Organising my content

cleehill_6d9222b875

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what I've googled hasn't seemed to quite answer my question.

So.

In Poser I used P3DO to re-organise, re-structure, and re-name my runtimes so that I had them the way I want (categories for poses, expressions, etc.).

How do I do this in DS4?

TIA

JimmyC_2009

First of all, DAZ Studio can read Poser Runtime folders with no problem, assuming that it is content that DS can use, i.e. NOT Poser shaders or Poser only material files. DS can read, and use, CR2, PP2, PZ2 etc., and can open PZ3 files as well.

If you mean reorganising your DAZ Studio content, like DUF format and DS shaders, or even Poser content that DS uses, then you can use Categories. You can set up categories for whatever format you care to use for your content, by Figure, by Type etc., and you can then save that so that it wont be lost if something happens to the database files.

Categories does not move anything on the disk, it just puts new entries into the database.

There is a tutorial by Adamr001 on using Categories, but I cannot get the link atm, the site is acting up, I will post it as soon as I can.

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/306/ Look in here for Adam's tutorials.

cleehill_6d9222b875

Thanks for the quick reply.

And yeah, it's the DS I want to re-organise so I can access it similarly to how to use my Poser runtimes.

CH

adamr001

Video tutorial on categories is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_nnPf8nCcc4

You can get an idea of what you can do (and how carried away you can get) with Categories here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/15192/ where I offer a skeletal categories layout that mimics what I do with my OCD layout. :)

JonnyRay

One nice thing about DAZ Studio is that it doesn't care what files are in different areas of your content libraries. Since I've always been a DS user, I used to move my files around in the Runtime folders all the time. Poser wouldn't have recognized most of my content by the time I was done.

That to say, if you want to organize the DS parts of your content library, you can do it in Windows Explorer by creating folders and moving things around.

Categories help when you don't want to go to that level of effort. But (in my experience anyway) the CMS database issues I've had tend to push me back toward just moving files into a structure that I like.

cleehill_6d9222b875

So.

My options are:

1.CMS but it might be a little flakey, I seem to have to do it inside DS, and I don't know what I might break.

2.Do it in Explorer, making my own structure the way I want it.

Is there a 'how to' kicking around for how not to break structures doing the re-organising in Explorer?

JonnyRay

Clee Hill said:

So.

My options are:

1.CMS but it might be a little flakey, I seem to have to do it inside DS, and I don't know what I might break.

2.Do it in Explorer, making my own structure the way I want it.

Is there a 'how to' kicking around for how not to break structures doing the re-organising in Explorer?

Pretty much as long as you leave the following folders alone, you should be ok...

/data
/runtime/geometries
/runtime/Support
/runtime/Textures

where is the path to the main library folder (default: C:\Users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library).

Oh! I would be remiss if I didn't mention the caveat that is often given when I mention doing this ...

The DAZ Install Manager (DIM) knows where it put the files that it installed. If you want to uninstall an item, and you've moved the files, the DIM won't know how to remove the files that you relocated. This could also cause issues in the case where a product has been updated and DIM is trying to put a new version on your system.

fixmypcmike

Using Categories inside DS can't break anything, as the original files are still in the same place. I advise Exporting User Data regularly so that if there's a problem you're custom categories are saved.

kitakoredaz

About category, user data export and re-import ,overwirte product meta-data,
work. well.

but when I find mistake of product meta-data, Usually I need to change or add compatibility too.

1. I modify category and comaptiblity to the product meta-data which had failed to set compatibiity,could not work as smart content.
after that I can use it in smarat content correctly. then export user-data to save it.

2 DAZ suddenly up-date product, then I auto isntall it by DIM. not remember about all item, which I correct and add
meta-data or not.

3 DIM auto-overwrite product meta-data in Runtime/support too.
I believe daz correct meta-data mistake, But there are still problem about the meta-data.
or someitmes daz change meta-data then cause new mistake.

4 I am angry,>:( but OK,, I try to re-import user-data and overwrite product meta-data with tender simle.:smirk:
But,, it only work about "category" or user word etc. User data can not keep, the compatibility or base,, etc.

So that I must need to keep my customized product meta-data to another directory one by one.
or save as differnt name. then need to delete DAZ release and up-dated but keep mistake ,product meta-data
and re-import the saved my handmade product meta-data.

5 After all, User data can be reliable, about category only.

we may need to save database ,often. I think, or need to save all modifed product meta-data
in another directory. if we tweaked them. (I do not hope to change product meta-data,
but it is simply because, the meta-data was wrong :ohh: )

Or is there more smart way, to keep my modification about daz product meta-data?