therixx said:

I am sorry, @jjoyner. the files for Country Lane 2 are inside a folder that reads "Carrara_8.5;8;7.2;7".
I have tried anyway, but my Carrara 6 Pro cannot open it. I get the "An I/O error occurred while executing import" message.
Pity, because, as usual with Howie Farkes, it is a great environment, even though quite heavy on my machine (it moves pretty badly in my workspace, even though not as badly as the dreaded Valle Alpina).
I attach a test render done in Carrara 8.5 Pro.

Thanks much for exploring.  At least I know now that I cannot use the items in Carrara 6 Pro and can remove the items from my wishlist. 

I'm particularly trying to import Ultimate Natural Bend Morphs by K H Studio for Genesis 8 female. The morphs import and have drivers assigned, but they are all set to 0 and don't respond to bone movement.

I'm trying to import through Setup > Morphs > Import Custom Morphs.

A user in this forum seems to have successfuly imported this very set of JCMs here.

barbult said:

Problems with Daz Connect install method:

• Some things (like plugins and DS beta software) cannot even be installed with Connect. So you need a secondary install method for those things. If you only use DIM, that does it all.
• Some scripts and some plugins were not written to work with Connect, so they fail if they were installed with Connect. (UltraScenery products are a one very popular set of products that do not work if they are installed with Daz Connect, but they are not the only ones.)
• Some utility products were not written to work with content that was installed with Connect, so they file when trying to access other product that were installed with Connect.
• Every time you started DS, it would "update" metadata. That often broke working products by installing bad "updates". In the latest DS beta, you can turn off that automatic metadata update, so that is a good improvement.
• The icons overlaying product thumbnails in Smart Content confuse people and make them think they need to install again with Daz Connect after they have already installed with DIM. This is a very bad thing to do. You end up with double hard disc usage from two independent installations. From then on, the DIM-installed version of the product will be completely ignored by Daz Studio, because the Connect version always has priority over the DIM version. From then on, any DIM update you apply to those products will be installed by DIM, but completely ignored by Daz Studio. You would have to update the Daz Connect version of the product to see the update in Daz Studio. I think Daz is trying to improve that confusing Daz Connect icon overlay situation in Smart Content, but I haven't payed close attention to what is going on there.
• How do you keep track of what product was installed what way? You can look in the Connect cloud folder to see what is there, but it is all listed by SKU number, not product name. In DIM, you can filter by Connect Installed, but then you have to use DIM anyway to do that.

I have completely given up on Daz Connect. I purged everything Connect related, and I only use DIM. It is really best to only use one install method. Anything else leads to confusion and problem. I think DIM is the one and only reasonable way for me.

barbult, thank you so much for taking the time to write this response, I hadn't quite managed to pick up on the why's and wherefores, so this helps immensely!

felis said:

You cannot change base resolution in Daz Studio.

You can export it to a 3d modeller and increase and import as a new object, that must be saved. It can reuse the original textures (if you don't extrude outside the original mesh (and don't UV unwrap)), but materials will not apply as material, as it is seen as a new object. You can copy surfaces from the original to the updated.

If the OBJ export preserved surface names then non-hierarchical materials would still work on the reimported mesh.

If satisfied with a subD division you can export that and reimport that (still as a new object).

You cannot change base resolution in Daz Studio.

You can export it to a 3d modeller and increase and import as a new object, that must be saved. It can reuse the original textures (if you don't extrude outside the original mesh (and don't UV unwrap)), but materials will not apply as material, as it is seen as a new object. You can copy surfaces from the original to the updated.

If satisfied with a subD division you can export that and reimport that (still as a new object).

I started to play around with dforcing beds/couches/cushions etc.. Sadly I am finding that a lot of products in store, that look spectacular on promos, come with poor base resolution. This severely limits dforce manipulation options. In one case I have found a set where top of the bed was a single "square".

There must be a way to import such objects to something, increase resolution, preferably in the specific area and import back into DAZ.

I understand this is a more advanced concept and will require learning to use some new software but wondering how complicated this could be and how to go around this process?

barbult said:

jmucchiello said:

barbult said:

Problems with Daz Connect install method:

 have completely given up on Daz Connect. I purged everything Connect related, and I only use DIM. It is really best to only use one install method. Anything else leads to confusion and problem. I think DIM is the one and only reasonable way for me.

How is this done? I hate seeing some stuff in Connect and some not. 

You'd better ask tech support, or better, Richard Haseltine. I'm likely to forget something important, since I did it quite a long time ago. Of course you could uninstall each product individually from Smart Content and then install it again with DIM. I had too much installed and took a more drastic approach that may not be the safest way or work for everyone.

Uninstall everything, make sure that the General Release is not set to log in or that the Beta is not set to update metadata, then you can select all the products, right-click>Delete.

Padone said:

The links I provided above are part of the diffeomorphic official documentation, where it is explained how to import poses and animations. Not sure where you were looking at or how you missed that. The second link explains that you need the retarget module, if you read the docs.

Yeah, It turned out I'm blind and I can't read lol. The confusing part is that in Blender animations are called "Actions" or something.

Thanks for the help, I also thought you can't import enviroments with Diffeo but it turns out you can, so...

Topic can be closed.

I apologize if this has been discussed before, but a Google search didn't give me the answer I was seeking (possibly because I couldn't concisely articulate my query), so I thought I'd start a new thread.
Take a look at the image I've attached. I am wondering if I can customize my UI so that the folders listed first are the main library folders, rather than opening with the DAZ Studio Formats-->Daz3D Content-->Content. The folder "Daz3D Content" is a custom-named folder and it is not in the same directory as the D|S program, if that matters.

Basically, I do not want those first two columns showing at all. I'd like the first column that shows on the far left is the column containing the Animals, Applications, Documentation, etc. I do not need the Poser Formats or Other Import Formats because I have put them in the main area just for simplicity sake. Is there a way to set up my UI so they do not show?

EDIT: Also, while I have your attention, is there a way to make all of the text in the Daz Studio program just a little bigger? My eyes aren't as good as they used to be. :-\

EDIT: Adding title

What does "Install" under Smart Content do?

When stuff is installed by DIM, it goes to the places it should and I can use it immediately from the content library. So why is there an "Install" function under Smart Content? What do this do? What is the metadata for?

Dieter said:

Sorry,

Hello Riversoft;
after the last update of DAZ Studio to version 4.22.0.19
after installing the metadata in the smart content CW is not closed properly.
Either items of clothing or figures from different stores remain in the scene!
Is there an update or another solution for this?

It's pretty annoying to have to close and restart DAZ every time!

Thanks
Dieter

I'll investigate.

@richardandtracy shared one on Renderosity:

https://www.renderosity.com/freestuff/items/95985/wedding-ring-g3f-g3m-g8f-g8m-and-g9

If you want fancier free rings, they are a couple of them on Renderosity, just search for ring.

Another useful freebie if you're dealing with jewelry, the extensive and very nice 'Iray Jewelry Shaders' by AllenArt:

https://sharecg.com/v/95893/gallery/21/DAZ-Studio/Iray-Jewelry-Shaders

A useful tip that you may already know: press CTRL / CMD (depending on your OS) while you're applying a shader preset on a surface and a window will appear, letting you decide if you want to replace or ignore the images already used by the surface you want to change.

Halcon Bluesky said:

I went to some places, but there are no Daz Studio equivalent.

As long as the equivalents you found are available in OBJ, you can easily import them in Daz Studio, especially with non-rigged props like rings: the hardest part is finding at what scale they were sculpted, then it's just a matter of applying Daz shaders to get it look nice in Iray.

Speaking of equivalent, if you don't already know it, Daz is still capable of opening Poser files: not everything will work right and you'll have to change the material presets of each surface, but some are still nice.

Very good! Glad the above helped. 

I think the problem originated with Daz Connect. Used to be able to fix those type of issues using the update Metadata option when logged in thru Connect, and I think that is how Daz would fix the problem.  Originally, you could just do individual products. Then at some point, it started updating every product (even DIM installed), every time it was done. At the time, I was using both DIM and Connect because, if I remeber correctly, some products had to be d/l thru Connect to get the update, so quit using Connect. I use custom categories and would have to fix what that changed, every time.

Also when vendor names and products started to be tied together, some of this showed up.

I’ve picked up many tips from your posts, over the past, so once again, happy to help.

Problems with Daz Connect install method:

• Some things (like plugins and DS beta software) cannot even be installed with Connect. So you need a secondary install method for those things. If you only use DIM, that does it all.
• Some scripts and some plugins were not written to work with Connect, so they fail if they were installed with Connect. (UltraScenery products are a one very popular set of products that do not work if they are installed with Daz Connect, but they are not the only ones.)
• Some utility products were not written to work with content that was installed with Connect, so they file when trying to access other product that were installed with Connect.
• Every time you started DS, it would "update" metadata. That often broke working products by installing bad "updates". In the latest DS beta, you can turn off that automatic metadata update, so that is a good improvement.
• The icons overlaying product thumbnails in Smart Content confuse people and make them think they need to install again with Daz Connect after they have already installed with DIM. This is a very bad thing to do. You end up with double hard disc usage from two independent installations. From then on, the DIM-installed version of the product will be completely ignored by Daz Studio, because the Connect version always has priority over the DIM version. From then on, any DIM update you apply to those products will be installed by DIM, but completely ignored by Daz Studio. You would have to update the Daz Connect version of the product to see the update in Daz Studio. I think Daz is trying to improve that confusing Daz Connect icon overlay situation in Smart Content, but I haven't payed close attention to what is going on there.
• How do you keep track of what product was installed what way? You can look in the Connect cloud folder to see what is there, but it is all listed by SKU number, not product name. In DIM, you can filter by Connect Installed, but then you have to use DIM anyway to do that.

I have completely given up on Daz Connect. I purged everything Connect related, and I only use DIM. It is really best to only use one install method. Anything else leads to confusion and problem. I think DIM is the one and only reasonable way for me.

Sorry,

Hello Riversoft;
after the last update of DAZ Studio to version 4.22.0.19
after installing the metadata in the smart content CW is not closed properly.
Either items of clothing or figures from different stores remain in the scene!
Is there an update or another solution for this?

It's pretty annoying to have to close and restart DAZ every time!

Thanks
Dieter

I am sorry, @jjoyner. the files for Country Lane 2 are inside a folder that reads "Carrara_8.5;8;7.2;7".
I have tried anyway, but my Carrara 6 Pro cannot open it. I get the "An I/O error occurred while executing import" message.
Pity, because, as usual with Howie Farkes, it is a great environment, even though quite heavy on my machine (it moves pretty badly in my workspace, even though not as badly as the dreaded Valle Alpina).
I attach a test render done in Carrara 8.5 Pro.

Not 100% sure, but, first, in the Content Library, under Products, with the product selected, does the red box only show on products that don’t have an Icon in Smart Content? If that is true, then adding an Icon will remove the red box.

With close to 13,000 products, mostly from Daz, some from elsewhere, and a few of my own, and having used DS off and on since version One, it has been hard to keep up on all the changes and remember everything.

I think this goes back to when Smart Content and Metadata were first introduced, and the colored boxes on the Product Icon in Content Library were to help Content Creators as a way to check if their product creation files were being done correctly.

I went thru my tutorials, and in “Smartening up the Daz Studio Database”, when metadata is being created for a non-Daz and updated for a Daz product, when the product icon is added, the red box goes away.

I used this method at one time for non-Daz stuff, until I started using Content Package Assist. Also, since these are somewhat tedious, a quicker way to add the Icon, is to create the jpg/png giving it the same name, move it to the Runtime/Support folder and add the jpg to the file’s dsx.

Near the bottom of the dsx file, the SupportAssets are listed, and when the jpg is added, save, then back in DS, the icon should show.

   <SupportAssets VALUE="/Runtime/Support/DAZ_3D_83_Victoria_2_0.dsx">
   <SupportAssets VALUE="/Runtime/Support/DAZ_3D_83_Victoria_2_0.jpg">

By the way, I haven’t logged into the forums much in the past. When Daz overhauled and archived them a long time ago, I didn’t have much free time, and quit posting, Usually, by the time I needed to know something, it had been covered by someone. I do read the new posts, often, and decided it was time to come back. 

If you have any questions, just ask.

There's only one better solution to fix the issue of "no Categories assigned to the asset items...", use Content Wizard to install the problematic product (as well as the product from 3rd-party sites...).  https://www.daz3d.com/content-wizard

There's no function or script, AFAIK, to "rescan" Lost and Found because the category of Lost and Found is just auto-triggered when the metadata of the asset item are imported into cms database. If you by chance delete Lost and Found category, the only way to find them out is: either re-import all metadata, or run a SQL query from cms database by using an postgreSQL DBA tool ~~

They tell the fbx importer is better in the beta. Or you may have more luck importing fbx without animation, then import the animation as bvh. But, in general, importing animations in daz studio was always quite difficult or impossible, so I'd not expect much.

Another way is to use poser to import fbx, then save as cr2 and import in daz studio.

blender > fbx > poser > cr2 > daz studio

The links I provided above are part of the diffeomorphic official documentation, where it is explained how to import poses and animations. Not sure where you were looking at or how you missed that. The second link explains that you need the retarget module, if you read the docs.