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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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Yeah, the different file types can be quite frustrating as I found out myself.
Here is what I know:
DSON: for Poser and DAZ
Legacy: DAZ
Metadata: Daz, I don't use Poser so I can't tell if Poser needs to have it
Trx: DAZ, dunno if Poser uses it
Always install the metadata or the trx file.
If you use DAZ4.5 just install the DSON files
Older DAZ version need the legacy files.
Sorry, I can't help with the unimesh question as I have never encountered it.
If you are using DAZ 4.5 don't install the legacy files otherwise you fill your library with erroneous content that doesn't load or duplicates of the same file. And if you uninstall the legacy files then it is best to reinstall the non legacy version of the files otherwise you risk missing textures.
Thanks Estroyer, i understood perfectly ...a mentor in the making!
Thanks also Dangerous Will glad i decided to await replies BEFORE i do any damage.
Another question
I have been lucky in the fact that alot of my downloads have ended up in smart content......though only just started to browse this, IF the content is in Smart Content will i be able to do everything to an item/object/subject from smart content or will i have to keep going into content libray as well?
In what order do you do things? load item, pose, hair, wardrobe, surfaces, background etc...... what is the best way to start of......I am looking at tutorials as well but alot assume i know basics.
I keep reading "looking through the camera" is the view i have showing?????? I turn the cube (which i have now found out says camera!?!) so if i keep turning the cube is this the view through the camera???? SORRY if this sounds pathetic but i did try and put you in the picture about my intelligence with DAZ at the beginning. Thanks again but there will be more!!! she says smiling
Okay i have another Question.....when i have downloaded the zip files i have copy and merged the runtime ( i get this!) but on my resent downloads in the zip files were other folders ...Data, Environments, props etc.......DO i copy and merge these into the relevant folders also?
And another......for months i have read about "Spot Rendering" and only just found out where it is!!!! the camera appeared around the object i did a spot render and have absolutely no idea whether this gets saved or the purpose of it as against normal rendering???
Again i ask for the simplest answers (hey other newbies may be too afraid to ask these questions ....no i reckon they would know the answers! it´s just me) so please someone take pity ...thanks in advance
Items will only show in the Smart Content pane if they have Metadata associated with them. In general, that means the newer store items, a lot of the older items have not been updated yet. Assuming that your itmes have Metadata, then you could just use the Smart Content pane to load your items into the scene.
The problem arises when there is no Metadata associated with the item (older items), when you would need to use the Content Library pane, which will show EVERYTHING that you have installed, regardless if it has Metadata or not. So, it can be very useful.
I would load each character, clothing and hair as well, then move the character to where I want it in the scene, then pose it. Once you have all the scene items loaded and placed, you can load the lighting. Spot render allows you to render a small portion of the scene (much quicker!) to see how the lighting works.
Everything that is contained inside the zip file, should be dropped into the My Library folder. If the main folder in the zip is called 'Content', go into it, and then drop everything you find in there into the My Library folder where it will merge.
Thanks JimmyC.....straight answers that i get!!! Sorry if it´s painful for any of you not using technical terms lol! I am still loading all my purchases......so no doubt i will have more questions as time goes on as i keep having a play to see what does what and loving it! Until the next time, a grateful newbie signing out.
Personally: if an item doesn't have meta data I install it in a separate folder. That way new stuff is in the smart content, and the old stuff is in the content library. Saves me from having to dig through all the files that are already in my smart content when searching the content library.
Another thing to watch out for in the content library is folders with the name "runtime". For some reason the content library doesn't show these folders. I don't know if other people have the same problem.
The 'runtime' folder does not appear in DAZ Studio Formats in the Content Library, it is used to store the Poser content (CR2, PZ2 and so on), and can be accessed by going to the Poser Formats area in the Content Library. The Poser Fomrats should also have a folder called My Library, which will contain all the normal Poser sub-folders, Figures, Props, Pose etc etc.
That is the reason that ALL content is installed to the My Library folder, either DS or Poser content, that way, it all gets installed to the correct folders. The path that you give to the installer should always end with 'My Library' for DS OR Poser content.
The 'runtime' folder does not appear in DAZ Studio Formats in the Content Library, it is used to store the Poser content (CR2, PZ2 and so on), and can be accessed by going to the Poser Formats area in the Content Library. The Poser Fomrats should also have a folder called My Library, which will contain all the normal Poser sub-folders, Figures, Props, Pose etc etc.
That is the reason that ALL content is installed to the My Library folder, either DS or Poser content, that way, it all gets installed to the correct folders. The path that you give to the installer should always end with 'My Library' for DS OR Poser content.
Thanks Jimmy. That has made my life a lot easier especially since I copied my files across to my new computer.
Hi Jaderail and others. This is carry over from a question I posed in our PM. I am trying to figure out how to apply the Gore-Dom shaders to elements in my scene.
I noticed that when I go to the Surface (color) tab that Shaders is not present at all on any of my elements being used in my current project. Even when I open a new project and try to use a the base genesis or Victoria 5/Michael 5 models the Shaders option does not show up. The only options I have are Materials and Presets.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
CLICK To SEE at FULL SIZE!
You Should Always have your Figure Loaded and the Texture you wish to change LOADed on your Figure or ITEM (Clothing or set) before you ADD a new SHADER to the MAT Zone you Apply the Shader to.
I hope this was helpful.
Hi Jaderail,
Thank you for providing this info. It turns out that I was making a serious rookie mistake. When selecting any of the figures or their respective parts from the viewport (or even from the scene list) I was not using the proper selection tool. IE - the Surface Selction Tool!
Doh!
Everything is working great now! ;)
Glad you are working now. Happy Renders.
Very helpful thank you!
I am still figuring out what all those sliders do as well ><<br /> To be honest, when I use a bump displacement and slide it to whatever side, I see no change in my renders...
Same goes for all those sliders I see people talking about and it makes me insecure as I know they are vital.
When using the Bump and Displacement Strength sliders, it is often important to move the Negative Bump and the Positive Bump values as well. If no bump shows at all, I generally move the Negative one to the left to increase the minus value, and move the Positive one to the right, then try the bump at 100%.
Depending on the image that you are using as a bump map, you may have to move the Neg/Pos silders quite a bit before you begin to see any changes, the default values are set to about 0.10 usually, and adjusting them will make big changes, and you should be able to continue from there. Have a go at it, and see if you can get it to work, it's worth experimenting with.
Ah, I think therein lies my problem!
I am too sparse with them.
I figured because it's shows digits behind the comma, it was about finetuning.
Going to try this tonight, I was pretty bummed but feeling more hopeful now!
Wanted to say thanks for this thread! As a rank newcomer, I came to ask a question, and found the answer already here in this thread! (what do the different extension abbreviations mean?)
So, here is another question for the panel o' experts....
I wanted to change a skin tone. So, I went thru the tut for PhotoShop 3d Bridge, modified the skin textures I wanted, and saved them back as a different name to DS. How do I get a new .DSA or .DSB file generated for the new texture variant, so I can apply them? Also, what is the difference between .DSA and .DSB?
You don't need to create a DSA to load the textures, just go to the Surfaces pane, and load them from there. Do you only have a Diffuse texture? If so, use the drop down at the end of the Duffuse slider, and Browse to the location and load it that way.
You could also load the texture onto the model, and Save As > Material Preset.
DSA = Palin text DS Script file
DSB = Binary version
DSE = Encrypted version
DUF= the latest DAZ User Format for DS 4.5 and above
Thanks! I think "material preset" is what I am looking for. Otherwise, I have to load textures separately for torso, face, and limbs each time. Will material preset be a .DUF file (I am using 4.5), and where will it save to?
You can save the material preset into any of your daz folders inside the my library folder. Which ever folder you have open in your viewport for content will be the folder the icon is saved in. I normally save them in the same folder as the default textures for the character.
Yeah can just go to the folder, you want it saving to, in your Content Library Pane (Not Smart Content and click on the plus sign as shown in the image below.
Thanks! This worked well, but I have a follow up question. The only things I changed were the textures for the skin. When I saved the material preset, it had a bunch of check boxes to include things like gums, iris, eyelashes, etc. Do these need to be included in the preset? I am assuming if not, it will keep the default textures for those areas? Or, if I start with a plain grey character, will I need to apply those first?
If you want a FULL texture to just use with one click you should save the full set. Other wise you will need to load a full texture first to load the parts not saved with yours.
I just allow myself a one-time off-topic here and wish a merry Christmas and happy new year to both all teachers and fellow students.
I'll use this opportunity to say that I long wanted to be schooled in this post, but that other students kept on asking all the questions that I had so I never found the opportunity to ask my own questions, plus I'm quite shy about them, I don't know if they're ridiculous, too advanced for some or right on the topic for others !
So thank you the teachers for your time and patience, and thank you the students for asking the questions I had since that long !
Don't be shy ask away we will decide if there are ridiculous or too advanced LOL No seriously just ask away. If we can help we will.
As Szark says ask away. If we can help we will, if we can not help we will try to find somebody that can. No question is a bad question.
Well, let's try to ask the question as clearly as possible then:
When I'm finished putting everything on my scene, I want to start making things moves... I do so with animate2 for the characters....
But things like hairs, clothing, and worse: the camera, don't appears in Animate2's dropdown.
So I go to the timeline, and move things at each keyframe. Yet, when I play the thing, there is no movement, everything stays like I last moved it even though the character's animation is properly displayed.
So how do I make a camera move? (It wasn't a problem in DAZ 3 but ever since DAZ 4 I can't get it to work)
I have DAZ 4.5 pro.
Animation...that is me done sorry don't do moving pictures. LOL
I know Jaderial has been messing with animations recently perhaps he could help out.