What are the pros and cons of using Manual Install / DIM / DAZ Connect?
I was wondering if someone could clearly outline the pros and cons of each of these install methods, since it seems many people strongly prefer one or another. Also, does one of these methods tend to put files into that mysterious and inpenetrable "cloud" folder?
I myself have currently got a wild mix of all three of these, and was wondering if I should uninstall and redo them to make them more consistent.
Also, how do I install purchased items through Smart Content if they don't seem to be appearing in Connect? I can do it if i I purchase them directly from the store within Daz, but if I buy them through the website I often can't find them at all! Where are they appearing for everyone else?
Thanks for your help!
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Comments
DIM is probably the most versatile. You get any update to any product when it's released. When you install it goes exactly where it is suppose to unless you change things. You can easily filter through your packs buy using many filters. The download speed is very quick vs manual.
There is not much of an advantage to manually downloading a product. The only thing you can really do is put it where you want instead of the designed location.
Connect is pretty fast as well but not everything is available in Connect yet.
These are just my opinions. I'm sure others will have different ones.
Use manual install. That way you can rename folders if they are 'vanity' folders (as in, instead of being "Little Green Dress" it'll be "!!!JoeBlow_Dress_ThatIsGreen_AndAlsoFunky"), you can put the material folders inside the outfit folder so you don't have to scroll scroll scroll to find the materials, and you have much more control of how your runtime looks.
DIM is good as after install, you can right click on the product name and see exactly where things have been installed (and then change them if you wish).
Connect/Smart Content is an absolute nightmare - as someone who really liked the visual part of Smart Content to find things, I am now uninstalling everything and going back to Manual Install. Smart Content ONLY works if metadata is absolutely correct - and it never is, and daz refuses to fix metadata on any product that falls below a sku of 30000. So you'll be stuck with a heap of stuff in "lost and found" or scratching your head trying to figure out if that pose is for G2F or for G3F, or simply doesn't show up at all because the metadata was done badly and wrong. It's a giant mess, doesn't work correctly, and won't be fixed at all.
The one thing not mentioned is that any real or perceived advantages to either DIM or Connect only exist for products obtained through the DAZ store. Anything obtained anywhere else cannot be "installed" using either of the two technologies, but must be placed into your content folder manually. In other words, unless you obtain content exclusively from DAZ, you'll need to use a mix of manual install and one or more of the other two anyway. Personally, I go with manual install for everything since:
a) I've always done it that way going back to when neither DIM or Connect existed, so I'm quite comfortable with it; and
b)It gives me complete control over what and where (and I prefer to be the one in control of my computer).
I personally prefer DIM -- it works very well, it isn't unnecessarily complex, it has powerful filtering if you want to dig into it, and it has a lot of nice features, like a link to the online readme, right-click to see the installed files, etc. For non-Daz products there's a product in the store called Content Package Assistant to create DIM-compatible zips for them if you wish. You can also use only some of its features if you want to rearrange things manually -- for example, it's easier to download with DIM then it is to go to every page in your Product Library and download each product manually; you can also install to a temp folder with DIM and then rearrange files and folders if you like, and DIM will still notify you about updates.
Only Connect uses the Cloud folder -- DIM and manual install use the traditional folder structures.
Some of the advantages of Connect:
-- it uses a much more scalable infrastructure, so it doesn't get really slow the way DIM or manual downloading can get when there are a lot of people downloading
-- it only downloads filkes that have changed instead of the entire product
-- it updates metadata without needing to download the entire product
I used to rearrange files and folders, but I find it's easier, more flexible, and less error-prone to use categories instead.
I would use DIM, as I do all of my customizing in the "Contents" pane,
but My art computer NEVER goes online, so I have to install everything manually.
I do use this computer (cheap internet throwaway) with DIM to download
everything to a USB drive, then install it manually to my serious computer.
It's a security thing!
You can install DIM on your offline system, then take those files that you downloaded to your USB drive, put them in DIM's download folder on the offline system, and install with DIM.
Is there really no way to CHANGE the metadata myself? I find this absurd!
You can teach yourself to create/edit metadata with tools that comes with Daz Studio.
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/creating_content/packaging/tutorials/adding_metadata/start
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-sdHEBNCB4&t=4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69uIKMZ7zZk&t=16s
Yeah, you can. You can create your own metadata also for products you buy from other stores. It's quite easy once you get the hang of it and doesn't really take long.
Honestly, I'm starting to wonder if there is a bug in the current version of DS regarding "editing metadata". A few I've done just haven't taken and still sit in Lost and Found even tho I've changed it. You SHOULD be able to right click and "edit medatata" in the Product view or .... I THINK you can do it in smart content view....I'm not sure about that last one.
One thing to bear in mind is that DIM won't usually be updated for a purely metadata chnage, while Connect will always use the latest metadata at the tiem of its last connection.
Connect can't handle things like plug-ins or software - anything that requires el;evated privileges, only things that behave like content. It also can't, at this time, handle ExP products (sucha s the fourth generation Daz figures). The former can, to at least an extent, be addressed by making things behave like content even if they aren't; the latter is being worked on.
I'll have to respectfully disagree on that. There still seems to be that "bug" regarding connect and updates.
Listen to Fixmypcmike and Richard Haseltine.
My computer is online. The biggest threat is leaving the keyboard on and unattended, the cats made me have to reinstall windows but keeping my files ment that when I reinstalled Daz Studio, my stuff was where I left it. I can always find an item I want to click and get more information on. Where does it go, who does that fit, how old is that? kind of questions. I use catagories, the product section, the dumb content. I stargaze at the smart content sometimes and find out stuff needs installing or updating or is wonky over there, then leave the Smart area and head back to my area. I love the DIM. I love lurk here when I am rendering things, besides I only have the one good computer.
Aha!! Thank you! I have always tried to edit the metadata but it's never quite worked before.
As fixmypcmike mentioned, but I want to make sure that it got understood- you do NOT have to manually install files from elsewhere, the Content Package Assist is wonderful, easy to use, and I have hundreds of products from other stores installed by DIM that took literally about three minutes each to setup with the CPA. (I already had the files and the image for each product downloaded and in it's own separate file, that only took a few minutes.) Using CPA, the files usually go where they should, hassle free, unless the vendor from the other store screwed up the file structure.
I use DIM and have a lot of products, (a lot being an understatement) it's fast, easy, and by just clicking on the "i" I can zip to the product page and see where the item is located in the studio. (Some products are found in vanity folders using the vendor name, and not by the product name. There's no consistency. Products should only be filed by the product name!) So DIM makes it super easy, and I wouldn't use anything else.
I use DIM for Daz Studio content and application from Daz, manual install for everything else. I like the fact that DIM tells me when products are updated.
I use categories to organise my Daz Studio content. I can keep the files where they are installed but in the categories I don't have to put up with some things in folders names after the PA, some sets in Environments and some in Props etc, and I can categorise clothes and sets by type.
For Poser content I do move stuff around in the runtimes so I do manual installs for these. I also use manual install for Bryce and Carrrara content.
Whoa!! That's a game changer!!! I dont know why I hadn't ever heard of that before--thanks guys!
Another question, just so I don't have to make a new thread---if I wanted to transfer my daz library to a new computer, what would be the most foolproof way to do that? (It's going from PC to Mac).
I had tried just using Daz Connect, but I really hate having all of my poses in the cloud folder because it makes them impossible to find when I'm trying to use Pose builder.
So then I tried moving the DAZ folders in both my Public documents and Documents, but on the new computer they don't show up in smart content, which I still use extensively. How do I get all that Smart Content metadata (including the fixes/changes I've implemented) over to the new computer reliably?
Should I instead maybe 1) get that Content Package Assist and then, 2) copy the Installmanager folder with all the zipped packages into the installmanager folder on the new mac, then 3) Install via DIM? Would that get all my stuff to show up correctly?
Thanks!