Making custom folders?

semperequstri

Malandar said:

I know what happened now... DIM did NOT put ANYTHING where I told it to put it, it put it ALL on my C drive in the My DAZ 3D Library folder, even after I made folders to put things into and even directed DIM to the folders before I installed them... so I am right back where I frigging started. With a jumbled mess of a library...

What I do is let DIM install to the "default" locations and THEN move things to where I want it them to be.  I'll install 1 or 2 things, then do a rearrange- rinse and repeat if needed.  

I also don't install every product I own ( been in this hobby since Poser 2 and when DAZ was Zygote! Not to mention the oodles of stuff from other stores!). I have my "base stuff"-things that I use the most  living in my library all the time. If I need a prop/pose set for a particular image, I'll install it and when that project is done I'll remove it. 

Malandar

Richard Haseltine said:

Malandar said:

Richard Haseltine said:

DIM will install to only one folder at a time, which you can select in Advanced Settings or at the bottom of the Ready to Install tab.

Apparently there was a step I had no clue about that someone else had to tell me about. The show details box on the bottom right corner, that didn't used to be there.

The feature has always been there, but apparently the label has changed (it used to be more specific - "Install to Where?") but it was there. http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/install_manager/referenceguide/interface/ready_to_install_page/start

Hmmm, well it might have been there but it didn't used to prevent me from putting things where I wanted them.

Malandar

semperequstri said:

Malandar said:

I know what happened now... DIM did NOT put ANYTHING where I told it to put it, it put it ALL on my C drive in the My DAZ 3D Library folder, even after I made folders to put things into and even directed DIM to the folders before I installed them... so I am right back where I frigging started. With a jumbled mess of a library...

What I do is let DIM install to the "default" locations and THEN move things to where I want it them to be.  I'll install 1 or 2 things, then do a rearrange- rinse and repeat if needed.  

I also don't install every product I own ( been in this hobby since Poser 2 and when DAZ was Zygote! Not to mention the oodles of stuff from other stores!). I have my "base stuff"-things that I use the most  living in my library all the time. If I need a prop/pose set for a particular image, I'll install it and when that project is done I'll remove it. 

Yeah, I don't install everything either, I don't have the HD space even if I wanted to, not to mention the fact that I don't use anything older than Genesis 2 anymore, for the most part. I'll have to redo my library again here soon so I can get the time to get it done.

PixelSploiting

Richard Haseltine said:

fred9803 said:

Lyrra Madril said:

Important tips on organising your content manually: This breaks smart content. Totally.  If you manually organise, do not expect SMart cotnent or anything that reliys on it to workuntime/Textures.  Things in there have hard coded locations in product files , if you move them your product will break.  Leave those alone.

 

The funny thing about Smart Content is that it was designed to overcome a problem Daz created for themselves by not enforcing a strict naming protocol/file structure for products. Items that should be for example be props/Mountain Ridge Ski Resort is nested in a vanity folder, so in your props folder it's named Kindred Arts, presumably along with all the other props the PA has sold. Good luck with finding that when you need it.

This, along with most other instances for clothing, hair and characters makes finding stuff in your content library a nightmare, and why many prefer to manually install content to where they can quickly find it for themselves. And why so-called smart content was invented to fix a problem that never should have never occurred.

Calling PA-name folders "vanity folders" is pre-judging - having content grouped by PAs is desirable for some and not for others (I am in both camps, for some types of content it is useful where different PAs (or other content creators) have very different, immiscible styles I like PAs to be grouped, for other types of content I don't greatly care, and for still others I'd prefer nott o have the extra level). In any event, we have tools - links and categories - that mean people can have what they want quite easily (just create links to the folder within the PA folder and place those where you want them).

If individual products were scattered across multiple themed folders (other) people would have complained about that. In any event, as someone who used to manually install and tried to keep things organised by sensible categories that way I am extremely doubtful that a strict naming protocol could be devised that would work for one user, let alone all. Even then, it would not deal with content from other stores or freebies, which are quite capable of ignoring the non-strict guidelines Daz has implicitly provided.

In any event, Smart Content is not what you mean - Smart Content is a tool for filtering by compatibility. What you are referring to is categorisation, which pre-dates Smart Content and does not depend on it in any way. The Smart Content pane is a separate, optional, pane that can be closed if not wanted. Categories and compatibilities are used by some features of DS and add-ons, but you can largely ignore them in use by sticking to the .. Formats containers in the Content Library pane, and you can avoid issues by using links when you rearrange those (the sensible approach would probably be to have a second content directory with your strictly arranged links, and leave the one with the actual files alone so that features that reply on them and updates work correctly).

 

Also people calling it "vanity folders" do not even understand why it's done. It prevents overriding assets when two different artists come with, let's say police cars in the land vehicle folders. If every PA uses their own prefix or nickname it's not going to happen.

It's an old practice and is very common in game modding for the same reason.

PerttiA

PixelSploiting said:

Also people calling it "vanity folders" do not even understand why it's done. It prevents overriding assets when two different artists come with, let's say police cars in the land vehicle folders. If every PA uses their own prefix or nickname it's not going to happen.

But it makes it more difficult and slower to find things, as you are going to "Clothing" looking for "Summer Top", you have to go through dozens of vanity folders to see, which one it is in.

If one needs to make sure nobody is using the same folder name, just place your initials at the end of the folder name, not at the start as that also messes up the order in which the folders are sorted.

PixelSploiting

It's difficult only if someone considers it a serious effort to right-click asset inside of the DAZ studio and take a note where it is on disc.

 

Also, how many initials, because after more than two you might as well start writing down  the entire nickname. PA names can have similar initials too.

Richard Haseltine

Malandar said:

Richard Haseltine said:

Malandar said:

Richard Haseltine said:

DIM will install to only one folder at a time, which you can select in Advanced Settings or at the bottom of the Ready to Install tab.

Apparently there was a step I had no clue about that someone else had to tell me about. The show details box on the bottom right corner, that didn't used to be there.

The feature has always been there, but apparently the label has changed (it used to be more specific - "Install to Where?") but it was there. http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/install_manager/referenceguide/interface/ready_to_install_page/start

Hmmm, well it might have been there but it didn't used to prevent me from putting things where I wanted them.

It has always been necessary to select the desired installation directory - though you can do it in Advanced Settings too. I used to use it to switch between a "working" directory for testing new products and the main directory for the ones I was keeping installed.

PerttiA

PixelSploiting said:

It's difficult only if someone considers it a serious effort to right-click asset inside of the DAZ studio and take a note where it is on disc.

Right click what asset?

Are you talking about the path to the textures and datafiles? the PA's can do whatever they like with them and file them under their grandmothers maidenname for all that I care.
I'm talking about finding items in Content Library when one wants to find items to load into the scene 

PixelSploiting

Either you already have them sorted out after few years of doing it, or you risk Smart Content. Either way, a vehicle will show under vehicles in Smart Content anyway.

If you don't use Smart Conent, by now you should already have everything organized by hand. 

frank0314

Malandar said:

Richard Haseltine said:

DIM will install to only one folder at a time, which you can select in Advanced Settings or at the bottom of the Ready to Install tab.

Apparently there was a step I had no clue about that someone else had to tell me about. The show details box on the bottom right corner, that didn't used to be there.

It has been there since the very beginning

Malandar

Richard Haseltine said:

Malandar said:

Richard Haseltine said:

Malandar said:

Richard Haseltine said:

DIM will install to only one folder at a time, which you can select in Advanced Settings or at the bottom of the Ready to Install tab.

Apparently there was a step I had no clue about that someone else had to tell me about. The show details box on the bottom right corner, that didn't used to be there.

The feature has always been there, but apparently the label has changed (it used to be more specific - "Install to Where?") but it was there. http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/install_manager/referenceguide/interface/ready_to_install_page/start

Hmmm, well it might have been there but it didn't used to prevent me from putting things where I wanted them.

It has always been necessary to select the desired installation directory - though you can do it in Advanced Settings too. I used to use it to switch between a "working" directory for testing new products and the main directory for the ones I was keeping installed.

What I meant was that used to be I could do it all through the advanced menu, now I can't.

Malandar

frank0314 said:

Malandar said:

Richard Haseltine said:

DIM will install to only one folder at a time, which you can select in Advanced Settings or at the bottom of the Ready to Install tab.

Apparently there was a step I had no clue about that someone else had to tell me about. The show details box on the bottom right corner, that didn't used to be there.

It has been there since the very beginning

Well it may have been there before but I was unaware of its existence until the other day, and I had been using multiple folders to install content into and never had trouble with that until recently, so I don't know what is going on.