Daz Central should let you choose the startng folder (the Base Path setting), but it won't let you choose specific folders within that (that's part of the simplification it is aimed at offering). If you want to be able to set specific paths then use Install Manager instead, which is still available.

I'm looking over my DAZ Content in preparation for getting the new computer next week. Who am I kidding?! DAZ splatters our content recklessly, leaving us to figure a way to find anything. Smart content?! I'd laugh if I weren't so bored.

 

 

I don't understand why studio has to install parts of itself all over your computer like a virus, that is why I install studio to my main drive but my content library is on an external. I don't use DIM or any of the other 'installers'  that studio offers for this reason. I prefer to know exactly where all my programs are going and where I can find them when needed. For those of you that love smart content and meta data and it works for you, that is awesome but from the sounds of it the majority of people have more issues with it than it is worth.

DIM allows you to specify where the content goes too. Daz central uses a single master folder, on a drive of the user's choice, for everything that has an option.

But that doesn't fix all the vanity folders or environment sets being put into the props folder. Along with fixing the smart content and metadata there is no consistancy when it comes to directory folders. Some PA's use a vanity folder, some don't these are all things that daz should have been caught in QA before release, instead of waiting for customers ti find the issues and report them. There have been several threads about broken smart content and metadata but it never seems to get taken care of.

Vanity folders are one thing, but the most annoying ones are texture sets, which are placed under another vanity folder, nowhere near the garment it was meant for with a name that has no connection to the said garment and a thumbnail that gives no clue as to which garment it was meant for... I guess some PA:s still haven't gotten over the Poser "logic"... Just another example and reason for installing content manually...

The vanity folders are something that daz could easily address by instituting a policy either saying everything will have a vanity folder or nothing will. It is that easy. The same could be done with the metadata and smart content. Make sure everything has it and not approve anything that has incorrect information. 

As a former poser user I take a bit of offense to that, their logic has nothing to do with previous programs, and for the record studio used to use the same layout pre version 4.0. 

I'm looking over my DAZ Content in preparation for getting the new computer next week. Who am I kidding?! DAZ splatters our content recklessly, leaving us to figure a way to find anything. Smart content?! I'd laugh if I weren't so bored.

 

 

I don't understand why studio has to install parts of itself all over your computer like a virus, that is why I install studio to my main drive but my content library is on an external. I don't use DIM or any of the other 'installers'  that studio offers for this reason. I prefer to know exactly where all my programs are going and where I can find them when needed. For those of you that love smart content and meta data and it works for you, that is awesome but from the sounds of it the majority of people have more issues with it than it is worth.

DIM allows you to specify where the content goes too. Daz central uses a single master folder, on a drive of the user's choice, for everything that has an option.

But that doesn't fix all the vanity folders or environment sets being put into the props folder. Along with fixing the smart content and metadata there is no consistancy when it comes to directory folders. Some PA's use a vanity folder, some don't these are all things that daz should have been caught in QA before release, instead of waiting for customers ti find the issues and report them. There have been several threads about broken smart content and metadata but it never seems to get taken care of.

Vanity folders are one thing, but the most annoying ones are texture sets, which are placed under another vanity folder, nowhere near the garment it was meant for with a name that has no connection to the said garment and a thumbnail that gives no clue as to which garment it was meant for... I guess some PA:s still haven't gotten over the Poser "logic"... Just another example and reason for installing content manually...

I'm looking over my DAZ Content in preparation for getting the new computer next week. Who am I kidding?! DAZ splatters our content recklessly, leaving us to figure a way to find anything. Smart content?! I'd laugh if I weren't so bored.

 

 

I don't understand why studio has to install parts of itself all over your computer like a virus, that is why I install studio to my main drive but my content library is on an external. I don't use DIM or any of the other 'installers'  that studio offers for this reason. I prefer to know exactly where all my programs are going and where I can find them when needed. For those of you that love smart content and meta data and it works for you, that is awesome but from the sounds of it the majority of people have more issues with it than it is worth.

DIM allows you to specify where the content goes too. Daz central uses a single master folder, on a drive of the user's choice, for everything that has an option.

But that doesn't fix all the vanity folders or environment sets being put into the props folder. Along with fixing the smart content and metadata there is no consistancy when it comes to directory folders. Some PA's use a vanity folder, some don't these are all things that daz should have been caught in QA before release, instead of waiting for customers ti find the issues and report them. There have been several threads about broken smart content and metadata but it never seems to get taken care of.

I'm looking over my DAZ Content in preparation for getting the new computer next week. Who am I kidding?! DAZ splatters our content recklessly, leaving us to figure a way to find anything. Smart content?! I'd laugh if I weren't so bored.

 

 

I don't understand why studio has to install parts of itself all over your computer like a virus, that is why I install studio to my main drive but my content library is on an external. I don't use DIM or any of the other 'installers'  that studio offers for this reason. I prefer to know exactly where all my programs are going and where I can find them when needed. For those of you that love smart content and meta data and it works for you, that is awesome but from the sounds of it the majority of people have more issues with it than it is worth.

DIM allows you to specify where the content goes too. Daz central uses a single master folder, on a drive of the user's choice, for everything that has an option.

Just started using this and love it, but I have a couple of issues and questions that have come up in one scene. Here are 2 renders of the same scene: in one I used Ocean Wide midday skydome and lights, and the other I used IBL Master with an hdr skydome. Rendering in 3delight. Sampling settings: 2, 10, 10, 8. No adjustments to IBL Master, except for turning off ground plane.

Render time is certainly better: OW skydome and lights - 34min 28 sec; IBL Master with hdr skydome - 24min 50sec (2015 macbook pro 13" 3.1 Intel i7 16GB ram)

1. As you can see in the attached images, in the central pavilion the columns (or part of the columns) cast shadows, but the shadow above is magically missing, as if they are free standing columns covered by nothing.

2. Some areas are getting a total blackout, not like a dark shadow, just error level black. If necessary I can post a different image to better show this.

How can I fix these? Any other suggestions to get a new user thrust into making the most of this product?

...well,to add insult to irritation, in the middle of the night, the smoke alarm began to "chirp" intermittently which is the sign it needs a new battery. Were I in my old place that would be remedied by goong to the store getting s new battery snd putting it in. Not so simple where I live now as the alarms in the units are wired into the building's central system as well as out of easy reach (in the old place I could simply reach up and remove the unit to install a new battery as the ceiling was rather low). Here I need maintenance to do it, but the catch is, it's a holiday so no staff is around. So I'll have to deal with it all day and night before it can be attended to. Talk about really, really bad timing. The really frustrating part is that maintenance was scheduled to do this in April but COVID caused it to be cancelled and only serious emergencies like a broken pipe or fridge dying would be handled, no "routine" matters. That has been relaxed a bit but now we need to make an appointment even for something like this so it could take longer.

Hi,
Thanks. Unfortunately I lost the screenshot I posted yesterday, but I did not even have anything under Windows menu. There was one entry there: Panes (Tabs)
As to Install Manager, I was looking for it all over the place. Seem it was automatically uninstalled, when I installed DAZ central for the first time.
There was Uninstall option in Programs and Features for Install Manager and I have found a folder for it, but there was no any executables to fire it up.
So I ended up manually wiping all out, including user settings in the profile and then install DAZ Central and Studio.

I am just glad it is over...

Hi,

Thanks so much for your answers, Is it just me or is that not clearly stated that I need another software even though it says I Daz on the Compatible Software: Daz to Maya Bridge, Daz to 3ds Max Bridge, Daz to C4D Bridge, Carrara

And also says Install Types:  DIM  which I have.

This also doesn't help:  

Notes

• This product includes:
  • 1 Carrara Files Installer

To me that meant I will have to install Carrara files, (I had a rough idea what Carrara was but didn't know I needed to buy it to use this product I bought) I bet I'm not the only one that has done this.

Thanks I'll ask for a refund and will look again for city scape for daz

(I wonder if that's why daz never replied, waiting till the 30 days is up?!!! )

 

Thanks once again.

This is the Drive I use for Daz and 3D in general.

You'll notice I have the manifest that is kept on the C drive there too.

The folder just named Daz 3D contains the files downloaded via DIM, as well as third party downloads.

There are no issues with moving where everything is by default; issues will arrive if that move is not done correctly, with either missing files, duplicate files, or library folders not added to both DIM and to Studio. Not all the folders in Daz 3D All Libraries are added to DIM or Studio, and some added to Studio are not used by DIM, and consequently not added.

I don't touch Smart Content as I have various issues with it, including I don't think it is close to smart.

I also don't tough Daz Central (another abomination IMO).

With this new DAZ Central I am completely lost. How do I Uninstall/Reinstall DAZ studio?
Unless someone tells me how to reset workspace and get menu items back, I figured I would uninstall and reinstall DAZ studio.

(I did attach an image showing my top menu was missing most of the links, but it is gone )

But I cannot even do that. It's not in Programs and Features and I cannot find any uninstall executable.
Please help...

 

Update 1: DAZ central is quite useless. I found an uninstall link, but it did not do anything. For 2 hours it stayed on 50% uninstall progress. I had to kill it, delete DAZ manually from program files, user profile, registry. Now I cannot install. Installation has stuck on 57%. Where can I download installation files and install it manually?

Update 2: OK, I uninstalled DAZ Central completely. Cleaned the drives of all possible DAZ content and related files. Downloaded, installed it fresh. Installed Studio, got my menus back finally. But there is no any links in Start Menu. Had to Pin executables shortcuts for DAZ Central and Studio to Start. Reinstalled all content one by one (Where is a button for installing all content at once as it used to be in Install Manager??)  My content folder is now 10 GB, it used to be 20 GB. I do not create any assets myself, nor have many projects saved. Where is another 10GB? Luckily I have a backup, if I see something missing I hope I can reinstate.

Anyway, it was frustrating few hours of wasted time. That is given I am a power computer user. Average user would never be able to pull it through and would probably stuck for days.

 

The problem that I'm having is that while the "dzunrealplugin" that (I downloaded using the DIM) works just fine in my Daz Studio 4.12, in the sense that I can export a G8M file from my Daz Studio into my "DaztoUnreal" folder, located in my: C:\Users\MyName\Documents\DazToUnreal.

However, it's my Epic 4.25 launcher that doesn't acknowledge the existence of the "DaztoUnreal" plugin. In other words, after launching the Epic 4.25 Engine, then starting a new 3rd person project, I immediately go to Settings/Plugins and browse through the many plugins on the list, and specificly in the "Imports" folder too so to enable the "DaztoUnreal" plugin. However, after many searches, the Daz plugin is nowhere to be found, anywhere. I'll do a general search in my plugin tab, and the "DaztoUnreal" plugin simply never appears as an option, nor does anything related to Daz Studios in general ever appear.

Despite the fact, that not only can I see the "DaztoUnreal" plugin in my Daz Studio 4 folder located at: C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins. I can also find one in my Epics plugin folder at:  C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\plugins. However, while the plugin on the Daz side of things seems to work just fine, the Epic Engine doesn't seem to know that the "DaztoUnreal" plugin is in the Epic 4.25 plugin folder.

Anyone have any possible explanations and/or solutions about why my Epic Engine doesn't acknowledge the existance of the "DaztoUnreal" plugin while it works fine in Daz Studio?

i hade a problem which looks like the same as you, first before go on that, you must make sure before export to unreal, which the unreal editor is "open" and you are running the latest version of unreal, it must be runing before you export to unreal, it is open and you try to send the character and nothing is happening, then you can try to check this:

 

if you like me already used a "epic version" or had instaled in the past a version of epic then it could be the issue, because epic version and daz "version are a little different and one can conflict with the other, to check it look if your "send to" is being display in the file tab, if in the file tab then it's the "daz version" if it is on"edit" tab is the epic version, then you must open the path where the daztounreal.dll is located and remove it, because this is the epic version" then restart the daz and see if the send to is appearing in the file tab.

if it's not the problem try to reinstall it, make sure before reinstall which all the files were properly removed from both unreal 4.25 and daz folders, if they are proper removed by the uninstall then now reinstall it, i would advise also if the "file already" downloaded in the DIM to remove it and make the DIM download again and install.

Thanks for the response. I just want to go over a few things and hopefully get your advice on the best way forward from there.

1) Yes, I have two earlier versions of UDK currently downloaded on my computer. Both UDK 3 & UDK 4.9.2. along with UDK 4.25.3(which I believe is the latest version of UDK)

2) The "send to" is displayed in the Daz Studio file tab.(so, I guess that means I have the Daz version?)

Any suggestions what I should do?

 

1 - i wanted to means that:

https://unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/daz-to-unreal

currently we have 2 versions of the pluging, the epic version and the daz version one can conflict with the other and it's seens which when you "uninstall" the epic version it only remove the "epic" part of the pluging it don't remover the "daz" side you need to remover this one manually then install the "daz bridge, otherwise the "epic portion which is inside daz will conflict with the daz bridge maybe it can be the issue.

 

now if you don't have instaled the epic version and only the bridge, maybe can be good do as i told and uninstall, the pluging using the dim or the daz central, then make sure which all the related files are proper removed from both daz and unreal then make sure which when using the dim to reinstall, you nad "removed" the already downloaded version and download a new one and install then test it again.

UN FREAK'N BELIEVABLE! I finally got it to work.

After days of trying everything. After following your instructions of uninstalling and reinstalling the Daz Bridge using the dim, then reconfiguring the Daz Bridge path to: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\Engine\Plugins (as oppose to the recommended: C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\Engine). I was able to locate all the Daz bridge plugin files in the C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\Engine\Engine\Plugins folder, and not just the dll. file, like before.

From there, I manually copied and paste all the "DaztoUnreal" folders into the C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\Engine\Plugins folder, and WALLAH. The plugin finally showed up in the Epic Engine plugin tab, and I was able to Enable the plugin.

Anyway, thanks for the help and suggestions. It definitely got me going in the right direction until I eventually resolved the issue. Now it's on to the next problem that I'll inevitably run into.

The problem that I'm having is that while the "dzunrealplugin" that (I downloaded using the DIM) works just fine in my Daz Studio 4.12, in the sense that I can export a G8M file from my Daz Studio into my "DaztoUnreal" folder, located in my: C:\Users\MyName\Documents\DazToUnreal.

However, it's my Epic 4.25 launcher that doesn't acknowledge the existence of the "DaztoUnreal" plugin. In other words, after launching the Epic 4.25 Engine, then starting a new 3rd person project, I immediately go to Settings/Plugins and browse through the many plugins on the list, and specificly in the "Imports" folder too so to enable the "DaztoUnreal" plugin. However, after many searches, the Daz plugin is nowhere to be found, anywhere. I'll do a general search in my plugin tab, and the "DaztoUnreal" plugin simply never appears as an option, nor does anything related to Daz Studios in general ever appear.

Despite the fact, that not only can I see the "DaztoUnreal" plugin in my Daz Studio 4 folder located at: C:\Program Files\DAZ 3D\DAZStudio4\plugins. I can also find one in my Epics plugin folder at:  C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\plugins. However, while the plugin on the Daz side of things seems to work just fine, the Epic Engine doesn't seem to know that the "DaztoUnreal" plugin is in the Epic 4.25 plugin folder.

Anyone have any possible explanations and/or solutions about why my Epic Engine doesn't acknowledge the existance of the "DaztoUnreal" plugin while it works fine in Daz Studio?

i hade a problem which looks like the same as you, first before go on that, you must make sure before export to unreal, which the unreal editor is "open" and you are running the latest version of unreal, it must be runing before you export to unreal, it is open and you try to send the character and nothing is happening, then you can try to check this:

 

if you like me already used a "epic version" or had instaled in the past a version of epic then it could be the issue, because epic version and daz "version are a little different and one can conflict with the other, to check it look if your "send to" is being display in the file tab, if in the file tab then it's the "daz version" if it is on"edit" tab is the epic version, then you must open the path where the daztounreal.dll is located and remove it, because this is the epic version" then restart the daz and see if the send to is appearing in the file tab.

if it's not the problem try to reinstall it, make sure before reinstall which all the files were properly removed from both unreal 4.25 and daz folders, if they are proper removed by the uninstall then now reinstall it, i would advise also if the "file already" downloaded in the DIM to remove it and make the DIM download again and install.

Thanks for the response. I just want to go over a few things and hopefully get your advice on the best way forward from there.

1) Yes, I have two earlier versions of UDK currently downloaded on my computer. Both UDK 3 & UDK 4.9.2. along with UDK 4.25.3(which I believe is the latest version of UDK)

2) The "send to" is displayed in the Daz Studio file tab.(so, I guess that means I have the Daz version?)

Any suggestions what I should do?

 

1 - i wanted to means that:

https://unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/daz-to-unreal

currently we have 2 versions of the pluging, the epic version and the daz version one can conflict with the other and it's seens which when you "uninstall" the epic version it only remove the "epic" part of the pluging it don't remover the "daz" side you need to remover this one manually then install the "daz bridge, otherwise the "epic portion which is inside daz will conflict with the daz bridge maybe it can be the issue.

 

now if you don't have instaled the epic version and only the bridge, maybe can be good do as i told and uninstall, the pluging using the dim or the daz central, then make sure which all the related files are proper removed from both daz and unreal then make sure which when using the dim to reinstall, you nad "removed" the already downloaded version and download a new one and install then test it again.

Yeah, it seems to be coming along. Shame because that top image is great.

Is there any possibility to parent the lights and camera to the central thing or character?

Maybe group them together and move the lights and camera like a singular entity?

 

The lighting is just weird Render Settings based on Daz Studio's built-in Sun Disk with funky adjustments to the Environment and Tone Mapping settings. However the light direction in relation to the camera angle is what gives the nice effects in that first image. So in order to use that same style for each panel the lighting would always be coming from relatively the same angle in relation to the camera. That COULD really annoy readers... but I'm not sure. You could be right that it might be workable. I'll do some experiments. Thank you, Drew, for the feedback! :)

Yeah, it seems to be coming along. Shame because that top image is great.

Is there any possibility to parent the lights and camera to the central thing or character?

Maybe group them together and move the lights and camera like a singular entity?

 

Thanks for replying. It was ages ago and I really don't remember. It wasn't via IM or Daz Central. It was originally from a CD I think and then I updated online or something.

I've tried downloading Daz Central to that computer but DC seems like an absolute travesty of a thing. It just won't open. It "encounters an error".

I would be very happy to install another copy of the current Daz on my laptop. That's what I was originally hoping to do when I got sidetracked by this disgusting refusal of 4.6 to be deleted.

Is there a way of installing the current version without Daz Central because seriously, Daz Central just isn't a going concern on my particular laptop.

Same Problem here same fix. I have an LG Main monitor and samsung second monitor. when I disable the samsung Daz Centtral loads right up. othere wise with it on it is forever stuck on not responding.

the previous version of Daz Central worked fine then with this last update it started doing this

Daz 4.12

AMD 3960x

64 Megs of Ram

RTX 2080TI

...excellent list, I follow a number of those points when developing original characters. 

However #4 has always been difficult as for some reason,, all the way back to Gen3 (V3, A3), as all Daz female figures/characters tended to have larger than average breasts when compared to people in RL (even some of the teen ones).  One of the main frustrating issues I have found is breast circumference which is very difficult to reduce.  The only parameters that remotely handle this are those which control breast volume but they can also create in distortion in the areola/nipple region as well as the outside portion of the mesh that, in turn, can affect teh appearance of clothing fits (particularly tight fitting clothes like bodysuits, athletic clothing, and swimsuits).  I have Zev0's Breast Control along with SF-Design's BodyMorph Kit and Dogz Natural Breast Shapes but even with all three, I find reducing the circumference troublesome to manage.

Another issue is the horizontal angle, which tends to always point to the outside even when the breasts are reduced in size and doesn't look quite natural on more petite physiques.  Adjusting the side to side positioning is one solution but it can also unnaturally distort the breast shape, along with the armpits and central area of the chest in some poses which again can affect clothing fits. 

As to 4K textures, there are those like myself who still work on older tech (because we cannot afford anything newer), and tend to shy away from them as they are a serious drain on system resoruces (the only ultra high res products I use are HDRIs).

 

Not true.

Not buying you save 100% of your cash; only items that are 100% discounted offer a similar deal, except for getting something (you may or may not want) for no cash outlay.

I think we have come to the same conclusion. There is no point in paying for Platinum Club membership if I still think, even with the discount, things are too expensive. And I also tend to agree that very few of the Platimum Club free items are actually worth the disc space in downloading.

Ignorning any discounts through Platinum Club, back in the day, there were premium priced items but on the whole most items seemed affordable. These days, unless it appears in Fast Grab, almost everything seems to attract a premium price tag.

I made precisely the argument you are making a while ago (made myself quite unpopular with the PC+ enthusiasts in doing so, I think). However, yesterday I saw that the annual PC+ membership had a 40% discount and I just happened to have a bit of store credit available so I ate my words and joined for a year. As it was the last day of the month I looked to use my coupons and immediately found a few items that were already on sale and that were further discounted using the coupons. It could be argued that I offset a big chunk of my membership fee by taking advantage of those savings. On the other hand, I probably would not have bought those items had it not been for the PC+ coupons so it could be counter-argued that, rather than saving me money, it cost me more. I guess the only way to judge is to look back in a year's time and assess whether I have filled out my wishlist more economically than I would have without that membership.

Having taken the plunge, I now look forward to all those PC only sales I complained about before. But I do agree - and I also made this point previously - that so much of the PC marked content would not tempt me even as freebies.

I have a couple of year's worth of membership, however, imo, membership is to Daz's benefit more than mine; it keeps me looking, interested and giving them cash.

I would buy far less, and only partly because of the increase in cost of items, if I didn't have membership.

Whilst I'm a collector, these last few months (probably since Daz Central made it's unwelcome appearance), I find myself buying less and being far, far more critical of what I buy; I don't put up with issues any longer, and I invariably take the time to see if they have any.

I just bought the Milton the Sidekick Bundle and had to download DAZ Central (didn't spot that was the only dl method). The bundle does not appear in the assets list. Where is it?

It isn't a "DAZ Central downloads only" issue, it's a "no files to download at all" issue. The page code that displays "DAZ Central download available" doesn't actually check if there are files to be downloaded, it just always appears. It's been an increasingly common problem over the last few weeks. We can't fix it, the forum mods can't fix it, only the people at DAZ can put the download files where they should be and give the store software a good hard kick.