Non-Graphically Adding 3rd Party Content to Smart Content?

mambanegra

So, my runtimes disk failed and I'm going to be reinstalling all of my data from other sites manually. My previous approach to non-DAZ purchases was using the old fashioned way, to organize content in a way that made it easier for me to find. However, now that I have to do that all over again, it's not at all appealing and, to be honest, having things appear in smart content, while vastly more limited "out of the box" is much more convenient than having to bounce around the various directories in the content library. So, I'm wondering if there is a way to automate the process. Obviously DIM does that for me with stuff I purchase from DAZ, so I'm wondering if I can write a script to build the files like DIM uses and add the content to the database via command line instead of all of the crazy clicking listed on the official DS process. Are there specs on what files are used and which programs are called to add DIM installed products to the DB?

Leana

DIM itself doesn't add products in Smart Content: If you look in a DIM package, there's usually a Runtime\Support folder containing several files for the product: an image, a .dsx file containing the metadata and a .dsa script file to load the metadata into the database. The .dsx file defines the entry you'll get into "product", the categories, where each asset is going and what it is compatible with.

You could generate such metadata files yourself, or you could use an utility like Content Wizard to do it.

KA1

I use this: https://www.daz3d.com/content-package-assist It literally creates a package you put in the DIM folder and you then install from DIM, some decent options too, it's been a while since I used it but I noticed only yesterday some of the stuff from 3rd party stores I installed this way are even showing up in my smart content so it must be able to help do that too!!

Sevrin

I don't think what you're looking for exists, or else it would be one of the most popular and discussed Daz utilities ever.

The easiest way I've found to get Smart Content for assets that don't come from the Daz store is to use Content Wizard.  It will create metadata and enable Smart Content, but only for one product at a time.  It has a batch mode, but that only installs already existing metadata.  It's not incredibly fast, and has had its hiccups in the past, but it's much faster than creating Smart Content by manually and reliable for most content.

 

mambanegra

Leana said:

DIM itself doesn't add products in Smart Content: If you look in a DIM package, there's usually a Runtime\Support folder containing several files for the product: an image, a .dsx file containing the metadata and a .dsa script file to load the metadata into the database. The .dsx file defines the entry you'll get into "product", the categories, where each asset is going and what it is compatible with.

You could generate such metadata files yourself, or you could use an utility like Content Wizard to do it.

This is EXACTLY what I am looking for. I'll definitely play around. Too bad it's XML instead of something a little more modern, but I should be able to figure out the structure. 

I actually own Content Wizard, but it would actually be faster to mass extract the zip files and organize the products than running that on each and every product. I've been doing this stuff since Vicky 1 and Posette days...so I have a lot of stuff. 

So, if I were to actually get this to work, I'd be happy to share it with others. It would be a python script that you run from the command line, so not necessarily user friendly, but the idea would be that it would build the basics similar to what you get from the average product you buy here with minimal user involvement.