Digital Art Zone

DavidGB - 13 October 2012 02:41 PM

DavidGB - 13 October 2012 02:19 PM

Alisa Uh-Lisa - 13 October 2012 02:06 PM

I do use DS (more than Poser now) and don’t ever move the data files.    I have occasionally moved the files under the “people” folder, for example, and then corrected the .dsx file in Runtime/Support to reflect the new locations.

It’s that .dsx file that confuses me for the Poser companion files.  I believe that file tells DS to show things in Smart Content, but what does the .dsx file in Poser do, if anything….?

Nothing in Poser. It’s a file with the DS Metadata for the products in DS’s content database. Poser now has metadata too, but it’s in .xmp files alongside the cr2, pz2 or whatever poser file in the Poser library folders. DAZ installers puts the .dsx file inside the support directory in a mapped runtime, but that’s just like it still puts the textures in the textures folder inside the runtime. It’s not actually for Poser, just DS.

I should probably add:

The thing is, if you have and use DS as well as Poser, you’ve probably got the runtime you’ve put the Poser support files in mapped as one of your Poser format directories in the content library.

If you have, you will find that if you go to that Poser runtime Figures:DAZ People in DS, you will see that Genesis.Cr2 you click on to load Genesis in Poser. And if in DS you click on the Genesis.Cr2, then Genesis loads in DS (because there’s an accompanying .duf in the Poser folder along with the cr2, png and .py, so DS executes the .duf and Genesis loads just like it would if you clicked on the .duf in your normal My Library/People/Genesis folder, or wherever you may have moved it in your content library).

So, because in DS you can load the products by going to the Poser runtime and clicking on the Poser support files, there’s a .dsx file in the runtime/support so that in DS the smart content knows about the things that can be launched from the Poser runtime.

You probably have the normal Genesis.duf in My Library/People/Genesis, so there’s the normal .dsx file with that metadata so the Content DB knows about that. But now there’s the Genesis.duf alongside the Genesis.cr2 in the Poser runtime, there’s a .dsx file so the content DB knows about that too.

Me, I don’t use the DS content DB, so all those .dsx files are nothing to me. For you, if you move DAZ content round in your My Library you will be editing the .dsx files to reflect that (although you don’t have to hand edit them - the system allows for you moving things). If you move the Poser companion files around in the runtime, the state of that .dsx file means nothing to Poser, so from a Poser pov you can ignore it. But if you want your Content db to keep up-to-date for showing the Poser companion files (which can be used to load things in DS) in DS, then you should treat them the same as the .dsx files for the DAZ format content in My Library.

I’m very muzzy headed, so not quite sure if I explained that clearly enough. hope so.

Ah HA!  That does make sense (I think, lol). I’m still rather muzzy headed about all this, so I’m going to have to try some stuff and see what happens when I do…

Post & let us know what happens, Alisa. I think we’re all trying to do the same things.

im pretty sure there is something wrong with the 64bit installer in some cases..

in a 64bit machine with 64bit windows and a 64bit sr3.1 poser with the right c++ updates and a new clean install outside the program files i still have the below message…

i have try every scenario you can imagine….

as Neo once said….

help!

Ok, so here’s what I tried.

I installed the DSON files for the geometry and python folders (the main DSON program)

Then, the only thing I’ve so far put in there (under Runtime:Character:  and then within some folders below that which I created called “!People/”!Genesis) are the 4 files each (cr2,duf, py & png) for Genesis, Basic Chile, Basic Male, Basic Female) and then the 4 files for the inj and rem and mat files for James.  I did NOT put the new companion files for the Support folder in my runtime yet.

Amazingly, not only do they work, BUT despite the fact that I’ve not yet added ANY Poser companion files for any other Genesis products, such as the gorilla, M5, Gen3 and 4 shapes, all of those show up and work under the parameters dials!!!

Now, I DO have all these items in my DS folder (and I have things set up so that my main Runtime folder-which I use for DS & Poser-is at the same level as my data and people etc folders, so maybe that’s why?)

I was surprised to see that I didn’t have to install anything else in order to use all these in Poser.

So then I went to DS4.  And opened (in the content library) my POSER directories, rather than going to smart content or the DS folders within the content library.  Went to these same files and they all work, same as in Poser.  Almost the same as they used to work in DS with this exception.  When I apply a morph or texture, the figure converts back to basic Genesis for a flash, THEN comes up with the correct inj/material file. 

Wow.  This is brilliant!

DavidGB - 13 October 2012 02:41 PM

Me, I don’t use the DS content DB, so all those .dsx files are nothing to me. For you, if you move DAZ content round in your My Library you will be editing the .dsx files to reflect that (although you don’t have to hand edit them - the system allows for you moving things).

I just noticed this in your post, David - and was a bit confused by it. Does someone know how the system allows for you to move things without hand editing the .dsx files?  I was under the impression that if you move something, the dsx file will have to be hand edited to reflect anything that was moved and state its current location.

Which I would have assumed would be the same situation with the companion .dsx files.

Isikol - 13 October 2012 06:48 PM

im pretty sure there is something wrong with the 64bit installer in some cases..

in a 64bit machine with 64bit windows and a 64bit sr3.1 poser with the right c++ updates and a new clean install outside the program files i still have the below message…

i have try every scenario you can imagine….

as Neo once said….

help!

Do your other Python scripts work, and is the DSON script in the same location?

DavidGB - 13 October 2012 05:47 PM

sonia15 - 13 October 2012 05:23 PM

fixmypcmike - 13 October 2012 05:23 PM

What is the path to the runtime?

G:\Program Files\Smith Micro\Poser Pro 2012\Runtime

I seem to remember that it thinks any directory called ‘Program Files’ is THE Program Files and therefore presumes it is not a writable directory.

You need a runtime that does not have a directory called ‘Program files’ above it. Either make another runtime elsewhere, or change the ‘Program Files’ name in that one if it doesn’t mess other programs up.

I made a new runtime in My Libraries called Genesis Starter Essential, still the same thing.

Isikol - 13 October 2012 06:48 PM

im pretty sure there is something wrong with the 64bit installer in some cases..

in a 64bit machine with 64bit windows and a 64bit sr3.1 poser with the right c++ updates and a new clean install outside the program files i still have the below message…

i have try every scenario you can imagine….

as Neo once said….

help!

Find PoserPro.exe, from there navigate to Runtime\Python\addons\dson, right click on dzdsonimporter.pyd and choose properties.  What is the size?

Decided to put this in a separate post so it can be addressed if someone knows the answer.

It LOOKS to me as though when I added the Support folder companion files (the ones with _PoserC” added to them) for James for M5, what happened was that it appeared there was a SECOND copy of everything, added to my DS Smart content tab.

But when I clicked on each of the duplicates and asked them to open in the content library, they did NOT show my Poser Runtime, but rather the DS “People” folder where the initial files are located.

So I am now COMPLETELY confused about the new .dsx and .dsa Support files that are installed as “Poser Companion” files in Runtime/Support.

What are they for?  Why would I want duplicates in my DS Smart content?

OK, I can’t get M5 or V5 to work. How are you all getting it to work in Poser??  It scales for me but doesn’t actually apply the morph!!!

Also, Gen 3 iconic figures aren’t working either.  Again, they scale but don’t apply the morphs.

Meanwhile, Gen 4 iconic figures *do* work but don’t scale - lol.

David 3 doesn’t scale but the head morph only works.

Help!!

LOL. OK, now I reopen Poser and V5 works but V5 supermodel doesn’t. Aiko 3 morph works but scaling doesn’t.

This is crazy!

Alisa Uh-Lisa - 13 October 2012 06:49 PM

Amazingly, not only do they work, BUT despite the fact that I’ve not yet added ANY Poser companion files for any other Genesis products, such as the gorilla, M5, Gen3 and 4 shapes, all of those show up and work under the parameters dials!!!

Now, I DO have all these items in my DS folder (and I have things set up so that my main Runtime folder-which I use for DS & Poser-is at the same level as my data and people etc folders, so maybe that’s why?)

I was surprised to see that I didn’t have to install anything else in order to use all these in Poser.

No, there are no companion files for things like Genesis morph packs like M5, genesis Evolution morphs, gorilla etc. They just work.

As to why they work ...

In DS, with Genesis (and completely unlike V4, V3 etc which were supplied as Poser format files and used a completely different system), when you install morphs, each morph is just a .dsf file that goes into subfolders in the Genesis subfolder in the data folder (which should NOT be mucked around with until/unless you really fully understand the system).

When you load Genesis in DS, DS is directed to look in the Genesis sub-directory in the data folder and it simply scans every .dsf file in the morphs subfolder and reads in all the morphs. (It does the same thing to the UV sub-folder and so Genesis loads up ready with all UV sets you have available.) So, once you’ve installed morph packs, next load of Genesis in DS it just appears with all morphs you have there in it. (There’s no re-initialising the figure like with V4 after adding new morphs, or injecting morphs after loading the figure like in V4 and V3>

Now, when you use Poser and go to load Genesis, you click on a cr2 file which actually just contains one line calling which calls a python script, which in turn calls the DSON importer plugin (that cr2 file and the python script being two of the companion files), and the importer plugin does EXACTLY the same thing DS does ... it’s pointed to the Genesis sub-directory in teh data folder, and scans all the .dsf files it finds in the morphs sub-folder, and starts the Genesis up with all the morphs you have in it.

So for morphs (and alternate UV map sets), installing for DS is also installing for Poser. No extra files are needed in Poser for the morphs. When either DS or the Poser importer plugin go to load Genesis they simply scan the (same) data folder for all morphs (and UV sets) that are in there, and whatever morphs load up in DS will also load up in Poser.

So, to someone from corporate or someone who does use Metadata, what exactly is the purpose of the 3 metadata related Poser Companion files that go into the Support folder?  What does the metadata do?  I already HAVE James for M5 in my smart content folder from the initial installation of the product….

presuming you mean the dsx files that go into runtime/support ...

They contain, in a DS format used by the DS content database, the information on the products for the database. For each one, it contains things like what kind of product it is (poses, materials, figure, prop), more detail on the kind of thing (like it’s a figure - clothing - a skirt), and what things it works with (like it’s a material preset for particular skirt X). (I’m not looking up the actual categories so those are just ‘that kind of thing’ examples, not actual categories). and it also contains the path to where the figure or preset or whatever is.

All for use in the DS content database when using categories or the Smart content pane.

So. for anyone who is using Poser only - ignore.

For anyone using DS who doesn’t use the Smart Content pane or the category or product entries in the content library tab - i.e. just uses the file views in the content library pane and doesn’t use the content database that powers the Smart content and category views (like me) - ignore.

If you are someone who is intending to use Genesis in DS and Poser, for when you are using it in Poser, ignore because Poser does not use DS metadata (although it can use its own kind).

It only matters if:

(a) you are using DS, with the content database running, and

(b) are using the smart content tab or the category or product views in the content library tab.

Now, if both apply above, you will previosuly have installed Genesis in DS, and loaded it from the Genesis file that was installed to My Library/People/Genesis. The dsx file that was put into the My Library/runtime/support when you installed Genesis had all the metadata for the DS content database as described above, including the location of it being in people/Genesis. If you, moved the Genesis file to another folder, then the content database will have lost track of it until/unless you edit the .dsx file, or use the content database tools to tell it where the files gone to from inside DS.

The new extra stuff for Poser makes no difference to this.

However, if you’ve installed the Poser companion files, it will be into a runtime you have mapped into DS, so in DS, in the content library, there are now two different files that will launch Genesis in different places. assuming you haven’t moved them, in the content library pane you can, as before, go to the DS Fornats section, then down to People>Genesis where there is the pre-exisitng genesis.duf and launch Genesis. but you cna also go to the Poser Formats part of the content library pane, open the runtime you installed the Poser companion files to (likely My Library again) and go to Figures>DAZ People and find the Genesis.cr2 you would use in Poser. If you click on that. again genesis will launch.

The extra .dsx file installed into runtime/support for the companion files goes with THAT genesis.cr2. Most of it is exactl the same info as the other .dsx file. It’s all about the same Genesis figure, so all the categoriesin the meta data are the same. But this one has the path to the GEnesis.cr2 in the content.

So now the content database in DS, when you are using DS, knows you have TWO different Genesis loaders you cna use, one in the DS Fornats section, one in the Poser Formats section and where they are. Just as for the one in the DAZ formats section as described above, if you move the Genesis.cr2 (and the other three files with it) from, say, characters/DAZ people into characters/People/DAZ people, then the content database will have lost track of where the Genesis.cr2 is for using THAT, rather than the normal DAZ genesis file to load Genesis. and again to get the content database to know where the file has gone you can edit the .dsx file, but more easily just use the tolls in the content database to tell it where you moved the file to.

BUT

First, remember this makes no difference at all to your use of the Genesis.cr2 in Poser. as far as Poser is concerned, as long as you keep the cr2, py, png and duf together, doesn’t matter where in the character library you put them.

And

For your use in DS, it will only matter IF ypou intend to launch Genesis by using the genesis.cr2 in the Poser Format section rather than the Genesis.duf in the DAZ format section of the content library as previously.

If - in DS - you are going to carry on loading genesis from the DAZ format part fo the libary as you have done previously, then (if you use the content database in DS as described above) it only matters that you correct the content database after you ,move the Genesis.duf from the My Library/People/Genesis location. It doesn’t matter if you move the Genesis.cr2 (plus the other three files) around in the runtime character folder and DON’T tell the content database if you are never actually going to use the Genesis.cr2 in the Poser format section of the content library to load Genesis in DS (and in Poser it doesn’t matter).

Hope that makes some sense. I know what I’m trying to say, but permanent pain and permanent prescription painkiller haze rather interfere between deep-brain knowledge and expression through keyboard. To think I used to be a teacher renowned for being able to explain complicated things simply before becoming disabled.

Anyway, off to bed now ...

Alisa Uh-Lisa - 13 October 2012 07:29 PM

Decided to put this in a separate post so it can be addressed if someone knows the answer.

It LOOKS to me as though when I added the Support folder companion files (the ones with _PoserC” added to them) for James for M5, what happened was that it appeared there was a SECOND copy of everything, added to my DS Smart content tab.

But when I clicked on each of the duplicates and asked them to open in the content library, they did NOT show my Poser Runtime, but rather the DS “People” folder where the initial files are located.

So I am now COMPLETELY confused about the new .dsx and .dsa Support files that are installed as “Poser Companion” files in Runtime/Support.

What are they for?  Why would I want duplicates in my DS Smart content?

I’m hoping from what I’ve written above, you will have understood. With the Poser runtime also a mapped irectory for DS under Poser formats, for all these things you are putting in Poser companion files for, in DS there are now two files to load the Genesis or whatever: the one you’ve previously had in the DAZ formats directory; and the cr2 in the Poser runtime. BOTH of these are visible and usable in DS - the DS format loader under DAZ formats; the Poser loader under Poser formats.

because you have two different files in different places as far as DS is concerned - one in the DAZ format part, one in the poser format part - there are two dsxmetadata files, both with exactly the same metadata for the database except for the location.

David, I won’t quote what you said.  First, thanks - I truly appreciate your detailed info, and as feedback, you do explain really well despite any pain and painkiller haze.  I’m really sorry you’re having to deal with those issues :(

All of what you said makes a lot of sense with one exception.  When I put all of the .dsx support files for James for M5 in the Support folder, (the original ones for DS and the new Poser companion ones), AND have all of the other files where their respective .dsx files called for them to be, There are 2 of each icon in the Smart content folder in DS

Again, this made sense.  It also made me figure that I could possibly remove the original .dsx and .dsa metadata files, as well as the original James for M5 files that were in the DS format directory (under People), and then be back to having one of each icon again (as well as a smaller runtime and less files on my computer).  When I’d click on the icons in Smart Content, that would reference the files in the Poser Runtime.

I never got that far, because when I went to the smart content, and right clicked on the icons, choosing “show in content library”, BOTH of them opened in the content library in the “Daz Studio Formats” section in the “People” folder.  I had expected that one would open the item there, and the other would go to the one in the “Poser Formats” section, in the folder where the item was located based on the poser companion .dsx file.  That’s where my confusion is now…..

Again, many thanks for the time you’ve taken to go over this!

I need some clarification on the tutorial for making the poser companion files. The second step of the tutorial for the creating poser companion files says:

Step 2 : Update Metadata

Make sure to update the Metadata by removing the old files from the product and adding the new ones.

Metadata standards have changed recently, so this is the right time to update the Metadata to reflect these new standards.

What does this mean by removing the old files from the product and adding the new ones? After all, you add the new ones when you save them to the directory after making them, don’t you? Can I get some clarification and steps that are a bit more specific?