Product File Sizes?

jim_doria

Is there any way (short of buying the product) to find out how big a product is in megabytes? I'm running out of space on my Daz Library drive and now need to be choosy about how I use my data. Often I'll buy something that seems pretty simple only to find out the packages are 1 gig or more. I looked around a bit but couldn't find an easy way to get this info. 

McGyver

Nope... No obvious way... This in my opinion has been a huge issue for ages and I have no idea why that's not considered a basic bit of information... most sites let you know the file size... I have no idea why this was never a consideration.

Edit: actually I might imagining this, but I think back years ago (2012?) when DAZ switched over to a new forum and they redid the store too, I or someone else asked this question again because since they were starting new, why not add that tidbit of knowledge going forward, and the answer was basically "we can't go back and add all that info to every product" or something like that... 

But yeah, probably a third of that stuff that was new back then is defunct, not big sellers or gone entirely now, so had they just started adding files sizes to everything new at that point and didn't bother with anything before The Purge, we'd have the benefit of knowing file sizes, which I've been told by my imaginary capybara, is a very helpful thing to know... especially for people who terrible or slow internet... which Kevin (the capybara) insists is actually still a thing in this day and age.

But what the hell does an imaginary capybara know?

nemesis10

Mmm/  I realize I have never thought of this in depth....

3141592654

This doesn't help your requrest ... but if you stay in 3D Rendering, ever increasing library (memory) sizes seems to be the only realistic solution. 

There can also be download limits or expenses. I was in a good place with unlimited downloads when I bought a bunch of the Now-Crowd Billboard products ... thsoe can be about 10 gigs a piece. 

With ever increasing map sizes those numbers are just going to grow.

EDIT:  You can get a hint as to whether there are big file sizes or not by looking at other products you have already purchased by the same vendor. Each tends to have their preferred programs to use ... some of those programs will automatically use huge maps and files for EVERYTHING ... even the pencil in the back room that may never get rendered up close. If a PA's products have been large in size in the past, probably the new ones will be also.

PerttiA

3141592654 said:

This doesn't help your requrest ... but if you stay in 3D Rendering, ever increasing library (memory) sizes seems to be the only realistic solution. 

There can also be download limits or expenses. I was in a good place with unlimited downloads when I bought a bunch of the Now-Crowd Billboard products ... thsoe can be about 10 gigs a piece. 

With ever increasing map sizes those numbers are just going to grow.

EDIT:  You can get a hint as to whether there are big file sizes or not by looking at other products you have already purchased by the same vendor. Each tends to have their preferred programs to use ... some of those programs will automatically use huge maps and files for EVERYTHING ... even the pencil in the back room that may never get rendered up close. If a PA's products have been large in size in the past, probably the new ones will be also.

Large filesizes are not a problem if they are due to additional textures or even if they are due to large textures per se, but they are a problem when they are due to inefficient usage of the UV space, which is sadly an increasing trend.

AllenArt

I just had to buy another 8tb external to keep up with the Daz content. LOL (I have redundant backups of pretty much everything on my computer that I want to keep). I've been burned too many times.

jim_doria

@McGyver: That seems to make sense EXCEPT the information IS there already. After you've purchased the product, you go into your library and boom - there it is.. File sizes of all packages. So it's not that they don't have this info. It's also displayed prominently in Daz Install Manager.

Regarding throwing more storage at it... My main device is a laptop and I find myself in different places alot. I like to keep my Daz Library handy in case I have a few hours to kill (like at the moment...) and want to update some projects or just noodle. But I don't like things hanging off the side of the laptop, potentially breaking, potentially weakening the port, potentially getting left behind because that always happens sooner or later. So I have a small micro SDHC reader that holds a 1TB microSDHC card that holds all my Daz stuff. The reader only sticks out about 1/4 inch from the laptop and is very secure. I am SUPER happy with this setup and don't want to change it. Hence the limitations. Right now 1TB is the max for microSDHC - at least in my price range.

Thanks for all the replies. Maybe this is something Daz Deals could ferret out and display at some point in the future...

MimicMolly

No, there isn't. I tend to go by the number of texture maps (usually the UV mapping isn't optimized) or compare it to the size of other products the PA, in question, made. As for characters, unless it's some monster, I also avoid buying human characters with "baked-in" HD morphs.

Unlike other users in this forum, I do not want to waste my time with filing a ticket for a refund. I want to buy something useful, to actually use it, and not return it.

Taoz

McGyver said:

Edit: actually I might imagining this, but I think back years ago (2012?) when DAZ switched over to a new forum and they redid the store too, I or someone else asked this question again because since they were starting new, why not add that tidbit of knowledge going forward, and the answer was basically "we can't go back and add all that info to every product" or something like that...

They do have all the files and writing some code that scans the file sizes and add the data to the product database should be simple.  An extra section on the product page showing file sizes shouldn't be a big deal to add either.

But there's always the performance issue, the more info to collect from the database and display on the page, the slower page load will be.  DAZ products pages are already pretty slow to load and fast page loading is one of the most important things on a site, for customers. 

 

Frinkky

PerttiA said:

3141592654 said:

This doesn't help your requrest ... but if you stay in 3D Rendering, ever increasing library (memory) sizes seems to be the only realistic solution. 

There can also be download limits or expenses. I was in a good place with unlimited downloads when I bought a bunch of the Now-Crowd Billboard products ... thsoe can be about 10 gigs a piece. 

With ever increasing map sizes those numbers are just going to grow.

EDIT:  You can get a hint as to whether there are big file sizes or not by looking at other products you have already purchased by the same vendor. Each tends to have their preferred programs to use ... some of those programs will automatically use huge maps and files for EVERYTHING ... even the pencil in the back room that may never get rendered up close. If a PA's products have been large in size in the past, probably the new ones will be also.

Large filesizes are not a problem if they are due to additional textures or even if they are due to large textures per se, but they are a problem when they are due to inefficient usage of the UV space, which is sadly an increasing trend.

 Couldn't agree with this more. That and pure black metallicity maps - different ones for separate surfaces... granted, diskspace is not the issue as they're generally kb in size. But vram...