So Disorganized!
3Diva
Posts: 11,974
How do you guys organize your files? I seriously need help. I've only been using Daz Studio for about 2 months but have found a TON of freebies in that time. However, the vast majority of them are Poser files and they really are ALL OVER THE PLACE. Like when I open "Poser Formats" it literally opens up 100+ files and half those have files under them as well. The VAST majorty of what I have doesn't show up under "smart content". There is a lot of great content, but I have trouble finding anything. Clothes are mixed with props, are mixed with lights, are mixed with characters, are mixed with textures, are mixed with morphs, are mixed with poses, are mixed with hair, etc etc.
I know that's kind of my fault for going "freebie crazy" and collecting a ton of freebies (but as someone with a very limited budget I find that freebies are mainly what I'm going to be using, as I can't really afford to buy much at all through the Daz Store).
This is just part of it. And under those files are more files. And under those some of them have more... Yeah. How can one organize this mess? What tips can you all give me on helping me get these files where I can find stuff? What kind of filing sytem works for you guys? Are there any tutorials on how to organize files/content in Daz Studio? ANY help you guys can give me would be much appreciated.
~Sincerely,
Drawning in the Chaos and Can't Find Anything
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Comments
I would creating runtimes for each specific charaters and only use them when you are doing a project that involves that figure. I also would set up a data base with something like LiberOffice which is open source and has something called Base which is a database. I would make a data base with what the item is who it works on and where it is in a runtime and have a picture. This way you can plan your wardrobe around what you want to do with that figure. Otherwise you can buy a 3D database but those cost money. There is one for sale at this site and another at renderosity. Both are OK but you have to work with them to get them sorted properly. Otherwise you can use the built in database and create Catagories and you can even make things into Smart Content. Do a search on Smart Content Creation and you will see what I mean.
It looks like you created separate Runtimes for all those different products -- you can just install them all to one or a handful of locations. I have separate content folders for a couple of places (Renderosity, etc.), one for Freebies, etc., but all the freebies get merged into one Runtime.
(I also create categories for each product as I install it so that they're organized in a way that makes sense for me, for example I have a top-level category for Victoria 4, under which I have Clothing, Poses, Expressions, etc.)
Oh, the pain. THE PAIN!!!
No matter how thorough I organize, it never seems to be enough.
Ok, thanks for the feedback, guys! It sounds like I have a lot of work ahead of me to get all this organized, no matter what path I chose. I don't know how to create a runtime or do the smart content creation, but I'll be looking it up. Hopefully I can come up with a solution that isn't going to take a huge number of hours to get everything situated. I really wish there where a search function that's like you type "Victoria 4" and all items compatable with V4 show up. That kind of search function would be really great. Or even a "clothes" search and all clothes items show up, It would be a huge help. I've tried using the build in search function but I can't seam to get it to work properly half the time.
Ah well. Time to tie my hair back and get to work, looks like organizing all this is going to be quite a task.
The thing with downloading freebies to your runtime is that you open the folders until there is a folder name you don't have a paralel for in your "My DAZ Library" and its subfolders, and only that one you copy to your runtime folder in My DAZ Library. That means that you might have to copy one folder to your geometries, one to textures, one to characters for each freebie (depending on what the freebie is and what comes with it). If you copy the whole thing once its unzipped there are always subfolder with runtime and library etc in it so you copy the complete structure you already have.
Did that make sense to you?
Oh wow, ok, I didn't know that. Thank you. I was told to just "drop files into your My Library" folder.
Poser formats were different, and not as nice as the daz formats regarding how content needed to be separated. Fortunately Daz studio doesn't require you to store stuff how it needed to be packaged to work in poser.
I still keep all my poser stuff in the proper Runtime folder though, cause If it is in Daz format I know what to expect when I use it. WHen its in poser format there are different considerations and sorting so I still keep it separate.
Runtime has dual meanings. It can be used in a general way to mean a library folder. There is also the specific meaning in which it refers to the "Runtime" folder that is a hold over from Poser and will be a sub-folder of a library folder.
I started using this new product
http://www.daz3d.com/content-package-assist
and it's been great :)
While it doesn't add metadata to the products for smart content (I rarely use that anyway), it does add your products from other sites to Product library -> products -> first letter of the package name
with all textures, props, etc being listed for that "product" just like the ones from Daz :)
For example you go to sharecg and download a free swimming pool prop. Package it all up with the CPA, name it "Swimming Pool" and let DIM install it. Then you go into your Product library -> products -> then S for Swimming and there it's listed. You click on Swimming Pool and you see your ladder prop, diving board prop, pool prop, etc.
Haven't been using DAZ much lately, but when I was, I would use Windows and drag & drop into DAZ. This had several advantages:
1. I could have multiple directories open & ready simultaneously (I always found it incredibly annoying to navigate in the *SAME* window to load a character, then another to load mats, then another to load clothes, then another to load a pose, etc.)
2. It allowed me to use the standard and powerful filtering/sorting capabilities of Windows (wildcards, sort by date, etc.)
3. I have always saved tons of separate files for the individual props, poses, mats, that I used in a given scene (I remember what scene I used something in, not who the author was, what figure it was for, how it has been tagged/categorized by me or anybody else, etc.)
- Greg
What I've been doing is adding tags to every product I come across, so that I can more easily search for items.
All the sorting and such seems elaborate and horrible and prone to unraveling. Tags seem to work way easier.
Sorting doesn't have to be elaborate and doesnt' unravel anything. Tags, or anything Daz specific has blown up on me many times. For example search hasn't worked for me in at least a year but I do fine without it. I can totally understand people not wanting to sort content though! But I've never lost my sorting work, while anything "smart" is prone to go away when CMS breaks.
If you are newer to DS (as the OP is) then using the newer systems for managing content is probably a good place to start. Just learn to back up the database and all that good stuff.
If you want to sort all that out, I have an older "guide" that may assist you
Dealing with Zipped Poser content
https://mega.nz/#!y5pkBaDR!ciz6K55YKhhfLT5rPH5yPhuNBWf-WAmxOvz7KorqT4w
It will take time to organize them but it can be done.
I've also got a tutorial on how to install a zip folder.
https://www.wilmapsdigitalcreations.co.uk/view_product.php?id=127
What I've been doing all along with my Poser files from other stores or freebies is organize them like !V4 clothes with sub folders of fantasy, sci-fi, regular, etc... It takes a while and I'm behind but useful. If you put ! at the beginning it will put that category on the top. Same with props, sub folders of - sci-fi, fantasy, weapons, vehicles, furniture, sets, nature, etc... It takes a while, but makes everything easy to find. I try to download the original products or freebies into labeled sub folders too to make it easier to find those original zips. Also re-label all freebies so you know what they are as you download them so they clearly say "couch modern" or something you will understand later instead of their original names.
That has a particular danger, especially for freebies, that the content creator might not actually know how to create the proper folder hierarchy in the .zip file. It's less of a problem than it used to be in the early days, but there is still a common thing with extra folder levels being added at the top.
What you have looks like you placed the unpacked zip into the right place, but for every item you installed, you have a folder named for the zip file. You should have placed the contents of the zip into that location, that would get rid of the extra folder level.
Thanks for the help and advice everyone! It's much apprecaited! :D
I've started organizing. So far I've spent about 4 hours organizing the files and I still have work to do, but I've made a big dent! Now I can find things:
It's a lot of work but totally worth it so that I don't have to dig around to find what I'm looking for - or worse, having items and characters that are great that I'm not using just because I forgot that I have them and they aren't where I can see them. lol This is much better. I still have work to do but it's getting there and I'm finding it much better for the work flow, having eveything at my finger tips and neatly categorized.
Thanks again for all your help!
Are "Elite Actors" your favorite characters? :D
--MW
Yes. :) My very favorites!
I use categories to keep track of stuff in Daz Studio, I'm guessing that is what you are doing although you don't show where your "Favourites" folder is located. My first rule is that any texures for clothes have caregory folders inside the folder for the clothes they fit. This isn't so much of a problem for Daz Studio content since it is mostly organised like that in the library but I find it essential for most Poser content to be able to find anything. And since I've been buying stuff since pre-Studio days I've created categories like Casual, Office Wear, Fantasy Outfits etc in the clothes category for each figure. It takes time to get started but once you do your existing stuff it's easy to just add new stuff as you get it. And you can always move your categories around if you decide to re-organise.
One little tip if you are using categories, it's a good idea to go into Content DB Maintenance and export your user data every so often. This creates backup files of your categories and if things go wrong you can re-import them.