New Dimension 3D Tools and Store Sale [Commercial]
Dimension3D
Posts: 464
Two new tools by Dimension 3D are now available in the DAZ 3D store. Content Gatherer analyzes one or several content files for references to external files and allows to easily gather all required files, e.g. for backups or distribution. File Reference Editor lists the references to external files and provides several useful ways to edit the references and to locate the referenced files.
Both tools have full unicode support and work for both, DAZ Studio 4 and Poser. They support content files in DSON format, DS material scripts in text format, and Poser content files. See the product pages for more details.
Please note that "File Reference Editor" is a stand-alone tool. It does not require any other products as the product page states at the moment.
Also, version 1.2 of DSF Toolbox has been released recently. The update is free for previous buyers.
Finally, my whole store including the new releases and all Genesis Generation X products is 30% off now.
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Comments
I just bought your "Content Gatherer" but can't figure out how to start it. Can you provide install and usage directions?
Thanks,
Mike Griffin
Please email me directly at:
memgriffin (at) gmail.com
The manual should be included with the product. If it's not then here's the link provided on the product information page:
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/16287/start
The manual also can be downloaded from my web-site here: Content Gatherer manual
A user reported two problems that will affect both applications.
1. DUF files can't be read if they contain quotation marks in strings. In particular, this is the case for DUF files with Reality data.
2. On Mac, the Runtime folders are not found for Poser 10 and Pro 2014. As a workaround, copy the file "LibraryPrefs.xml" from here:
users/.../Library/Application Support/Poser[ Pro]:10:LibraryPrefs.xml
to here:
users/.../Library/Preferences/Poser[ Pro]:10:LibraryPrefs.xml
Both issues will be fixed in an upcoming update.
I am confused. For File Reference Editor (FRE) the Description = stand-alone tool.
However Required Products = GenX AddOn Gen3 Bundle, Content Gatherer, DSF Toolbox, Genesis Generation X.
Therefore can I use FRE by itself or must I have all those required products?
The "Required Products" in the product page of File Reference Editor are wrong. (They even change from time to time.) There is no required product for File Reference Editor. It is a stand-alone tool, you only should have DAZ Studio or Poser.
Thanks Dimension3D. I saw your top post and I have seen the required products change so that made me hesitant. Daz should fix that soon as it may have caused loss of interest for your product.
Welcome back and congratulations!
So when do we get Content Mirror for DS? ;)
The required procucts for File Reference Editor are now correct (i.e. none) on the product page.
It's on my list, but next thing to come will be an editor for DSON files.
It's on my list, but next thing to come will be an editor for DSON files.
Sweet! Everything of yours is great as far as I'm concerned.
I'm hoping you'll decide to write a DS metadata creator-- you're halfway there if you're parsing external file references. :)
I thought DS metadata are usually created by DAZ, not by the content creators. So, who would need it? And DAZ for sure has some editor for it.
I thought DS metadata are usually created by DAZ, not by the content creators. So, who would need it? And DAZ for sure has some editor for it.
It would be useful for content bought from Rendo or RDNA, or for editing existing metadata so that products are consistantly placed rather than all over the place like they are presently.
The DAZ tools for creating/editing metadata are somewhat less than end user friendly
It would be useful for content bought from Rendo or RDNA, or for editing existing metadata so that products are consistantly placed rather than all over the place like they are presently.
The DAZ tools for creating/editing metadata are somewhat less than end user friendly
Yes, exactly. Though "somewhat less than end user friendly" is putting it very mildly indeed.
In fact, if you came up with a good, easy to use tool to create metadata, DAZ would probably use it instead of the method they are currently using.
It would be useful for content bought from Rendo or RDNA, or for editing existing metadata so that products are consistantly placed rather than all over the place like they are presently.
The DAZ tools for creating/editing metadata are somewhat less than end user friendly
Yes, exactly. Though "somewhat less than end user friendly" is putting it very mildly indeed.
In fact, if you came up with a good, easy to use tool to create metadata, DAZ would probably use it instead of the method they are currently using.
Rendo, RDNA and tons of freebies. If it include support for fast custom categorization, better than best.
So what those products can do that careful planning (of where my files are) and DS can't do already? Blurbs aren't entirely clear for me in this respect, sorry.
That's right, these tools won't add anything totally new. They just provide more convenient ways to work with file references in content files for Poser and DAZ Studio. Whether these tools are useful for you depends mainly on what you are doing with DAZ Studio.
About creating a tool for meta-data in DAZ Studio, I never used meta-data in DS. So, I can't say at the moment how an alternative could look like.
Creating / editing the DSX support files should be easy to do, this are simply XML files. But I think the meta-data in DS is mainly done by the Content Manager (which I turned off on my PC because it doesn't work with my fire-wall). Accessing the data-base of Content Manager might be a bit more complicated.
Creating the DSX support files would be enough. DS can import those automatically when it starts or on demand.
I think these latest two utilities would be very useful for content creators, and also for freebies that have incorrectly formatted Runtime directories. (That's what I've used many of your other utilities for.) These just provide the functionality of tools like "Poser File Editor" and "Runtime Zip and Repair" (both at Rendo) to DS-specific files, yes?
Creating the DSX support files would be enough. DS can import those automatically when it starts or on demand.
I think these latest two utilities would be very useful for content creators, and also for freebies that have incorrectly formatted Runtime directories. (That's what I've used many of your other utilities for.) These just provide the functionality of tools like "Poser File Editor" and "Runtime Zip and Repair" (both at Rendo) to DS-specific files, yes?
I will put the DSX creation tool on my list, so maybe I will do it.
Right, a file reference editor for Poser content files is already included in Poser File Editor and in my Tool Collection, and Runtime ZIP also can gather the dependent files when creating a ZIP, so the new tools are mainly new for DS users. Nonetheless, I included Poser support also for the new tools, so people can use one tool for both.
Thought so. :) I've got both of those tools in your Poser versions. I expect I'll get these new ones a bit later in the summer when I hope to have more time for content creation in DS. (Four more weeks of teaching stats in the evenings!)
Delighted to have the Content Gatherer -- I've been pining for it since Guandalug's Content Collector didn't work in DS3.
An unrelated utility request, but I've been hunting unsuccessfully for one -- a content folder duplicate file finder that requires matching relative paths. I haven't found any duplicate file finders that have this feature.
That's right, these tools won't add anything totally new. They just provide more convenient ways to work with file references in content files for Poser and DAZ Studio. Whether these tools are useful for you depends mainly on what you are doing with DAZ Studio.
Thanks for the clarification and open answer. I appreciate this a lot.
Couple of more questions:
- Would it be useful to me to pack Genesis/Gen 4content (say, I made a jacket and want to share it as a freebie) if I'm organized with my files already and always check paths manually anyway?
- Would any of those programs list all content I used in a saved DS 4.5 scene (like a txt file list) and if yes, which one of them?
- Would any of those programs help me to create metadata/smart content if I'm not using/uninstalled/deleted) the innate DS content management system?
Greetings,
And for what platform? (Some things like this are easier to do on the Mac, because of the Unix base.)One of the things I've been doing is writing my own little tools to eliminate DSA/DUF pairs, that is files where I have precisely the same file path, only one is named My Library/folder/artist/foo.dsa and the other named My Library/folder/artist/foo.duf which isn't too much different.
-- Morgan
One of the things I've been doing is writing my own little tools to eliminate DSA/DUF pairs, that is files where I have precisely the same file path, only one is named My Library/folder/artist/foo.dsa and the other named My Library/folder/artist/foo.duf which isn't too much different.
-- Morgan
Yes, that's what I mean, for Windows.
fixmypcmike: I have written a tool to find duplicate files some time ago. So, changing this to look in content folders and to care about relative path shouldn't be too difficult. It's on my list now.
Kattey:
1. Content Gatherer creates a file list in text format (useful for readmes) and it creates the ZIP just based on the content files, gathering all dependent files and showing if files are missing. It's up to you if this is useful for you.
2. Yes, Content Gatherer creates a file list in text format, either as a file or as a copy in the clipboard.
3. Content Gatherer may read DSX files, but it's not creating it. As requested in this thread, I will consider writing a tool for DSX files to create / edit meta-data.
That would be very helpful. Now that I have DIM managing some of my content, I need to be able to remove matching files from my non-DIM content directory as they get added to my DIM content directory, and the last time I did it, I ended up accidentally removing a whole bunch of thumbnail images and a few morph files that were intentional duplicates. :(
Agreed about the duplicate file finder, I'm in the same boat with DIM moving to a different library path and dealing with cleaning up old content. For a lot of stuff I was able to just use the uninstallers but for some stuff I had some of the dreaded ancient Mac installers that I either used on my old G5 computer and then copied the files over, or used the Windows installer under WINE, neither of which gives me a usable uninstaller.
I'd actually misread the content gatherer description and thought that's what this was one of its features. :-(
Have you tried Winmerge? http://winmerge.org/ - it seems to have the ability to compare paths as well as filenames. I used DoubleKiller last week, and sadly, it did not correctly match up only files in the same relative paths. :(
Have you tried Winmerge? http://winmerge.org/ - it seems to have the ability to compare paths as well as filenames. I used DoubleKiller last week, and sadly, it did not correctly match up only files in the same relative paths. :(
I use Winmerge for comparing previous and current versions of a single product, but it really isn't suitable for a whole content folder. It won't tell you that a subfolder six levels down is an exact match unless you drill down.