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Right ~ a great tool for me as well ! But if one never uses Smart Content, the product is useless ~~
Indeed, as I don't use smart content as I have too many off-site purchases and freebies in thousands of zips it seems; that's why it's such a valuable tool for me, too bad the new alpha cannot currently use the previous beta/gen release's scripts…
But time will tell and when the alpha goes beta, then maybe some script authors will be able to code for a solid, working program...
Here we are again. I recently bought two different characters called Chuck.
One was installed in a PA Folder: "M3D Chuck." The other was installed in a folder called "Chuck."
Now that is a good example of how PA folders can actually help.
I finally got both Chucks taken care of.
Am I the only one who just gave up and decided to rely on the alphabetical "Products" listing?
I know the name of the asset I'm after based on my logging/tracking system (basically a whole lot of .doc files), so I look for it there.
If it's something like a pose set where things are broken down into partials (so, impossibly unweildy to navigate without the help of subfolders), I hover over something to see where it is in the My Library and go find it that way. (There are some frequent fliers I have bookmarked, but in general...)
My hat is off to those with the patience to regorganize everything, but I know myself well enough to know I'd get it mostly set up one way and then come up with something that would actually be more convenient, and be stuck starting over again.
I made a dozen different Content Libraries, and I mostly use the Content Manager. Mostly I've got the libraries separated by figure generation (Millennium 3, Millennium 4, Genesis 5, Genesis 6, etc.), and some other categories like Nature and Vehicles. 'Main' gets every set with buildings and everything else that doesn't obviously belong somewhere else.
I'm mostly too lazy to try to sort out the items in the libraries themselves, especially since these days I'm exporting for external modelling and rendering.
The main inspiration for this is the wild disorganization of the old Poser stuff, some of which was only a little out of date when I started. So I have a lot of it.
The other thing I'm doing is making DIM installers for the stuff I bought at other shops, using Content Package Assist, which is slightly cryptic, but which there is a halfway decent tutorial for on Youtube. Since the Daz Install Manager has functional search, this helps. I'm not that far off having all my Daz/Poser stuff in findable order, with about two thirds of it exported so I can tinker with it.
I decided to take out all the Genesis contents from my "DAZ Originals" folder, and organize them all alphabetically.
That took at least 3 long days!
I started to install everything manually. It was a mess. I was exhausted, and gave up.
No, they are not. You are just using the wrong zip-app.
7zip is key here.
It lets you go down any part of the hirachy and install from there, and it's free.
I use WinZip.
***Edited to Add****
Masterstroke gave me the clue I needed.
I "dug deeper" into the zip file, double-clicked under the "Content Folder."
Then I unzipped from there. Everything is fine now.
They should have used numbers instead of "artist" names. Instead of Chuck and M3D Chuck, it should have been Chuck and Chuck2. Then it would be easy to find all the Chucks.
Don't most zip apps do that? WinRAR does, in any case.
Chuck, Chuck again, Chuck once more, Chuck on the floor, Chuck all over your mate, Chuck out the window
the bloke Charlie really gets around
Much like John in folk songs.
My Son John, My Johnny Was A Shoemaker, No John No, John o' Dreams, John O'Dwyer of the Glen, Johnny Be Fair...
Chuck has enjoyed all the attention.
I actually don't know.
I am using 7zip for maybe about 20 years?
The reason, I've switched have been, that back in those days no other "zipper" could do that.
If all present "zippers" now do that, the better.
I just used DIM, configured to install to the drive and library name I chose. I use Smart Content extensively. Sometimes Daz does a poor job on metadata, and I have to correct it, because they left half of the files uncategorized, etc. I found this to be the easiest for me. It allows easy installation of updates and easy uninstalling or reinstalling. Daz Connect was a horrible experience for me. I completely purged it years ago and I stick with DIM now. I don't buy very much from other stores, but I do have freebies from people like AllenArt (Laurie). For those I usually create DIM packages with Content Package Assist and make my own metadata for them.
I avoid DIM whenever possible and I have never touched smart content.
DIM and smart content aren't linked. I always use DIM and never use smart content. Frankly, the search in DIM is sometimes better than the one inside Studio. (And sometimes window explorer is better.) Someday I'll reorganize my content folders (like getting rid of PA folder from that other thread).
Smart Content is one way of accessing content - it has nothing to do with instalaltion method, as long as metadata is available. One could install manually and import the metadata, or even create new metadata inside DS, and Smart Content (and the other database-driven views) would still work. The other installation method, through DS, is called Daz Connect and is perfectly compatible with using only the Content Library to access the installed content.
I'm a Luddite. I think all that work could be eliminated by just using a more sensible way of arranging content.
Look into a filing cabinet. See all the folders arranged in alphabetical order.
No need for metadata, etc.
People were rearranging their content because they didn't like the organisation of the creators long before Daz added metadata - indeed, categories and so on are there in part to provide a way to do that reorganisation without having to move files in a way that may break products (and to enable other features that can use metadata). You can of course choose to use your own manual organisation, as long as you don't complain if/when it causes issues.
Honestly, I prefer to organize my own content in a way that works for me. There is never going to be a system that thinks like my brain thinks. So I just do it my way and that works for me. Is it a lot of extra work? Sure, but its totally worth it.
I've never figured this out. Smart Content will use Daz Connect to download things. If you mix connect and DIM, you can end up with duplicate content and Database errors. At least, that's what happened to me. For all I know, the duplicates were just mistakes as we see sometimes when something slips past QA. I don't know. I just don't like how the smart content panel works compared to the way content library is file system based.
Yes, installing through both DIM and Connect will not throw file errors. Smart Content is just a way to view installed content with full metadata, however it was installed.