duf vs daz files
Joe Cotter
Posts: 3,259
What exactly is the difference between these and do I want/need to keep both presets?
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i think the .duf is for DS4.5
The main difference between .duf and .daz is .duf are portable files, .daz are not.
Anyone who tried to work on your laptop i DS, then moved the .daz file to your desktop knows what I'm talking about.
.duf files contains references to the files in the runtime and is not dependent on what the actual file was crunched to by DS when it got a saved in the data folder.
And yes, it is DS 4.5+ only, but the best thing that has happened to DS.
Now, I can put scenes together on a laptop, the copy the .duf over to the desktop and render there, as long as I have the items used in both Runtime structures.
Yup yup, DUF is the new DAZ Universal File type. The one that is intended to be version (forward) independent and presumably intended to be cross-app compatible (DSON importer, Carrara, etc.)
Agreeing with this bigtime! I go up to my Mom's most weekends, and use an external hard drive to move my installed content to a 'puter there. Since DS4.5 and duf files I've never had the slightest trouble starting a project in one location and finishing it in the other, or bouncing back'n'forth.
Granted, this is only so long as I keep the same content installed on both computers (if you're missing something the duf file expects it'll show a blocky gray placeholder). And if you're using a file synchronizer utility to move content you have to rerun the metadata or new stuff won't show up in the Smart Content tab, and that takes forever. But overall this is a huge improvement and I've been really happy with it. :coolsmile:
Plain and simple:
.DAZ is when you create and save a file, place it aside, change to a different system or re-install DAZ with fresh updates, and try to reload said file, only to find out that it's now gone corrupt due to the lack of exact content and placement in your folders.
.DUF is when you create and save a file, place it aside, change to a different system or re-install DAZ with fresh updates, and try to reload said file, and discover that even though you may not have re-installed, or perhapse changed the placement of your content, the file loads up exactly and errorlessly as you last saw it.
EDIT: 666th POST!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!
Thank you all very much for the replies.
There was another issue related to this in that one product I was working in recently. The one format imported objects into the scene and the identical in the other format wanted to replace the scene. It sounds like this issue had nothing to do with the format but rather how it was originally saved by the PA when saving the original components in the two formats. Does this sound correct?
No, that sounds more like the Import Control in DAZ Studio. If you have an asset of Type A, and it is selected in the scene tab, loading another asset of Type A, DS will, by default, *replace* the original instance. This is pretty handy if, say, you're trying various shirts on Genesis, but not so handy if you're trying to layer shirt type items. You can control this behavior under Edit > Preferences > Scene and you can make it "Always Replace", "Always Ask" or as I do, "Never Replace".
Except I wasn't changing any behaviors such as what was selected/not when testing the two different options, one imported and the other asked if I wanted to replace the scene under identical conditions. (Tested with object in scene and without, selected and not as normal testing procedures when trying to discern the difference between the two.) Unfortunately I'm processing a lot of the library and it was a few items ago so don't recall the exact product atm.
I guess the upshot is, they shouldn't act different other then one is portable/new format, and the other isn't/old format.
It may be that one has the metadata to support that type of information while the older version did not.
Thank you for taking the time to go through this with me :)
The only thing I've really observed was that saving DAZ format scenes can take a really, really long time, while the DUF format was much quicker. That was a very welcome change for me.
Make sure you've gone to Edit > Preferences > General and put in at least an author name. If you do, then .duf scenes will by default replace, while scene subsets will merge. Otherwise you'll get prompted every time.
.DAZ is proprietary and unique to DS3 and earlier.
.DUF (DSON) is based on the JSON open file and is a lot easier to make another program compatible with DUF format content.