How do you not use smart content?
daveso
Posts: 6,437
in The Commons
I always use smart content and it seems way easier to find stuff. I'm constantly searching in Content Libray ... Do you always install stuff manually or is there a setting to trun off smart content?
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I always use the content library, it shows that it was installed just like the file path in the zip and I then know where it is or how to find it easily. I can't see any reason based on forum posts to ever use smart content.
+1
Always be wary of items with Smart or Inteligent in their name or description. I'm not referring to Daz but in general here!
how do i rid myself of the smart content?
Are there 2 different install paths or how does DIM install to both Smart Content and Content Library?
The whatever formats containers in the Content Library are showing file locations, all the others are database driven views - mostly using categories but the Products container in the Content Library just shows files by product and the Products tab of Smart Content shows products grouped by the categories of their files (and then groups files by category within the product container)
I originally came from Poser (years ago) where I had become used to using the library structure to load content. Also to organise content into my own folder structure, not where Poser/DAZ/PAs want me to put it. This breaks Smart Content straight away. You don't need to turn off Smart Content. You can take the tab off your screen through the UI if you want to. I install all my content through DIM and then rearrange it how I want it.
Beware....if you currently have a lot of content the file structure of the Content Library folder can be a little confusing to begin with if you haven't ventured there before. As most people use Smart Content, and it gets linked to wherever it was installed, the installation paths might not make a lot of sense. For example, you may have a folder with a clothing item in it. The addon textures might be in a completely different folder named after the Vendor, not always but enough to cause issues if you don't know where to look.
There's a search function for the Content Library to locate things.
At the beginning Smart Content wasn't that 'smart'. It's improved leaps and bounds but there are still threads/metadata content updates regularly that make me think it's definitely not perfect, but then no system is.
DIM installs items in a file hierarchy given by your configuration and the asset content. It is how content library works and the only real installation done by DIM.
Then DIM maintains a database that connects this path to some "smart" attributes to create the smart content wrt to metadata of the asset.
There is no need to get rid of smart content. It is always present and does not really occupy disk space. You can just ignore it.
This is what I do most of the time. I may eventually use smart content but it is extremely rare. I have much more purchased assets than I have installed assets and smart content is useless in that situation. I just maintain a personal DB with the asset description and I have no problem finding assets in the content library. And if the asset that I need is not installed, I install it and update my DB with its path in the content library.
i think most of my problems with finding stuff is that I have allowed DIM to install as it does, mostly everywhere. Yeah, I have poses in clothing, in shaders, shaders in props, on and on. Its terrible really. I would like a hair, its shaders, and anything related to the product, in a folder with that product, preferrably under hair ... but no, its in hair, shaders, props, figures, and wherever under all kinds of different names.
I manually install everything, having first checked and altered the folder stucture if needed, which it usually does to meet what I want. I never got on well with DIM and I don't trust 'smart' content because of it. If there were stricter rules on what content could be placed where (i.e. addon textures in with the main folder, ont a vanity folder) and decent QA to go along with that, then I might feel differently. As of right now, the only way to get it how I want is to do it myself and I can find anything fairly easily.
The Content Managment System, operating through the postgreSQL database, is controlled mainly through Daz Studio. DIM simply adds the metadata from the content it is installing.
I'm a big fan of the Smart Content tab myself, but I will admit it took some getting used to at first. Partly because not everything actually appears there and partly because it's context sensitive so I was wondering why 'Figure' options suddenly vanished after loading in one of Stomemason's epic structures
It does have its quirks though. For some reason universal materials don't show up even if you correctly label them and have a surface selected - only the ones directly associated with the selected object like skin, and as a long-term Daz user I think there's been a touch of corruption or oddness with some of the metadata as a ton ended up in the "Lost and Found" and needed recategorising. Still, for the things I use most often it's a godsend. I'm always adding to it as well, since 3rd party sites don't show up in Smart Content by default so I've taken to adding it in manually.
I just used it for the first time a few weeks ago. I need to find a lot of the same kind of poses. Other than that, I never used it. Partly because I'm used to having to look through vast libraries of stuff, and I have a LOT of items that come from other stores, and are not listed in Smart Content at all.
And now, it's broken. Doesn't work at all. Need to look through the tech support forums to find out what went bad.
(Whatever your view is... BACKUP OR PERISH.)
Initially... Smart Content had no value since it was incompatible with previous uses of content... so why use it? Back then, there were more websites selling more models, and we all learned to manage our content. :-) V4 and M4 were still going strong.
I see Smart Content as a separate and different daabase from the content. I see no point in using it or maintaining it. As a programmer... I know that it is yet another point of failure for any sort of content management,
Over the years, people have lost their content because it wasn't backed up or they borked it by modifying directories.
There are similar stories for people who've borked their content management. Imagine pouring years of work into sorting your content manager database, and poof... gone. deleted.. not backed up... or you accidentally trashed it.
I've had problems with corrupt products when they are downloaded. So, all my downloads are installed into a test library which I then test. I also modify the directories that the content is in so that I can find it when I copy over to my by actual library.
In any case... my library of products is massive, and I have no problems finding things and using them. If I need to search, then I use windows search, however, the biggest weakness in thinking you can 'search' is that you may not remember the actual wierd name the PA used in that product... So good luck with that.
I end up searching throough my purchase history here to find a lot of that information. Especially when I find products just dumped into the root of the Props folder and other less-thatn-useful errors like that.
Exactly, this is the reason I like to use Smart Content--Products, it can shows products by categories.
I normally searching file in the Smart Content--Files, then it is not easy to go to Smart Content--Products, I use a stupid idea, select the file in the Smart content--Files, right click- show assets in- Content Library-Products, then go to Content Library, right click that file--show assets in- Smart content-Products, done.
Sometimes I do that.
However some of my oldest materials are no longer available... but are actually quite usable and still quite unique like this bad boy which I also had 3D printed;
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/11346/start
Then there's everything from RuntimeDNA.. and other shops.. and vendors who've changed sites...
All that being said, I find myself wishing I had all the promo pictures, and the documentation from the store for some of the models. Especially for things like morph sets. Downloads are in the gigabytes now, why not toss in promo materials.
I for one am so glad they don't. I already delete readme and documentation folders for clogging up my runtimes, don't need anymore clutter. Maybe as an extra download, like texture templates which I never d/l.
I archive my original downloads, so if I need the readme and it came with one, I have it there.
Never liked and never used Smart Content.
I also do not use DIM, just to look for Updated products.
I install everything manually as I have customized my Library.
How often content folder are packed wrongly by PA's like folder Character instead of Characters, Texture instead of Textures.
So by installing Manually, I can avoid confusion.
I use Content Library to find most products. The main thing I find Smart Content useful for is to quickly pull up material options for hair or outfits when I'm making adjustments to a scene. Sometimes also for poses, but a lot of poses never seem to show in Smart Content, so I usually end up looking through Content Library for those anyway.
I've got over 10000+ individual items for Studio not including all the textures sets I've bought, made, or downloaded from the free sites.
I would never remember who made what shoes to fit what character or who made what building, etc.,etc.
So I love using the Smart feature.
Simple enough to drag and drop, as in literally drag it and drop it where you want it to appear in Smart Content pane, stuff from the Content Library into the Smart content database no matter what store it was bought from or downloaded from.
I envy anyone that can remember the locations of thousands of individual content pieces.That's savant level memory skills.
Doesn't require memorizing the locations, just organizing the user facing files logically.
This. Time consuming to set up if you've already installed a LOT of items but if you start early and organise properly finding things is very simple. The other benefit is say I want to create a Star Wars image. Try finding things related to Star Wars in your Smart Content. Me, I have a folder with anything related to Star Wars items, sub categorised - Figures, Droids, Weapons, Vehicles etc. Doesn't matter what store I bought them from or if they were free or bought, all in the one place. Just an example but you get the idea.