Finally getting organized. Is it even possible??? LOL
whispers65
Posts: 952
I've been 3d'ing since about 2009 so over the years I've accumulated 1000's of objects. I do take long breaks in between and at my age it seems like it is 50 first renders. I'm an elementary school candidate that never seems to move on and graduate. It is what it is. So I always seem to be starting over from scratch. I do this in video games too. It's annoying. Anyway....
I have a lotof content for genesis and genesis 2. I have a fair amount for genesis 3 (my goto at this point). I have virtually nothing for genesis 8 and just started playing around with the figure (like yesterday for the first time). I like Iray for the most part even though I have an older computer that likes to get hot.
So here are some things I'd like to work on or learn (funds are pretty non-existent these days so creativeness and skill plays a bigger part of the process). I'm working on a project for fun to make about 100 characters each for male and female, all ages.
1) What the heck is dForce? I keep seeing it. Yesterday, I created a basic genesis 8 character, attached a dForce hair onto it and couldn't even rotate the figure after that. Nothing else was in the scene. I need to look into this more, but like I said I just started genesis 8 yesterday.
2) Smart Content - When I looked for a character, all I see is a wall of people. I can't tell what generation they are for SO I made sub categories (at least for females so far) and went through each character. Now I can click on People>Female>Real World and it will have everything broken down into Genesis, Genesis 2, etc. It helps a lot.
3) Smart Content - Let's say I have a genesis 3 character. I click on the hair. But I don't want those. I want something different so I go over to my Content Library tab and peruse the products, renderosity, and so on. Then it's the same thing I have to know what generation it is for and then try to make it fit. I need to go through everything and make categories. That'd help a lot to have all of the hair in one place. Of course, something else that would be cool is take let's say a genesis 2 hair and fit it to genesis 3 and then save it for genesis 3 and have it show up in smart content under genesis 3. I have no idea how to do that yet. Still looking.
4) Character transfers. I've bought scripts and so forth. I've tried to transfer some characters from genesis and genesis 2 up to genesis 3. Not so much worried about skin transfers, although that would be good to especially for variety. I did watch a video on how to lighten or darken a skin tone so there's that also. Yesterday, I tried to transfer a character from genesis 8 to genesis 3. It failed pretty miserably. I think I am going to work on character transfers today.
5) Objects and Textures. I'd like to create my own. That would be so cool. Because there is always something I have in mind but "I still haven't found what I'm looking for". For instance, I'm looking for sports outfits. I have football, wrestling (I can fake it. only one issue), and soccer. But baseball is a different story. It'd be cool if I can make a uniform myself and be able to customize colors, numbers, and so on. This would be a stretch. I'm having issues creating a box lol. Clothes is definitely a few levels up.
Anyway, these are some of the things I'm working on. I'm not making as much progress as I would like but it helps depression. It's a lot of fun learning.
Any suggestions is greatly appreciated. There's got to be an easier way of doing some of these things.
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Comments
First off, I would suggest staying away from smart content. I don't use it and I know where everything is installed and find everything in the content library.
Dforce just means it can be dynamic. You load the dforce item and then run a simulation, usually with a simple keyframe animation to drape the dforce item.
To make your own objects, you will need a modeling app, like blender or hexagon
Do you come from a Poser background/past? If you do some of these things will make more sense to you once someone explains them...lol.
dforce is like Poser's hair and cloth room. It makes line-based hair drape and clothing made specifically for dforce drape. The hair is a bit more resource hungry than the cloth is, I've found. They both go faster and easier if you have a decent video card.
Smart Content is Daz's effort to try and help people find things they're looking for. It only works if there's proper metadata for the items. Most of them fall short in that department. I totally avoid Smart Content and just use the Content Library. If you're familiar with Poser, it's closer to Poser's libraries, but you have to have a general idea of where the item might be, but there is a search. Not always useful though. The content library is divided up by folders and everything for each figure (subdivided by gender) is in those folders - hair, clothes, characters, etc. All under "People"
Character transfers: I've done a few, but generally if I want Mike 6, I use Mike 6. That way I don't need to think about if the hair, clothes, textures and what not are going to work ;)
I can't help you with the modeling. LOL I do model, but it took years to learn to be honest and I'm still not very good at it :P If you really want to try it though, I might suggest Wings3D. It's very easy and only does box modeling. That way you don't have anything else in the software to distract you (unlike Blender, which is fantastic, but it's a bear because it has everything). Oh, and Wings3D is free :).
Have fun!
Thanks. Between this comment and the next one, I think I will offically ditch smart content and work primarily with the content library. I end up going there anyway. I'm just going to make categories and take the slow trip down the page and categorize everything.
I have/had Poser, but never could get it to work. Even with diffrerent computers and video cards, it'd crash on me so I've stuck with Daz Studio. I've used hexagon and blender a little bit. Actually, several years ago, a vendor at Rendo was very generous and made me a video creating a room and accessories. Even having my hand held, blender seems like a lot. Eventually, if I use something enough I'll learn it. It just takes a while on some things. I'll look into Wings3d. I've heard the name, but that is about it.
Taking advice about Smart Content from people that never use it is probably not getting a very objective view on its usefulness.
I use Smart Content a fair bit, although I also use the Content Library, you can not avoid that. Yes Smart Content has its drawbacks, but used correctly it can definitely increase your productivity, particularly if you have not spent ages sorting out your content. The best part of smart content is that it only shows you what is compatible with the relevant base, so click on a clothing item, and then you see all the material options for the relevant item instantly without having to drill down half dozen library structures to get to the material settings via the Content Library.
Another time I find it useful is when filling a scene with props. Click on Props, add a filter, like "Chair", and if you have a lot of content, chances are you are going to see dozens of different chairs to pick from to help you find the most appropriate one for the scene. To do that with the content library you will need to click on each prop or enviroment set you own which contains chairs in order to pick the one you want. Of course, as mentioned above, some Poser products, or non-DAZ products will not have smart content, and so you will not see the chairs for those. However when you already have many to choose from via Smart Content, do you really care?, particularly for a background item that does not form the focus of the render.
Smart Content has never been a reliable feature so not being reliant on it is the actual smart thing.
Blender is not very hard and there's wealth of online resources and plugins available for it, but it requires braving the user interface first. It's Blender UI what's overwhelming. YT tutorials are good help with the initial shock.
LMAO, sorry, but that comment cracked me up since I have spent way to much time trying to figure it out. I am hoping one day it will "click", but I am not hopeful.
One day I'll look at tutorials, but I am used to opening up a modeling app and having it be intuitive for me, 3DSMax was that way.
That's the "braving the interface first" part. Chances for figuring it out with no tutorial help are slim.
There's everything stuffed in there. Funny, but the UI was made more streamlined compared to what it was before.
Do bear in mind that Smart Content and categorisation are separate - Smart Content can filter based on category and compatibility, but you can use the Categories section of the Content Library pane to categorise without worrying about the issues that can arise with the compatibility metadata.
Another option is to leave the files alone, but inside DS copy/paste them to create links (or use http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/specific_ui/create_asset_links/start to create a whole batch of links) in the folder(s) of your choice.
Both links and categories avoid any issues thay may arise from moving the files around - updates not installing correctly, or products like Ultra Scatter not fidning the assets they need.
Yes, that is true. I do agree that Smart content is good for certain things. I do like the fact that if I have a character selected then it will show me what I can use for that character. I mainly use Genesis 3 now, but I don't have a lot of stuff so I end up going to the content library and have to search a lot. Regular searches seem to only show Daz products. I have just as much from other places like Rendo, freebies, etc. So I end up looking through stuff manually hence why I'm looking to make everything play together a little nicer. Ultimately, I do like Smart content for its simplicity but I don't see as much as I'd like to see. YET.
Yeah, the interface alone is definitely daunting to me. I watched some animation tutorials last night from blender. They make it look easy lol.
yeah, I don't plan on moving any files around. I think they are all messed up enough lol. for now categories will work for me.
It's always nice to see fellow fans who can still appreciate the Genesis and 2 / 3 generations. While I did pick up several G8 goodies my love for Genesis and Genesis 2 never faded. In fact... during the last on / off sales I managed to grab a lot of nice goodies specifically for the older Genesis generations. A catgirl collection which I once considered buying was now available for less than E 5,- (dunno the price from mind anymore), a steal IMO.
Anyway, sorry, I digress. I'm only going to address the parts I'm more familiar with... while I do know what dForce is I actually avoid it like the plague because... meh, I'm not a fan for offtopic reasons.
I love the smart contents pane because it allows me to create order in the otherwise chaotic structure of the library. It also saves me a lot of time because you can easily get overviews of all the stuff you have available which is actually usable for your currently selected item. In the content library you'd be constantly browsing for one item and the other, unless of course you started moving things around.
But moving things around in your library can and sometimes will result in problems when you have additional products which rely on that one item you moved away. Annoyances like that can never happen in smart contents because it's all meta data which is not something other products will ever rely on.
Don't get me wrong here... Yes, I love the smart contents, but at the same time I use my content library pane a lot as well. For example to add stuff to my smart contents ;) ok, ok, sorry: lame joke (but still somewhat true.. one of the reasons I love the smart tab is because you can customize it). Thing is, both tabs have their uses and when used right can complement each other big time.
Lets say I want to apply an assescoire for G8 but onto G2 or even Genesis. Won't work with the the smart pane, but the library pane will have no issues showing me what I want to use ("Categories => Default => Accesoiries => ...."). Or... let's say I'm working with a specific item from a specific product. I often build up my scenes using subsets (so.. I use one or two figures, set those up, save it as a subset and then I move onto the other part of my scene). Right click on an item in your smart panel => Show asset in .... => "Content library > Products". Done.. Now I have everything I need to set up my base figure.
(ps: I know I can't spell right now ;))
Actually... not really. Items from a lower generation will usually always fit characters from a higher generation. But 'smart' doesn't really account for this feat. None of it. I have this very cool (IMO) troll loincloth, it's really crude which I think really does the character justice. So... I also applied this to some of my female characters from time to time which I think seriously adds up to my fantasy renders. Yah... it'll fit perfectly but you won't be able to set it up using "smart".
Simply put: unless you mess with the meta data yourself then you won't see items from a different generation in your smart contents pane (depending on what you have selected in your scene tab).
Can't really comment on this but... I do wonder: why bother? Now, I suppose I am a bit biased (and entitled?) here but... yah, my take: 3D editors where I cannot help but mention my personal favorite of ZBrush but... in all fairness: the next bit should be perfectly doable with other environments as well (though I'm only familiar with Hexagon myself).
True story: the other day I was working on a fantasy render where I wanted to apply a gag for G8F (from the "SY Tied up! 2 for Genesis 8") but.. onto a Genesis based model. It worked, "sorta" but clipped heavily at the sides and back of the head. So... I "Goz'ed" the whole figure over into ZBrush (so: base figure and all applied clothing / accesoiries) and simply started editing / sculpting the gag until it fitted. Not just that... I applied a few bumps and "stretches" as well to make it look better. I then copied my changes back into Daz Studio which recognized my changes and allowed me to save 'm as a morph (which also means getting even more control over my changes!) and... I was done. Now, ZBrush makes this process ridiculously easy but making morphs is also perfectly doable in programs like Hexagon & Blender which are available for free.
As an added bonus (IMO) all those customizations will also make those renders truly mine. I'm not relying on any premade stuff poses, only my tools and my own creativity..
Maybe food for thought?
Warning: heavy bias is in effect right now: ZBrush. For fairness sakes: yes, tools like Blender and Hexagon (you'd still need something like Gimp or Photoshop for your textures though...) can get the job done as well. I've used Hexagon + Gimp for years myself. Now I do all of that in ZBrush though in all fairness I do sporadically also rely on "Photoshop Elements" to finetune some of my setups.
It wasn't cheap and I had to seriously save up before I could afford it but oh man... Fun part is that I'm not even a good artist, I can't draw and trying to sculpt something from a ball into something else is also a major chore for me (if not downright impossible). Yet I do manage to get creative results with ZBrush. From just 'changing' stuff (as mentioned above; which was honestly just done by sculpting using the standard brush while merely changing my brush size and the "z depth intensity" (in combination with some smoothing)) but also applying textures.
ZBrush provides a feature called "Polypaint" which allows you to draw directly onto your mesh ("3D figure") and then create a required texture map based on your painting efforts whereas "other programs" would require you to generate a "UV map" which you can then import into a painting program in order to start colorizing it (fair warning: I never really kept up with other software so I can't say if other environments made any progress in this field as well, just mentioned for fairness sakes because I cannot stress this out enough: I am heavily biased).
Now... for total clarity: when it comes to figures such as Genesis and such and then applying stuff to that ("skins") then it can become a bit tricky because Daz Studio breaks up the texture for those figures in multiple parts. But props, clothes and other stuff? I stopped buying texture packs a long time ago, simply because I can get things done in ZBrush and then import my work either directly ("GoZ") or export my work as a texture map and then add that into my Daz smart contents pane.
Yah, ZBrush aint cheap, but man.... it can really help you get results. One step at a time.
Oh... and it's not just sculpting either... to me ZBrush is a full replacement for Hexagon because it can do all of that too (and a lot more). So: direct modelling, actually changing / editing the points, edges and polygones. Heck, a few weeks ago I managed to create an actual cellphone for my Genesis figure (and I'm quite proud of that feat). I know it means so very little because it's essentially just a textured 3D rectangle but.. meh, its an awesome start for me.
Before I forget: I see your objects and textures, and I'll raise you one with clothing :D
Now, I'm really just learning this part myself and so far I'm focussing on bra's and panties (and for now doing a lousy job). But the start of all this couldn't be more easy.... In Hexagon I had to start off with a primitive object (like a cone) which I moved "onto" my figure and then started modeling to get things to fit. At least that was the theory, I never managed to get any good results here because ... it took so long that I eventually lost interest. I always got the feeling that I was trying to build a wall using chopsticks to get the bricks in place (dumb example but... yah). Thing is: you got full control but had to have a lot of patience before you got anywhere.
In ZBrush otoh... oh dear... I simply start "drawing" a mask onto my figure while also trying to apply some "creative" changes in shape and then, when I have my figure covered as needed I simply 'extract' the whole thing. So... I more or less "extract" a mesh from my masking (which is basically only covering parts of my figure to outline my new clothing).
Once I have the mesh I can then actually change it through sculpting and / or modelling ("ZModeler brush" for the win ;)).
It's an awesome way to start because you get to see your goal straight from the getgo which can help you to keep your motivation up (at least that's how I fare so far). Of course.... this is only one part of the puzzle ;)
I actually managed to create something that looked like a skinny loincloth this way, even managed to apply somewhat of a texture, but yah... for Daz this was still nothing more but a colored prop, not a piece of clothing, and I still need to figure out this part first ("rigging"). For that particular render I simply ended up 'cheating' and placed the "clothing prop" in the right way for my scene ;)
Now, biased or not... to me ZBrush is one heck of an "expansion" for Daz Studio. It's definitely not perfect but ... it sure comes close, at least for me.
I apologize for the (too?) long read, but... it's Friday evening and I really enjoy 3D modelling from time to time (though digital audio is my true passion). I hope this can still help give you some ideas, this is honestly what works for me so far. It won't be easy (categorizing and importing items into your smart contents pane (actually: your "Daz CMS") takes time & effort) and if you do decide to "enhance" your setup you'll have a whole new world to learn as well.
But it can be quite enjoyable and very rewarding. IMO of course.
Thanks for reading!
I can't say that I'm really a people person as much as a scene/location/object person. For instance, a boat on the ocean, a cyberpunk back alley, an Island, a car, a house, etc. Those things catch my eye more. I just need people to put in them so I usually buy enough people to get the basics and then try and make my own characters. They aren't always good, but I have fun doing it. I like to see how things work. I worked in IT for 34 years and did troubleshooting so figuring things out is kind of in my blood, although I'm a LOT older these days so it takes a while to catch it.
I have no plans on moving files around. I don't understand the structure that well. As long as creating catetories doesn't do that. Everything can stay the way it is.
I'm not sure what you mean on the fit part. Hair seems to be the worst for me. If I try a hair from Genesis on genesis 3 then I won't get a "fit to" option. I can however cheat and put in on genesis 2 first and then fit to genesis 3 from there.
I tend toward scenes with several people in it and I have used different generations in the same scene. I don't know. I do like variety. I think some things fit better and look more realistic on genesis 3. But I like to experiment around and see what is possible. Character creation is fun. Do they have tails? Braces? Vamprie teeth? Are they transparent? Do they have tattoos? Is there tongue pierced? What is the progression from child to old age? I don't know. I just like to create characters even if I never use them. I suck at renders. Lighting is the worst for me. But I've always taken what someone else has created. Now I want to create things myself more than ever. I took a stab at it a time or two and didn't get far. I'm ready to try again.
You wouldn't happen to be a zbrush sales person? No seriously, you have me sold on it. I would love to have it, but have no money. The lottery hasn't been kind. I'm still hoping though.
It's funny. In the beginning, I wanted to start with tshirts, underwear, and socks. LOL. So we're the same on that. I felt it would be easier than to make a ballroom gown or tuxedo starting out. I found a video on youtube tonight that did a pretty good job of explaining how to make textures so I'm giving that a shot. He used photoshop. I don't have that anymore, but I'm going to try paint.net. It's free. I can probably do the same steps. I have a tshirt and a pair of shorts that I like for a character. The tshirt has 5 textures (3 of them plain colors) and the shorts have 2. I'm going to give this video a try and see if I can expand the options. For others, this would be simple. For me a challenge. We'll see how it goes.
No apology necessary. I enjoyed the read! I'm not around anyone who has my interests at all so I don't get to talk to anyone about it. Sorry, I don't post much so I had to figure out how to chop and quote stuff. I hope my responses make sense.
Awww, no Genesis eh? We're mortal enemies now :P (naah!)
Hmm, since we're in 2020 (rounded up) right now and since you mentioned being older I'm assuming that I can safely subtract 10 - 15 years taking us back to 2005, then subtract 30 years from that and it puts you right in what I consider the golden age of IT: when it call began and when you actually had to know your stuff vs. knowing how to talk your way around a manager and then blaming 'Murphy' for your own shortcomings :P nice!
Also you calling it IT and not ICT gave this away a bit. Yah, I can relate here ;)
Good plan. There is actually some structure in effect though, which will become more clear if you buy or grab stuff from "other places" besides Daz3D's store, so basically when you have to install your stuff manually.
In short: People => (Figure / Generation) => (Item type) => (Artist name) => (Item name) => "Stuff".
Where 'People' could be exchanged for other things, like Hair or Poses. Of course that's the intended theory, in reality many artists don't seem to care about the library structure at all (not even those selling their stuff through the Daz3D store!) and it's usually quite a mess. Don't feel bad if some things don't make sense to you.... "$library => People => "retracted publisher name" => "retracted artist name" => "Awesome armor"" (which is then filled with both armor props + material presets) makes no sense to me either. And yet... this comes from an official Daz product.
Odd, that shouldn't matter... If the hair is actually recognized by Daz Studio as hair you should always get a "Fit to..." option - as far as I know -. Could be related to the hair and your used figure perhaps? Either way, I attached a screenshot to showcase what this scenario would look like over here, I simply used "any" hair I found under Genesis, but ... if you can share any specific names then maybe somecan could figure out what's going on on your end....
Ah yes, point taken. Thanks for elaborating! Different people / artists / fans, different approaches :) Yeah, sometimes I get a bit too carried away.
That's the spirit! Yah, that's my story right now when it comes to actually creating 3D props, but... As to renders... maybe something to consider: Iray (only usable with an NVidia videocard though) and / or Filament. You'd need a proper background of some sorts ("hdri") which can also apply for some lighting but depending on what you need the whole lighting becomes much less of an issue, let alone a hindrance.
I enjoy working on casual, often plain out silly, stuff and because I often don't intend the render to get too serious I usually then rely on Filament. It's a "viewport render engine" added to the later versions of Daz Studio which I think could help you get started with creating good looking stuff yet without the extra hassle of lighting. It's not perfect! But it might help get more detailed renders without too much issues.
If you do intend to look into this stuff: by default the engine tends to over-expose models, if you want to make full use of it you'll have to add a "Filament draw options node" (see 'create' menu) to help you tone things down (change parameters of this node in the 'Parameters' pane (after you selected it in the scene pane)). Food for thought perhaps?
Nope, no hidden agendas on my end. Yah, I tend to get excited about the stuff I use and if you think this was convincing you should read my stories / blog posts about my audio stuff :P In all honesty though I am just as excited about Daz Studio itself, hence the long post :)
Also... Blender may be something to keep in mind as well. Although I personally don't enjoy working with it I'll also be the first to state that the project (and software) as a whole is very impressive. I don't keep taps on other stuff but I do skim YouTube and watch general "3D videos" (referring to the render part ;)) over there, which sometimes also covers Blender. Seriously: there are plenty of people out there who can get some serious results with all that.
Of course... tools don't make the artist, but even so... could be something to look into. My "tube across the figure" example which I mentioned referred to Hexagon, at least Blender also has sculpting options these days which can definitely help to get 'faster' results. And as mentioned: it's free.
If there's one thing I've learned about 3D renders and such over the years it's to start small, learn the basics (not necessarily the technique or steps to make a specific item) and depending on how you approach things: don't try to take on too big of a project to start off, because it could leave you demotivated (though that depends on ... you of course :)). It's one of the reason why I'm quite pleased with my own cellphone :)
Maybe 2 other things to consider: Photoshop Elements. It's not free but it's a lot cheaper than getting a subscription and IMO it's quite good. Takes getting used to, definitely not perfect (Adobe are weird on some points) but ... I enjoy working with it. Also in combination with their 'Organizer' which can help you set up a database for your media and sort things out without actually physically moving your images (a "Smart Contents" pane in Photoshop, lol!).
Of course you only get what you pay for and sometimes... also true story: at one time I couldn't use this software (which I paid for!) for over 2 months without it crashing on me. Just "poof", and on a high end machine too! Turned out Adobe messed up and eventually fixed the whole thing.
So... there's also Gimp to consider, and that too is very impressive. Free of charge, been using that for years before I started using PSE (which one could argue I only started using because I'm lazy :P) but even so, Gimp most definitely rivals Photoshop when it comes to provided features, though it does have a bit of a learning curve. Still, plenty of documentation available, maybe something to consider?
Wishing you all the best!
And I mostly hope you're going to have as much fun with all this as I've had so far. It's always a bit special creating something visual of your own :)
(edit) : forgot my attachement, that's my cue to head to bed :-)
(edit2): Removed my attachement due to nudity, can't redo right now but... hair on G3 shouldn't be an issue perse.
I think you need creating your own custom categories . With it you can mix all items from different vendor or generation in one place . And the good thing about using this route , you dont messed up your real path or item locations . This like creating shortcut . In practice there is no limit what kind item you`ll save in there .
And yeah I`m always creating mashup items between Figures+Wardrobe + Props+ my Favorite light and shaders in one custom category folder everytime I`m working in serious projects .
Here the short walkthrough how you can build your own
XXXXX = your Genesis Figure version and Hair names
Thank you! I am going to work on some of this today among other things. I know it will take me a while, but it will be so much easier afterward. Have a great day!
Nah. I fired up a genesis figure last night.
I'm soon to be 57. I've been around a little bit. We played board games before video games came out. Pong was our first video system. Incidentally, I've never even heard of the "ICT" lol.
I do have a "Fit to..." option, just not the correct figure. I don't have an example right off, but I'll be using Genesis 3 and go to put on something from Genesis or something. There won't be a "Genesis" option so I either go with unsupported or genesis 2 and see where my luck takes me.
I didn't know that Iray was only for nvidia, but I do have an nvidia card. It's an old one gtx970. It does what I want. Yeah, an upgrade would be great, but then again there's that whole money thing. The word "Filament" vaguely rings a bell. I'll have to research it. I've never noticed it before anyway. For viewport, I just have it only whatever the default textured mode or whatever. I've never changed it lol. I'll place characters etc and then do a render and then cancel and make adjustments. As you can see, even though I've been working with studio for a while I don't know a lot of stuff and I'm surely not anywhere close to doing things easy lol.
My sister and I had a challenge at one point to make an animated movie in blender. of course, it went nowhere. I've never even animated a ball or a stick figure. I do have an idea in mind, but it's like everything else - in my mind.
This kind of fell through last night. It's always take step forward and several backward. He used photoshop and then created a layer and then a mask layer for the layer. Paint.net doesn't have mask layers. So I'm still trying to "wrap" my ahead around texturing. I can see if you have a layer for the pattern or I guess UV is the term, and then have a layer for the actual texture as in the fabric or wood or something, and then another layer for color or a pattern of some sort. I sort of get that. What I was working on was a finished product. I was going to trying and add textures to it. The tshirt was a little easier. It was all black with a logo or something on it. I copied part of the tshirt with no logo and pasted over the logo and then I superimposed in another layer something else. It worked, but I'm not sure the "correct" workflow. The shorts were camo so I didn't get anywhere on it. I'll try again today. If I can get it in my head and do it a couple of times, then I can do hundreds if needed and practice.
I have a very OCD organized runtime myself. I have People, and under that each generation, under that male or female. Then I have hair, inside that folder is each generation, male or female, then clothes same. For Enviroments I have it broken down into Contemporary, Fantasy, Historical, SciFi and under those more folders inside for, say contemporary, bedrooms, living rooms, outside, etc. Vehicles has its own folder outside of props also broken into genres and inside those ground, water, sky, etc. It is the only way I can make sense of a runtime that contains tons of content from here, other sites, plus custom items I have developed or had made that I can't find. My poser runtime is a mess but getting better as I convert items to the DAZ library format as I use them and save materials to DAZ format. Can't wait for the day I no longer have a poser runtime.
I was thinking about this more last night. Let's say I buy a character. Normally it comes with hair, clothes, etc. Or at least that's how I like to buy them. So when organizing, I'd like to have everything that came with the character together in one place, but at the same time, I'd like the options available for other characters as well. So if I am looking for a particular hairstyle, I don't want to try and remember what character it came with. So I'll have to categorize it in more than one way.
I had a similar level of manual categorization in my library. Then one of the DAZ updates clobbered it.
I've limped along with just native default file system organization for the last few years.
Someday, someday, I'll redo the categorization. But I agree with your comment above.
Let's say you buy a character named, Dan Carson, and he comes with all that such as oh, Buff Guy Hair
Hair -> Genesis 8 Male -> Head -> Dan Carson - Buff Guy Hair
Hair -> Genesis 8 Male -> Brows -> Dan Carson Brows
Clothes -> Contemporary -> Genesis 8 Male -> Dan Carson Lounge Suit
Attachments -> Contemporary -> Genesis 8 Male -> Dan Carson Rolex
That way I know who I got it with IF I decide to put him together with all his options, but it's also available to any characters without having to remember that specific hair I want is buried in Dan's folder. Also, being that the duf files themselves are rather small, and even smaller if you you windows disk compression like I do on everything except textures, just copy and paste if you don't want to rename folders.
I've been doing this for years. As soon as I get something I hyper organizie and always keep one of my 2 8TB externals synched to my 8TB internal library folder. I swap the externals once a month and put one back in the box in the closet.
After 2 runtime losses due to drive failures and having to get everything back and reorganize again I am really particular about keeping my libraries backed up redundantly. There are things I'd like to have today but lost in a drive crash and cannot get anymore as the sites are out of business. After the second one 6 years ago I said never again and started being really reall particular about keeping everything backed up.
This corresponds exactly to my experience.