I think that Cellygon raises a good point, which is one we have been mulling over for the last little while over here at Reallusion. We are aware that there are a lot of users out there who base their decision to adopt a new software or get into a new content marketplace on initial impression, of which visual commercialization quality is a big part. I also have stories similar to the one he mentioned with his friend, and they are a bit disconcerting, yet understandable.

It is for this reason that we have decided to try this two-tier approach. Popeye also made a good point that there still are some users out there on a budget who just want to have a wider selection of content available, and simply removing everything that 'doesn't look nice' (i.e. poor commercialization) might affect them more. However, it is our goal to advance the content community alongside new technological developments which you'll see in iClone 6, particularly render quality. This means that we want to have an asset store which contains premium, visually appealing content that we personally approve, in order to further enhance the image of iClone as a more advanced and fully-developed tool that will attract a new community of more professional users. This is our image for the Content Store.

But not to worry, as I mentioned we will always have the completely open Marketplace for users to freely self-publish and exchange their content. We know that not everyone is a hardcore user, and there are also a lot of casual and beginner users as well.

Brilliant, i was actually thinking of the same 2 tier solution. Perhaps make it tier 1 - products stay in that market for 1 year Tier 2 - over 1 year archived.

I say this because as a shopper also, I always try to look for whatever is new in the market.

if you are a regular - semi regular shopper, you already know whats in the shop and just looking for new things, not have to sort through hundreds of things you knew was there already for the last year. Tier 2 can stay the way it is now imo.

also, it would be nice to have an option to hold indie developer sales. maybe even have a bargain basement in tier 2 where developers can put items on a scheduled sale - would be nice to highlight holiday sale events that way too.

• My Spotify  My Twitter  My Virtual Art Gallery
  
• My NFT    My Marketplace My Blog
  
• Music Sync Licensing

☯🐉

"To define Tao is to defile it" - Lao Tzu

Totally agree with Armstrong. We seem to have an absolute plethora of content from the very poor to the unbelievably outstanding and dozens of developers but not so much in directors.

Animation Software will be sold on what is produced and sadly there is not enough quality being made. Test it yourself, do a search for "iClone" on YouTube over the last week and see how much quality you get.

Content can be made quickly or painstakingly over a long period with the developer spending time creating a quality product. The same can be said of directors, the problem is nobody is going to buy the finished project. So to earn money we all (not so much me) make content.

Its shame there is no financial opportunities for directors other than beta testing or getting a copy of iClone at launch. Even something in line with a top 20 films, using the Reallusion TV system. The higher the position the more CA points you get and this could be weekly. The films can be based on views for position and directors could be featured - "New up and coming", "Established Director" etc.

Without quality directors making quality animation, you would have no teasers, nobody interested and hence no market.

Hell I don’t know there are cleverer people then me on here.

Just my thoughts

Cape

___________________________________________________________

Score Variations

Capemedia UK Limited's Website

Yes, the unfortunate growing pains of iClone are that we still have a lot of sub-par content and animations out there, but we can't do much to stop people from having fun on YouTube!

I completely agree that featuring and supporting good iClone developers and directors should be a priority. We love to see the amazing production value that some of you are able to put out there, and are more than eager to promote your productions as much as we can. I personally can't wait until iClone 6 brings about a whole new level of render quality and lighting so we can see some real fireworks! If you have any suggestions for how you think Reallusion can help, let us know!

I was initially drawn to iClone because of the variety of content, I later discovered the quality of good looking content was not always a given.

What put me off iClone and is the reason I don't use it so much, is that I cannot be assured that something on the market place will work with the latest version of iClone. !!! Suck it and see gets a bit expensive when some of the so called quality items carry a very large price premium.

Might I suggest ALL content is tested with the newest versions, those that don't work should be marked with a big red warning sign. This will stop people waisting money on stuff that just will not work.

Also a general Ease-of-Use test should be carried out to see if models actually can be animated as easily as stated by the creator, and, perhaps more importantly, whether or not that animation is worth having on screen.

Do something lime this and you will safe guard the actual customers who will then return to buy more stuff.

It's called customer satisfaction!

This thought deserves its own thread. I would love to see ideas on how RL could place some focus on the directorial output.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

I can see how the initial impression of iClone can be vastly upgraded by removing props that look as though they came from the early nineties. So how will you categorize, for instance, Super Hi-Definition G5's from Older series G2's? And also, the Donkeys that cant say "Oooh" is a concern as well. Perhaps setting up a council to monitor existing stock to make sure its functionality is constantly upgraded to match the environment within which it will be deployed. This is CRUCIAL as, it may have become a comedy setback, the "Oooh" issue, but it was a very real concern at the time and a winning situation whenit was resolved. Perhaps a kind of 24/7 workshop charging token fees for upgrades or updates? Maybe even an additional charge to administer such changes that make a product better suit the set its intended for? Either way, I agree wholeheartedly with segregating Hi-Def Hi-Quality from the dumpster-stock but just that... Segregation. Separation. Not deletion. Those who are adept with iClone can take a  box and make a garden out of it. Its a rare issue I ever use anything from the store "As it came."  Everything Always needs enhancing and editing. Does anyone else agree to an additional charge for custom editing of existing stock like a compatibility insurance?? Would this be easy to administer in the store? You're obviously upgrading iClone to visually suit Top End Markets now, so a "one prop suits all" has always been an impossibility..... can we expect to see financially oriented custom finishing which, in the domains of commercial animations artists is a fee paid by their clients on acceptance anyway? Armstrong.

iClonia.com           iCloneTutorials.com         iClonia Blog

Some older props could easily be revamped with improved textures; no need to trash those yet. I have 3DXchange, so it's easy for me to separate the parts of an interior for example and the furniture moveable. As I've mentioned older props often appear as a single entity, which limits their usefulness.

I've bought some RL content that should never have been published without rework. I have the car selections which are low-poly but nice enough to fill a parking lot if only the textures were better. The sizes are incorrect too. That's another thing: 1 iClone unit is 1 centimeter, so we should be able to rely on that when we purchuse a prop or character.

As has been suggested already: it should be clear for which version the product was initally intended with an indication as to compatibility with newer iClone versions.

Also animatibility should be specified: for characters compatibility with iClone motions, facial animation ready or capable (i.e., you can set it up in 3DXchange, but it's not available out-of-the-box). With props: is it static and monolithic, or does it come with separate parts with pivots in the right place (for doors for example), or is it an iProp with built-in motions.

So basically, there should be a normalized description so users better know what to expect.

I see two issues when we buy content: quality control and after-market care. Some content is not cheap, so we should have some guarantee of quality and a degree of certainty that our investments do not get obsolete. I have no clients I can charge, so before we start talking about charging additionally to bring content up-to-date, there should be much more clarity about a quality baseline.

As to the other issue brought up, I would very much like to be promoted...

---

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I agree with ANIMAGIC regarding descriptives but it would be much better for providers to have to conform to a certain number of compulsory laws/quality criteria in order to post products for sale else it is rendered impossible to curb the slovenly. I think high Quality refining needs to include "How" things are posted not just "What" things.  We also need much bigger preview images. Existing are little short of embarrassing and pathetic. Top, Side, Front, Back, Angle is a starter. My servers have literally unlimited space and bandwidth and yet you still strive for tinyness????

 

A bigger preview image for our contents would be great! And the limit of 9 preview images is quite limited. Not enough to show everything in a combo packages. Would be nice to be able to upload more.

Also, It would be nice if devs contents in the content store automatically gets updated when we edit our contents description and images in the marketplace store. Would be nicer if what content we edit in the marketplace also gets translated to its content store counterpart... Because sending an email to RL support to update the one in the content store is troublesome on both end. So set up an automatic system would be nice.

----------------------------------------------------------
My latest release for CC
   
For all my other iClone contents, click here.