Problem when saving scene assets

SirArtist

Hello - I am putting together some props and saving them as scene assets (support assets). The props look/work great as normal scene files. I save them as scene assets in the prop->vendor name->product name folder, and they still look good. Open new document, then load that new scene asset and some random parts are ugly marshmellows instead. No alert about missing assets. 

When the item is being saved as a scene asset, it generates not only a .DUF file but also a corresponding folder in the same directory called [prop name] Objects. It contains one .DUF file for each OBJ in the original prop group. I notice that the "marshmellow" parts when I load the scene are also marshmellows when I try to only load the individual DUF file from the Objects folder which corresponds to that part name. In other words, for some reason DAZ is not properly saving some of the parts. Is there a solution to this? Thanks.

fixmypcmike

Can you pot a screenshot of your Content Directory Manager with all 4 sections expanded?

SirArtist

What/where is the Content Directory Manager? 

Richard Haseltine

Edit>Preferences, Daz Studio>Preferences for the Mac, then go to the Content tab and click Content Directory Manager.

SirArtist

Hello - here is the screenshot:

Richard Haseltine

You shouldn't have both My Library and My Library/Scenes set as content directories, DS can't then unambiguoulsy pick the base path. You should probabyl remove the Scenes path, and take any Daat folder that is in /My Library/Scenes out and place it in /My Library/ where it will merge with the existing folder.

SpottedKitty

Exactly which path are you saving to in the top line of the Save Asset dialog? It ought to point to the same folder location as the DAZ Studio Format line in Content Directory Manager.

Note that the "prop->vendor name->product name" path isn't specifying a location in your Content Library, it's a location in your /data/ folder — the .duf file is only part of what gets saved, the actual geometry files (converted into D|S format) go into the /data/ folder. If this can't be found, then you get the "marshmallow" blocks.

SirArtist

Hello - I tried that, and while it initially sometimes works fine, I've noticed that it now (in the Props/VendorName/ProductName/ folder), is creating an individual folder for every single OBJ file in every single scene I save. Let's say for obj named "test", there is a folder called "test", and inside of it is test.dsf, and inside of it a folder called "UV Sets", in which is a folder with my vendorname again, then folder "Base", and inside that default.dsf.

Since some of my scene assets share the same obj names, this causes strange effects when loading them (extra parts) - as you can imagine. So if I have different parts each called "bulb" in multiple props, it now loads every instance of "bulb" in each prop - even ones from other parts.

Clearly I am doing something wrong - wish I knew what it is. I go into my Scenes folder, open the ready prop I have made (each of which has a group structure of OBJ files). Looks, works great. Then I go to File-> Save As -> Support Asset -> Scene Asset(s), and when the file explorer pops up, navigate to Props/VendorName/ProductName and use the prop name as the name of the DUF file. When the options window comes up, I put in my Vendor name and product name in the same way they appear in the folders - case sensitive and with same spacing. Compress file is unchecked. It then quickly flashes through all the names of the OBJs as it saves. 

Any obvious errors in my saving method? Thanks for your help!

 

SpottedKitty

Babe said:

Since some of my scene assets share the same obj names,

Doesn't matter — what matters is the name you give the props in the Scene pane. Once you save the asset, the original .obj files are not referred to any more.

Are you sure you aren't duplicating prop names somehow? That's what defines the geometry folder names created in the /data/ folder, so if you save something with a name you already used in an earlier save, DAZ|Studio will go ahead and overwrite the folder, assuming it's a replacement or update of the original prop. That's probably why you're having that issue with the "bulb" props.

Apart from that, your saving method is pretty much the same as what I do.