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DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
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© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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All Poser type figures/props have to remain in the Runtime folder structure in order to work.
All D/S type figure/props have to be under My Library but NOT in the Runtime folders.
There are ways to arrange together SOME of the Poser files. With the program CLOSED, open the Runtime folder and stay within the main folders. Characters MUST remain under Characters for example. One can slide for example, all the animal characters into a collecting folder called Animals [or whateve you want to call it]. Do NOT rearrange morph files, anything in the textures folder, etc. Same goes for the Props. So for example, all the dog toys could be gathered together in a "Toys" folder. All this rearranging is NOT done IF one is using Smart Content, etc. All the metadata would also have to be changed - and changed again after each update.
For D/S, program running, using the Content Library Panel, there is a way to copy/paste [Right-click option] from the loading zone] the loading icons into one main collection folder(s). No two loading icons can have the same name in the same folder. So one might have a Collection folder PLUS sub-folders.
It doesn't have to be the My Library folder, it has to be a Daz Studio format content directory.
DS and recent versions of Poser allow the user-facing files, such as CR2, to be in a different library from their type (e.g. a CR2 of a car could be placed inthe props library, with its textures in sub-folders).
How important is it to keep the support and morphs and shaders folders directly under the runtime folder? Can I move them and cause relatively little harm?
Don't touch the Runtime/morphs folder, it contains technical files used by some morphs for figures in Poser format and you'll break them if you move it.
The support directory is for DAZ Studio Smart Content. When you install new DAZ Studio content it will put the new smart content information there. So you would have to move them to where ever you moved the current support files each time. This default location is hard wired in Studio. Studio and DIM will look for and save to this location.
As for shaders not sure why you have a folder under Runtime for shaders. That is a Studio term, not a Poser term and in my experience that directory was placed in a Studio directory. You will have to look inside the directory and see what extensions are being used to determine where it can go or if it should be moved at all.
Attached is a screen shot of my category structure for where I would put my crabs. I only have one loaded at this time and it is the model from Poser 2014. As you can see from the image I also have three jellyfish in this category. Two of them are just object files. I have mapped the directories where the obj and mtl files are located under Other Import Formats. Studio scans those directories and produces a thumb inside the content library for them. I create a thumb image. Now I just click on the thumb and Studio brings up the import form, I pick the format the obj was created in, Poser, Hexagon, Carrara or one of the other formats listed. Click okay and Studio brings it in. I also use Smart Content. I do this cause I like to see pictures of all of a type of content i am interested in, like hats or hair. But this entails a lot more work.
So if you go the category route there are some things you need to know and this is more to help protect all that work you did to categorize your stuff. That is giving yourself a back up.
1) Studio can save out all of your created categories in what is called a User Data file. This will perserve your category structures for everything that is not identifed as a DAZ 3D product. So the stuff you bought that has a support directory in the install files, where the support files start with DAZ_3D_ will not be captured when you save out the User Data file information. An example: I have Aldebaran X-49 Outfit for Genesis 8 Female(s). It is a DAZ 3D product. It is categorized under Default in 4 subcategories, Accessories, Materials, Poses, and Wardrobe. I have also categorized it under my category, !Characters\Female\DAZ\Genesis\G8F\Clothing\BodySuits\Paid. My category path will not be listed under the User Data, nor will it be listed in the support data for the product.
2)DAZ encourages their users to not mess with support data. They do this because there is currently no way for them to know what you have done. Wether you make changes in the Default category or add the product to your category, if you loose the CMS and have to rebuild your content library, you will not have perserved your chosen organized categories for any of the DAZ 3D content that has support data. There is a way to protect your content library but it means going contrary to the DAZ recommendations.
God, they make it hard to keep stuff neat and organized in any kind of 'findable' way ...
OK ... Ensuring I haven't screwed up some older stuff, I went back to my product library and re-downloaded crazy-old stuff like the Multiplane Cyclorama, which can be quite useful for quick storyboard scenes or scenes that will be filtered in ps later, and I see in the poser zip folder, the normal runtime folders: geometry, libraries, textures. In the Daz zip folder, there are the usual: data, environments & runtime folder, which if I'm understanding what you are saying, is a poser-only designation. And in that runtime folder is support & textures. So is this just an old Daz work-around? And do I really need to also install the 'legacy files, too?
In the Hunter's Moon pz zip file, under runtime, there are two character folders, one named environment with several cr2 files & one folder named DAZ environment with one cr2 file. Does anyone know why they are not together when both are in the runtime/libraries/character spot?
To answer your second question first. The legacy zip file for this product is to allow DAZ Studio 3.x to use the product (files which end in .daz). So if you are on DAZ Studio 4.x no you do not have to install these files. Files with .daz on the end of them were developed for DAZ Studio 1, 2 and 3 and were native to only DAZ Studio. I think Studio 4 can still read them but as we get further away from Studio 3 it might be a hit or miss kind of thing.
To answer your first question. Not sure if the structure of the Legacy zip was a work around. Back in the day, DAZ was the small time company, independent from influence from Poser. What you are seeing is their organization of how they wanted data to be stored so that the earlier Studio versions could find the native data. As more users came into the world of 3D they wanted a broader access to content so DAZ accommodated this wish and designed Studio to be allowed to read Poser files. As the years have gone by Studio and Poser have diverged and the result has been a messy breakup.
A note, do not assume that a zip file with legacy in the name is just for an older version of Studio. Some of them are for allowing Poser to use the older genesises using DYSON (file extension .dsf) and some are for Studio to be able to not have to use Poser files which it can't read very well (file extensions .dsa and .dsb).
Thanks. I also saw in another thread about legacy files that it may be wise to go ahead and install those, too, especially if you like grabbing secondary and tertiary product add-on or freebies that may reference those old files. Still determined to organize all of this, though, lol. It's so much chaos I end up forgetting what all I have. Can't use it if I can't find it.