Digital Art Zone

Is there a good tutorial on managing files for new purchases?  For example, I downloaded a hair style and some additional color settings (Timeless), and while I can find the original styles that came with the hair style, I can’t locate all the files that came with the additional colors/textures.  There are a lot of different files…. .pz2, .ds, .png, .dsf, etc.  I tried pasting the new files into the same folder that the old files seem to be in, but when trying to apply them the program tells me it can’t find the files and gives me the option of locating them. 

Clearly Daz is a complex program.  Some files go into the Charaters>Genesis>hair folder.  Others go into Data.  Other go into Runtime.  I’m after a nice tutorial that will tell me what should go where….and maybe even why it’s going into these different locations.  Thanks.

On the installer’s last screen, there is always a check box you can enable to view the readme file.  It will tell you where to look for the newly installed content.  I always make a habit of viewing them.  In Windows, you can find the readme files in:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\My Library\ReadMe’s

Yes, that tells me…supposedly…where the files were installed, but that doesn’t tell me why they are installed, or why some files are in different places, or what the variety of files really do.  Most of the time the installer simply says it is putting the files into My Library.  It also seems that different creators have different file hierarchies.  There also seems to be some discrepancy between what I see on my Mac Finder and what I can access from within Daz.

Take a look at this thread in the old forums discussing Poser and DAZ file types:

http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=90315

If the links in the thread gives you errors and start with //forum.daz3d, change it to //forumarchive.daz3d.com

What would be great is if those read-me’s were more informative than just a list of files and locations.  They should say:  these png files should be in this location.  Or these mc6 files should be in this location.  That might tell me why I can locate the hairstyle within Daz, but why it fails to locate whatever color and texture files needed to completely apply the style.

Do you have the hair selected before you apply the hair material preset?  The only time I’ve had an error applying material presets is if the preset was looking for the .jpg texture that was moved and packaged up after the preset was made.
 
I don’t have a Mac, so these are generic instructions.  If the hair material preset is in ASCII text format, which many are, you can load it into an ASCII text editor editor and look for texture file name and path it’s looking for to load.
 
Just go to the material preset folder, right click and select “... Browse to folder location”, load up one of the material presets in an ASCII text editor and look for an occurance of jpg.  Assuming the Mac version installs .jpg files for texture files.

Ignore the .png files, they are the icons you see within the Content Manager.

I’m using the basic interface design for Daz, so there are panels to the right and left.  In the left Actors, Wardrobe, Props panel, I can find some “hair” options under the Smart Content tab.  It’s a confusing set up, but when “Smart Content” is selected I can see a list to the left (Accessories, Animals, Hair, etc).  And then within “Hair” some options.  To get the new hair options I need to go to the right panel and select the Content Library tab.  In the file directory, I can go to My Library>People>Genesis>Hair and within this folder there are some hair styles that appear in Smart Content, but some that don’t.  I assume the difference has something to do with meta-data and how Daz recognizes the “Smart Content.” 

I can fine the “Timeless” hair here and (with the Genesis figure selected) apply it to the character.  That works fine.  In the same folder is a “Materials” folder with three optional colors for the hair.  What I can’t locate here are the additional colors I bought.  There is a “Runtime” folder here and opening it I find “Libraries” and “Textures” folders.  Within the “Libraries” folder I finds a “Materials” and “Pose” folders.  The latter has the new colors, but when I click on them, I get the “could not find file” dialogue box.  It gives me the option to “Locate…” but I’m not sure what file I’m trying to locate.

I know this is a lengthy response, but this is a pretty lengthy and confusing file structure.  Why are there materials in My Library>People>Genesis>Hair>Timeless Male Hair>Materials…and also in My Library>People>Genesis>Hair>Timeless Male Hair>Runtime>Libraries>Pose?  Yikes!

dkutzera - 23 July 2012 08:15 PM

Why are there materials in My Library>People>Genesis>Hair>Timeless Male Hair>Materials…and also in My Library>People>Genesis>Hair>Timeless Male Hair>Runtime>Libraries>Pose?  Yikes!

It sounds like something got installed incorrectly.  The Runtime folder should be directly beneath “My Library”, or else DS won’t recognize it as a special folder.

Content purchased from DAZ is always in installed to your “My Library” folder with a few minor exceptions eg: plugins.

The Timeless Male Hair texture pack was installed to the wrong directory.  If you had the installer create uninstall script run it and reinstall the pack into your My Library folder. 

When you purchase products that work in both DS an POSER, it will install files in both DAZ Studio Formats and POSER format content directories.

You’ll end up with DAZ Material presets in DAZ Studio Formats> My Library>People>Genesis>Hair>Timeless Male Hair>Materials

And you’ll also have a set of POSER material presets in POSER formats>My Library>Pose>TimelessMailHair
 
This allows products usable to both DazStudio and Poser users.  Hope this helps..

I uninstalled and reinstalled, and then found the various color options in the Poser Formats folder.  Confusing much?

dkutzera - 24 July 2012 03:59 PM

I uninstalled and reinstalled, and then found the various color options in the Poser Formats folder.  Confusing much?

Yes, because Poser users can’t use the DS-format materials.