Your opinion and views are needed.
EportsBlade
Posts: 71
Hi everyone,
The subject: Content, Smart Content Pane, Content Library Pane, Install Manager, content catagories.
The question? What do you perfer and why do you feel it is better then the other? Do you pefer just using the Smart Content Pane out of the box? Or do you perfer the Install Manger and setting up your own catagories? Or maybe your choice is to use the Install Manager with a direct install into My Library. I am sure there is a half a dozen or more ways to the above subjet. Right now I am using the Smart Content Pane and the Content Pane for third party content. My opinion of it so far, is I think it could be better. I find some of the stuff can be mixed up in it's placement in the catagories.
Should I build my own content library or (will I lose something with this process?) I like to think the content you own is like an artist's paint box. He or she has a choice of the tools and paints they use and the order/organization they keep them in. How do you keep your stuff organized?
Thanks in advance!
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Comments
DIM and Content Library for me: I find that because I have a lot of content that does not have metadata, Smart Content is a waste of my time. I also find that, in general, the default content catagorization works for me, though I really wish that the Male and Female figures for DAZ Genesis 2,3 and 8 would be rearranged to mimic how you could find the content in Genesis. I also wish that there was a more consistent arrangement of some of the other sections.
Not sure what you are going for here, but personally I don't use smart content or DIM and install everything manually. It takes me 3 clicks to install 99% of my content and I know where the files are going and how to find them in DS. I have quite a bit of non DAZ files I use in other runtime paths in additon to raw mesh files. Then again I am not fanatical about content catagories, naming conventions or meticulous organizations like a few I have seen.
Count me out. Manual download and hand install everything in my own category libraries. Never have used smart content or any of the rest of the caboodle.
DAZ Install Manager (DIM) and Content Library. If I need to find where all the files of a partiular product are located in the Runtime I use the Show Installed Files in DIM and I then navigate directly to the location of the product I need to, I don't waste time searching otherwise.
I use DIM for Daz and manual install for third party stuff. I then immediately put everything into custom categories so I know where it is. This also allows me to put stuff in more than one category (for instance, a sci fi outfit might go into Gen2Female/Clothes/Modern/Name of Outfit as well as Sci Fi/Clothes/Gen2Female/Name of Outfit. I like to cross categorize it makes kit bashing very easy. And since I have a lot of older content, having stuff in my own categories is a must, as finding things on the Poser side of the library is a nightmare.
I won't touch Smart Content with a 10 foot pole. Its non intuitive for me and it takes me longer to find stuff in smart content than any other way. If it actually finds it.
DIM usually, manual if I need something for a scene and don't feel like closing DS. Regular content library and usually leave stuff where it is.. can't stand smart content, I know what I have and I know where it is.
I use Install Manager for Daz Studio content and Categories for everything in Daz studio including Poser content. I tried Smart Content once and didn't think much of it. Categories lets me organise things how I want, I have sub-categories under clothes for type of clothing (SF and Fantasy, Uniforms, Casual Clothes etc...), sub-categories for types of sets .....
I install Poser content manually but that's because I also use Poser and I move things around in the runtimes to make it more like my Studio categories.
I use DIM to install everything, and then on the whole I use the Smart Content pane to load content, apply materials, shaders, poses etc.
For some reason Smart Content gets a lot of grief from some users, particularly those that have been around for a while, but I personally find it very useful. I love being able to click on a clothing item, and then click into smart content to see all the compatible textures for it. For shaders I can see all my metal, liquid, marble etc shaders placed together in one place, rather than having to look though all the dozens of shader packs I own. For poses and expressions these are also in one place.
Of couse the important thing with Smart Content, and the main reason, I guess, it is no so popular, is that you can take advantage of it, but you can not rely solely on it. A lot of content, particularly most things before the Genesis days do not have Smart Data, nor any content from other sites/stores, and so will not be found in that pane. That is why you must be able to understand the content library pane as well, everything can be found there, it is just no so convienent (IMHO) as Smart Content. Since the majority of the content I use regularly is both from this store, and is more recent stuff, then 95% of the time, what I want is in Smart Content.
The best advice is to try out all the different methods and then use the one that suits you best.
+1 with a small difference- I click the "i" in DIM for the product, it quickly goes straight to the ReadMe and it tells me where the files are.
So easy-smeezy.
+1
I used to do that too, but Search has improved greatly in the latest version of DS so I usually try that first now.
...on the DIM/Content pane bandwagon as I prefer the more "classic" style.
Don't use smart content for two reasons. One, I also have a lot of content with no metadata and two, don't like the fact it takes up a fair amount of display real estate. I also have a custom library/runtime setup that is on a separate drive from the C:/boot drive.
With 30ish runtimes on my main 3D machine and DAZ Studio on 4 PCs plus 2.3 on an old laptop I guess I'm not typical, but here goes:
On the primary PC I install with DIM if possible, makes it so much easier to remove/change things, if I can't be bothered using Content Package Assist for 3rd party products then they usually go in smaller vendor runtimes to make it easier to remove.
With newer content I use Smart Content to find base products then "find in Content Library" to jump to the right runtime and mostly work in Content Library from there. But whichever works with the product best. When Smart Content works it's awesome, when it doesn't there's Content Library and searches (including "search everything" app).
With older/poser and 3rd party content then I skip the smart content step
Overly complicated and cumbersome but it works for me.
l love the idea of categories but every time I've set my own up I have lost them within days
Using a triple monitor setup so have no issues with panes taking up screen real estate.
Edit: Bloody spelling. Again.
Edit: As Novica said, usng DIM to get too the readmes is useful. Assuming they exist
I've been scratching my head for a long time wondering why there's such a negative sentiment about Smart Content. And it just occurred to me that it appears that the thing that nobody mentions (or at least I never noticed) is that apparently a lot of people here have tons of non-DAZ-store content. So for that reason, Smart Content may not make a lot of sense.
I'm fairly new to this DAZ universe, and prior to this year only very briefly dabbled in D|S and Poser and Carrara over the years. So I had virtually no non-DAZ-store content, and what little I had I never bothered to transfer from old computers onward.
So for me, probably 90% of my content is very recent stuff from the DAZ store. And only a handful of items from that other place. And in fact until recently I didn't even know there were other places
. So for that stuff, I consider it to be a pain because I have to manually install. Personally I much prefer the Smart Content and DIM, because it does all that automatically. And all my other "content" is just OBJ files and such imported from Blender, which none of the DAZ content methods really care about.
So I'm thinking that if you have a lot of DAZ store content, then Smart Content and DIM is fine. If you don't, and especially if you have tons and tons of older and/or non-DAZ-store content, then maybe the other methods will be more to your liking.
I prefer to install all manually where and how i want
DIM allows installing content where you want and multiple libraries.
I don't trust either.
Tried DIM. Got burned. Lost library. Won't do that again.
Smart Content ain't. Only half-smart. Been doing it manually for almost 18 years. I'm smarter than it.
Huh. DIM works fine for me. And for custom content- do the Export User Data and save your categories, and then you have them. I don't trust the Studio to keep them for me.
Something is in the works to make it easier to add MetaData to non-DAZ content. If you're a PC+ member check out this thread:
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/24231/request-for-comment-content-folder-structure
I use DIM to install all products including third party and freebie products. To build the installer packges I use CPA Content Package Assistant. I love the Smart Content pane, so I always build metadata for any third party and freebie product.
I also do this, install with DIM and then have my own Categories.
I learned the hard way that Daz doesn't like Daz store content to be moved, categories lets me organize it how I like, and also categorize content purchased elsewhere.
I've got close to 2 Terrabytes of content, about 85% of it is not Smart Content, so yeah, DIM, and manual organiztion of content directories is what I use.
There are less items in Smart Content out of the box, than in the Content library which makes sense. Only what one plans to use the most --which I can choose to add. The major problem for me is the ability to find a specific prop, or hair or garment etc because of the wide inconsistencies of who ever names the things. I absolutely dislike the naming system, for example, G3 being called Victoria number something "Countess Bizar' for LucyAnne7. What the heck? I bought a G3 model to fit a G3 model. Lets start there. And maddeningly, the search on the site doesn't not limit to search term, let's say Genesis 3. No, you get G2 and now G8 and so forth. Its worse when you actually buy something, and don't remember the naming system. It gets installed sometimes by some other naming, like intials for an artist.
For example, I know I purchased the dogsled product a few years ago but I don't remember when. I wanted to install on my latest DAZversion for a project. I also assumed that dog sled or dogsled or just sled would pull up the item. No. It's now called Mush Hounds Sled Pack, which must be different from what it was when I purchased it, since it does not show as purchased in the online Product Libarya-(I've noticed this several times for old purchases, another example, I bought "Tootsie Hair" which is now called "Classic Rolled Hair"). So I tried "sled" again, "mush" and "hounds". Problem was it was not in the Smart Content but also not found in the Content Library. I push the Content Maintenace button, but still nothing found in my query. I often use the DM tool to find stuff, copy the path and search in my directory-but you have to do it recently so you can find the order and "know the name'. So that's where the DAZ installer is very helpful. In details, you can retrieve the name, and find the path it was installed to.
After a while, I repurchased it, downloaded with the DM, and I found one bit of the product package in the Content Pane. I make it "show in Smart Content", explore product, then I categorize it the way I want to find it. I have captured an itty bitty piece of the darn thing. This is the real value I've learned for the Smart Content pane which, when you use the pop up menu with "Explore Product", which will pull all the associated mats, props, poses, etc. I quickly select all, and categorize them the same way, in the Smart Content. Now I don't have to remember the crazy kooky inconsistent name of the darn file which was actually installed, wait for it.... "K-9" Really? Really? Not mush, not hound, not dog sled. The main DAZ library directory is nearly useless if one doesn't recall the name of the artist, and even those names are not consistent, so there are multiple folders of work by same artist. But, if in the drill-down, the name of the product doesn't include what the heck it is, nor anything part of the published title, as in this "K-9" versus "Mush Hounds", really, meaning a dog sled, it's hard to find once, and who wants to go through that over and over?
So the Smart Content file is a useful filter that I can control what the model is called for my personal querying. I want to know all G3 hair that is short, I don't care if they are called Pixiefleet Dust and Fraginetta for Aemily. I get all the colors that I categorize by the "hair" item, not by artist, which are sometimes made by someone else and called something else like Lucid Flow for Pinocle by BZ instead of colors for "Blunt Cut hair by Max34". I appreciate the artistic nature of the creations, but I must say my admiration for Smart Content has really grown since I learned how to actually find a selection based upon the criteria I would know. I really recommend using the pop up menu in the Smart Pane, "explore product". You can then acess the Read Me, and all the associated products, select all, categorize as what you will use, ie. G2, and presto, you can see your G2 without all the other stuff cluttering up your pane. It sorts by what it is, ie, figure, materials, pose, that were included in that product. That's a time saver. It's a little different than clicking the box, limiting by selected figure, because you can add other things that will fit, like V4, G1, etc.
Now that being said, I don't put my 3rd party items in DAZ libary. I keep a separate directory for each site source, with sub files under my own categories. It's easier than the baffling DAZ Library which uses artists names as the primary file, again because the naming is inconsistent, and different artists often contribute to the same base product. I can call up the item I need with my system explorer, because I know how I categorized them. Often the zip files are not named helpfully, neither by artist nor by product name, and not even what the heck it was, and like many, are often just numbers. I don't use DAZ Studio online, I prefer the separate installer, so I can see how long it's taking to download, and then I can easily see all of what I just purchased and installed, not just the one product.
Smart Content is a tool. Once I grasped how I could customize it, it has become very much a time saver.
I use the Content Library for DAZ items that don't seem to have metadata, are too new to show up when I first want to use them, or are impossible to remember the complete name of the products. It's not perfect but if recent enough, I match with the DM installer, and can find what I'm looking for fairly quickly.
Greetings,
A little bit of everything...
I use DAZ Install Manager for DIM-enabled packages and Connect for the packages that it has to have. The exception is if I'm transferring an older scene over and Connect notifies me that it needs product X that I don't have installed, then I let it install product X because DAMN THAT'S USEFUL! :)
I have separate My Library areas for:
To use 2 and 3 I (of course) use the Content Library pane. To use 1, I _mostly_ use the Content Library pane, but when I'm doing my initial setup I usually spend a lot of the time in Smart Content. It's only when I have to deal with scripts, shaders, or anything not neatly categorized by Smart Content that I burrow into the Content Library tree for DAZ items.
I very rarely go digging into the Connect panes; I do occasionally to see if there are updates for Connect-based items.
My use case is unusual, though, because I use Dropbox to synchronize the Runtime for my Mac and Windows systems. If I wasn't doing that, I'd probably use Connect for downloading everything from DAZ3D, since it's more efficient.
-- Morgan
p.s. Now that I'm messing with VR and have the commercial use license, I'm very tempted to split the DAZ 'My Library' into two, one for DAZ-owned content and one for everything else, so that I can be confident I'm building scenes that are solely using content I have a license to distribute in 3D.
I don't use smart content, and don't like it which is not news to anyone I suspect. But others like using it.
I use DIM and manually installed methods.
Wow!
Ok guys! I was not expecting all this info. But thank you!
What I see from all of you is you each have your own (best) way of keeping and organizing your gear. And some of you have a lot of gear, like myself, 10 years worth. Poser and Daz stuff too.
So! the result is: no two ways are best, it is the artist's choice. It is back to the metaphor of the "artist's paint box" on how he/she keeps their tools and paints organized. It is a personal thing and that is fine with me. I guess I just need to figure out how to best organize my gear.
Time to experiment.
Thank for sharing your experience and know how. Cheers
Manual download and installation for me. I keep my downloads very organized and DIM is clunky for downloading to various folders. Also, with manual downloads, I can easily download an image of each product with its .zip so I can browse the thumbnails of my stuff. I don't use Smart Content because I have several Content folders, some of which are for temp one-off images so I blow away those content folders every so often. Making a gazillion shortcuts to imitate my current content structure would be a huge time waste. I also hate the NEW banner it throws across the product thumbnails of recently installed content.