune mentioned above, DAZ doesn't know who created what renders. They don't watermark your renders in any way.
Sadly, the whole software industry is moving towards these perma-connected Cloud models. Adobe started doing it years ago... Microsoft is hard at pushing Office 365 on everyone. Ton of other companies doing it now.
They sell the convenience of it all, and most of the sheep out there fall for that, but - in reality - it's just a way for them to gather meta data, which enables them to target products to people in a more selective way.
Half the shit I use is pirated... not because I don't want to pay, but because I refuse to let some random company have direct access to my PC's. I use cracked pirated versions when there's no other way. At least with Microsoft, you can buy cheap OEM license keys for next to nothing. With my Adobe products, I have to do a complicated crack, patch and firewall procedure to install and use Photoshop, After Effects and Acrobat without all that creative cloud crap snooping my PC.
Other than that, I installed DAZ without DazConnect and I use DIM offline. Like MissFortune mentioned above, DAZ doesn't know who created what renders. They don't watermark your renders in any way.
Sadly, the whole software industry is moving towards these perma-connected Cloud models. Adobe started doing it years ago... Microsoft is hard at pushing Office 365 on everyone. Ton of other companies doing it now.
They sell the convenience of it all, and most of the sheep out there fall for that, but - in reality - it's just a way for them to gather meta data, which enables them to target products to people in a more selective way.
Half the shit I use is pirated... not because I don't want to pay, but because I refuse to let some random company have direct access to my PC's. I use cracked pirated versions when there's no other way. At least with Microsoft, you can buy cheap OEM license keys for next to nothing. With my Adobe products, I have to do a complicated crack, patch and firewall procedure to install and use Photoshop, After Effects and Acrobat without all that creative cloud crap snooping my PC.
- Aug 17, 2019
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I mean, it's no coincidence that Adobe usage has skyrocketed since they moved to a subscription platform. Part of it is that more people can afford the equivalent of a Netflix subscription than a $700 bill to foot. I understand why Adobe does it, but I don't like it either. Especially after seeing that whole Pantone fiasco. The rest of the industry can go fuck itself with subscriptions, though.
AFAIK, most data is collected via searches and browsing online. Don't think they could gather much from software or software usage outside of gathering info on their most and least popular features, etc.
Have you never used m0nkrus? It's basically one-click outside of the downloading. Far easier than GenP or anything that really came before it.
- Sep 6, 2021
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No, I can't say that I have. Honestly, I don't pay much attention to the release group, other than to cross check it's "rep" with the torrent sites I use. Most of my adobe stuff has the same process really... go offline, install using some offline means (like phone activation), run crack, make rules for firewall, then use to your hearts content.
I have a mishmash of programs on this PC. Maybe on my next PC, I'll give that m0nkrus suite a check out. Seems pretty good from the glance I just gave it.
One thing too - I only do this stuff for my personal use. Anything I use for my business is 100% above board. Like, I have no problem paying $100 for a year of Office 365, when it's being used on my business PC. It's an expense after all, and it's nice to have full tech support. But for my personal PC's, I much rather spend $12 for an OEM key. Like, on this PC, that's all it cost to get the full Office 2021 Pro suite. Sure, it's locked onto this motherboard, but I just built this computer so it's good for at least 5 years.
- Apr 13, 2021
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I don't think i ever logged in with DAZ Studio. Ever.
You can just select offline.
Pirated? Well, if you concerned about privacy but ok with pirates to install something on your system....mmm...
I wouldn't recommend it.
I like a save environment without my system spied or used by entities that put something on my computer without my knowledge. Though i'll get it. But i think DAZ usually communicates for quality reasons.
- Sep 30, 2018
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Good to know there's an offline mode. I guess I'll test if it's truly completely offline, heh. I just resent how software devs insist on everything being connected all the time these days. That's very not good.
Good to know.
I have no interest in the store. Most of the assets I'm interested in are here on f95. And I'm not paying $12 for a model or pose pack that I, in all likelihood, will dick around with for a while, get frustrated and quit for a while, then come back to, repeat until I have something I like months later, and then probably not bother showing anyone because it'll only be of interest to my weird ass tastes. And even if I do share it, it'll just be like, on f95 and/or some other even smaller community, and never be part of any kind of serious money-making project.
Jeeze, TELL me about it. I hate it. It's not just the money either, it's that you're forever subject to their judgement, basically. If they decide one day to ban people for using their products in a certain way, poof, those people lose access. Whereas with offline software, as long as you have it and it's compatible with your OS, there ain't dick they can do about it as long as you're careful.
- Sep 30, 2018
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I can just as easily add things manually. Which I would have to do anyway for things I get from f95. So yeah, no need for it.
- Sep 30, 2018
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I have a Daz account, but I use simplewall to allow/block apps from making connections. Just uses WFP under the hood - all stuff you could do manually if you really wanted to.
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Don't do that. It's way easier to add/remove from DIM than it is a manual library. I now have two separate libs - one for DIMables and one for manual stuff and wrote a script to track files that have to be manually installed (for uninstallation later if I need it).
Appreciate it. I have my own methods- heck, I might just completely go offline when I'm testing the program the first time and see if it causes any problems, heh. I'll keep this in mind though.
- Apr 13, 2021
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Your are a subject and most of the stuff is in the cloud.
Steam, cloud.
Your email, cloud.
Are you on social media? Cloud.
Many big software companies are also in the cloud.
I think there is no escaping from it.
Personally i wouldn't use any cracked software. But it's everyones choice.
Instead you can try opensource which has also great software. Blender?
- Aug 17, 2019
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Oh, trust me. Every software company out there knows when their program is pirated, cracked, actively being used, and by whom. Just like everything else you do on a computer, it phones the mothership. It all depends on how much the company cares about a single entity (usually based on their profits.) when/if they decide to go after them. Forever 21 got straight prison raped by Adobe and Autodesk (the latter of which has done multiple times to much smaller companies.).
Will they go after a John Doe on the interwebs? Probably not. Can they? Absolutely. Software companies don't care about your data or what you're googling. If you really cared about your precious data that much, you wouldn't be on the clearnet using Chrome or Firefox. You'd be on Whonix or Tails using Tor. You're never truly offline with Windows.
- Apr 13, 2021
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I wouldn't say they don't care about your data.
Data is the currency in today's internet world. Your data will be sold. If there is google or facebook on the webpage, you are tracked.
Also, Apple is in the same boat. It's not just Windows. Though everyone hates Windows, it's not the only company that reads you.
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For browsers, social media, search engines, and all that sort of clearnet stuff, yeah. Data is 100% important to them, and by offering their services for free, it's a pretty even tradeoff.
But it isn't for software companies, especially paid, where there are no ads to show or cookies to collect. Using Photoshop again as an example, who's going to buy data about how much you use a certain tool or feature, or how big your images are? Advertisers absolutely don't care about that. There's zero profit in it, nobody cares about it. Advertisers simply don't care about what you're doing in Office, or AE, or Daz. They care about what you're googling, what you're watching on YouTube/TikTok, liking on Twitter, etc.
Which refers back to my original point. If you at all truly care about your privacy, or are paranoid enough about it to find a cracked version of a free program, then you shouldn't be on Windows. Same goes for MacOS, or some of the more mainstream Linux distros. You should be on Whonix or Tails and browsing only with Tor.
Privacy is just a new buzzword being used by trillion-dollar corporations to let people think they're safe from companies selling their ever-important data that's not actually all that important.
- Apr 13, 2021
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I am glad i am not that paranoid.
But yes, absolutely true.
I still have Tor on the computer. There are some instances when i am using it.
Tracking on the other hand, i am just not really sure and you get actually paranoid when you think about it.
I got back to the social media stuff with Instagram and have to say, lot's of wannabes there.
It may be correct that software companies (paid) are not into the tracking. I dunno.
I do use Firefox as it is opensource but even they like to make money.
Personally i think there is always a tradeoff. Especially if you want to run some specialty software or games.
But it is like that. If you browse you are visible.
This time, i even used for the fucking first time my smartphone to check into my plane. It's just very convenient.
- Sep 6, 2021
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Spoken like a true sheep.
It's not a matter of thinking DAZ is nefarious or that someone is waiting there to pillage our personal data. It's a matter of refusing to move with the herd and passively accepting the new "norm" of having to be permanently connected to some companies cloud server.
I can't speak for Xol's background or intentions in detail, but I get the feeling he shares my view on the erosion of privacy in today's world. Our "holy data" as you put it, is in fact the currency that the internet runs on these days. Meta data is collected about everything. And if you think that just because a company like DAZ has good intentions and doesn't misuse that data, then nothing bad will ever happen - then you are naive. Extremely naive.
It's all a numbers game. In my trade, we would call this a Risk Evaluation. One piece of software having open access to our PC is acceptable and very very low risk (IE: Windows and other essential packages you need to use a PC) Having two is still low risk (You just added Steam or some other game launcher) Three is still low risk but less so... you get it? Every time to allow more companies and more pieces of software to access your home network, then the risk increases for some sort of "bad event". it could be a data breach. It could be a virus in a patch or update. It could be full on identity theft or doxxing. Heck, it could be DAZ being bought out by some other company and the first update they push scans your PC for assets and crosses them with their purchase records and if they find a mismatch, your Studio gets bricked. Shit like that has happened before.
It doesn't even have to be such a negative event. It could be something as simple as one program's "cloud" client that runs in your PC's background having bad interactions with another piece of software, also running on your PC. Because company X doesn't give a shit about company Y and therefore they never worked with them to avoid conflicts. Meanwhile, your DAZ coughs up a hairball right at the end of that marathon 3 hour render.
This is supposed to be a pirate site and sometimes I think it's just full of posers, lol.
I've been doing this stuff since the days I used to put my phone's handset in a set of cuffs to get a whopping 300 baud dialup, so I could set my Atari to War-Dial overnight and explore the hits I got the next morning. I used to hack C-band and KU band sats with pirate receivers and programmable key cards. I've built android boxes with XBMC/KODI to stream everything I ever wanted.
It goes against my DNA to allow any company to have access to my computers 24/7.
EDIT: Forgot to add... all the shit mentioned above is avoidable and easily mitigated, with some small effort. The stuff that really has me worried is the new AI's that corporations and states are using and the proliferation of CTV's everywhere (think the UK) Ya, I have a tinfoil hate in my closet, but the stores are already using AI to scan customers and cross them with their use of points cards and credit cards. Go buy a box of diapers at a pharmacy and use their points card and just wait for the junk mail (either email or snail mail) to appear from Huggy's or some other diaper company. Heck, I made the mistake of giving the local weed store my public email addy (Sue me, I was high at the time!) and now I can't stop the stupid CBD Gummies spam emails. At least I had the presence of mind to use my trash public email and not my main one.
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" It could be a virus in a patch or update "
Oh boy, here are a few good examples:
node-ipc update with protestware
A more recent example: FTX app
Solarwinds
Oh boy, here are a few good examples:
You must be registered to see the links
node-ipc update with protestware
A more recent example: FTX app
You must be registered to see the links
Solarwinds
You must be registered to see the links