Sharing your custom props?

deleted user

Hi I know this is probably a really noob thing to ask, but... I was wondering how you extract a prop that you've made from Daz.

I have lot of props, but I don't know how to share them with others.
Most of the time I go File > Save as > Support Assets > Figure/Props Assets
I save it to my personal folder. But today I made a morphable candy wrapper for a scene I'm creating.
It has about 10 morphs to make each wrapper unique. My friend wanted me to share it with him and I would but I dunno how. :(

Richard Haseltine

As you are, essentially - to share you need to give them the file you explicitly saved (which is a preset for loading the item) and the \Data\Author\Product\Item folder which was created from the names you entered in the options dialogue when saving. Plus the textures, of course, which should have been in \Runtime\Textures\Some folder.

SickleYield

No, that's correct, although preferably you want to save it to Vendor Name (yourname) Product Name (give it an actual name and don't leave it as "product").

To share it you'll need to copy the product's files into a new folder so you can zip them. There are three primary areas you need to copy:

data: It should be saved in data/yourname/theproductnameyougaveit. Create this folder structure in your new folder, too.

Props (or People, depending on where you put the .duf file when you saved): You'll need to create the folder structure Props/YourName/Your Product (your name is optional here, some don't use it).

Runtime/textures/yourname/yourproduct name, or wherever in Runtime/textures you saved the textures you made for it.

So your folder with your shared structure should have data, Props and Runtime in it, so that your friend or others can copy and paste it into their My DAZ3D Library. They will have to know how to actually copy it correctly, of course.

deleted user

That's the thing I don't have any textures for it. The textures I used were misc junk I found on google images hehe! But I will try to save the prop it's self.

deleted user

How do you create a folder structure? I think that's what you're referring to....so when you open the archive the first time it has runtime & data
Then you click n drag the zip all folders... Like when you open the zip it has

data/yourname/candy wrapper
runtime/props/candy wrapper

Sorry if I sound noob.:(

Also, is there a way to save preset styles?

Richard Haseltine

You would need to recreate the common bits of the folder path - the Data folder will have lots of other items in it, if you've been using the same author or product names every time you save an asset those may have multiple entries - then copy across the unique folders and files for your items. Similarly copy across the folder with the presets for loading the item - \Props\whatever say. If there aren't any textures there shouldn't be anything in the Runtime folder that's needed. A shaping preset will store morph settings, a pose preset wills tore transforms, or you can use a properties preset to store both.

I do recommend, if you are making content, setting up a new, empty, folder for your project and adding it to the list of.DAZ Studio content directories. That way when you save your assets you can set that as the base directory at the top of the options dialogue and all if your files will be neatly separated ready for zipping.

deleted user

Thank you for the advice. I'll bump if i need any more info.

Georgehaze

With regard to the portion of saving the 'data' information, is there a way to specify which folder in the data folder is used?

I'd like to create a specific folder with a less generic name than what DS is currently telling me that I'm using.

I'm guessing that simply renaming the folder wouldn't be the answer.

Richard Haseltine

When you save an asset file you will be asked for Author and Product names - those determine the folder names (Author\Product, in the Data folder for stand-alone items or in the figure's asset folders for things like Morphs and UV sets). The dialogue also allows you to specify which base directory to use, as I mentioned above.