Questions and answers on the DAZ acquisition

[DanRoberts]

Originally Posted by -ash-

...

However, unless I've missed it, I have yet to see a post from one of the DAZ team on an Eovia product forum (I don't count Bob - he's still Eovia in my book).

Not a good start IMHO to welcoming us to the DAZ 'family'.

indeed ... "he that is faithfull in the small things is faithfull in the great great things".

There are so many things like this ... little things that could have made all the difference. That would have really showed that things have promise.

But the small things ... not there. (not counting Bob ... He's still Eovia to me ... by history and his actions in taking the time).

It would have only taken a small two to three paragraph post from the leader over there to have made a big difference. If u dont have the time to type out two or three paragraphs, given how rough things have been here the last few days, How can we count on you for the big things?

If there was a way to pay for it through paypal ... we might have gotten that post.

[sunfirexed]

Still on april, yessssssss!

[Corndog]

Bob... Will there still be 2 sites.. One for just the Car and Hex productswith the free tutorials etc without all of the visual assaults, banners/ads etc. And then the other eye sore site where even a person with A.D.D. says WOW just way too much comin at me and how did all this spam hit one page. ? Its just terrible over there

[ScottC]

Originally Posted by EoviaBob

If you wish to have a refund on your pre-order of Hexagon 2, send your purchase receipt to info@eovia.com. The refund will be processed within 24 hours of receipt of the email.

Well, I filed for a refund. No hard feelings, and I wish Daz/Eovia best of luck with the new product.

I will let everyone know if the refund goes through as easily as all this.

Best Regards!

[Corndog]

Scott I did that earlier and had a reply within minutes no questions asked..
Still has a touch of eovie ( BOB )

[EMC]

Eovia had my money for the upgrade, and I'll let DAZ keep it... Hex2 looks good and hopefully will be solid. However, I don't want to be sucked into the whole DAZ comunity/content thing. It works for some people, but not for me. I think keeping the presentation and branding of the software and content different would do a lot to keep Eovia users happy. It may seem silly and not very logical to some, but we are a silly and illogical species.

[Organiques]

I actually signed up just to ask this. Why is the ordering disabled on Eovia's site? Any idea how much Hexagon 2 will be priced?

[MagicRubber]

Well what hurts the most is I bought hex 1 with the promice of an update but I cant exactly get a refund for having downloaded it

I guess since I dished out 200 allready doesnt make much sence for me not to use hex2.

What scares me the most is that the team that make hex got booted out of the transaction( i know this has been said already). The People who created hex had a vision they had tallent and imagination thats what made me buy the prog.

Im just scared that hex's future might go down the drain.

With hex's future being so uncertain and silo laging behind I think modo is going to take a far lead in this race.

But alass I will leave this a positive post with a lot of work already completed as far as modeling and texturing / displacement (hopefully still dont know) the new company has a solid stable base to build from.

GOOD LUCK TO THE CARRARA TEAM!

[DanRoberts]

Originally Posted by Organiques

I actually signed up just to ask this. Why is the ordering disabled on Eovia's site? Any idea how much Hexagon 2 will be priced?

From what weve been told ... its a temporary thing. According to the Daz forums it will be available again on the eovia site, wether this actually happens is up in the air. Im pretty sure ull be able to order again in the next few days ... somewhere.

[manleystanley]

Just spent some time reading through this. I agree with much of it. With Daz's track record I fear for Carrara; I'm just a Carrara 5 pro user. I have Daz's DS; well had, I hadn't used it in quite a few weeks so I uninstalled it. The program was usless for my needs.
When I first read that Daz had bought out Evoia I thought I had read it back words.
Well I guess we can all expect this forum to be "Dazed" up soon enough, Say hello to popups, spam and the Vegas style cg art. All I can say is "hand me a life jacket and point me to the rail".

[Reactor]

Or, you could wait and see what happens. One could say that Daz didn't have much to work with before (keeping in mind that DS is version 1), and now they have the responsibility of taking care of Hex and Carrara, they may very well do a good job.

Don't over-react. Just wait and see.

[Tryll]

I'm in the boat with the waiting, while using Hex2, since I already bought it, and I'll be able to use it while watching what DAZ does. I figure if they don't get it right, Hex2 will be a good tool for a while, and I can switch off to modo at any time if things start to slide (which I'm fully expecting.) I think DAZ has an uphill climb with professional users.

[Senyac]

Hi Bob ,
With the pending release of Hex 2 ,
will the preorders be sent a email with download links?
or will we have to download it through the Daz website/store?

thanks

[the_peculier]

Originally Posted by manleystanley

Just spent some time reading through this. I agree with much of it. With Daz's track record I fear for Carrara; I'm just a Carrara 5 pro user. I have Daz's DS; well had, I hadn't used it in quite a few weeks so I uninstalled it. The program was usless for my needs.
When I first read that Daz had bought out Evoia I thought I had read it back words.
Well I guess we can all expect this forum to be "Dazed" up soon enough, Say hello to popups, spam and the Vegas style cg art. All I can say is "hand me a life jacket and point me to the rail".

Just to clarify for you this forum is NOT Eovia's it is Thomas's (one of the French staff of Eovia) forum. And DAZ does not have popups and spam (unclear what you mean by Vegas style). If you are going to rant at least base it on reality.

[Nichod]

Perhaps its because of my long term experience with Eovia (aka. Carrara), but I'm not concerned at all. I've been through Carrara's uncertain future post-metacreations, and then its purchase by TGS...etc. etc. This is just another step.

One thing I'd like to point out is how passionate the people are that develop Carrara and Hexagon. Whether Eovia Europe remains or not is not a factor in this, as sad as it is to see them go, Eovia US is just as enthusiastic about Hexagon. And all of Eovia Europe's development team remains and Carrara and Hexagon's development still remains in their hands.

And anyone who thinks that this was done simply so Eovia could make more money, they are only partly right. This was done to ensure the future of Carrara and Hexagon. After each of the bumps in the past, Carrara jumped 2-fold in its abilities and I expect the same from this. With the financial insurance that Daz provides in its content development, Carrara and Hexagon can continue to evolve and develop into powerhouses.

Bob has commented on Daz's image and has stated that they have a plan to rework the site to better showcase the software, alongside the content. Daz knows what they have purchased. And they are also passionate people. The software they have developed, Daz Studio, is high grade. It uses a renderman compliant renderer, 3Delight. It has an incredibly powerful openGL implementation. (see: http://www.nvidia.com/object/daz_success.html)

Daz isn't just about the content anymore and I expect to see things evolving with the company. The blend of Eovia and Daz will make a powerful company.

Thats my two cents. So everyone should sit back and enjoy the ride. Don't make premature decisions until you know what is going on.

[Locki]

Yes but as everybody noticed, as long as a website is usually the "vitrine" of what a compagny is able to do ... DAZ website is a total mess : a look that was certainly good for the last century, not to say last millenary, and that was conceived at a prehistoric era of the web; craps, porn dolls mixed in great happiness to few good quality products within a gigantic baazaar, where it's becoming more and more difficult digging for hours in order to find the small pearl !

I think that's why so many people here are unpleased with this deal : DAZ has simply more the image of a 3D "hard discounter" than that of an "high tech" CG startup.

[ edited : "sexually explicit 3D contents" has been erased : DAZ is not responsible of what few pervert users are doing with there "detailed" models ]

[the_peculier]

Originally Posted by Locki

sexually explicit 3D contents

Go on then, define this statement and show an example.

[danilo.massa]

Bloody hell

I was not been able to access internet and read Eovia3D.net for some days and when I come back I get this BAD news.

OK let me explain why I think that the acquisition of Carrara and Hex product by DAZ was a bad news for me.

I start remembering (for the nth time) to all that I am not an artist but an information systems forensic security expert so I have "some" experience in the software world (I have written my first commercial software (very small) when I was twelve (now I am 37 years old) and I am following legal and economics software issues from 7 years).

So at present time I have some "doubt" about this acquisition:
1) DAZ has put a big economic effort in the acquisition (you can read this as: Will DAZ be able to maintain ALL the Carrara developers? Why DAZ has not acquired the European Eovian guys? ... lack of money?)
2) Every big software acquisition need time to be completed (read this as: DAZ will add some small already developed (by the old dev group) feature to Carrara and Hex and will resell it as a new version (DAZ branded) in order to get some money back)
3) I was a Bryce user (from version 4) and I have noticed that: the dev guys of DAZ are not well suited to develop complex 3D software (no new ideas, not enough skilled in the software development itself (dev languages, algorithms and so on), not enough human resources to support another product ... in order to add some small features to Bryce 5.5 they have employed one year of time)
So ... without to be offensive I suggest to DAZ managers a small book to read: In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters here they can find some suggestion of how to avoid some common disasters made during software acquisitions.

Someone now can ask why I have written this message ...
I have written this note because:
1) I am not an artist and I have used a lot of my spare time (too much according to my fiancée) to learn Carrara and Hex and I am now terrorized of what could happen to my two preferred 3D softwares
2) after the release of Bryce 5.5 I was very disappointed by the software development process of DAZ (software development includes also: marketing capabilites, customer support and so on).
3) the best support for the Eovia products (Carrara and Hex) was this forum and all the people that frequent it actively participating in the discussions (Ok it is true: I do not like the DAZ forum), and now I fear that is will be closed
4) and a few words I hope that DAZ will be able to support and continue the development of Carrara and Hex (for this reason I will not ask for a refound of Hex 2) but I fear that my hope will be disenchanted soon ...


Regards and best wishes to all who have in these years developed and contributed in every manner to Carrara and Hex, helping people like myself to find its way in 3D graphic.

[the_peculier]

danilo.massa,

Thomas has stated several times that this is his forum and not Eovia's and he will carry it on as is. The daz forum, though actually attached to the Daz site is not maintained by Daz but appointed moderators.

Amapi - I can only think they do not want it as it does not fit into their plans or the Eovia Europe did not want to sell it.

Daz - I agree that their software side has been a little buggy and slow but now that they have taken on board the Carrara developers and management team this can only be a damn good thing.
Companies also LEARN from their past mistakes or they are not in business for very long.

Carrara/Hexagon - Hexagon is about to be released as a whole new version so your comment about a little tinkering cannot be applied here. The most that will happen is the additon of a Daz splash screen and a quick change in the about us section. Also, the Hexagon team are contracted to Daz until version 2.1. Carrara may be different in this repect but your comment does a great disservice to the Carrara dev team, do you really believe they would be that cavalier about a product they are passionate about?

Point 4 is confusing. Why would Daz pay what I imagine a lot of money for two products then not support and develop?

[Nichod]

Originally Posted by danilo.massa

Bloody hell

1) DAZ has put a big economic effort in the acquisition (you can read this as: Will DAZ be able to maintain ALL the Carrara developers? Why DAZ has not acquired the European Eovian guys? ... lack of money?)

I see no reason why DAZ can't maintain ALL the Carrara developers. Its obvious they have a good flow of income. Over the past few years they have: purchased Bryce from Corel, purchased poserpros, purchased Eovia, created their own software application, developed a new version of Bryce and developed various plugins and additions. They have the finances.

Originally Posted by danilo.massa

2) Every big software acquisition need time to be completed (read this as: DAZ will add some small already developed (by the old dev group) feature to Carrara and Hex and will resell it as a new version (DAZ branded) in order to get some money back)

No. The same core developers are working on Carrara. They are still currently working on Carrara. I can vouch for this.

Originally Posted by danilo.massa

3) I was a Bryce user (from version 4) and I have noticed that: the dev guys of DAZ are not well suited to develop complex 3D software (no new ideas, not enough skilled in the software development itself (dev languages, algorithms and so on), not enough human resources to support another product ... in order to add some small features to Bryce 5.5 they have employed one year of time)

OK. for the 100th time. If you don't know the history of Bryce you won't understand. The Bryce code was a jumble of code when Corel got it. Corel let it sit, rot and did very little to improve it. Daz bought Bryce and had to figure out where and how everything worked. Since they were not the original developers. Then they had to clean up the code. (update, optimize) Next they had to decide what to develop that would be beneficial to them and there market. They had to decide how best to implement it. Finally, they had to code it. Debug it. Fix the bugs. And release.

This all takes time to do. And a version 6 is expected this year. Just because a update doesn't have the amount of visible features you are expecting, does not mean their is a lack of development. Plus the update was a .5 update. I expect you'll like version 6 a lot more