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Did I mess something up on the install? Or am I not understanding how "Smart Content" works?

Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
edited August 2013 in New Users

I installed DAZ on my Mac. At first everything seemed to be fine. I then happened across sharecg and downloaded a bunch of extra stuff. I dumped it in My DAZ Library but I didn't know where things were exactly supposed to go. I stated trying to drop the files into the various content and render folders to match up with the directory structure of the ZIp files. Big mistake. That never worked. I ended up hosing everything up.

I also discovered that the Smart Content tab had nothing in it. I Googled for the answer and realized that the service wasn't running on my machine. Actually, I wasn't even sure if I even installed it on my machine. I tried to reinstall it but I kept getting an error. (I forgot what it was now. Something about permissions I think.)

I then completely uninstalled DAZ, blew away all that extra content and started from scratch.

DAZ is now up and running and there's stuff in my Smart Content tab. I've been using it for a few weeks now and have bought a ton of stuff from DAZ.

However, I'm finding it really hard to find where everything is. It seems like for some products I've purchased from DAZ, the item is in My DAZ Library, but the materials are in the Poser runtime folder. Is that right? So when I look in the Smart Content folder I can see some items, but not everything that I've purchased. And for some stuff I've purchased, I see the item, but not the material. Is this right? Like the hair will show up in Smart Content when Victoria is selected, but the hair colors don't show up when the hair is selected.

I though everything should show in Smart Content. If I select Victoria 4 and then look in Smart Content, there's a ton of stuff that I bought for V4 that isn't in the tab. (And it all seems to be whatever is in the Poser runtime folder.)

I've reimported the metadata several times and it's still like that. Am I missing something? Or am I just not understanding how Smart Content is supposed to work? Why would some stuff be in the DAZ folder and some stuff be in the Poser folder when everything was installed though the DAZ Install Manager? Shouldn't it be 'all DAZ"?

Thanks.

Post edited by Kevin Rye on

Comments

  • TotteTotte Posts: 13,977
    edited December 1969

    Hello,

    There are probably several different things going on here.
    (1) Older content doesn't have metadata and won't show up on Smart Content. If you bought older stuff (I do that often, specially props ), they are found through the "Content file structure.

    (2) The file structure is really "one", but visible as two parallel trees, one for DS content and one for Poser Content. Some content (also the older content) doesn't even have DS files as they came before DS even existed. Other content have DS Materials on the Pose folder in the Poser structure, and some have DS materials in the DS structure, and at last, some have both the item and materials in the DS structure.

    So, it take a while to get use to it, I did three complete reinstallations (long before DIM) before I really understood how it was supposed to stick together, but I still get confused sometimes by certain items.

    Now you got the basics, give me an example of something that is hard to find and I can guide you through (if I have the item, but there is a 50-50 chance for that).

    There is a help thread about installing content here that explains a little about the paths. I know its for Windows but it translates pretty well to OS X.

    Holler if you need specific help, I'm usually around.

    / Totte

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Yes the Content Library Pane is your main content folder in Daz Studio. If it doesn't show up there in either Poser or Daz Studio formats then they is something wrong with the installation. The Content Library pane is also a direct representation of your Hard Drive content folder/s, what you delete in the Content Library Pane you delete from your hard drive.

  • Kevin RyeKevin Rye Posts: 392
    edited December 1969

    OK, that explains why some stuff doesn't appear in Smart Content. I though it was broken. I guess it'll take some getting used to. I was just reading another post that talked about the different hair types; how some show up in Props, vs others that show up in Hair, or People.

    Confusing.

    I guess it just takes getting used to. Maybe I didn't hose it up to begin with. Maybe it was supposed to be all scattered like it was!

    Thanks.

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