File naming conventions and file trees

Endlessdescent

After doing 3d modelling for over 20 years now there is one thing that really grinds my gears. I've never seen it addressed but constantly comes up in my work flow. 

Say you buy a product from "Vendor1" for a specific set of poses and objects. Often you go to download the file and the archive is just called something like Vendor1-628.125.rar
There's no mention in the archive name of what this download is... but that's no problem because you just downloaded it right? Well if you're like me, 20 years later you have terrabytes of stuff accumulated and looking back at Vendor1-628.125.rar you have 0 clue what the heck this thing is.... anyways.
It is even worse for stuff like video game models because the userbase uses crazy acronyms for everything like "Modder1CBBE-UUNP-BHUNP12345" as if you're supposed to know/remember what that even means. 

So you extract this archive and install it in your software. The file structure often looks something like "Poses>Vendor1>Vendor1reallycoolpack>Genesis8>*Content*"
This means that when you go to your library and you're looking for this specific pose, you have to remember who the heck made it... was it Vendor1 or was it that other random name? Then you have to open several subfolders just to see what this file even is; oops nope that's not the one I wanted. Repeat x20 just to find that specific pose you were trying to remember.

Instead, the file structure could give some clue as to what it is. Something logical like Vendor1Gunpack4Daz.125.rar with the contents also being logical like "Poses>Vendor1 Gun Pack G8>*Content*
Yes, as the end user we can do this ourselves, but every time we reinstall the software we end up having to fix it rather than this just not being a habit in the first place. I spend hours cleaning up sloppy folder structures just so my library in Daz Studio is easy to browse through and isn't full of abitrary vendor names. 

Alright, this is just an old guy with a horrible memory peeing into the wind but there isn't a week that goes by that I don't stub my toe on this and mutter in frustration. 

Sera

If I download any kind of .zip or .rar with a vague name, I rename it right away (with the exact product name if it's Daz related). I delete dashes and plus signs, add spaces. Anything to make folder searches easier. This isn't necessary for DIM packages. For some reason windows search finds those easily. As for installed content, I usually leave it where DIM puts it and then use DIM to help me find it later. My Rendo library I keep in a separate directory, and it's small enough that finding things is easy. My freebies go in a third content library, and so on.

Richard Haseltine

Daz zip names contain the SKU, and product name, so it's easy to check the readme - and the readme will give the file locations.

kyoto kid

...far too often the archive I find that a product readme page in the Daz Documentation Centre has teh following statement:

This is a placeholder for the product Read Me - this product has not yet been publicly released.

I still see it for products that have been released years ago.

Lack of a proper file naming convention has plagued Daz and Poser from the get go.  Some of us her created our own custom runtime and library structures categorising and even renaming files in the Library folder to make it more logical and items easier to find as long a Geometries (Daz - 3.1/Data (Daz 4.0+), and Textures remained in their proper places there wasn't an issue..   Yeah it's a lot of work at the outset, but I feel well worth the time investment in the long run  I usually move/rename library folders after installing.

I also disliked the fact that shaders ended up in the "Poses" folder of the old Runtime structure instead of "Materials". 

Richard Haseltine

kyoto kid said:

...far too often the archive I find that a product readme page in the Daz Documentation Centre has teh following statement:

This is a placeholder for the product Read Me - this product has not yet been publicly released.

I still see it for products that have been released years ago.

This issue was fixed a few weeks back, have you checked recently.

Lack of a proper file naming convention has plagued Daz and Poser from the get go.  Some of us her created our own custom runtime and library structures categorising and even renaming files in the Library folder to make it more logical and items easier to find as long a Geometries (Daz - 3.1/Data (Daz 4.0+), and Textures remained in their proper places there wasn't an issue..   Yeah it's a lot of work at the outset, but I feel well worth the time investment in the long run  I usually move/rename library folders after installing.

I also disliked the fact that shaders ended up in the "Poses" folder of the old Runtime structure instead of "Materials". 

There wasn't a Materials library when people started using Mat poses.

memcneil70

DIM is my friend. I right click the product's line, and select show installed files. If I click the file line, it takes me to it, which when I have to fix a missing thumbnail is helpful.