Xfrog TGO plants are MUCH better value than I thought

Started by cyphyr, April 23, 2009, 01:57:20 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

cyphyr

Well I know I said the Xfrog deal was a bit much for the hobbyist market that was based on the assumption that the tgo file format could not be converted to other file formats.

This program, 3D Object Converter will do the job nicely, even has a batch command so you could convert all your tgo's to any of 500+ other file formats.

Whilst I havn't seen Xfrogs EULA but I'm sure the converted files could not be used for commercial projects I don't see why they should not be used by hobbyist in their other programs.  At EUR 40 or USD 50 it looks like a great deal and makes the XFrog deal very much more appealing, just a shame I wont have the spare 400 bucks before the deal runs out in May 31. :(

Richard
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
/|\

Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

buzzzzz1

XFX 750i SLI  nFORCE Mobo
Intel Core2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz Wolfdale
8 Gig Corsair DDR2 6400
Nvidia GForce 9600 GSO 768 MB
XP Pro 64 bit OS

Oshyan

Unfortunately this is probably contrary to the terms of Xfrog's license, even for non-commercial use. Additionally it is probably that 3D Object Converter will not be able to convert these particular models as the TGO format has changed. A large part of the reason we were able to offer this extremely discounted bundle is because of the limited format option and exclusivity to this user base.

- Oshyan

BangelOz

That's not the good perspectice i hoped. spending hundreds/thousends of Dollars for plants to every render program i use is madness. where's the emergency brake?

Goms

Quote from: BangelOz on April 23, 2009, 02:41:46 PM
spending hundreds/thousends of Dollars for plants to every render program i use is madness.

madness...?

THIS ISok, i'll better stop here....
Quote from: FrankB
you're never going to finish this image ;-)

BangelOz

#5
Quote from: Goms on April 23, 2009, 03:04:40 PM
Quote from: BangelOz on April 23, 2009, 02:41:46 PM
spending hundreds/thousends of Dollars for plants to every render program i use is madness.

madness...?

THIS ISok, i'll better stop here....

Was that the wrong phrase of me? I think you know how i mean that.


!!!!!!
As we see the latest discussions about plants are mainly related to xfrog - means sources are missing. what speaks against a shop associated with planetside to become more independent (for example cornucopia<->e-on). i think the main software is not everything. the right accessories makes it complete.

Zylot

No, he was making a reference to a often-quoted movie.

Goms

Quote from: FrankB
you're never going to finish this image ;-)

Anders

Well, acually I had a comment to Walli/xfrog regarding price and sales from Xfrog, but since that topic is locked I dump it here and see if anything happens..... You can't lower the price....Well, maybe you can't with the traditional "sending boxes by mail" sales, have you tried to lower the price for direct download? What experiences do you have on lowered price on direct download? Is your experience built on "sending boxes by mail" sales only?

Let me take an example from the real world:

Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve made some experiments on their download portal Steam with the game Left4dead. At GDC
in San Francisco he told that they increased their sales with 3000% They sold for more money during that weekend then the release, and without affecting sales in stores. During christmas other game publishers had opporturnity to lower their prices and they got the following result:

A 10% decrease in price gave 35% increased sales.

A 25% decrease in price gave 245% increased sales.

A 50% decrease in price gave 320% increased sales.

A 75% decrease in price gave 1470% increased sales.

I think a decrease in price can be a good business for you too, think about it.

Source:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/57308

BangelOz

Perhaps they have manufactured enough physical packages which must sell and know there are enough professional customers for them, who don't care about shipping and will almost pay every price and  no 'little hobby users' are needed to make the money. A new download-system for little packages could need too much money.

Walli

Hi,

I don´t have any influence on xfrog business, so I can´t comment much on that. About downloads - at the moment, single species can be ordered via Turbosquid, I don´t know if there´s any bundeling possible. I think thats also more a Turbosquid thing.
But in future there might be options to Turbosquid..

xfrog

hi anders, selling content is not quite the same as selling a title.  content pricing can be dependent on how many licensed seats exist of the host software.  e.g. it is possible to sell very low price for individual models in daz3d as they have many 100,000's of valid users of the underlying software.  it is not as easy in terragen 2, because there is not (quite yet) a very large volume of users.

turbosquid, cornucopia3d, renderosity, daz3d, host our individual plant models as well as our boxes and the OBJ in all those work fine in terragen 2.   

what we are trying to offer as a tg2-xfrog bundle is to create something by which both planetside and xfrog can benefit.   if we sell small clusters or individuals, on our site or other portal, planetside gets no direct benefit whatsoever.  we want planetside to grow because we believe strongly in Terragen 2. that is also why we are in the forum.  i hear what a lot of you are saying - you want small clusters for a low price, because you dont need 1,300 models and you can't afford a high purchase price.  we are thinking about what to do about this with planetside.   the two key issues, i will dangerously repeat myself, are that tg2 has not the largest base of users (quite yet)  and therefor there is a downside price limit per individual model, and also if we sell individuals/clusters, we don't directly help planetside grow at all.  nor, do we produce a product that can really hit hard in realism.  1,300 plants inside terragen 2 - it gives some realworld options.  if you step outside - and count species - from your front door - you can perhaps hit 400 species of plants without looking too hard.  grasses alone. i am not saying that any of you want that sort of realism.  we are just trying to supply options, and i know - a lot of you are sore about the price and the bundle being so large with no other options.  we are looking into a way to give access to everyone the plants and at the same time be symbiotic with planetside.  like "walli" noted: we never said this is the only bundle we will ever offer.

one other thing (please), there is no statement of the price of the bundle changing in the press release or in this forum in May.  what was stated for certain is that tg2 will go up, and that anyone who hasn't purchased tg2, should consider buying it before late may.  bundle pricing is a decision that is open right now between planetside and xfrog.  i just want that it is clear that in no terms is the bundle intended as a "gun to your head 30 day squeeze to buy all plants now, or else" as a few people have written.  that would be a rather short sighted business idea to go thru all the effort to create a bundle.   we have been listening and posting info in this forum, not to upset, but to give you news as it is evolving.  whether that is good news or delays. mutual or solo.  with that said, we will release some more free plants monday.   as someone previously posted in the last thread before it was locked, 18 plants have been released from the 22 libraries in the past, (and you can see whether the quality is interesting for you or not), and more are coming.

i hope this can alleviate some of the issues raised by many terragen users.


Quote from: Anders on April 26, 2009, 04:18:52 AM
Well, acually I had a comment to Walli/xfrog regarding price and sales from Xfrog, but since that topic is locked I dump it here and see if anything happens..... You can't lower the price....Well, maybe you can't with the traditional "sending boxes by mail" sales, have you tried to lower the price for direct download? What experiences do you have on lowered price on direct download? Is your experience built on "sending boxes by mail" sales only?

Let me take an example from the real world:

Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve made some experiments on their download portal Steam with the game Left4dead. At GDC
in San Francisco he told that they increased their sales with 3000% They sold for more money during that weekend then the release, and without affecting sales in stores. During christmas other game publishers had opporturnity to lower their prices and they got the following result:

A 10% decrease in price gave 35% increased sales.

A 25% decrease in price gave 245% increased sales.

A 50% decrease in price gave 320% increased sales.

A 75% decrease in price gave 1470% increased sales.

I think a decrease in price can be a good business for you too, think about it.

Source:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/57308

xfrog

yes, it is contrary to the license terms of planetside tg 2 and the user licensing agreement of the xfrog-bundle.

Quote from: Oshyan on April 23, 2009, 02:26:50 PM
Unfortunately this is probably contrary to the terms of Xfrog's license, even for non-commercial use. Additionally it is probably that 3D Object Converter will not be able to convert these particular models as the TGO format has changed. A large part of the reason we were able to offer this extremely discounted bundle is because of the limited format option and exclusivity to this user base.

- Oshyan

Anders

Thanks for your response.

Quote from: xfrog on April 27, 2009, 01:46:21 AM
hi anders, selling content is not quite the same as selling a title. 

Well, I don't agree with you on that. To me it seems like a few file formats can cover a very large user base.
You have to count the user base for these formats, not the user base of TG2. TG2 can use OBJ, right?
In fact, selling content have larger potential then selling a title.

Quote from: xfrog on April 27, 2009, 01:46:21 AM
turbosquid, cornucopia3d, renderosity, daz3d, host our individual plant models as well as our boxes and the OBJ in all those work fine in terragen 2.   

I haven't been aware about these channels, it is in the right direction, so I'll have a look...