What exactly is a Scene Subset
Doc Acme
Posts: 1,153
in The Commons
Very basic question but since the DAZ documentation (and YouTube too suprisingly) is useless in ths regard, I'm forced to ask.
What specifically is a scene subset & how is it used? How is it functionally different than just a scene save?
Thanx.
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When loaded, it will add to whatever else is in your scene, rather than completely replacing the old scene with a new one.
Yep, think instead of saving a whole room, a subset saves just the sofa so that it can be loaded into a different scene without overwriting cameras, lights, etc.
I wondered this too. If you save a load (or whatever) as a Scene, then---in order to add it to an existing scene---you must Merge it. IF you forget to Merge and just double click on it, the Scene will delete what you have loaded and load itself. However, a Scene Subset DOES NOT need to be Merged. It can be loaded, and it will add itself to what you already have loaded.
It is also worth rembering that a 'Scene Subset' can have anything a scene can have. So, if you set up a character with clothes, pose, hair etc, along with cameras, props and so on, that whole kaboodle can be saved as a subset ready to drop in your next scene.
Find it useful for saving my characters in their clothes & hair as a complete setup to drop in.
That's what I use it for a lot. Really helpful once you have tweaked something or managed to find some suitable clothing in the labyrinths of the file system.
Excellent Folks. Thought that might be its purpose. I suspect I'll be using that a lot more now.
A subset is whatever you want it to contains - related to items in the scene tab.
You could save everything in the scene as a subset, and the difference between that and saving the scene is that render settings wouldn't be saved.
I use Subsets all the time. Whenever I mix a new character using morphs and character mixes, I save as a Scene Subset in a dedicated folder. I also save skin materials (Material Preset) for that character and render settings (Render Settings Preset) in that folder. That way I can vary the presets depending on the scene I want.
Also, when you Save as a Scene Subset, there is a dialog that pops up, allowing you to select just the items you want in the subset. You don't have to save everything as you would when saving a scene, and the filename you're working with remains the same.
Actually, it's more forcing you to select what you want saved. Without it, i'm sure folks wouldn't select anything - seeing as if you don't select any, there is a popup.
I use them a lot to save characters and clothes when I reuse them in stories. Subsets can save you a lot of time.
That's what merging is — the default behaviour for loading a scene subset is to merge into your existing scene, for loading a full scene it's to replace your existing scene. Both loads can be done the other way round by right-clicking then select from the popup menu instead of double-clicking on the content icon.
Also, note that a full scene can include Environment and Render settings, which I don't think can be included in a scene subset.
Where this started was when I picked up the Harwood House when they dangled a 60%+ discount in front of me. Anyway, I noticed a Set label amongst the Props catagory that I'd not seen before. I pretty much alwyas export my Daz assets out to Lightwave and having this function greatly helps on the organizational side of things.
I plan to revisit the Collective3d Long Island Mansion as it seriously needs it. It sort of is, but I need a different arrangement.
The Set label means it was saved as a Scene Subset. It's used frequently by PAs in their products to save multiple items together for easy loading by the customer.
My workflow is to import an .obj file, add any morphs it may have, then save it as an asset. Once that's done, I have a data folder for that item, and a .duf file in content. Later on, when I set up the materials and add textures, I resave it as a Scene Subset. There's no need for me to resave as an asset. All I would be doing is writing over the same information already in the data folder, when all I need to do is overwrite the .duf in content with the new materials. I do this with all props - including single items. With multiple props (es. a jar + lid), I use Subset again, but this time with one prop parented to the other. Or multiple props in a Group - same thing.
For the average user, the main advantage of Subset over Scene is the option to choose what items to save, and the ability to load with a double-click, rather than use Merge.
Scene subset gives you the option to save anything from a single prop, or a dressed character figure, or a collection of cameras and /or lights, or an entire scene. Very versatile and useful. And when it loads it merges with whatever you currently have in the scene. It does not change your render setting, or the hdri environment lighting.
Its good for breaking up larger scenes into smaller component parts.
Can you refresh a scene subset in your scene with a more recent version from the content library? I have a scene subset in a scene with a minor error in need of rectifying. I've fixed the issue on the scene subset, but rather than manually replacing each instance of this subset in the scene, I was hoping to just be able to refresh the scene subsets within the scene with the more up to date version of the scene subset from the Content Library. Is there a way to do this? As I'm having trouble finding the function to facilitate this.
Once you merge a scene subset, you add whatever assets the subset contains to your current scene. There is no further connection between those assets and the scene subset file.
If you're only replacing one item, save this item as a separate scene sub-set and import it into the scene. If it's a texture you're fixing you can save the new shader/material to your library and just apply it to the item, or overwrite the original texture map in which case to will repace the old one.
If you need to actually replace an item (prop or person) to the same position/size as the old one then here's a tip. Before you delete the old item save its Pose Preset to your library, add the new one and then apply the pose preset. It should then go to the same position, rotation, etc. as the old one.
Thanks guys, I've kinda gone a bit of a eay towards the second option. Recording the co-ordinates of the scene subset instance to be replaced, and then just keying in those details to the updated version to whack it in place.
Thanks for the advice.