DAZ Studio with different configurations
Joe.Cotter
Posts: 3,362
Hi all,
I would like to set up DS with two different configurations. One with all of my addons installed for content creation/modification and one stripped so that I can run it lean with content that has been already modified and set up the way I want it without the added burden. For instance, say I create a custom character with morphs, export it to Blender, make any additional adjustments I want, then load it back as a new morph. The character has been finalized and I don't need all of the adjustment morphs to load other than ones that are specifically still being used, like bend correction morphs/jcm's. This, along with dynamic loading/unloading and saving different configurations for different workflows is something common in other 3D applications like Blender.
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Comments
The Turbo Loader products can probably help with you with characters: https://www.daz3d.com/catalogsearch/result/?mature=false&q=Turbo+loader
Non-figure products are less about load times and more about the browsing experience in Studio. I tend to create custom categories in Smart Content to help me with those - products can be in as many categories as you want.
You can also pretty much organise library folders that contain Studio facing duf however you like on your hard disk, although that will break the link between DIM installed products and your ability to easily uninstall or update them. Because of that, I tend to reserve that sort of organisation for manually installed files. Just be careful to keep away from the data and runtime folders - those are the files that are referenced by the duf files and cannot be moved. But the duf files themselves are little more than a list of the resources used, their position in a scene and their locations on disk. Studio will scan for them anywhere in your library folders.
You can also install different versions of Studio side-by-side. That can be handy for running versions that point to different content libraries - for example, I install Genesis X content into a different library than Genesis Y content. Grab the manual installer for each new version of Studio that's released and you should be able to install and use as many versions as you have downloaded. I think.
There may even be ways to install the same version many times, but I've not looked into that. Putting my programmer hat on, you could install into different virtual environments. I do wish it was supported out of the box, though.
You can have differnt Conten t Directory sets (Edit>Preferences>Content tab>Content Directory Manager) each with their own database, though DS 2025 will not show orphaned references so havinbg a separate database for each will be less important. Having different DIM set ups does require having a separate account (in DIM, they can point to the same store account) for each with their own Manifests folder for tracking installations.
The shaping data for morphs (the deltas) won't load if the morph has a zero value - though don't forget that baking a compound morph to a single shape will remove all links to joint adjustments and corrective shapes.
I have Tuboloader on my wishlist but there were cases where it wouldn't work, I'm not remembering the specifics right now.
Yes, ty... I'm familiar with this. I do have categories set up, and I pretty much don't move any DAZ base content specifically to not break any relationships with DIM or any DAZ installation process. Any assets I modify I save to a separate library.
So there isn't any way to load different configurations it looks like. That is unfortunate, it is pretty common to be able to do that nowadays and has many advantages in optimizing different environments for different tasks.
I'm not sure what you are saying with the orphaned references. I'm not trying to have separate DIM accounts, what I would like is to have a configuration with all of the morph adjustments to create characters, modify objects, etc... then save out those characters/objects once they are defined, as a single character, then have a different, streamlined configuration for working with the stablized assets that I'm not planning on modifying, or if I do, I would round trip them through the other environment again. It's basically about having a more streamlined working environment rather than having to rely on the program to manage loading and unloading many things based on some algorithms that may not match my needs.
Yes, that is a good point.
The point about orphaned references is that n DS 2025 you won't get a mssing item (! in a frame and in the corner) for files thata re in the database but not in the current directory set.
If you are thinking of baking the morphs, by exporting as OBJ and reimporting, to avoid having to have them all loaded don't forget that will remove all the corrective/adjustment links - and won't preserve HD details. You can of course limit the load set to the used morphs, and have a single controller to trigger them if that is what you meant.
The corrective/adjustment links I wasn't aware of and would have to consider that as it is a new piece of data I hadn't considered. The HD details I figured I could just reapply after reimporting. As to limiting the load set to the used morphs, is that basically what Powerloader is doing? I'm not sure how to do that on a given character, but basically, I was under the understanding from comments in another discussion I was reading that just having all of the available morphs installed put a load on the system. This was one of the reasons I was considering a different configuration. One that didn't even have all of the different morphs installed for modifying a character.
Having al the morphs slows loading and, to an extent, posing/shaping as DS has to trace through and build al the links (on load) and trace through and apply the net effect of changes (when posing/shaping) so yes, it can have an impact on performance (though recent builds have addressed that to an extent). Having a content set with just the stuff you needed for the character etc. would probably be beneficial there, rather than on memory usage. http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/metadata/list_products_used/start would list the Daz products used in a character and could be tweaked to build a list of all products used for the shaping, to help with creatring a custom content set.
Thank you, saved the link in case I get to the point I can consider programming something. With me it's mostlly that I'm trying to do so much, finding the time is the issue. ;)