Question about using DS from a different computer

Wonderland

I'm going to be spending a lot of time at a friend's house next month while he is out of town, house sitting, taking care of dogs, etc.., He has a mid range laptop not intended for graphics,16 GB RAM. Could I bring an external SSD hard drive, download DS on it as well as DIM and redownload what is needed on the external drive or possibly just use Connect on this drive with nothing downloading to his C drive? I keep setting up my home version like this but DAZ somehow keeps sneaking things on to my C drive. I probably wouldn't be able to render but could I at least be able to set up scenes this way? And if so, would I even be able to see iRay preview on a crappy graphics card? I have no idea what his graphics card is, some mid  to lower range laptop purchased this year from Best Buy is all I know.

benniewoodell

You absolutely can bring a drive with stuff on it, install daz on the computer and link daz to the drive. Or look up teamviewer. It's free for personal use and you can connect the laptop to your computer at home remotely. I've gone on a number of trips in the past year and have never missed a day of work because I can use my laptop to control my computer at home, or better yet, I can check things and start new renders using the app on my phone. 

SofaCitizen

I would probably avoid using Daz Central or Connect in that situation - infact if you setup the base library on the external drive properly you won't even have to run DIM after Daz Studio is installed. Once DS is installed, immediately go into the list of base libraries and remove the pre-created ones which will be on C: - you will probably want to manually remove those folders. Then you can add the base library from your external drive and within Content DB Maintenance you can check Process Metadata Queue and Re-import Metadata and this will import everything into Smart Content (after several minutes).

However, even if you fully clean up and uninstall everything before you go home you would have to check the T&Cs to see if that is allowed. It probably would be since you would not be loading paid assets onto your friends computer but it's best to check for sure.

Iray preview does run on non-nvidia cards - albeit slowly. However, I don't know what the minimum spec would be for that, or filament or even just textured preview.

hjake

Wonderland said:

I'm going to be spending a lot of time at a friend's house next month while he is out of town, house sitting, taking care of dogs, etc.., He has a mid range laptop not intended for graphics,16 GB RAM. Could I bring an external SSD hard drive, download DS on it as well as DIM and redownload what is needed on the external drive or possibly just use Connect on this drive with nothing downloading to his C drive? I keep setting up my home version like this but DAZ somehow keeps sneaking things on to my C drive. I probably wouldn't be able to render but could I at least be able to set up scenes this way? And if so, would I even be able to see iRay preview on a crappy graphics card? I have no idea what his graphics card is, some mid  to lower range laptop purchased this year from Best Buy is all I know.

 

You may also want to consider Splashtop. I use it to work from my work laptop on road in hotels by connecting to my home computer. I am now on my second year of subscription and works ok even on slow connections. Not sure you could effectively play a shooter game on a slow connection but for modeling it seems fine.

https://www.splashtop.com/

I have the annual business edition, but there is a personal edition with add on packs.

I use NordVPN or Proton for my vpn connection when I am at hotels.

 

Wonderland

SofaCitizen said:

I would probably avoid using Daz Central or Connect in that situation - infact if you setup the base library on the external drive properly you won't even have to run DIM after Daz Studio is installed. Once DS is installed, immediately go into the list of base libraries and remove the pre-created ones which will be on C: - you will probably want to manually remove those folders. Then you can add the base library from your external drive and within Content DB Maintenance you can check Process Metadata Queue and Re-import Metadata and this will import everything into Smart Content (after several minutes).

However, even if you fully clean up and uninstall everything before you go home you would have to check the T&Cs to see if that is allowed. It probably would be since you would not be loading paid assets onto your friends computer but it's best to check for sure.

Iray preview does run on non-nvidia cards - albeit slowly. However, I don't know what the minimum spec would be for that, or filament or even just textured preview.

I don't want to screw up my existing DS (which already has multiple issues!) so I'd bring a fresh HD and install probably just what I needed on the new HD or who knows, maybe a fresh install would clear up my current issues. I don't see another way except through DIM but I have issues with DIM when I want to install into different folders (ie; I have a separate G9 folder) it will not show the items (all greyed out) on the folder that was not used in the last download. So if I download G9 items into its folder through DIM then open DS all my other content is greyed out and vice versa. I'm having so many issues with DS I 

Wonderland

hjake said:

Wonderland said:

I'm going to be spending a lot of time at a friend's house next month while he is out of town, house sitting, taking care of dogs, etc.., He has a mid range laptop not intended for graphics,16 GB RAM. Could I bring an external SSD hard drive, download DS on it as well as DIM and redownload what is needed on the external drive or possibly just use Connect on this drive with nothing downloading to his C drive? I keep setting up my home version like this but DAZ somehow keeps sneaking things on to my C drive. I probably wouldn't be able to render but could I at least be able to set up scenes this way? And if so, would I even be able to see iRay preview on a crappy graphics card? I have no idea what his graphics card is, some mid  to lower range laptop purchased this year from Best Buy is all I know.

 

You may also want to consider Splashtop. I use it to work from my work laptop on road in hotels by connecting to my home computer. I am now on my second year of subscription and works ok even on slow connections. Not sure you could effectively play a shooter game on a slow connection but for modeling it seems fine.

https://www.splashtop.com/

I have the annual business edition, but there is a personal edition with add on packs.

I use NordVPN or Proton for my vpn connection when I am at hotels.

Thanks. Checked it out, but I only need it for one month, not a year, tried to do a chat to see if that's possible but closed for Christmas...

hjake

Wonderland said:m at hotels.

Thanks. Checked it out, but I only need it for one month, not a year, tried to do a chat to see if that's possible but closed for Christmas...

 

Well a less expensive method is Windows Remote Desktop (RDP), however I would recommend using a VPN with that solution (Proton has a free version that works well). BUT this does require an understanding of how to implement Window RDP.

 

If you decide to use external drive on friend's laptop, then another idea is using a virtual computer software like Oracle VirtualBox or VMWare. This way you install full DAZ to a VirtualBox/VMWare on your computer and then just have to mount it on friend's computer once you install the VM software which is easy to install. This is how I did it before the world of Splashtop. :-)

SofaCitizen

Wonderland said:

I don't want to screw up my existing DS (which already has multiple issues!) so I'd bring a fresh HD and install probably just what I needed on the new HD or who knows, maybe a fresh install would clear up my current issues. I don't see another way except through DIM but I have issues with DIM when I want to install into different folders (ie; I have a separate G9 folder) it will not show the items (all greyed out) on the folder that was not used in the last download. So if I download G9 items into its folder through DIM then open DS all my other content is greyed out and vice versa. I'm having so many issues with DS I 

Ahh, right, so installing DIM and then setting the Package Archive, Thumbnail Archive, Manifest Archive and Content Path all to subfolders on the external drive, installing a subset of packages before opening Daz Studio and adding in the new base library from the external drive (if the prompt to do it automatically doesn't pop up on first load). That might be easier than a major rework of your existing setup.

For the current issues I am not sure why that is happening. I don't use multiple install paths in DIM but I don't see why using that feature should disable a subset of your installed products - unless it is the afore-mentioned Daz Connect messing everything up?

Wonderland

I set it up now so it won't log me in to DAZ Connect but I don't think that's the problem with DIM. 

'My friend's internet is secure I believe, it's not a hotel or public place so I probably won't need VPN (that I have no idea how to use anyway.) I'll see what Splashtop has to say after Christmas and debating whether to do a fresh install on a different SSD hard drive anyway to see if it will clear up any problems. 

outrider42

I was going to suggest Splashtop myself. I have used it for about 5 years now. You can also use Splashtop on a phone or tablet through their Google/Apple apps, basically any device that has a screen can probably run Splashtop. I have used Splashtop on my phone several times in a pinch, and on every phone and tablet I have had over the years. I even used it on an Amazon Fire tablet. So this could be an option for you, too, and you wouldn't even need their laptop.

There are a few caveats that you may want to know with remote access. There can be an issue where your screen in remote access is black because it thinks the monitor is off. This depends on your monitor and GPU. For example, if you use a TV for a monitor, you will have a problem. Splashtop has a fix, but it may not work for everybody. In the end I bought a little HDMI Dummy plug that simulates a monitor that is always turned on. These dongles gained popularity with crypto miners, and are often dirt cheap. With this I can access my PC without any such worries. The remote access is surprisingly light on resources, you do not need to worry about using remote access making you go over your VRAM limit in Daz. You can also use any video out for this HDMI dongle, which would save you what little bit of VRAM it might use. I think it would be a good idea to get the dongle just in case. You might try remoting and think everything is cool, but then the screen goes to sleep and the next time you try remoting it is black. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB8GJ1Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I bought that one for less than $10. It does the job.

Another issue can be mouse speed. If your resolution is very different between the laptop and desktop it remotes from, the mouse may have some acceleration issues. You have to adjust some settings accordingly to fix that. I had an issue where just touching the viewport gismo sent the camera spinning. It was not usable at all. You will want a real mouse, too. 

Latency is a killer with remote access. If you have a crappy router or wifi card, you will suffer. And of course your internet needs to be fast enough. Bandwidth is one part, ping and latency are vital. In my case it has been alright from a place roughly 200 miles away from home. But results will vary. 

There are many remote access services besides Splashtop, though it is perhaps the best known. You may be able to find one that gives you access for a month.

I suggest trying Splashtop in your home first just to see how works, if you have another screen to try it on. You can play with the interface to see how feels and if you will be ok with using this remotely. It is possible you might hate the experience. If your friend's laptop has a low quality screen, you might not enjoy it. I have an old laptop that has a 768 pixel screen and it can be blurry on Splashtop, plus the colors wash out. You can zoom in at least, and that helps. I use my tablet the most now, which has a 12 inch screen and roughly 1440p. It looks fairly sharp though I do still wish it was slightly bigger, lol. I still prefer it to my 15 inch laptop because the screen on the tablet is a very nice OLED screen (Galaxy Tab S8+). Honestly the sexy OLED screen was the entire reason I bought that tablet. (I freakin love OLED.) I am using my tablet to watch stuff more than anything else these days.

This might make it sound like a major hassle, but you may not run into these problems. 

If you install Daz on the SSD and run Daz locally, you can still render with a server online that way, too. We have several options now, like the official Daz Boost or whatever it was called. You pay by the hour to access their servers. The prices are pretty reasonable considering you are renting a high end server that may have a better GPU than your desktop has. So you might render faster than you do at home. Just don't forget to log out! So you have this as an option as well if you decide against remote access.

hjake

outrider42 said:

I was going to suggest Splashtop myself. I have used it for about 5 years now. You can also use Splashtop on a phone or tablet through their Google/Apple apps, basically any device that has a screen can probably run Splashtop. I have used Splashtop on my phone several times in a pinch, and on every phone and tablet I have had over the years. I even used it on an Amazon Fire tablet. So this could be an option for you, too, and you wouldn't even need their laptop.

There are a few caveats that you may want to know with remote access. There can be an issue where your screen in remote access is black because it thinks the monitor is off. This depends on your monitor and GPU. For example, if you use a TV for a monitor, you will have a problem. Splashtop has a fix, but it may not work for everybody. In the end I bought a little HDMI Dummy plug that simulates a monitor that is always turned on. These dongles gained popularity with crypto miners, and are often dirt cheap. With this I can access my PC without any such worries. The remote access is surprisingly light on resources, you do not need to worry about using remote access making you go over your VRAM limit in Daz. You can also use any video out for this HDMI dongle, which would save you what little bit of VRAM it might use. I think it would be a good idea to get the dongle just in case. You might try remoting and think everything is cool, but then the screen goes to sleep and the next time you try remoting it is black. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB8GJ1Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I bought that one for less than $10. It does the job.

I do have the black screen problem when I forget to leave a monitor on a home. Thanks for the suggestion. It never occured to me. I will order one this week. :-)

Wonderland

outrider42 said:

I was going to suggest Splashtop myself. I have used it for about 5 years now. You can also use Splashtop on a phone or tablet through their Google/Apple apps, basically any device that has a screen can probably run Splashtop. I have used Splashtop on my phone several times in a pinch, and on every phone and tablet I have had over the years. I even used it on an Amazon Fire tablet. So this could be an option for you, too, and you wouldn't even need their laptop.

There are a few caveats that you may want to know with remote access. There can be an issue where your screen in remote access is black because it thinks the monitor is off. This depends on your monitor and GPU. For example, if you use a TV for a monitor, you will have a problem. Splashtop has a fix, but it may not work for everybody. In the end I bought a little HDMI Dummy plug that simulates a monitor that is always turned on. These dongles gained popularity with crypto miners, and are often dirt cheap. With this I can access my PC without any such worries. The remote access is surprisingly light on resources, you do not need to worry about using remote access making you go over your VRAM limit in Daz. You can also use any video out for this HDMI dongle, which would save you what little bit of VRAM it might use. I think it would be a good idea to get the dongle just in case. You might try remoting and think everything is cool, but then the screen goes to sleep and the next time you try remoting it is black. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB8GJ1Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I bought that one for less than $10. It does the job.

Another issue can be mouse speed. If your resolution is very different between the laptop and desktop it remotes from, the mouse may have some acceleration issues. You have to adjust some settings accordingly to fix that. I had an issue where just touching the viewport gismo sent the camera spinning. It was not usable at all. You will want a real mouse, too. 

Latency is a killer with remote access. If you have a crappy router or wifi card, you will suffer. And of course your internet needs to be fast enough. Bandwidth is one part, ping and latency are vital. In my case it has been alright from a place roughly 200 miles away from home. But results will vary. 

There are many remote access services besides Splashtop, though it is perhaps the best known. You may be able to find one that gives you access for a month.

I suggest trying Splashtop in your home first just to see how works, if you have another screen to try it on. You can play with the interface to see how feels and if you will be ok with using this remotely. It is possible you might hate the experience. If your friend's laptop has a low quality screen, you might not enjoy it. I have an old laptop that has a 768 pixel screen and it can be blurry on Splashtop, plus the colors wash out. You can zoom in at least, and that helps. I use my tablet the most now, which has a 12 inch screen and roughly 1440p. It looks fairly sharp though I do still wish it was slightly bigger, lol. I still prefer it to my 15 inch laptop because the screen on the tablet is a very nice OLED screen (Galaxy Tab S8+). Honestly the sexy OLED screen was the entire reason I bought that tablet. (I freakin love OLED.) I am using my tablet to watch stuff more than anything else these days.

This might make it sound like a major hassle, but you may not run into these problems. 

If you install Daz on the SSD and run Daz locally, you can still render with a server online that way, too. We have several options now, like the official Daz Boost or whatever it was called. You pay by the hour to access their servers. The prices are pretty reasonable considering you are renting a high end server that may have a better GPU than your desktop has. So you might render faster than you do at home. Just don't forget to log out! So you have this as an option as well if you decide against remote access.

'Wait, does this mean I could use DS or Photoshop on an iPad Pro and do everything with the Apple Pencil? If that would work, it would be life changing! I.would do that from home even!

hjake

Wonderland said:

outrider42 said:

I was going to suggest Splashtop myself. I have used it for about 5 years now. You can also use Splashtop on a phone or tablet through their Google/Apple apps, basically any device that has a screen can probably run Splashtop. I have used Splashtop on my phone several times in a pinch, and on every phone and tablet I have had over the years. I even used it on an Amazon Fire tablet. So this could be an option for you, too, and you wouldn't even need their laptop.

....

'Wait, does this mean I could use DS or Photoshop on an iPad Pro and do everything with the Apple Pencil? If that would work, it would be life changing! I.would do that from home even!

 

I have not used the Apple iPad Pro so I don't know Splashtop's ability to run on the iPad. You could use the trial version to see. I do not know if pressure sensitivity or stylus angle will be recognized on the remote computer even if drivers are installed on local and remote. The stylus might just be considered a mouse. All work is done at the remote computer. The local computer/phone/tablet is operating the remote through a browser-like window.

My bigger concern would be input lag for something as sensitive as sketching and filling in an area where pressure and angle might be an issue.

Next is screen size. I have logged into the remote on my Samsung android phone but that was more to check on rendering or syncing status or to grab a file from the computer when I am away from a computer. Unless I use Samsung Dex to connect to a TV or monitor and my bluetooth a mouse and keyboard to my phone, then, voila, instant computer as grandma's cottage in the wood. Assuming you have wifi or plenty of data. :-)

I have used Daz Studio, Affinity photo, publisher, and designer, but not with a stylus. A wacom tablet is on my wishlist.

To work with Daz effectively I use the View tab for scene manipulation when I am not in full screen. If you are not in full screen mode, then long drags of the local mouse can take you off the remote screen and cause in predictable behaiour because Daz Studio thinks you are still dragging the mouse but at the edge of the remote screen.

Also you should be able to do your artwork on the iPad and file transfer to the remote.

If you intend to use the stylus as the mouse, not as a fine art tool, then it should work just fine.

Really everything depends on your internet connection speed at both ends versus your patience for input lag.

 

Actually, I use Splashtop at home all the time. Editing on my local computer. Rendering, video converting, and office work on my remote computers. With the headless video display adapter outrider42 suggested, and I ordered today, it means none of the computers have to be attached to a monitor and if they are then I may be able to use multiple screens from remote to local without actually having to connect a second screen to the remote.

I could use Windows RDP at home no problem but I find Splashtop a better fit for me.

 

 

Wonderland

hjake said:

Wonderland said:

outrider42 said:

I was going to suggest Splashtop myself. I have used it for about 5 years now. You can also use Splashtop on a phone or tablet through their Google/Apple apps, basically any device that has a screen can probably run Splashtop. I have used Splashtop on my phone several times in a pinch, and on every phone and tablet I have had over the years. I even used it on an Amazon Fire tablet. So this could be an option for you, too, and you wouldn't even need their laptop.

....

'Wait, does this mean I could use DS or Photoshop on an iPad Pro and do everything with the Apple Pencil? If that would work, it would be life changing! I.would do that from home even!

 

I have not used the Apple iPad Pro so I don't know Splashtop's ability to run on the iPad. You could use the trial version to see. I do not know if pressure sensitivity or stylus angle will be recognized on the remote computer even if drivers are installed on local and remote. The stylus might just be considered a mouse. All work is done at the remote computer. The local computer/phone/tablet is operating the remote through a browser-like window.

My bigger concern would be input lag for something as sensitive as sketching and filling in an area where pressure and angle might be an issue.

Next is screen size. I have logged into the remote on my Samsung android phone but that was more to check on rendering or syncing status or to grab a file from the computer when I am away from a computer. Unless I use Samsung Dex to connect to a TV or monitor and my bluetooth a mouse and keyboard to my phone, then, voila, instant computer as grandma's cottage in the wood. Assuming you have wifi or plenty of data. :-)

I have used Daz Studio, Affinity photo, publisher, and designer, but not with a stylus. A wacom tablet is on my wishlist.

To work with Daz effectively I use the View tab for scene manipulation when I am not in full screen. If you are not in full screen mode, then long drags of the local mouse can take you off the remote screen and cause in predictable behaiour because Daz Studio thinks you are still dragging the mouse but at the edge of the remote screen.

Also you should be able to do your artwork on the iPad and file transfer to the remote.

If you intend to use the stylus as the mouse, not as a fine art tool, then it should work just fine.

Really everything depends on your internet connection speed at both ends versus your patience for input lag.

 

Actually, I use Splashtop at home all the time. Editing on my local computer. Rendering, video converting, and office work on my remote computers. With the headless video display adapter outrider42 suggested, and I ordered today, it means none of the computers have to be attached to a monitor and if they are then I may be able to use multiple screens from remote to local without actually having to connect a second screen to the remote.

I could use Windows RDP at home no problem but I find Splashtop a better fit for me.

 I'd be using the pencil just like a mouse. I have iPad apps to draw directly on the iPad with pressure sensitivity. I'm more interested in just manipulating programs like DS and Photoshop either from my friend's house or just laying back relaxing rather than having to sit at a desk with the computer. The screen is just a bit smaller than a laptop. I used to use a fairly small laptop often for Poser and it was doable. I sometimes watch tutorials in YouTube on the iPad and I can see everything pretty well and maybe I could even pinch out to see even closer, not sure or of course just zoom in with perspective view. My friend and I both have high speed internet so that shouldn't be a problem. After Christmas I'll call them and get more info. Thanks for the suggestion! 

hjake

Wonderland said:

 

 I'd be using the pencil just like a mouse. I have iPad apps to draw directly on the iPad with pressure sensitivity. I'm more interested in just manipulating programs like DS and Photoshop either from my friend's house or just laying back relaxing rather than having to sit at a desk with the computer. The screen is just a bit smaller than a laptop. I used to use a fairly small laptop often for Poser and it was doable. I sometimes watch tutorials in YouTube on the iPad and I can see everything pretty well and maybe I could even pinch out to see even closer, not sure or of course just zoom in with perspective view. My friend and I both have high speed internet so that shouldn't be a problem. After Christmas I'll call them and get more info. Thanks for the suggestion! 

 

In that case it should work perfectly for your needs, depending on amount of lag. At home I would expect there to be very little, however the Splashtop server is hosting your session so if you have high speed at home then no problem. If you do not then you will need to test it.

outrider42

Wonderland said:

'Wait, does this mean I could use DS or Photoshop on an iPad Pro and do everything with the Apple Pencil? If that would work, it would be life changing! I.would do that from home even!

You use the Splashtop app to remote access your desktop. Splashtop has several options for control, including a touch screen input to match Windows in touch screen mode. However the software you use has to support touch, and sadly Daz Studio does not support touch. 

My new tablet has the S pen, and it just treats it as a mouse input. So you technically can use your pen, but it doesn't offer any extra touch features. Splashtop also has a track pad mode.

Splashtop is FREE for home use on your own wifi. So you have the ability to test it out, and you can use it forever in your home, there is no trial. You only need to pay if you wish to use Splashtop beyond your home. I strongly recommend downloading and trying it out. Plus since you are home, you can adjust settings on your pc if need be.

You can install Splashtop on as many devices as you want. If you have access to your friend's laptop I would ask if it is possible to test it in preparation of your stay. So you can try them both, and compare the experience. It might be that you prefer your ipad over the laptop. It is hard to say. It is also possible you end up hating them both! It can be tough to go from a large desktop screen to a smaller screen.

Gordig

Wonderland said:

hjake said:

Wonderland said:

outrider42 said:

I was going to suggest Splashtop myself. I have used it for about 5 years now. You can also use Splashtop on a phone or tablet through their Google/Apple apps, basically any device that has a screen can probably run Splashtop. I have used Splashtop on my phone several times in a pinch, and on every phone and tablet I have had over the years. I even used it on an Amazon Fire tablet. So this could be an option for you, too, and you wouldn't even need their laptop.

....

'Wait, does this mean I could use DS or Photoshop on an iPad Pro and do everything with the Apple Pencil? If that would work, it would be life changing! I.would do that from home even!

 

I have not used the Apple iPad Pro so I don't know Splashtop's ability to run on the iPad. You could use the trial version to see. I do not know if pressure sensitivity or stylus angle will be recognized on the remote computer even if drivers are installed on local and remote. The stylus might just be considered a mouse. All work is done at the remote computer. The local computer/phone/tablet is operating the remote through a browser-like window.

My bigger concern would be input lag for something as sensitive as sketching and filling in an area where pressure and angle might be an issue.

Next is screen size. I have logged into the remote on my Samsung android phone but that was more to check on rendering or syncing status or to grab a file from the computer when I am away from a computer. Unless I use Samsung Dex to connect to a TV or monitor and my bluetooth a mouse and keyboard to my phone, then, voila, instant computer as grandma's cottage in the wood. Assuming you have wifi or plenty of data. :-)

I have used Daz Studio, Affinity photo, publisher, and designer, but not with a stylus. A wacom tablet is on my wishlist.

To work with Daz effectively I use the View tab for scene manipulation when I am not in full screen. If you are not in full screen mode, then long drags of the local mouse can take you off the remote screen and cause in predictable behaiour because Daz Studio thinks you are still dragging the mouse but at the edge of the remote screen.

Also you should be able to do your artwork on the iPad and file transfer to the remote.

If you intend to use the stylus as the mouse, not as a fine art tool, then it should work just fine.

Really everything depends on your internet connection speed at both ends versus your patience for input lag.

 

Actually, I use Splashtop at home all the time. Editing on my local computer. Rendering, video converting, and office work on my remote computers. With the headless video display adapter outrider42 suggested, and I ordered today, it means none of the computers have to be attached to a monitor and if they are then I may be able to use multiple screens from remote to local without actually having to connect a second screen to the remote.

I could use Windows RDP at home no problem but I find Splashtop a better fit for me.

 I'd be using the pencil just like a mouse.

DS is, to put it mildly, not well optimized for a touch interface. To put it less mildly, it feels almost deliberately hostile to a touch interface. I went through a phase where I was working mostly on a Surface Pro, and C4D was great to use with a stylus, but I quickly gave up trying to use it with DS.

hansolocambo

My way to do that : I store (synchronize) my Daz Libraries on a MEGA drive (I pay yearly for 8TB). And I use Raidrive to map the MEGA cloud locally, so that it can access it in my file manager like any local hard drive.

This way I can start Daz anywhere in the world basically and have access to the Library in the cloud.

But of course moving around with an hard drive. Installing Daz on different computers. And simply configuring the Content Directory Manager to point where are the libraries, works perfectly fine too. Even better if your external drive is a Solid State Drive (SSD).

hjake

hansolocambo said:

My way to do that : I store (synchronize) my Daz Libraries on a MEGA drive (I pay yearly for 8TB). And I use Raidrive to map the MEGA cloud locally, so that it can access it in my file manager like any local hard drive.

This way I can start Daz anywhere in the world basically and have access to the Library in the cloud.

But of course moving around with an hard drive. Installing Daz on different computers. And simply configuring the Content Directory Manager to point where are the libraries, works perfectly fine too. Even better if your external drive is a Solid State Drive (SSD).

 

How do you handle updates to items that are installed outside your content library?

Some of the following items only install partially in the content library the rest is installed in the program folder or my documents:

Accelerator for UltraScenery for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    74497
Advanced Ambient Light    17031
Advanced Distant Light    18516
Advanced Spotlight    17409
Atmospheric Effects Cameras DS    13926
Breast Control Puppeteer Support    23183
C66 Graphics Plugin for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    83341
Dagger Dancer Interactive Lesson for DAZ Studio 4.8+    15813
Day at the Beach Guided Tour for DAZ Studio 4.8+    18735
DAZ Studio 4.21 (Win 64-bit)    13176
DAZ Studio 4.21 (Win 64-bit) Public Build +BETA+    12000
Daz to Blender    70891
Daz to Unity    72265
Daz to Unreal 4 (64-bit)    72003
Decimator for DAZ Studio 4.21+ (Win 64-bit)    10673
dForce Companion 2 for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    82365
dForce Companion for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    67493
Dynamic Clothing Control for DAZ Studio 4.21+ (Win 64-bit)    9032
Dynamic Clothing Control for DAZ Studio 4.21+ (Win 64-bit) Public Build +Beta+    16591
EJ UIs and Styles For Everybody (layouts and Styles) Win    68979
EJ UIs and Styles For Everybody (Lesson Strips) Win    68979
Figure Metrics for DAZ Studio 4.6+    16684
FLUIDOS Companion for DAZ Studio (Win 64-bit)    57257
FLUIDOS for DAZ Studio (Win 64-bit)    54155
GamePrint 3D Print for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    45471
Genesis Generation X2 for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    18321
GenX AddOn Gen3 for A3 and H3    14325
GenX AddOn Gen3 for S3 D3 and F3    14324
GenX AddOn Gen3 for V3 and M3    14326
GenX2 AddOn for Genesis 2    18322
GenX2 AddOn for Genesis 3    32599
GenX2 AddOn Gen3 for A3 and H3    14325
GenX2 AddOn Gen3 for S3 D3 and F3    14324
GenX2 AddOn Gen3 for V3 and M3    14326
GenX2 AddOn Gen3 Kids    18827
Gescon: Constructive Solid Geometry for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    81368
graphMate for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    15480
HedgeMaker for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    80936
Histogram for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    80927
IBL Master for Daz Studio (1of2)    48959
IBL Master for Daz Studio (2of2)    48959
Inside the Asylum Guided Tour for DAZ Studio 4.8+    18732
Install Manager Default Filters    14811
Iray GeoLocator for DAZ Studio 4.8+ (Win 64-bit)    36921
keyMate for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    15390
LAMH Player for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    16151
LAMH2Iray Catalyzer for DAZ Studio 4.8+ (Win 64-bit)    44935
LineRender9000    34653
Materia MeshMaker for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    79983
Measure Metrics for DAZ Studio 4.21+ (Win 64-bit)    16684
Measure Metrics for DAZ Studio 4.21+ (Win 64-bit) Public Build +Beta+    16686
Mesh Grabber for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    65751
Mesh Grabber Morph Editor for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    73685
Mesh Grabber Rotations AddOn for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    68547
Michael 4 Base Puppeteer StudioCF    7877
Mimic Live for DAZ Studio 4.21+ (Win 64-bit) Public Build +Beta+    16596
Mimic Live! for DAZ Studio 4.21+ (Win 64-bit)    13000
Orbital Lights for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    80933
pwCatch for DAZ Studio 4    4464
pwGhost for DAZ Studio 4    4345
Real Fur for DAZ Big Cat 2 LAMH    17843
Render Queue for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    59787
Render Throttle for 3Delight    64317
Render Throttle for Iray    50257
Rock Shader for DAZ Studio    18994
Rodents by AM: Squirrels of Eastern Hemisphere LAMH    38539
Scene Builder for DAZ Studio    13176
Scene Builder for DAZ Studio Public Build +Beta+    12000
Sci-Fi Warrior Guided Tour for DAZ Studio 4.8+    18731
Slaying the Dragon Interactive Lesson for DAZ Studio 4.5+    18736
Thickener for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    82267
Turbo Content for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    62619
UberSurface2 Layered Shader for DAZ Studio 4    12700
UltraSceneryXT for DAZ Studio 4.5+ (Win 64-bit)    84924

 

hjake

outrider42 said:

I was going to suggest Splashtop myself. I have used it for about 5 years now. You can also use Splashtop on a phone or tablet through their Google/Apple apps, basically any device that has a screen can probably run Splashtop. I have used Splashtop on my phone several times in a pinch, and on every phone and tablet I have had over the years. I even used it on an Amazon Fire tablet. So this could be an option for you, too, and you wouldn't even need their laptop.

...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB8GJ1Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

I bought that one for less than $10. It does the job.

 

 

The headless hdmi display adapters arrived today and they are GREAT. They worked in every variation I could think of, including through a mini display port to hdmi adapter.

I need to buy a couple of DP to HDMI adapters for my Nvidia cards ( https://www.amazon.ca/UGREEN-DisplayPort-Converter-Projector-Computer/dp/B08DNQGHWM ).

 

 

outrider42

I am curious if you got everything working.

Wildman oS

Wonderland said:

SofaCitizen said:

I would probably avoid using Daz Central or Connect in that situation - infact if you setup the base library on the external drive properly you won't even have to run DIM after Daz Studio is installed. Once DS is installed, immediately go into the list of base libraries and remove the pre-created ones which will be on C: - you will probably want to manually remove those folders. Then you can add the base library from your external drive and within Content DB Maintenance you can check Process Metadata Queue and Re-import Metadata and this will import everything into Smart Content (after several minutes).

However, even if you fully clean up and uninstall everything before you go home you would have to check the T&Cs to see if that is allowed. It probably would be since you would not be loading paid assets onto your friends computer but it's best to check for sure.

Iray preview does run on non-nvidia cards - albeit slowly. However, I don't know what the minimum spec would be for that, or filament or even just textured preview.

I don't want to screw up my existing DS (which already has multiple issues!) so I'd bring a fresh HD and install probably just what I needed on the new HD or who knows, maybe a fresh install would clear up my current issues. I don't see another way except through DIM but I have issues with DIM when I want to install into different folders (ie; I have a separate G9 folder) it will not show the items (all greyed out) on the folder that was not used in the last download. So if I download G9 items into its folder through DIM then open DS all my other content is greyed out and vice versa. I'm having so many issues with DS I 

Have you added the new G9 folder to the daz search path within Daz studio?

for me to do this I select the 'Content Library' tab

then, from the menu icon at the top of the 'Content Library' tab column select 'Content Directory Manager'

Inside the 'Content Directory Manager' select DAZ Studio formats

add the path to your new G9 folder

Quote

Roman_K2

Wonderland said:

The screen is just a bit smaller than a laptop.

New thing - the iPad now comes in a letter-size version - 8.5 x 11 inches if I remember correctly.

I like the idea of using a tablet for a different... posture/seated position. I find that some pressure sensitive stylii — and this probably includes the Pencil — aren't the best for certain tasks like selecting a box in DAZ Studio, and manually entering some value to modify a new operation.

I seem to be developing a "style" where a thin Wacom graphics tablet is positioning directly in front of me. the stylus for it rests on a very thin 3M mousing surface, beside a wireless mouse. I pick up the stylus for pressure sensitive stuff like sketching (under Windows 10 programs run smoothly side-by-side, eg. there could be a raster image editor going at the same time as D|S, along with a vector drawing package) and my hand seems to "automatically" let go of the stylus and I reach for the mouse when doing mundane things like copying and moving files, and browsing for shaders or textures.

I'm good with real brushes and pencils so for me the stylus is better than the mouse for "drawing" a lasso around a 2D object. Way more natural.

But things will vary quickly - for example the polygonal lasso is a completely different story.