Welcome to the FAQ section of the freebie downloads --------------------------------------------------- Version 1.03, revised 3rd of December, 2012 1. What format are these files? ------------------------------- Daz Studio 4.5 native (.dsf and .duf). Yeah, sorry, Poser-users -- I'm still learning and I can't split my attention between learning and putting out Poser-compatible files, because it would necessitate installing Poser and I'm just trying to learn one thing first before galloping onward with other things. That said, if you wish to make Poser-compatible exports (or .obj or whatever Daz Studio can regurgitate) *and* put them available, cool! Do that, as long as you follow the license enclosed with each object (generally Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0), but do check just in case), and it would be pretty cool if you told me about it, so I can at least put a link to your conversion to URL_list.txt. 2. What are you using to create these things? --------------------------------------------- Hexagon 2.5 and occasionally Sculptris. I am a total newbie -- while I have done an occasional random landscape render with primitive renderers in 1990s on Amiga 500, this is my first time when I'm involved in object creation. I started in late February 2012, so do the math from there. Any awfulness is the fault of the crafter, not the tool. Skins are created with the helpful combination of Photoshop CS5, GIMP and Paint Shop Pro 7 (yes, that's one ancient beast, but it still works). 3. F***, that's one slow-ass connection you got going there. ------------------------------------------------------------ Yeah, I'm sorry. It is the actual physical hardwiring of the household (CAT-3) which is putting the limit to uplink speed (2 Mbit). I totally wanted to have that posh 100 Mbit/100 Mbit optic my ISP is offering, but since I live in a big block of apartments, it is *so* not up to me to get that internal wiring replaced. I would consider it extremely polite if you did NOT use any download enhancers. These programs usually open multiple sockets to a server in order to "speed up" the download, but the sad fact is that you can't get it faster than you're already getting it from my end -- everything is coming as fast as it can. 2 Mbit is 2 Mbit is 2 Mbit, and that's it -- it just gets split between those multiple sockets and I do not have that much users that you're competing with them for bandwidth. That said, my server supports download resuming: you can use an utility like wget (available to both Linux and Windows, don't know about Mac, but I guess it is) to download everything you need. Windows binary for wget: http://users.ugent.be/~bpuype/wget/ Instructions: put it to your Windows/System32 directory. Run command prompt (either by clicking the icon in Program Files/Accessories) or Run -> cmd Quick cheat sheet for DOS commands: ----------------------------------- : -- goes to drive indicated by the letter. I.e. typing F: takes you to F: drive. dir -- shows you directories and files at your current location cd -- Changes your Directory to where you want to go. Note, tabulator key often completes the name. del -- deletes . Type: wget -c -T0 -c means "continue if the download broke" -T0 means "unlimited retries" You can even make handy-dandy .bat files with it: 1) Open a plain text editor (such as Notepad, Notepad++) with URL_list.txt in it, edit out the stuff you don't want to download. Note that wget does not download stuff you already have in that directory; that is, if the file is complete, wget checks it with the server and moves onward in download. 2) Add wget -c -T0 before http by using search/replace (search: http and replace: wget -c T0 http) 3) Save the file as .bat to where you want it to download the stuff. 4) Go to that directory using the commands listed in above cheat sheet advise. 5) Type and watch it do its magic. or 4) Alternatively, double-click on .bat file in Windows Explorer. This, however, may not be as stable as plain command-prompt fired .bat operation. I will likely create a "download everything" .bat in future but you still need to have the wget utility binary in your system for it to work. 4. Yeah but it is still slow! Why do you keep your stuff on your server and don't use ? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'm sorry, I am a bit of a control freak of my stuff. 1) I do not trust that will continue carrying on my stuff. I've seen too many examples of things deleted because of false piracy claims, breaking some obscure rule of TOS, and so on. Since I control this system completely, and I am in charge of administering it, I know how to respond to any BS thrown my way. 2) The reason why I'm iffy about may be their stance to content's... well, content. For example, too many sites put in arbitrary rules regarding adult content, and I cannot discount the possibility of doing things that are considered "adult" in nature (rest assured, these items will be marked as such). I **refuse** to believe that there's anything inherently "bad" in human body in its natural states of being that needs to be hidden away. I grew up in sauna culture, and I've seen humans of both sexes naked before I was six years old, in all stages and shapes of humanity. There's nothing mystical about it. Likewise, de-sexing the world -- such as animals -- is baffling to me. I spent my early years at my relatives' farms, and I sure as heck learned about animal behavior and anatomy and consider such features perfectly normal. I understand **why** some feel differently, but they don't need to download that content, should any show up. Likewise, they should not have any control over my *legal* content I put available. 5. Okay, so may I mirror your freebie stuff? -------------------------------------------- Yes, you may; please contact me and let me know where you've put it so I can include it in the URL_list.txt. As long as you don't make claims that you created this stuff, and attribute it correctly to me, I'm cool. This means you can torrent them, put them to file sharing sites, to your blog etc. as long as you include the whole package and don't be a douchebag claiming that you did it. If you're in habit of making CDs or DVDs out of 3D content and distribute it to hobbyists, either at no-cost or fixed price, I would like you to contact me before you do so. 6. So how do I contact you!? ---------------------------- Oh, yeah, that. I'm at Daz Studio's forum as Skiriki (http://www.daz3d.com/forums/member/1811888/) You can e-mail me: skiriki (at) ilmatar (dot) net (parse that line as needed) 7. And all this is free? Free as in free beer? ---------------------------------------------- Yep. Enjoy! Happy renderings! 8. Wait, what if I want to give you something for this? ------------------------------------------------------- Well... you can give me a gift certificate at Daz Studio's site. I think that's the easiest and best way to do it.