VectorArt Mega Collection Question

[JAMEY]

Alright. I own all 3 VectorArt collections and they are cool. I notice that when I go to their site, I can search for images. That is cool too.

What I am wondering though...is....

Why don't the images we find by searching on their site have a book (1,2,or 3) and page number so we can easily find the images in these collections?

Lets search the word "welding" on their site. The results don't show book and page numbers.

I could not find a phone number on their website either to ask them the same question.

If anybody knows of collections that do have web searches that work with their books, then let me know. It would be much better than digging and digging and digging.

 

[RiXaX]

I share your wish also

 

[omgsideburns]

It's probably something to do with the page numbers are how the images are organized on the disc, and making it a search engine for the disc would make pirating the discs easier since you wouldn't need to include the book.

That, or whoever didn't feel like doing it because they are switching to an online sales format, and I don't blame them.

Edit: I know Fred's site is the same way and it's nice to at least know the graphics are somewhere in the book which means I'm not digging through pages and pages for nothing.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Tony pretty much hit it. It's all about software piracy.

The organization of the Vector Art collections is an outgrowth of their beginnings. At that time they sold 25 (later 26) images on a floppy disc along with a single page showing the images. The naming strategy was simply 01.eps, 02.eps etc. When it grew into the first Mega Collection, each disc was assigned to a folder and a topic or volume number. The result was that the collection was very difficult to use without having the book to refer to ... thus creating a significant obstacle to the usefulness of an illegal duplication of the CD.

Understanding that, when single image selling evolved on the internet, protective measures were needed so that no relationship between the collection name and the single image name was provided, although keywording was added to make searching easier for single image buyers.

Those same protections have been carried through at my ExpressClipart.com website where we offer, under license, the content of all three Vector Art Mega Collections along with other work including our Plotter Art™ artwork.

Software piracy, including file sharing, is a serious problem that not only effects the publishers and artists ... but also you and every other buyer of digital artwork. You not only must deal with the protections put in place but also the loss of any significant new art development. Vector Art has announced that there will never be a Mega Collection 4 and I can tell you the same is true for Plotter Art™ vector development.

On a side note, you may find it interesting to note that at Express Clipart our 906 images from the Plotter Art™ Originals collection regularly amounts to about 35% of the total vector images that we sell even though there are about 15,000 images available from the three Vector Art Mega Collections also there.

The Plotter Art™ Originals collection, along with our other Plotter Art™ collections, are on a special discount promotion until the end of August to help Al Checca.

 

[JAMEY]

Thanks for the info. It would be nice if us who actually forked out the cash could get a trackable login so we could access the site where we can search and get the book/page numbers.

 

[Fred Weiss]

Thanks for the info. It would be nice if us who actually forked out the cash could get a trackable login so we could access the site where we can search and get the book/page numbers.

I don't even have that information. You and I are both left to deal with the table of contents in each collection which will put you less than five minutes on average from finding an image. That's as good as it gets and you shouldn't hold the publisher to blame. Too many of our "peers" are the reason.

 

[JAMEY]

I don't blame anybody really. They did reply to my email. It says...

Thank you for your inquiry. The Vector Art phone number is on the page with each Collection - click on the Collection for the phone number. You can find information about location of the image in the "DETAILS" box with the image. For example, the welding image number 55726, details box shows:

Browse by Catalog

Collection: Mega 3 Collection
Section: Occupations
Topic: Professions and Trades

Search by Artist: Irena Panova

You locate this image page number in the table of contents for Mega 3. I hope this is of help - we want to make using Vector Art faster - making it profitable for you is what we want to do. Please let us know if you have more questions.

Thank you again,
Vector Art Staff

So that's cool for when we are in the office or have our books but don't do squat when we are on the road without our books. Better than zilch for sure.

And yeah...I gotta check yours out Fred.