How to best organize my library starting from scratch?

odastein

So, my hard drive is dead following a brutal shock, and with it my file organization on DAZ is gone as well, I think (I don't believe I had saved that) . So, I'm reinstalling DAZ, and I'll have to reinstall all my assets as well. It seems like a good opportunity to install them in the best way possible, since I've been forever plagued with issues when it came to find products(or even to remember what I had).

I had begun organizing it last time by copying everything in "categories", creating a specific general category under which I was putting everything is sub-categories and sub-sub categories,etc... organized my way. My goal was to eventually have everything there and to use only "categories" to search for stuff. This method had been advised to me, but I'm not sure if it's the best.

I had been advised against reorganizing the folders of the library themselves. I'd rather do that than create categories, though. There's a problem with the updates if I do so, since the original product won't be found. Is there any other problem to expect with reorganizing the library folders? Would it be possible to create a sub-folder in the library, with sub sub folders, etc...where I would copy and organize everything (as I intended to do with the categories), while leaving the original library intact? If there's an update, it would be installed in the original library folder, and I would then copy the updated content to my new sub-library organized my way. Is that an option? Better or worst than using the categories? 

Thanks in advance for your advices. 

Richard Haseltine

One option is to leave the files where they are and use links to them (perhaps in another content directory entirely so that you could back it up easily) to do your organising, if you don't want to use categories. Of course you can do both. You can create links by copy-and-paste in the Content Library pane in DS. If you do use categories, back up your database (in the AddData folder by default, so should be caught by most back up systems) and periodically export your user data (from Content Database Manager, which can be launched from the Content Library pane's option menu - the lined button in the top corner, or right-click the tab) and back it up (goes to the /Runtime/Support/ folder in your first Daz Studio format content directory).

kenshaw011267

Richard's way is how I do it as it let's DIM do updates.

Got to say my biggest issue is that at a certain point it isn't organization that you'll need, because you'll have so much stuff, but search and search inside DS is somewhat lacking to be nice.

fastbike1

@kenshaw011267 "but search and search inside DS is somewhat lacking"

I second that. Actually also the first point about so much stuff.

odastein

Richard Haseltine said:

One option is to leave the files where they are and use links to them (perhaps in another content directory entirely so that you could back it up easily) to do your organising, if you don't want to use categories. Of course you can do both. You can create links by copy-and-paste in the Content Library pane in DS. If you do use categories, back up your database (in the AddData folder by default, so should be caught by most back up systems) and periodically export your user data (from Content Database Manager, which can be launched from the Content Library pane's option menu - the lined button in the top corner, or right-click the tab) and back it up (goes to the /Runtime/Support/ folder in your first Daz Studio format content directory).

I presumaby won't do both, as organizing all assets is quite a bit tedious, so I'd rather not do it twice. 

So, regarding "creating links". I can create a new folder, say under "My library" called "My organized library", with subfolders, and then I can copy a file from its original folder to my new folder. Is that what you mean by "creating a link"??? For instance, if I right click on the file "genesis 8 basic female" and paste it in "My organized library" folder, the file does appear there. But is that a link to the original file, that will be updated when the original file will be updated? 

Also, : is it possible to copy/paste a whole folder rather than only the individual files in it? 

kenshaw011267

odastein said:

Richard Haseltine said:

One option is to leave the files where they are and use links to them (perhaps in another content directory entirely so that you could back it up easily) to do your organising, if you don't want to use categories. Of course you can do both. You can create links by copy-and-paste in the Content Library pane in DS. If you do use categories, back up your database (in the AddData folder by default, so should be caught by most back up systems) and periodically export your user data (from Content Database Manager, which can be launched from the Content Library pane's option menu - the lined button in the top corner, or right-click the tab) and back it up (goes to the /Runtime/Support/ folder in your first Daz Studio format content directory).

I presumaby won't do both, as organizing all assets is quite a bit tedious, so I'd rather not do it twice. 

So, regarding "creating links". I can create a new folder, say under "My library" called "My organized library", with subfolders, and then I can copy a file from its original folder to my new folder. Is that what you mean by "creating a link"??? For instance, if I right click on the file "genesis 8 basic female" and paste it in "My organized library" folder, the file does appear there. But is that a link to the original file, that will be updated when the original file will be updated? 

Also, : is it possible to copy/paste a whole folder rather than only the individual files in it? 

No not copy.

Navigate to the folder the item is in, Right click, create shortcut, you'll see the new item, move it to the new folder. The shortcut will act like the original for all purposes, IIRC there might be some obscue ones it doesn't but I'd have to look them up. But it will open from there normally. If you want the item to appear in multiple places just copy the shortcut instead of move.

Yes, you can create shortcuts to folders as well, folders/directories are really just files that the OS knows contains the locations of other files.

odastein

kenshaw011267 said:

Richard's way is how I do it as it let's DIM do updates.

Got to say my biggest issue is that at a certain point it isn't organization that you'll need, because you'll have so much stuff, but search and search inside DS is somewhat lacking to be nice.

Well, it seems to me that the more stuff I'll have, the more organization I'll need. If I organize files correctly and with a detailled structure (for instance a medieval bed would go in both Props/furnitures/beds and Medieval theme/props/furniture and a medieval tile shader in Shaders/floors/tiles and Medieval theme/shaders) I should be able to find everything, no? 

 

I think that DAZ could significantly improve this issue by imposing the file structure to the artists. It would be more coherent as it would presumably follow guidelines (for instance the same kind of asset can be found in "Architecture" or in "Props", depending on the artist), avoid items placed in a folder where you won't search for it (say, a shaping asset among the character files), mispelling (EnvironMent , EnvironNent, EnvironmentS) , and also all these vanity folders that you have to open one by one when you're looking for something, because the thing you're searching for maybe inside one of them. 

And the search function is indeed lacking. To see what I have, I often actually check DAZ catalog , select the category that interests me and check "items I own". 

kenshaw011267

odastein said:

kenshaw011267 said:

Richard's way is how I do it as it let's DIM do updates.

Got to say my biggest issue is that at a certain point it isn't organization that you'll need, because you'll have so much stuff, but search and search inside DS is somewhat lacking to be nice.

Well, it seems to me that the more stuff I'll have, the more organization I'll need. If I organize files correctly and with a detailled structure (for instance a medieval bed would go in both Props/furnitures/beds and Medieval theme/props/furniture and a medieval tile shader in Shaders/floors/tiles and Medieval theme/shaders) I should be able to find everything, no? 

It depends. How about G8 clothing? Or G8 poses? I've got hundreds of each, at last count. Don't even get me started on V4 stuff.

Richard Haseltine

If you are doing that within DS, yes it should be - right-click and Browse to File location to check, there should be a single .djl file instead of a .duf and a .png (and possibly a .tip.png).

You can copy and paste multiple files from a single folder, you can also drag-and-drop from Smart Content. Rob has a sample script that can be used to process a whole container tree http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/specific_ui/create_asset_links/start

odastein

kenshaw011267 said:

odastein said:

kenshaw011267 said:

Richard's way is how I do it as it let's DIM do updates.

Got to say my biggest issue is that at a certain point it isn't organization that you'll need, because you'll have so much stuff, but search and search inside DS is somewhat lacking to be nice.

Well, it seems to me that the more stuff I'll have, the more organization I'll need. If I organize files correctly and with a detailled structure (for instance a medieval bed would go in both Props/furnitures/beds and Medieval theme/props/furniture and a medieval tile shader in Shaders/floors/tiles and Medieval theme/shaders) I should be able to find everything, no? 

It depends. How about G8 clothing? Or G8 poses? I've got hundreds of each, at last count. Don't even get me started on V4 stuff.

Well, clothing and poses are two kind of assets that I can reliably find in "poses" (with some rare exceptions) and "clothing" (can't remember any exception). I guess you mean that when you have too may clothes, it's difficult to find what you seek even if they're in the appropriate folder. Well, I would say that it's *still* better to have hundreds of assets all in the appropriate folders than hundreds of assets that aren't. Second, assuming that I come to this point, I guess that I could create sub categories as well here. I already intend to separate modern clothing and historical/fantasy clothing, for instance. If I come to a point where I have 180 modern short skirts and 70 business suits, well, I don't know, but it still will beat having stuff spread all over the place in mysteriously named folders. 

odastein

Richard Haseltine said:

If you are doing that within DS, yes it should be - right-click and Browse to File location to check, there should be a single .djl file instead of a .duf and a .png (and possibly a .tip.png).

You can copy and paste multiple files from a single folder, you can also drag-and-drop from Smart Content. Rob has a sample script that can be used to process a whole container tree http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/specific_ui/create_asset_links/start

 

Yes, indeed the copy appears as "DAZ JSON link" while the original appear as DSON file. Thank you so much.

It seems to me simpler than to organize the stuff in categories (except that I'll have to create a new folder for every single asset I want to keep together while with categories I can have a whole folder+subfolders transfered in one click). Is there any reason why I should use the category system instead? 

Also, is there a way to create this library at the same level as "DAZ Studio formats" and "Poser formats" ? Or at least at the same level as "My library" or "My DAZ 3D library"?. Apparently, I can create folder only one level lower, for instance under "My library". 

odastein

kenshaw011267 said:

odastein said:

Richard Haseltine said:

No not copy.

Navigate to the folder the item is in, Right click, create shortcut, you'll see the new item, move it to the new folder. The shortcut will act like the original for all purposes, IIRC there might be some obscue ones it doesn't but I'd have to look them up. But it will open from there normally. If you want the item to appear in multiple places just copy the shortcut instead of move.

Yes, you can create shortcuts to folders as well, folders/directories are really just files that the OS knows contains the locations of other files.

 

Copy seems to be what Richard Haseltine had in mind. I don't see a "create shortcut" option when I rightclick on an item. There's a "create link for asset" option but after trying I'm not sure what it does. It doesn't seem to make the item appear in y new folder. 

Rod Wise Driggo

Well, I'm in the process of setting up my library again as well. I'd say it depends whether you have only DAZ products or if you use a lot of products from other sources as well. My new setup is as follows - you might find some parts useful, some parts not.

1) One main runtime
I had dedicated runtimes for DAZ stuff and 3rd party stuff. But sometimes this is also not perfect (i.e. if you get 3rd party textures for DAZ products), so this time I decided to go with one single main runtime. I have created a second one but this will probably be only used for figures/morphs I use infrequently. Keeping them separately will hopefully keep figure load times short.

2) DIM for DAZ prodcuts
Although some PAs unfortunately give a ***** for proper directory names etc. I decided to do not alter anything and just install everything with DIM to it's default locations. I I might edit the one or other product once typos in directory names are there to avoid too much cluter in the file system.

Runtime and DIM, external drives and so on: I'm on a MacBook Pro and space is a rare thing. So I have two external drives for my 3D stuff. A 4 GB drive where I have DIM folders for the download packages and manifests plus dedicated folders where I store the products I purchased elsewhere. Then I have a 1 GB SSD which holds only my runtime(s) and nothing else. Don't want to afford a 2 GB SSD (still > 300$) but 1 GB is plenty - at least if you do not install just everything. In my case even my complete DAZ library would extend the 1 GB if I would install everything. With this setup I have the fastest drive for use with studio and I can also keep the 4 GB stored as it is only used for installing and storing the product files.

3) Install 3rd party stuff in the same runtime with Content Wizard
To have all 3rd party stuff separately I do this: Editing the ZIP a little. I combine multiple ZIPs to one and use a folder "! Vendor" in all directories (i.e. clothing, characters etc.) That helps to keep 3rd party separate and avoild potential conflicts. Content Wizard lets me create the meta data for 3rd party stuff in a fast way directly after intallation.

4) Further categorization
Well I'm not at this stage currently. But at the moment I find using smart content with all products the fastest to find my stuff. A rarely use the content library tab and if then mostly triggered from smart content. So I find with smart content and select with the content library.

So far I'm quite happy with this setup.
 

odastein

kenshaw011267 said:

odastein said:

Richard Haseltine said:

No not copy.

Navigate to the folder the item is in, Right click, create shortcut, you'll see the new item, move it to the new folder. The shortcut will act like the original for all purposes, IIRC there might be some obscue ones it doesn't but I'd have to look them up. But it will open from there normally. If you want the item to appear in multiple places just copy the shortcut instead of move.

Yes, you can create shortcuts to folders as well, folders/directories are really just files that the OS knows contains the locations of other files.

So, in fact "create link for asset" does create a link. I didn't notice it the first time around because the folder needed a refresh for the new link to appear. However, along with the file, it copies all the tree of folders the file is included in as well, and since I want to create my own folder tree, that would be useless for me. 

odastein

Rod Wise Driggo said:

Well, I'm in the process of setting up my library again as well. I'd say it depends whether you have only DAZ products or if you use a lot of products from other sources as well. My new setup is as follows - you might find some parts useful, some parts not.

Honesty, I don't really understand what you're doing. To begin with, I don't know what a "runtime" is. I know that there's a folder called "runtime" with plenty of stuff in it, but I've no real idea of what purpose it serves. 

Also, you say that you use smart content to find stuff, but a lot of products don't appear in smart content. 

kenshaw011267

runtime is the folder where all the texture files are stored. For the time being, that is while you don't know that much about that sort of thing, just consider it to have a gigantic sign saying "This Way Be Dragons" and leave it alone.

Pretty much every asset you have looks for stuff in there and if you start moving it around you'll break stuff unless you do it right.

@Rod Wise Driggo You'd think someone at Daz QA would catch that the PA's can't spell things like textures or templates wouldn't you?

Rod Wise Driggo

@odastein

Sorry, I use "runtime" as in the old poser days for a content library, not the runtime folder itself. So better use "library". I currently have actually three. One main on my external SSD. Another one for characters/morphs hardly used and a third one on my default drive where custom stuff (scenes etc.) is saved.

@kenshaw

Actually I dunno what QA is doing. But just installing each product would show bad spelling, wrong folder structure etc. and would IMO help avoild a lot of clutter.

odastein

Rod Wise Driggo said:

@odastein

Sorry, I use "runtime" as in the old poser days for a content library, not the runtime folder itself. So better use "library". I currently have actually three. One main on my external SSD. Another one for characters/morphs hardly used and a third one on my defaMult drive where custom stuff (scenes etc.) is saved.

 Makes more sense to me, now. You think that having too many assets slows down DAZ?

kenshaw011267

Rod Wise Driggo said:

 

@kenshaw

Actually I dunno what QA is doing. But just installing each product would show bad spelling, wrong folder structure etc. and would IMO help avoild a lot of clutter.

Do not even get me started.

Rod Wise Driggo

odastein said:

Rod Wise Driggo said:

@odastein

Sorry, I use "runtime" as in the old poser days for a content library, not the runtime folder itself. So better use "library". I currently have actually three. One main on my external SSD. Another one for characters/morphs hardly used and a third one on my defaMult drive where custom stuff (scenes etc.) is saved.

 Makes more sense to me, now. You think that having too many assets slows down DAZ?

I do think so but it depends on the assets. You could have tons of cloth, poses, shaders etc. installed. That is no big deal as everything gets only loaded if used. That's is different for Characters and Morphs - and some Clothing which does come with figure morphs. All those morphs do not get loaded with the figure once they are not dialed in but the morphs dials are. I had figure load times > 10 minutes with all those morphs, correction and projection morphs and so on. There were of course some products which increased load time drastically but overall my figure load times are currently < 30 sec again since I have only installed what I really need.

kenshaw011267

I think the really long load times are caused by errors in the files not just the number. I have a lot of morphs due to just how much G8 material I have. I installed something and had a jump from around 1 minute to load to closer to 10. I looked at the log and it was just endless reams of duplicate formula errors. I got rid of the offending product and even with many more morphs installed I'm still right around 1 minute to load a G8F.

odastein

Rod Wise Driggo said:

odastein said:

Rod Wise Driggo said:

I do think so but it depends on the assets. You could have tons of cloth, poses, shaders etc. installed. That is no big deal as everything gets only loaded if used. That's is different for Characters and Morphs - and some Clothing which does come with figure morphs. All those morphs do not get loaded with the figure once they are not dialed in but the morphs dials are. I had figure load times > 10 minutes with all those morphs, correction and projection morphs and so on. There were of course some products which increased load time drastically but overall my figure load times are currently < 30 sec again since I have only installed what I really need.

 

kenshaw011267 said:

I think the really long load times are caused by errors in the files not just the number. I have a lot of morphs due to just how much G8 material I have. I installed something and had a jump from around 1 minute to load to closer to 10. I looked at the log and it was just endless reams of duplicate formula errors. I got rid of the offending product and even with many more morphs installed I'm still right around 1 minute to load a G8F.

 

 

Thanks. I was asking because I noticed that DAZ was much faster to load stuff, when working on an image, when using Iray preview...since I reinstalled it. I could see two possible explanations :

-I switched to the last version, as I hadn't updated last year So, maybe the last version of DAZ Studio is faster?

-I've no asset installed yet except those coming with DAZ Studio download. So, maybe having a lot of assets installed slows down DAZ?

odastein

In case it would be of interest for somebody : creating a new library with links, as suggested by Richard Haseltine, only works with DAZ Studio formats, not with Poser content. So, if you want both, the only option seems to be to use the categories to organize your assets. 

ChangelingChick

I use multiple runtimes in DS personally. I have about 20 on average, and hook and unhook them as necessary (I keep content sets so it's quick). You can install directly to these libraries from DIM as well. The setup takes a little bit, but it's worth it. I have separate runtimes for Base Genesis, Base Figures (Victoria, Michael, Aiko, etc), Characters (I actually have about 5 runtimes for characters), My Products (stuff I've made in my Daz store), Hair, Clothes, Environments, Props, Lights, etc, etc, etc. Freebies from other places get their own library as well as products bought elsewhere. I also make very liberal use of link files.

Lindsey

odastein said:

In case it would be of interest for somebody : creating a new library with links, as suggested by Richard Haseltine, only works with DAZ Studio formats, not with Poser content. So, if you want both, the only option seems to be to use the categories to organize your assets. 

If the Poser content is accessible on the Smart Content tab, one definately can create links into the DAZ Studio Formats library.  I've been doing that for years.. 

Edit:  Added picture

DrunkMonkeyProductions

Lindsey said:

odastein said:

In case it would be of interest for somebody : creating a new library with links, as suggested by Richard Haseltine, only works with DAZ Studio formats, not with Poser content. So, if you want both, the only option seems to be to use the categories to organize your assets. 

If the Poser content is accessible on the Smart Content tab, one definately can create links into the DAZ Studio Formats library.  I've been doing that for years.. 

Edit:  Added picture

It doesn't have to be in the Smart content tab, just the content library tab.

As long as DS can see it it can create a 'link' file.

Even works with "other import formats" as long as the directory is mapped in CDM and it's a supported format.

 

 

Lindsey

Thank you, good to know. 
Is there a way to drag and drop new links from Poser Format Library to the Daz Studio Format Library rather than copy and paste?