Saving a shader preset
How does one go about saving a shader preset? I've tried saving the surface selection through the file menu and through the little plus icon in a custom folder but even if I load it again, I don't see it anywhere in the file structure (which has got to be the most confusing I've ever seen). What am I missing in the process of saving out a preset?
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I'm not following what you mean -- are you unable to find the saved preset, or having trouble applying it?
Be sure to save it as a Shader Preset in the drop-down menu. You can save it in any file menu tab, not necessarily shader presets, it will still work regardless.
I am saving it as a Shader Preset, I just don't know where it is in Daz Studio after that, if it exists. I just selected the material with the settings I wanted saved and then 'save shader preset', is there something else I'm missing?
You should have a box pop up that allows you to browse/select where you want to save it...but if that doesn't try looking in Presets in your Content Library (there's probably no metadata, so it probably won't show in Smart Content).
If you are using DS 4.9.1.30, your saved presets should show up in Smart Content under Saved Files. If you uncheck Filter by Context, you should see all files you have saved. They are categorized so you can select a category like Preset and then a subcategory Shader.
I looked in Smart Content in the files section but I don't have a Saved Files section nor is the preset anywhere in there. I also tried changing the file location to one of the many content directories into a shader preset folder but that didn't work. Maybe there's one specific folder I need to save in to get the preset.
Can you search outside of DS for the filename you saved to see exactly where it was saved?
Maybe the location where you are saving it is not in a mapped content folder.
So I double checked the file location and it was right where I saved it. Then I ran 'Scan Known Directories' and 'Search Hard Drives' and sure enough the filepath to the preset showed up in Unassigned. But there's still nothing in it. Daz seems to detect the file type on some level but apparently isn't showing it in the Content pane for some reason.
What is the exact path to the folder containing the file?
D:\Daz\Content\Shader Presets
Can you go to Edit > Preferences > Content Library > Content Directory Manager, expand the "Daz Studio Formats" and "Poser Formats", and post a screenshot?
Is that a mapped folder?
Save As can save to non-mapped folders and if you had previously saved to there, it will still go there, whether it's mapped or not. But if it isn't mapped it won't show in your Content (Smart or otherwise).
Aha that was it! Apparently I've been re-downloading everything because I had all my files in a folder that wasn't mapped. So I added all the various folders full of stuff to the Directory Manager and re-saved a preset into one of those folders and it finally worked. Thank you all for your help, much appreciated.
Congratulations on your success!