why is ZIP content so totally unstructured and convoluted? Look at this example:
tim ti tum tim tum
Posts: 19
I got a character ZIP file and there are three(!) places where materials-related files are located, for the same character:
\Content\People\Genesis 2 Female\Materials
\Content\data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 2\Female\UV Sets\DAZ 3D
\Content\Runtime\Textures\DAZ\Characters\Genesis2
This is crazy, and makes managing stuff near impossible. How can this be? It's official DAZ content.
And look at just the simple folder for G2F files:
\Content\data\DAZ 3D\Genesis 2\Female
\Content\People\Genesis 2 Female
Am I the only one missing the point here? Why on earth is there so much subfolder junk?
:-S
I am so peeved.
How can I get this stuff organized so I have something along the lines of:
-content
-data
-morphs
-uv sets
-textures
-presets
-shaders
-poses
-properties
-lights
-camera
-people
-props
It's driving me insane that there are 9,374 folders to deal with.
In my mind, there is not that much happening:
1) geometries
2) morph presets
3) shader presets
4) UV presets
5) texture files
6) pose presets
7) light presets
8) camera presets
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The files under Data and the files under Runtime/Textures are not user-facing files -- they don't appear inside DS or Poser. The files under People in this case are the only user-facing files. The Data folder contains geometry, morph, and UV data, and the Runtime/Textures folder contains the 2d image files.
I see.
So I can rearrange stuff in /people at will, then?
Thing is, I like to adjust textures to my own specifications, and need to get to the support files (PNG/JPG), and I wish I could just keep it all in one place for easy reference.
I also want to clean stuff up, because my content library is all over the place - poses and props or hairs I never use, folders upon folders... it's horrible.
Yes, the files/folders under People can be rearranged (although then DIM won't be able to update or uninstall them automatically). Except for Data and Runtime, you can rearrange things at will. The Runtime folder has special rules -- only specific folders under Runtime/Libraries are visible inside DS, any other folders under Runtime shouldn't be moved.
Anything in /data/ or /Runtime/Textures/ isn't part of your content library, it's the vital data that must stay where it was installed to keep your content working. A lot of people over the years have discovered that "wanting to clean up" the wrong files is the best way known to break your content.
Which is precisely the reason why I post the question here, so as to NOT do this.
I saved a morph dial as a morph asset, and then tried it with a new file. Attempting to use the asset doesn't do anything. I looked around for the morph dial and also can't see it anywhere.
What I did was:
1 - opened my scene
2 - applied a custom morph I had created
3 - go "file>save>save as morph asset"
4 - close file and open new file, load base figure (no morphs)
5 - browse content library to my saved shaping asset
6 - double click asset as i usually do (also tried dragging onto the figure)
Result: nothing - no dial to be seen
I'm not really able to troubleshoot because I don't know what is going on behind the scenes of morph dials - aren't they files that are saved somewhere under /data/ or something?
Thanks.
Although I solved my immediate problem by saving the morph via "file>save>support asset>morph asset", I'm still unclear what the difference is between saving a morph preset and a morph asset.
Sigh. It all seemed so simple at first, but It's getting increasingly complex :P
A morph asset is actual data on how the vertices should move, a preset just sets the values for existing assets.
Saved a morph asset, and it works fine when I load up the base.
But where can I find the physical morph file itself?
I realize DS is trying to just "automagically" do things but I like to have backups and I just want to know what's going on behind the scenes.
Thanks.
You know the data folder you were complaining about in your other thread?
It's in there...under the figure the morph is for...something like data/Daz 3D/Genesis 2/Female/Morphs///morph.dsf
Yea. After some digging I found it, like 45 levels deep in the structure... I really wish I could control that manually and make it save in something like /content/presets/morphs and be happy, but nooo, I'm not supposed to look at these, it's "not user facing" :P
Can I move the morph.dsf anywhere else? If I edit the modifier.parent attribute in the JSON accordingly, I should be able to place it anywhere, right?
Thanks for your responses, I really appreciate it.
This is really not that hard. If you save out with File>Save as>Support Asset> Morph asset(s) properly, you'll have a folder in the data folder with your name that will store all the morphs you have created. It's all in how you save things out. Take a look at my pics. Also, try watching SickleYield's video.
Edit: I would hasten to add that I highly recommend following the correct structure so you don't have problems. All of my assets for G2F are in one folder under my name. Another one for my G2M assets and so on. It's actually pretty well structured.
I thought I'd better mention when I said I set the parameters for the Shapes tab, I'd better post which parameters I meant. You access them through the little gear icon on the dial. As Sickle mentioned in her video, if you are bringing in your morphs, as many of us do, through Morph Loader Pro, it will, by default try to put them in a category called Morph Loader Pro, but we drop down the menu on the MLP and then choose where to put our dial locations. It can be done as you create the dial in the MLP window, or even if you leave it as default, you can change it through the gear on the dial and use the drop down on the current location to the new one you want.
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As I explained in your other thread, I showed that I have presets for my morphs. These presets apply each head and body morph at 100%. There is also a remove preset to remove any added head or body morphs. One of the things that the dials allow is for you to add less than 100% of the morph you make and, in cases, like many of my products, allows you to mix morphs at varying percentages. As Mike said, these presets load values, but not the morphs themselves, so saving a preset is very different than a morph asset.
You might try keeping all your questions, on these very related topics, in one thread because as you can see some of the information that was posted to your other thread was relevant to what you asked here.
DIM files tend to be split and numbered according to their associations. For example
IM00011482-01_SabaaAlKairDS and IM00011482-02_SabaaAlKairPS
01 = DAZ3D and 02 = PS (Poser)
In the above examples the name of the product has been clearly labelled with a DS (DAZ Studio) and PS (Poser) in the file name as an addition to the 01 and 02 numerical separator.
DIMs have been created since DAZ Studio v4 but I have seen the use if earlier EXE installers for some products which have later been converted to DSON DIM Zip format so both can exist out there
Some DIMS need only a single install whereas in some cases both DIM 01 and 02 may require installing for the whole product to load correctly in DAZ Studio and or Poser for it to load the various assets and textures , lights, scenes, sets and many other things.
A Vendor may have split their product into more than a single DIM zip file for easier downloading from the DAZ Shop and your online account on the internet to facilitate better downloading although this tends to be the case for newer products which may contain large Textures for specialist rendering cards where the second DIM content contains the textures for the card but the DIM Manifest file still requires the DSON zip container to be downloaded and installed for DAZ, Poser, Carrara, Bryce and some other programs which can utilize the DSON installer Zip files for their content product files.
But this is not exclusive because I have seen the 01 and 02 used the other way around where the Poser content can use the 01 and the DAZ Studio content can use the 02..
Again, I have seen 03 and 04 and 05 numerical signifiers used in some products, depends how big the product is or how many programs use the product as specified by the Vendor (The original producer of the product).
There is no fixed convention as such but the main convention employed (in most cases) seems to be 01 for DAZ Studio and 02 for Poser but other configurations can and have been used just to confuse us further.. The main problem with DAZ3D and Poser and providing products for these programs is there is little or no documentation provided by the vendor or DAZ themselves apart from the scant information provided on the product's store page containing some promotional images and some text information about the product and their DSON Installers.
From examining very old EXE files and more recent EXE installers, and the more recent DSON DIM Installer files, their content, file structure, folder structure, then the older EXEs tended to contain a ReadMe.html file with both the DAZ 3D logo, a product image and some text information written about the product, the included files, the file structure and contents and how it should install and what should install for the product to work and function correctly for DAZ3D and or Poser respectively.. I have no idea about other supporting programs which supported EXE installers because I have no previous experience of these programs or files. In fact I have only been using DAZ Studio since 4.5 since August 2014 and I made the jump to v4.7 Pro straight away and now more recently DAZ Studio Pro 4.8 Iradium (One week using 4.8 Public build 4.09).
The point I am making is DAZ and Poser products used to be reasonably documented but today the products are sadly lacking in proper accompanying documentation because the ReadMe.html file and picture image convention has been dropped and no longer is a requirement, although some vendors still use it and have added PDF support and documentation especially for more complex products such as custom lights, cameras, shaders and other higher more complex uses which the user would have no knowledge of and would need in order to best use and to get the best of the product otherwise the user who purchases the product would be left in the dark not being provided with any information how best to use it or exploit it within one of their own work.. I've lost count of the times I have to go searching on the DAZ forum or YouTube or Blogs to find the relevant information when this should have been provided in accompanying documentation by the vendor with their product in the first instance but it wasn't..
I've only scratched the surface of what is possible with DAZ Studio having only used the software for such a short period of time.. I do know from examining DSON Zip files, their content and structure that some vendors produce excellent DSON installers and some very poor ones. Some provide the correct support files such as:-
Runtime/Support/
DAZ_3D_11482_Sabaa_Al_Kair_DS.dsa
DAZ_3D_11482_Sabaa_Al_Kair_DS.dsx
DAZ_3D_11482_Sabaa_Al_Kair_DS.jpg
The *.dsx file containing the database content information for the file types and their associations together with the database references for the Smart Content aspect of how DAZ Studio sees and can use the data and indeed how the product is displayed using a 110 px X 143 px *.jpg image for the Smart Content.
With the appropriate software and utility programs one can edit and create your own product DSON DIM installers. Lost count of how many DSON installer ZIP files I have had to reproduce because the commercial DSON DIM Zips I purchased simply had no database support files and I had had to create my own. Each time I wished to uninstall a DSON Zip product only to find I had to create a new database entry every time I wanted to do this then instead I learned how to create my own DSON DIM installer zips and to include the missing database files and accompanying database image for the smart content myself and recompile the said DSON zip file so in the end, it becomes a correct installer which I can install and uninstall whenever I need to without the need to recreate the database entry. Instead the database files are included correctly within the Zip file as they should have been created in the first place.
Not all DSON Zip installer files are the same and not all vendors have adhered to established conventions when producing their own. Some contain everything, even the database entry files include the correct cross-reference data but some are badly and poorly produced.. A lot of this means, you check what you purchase and ensure it is compatible with your own version of DAZ Studio and your computer/hard disk installation and where you store and install your DSON installer zip files from and to.. It all matters. I suggest you learn about the files, how they are constructed, what the content is, where the files are stored and how they install and how all this works in conjunction with DAZ Studio and Poser.. I have very limited knowledge of Poser because I don’t own it and don't use it but I know what file types Poser uses and the directory structure Poser and its DSON installer ZIP file use but I'm very adept with DAZ Studio DSON DIM Zip installers because I have reverse engineered enough of them to understand their workings, structure, how files are structured and stored and how directory hierarchies are used to transfer files from a DSON Zip installer and how the content is unpacked to a DAZ Studio My DAZ Library folder structure, where the files un-archive to and how DAZ Studio knows from the installed files and where they can locate any supporting files which models require such as textures.. One only learns this stuff when you lift off the hood and get your hands dirty..
There may be an established method required for producing DSON Zip installer products but remember not all vendors adhere to these conventions. In fact, not all swans are white..
AFAIK there is no convention for which download ID (the -01, -02, etc. at the end) should be for which applications/versions. They are solely for distinguishing the different zips when a product requires more than one. Functionally, DIM treats each download ID as an update for a previous install with the same download ID. For example, a lot of older products did not come with DAZ Studio-optimized materials. It only had a single DIM zip (-01) which was to be used for all versions of DS and Poser. If that product is updated to add a StudioCF with DS-optimized materials (which still requires the original Poser-format files), the main zip is usually still -01 and shows up in DIM as an update, while the StudioCF (-02) shows up as a new "product" rather than as an update. However, if instead it is updated with a stand-alone DS version (and perhaps a Legacy version as well for older versions of DS), the Poser-format version may stay as -01, or the DS version may be made -01 and the Poser version -02. In practice, installing an -02 zip will not uninstall the -01 zip, even if the files in the old -01 version are no longer needed by any particular user. Whether to keep the Poser version as -01 or not is a judgment call -- on the one hand the files are mostly the same (maybe even exactly the same), but on the other hand new users may only use the current version of DS, so for their ease in updating it would make sense to make the DS version -01, since it isn't critical to uninstall the Poser-format files if you're going to use those files anyway.
Many products DO have additional information provided by the vendor on the readme page. You can access those by clicking the i in DIM.
We merged the three threads into one as the information was beginning to be scattered or repeated. You may change the title by editing your original post if you'd like it to read something different now that the threads are merged. Your common topic is Morph Assets, if that helps.
Actually...yes, if you want to go through all the trouble of editing the files to set a new path, you can. In fact, if you want to do that, it's best to save them uncompressed. It makes it easier to edit (been there...done that...no, I don't have/want the t-shirt and rather don't want to do it again...)