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I'd tell you but they remove my speculative posts regardless of how right they are. Fact of the matter is we can't discuss any of the down side possibility to this. I can't even hint as to what they may possibly be.
The time to prepare for a blizzard is not after you are snowed in. ;)
None the less, dartanbeck what you are describing is little more then a download manager, something I have no need of. I like doing things myself, I have a system I am quite comfortable with and see no need to change. I don't like having things done for me; at least when it comes to content downloading, installing, sorting. If I do it myself I KNOW it's right, I don't have to worry or wonder if the automated system worked.
But once everything is said and done, as long as I don't HAVE to use it, I wont worry with it.
OT: surprise lol After going through the store the other day I have to wonder if am reading the wrong part of the forum. I just can't believe people let some of that crap slide without some sort of protest. I wont go in ot detail in this thread and see no reason to even try to start a thread on the subject, but going through the store the repeating thought I had was "WTF? You have got to be shirting me". Just toss a couple more logs on that "not shopping at DAZ" fire.
I think it is quite a sad state of affairs when you have to go to some other forum to openly discuss anything about DAZ with out fear of reprisal or banishment. If you can't take the punch don't step in to the ring.
Well here's a cool thing;
I get back from a nice honeymoon (I think, about our 40th?) vacation and, upon firing up my Install Manager, I find that there are a bunch of product updates and new products to download and install. As much as I frequent the forums, I must admit that I'm not often checking to see if any of my products need updating. Well, with this thing, I don't have to!
I believe that the new products must have been items that either weren't supported earlier, or belonged to bundles or other product purchase inclusions that were not yet optimized at the time which I installed the manager. It is, after all, a beta product, still. There are things that I own, for example, from buying a book: "Figures, Characters, and Avatars". Were those now included? An easy way to find out would be to load that disc and see. Perhaps when I find some spare time.
Nonetheless, I'm finding this thing to be an incredible resource to have, and am very proud of the Daz development team for making it such an outstanding device. It really works well!
Another feature I've failed to mention (or discover) previously: Product Options.
In the "Installed" tab of the DIM, the far right of each product listing contains a small right-facing arrow, or triangle. This allows you to select 'versions' of that product that are installed - mainly ( I think) for un-installation. This way, If you've gotten hasty and used the DIM to download and install everything available, but later find that you don't really need or want the files that are strictly used for older versions of D|S (DS3 or earlier), you may easily select those portions here and un-install them.
Pretty neat!
Also, probably because Ive been looking at the titles as I go clicking away at everything as I add them to my queue, I now realize the little check box at the top, which can be clicked to select everything in the list - whether for downloading/installing or uninstalling. I don't know, man... I'm really liking this thing! :smirk:
Yes I have always loved the way DAZ informed you of product updates. As in doesn't. I'd be happy if DAZ would just put out a list of update items, and I could look through to see what ones I have.
You could if you used Install Manager to download them, even if you don't install them (or install to a dummy location and then delete the files) -- you'd have zip files to deal with as you like AND a handy list of updates.
Ok, I made my first purchase in a while and WHAT IS THIS THING? WHAT IS THE CATCH? Will this cost me money? Is it too good to be true? LOLOL %-P
I am like Stan. I'm suspicious of free programs...
Will this organize my Rendo downloads too? :P
It is free.
It's not quite too good to be true, but I think it is incredibly well done, simple yet powerful.
It won't work for other stores; it connects directly to your DAZ 3D account.
I have 93 pages in my DAZ order history. I'm not downloading close to a1000 items on the off chance a few of them may have updates.
Although for storage purposes the zips may take up less space then the installers. If it would save me a couple gig in storage it might, MIGHT be worth it.
The main problem would be knowing what item goes where because most of the time what figure the item for isn't anywhere in the title. It would require me to un zip each item 1 at a time to see which figure's runtime they go to.
More discussion on this topic at Carrara Cafe, including a "Sneak Peek" video of the DIM in action
I figured that some folks might want to see the thing in action, and I wanted to try out using a headset for the first time. So I put the two together and ran a short sim... but, you know... I might have gotten carried away a bit. So it's more like eleven minutes long :red:
But at least it shows how the thing installs as it downloads, and how "set-and-forget" you can go, if you have a long list to download at once.
In the video, I explain that I actually uninstalled all of my D|S content, so I could re-install all of it using the DIM. My D|S content folder was only as large as the stuff I bought strictly for Genesis - so it wasn't a big deal. I wouldn't recommend deleting all of your runtime folders just yet! lol
For one, the DIM only works on stuff you've purchased (or obtained for free) from Daz3d.com
For another, as nice as the new D|S library system feels to me, it is corrupted from within by product makers not installing to the appropriate folders within the library - some simply by misspelling. Others apparently to keep a single product standing alone in the wrong structure - I don't know.
For this whole library system to work for me, Daz3d needs to nail down the rules outlined in the PA section of submitting products - either by having PA's make the proper fixes, or by implementing the fix in QA. Too much of this will wreck the entire directory system in my opinion.
So far, from what I've purchased, it only seems like a few culprits. Admittedly, the slow-going of the 8.5 update has slowed my Genesis purchases to a small degree, but it appears that most (if not all) Genesis products are better located. Environmental stuff seems to be the biggest culprit, here.
Kinda too bad. If the structure actually worked as intended (this has nothing to do with DIM, by the way) I was strongly considering switching out my runtime directories for the new D|S library. Oh well - experiments are just that, right?
Not sure if this is the fault of DIM, but I ended up with three "My DAZ 3D Library" folders:
By default > Public Documents > "My DAZ 3D Library"
also my personal My Documents > "My DAZ 3D Library"
and yet another in personal My Docs > "My Daz3d Library"
This will have to be resolved before it gets my approval stamp as well. But that's not as bad as allowing the D|S library structure to fail, IMHO. I hope they can catch that before it gets worse - I'm not a huge spender, so It may already be quite funked. Too bad.
I can CHOOSE where all this stuff gets downloaded right? I'm not going to fill up my SSD drive just because that's where my user folder lives... I can download directly to an external hdd?
Apparently so...but definitely do NOT dive it and start downloading / installing content until you have configured DIM first.
That was my mistake. Hopefully I get around to correcting it tonight.
I battle a similar thing at work (not 3D art related) when we build servers for our customers. It drives me bonkers that the hardware team doesn't take a little more care.
Same principal here - follow a good procedure to a T and everybody is happy (usually)...things are at least consistent.
Dartanbeck, please file a bug report on each item so they can be corrected.
As for the products... really? You think I should comb through and report them? There are many products out there that I don't own. I hhave a feeling that this is a mess that they really should have caught at the time the products were submitted, or during QA... but were ignored - which will eventually make the D|S libraries look like an old runtime. No difference. It's too bad, but since they let it happen, it isn't a bug.
Just to clear things up a bit
The stuff I've been remarking upon that I DO NOT LIKE has nothing to do with the DIM.
The Install Manager rocks.
What I don't like is how PA's ended up screwing up the file structure of the D|S library, and that QA or someone higher up allowed it to happen.
I was truly hoping to start using the new D|S directory default for content as my new file structure for all things Daz. But now that I get further away from the new Genesis items I've bought, I see that this structure is going to get just as jumbled up as what eventually happened to Runtimes. It's a shame.
So now I'll likely just keep my runtimes as they are (or fix them with P3DO Explorer) and use the default D|S directory for new Genesis items only.
I didn't mean go back through to find the products. Just as you come across them, if you file a bug report it draws the team's attention to it. There are so many for them to check and correct that some will slip through the cracks. I'm lax on it too. I think the reason I haven't gotten all my purchases yet is because the files are messed up and a lot of them seem to be by the same PAs.
Well, for what it`s worth - I am now able to use Daz Studio with confidence because the often baffling alchemy of installation is done for me...
Now how about something similar for Carrara - built into C9 perhaps????
Stan wrote:
In the DIM,. there's a little "i" (info) button,.at the right of each product,... which takes you to the "Readme" file for that product,. ,So,. you could click on that link,. to see what figure the product is for,. ..then choose where to install it.
As for file size,. ..removing the Installer / un-installer,. takes out a couple of MB per file,. but some products have multiple part installer files. so there's even more space saved by having a single zip for bigger products like that.
On updates,... I'm sure you'll be surprised at how many products have been updated,. and how quickly updating products can be done now,.
Andy :)
I have a question about the DIM. I have been using it to install all my Genesis stuff. Mostly because I've had issues getting things to instal (Mac OSX 10.8). Some of the installers give errors and refuse to install content. In any case, the DIM works great with Genesis and everything shows up in the Smart Content tab as expected. I decided to try this with non-Genesis content (shaders for V4 to be specific) and it just didn't work. It installed OK, but I couldn't find a way to access them in Carrara. I tried adding folders and runtimes in the content tab and shader tab but the shaders weren't available in Carrara. I did notice that somewhere it said that the DIM wasn't yet compatible with Carrara. Is this what it meant?
Thanks.
Holly wrote :
Yes,. you can configure download and installation folders on any drive in your system.
You can also download,. but choose NOT to install the products automatically,. then you can select a product, or bunch of products, and install those where you want.
Andy :)
HI BrianP21361 :)
It depends on whether you installed the Poser or DS versions of the shaders,.
try installing the Poser versions of generation 4 products, and they should show up in your Content tab.
Not really,. DIM can currently install Poser and Daz 3D content into Poser or Daz Studio,.(and Carrara can use most of that content) but DIM can't download a Carrara scene, or a Shader pack, or Lighting set,.. and install it into Carrara,..YET. ..and it can't currently install products designed for use in Bryce, and other programs like Vue, where some store products are designed for those programs,. It's expected that DIM will eventually support all of the Daz store products, including plug-ins, or add-ons for DS, Poser, Carrara, Bryce, and products for programs like Photoshop, EG: Ron's brushes.
:)
Yeah, and FYI: Poser stuff in a default D|S library (like the one the DIM default installs to), will be located in the "Content" > "My DAZ 3D Library Runtime" folder.
Now, for saving into the Carrara browser, you should have a folder structure already in place, in your "My Documents" > Daz3d > Carrara 8 folder. Inside that folder, you should have:
My Presets - and inside that you should have:
My Objects - (and probably more, but let's just look at this one for now)
This folder is at the top of the list in your Carrara browser under the "Objects" tab.
Enter that folder, in Windows (I have no clue how MacOS works) and create any type of file structure you'd like to use in the browser, simply by making folder structures. Like this:
My Objects >
Creatures
Lights
People
etc.,
Then inside those folders you create further subgroups. Let's take the People folder, for example:
People >
M4 People
Genesis People
V4 People
Main Character Name #1
Main Character Name #2
Village peasants
Thugs
Evil Bad Guys
Etc.,
Once you've created any sort of structure like this, you'll have such places available within the Objects tab, right on top, in a drop down menu system... really slick.
Once you set up new shaders for your people, and you realize that you need another folder in a new location, simply perform a "Save As" and create the new folder(s) within what you've already set up. To show new folders in the same instance of Carrara, without having to restart it, go to the little dark page-looking icon just above the top right corner of the browser and select "Update Folder" with the last main folder in the browser selected - and your new content will show up and be available ;)
Give it a try - Questions? Just ask
Thanks guys. That's helpful. I'm going to give DIM another try with my Studio and Poser content.
Interesting structure break down. I have been thinking about re-organizing my content -- which is where I am hoping that DIM helps out tremendously. I'd also like to put the runtimes on to my removable drive and allow Carrara to access it from either this server or my laptop (which BTW is nice of DAZ to let us install Carrara wherever...I wish NewTek and Adobe would let me do that with LightWave and PhotoShop...).
For use with DIM, and you want to re-install all of your things to new runtime structures, etc., I would probably suggest going through the way you currently have it, and look for ways you'd like to see improvements to file access.
In the DIM, click the little gear in the upper right - this takes you to Configuration Settings.
In there, click the "Installation" tab. You'll see the DIM's suggestion, but you can hit the "+" sign in the lower left of the window over and over again (like in Carrara's Browser) to enter the new runtime locations - or you can simply set it for your existing ones, but it will only be able to manage what it installs.
Okay, so when I typed that response to Garstor, I opened DIM so I could see what I wanted to talk about. Well I noticed more updates.
So after submitting the post, I ran the updates. Wow! It started uninstalling everything it had to update and jammed out the whole thing in, like... no time at all! I love this thing!
Mainly, I need to add an Aiko runtime. But I also want to break apart my "Buildings" runtime into something more manageable...at least separate fantasy/medieval from more contemporary structures. There are probably other tweaks that I can make.
:long: is this.... favorable...? Pardon me for only speaking Vulcan at taking things too literally. I had to re-read this several times and it didn't make sense until I applied a "Rad Dewd" accent to it... LOL
:sick:
one of the issues I ran into was with "sets" and buildings... For some reason I started to separate furniture and household props from architecture - I think I was going for interior/exterior but it's a mess and the two runtimes are always confusing me... Plants started going into architecture, and vehicles into furniture/props.... You'd be surprised how much inanimate stuff doesn't neatly fit in a category.... Plus there's always the stuff you buy thinking you will kitbash or repurpose it somehow....
With the "people" it is more obvious, I have the usual:
Aiko3 & Hiro3
M4 (with a little V4)
Animals (anything I am likely to try to fur)
Monsters (fictional animals, mythology, trolls, etc
Plushies and Toons
Mil Cat (yes she gets her own runtime, but some other cats have ended up there too, lol)
One big timesaver is I put all my poses into their own runtime - since poses are often figure agnostic, you can use the wrong pose on a figure to get partway there....
Browser and clips is something I REALLY need to get into, rather than populating my hdd with large scene files of duplicate figures with slightly different version numbers (sequential, but meaningless.... Is this the scene with the bikini, or is this the scene with the most up-to-date skin shaders...?) Ugh... BROWSER and LOTS of FOLDERS, that will be my next project....
"Honey...? I know I haven't done laundry in weeks, but my Carrara browser is really coming together!....
That is a very interesting idea. Right now, I'm installing poses to both V4 and M4 folders.
Thanks for reminding me! I'm in Chicago next week and need to get some clean stuff to wear! :red:
Daz Install Manager - Installing Custom Poser Runtimes is a new article answering many questions regarding the process from the ground up, from the basic through to the DIM process. I conducted the process as I wrote the article for as much accuracy as possible. Does it help? If there are still questions, let me know.
Happy Runtime configuring
Dartanbeck :coolhmm: