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Step 0: Learn to use Hexagon or other modeling program. Your tree had some stray vertices and edges plus some of the UV mapping was out of bounds. I fixed it in Blender and that is model I use in this mini tut.
I do not have any version of Poser so this is only about making a Studio DSON prop asset.
Step 1: Create and map a project library. For this I added some quick textures so to demonstrate how they should be handled. Texture files are traditionally put in a sub-folder(s) of the Runtime/Textures folder so we have to map the library as both DAZ Studio Formats and Poser Formats in DAZ Studio's Content Directory Manager. In Windows Explorer or the Mac equivalent we add a "ReadMe's" folder (this is a hidden folder in Studio's Content Library tab)and the "Runtime" folder and inside the "Runtime" folder a "Textures" folder. If you try to map the library for Poser Formats before you have added the Runtime folder Studio will throw up an error message as to being an invalid runtime but still add it to the list. Under "ReadMe's" and Texture you will probably want to add your vendor/company name folder and under those the product's name folder. At this point we could also make the "Props" folder and sub-folders but it is just as easy doing it within Studio's Content Library tab.
Now you may be thinking, "How can we move on to Step 2? Don't we have to make a 'data' folder?". No we don't, Studio will create it in the final step when we save as a prop asset.
Step 2: I am assuming you know how to map the library in Content Directory Manager so we are just going to go to the Content Library tab and under DAZ Studio Formats find and select the project library. Right click on the library's name to bring up the Create a Sub-Folder option and click that, type "Props" into the pop-up box. We can continue making as many sub-folder as the project needs but I just added "Llola Lane Designs" under "Props" and "Christmas Theme" under that.
Step 3: Importing the prop, you already seem to know this so I will move on.
Step 3a: Here we set up the surfaces and apply textures, once done we move on to the all important step.
Step 4: Making the object a Studio prop, it couldn't be simpler. Be sure that only the prop is in the scene and selected. Go to File | Save As | Support Asset | Figure/Prop Asset ... (if the save menu doesn't open to the right folder you will have to navigate to it) type in a name and click SAVE. In the pop-up make sure the Asset Directory has the path to your project library. Fill in Vendor Name (Llola Lane Designs in this case) and Item Name (I usually use the same name I typed into the SAVE box). Product Name is optional, if the item is a part of a larger set I would enter then name of that larger set but in this I case I just called it Christmas Theme like the sub-folder it is located in. Metadata is also optional but I set it anyways, see screenshot, since it is a prop there is no need to check the compatibility setting. Keep all the Asset Definitions checked, again general prop so no need to check Parenting Data and I prefer not to compress the file. You are done, the .duf file should be in the right sub-folder and Studio will have written the "data" folder and all the sub-folders and files that need to be in it.
Step 5: How exactly you zip up your files will depend on which zip utility you use. What files you zip remain the same, you only zip the files INSIDE the project library not the whole library. Notice that zip file's internal folder structure is the same as the project library's folder structure, no extra vanity folder, "Content" or "My Library" folders.
THANK YOU jestmart for your little tutorial.. I'm still not feeling well.. but I DO appreciate the time and effort you have put in to it... hopefully I will be able to try it out this weekend.. I'm not going to be learning Hexagon anytime soon.. so I'm sticking with simple things I've made... Just for this testing :) I will post a new zip as soon as this darn cold leaves my eyes.. I can't see very well now.. ;)
I'll keep everyone posted.. Thank you ALL for your help... Hugzzzzzzzzzz
Thank you Matty.. I was finally able to download your tutorial tonight without sales messages popping up... :) I do have poser but I work mostly with DAZ.. i'll give your tutorial a look when I'm feeling better.. Got a bad cold and can't see the computer screen too well.. THANK YOU!!! hugzzzzzzzzz
I have a feeling part of the reason I'm having difficulty with this is because my folders are not the same as you alls... so... I've taking a screen capture of my files... please tell me if this looks right... Keep in mind that in the beginning when I was uploading files from.. DAZ.. RENDOROSITY... SHARECG... RUNTIME DNA.. etc.. I didn't know what I was going (still don't sometimes) HFS for one has a weird runtime setup... It sounds like you all have a RUNTIME.. right after MY LIBRARY??? and nothing else??? I think that's what's confusing.. some people have their zips set up different.. and that is why my folders look the way they do... Anyway... just curious... here's my files....
grr..they posted in the wrong order...
anyway.. you can see... I have things going to...
OWNER/MY DOCUMENTS/DAZ 3D/STUDIO/MY LIBRARY... then there's a RUNTIME FOLDER.. plus a bunch of other folders...
then in the runtime folder I have ANOTHER runtime and a bunch of folders...
It's very confusing for me...
my DAZ INSTALL MANAGER says to install to MY DOCUMENTS/DAZ 3D/STUDIO/MY LIBRARY.. and I have it set up that way so the majority of my stuff IS going into the OWNER/MY DOCUMENTS/DAZ 3D/STUDIO/MY LIBRARY/RUNTIME folder... NOW.. but we've only had DIM for a little under a year.. before that I used the .exe installs and the files went to that folder too.
Everything seems to be working so I don't want to move anything around if I don't have to.. I'm not sure if it will mess things up...
Hope this all makes sense... (sighs).. I may just have to delete everything and start from scratch.. I DO want to share some things with everyone... You all have been soooo kind to me... I'd like to give back.. But this whole runtime stuff has me stumped :(
(Blows nose and goes back to bed)
Ok first when you do step 1 of jests tut above
Your going to create those project folders on you desk top, not inside your main content area of my documents.
1. Create blank folder setup for freebie on desktop like tut above
2. Add this folder to content manager list in studio
3. Then follow rest of tut-make sure ds is saving to your project folder and not its main one.
When done with tut all files created by studio will appear in your desktop project folder, ie data folder, prop/asset, ect.
This desktop folder is the one your going to zip up to give away.
I know how you feel with your folder setup. I have the same problem, LOTS of content from many different places. What I decided to do when using DIM, is to put all DAZ 3D content in one runtime and everything else in a different one. That way I don't mess with the DIM runtime, so when it updates, things are where it expects them. The other runtime I can clean up a little. I can move all the readmes into one folder, etc.
Also, something to keep in mind, all these other content creators probably went through the same problems that you are. Which is why you have so many different runtime structures in your directories. That DOES NOT make the content any less usefull. You are doing a very good job in trying to find out the correct way to do things and taking suggestions. Keep up the good work, AFTER getting over your cold.
About the zip file.... I think the Geometry folder should be in the runtime folder. My suggestion for the readme is to include the item name in the name of the file and if you are going to have different licenses for different products to have it in that as well. Otherwise just leave it called license. Having them both in a folder with your name is a good thing. You can then have the same structure with all your products and when they are unzipped they will all go into the same folder and not give readme (1) etc. I also think you should keep the file names as short as you REASONABLY can. I know Windows has a limit on how long a filename AND directory path can be. If someone has there content directory deep on their hard drive, it could come into play.
Gus
I would offer a suggestion that if you can do so, you also do a quick test of loading each content thumbnail in your finished product on a second PC that does not have any of your files. I download quite a few freebies, and there are an insanely large number of them (I'd hazard a guess I've seen over a hundred like that perhaps) that don't work because they are referencing textures files that aren't even included in the product (or are in the wrong place). Perhaps they all work fine on the original creator's PC where the necessary files are actually located, but if those files don't get packaged with the product, they definitely won't work on mine, so all these products go straight to the trash bin. Quite a bit of hard work is going to waste, perhaps without the original content creators even being aware of it.
ok.. Everyone.. I'm a--waaaaaaaake... but not over my cold... a little better today though (sighs)... Just gotta ride it through.
@ssweete... ahhh.. that makes sense and no one has told me that yet... I did that right now... Another tidbit to the puzzle... Thank you!
@Gusf1... great ideas... and yet another tidbit of the puzzle.. THANK YOU!
@Sean Riesch... Great suggestion!!! I had thought of that but I don't have a second computer at the moment so you all are being my 2nd computer for me or else I'd be trying this myself ... I usually can figure out a work around to make other people's content work.. specially if I have the .obj file... But you are right.. everyone seems to have their own way of making folders and it IS quite confusing.
THANK YOU ALL for being nice little piggies!!! squeal squeeeeeeeeeeal!!! lol
p.s... Haven't tried jestmart or MFMs tuts yet.. but I am planning on giving it another go tomorrow.. Wish me luck! Hope you all don't mind still being my guinea pigs... I have lots more to give ;)
kk.. I'm not sure I have anyone still watching this thread.. I tried Jest's little tutorial... I'm not sure I did it right.. some of his/her wording is different than what it's called in DAZ.. but I think I may have it... There are a few things missing that I've put together from bits n pieces from people...
I set up a runtime on my desktop and saved the ASSET/PROP to a PROP folder in that runtime on my desktop... that wasn't quite clear in the tutorial.. but I think that should stop that error message looking for the items on my computer...
There was no where to put my OBJECT but in the tutorial it says the DUF file will take care of that... (crosses fingers)
THIS IS A TEST only... It should render just fine.. I don't have time to learn Hexagon so this is something I made in Second Life... It's JUST A TEST... Please someone see if you can unzip it to your runtime... It should be 5 boxes like below.. in your PROPs folder.. with metadata.. Please let me know if it worked .. Thank you!
Here's the link to the zip file....
http://www.pfddelights.com/index.php?topic=820.new#new
I have some good news, and some bad news Llola <(^_^)...</p>
On the positive side, the Runtime directory is at the top of the ZIP (good - unpacks okay), the ZIP contains a data/ subdir (partly good - no need to generate anything, but see below...), the DSF contains the geometry (good - although older Poser users and people who rely on .OBJ files may complain), the textures directory is there (good - pretty spectrum ^_^)...
... however:
. if you're going to have the Props/ folder under Runtime/, then it has to go one level deeper, into Runtime/Libraries/Props/LlolaLane/5boxes/, otherwise DS won't show it under "Poser Formats" in the Content Library. If you do decide to put it under there (which is where Poser traditionally expects to find things), then in order to see an icon in DS, you must have a .PP2 file (even if it's empty) in there as well. There is a DS script elsewhere on the forum that can generate "real" PP2 files for you (if you want to support older software), along with the OBJ, or you can just make an empty PP2 file for now (and rename the PNG too);
. in order to make the files you supplied work, the Textures/ and data/ should not be under the Runtime/ directory - they should be at the same level as it. For data/ this is okay and expected, but for Textures/ is not quite the normal thing (but in this particular case, to make that DUF/DSF work, it has to be there);
Once these things have been changed, then the prop loads successfully! \(^_^)/
In summary, I unzip your file, and got this:
Runtime/data/...
Runtime/Documents/...
Runtime/Props/...
Runtime/Textures/...
I moved things around so they are:
data/...
Runtime/Documents/...
Props/...
Textures/...
And it loads okay in DS-4.6 \(^_^)/.
(arguably - for a DS-only prop, you actually have a perfect directory structure, if everything is hoisted out of the Runtime/ folder and placed at the top level, because the 'Documents' is normally up a level too...).
For studio users, you dont need a pz2 file.
And you cant make one in studio either.
The ony files you put in runtme in a studio product is the textures.
Layout is
Content
Data
Props
Runtime/textures
Textures folder always goes under Runtime folder, this way it wont be visible in the Content Library tab. What ssweete said except you don't need the top level Content folder. You don't need to include the .obj file or have a Geometries folder under Runtime because saving as a prop asset writes a .dsf mesh file in the data folder which it also creates if there isn't one to begin with.
soooo... for DAZ users only..... It worked????
I didn't do Poser stuff yet.. my zip was for DAZ ONLY... I was setting it up as Jest said in the tutorial
Sooo.. in DAZ... did it work???
Read up a bit Llola -- for me at least, almost (^_^)d. Not sure how others fared with your new ZIP.
(by the way, suggestions made above about keeping the Textures directory under Runtime/ are indeed correct - that will stop it being visible in the DAZ Studio Formats section of Content Library. However in the case of the ZIP file you made, the "5boxes.duf" would not load unless I moved Textures outward as described in my previous post (the error is "Could not locate file ...spectrum.jpg")).