Organizing Content Library
Aabhnormal
Posts: 85
I don't know where the heck this belongs... But... I'm a long time user of Daz, and my usage of Poser goes back even further (Seriously, to `99... and I'm a packrat... I have Posette somewhere in my folders I even have the P3 and P2 guys in there somewhere)... I have thousands of items in my content library... and I'm having the hardest time rememberning that that old, run down room was created by West Park (And is in the "West Park" folder in Environments, not the "Old Run Down Room" in Props) or that my GOOD School room is in Props and Heryun. Or WORSE, that my character that I'm looking for are in DAZ Studio Format/Genesis 8/, but the clothes that I want are in DAZ CONNECT/Genesis 8/ And that the super awesome prop gun is in Poser Formats/Props
There once was a time when I could just go in to the folders on the hard drive and move things around in the directories, but I've noticed two things a) Daz doesn't save anything in DAZ connect on the same drive as MY stuff, so even though I have everything installed in my E:\, all of the DAZ Connect stuff is on C:\Documents\Users (That took me some time to figure out), b) Everything in DAZ connect is cryptic... like the folders are all 4587349853745/34875398475/. So clearly they don't want me finding or moving things anymore and c) When I DO move it, it vanishes completely from my Content Library, like I've committed some great crime. So I get that I'm not supposed to move things around in the Content Library. That's totally cool... but I now have to just remember who made what in order to build any scene, because items could be literally anywhere... and installation is a mess (We've installed your new car, but it won't be under "Vehicles", it's under "Environments/jehebbers/"... and we won't tell you that, you have to figure it out, and you'll have to remember this forever.)
So... I can't imagine everyone ELSE is operating this way. I MUST be missing some feature of the program that I've completely overlooked: How do I move folders in my content library so they are all logical and make sense and cross over from Daz Connect/Daz Studio/Poser/Other Import Formats? How can I make a folder that allows Posette to be with G8Female?
Thanks! :)
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Comments
Stop using Connect. If you stay with the Content Library and DIM you can move you content as you want and Studio will find it, provided that the root directory is specified in the Content Directory Manager.
Poser stuff is, and always has been, a mess.
Thank you for responding... But, you'll have to clarify on this, please... Because I'm reading that as "Stop buying things from DAZ", which I can't imagine that's what you mean, so I'm getting lost somewhere, sorry. You'll have to bear with me, I'm not as saavy as I used to be, sadly.
Is there a setting you are talking about in some way here? I do understand that when I purchase items from Renderosity or download from ShareCG, it goes into a place where I can sort it out, but how would I deal with my existing DAZ content?
You can also use the Categroisation tools (right-click on fiels or folders) to organise your content, which allows one item to appear in multiple places. You can also use links, via drag-and-drop of references from Smart Content or right-click on references or files, to organise without moving the actual files (moving the fiels makes updates tricky).
The easiest way to do what you want is to use the 'Content Library' pane (tab) as Richard was saying. You can organize your content any way that works best for you. You aren't moving files so Studio won't complain and DIM can keep them updated. Fastbike1 was saying to just use DIM to download your purchases at DAZ, not connect. Then all your purchases are in the folder that you told DIM to put them.
If you need to learn how to catagorize your content, I believe there is a tutorial in the tutorial thread.
Gus
http://stonefeather.co/tutorial-1
The only downside is that you have to first go through all your content and cathegorise it manually. Since you've been at this for a while it might take a small eternity...
Thanks all! Yeah, I think this is what I'm looking for. Though... it IS going to take a while, you are right. But I'm not opposed to spending some quality time getting everything in order if it'll stay in order. Back in the day I just cut the runtime out and moved it back in when I needed to uninstall and reinstall Poser... I've been feeling that Daz has been moving further and further away from that. Every time I reinstall, I get more "runtimes" in my content library...
So... that brings me to another question: Once I spend the next three months or so getting alllllllllll of my Poser/Renderosity/Daz/Specialized characters/Etc finally sorted out... is there an "Export this neat list" function so I can save it when the inevitable hard drive reinstall happens? I mean, I know how to back up my Poser things, and reconnecting with the Daz Store is a breeze... but as I said: I already have four "runtimes" in my list and that grows to five with a reinstall until I merge the old ones together.
You can save your painstaking work with Content Database Maintenance by exporting User Data. That will create one or more UserData_n.dsx files in the library's Runtime/Support folder. If you have more than one library, not sure if it puts all info in the first one listed or each separately. Whatever it does, copy those out somewhere safe. Hm-m, that reminds me...
Right-click on the product and you can export its metadata directly.
This exports the user-owned metadata, not the vendor datta (if any). You can hold down vmd(Mac)/ctrl(Win) to get additional options, and if you've set preferred options you can hold down shift to apply those.
Thanks for all the help, guys! So I've been doing this... and now I have a NEW problem:
I have a character based on a Daz character. I load a G2 James, make modifications, added clothes, hair, etc. Now I save the asset him in my "My people" content directory naming him "Bob" next to "Jim" and "Tim" (I don't really have these names, I can't remember the real names... they are all stupid anyway). Okay! No problem.
... Except it's not showing up in the Category below where I have linked "My people". I refreshed my metadata and everything. If I look at DAZ Studio Format/People/My People/ Bob is there, but down at Categories/My People/ Bob is not. I can see Jim and Tim, but not Bob. I saved twice to make sure I was saving in the correct directory I wanted to be sure this wasn't a stupid on my part. I noticed the same problem when I downloaded a freebie necklace from Renderosity today as well: It's not showing up in the "Jewelry" folder below. Does this mean that folders do not update in the Categories section?
The categories do not update from the content folder, it is basically a snapshot of the content at the time you created the category if you did a whole folder. If you uninstall a product or delete something, the category entries will disappear, but adding something will not automatically add it to the category. You can add or remove items in the custom categories from any folder or any other category, it is not limited to the original folder. If you want your new character in the category, you have to add him manually. The entry in the category is not a copy of the original, just a reference to it, so you need to make a new reference for the new item.
Ah... Thank you. Now I remember why I stopped using Categories a long time ago. Because, of course, I make a lot of custom content and the directories are fluid. I mean, I guess I could use the Categories for all the Daz/3rd party stuff and then flip over to the upper directories for my custom content, that does save some of the confusion, certainly. But it's still going to be spaghetti on some of this.
I guess this goes into a request for an update for Daz: Because really all they need to do to fix my problem would be to update category folders, then it would be incredibly useful. I could link my characters there, I could link my modified vehicles there, modified locations, clothing, etc.
I just can't imagine this hasn't been a problem for anyone else... I mean, my workflow now includes probably 10 or 15 minutes of clicking through folders now selecting items for a scene. And with so many Daz items having subfolders in them with different options, this seems like data wrangling would become a problem for everyone in short order...
Thanks for this. I'm just at the stage where I have a few custom items I have created myself and some OBJ files I import and texture manually, so (before I become overwhelmed) I'm trying to get them organised so I can find and load them properly. Using categories has been a tremendous help. Now I just need to find out how to create these props and materials files so they show up correctly.
One of many reasons for installing everything manually, according to your own folder structure and categorisation.
For example the characters are located in different folders according to their age and ethnicity, clothes have folders for fantasy, formal, plain, provocative, uniforms, etc...
Easy to remove vanity folders and place the things where they shoud be, instead of letting the "smart" installers put houses in props or vehicles in environment.
This can also be done with links or by categorisation, without breakign updating.
I'm doing something a bit different, than what is suggested, so I thought I'd share.
I have a 3 TB drive with a folder for my Daz Library. Everything I have from Daz that I've gotten over the last year is there, and everything I've gotten for Poser and Daz that's over a year old, is only there if I expect to use it again. So many of the assets are so old and low quality, and I'm fully G8 committed and RSSY doesn't work as well as I'd like, so I'm pretty much writing off everything else.
Next, I edited all of the content folders directly in my F:\Daz Library folder. I've organized all my character pro bundles under the main character's name: so all my Aiko 8 characters are in People/Geneis 8 Female/Characters/Aiko 8/.... I have a few pro bundles for male and female, so this keeps my Characters folder from getting cluttered. My Envrioments folder has about nine general categories, one of which is called Interiors which has about a dozen general categories (these categories are for things like "Urban"/"Sci-Fi"/etc).
Now comes the "fun" part. I go into the Runtime/Support folders, find the XML documents for each item purchased through Daz, and update the XML in Notepad++ with the newly created Content Folders. When I'm done (yes, this is taking a small eternity, but...) I will reimport the meta data through Content DB Maintence > Re-Import Meta Data. This should import all the vendor meta data into the database, which should allow Smart Content and the like to function normally. This also means I only have to manage one Content Library, if you use the Categories and/or Links (both of which I've considered), I'd essesntially be manageing two Conent Libraries.
Before I started on this epic journey, I did a small test. I found this did work as expected, and even if I miss one of the XML documents, if I edit the XML to the new Conent Library folder after the import, the meta data updates when refreshing the Conent Library folder.
Lastly, I've moved my CMS folder to F:\Daz Library\Runtime\CMS. I've made sure through Daz and DIM that it will only look inside F:\Daz Library. And I have Acronis scheduled to backup this folder weekly to an external hard drive. In the event of a total system failure, all my work will be saved and backed up. I won't have to reinstall anything from Daz. I'll simply restore the F:\Daz Library folder, tell Daz/DIM where the folder is, where the CMS folder is, everything will be right back to the way it is.
Content aquired from the sources like Renderosity and CG Trader, and content I've created myself, I have to edit the meta data directly through Conent DB Editor. This will be saved directly in my CMS folder to be backed up, or can be exported to an XML document in the Runtime\Support folder via Content DB Maintence > Export User Data.
My method does require a bit of setup, but in the end, I felt this was the most optimal way to manage my Content Library.
Cheers!