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I HATE Metadata!!!!! (But less than I did yesterday.)

KaribouKaribou Posts: 1,325
edited June 2019 in The Commons

<rant>

I am not an idiot.  I am not unfamiliar with DAZ Studio.  Yet, every time I attempt to add metadata (for the purpose of adding non-DAZ content to the Smart Content tab), I fail.  YES, I have followed the tutorial found here: http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/creating_content/packaging/tutorials/adding_metadata/start. ; YES, I have tried other tutorials.  NO, none of the above have worked as intended. 

I can get content to appear in the Smart Content tab, but no matter WHAT I do, I cannot get it to appear when "Filter by Context" is selected.  I've been at this for hours. THE WHOLE POINT OF SMART CONTENT IS FOR IT TO BE SMART!!!  I want outfits for G8F to appear when I have G8F selected and the Smart Content "wardrobe" item selected.  Otherwise, WHAT'S THE POINT?!!

Can someone PLEASE make a GUI/script/anything that allows this process to be something other than the insane, multi-stepped, ridiculous mess that it is???  I'm ready to throw my very expensive computer out a window right now.  I honestly just want product folders (containing clothing and their corresponding textures) to appear in the Wardrobe tab when I have the correct figure selected and "Default/Wardrobe" selected in Smart Content.  I feel this should NOT require fifty steps and a PhD in computer science to accomplish.  I don't need every hat/glove/weapon/texture to appear in the correct place. I just want the STUPID PRODUCT TO APPEAR IN SMART CONTENT FOR THE CORRECT FIGURE!!!

</rant>

Post edited by Karibou on

Comments

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,855

    That is one of the reasons why I don;t use smart content. It's DAZ's way of saying not to shop at other stores, LOL

  • Lothar WeberLothar Weber Posts: 1,611
    edited June 2019

    Try to set compatibily in the metadata. That works fine. 

    Post edited by Lothar Weber on
  • KaribouKaribou Posts: 1,325
    Lothar Weber said:

    Try to set compatibily in the metadata. That works fine. 

    Not so much. The correct compatable base shows up in the metadata, but the content does not appear when "Filter by Context" is selected.

  • KaribouKaribou Posts: 1,325

    I shut down and restarted the CMS for like the fifteenth time, and somehow that fixed it. For the record... metadata is still a ROYAL pain!

  • KaribouKaribou Posts: 1,325

    Nope. I take that back.  Still not working.  GAAAAHHHH!!!

  • nicsttnicstt Posts: 11,715

    Give the DIM a try and ignore anything to do with Smart Content. Just to be up-front about it, I'm biased: I loathe it.

    Try messing with custom libraries.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 110,867

    The items need to be categorised and compatible.

  • KaribouKaribou Posts: 1,325
    edited June 2019

    They are categorized and compatible.  I was finally able to get it working only by manually going into the Runtime/Support folder, finding the generated dsx support file, adding the "compatabilities" xml lines manually, and then running the acccomanying dsa script to import the new metadata. This fixes it.  I have NO idea why I cannot get the compatabilities to appear in the creation process.  The compatabilitybase info DOES appear when I follow the tutorial steps.  My blood pressure has returned to normal. now that I have a workaround, but it is a royal pain in the rump.

    I started by adding metadata for a freebie that I'd downloaded.  After going through the tutorial, my generated xml looked like this:

    &lt;Asset VALUE="People/Genesis 8 Female/Clothing/Alibama/Mercenary Outfit RBP1010/MO Shoes.duf"&gt;     &lt;ContentType VALUE="Follower/Wardrobe/Shoes"/&gt;     &lt;Audience VALUE="Teens"/&gt;     &lt;Categories&gt;      &lt;Category VALUE="/Default/Wardrobe"/&gt;     &lt;/Categories&gt;     &lt;CompatibilityBase VALUE="/MercenaryOutfit/MO Shoes"/&gt;     &lt;Userwords&gt;      &lt;Userword VALUE=""/&gt;     &lt;/Userwords&gt;    &lt;/Asset&gt;

    After comparing this to some product metadata that actually worked, I used Notepad++ and added a few lines pertaining to compatability:

    &lt;Asset VALUE="People/Genesis 8 Female/Clothing/Alibama/Mercenary Outfit RBP1010/MO Shoes.duf"&gt;     &lt;ContentType VALUE="Follower/Wardrobe/Shoes"/&gt;     &lt;Audience VALUE="Teens"/&gt;     &lt;Categories&gt;      &lt;Category VALUE="/Default/Wardrobe"/&gt;     &lt;/Categories&gt;     &lt;Compatibilities&gt;      &lt;Compatibility VALUE="/Genesis 8/Female"/&gt;     &lt;/Compatibilities&gt;     &lt;CompatibilityBase VALUE="/MercenaryOutfit/MO Shoes"/&gt;     &lt;Userwords&gt;      &lt;Userword VALUE=""/&gt;     &lt;/Userwords&gt;    &lt;/Asset&gt;

    Voila, the asset now appears when "Filtered by Context."  I swear I followed the tutorials EXACTLY as they were written, but clearly I'm missing a step somewhere if I have to go in and add extra information to make it work.

    Is there any place where the structure of metadata is explained?  I honestly think I could do this entire process faster by manually creating the xml from scratch with a script, but I don't want to miss anything important.

    Post edited by Karibou on
  • HoMartHoMart Posts: 489

    To "install" 3rd party content or freebees via DIM I use this nice Tool https://www.daz3d.com/content-package-assist

    It helps me to "install" - The "installed" packages are visible in smart content (with image, if I add one in the tool)

    You still have to go through the steps: "categorize" and "Link Assets to Compatibile Bases"

    But its simple, just right click on the Icon of the product shown in smart content and select edit metadata.

    The big + for me is - it works.

     

  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,710
    edited July 2019

    Karibou, so I am guessing here but is this the set of steps you took to assign G8F to the shoes?

    1. Created the product and filld out the information on the Product tab. Hit the accept button.

    2. Categorized you new product and created the new base compatibilities for the new product. Hit the accept button.

    3. Tried the filter no joy.

    4. Opened up the product and looked at the compatabilities for the shoe. Saw G8F was no longer assigned to the shoes.

    5. Maybe repeated steps 2, 3 and 4, several times.

    My take on your situation is that your Studio database was out of sorts. I have experienced that sometimes I will make a change (in my case it was changing where I wanted something to be located in the Content Library) to the .dsx file, save it, go and look to see if it had taken and find that it did not. Then I open up the product meta data file through Studio and nope nothing changed. Then after doing this several times I remembered oh yea I am dealing with two data sources and maybe the saved .dsx file was ok. When I checked, sure enough the saved .dsx file had the information but the meta data form was reflecting what was in the Studio database. To fix my issue I had to  Re-Import Metadata for the product and things were wonderful. After learning that trick I don't ever click on the accept button in the meta data form unless I am sure I want the data to be presented that way.  And for changes to categories and now it looks like compatibilities I may have to re-import to make the two data sources become synced. And yes Richard the box is checked to sync them both.

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    Post edited by DollyGirl on
  • DollyGirlDollyGirl Posts: 2,710
    edited July 2019

    You might find this helpfull. It is a work in progress so if there is something I need to change please tell me

    Diagram-small.jpg
    800 x 618 - 90K
    Post edited by DollyGirl on
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