The Daz Studio and Related Product Deals Thread (Daz3D, Renderosity, Renderotica, etc.)

[jkjyuio]

Any thoughts?

Ive only ever bought from daz or rendo. I wish rendo would have better sales. they send you coupons during the exact time they're not discounting the things you want. annoying i know, but i can see why.

i would buy on rendo at 70%. im not a prime member. if i was perhaps i would get that, but i dont buy enough as it is to justify the prime price.

daz+ used to be worth it, but lately it gets watered down to make their top tier look better. which is currently too expensive for me. If i work on a big project, it might be. maybe.

2c

 

[Schlongborn]

CGBytes and Renderotica are the same as far as I know. Never thought of them as different stores. While it is true that Renderotica has a lot of crap, that is kind of true for all stores imho. Renderotica has the best genitals though, and some kinky stuff you won't find elsewhere. Good PA's that are only on Renderotica: Meipe, DB XXX, Laudanum, LEONDigital, 3feetwolf (which for some reason has his old genitals under 3feetwolf_legacy now)

I don't really agree that Renderosity has better clothing then Daz, in fact after all those PAs have migrated from Renderosity to Daz, a lot of the good clothing assets are now available on Daz. Lilflame, Rhiannon, Devianttuna13, Dzheng, Vicey3D, fefecoolyellow, Maddelirium are some that I like that are now on Daz. Plenty of others migrated as well. Some of those that migrated still have new assets on rendo though, I think all of the ones I mentioned have at least some of their assets on rendo still.

Some noteable PAs that are still exclusive to rendo that I like: RainbowLight, Man7a, zoro_d (semi-exclusive), Kadaj777, exnem, romarovprivate, curtisdway

Yeah, Renderhub is pricey, because they don't have sales like the others (Renderotica has also few sales with high discounts), but you can find good Daz stuff there.

Dexon3D (really good), ugarman (pretty unique toon look), squarepeg3d (check his patreon), InTheFlesh (free Dev kits for G8 and G9), SOFT3D (maybe), XR71 (maybe) and so on and so forth. Bigger problem with renderhub is that you have a relatively high risk of buying stuff that where the seller actually doesn't own the IP and just ripped it out of a game or something like that. And then you can't really use it, well, you can, but the you have the risk of getting sued because you're violating someone elses IP. Like ROMFX or guhzcoituz for example, which has most of hist stuff marked as IP restricted now that I've checked, but I think this wasn't always the case. Either way, just gotta be aware that "IP restricted" means you risk getting sued if you use the asset in a game.

There is also CGTrader there is some stuff there, and they sometimes even have good sales, but for Daz stuff I rarely look there, some of the PAs on Renderhub also sell/sold there, like Tri-X, who is pretty much in all stores now.

Pricewise I think nothing beats Daz sales, those guys are ruthless when it comes to selling. You'll buying something at 90% off and regret it the next day cause it is now 97% off. I live in constant fear they'll do a sale like "Fuck it, 100% off everything for a day". I'd probably get a heart attack.

EDIT: Actually, some of those that I thought were exclusive on Renderotica and Renderosity are also on Renderhub, Kadaj777 and DB XXX for example.

 

[jkjyuio]

100% off everything for a day

Like it! I'm waiting for: everything on your wishlist for $1 each but you have to buy it all. For me it could cost a fortune, but i'd seriously think about it.

On second thoughts, i hope that doesn't actually happen

 

[OhWee]

Like it! I'm waiting for: everything on your wishlist for $1 each but you have to buy it all. For me it could cost a fortune, but i'd seriously think about it.

On second thoughts, i hope that doesn't actually happen

The key here is to be patient. March Mehness is just around the corner, and who knows, there might actually be decent deals this year.

MM aside, keep an eye on this thread. If we see REALLY GOOD DEALS, someone here will call them out! Also, while sales glitches are rare, they do happen occasionally, like what happened last week...

My Daz3D.com price target has always been at or below $2 (average price per item in cart). For somewhat older items, this is doable, and recently I've even seen a number of Genesis 9 era items fall below $2, again, this requires patience.

Also, keep an eye on Lightning Deals. When discount stacking is in play, I've seen a few rather good discounts (over 90%) sneak in occasionally.

I get that the token game is annoying, and that it's the Daz sales team's way of coaxing people to shop more often, but don't be afraid to let the tokens go, or just burn them on some random cheap item if they are about to expire.

And, if you aren't in 'boycott' mode r.e. Premier, and if you are already spending a fair amount each month, and don't mind committing to $20/month, if your library is still fairly small you can eek out a lot of value out of Premier. Like the free monthly bundle as an example, plus higher discounts and earning more tokens, i.e. 1 token for every $5 spent, double that on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Note that I haven't jumped on the Premier bandwagon myself, as I have over 20,000 products in my Daz library now (between Daz3D.com and Renderosity.com and other places), so I simply don't have the need to buy at this point, and my current Daz+ Membership is good for a bit over a year still.

Finally, make sure to jump on decent deals on gift cards. We've talked about Daz3D.com gift cards a number of times in this thread, short form is that whatever discount is being offered for said gift card, well that translates to a 'prepaid discount' on any item purchased using your store credit balance, which you recharge using gift cards.

So 20% off gift card = 20% off anything you buy using the redeemed gift card balance. 30% or more discounts on gift cards do occasionally happen, and Premier members often get higher discounts on gift cards, so yeah something to keep in mind.

 

[Schlongborn]

The key here is to be patient.

Yeah, I am kind of not though. Which is _why_ I would get a heart attack if they did "everything 100% off for a day".

 

[oaiki]

You must be registered to see the links

 

[orgtech]

One approach for gift card deals like this is: go to

You must be registered to see the links

, sort low to high price, you'll see there's a bunch of things at $4.19 (at least with Daz+).

Assuming you don't actually want these new releases (you value them at $0), it's still basically always better to take 3 new releases. Here's the effective discount (price of cart divided by value of gift card):

Gift Card value	with 1 new release	with 2 new releases	with 3 new releases
$100	6% effective discount	7%	8%
$200	8%	11%	14%
$500	9.2%	13.3%	17.5%
$1000	9.6%	14.2%	18.7%

You have to buy multiple gift cards to go over $500. I checked and the "up to $200" isn't being enforced at the moment.

(I finally just made a spreadsheet for this instead of using a calculator every time.)

We've seen better GC discounts, but 20% wouldn't be unreasonable it actually got there. Here's some scenarios where this deal might be worth it:

• you actually want some of the cheap new releases
• you have 8 tokens to burn (cuts the cheap new release price nearly in half if you pick DOs)
• you really want to charge up for March Mehness.

 

[orgtech]

Latest Daz sale is slightly broken (below for details), but I'm posting because I just saw a fine-print rule that I don't think I've ever seen before, and I'm a little worried what it means for the future that they've thought of this and have written code to enforce it.



This applies even to tokens; you don't get to bring the price down to $5 and THEN apply tokens, tokens can't push items in this deal below $5.

That's a bit reminiscent of the old "discount doesn't stack" rule which also prevented tokens from working. But they didn't tend to use that very often. This rule does allow some stacking, so I'm worried they might apply it much more frequently. Like, it'll be a lot harder for OhWee to find sub-$2 products if every discount says "Minimum price after discount is 3 dollars".

(The broken part of this sale is that the code is restricting the deal on featured artists to only 5 items, even though as described on the page that rule is supposed to apply to a different part of the sale. But the featured artist deal isn't worth it for me with the $5 limit anyway.)

 

[oaiki]

Latest Daz sale is slightly broken (below for details), but I'm posting because I just saw a fine-print rule that I don't think I've ever seen before, and I'm a little worried what it means for the future that they've thought of this and have written code to enforce it.

View attachment 4542592

This applies even to tokens; you don't get to bring the price down to $5 and THEN apply tokens, tokens can't push items in this deal below $5.

That's a bit reminiscent of the old "discount doesn't stack" rule which also prevented tokens from working. But they didn't tend to use that very often. This rule does allow some stacking, so I'm worried they might apply it much more frequently. Like, it'll be a lot harder for OhWee to find sub-$2 products if every discount says "Minimum price after discount is 3 dollars".

(The broken part of this sale is that the code is restricting the deal on featured artists to only 5 items, even though as described on the page that rule is supposed to apply to a different part of the sale. But the featured artist deal isn't worth it for me with the $5 limit anyway.)

Typical JGE (just good enough) mentality that plagues modern industry; instead of quality control and testing they raise failsafes to prevent their inept sales and dev teams from fucking up* ... and we have seen those fuck-ups happen a lot recently, both to our benefit and detriment.

Some executive must have noticed that their recent margins have plummeted and demanded prompt action ...

* probably more the sales team than the devs, as the language they use is deliberately vague and ambiguous, more so if you are not a native American English speaker.

 

[OhWee]

Latest Daz sale is slightly broken (below for details), but I'm posting because I just saw a fine-print rule that I don't think I've ever seen before, and I'm a little worried what it means for the future that they've thought of this and have written code to enforce it.

View attachment 4542592

This applies even to tokens; you don't get to bring the price down to $5 and THEN apply tokens, tokens can't push items in this deal below $5.

That's a bit reminiscent of the old "discount doesn't stack" rule which also prevented tokens from working. But they didn't tend to use that very often. This rule does allow some stacking, so I'm worried they might apply it much more frequently. Like, it'll be a lot harder for OhWee to find sub-$2 products if every discount says "Minimum price after discount is 3 dollars".

(The broken part of this sale is that the code is restricting the deal on featured artists to only 5 items, even though as described on the page that rule is supposed to apply to a different part of the sale. But the featured artist deal isn't worth it for me with the $5 limit anyway.)

Well, I can safely ignore THAT sale then...

No doubt this is an effort to appease the PAs that don't particularly relish the idea of their items going on sale for really really cheap.

For legacy items, particularly pre-Genesis era stuff, a $5 minimum should be a 'no go' for most buyers in the first place. I can understand this for items that were released in the last couple of years maybe, but otherwise...

I'll occasionally pay a little extra for an item that looks particularly useful, but if it's just another variation on lingerie or a character or whatever...
I do pay more at Renderosity when I shop there, but I only shop at Renderosity a few times each year, if the sale is particularly enticing. But back on topic...

It's a good thing I'm quite content with my current Daz Studio library collection. If the Daz3D.com sales team doesn't want any more of my money, that's their choice. I'm more than happy to sit out sales until they come to their senses.

 

[oaiki]

For legacy items, particularly pre-Genesis era stuff, a $5 minimum should be a 'no go'. for most buyers in the first place.

Amongst the advantages of using the Daz-Deals Pro add-on is that you get a price history; my strategy has evolved to consider a cart acceptable if the price is less than or equal to the total historical sale price of the items or the discount accrued from the buy-in total offsets the difference ...

 

[orgtech]

This rule does allow some stacking, so I'm worried they might apply it much more frequently. Like, it'll be a lot harder for OhWee to find sub-$2 products if every discount says "Minimum price after discount is 3 dollars".

And so it begins already. Today's Daz3D deal has (accidentally?) undocumented minimums.

The current deal is, as usual, inconsistent in what's advertised and what's happening, nine hours into the sale, so I need to explain both. We'll see which direction they go when they fix it. I'm guessing the code won't change but the sales text will, i.e. I'm guessing that the second list below is what they intended.

What's advertised:
- buy one debut new release
- get up to 3 products from list A at 70% off (7300 items)
- get up to 3 products from list B at 85% off (37000 items)
- get up to 3 products from list C at 75% off (1500 items)

What's actually implemented, and what they presumably meant, given it's called a "wishlist" sale:
- buy one debut new release
- get up to 3 products from your wishlist from list A at 70% off, minimum discounted price $3
- get up to 3 products from your wishlist from list B at 85% off, minimum discounted price $2
- get up to 3 products from list C at 75% off

Edit: from the forum:

Yes, the newer items have a floor of $3 and the older $2 - the items must be in the categories and in your wishlist, prior to some date (not sure if it was yesterday or a bit earlier). A bunch of disclaimers were/are missing and the person Frank got hold of couldn't add them.

End edit.

The fact that these minimum prices also prevent tokens from working is a real fuck-you to tokens. We'll see if the customer push-back on that makes them change their mind on tokens vs. minimums. (I'm guessing: no.)

(Without the minimum prices this is an ok deal. Without the three item limit it would be an ok deal. As it is in practice I think I'll try setting up one cart; I have some expensive wishlisted items that with 8 tokens still don't quite reach $2 yet are 94% discounted, so maybe worth it. But I need to complete a cart to decide if it's worth it.)

BTW, if you don't have Daz Deals Pro, make the javascript from this post a bookmarklet and you can click it to add a wishlist filter to any Daz store page, which is mandatory for this kind of sale: https://f95zone.to/threads/daz3d-whislist-filter-checkbox.205344/

 

[Schlongborn]

Wow, that minimum price thing makes me think again that those insane sales last week actually _were_ a glitch.

Which is crazy considering they did the flashsale first and then had another sale on the weekend that was just as good. Must have been really asleep at the wheel if those were glitches and this limit is their way of trying to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen again.

 

[orgtech]

Yeah, I was originally thinking this was just an intentional new control they were putting in to let the sales team manipulate sales. It never even crossed my mind that this might be something they're putting in to safeguard against them fucking up the other part of the sales. But now that multiple of y'all have suggested the idea, it seems very plausible.

I mean, it's dumb, because now it's "okay" if you fuck up the rest of the sale, but you also have to remember not to fuck up the minimum discount.

So I guess we'll have to hold out for two glitches if we want great deals again: forgotten minimum discounts, and messed-up 49%-off Gift Cards.

 

[OhWee]

I don't know for sure if anyone on the Daz3D.com sales team follows this thread, but there's an easy solution...

SIMPLIFY YOUR SALES! This way, you don't need to mess with minimums, tokens, Premier bullshit...

Renderosity sales have been simplified FOR years, are much more clearly spelled out, have published end dates, and the only 'discount stacking' generally involves only a single coupon. The only 'nuance' to watch for is if an item is 'coupon eligible'...

And more consistent sort options to boot!

The Daz3D.com sales team would have much happier customers if 'base' prices were lowered and discounts simplified accordingly to reach the 'desired sale price'.

But I know that goes against the latest marketing trends, even though in practice it works much more cleanly.

I also get that people that are new to the Daz Studio thing need to build up their libraries, and 'glitch' sales are great ways to do that if the right items are on sale, but with price minimums being established, yeah this seriously nerfs tokens. Renderosity has a much better program (IMHO) for this, it's called 'rewards points' which can be spent on gift certificates.

And said rewards points don't expire in 2 weeks, so they are much more 'budget friendly' because you can slowly accumulate said points as your budget allows...

I'm sure a lot of us around here wish that Renderosity could lower prices a bit more, but at the end of the day, Renderosity sales are more or less PREDICTABLE, so we KNOW that when somethings on sale for 65% off, and we have a 20% off $25 or more coupon in play, that's a good deal, and we'll jump on it if our budget allows...

And the only reason many of us here don't shop at Renderosity more is because of the possibility of some crazy glitched Daz3D.com sale.

That's my opinion. Save some headache, lower 'Retail' prices, simplify discounts accordingly, stop playing games with your customer base.

But chances are the Daz3D.com sales team won't see this post, and probably won't care in any case, so 'cest la vie'.

 

[orgtech]

I'm guessing the code won't change but the sales text will, i.e. I'm guessing that the second list below is what they intended.

At some point they updated:

1. They changed the text to mention the wishlist requirement.


2. They removed the minimum discount requirement.

I'm doubtful they originally included that requirement in error; my best guess is they decided that with two different mistakes in the sale, better to concede on one then totally undermine everything.

That means tokens work, too, so I've got stuff in my cart getting down to 95% off, under $2 and even under $1. But the buy-in is too steep to be worth it for only 3 items.

 

[orgtech]

I'm not gonna post about this anymore since it seems like it's the new normal, but I just wanted people to know it does seem to be the new normal.



I'm ok with them putting the other limitations in the fine print under the deal, but it seems pretty dickish to semi-conceal this rule.

 

[Jumbi]

I'm not gonna post about this anymore since it seems like it's the new normal, but I just wanted people to know it does seem to be the new normal.

View attachment 4551853

I'm ok with them putting the other limitations in the fine print under the deal, but it seems pretty dickish to semi-conceal this rule.

Many regulars on the Daz forums are quite pissed off with this floor price thing. I don't like it either. I can see myself spending less, both as frequently and overall, if it's here to stay.

 

[OhWee]

Many regulars on the Daz forums are quite pissed off with this floor price thing. I don't like it either. I can see myself spending less, both as frequently and overall, if it's here to stay.

Best thing that could ever have happened to Renderosity!

Restating my issue. I can understand if we are talking G9, and maybe even G8 items having 'not lower than' prices, but anything before then is becoming more and more obsolete by the day.

And spending $2 or more for a V4 era item is just insanity. I'll bet that those items stop selling really quickly when 'minimum prices' are in play, and that'll just give the Daz sales team more excuses to purge that stuff from the product library.

Some V4 stuff is still rather cool to play around with, but it generally takes a bit of work to 'update it' and get the fit to work properly. It's just not worth anywhere near the advertised retail price, heck this stuff was created well over a decade ago, when having a 6 GB Nvidia graphics card was a big deal. These days, 6 GB just doesn't cut it.

Oh well. I was looking for a reason to stop buying Daz stuff, good job Daz3D.com sales team!

 

[Vicho75]

Frankly, I choose the Premier membership just like I did with Steam, when I stopped pirating games.
But I don't forget about Render-State.