A tin can is not soup, and a zip file is not Daz Studio content
mavante
Posts: 734
It has been a source of wholly unnecessary and Mad-Hatter's-Tea-Party gibbering confusion that some people (who I think should know better) indescriminately refer to zip archives containing content files for Daz Studio as "content." This has been stretched to the reductio ad absurdum of products in the store even claiming to manage "content" (even with the word in their names) when the only thing they actually can work with is a zip file.
You cannot dress Victoria 8 with a zip file. You have to have actual content installed to dress her, even in a gorilla costume. Don't believe me? I'll wait. Go ahead and try. I'll just sit here and do my nails. Or, if you prefer, try to put a zip file where you want a castle in a scene. What? Don't want to try? I don't blame you, because you certainly would look goofy trying to USE a ZIP FILE as though it were CONTENT.
And just as a tin can can contain soup, sardines, chocolate syrup, or pears, a ZIP FILE can contain anything from a Photoshop plugin to War and Peace, and NEITHER of those is DAZ CONTENT!
This nomenclature anarchy isn't limited to that semantic madness in the Daz universe, though. For instance, there are promo pages right this minute in the store for products that are for use in Daz Studio, but have gee-whiz language of: "Put some [any hyperbolic word here] in your Runtime!" You probably think you read that wrong. No. That's what it says—some antiquated holdover from Poser, I guess. Of course, if you're new or uninformed enough to install that package inside the actual folder named " Runtime " inside your Daz Studio content folder (whatever you've named it), oh, are you ever going to be in for some surprises! (Not like Santa or the Easter Bunny bring.)
And just to keep you spinning like a draedle, some people (who I think should know better) also indiscriminately toss around the world "library," as in "content library," to refer to the main CONTENT FOLDER for DS (whatever you've named it)—never bothering to mention or clear up that inside the actual " Runtime " folder that is inside your Daz Studio content folder (whatever you've named it), there is another folder called—wait for it; did you guess? Well, yes, it's named " Libraries ". And if you aren't confused enough at that point, some PAs actually put their own folders inside some of the absolutely essential folders inside your Daz Studio content folder (whatever you've named it), and down in some level of their own folders they will put a folder called—wait for it; did you guess? Okay, you got me; yes, " Library ".
But the main lesson, I guess, is don't try to eat tin cans, don't try to brush your teeth with a toothpaste tube, and if you value the sanity of DS users, for the love of Jehozophat, stop referring to ZIP FILES as "content." PSA: They never have been, aren't now, and never will be.
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Comments
What's in a name?
II come from a time when you needed MSDos to start Windows.
Where some zips with Poser content came without any folder structure at all, and if you were very, very lucky, a read me telling you where to manually put the stuff. Current DAZ users are very spoiled indeed.
I think it is also useless to name stuff after their container.
Imagine a supermarket with items sorted by container.
Here are the tubes. A wide variety of mayonaise, tomato-sauce, toothpaste and ointments.
Containers are ALWAYS about the content (Unless you buy empty ones to store your own stuff, of course...)
If you buy a tin of peas, do you buy it for the tin or for the peas?
(And even Maya comes with its own, very unflexible folder structure. And forbid if you store your stuff in the wrong place.)
With 3D programs it's a rule. Know your folder structure or be lost. All part of the game.
Thats so so true about MAYA. I am fairly new to MAYA and I always think its a little user unfriendly regarding folders.
IF this statement is trying refer to Content Wizard (IF you are not, then please ignore), then you are wrong. The zip files are INPUTS, which the Content Wizard ingests to help it understand a product and puts them in the Content folder and its subfolders, and then works with the DS database to update their metadata to make them what it calls "Smart Content" that can be applied to your figures or whatever. So Content Wizard is a very valid name.
it's all a great lesson in learning to understand folder and file structure
first time I used DAZ studio in 2009 I stuffed my runtime structure up badly and in my ignorance put stuff where I shouldn't to "tidy it" having come from a couple previous softwares where folder structure didn't matter as much
also being very new to computers altogether
I learnt
the modern click and load everything is set up for approach just means less learning how to do stuff IMO
some people cannot even import an obj
Someone needs to brush up on metonymy. Or else read "Here Lies Miss Groby" by James Thurber.
So it ingests zip files and poops smart content?
Nope. It ingests zip files and builds Daz Muscles(TM)
Well...
can someone eggsplain this thread to me thanks
@mavante Don't delete the attachment, then no one but you can see the picture.
to me too
...but but...why?
is comparing oranges to lemons?
think annoyed by inconsistencies but there is no defined standards in the 3D industry
just ways of using content across platforms some better than other
and it is all content be it a text file for some operational function, a mesh or texture
I really don't understand the issue
DAZ studio came after they made content for Poser and it uses different formats and none of those are the same as Maya, Blender or other softwares use but it is all content be it compressed in a zip file or in an installer or whatever
From my personal experience, zip is just package that is comfortable to use when transferring content from vendor to client.
This reference made my day!