How Do You Organize your Library (Downloaders and Archivests)?

Scavenger

This is a question about OUTSIDE the program, for folks who either don't use DIM or prefer to keep backups of their files or buy from elsewhere etc... (and/or the folks who like me make libraries with promo images of all their stuff).

How do you organize your files?

I started simply, with like Female Characters, Male Characters, Male Clothes, Vehicles, Locations, (categories based on a tutorial for importing I read), but as I continue, items become less clear how to file them. Is this item has poses and props, so which folder? This outfit is for either sex. If I get a bundle, do I break it apart, or keep the bundle together?

I'm a bit...obsessive...with file organization.. :D

So, how do other folks do it? Do you have a system? Do you play it by ear?

Mattymanx

My personal preference is to use a single runtime. I find it neater and faster to setup when reinstalling DS or Poser as a clean install with no previous registry entries left. To begin my method you will need two things:

1. A file compression utility like 7zip. (your choice)
2. One empty folder on your hard drive!
3. Patience and time!

I admit its time consuming upfront but this method will save you a ton of time later if you need to reinstall any amount of content later on. It also allows for combining packages and makes updating content easy as wll.

Whether you need to organize content that came as a zip file or a exe your first step will be to extract the contents to the chosen empty folder. After extraction is completed you can go in and organize your folders as you please including the renaming of folders if so desirered. (I am going to assume you already have an understanding of the hierarchy) Once organization is complete, go to the folder level above the runtime folder and select all relevant files and folders (runtime, readme, ect…) and compress them using the utility of choice. Once that is done, you now have a pre-organized package of your content that can be quickly and easily installed to any location you disire. To unpack this in your runtime make sure you choose the Content Folder as the destination if using DS.

Now from there it will be up to you if you keep the original downloaded file but I personaly do not. Regardless or zip or exe, once I have my organized package, I delete the original (as long as I did it right) since its redundant.

When installing a massive amount of content you will find this method extremely fast and far less mind boggling then running each installer over and over for two reasone. First (using 7zip) you can select an entire folder full of compressed packages and tell 7zip to extract to (in my case) E:\xDaz\Studio\Content\ and from there all i do is wait for the first warning of overwriting a file and choose to either do so nor not to all and let it go from there. Its automated and I dont have to babysit it. Secondly, its organized!!!!!!! I dont have to go back and redo the whole process. Very handy for runtimes of any size! Did I mention its organized?

Now for combining packages some of it can be straight forward. For example, if you want to combine Baby Doll Hair with the Love Me Tender package you simple install both to the empty folder at the same time and organize and compress. Its very simple. If you want to combine the Gen4 character packs its just as easy as long as you remember to install the base character first and remember to let the installer initialize the files as well. This also allows for easy addition of newer figures later on.

sriesch

For normal content used within DAZ Studio, I eliminate the need for organization entirely by doing all my organizing of individual content thumbnails within the DAZ Studio content library. I save all my content downloads, each into a folder named after the product and all those product folders are in one single giant folder. I have chosen the one-runtime-per-product approach (which has both good and bad sides), also with each runtime in a folder named after the product. There is no need to organize any of them, because it doesn't matter in any way. The only time I need to find one of these folders is if I need to reinstall or verify I own a product, in which case I just go to the folder and start typing the product name and Windows jumps me right to it (or you could use search).
Within DAZ Studio, if I have a content thumbnail and I want to know what product it belongs to, I can just hover the mouse over it, and it will show me the path it is installed in, which I named after the product, and there's my answer. (or you can open the containing folder by right-clicking on the content thumbnail too.)

I also have a second folder with texture-only products installed into it, which while also organized by product name, makes it very hard to locate specific items since I'm manually browsing to them in Windows. Don't do that. I've been too lazy to sit down and find a good way to organize those yet, but ideally one would have some sort of visual image categorization application to cover that aspect. I'm sure there are commercial options out there. I actually wrote my own a long time ago for something else, but would need to rewrite it to handle multiple image repository folders or something which would be a major redesign and simply haven't had the time to do it, and maybe I could actually fake it using a Windows7 library now anyway.

fixmypcmike

I save all the zips after installing to an external drive. I have separate folders for each figure generation, with subfolders for morph sets, clothing, characters, poses, etc. I have a props folder with subfolders for places, special effects, vehicles, weapons, etc. Then I have folders for hair, for animals & creatures, for lights and shaders, for software, for plugins, etc.

sriesch

If you have a product that belongs in multiple categories and you want to put it somewhere it "belongs", you could always pick one spot and install it there, then in all the other places you think it would also fit, create a dummy folder/file that references the real spot. I've done something similar for bundles; all the pieces are split up into separate folders, and I just have " SEE INDIVIDUAL INSTALLERS" or something like that so if I forget a product is a bundle and look for the bundle name, I can still find it. Although you could create links, remember that links to files can easily get broken if the files or their containing folders are moved around.

I had also originally named folders like " (FROM BUNDLE) to be able to do the reverse, but then later realized that didn't work because sometimes a product gets included in multiple bundles, and haven't found myself needing that information anyway, so avoid doing that.

Scavenger

Thank fixmypcmike. That's a good way to do it..but what do you do with characters that are cross gen, like that has a v4 & G2F? Do you just split them up?

MattyManx: I wasn't asking about installing without DIM. I was asking about organizing the storage of downloaded files.

fixmypcmike

Scavenger said:

Thank fixmypcmike. That's a good way to do it..but what do you do with characters that are cross gen, like that has a v4 & G2F? Do you just split them up?

MattyManx: I wasn't asking about installing without DIM. I was asking about organizing the storage of downloaded files.

Actually I have a separate folder for multi-generation products, like characters for both V4 and Genesis, textures for the MFD, etc.

Mithoron

If we are talking about the ARCHIVED files (zipped/rar'd) files, I have them stored on my NAS like this (off the top of my head since I'm at work):

Clothing
-Female
--V3 (and older)
--V4 (and newer including Gen2)
-Male
--M3
--M4

Environmental
--Props
--Lighting
--Shaders
--Vehicles

People
--Female
---V3
---V4+
--Male
---M3
---M4+
--Kids/Unisex

Hair

Poses/Expressions

PS (Photoshop brushes and such)

Debating on a separate folder for shoes under clothing as well, LOL...but that's typically how I set it all up.

Oh, and I have a "Bundles" folder too for packages that go in more than one place as mentioned above. Typically if they are packages like "Character, Hair, and Clothing" I'll put it in the following priority:

Characters > Clothing > Hair > Poses > Props

Arnold C

Me, I organized my backup files in a folder/subfolder structure mostly following the old DAZ store categories and put them there which category they were shown in the store overview/category filter. (Except for "Animations" which I consider to be an own category, for an Animation is not a Pose! As well as a "surface material" isn't. That's Poser nonsense.)
:vampire:

Which got a little tricky lately since DAZ chose to alter their store categoration layout. (*Bad DAZ, no supper!*)
:ahhh:

I also have a main folder for things unrelated to a figure generation, say software, plugins, lights and such, and then one main directory each for the 3rd and 4th generation, Genesis and Genesis 2. So if I need a thing for Genesis 2 which I haven't already installed or partially corrupted by editing a texture and had messed up I don't have to dig through all the Gen4 stuff I'm not needing right there.

Except for some of those I consider my "Top PA Vendors" (like Stonemason, Faveral, Jack Tomalin, Age of Armour, Kibarreto, etc.).
Those reside in an extern folder bearing the Vendors' name.
[PA's If you don't find your Vendor named above and have more than just two or three products up, don't worry, it's a long list but it's already late.] ;-) :-)

People:
-------
Base Figures
Men
Women
Children
Toon
Morphs
Textures & Skin Maps
Anatomy

Clothing & Accessories:
-----------------------
Uniforms & Costumes
Everyday Clothing
Clubwear & Dresses
Formal Clothing
Intimates
Footwear
Headwear & Jewelry
Dynamic Clothing
Textures & Morph Fits
Other Accessories

Hair:
-----
Long
Short
Textures & Morph Fits

Animations:
-------------------
Expressions
Everyday
Modeling & Pinup
Fighting
Combined Figure
Occupational
Animals
Other Animations

Poses:
-------------------
Expressions
Everyday
Modeling & Pinup
Fighting
Combined Figure
Occupational
Animals
Other Poses

Environments & Props:
---------------------
Cityscapes & Buildings
Stonemason
Team Dystopia
Interiors
Small Structures
Plants
Landscapes
Lighting & Skies
Furniture
Machinery & Equipment
Animal Props
Weapons & Warfare
Other Environments & Props
Textures

Vehicles:
---------
Land
Sea
Air
Space

Toon:
-----
Toon People
Toon Animals and Creatures
Toon Vehicles
Other Toon Items
3d Universe

Animals:
--------
Wild
Prehistoric
Aquatic
Flying
Domestic
Insects & Spiders

Creatures:
----------
Dragons
Undead & Vampires
Fairies & Elves
Monsters
Monsters (Humanoid)
Aliens
Robots & Cyborgs
Sea Creatures
Other Creatures

Resources:
----------
Brushes & Effects
Texture Resources
Audio Resources
Tutorials
Other Resources

Software:
---------
Bryce
Carrara
DAZ Studio
Hexagon
Mimic
Shaders & Materials
Plugins & Utilities
3rd Party

CypherFOX

Greetings,
I used to burn them to Blu-ray, but I've long since exceeded what a standard BD can store. Somewhere I have 3 BD's filled with downloaded content from DAZ and 'rosity, before I just...stopped.

DAZ (and similarly 'rosity) has all the files on their servers, and I feel fairly comfortable that I'll have some heads-up if DAZ is going out of business. :)

I no longer feel the need to keep copies of everything in every format it came in, even though I have many TBs of storage between Dropbox and my own NAS. If I did, I would use the collection method I used before. Dump all that shit in a directory (or series of date-stamped directories) and trust that I can find it using filename or SKU searches. ;)

But seriously, if DAZ has the original ZIPs on their server, I so don't need a copy myself.

-- Morgan

Kerya

I have two folders: DS-Posercontent installed - and DS-Posercontent not installed.
But I do make sure I rename files with Name of site_name of creator_Figure_Name of item.xxx
For finding files I am using Everything: http://www.voidtools.com/