Where is it saving all of this stuff?

JD_Mortal

Again, I am left hunting through thousands of folders and files, looking for "My stuff"...

I used the "Save as support asset" -> "Morph Asset"...

Great... Done... Now where is it and how do I get it to work, and load-up without having to attempt to instruct others to find it, install it, turn it on, and keep it on... (Essentially, just getting it to work like every other morph asset you install. Once I find where Daz hid it.)

No, it didn't prompt me for a "location to save the asset", other than asking me where my library was. It is not in there anyways, so it obviously hid it in some folder, somewhere...

No, it doesn't show in "Smart content", even though, it should, since it is a morph for Gen3 base-model, it should obviously auto-fill, at least, that much of the meta-data so we can find it...

I love how Daz just hides things all over, then ends the tutorials and help-files, with... "Ok, you're all done, now just pass it out to all your friends!", as if it somehow packaged it into an installer and is somehow "ready for friends to use", and it saved it somewhere WE told it to, not just... Meh, where-ever... Figure it out...

This is the third morph I made, which has just vanished. Works great when you make it, but it only works in that scene, sometimes... Not to mention the multiple redundant steps, along the creation process, telling it what the item is, and where it should be, and what to name it... Did that four times in the process... Over and over... and it remembers noting in the end, asking you to enter it again, as you import it, to ultimately save it again, with that info, that it still doesn't remember, or you can only setup some info there, then other info in the control itself, but it doesn't save that info anywhere, making it useless to enter the FOURTH time, again.

(I hate ten-step processes... I hate doing ten-step processes four times, and only having it remember half of ten, of the last ten I went through.)

Help!

Quote from the help-center instructions tutorial...

Wrap-Up

Now that you have saved your morph, you can reuse, share it or package it for sale.

Um, nope... But in ten mores steps, following this next tutorial... It may be!

P.S. Love how it keeps instructing you to do things that just don't exist... (Click on the controls area and select EDIT MODE... Sure, program that option into the menu and I'll click it!)

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/userguide/creating_content/packaging/tutorials/saving_morphs/start#saving_morph_assets

Edit Mode - First you need to make sure you are able to edit properties. Do this by R-clicking in the Properties Pane and click on Edit mode.

JD_Mortal

I managed to get one step closer...

Now the "Morph Asset Control" shows in DAZ, every time... But I still have no idea how to get it out, so others can get it into DAZ themselves. (This is a Genesis-3 Morph, and it only shows when I load a Genesis-3 model, as expected.)

So... In addition to the actual "Morph-control", there should be an "Object File" or "Morph-delta-modifier file" of some kind... With "MetaData", because it "Knows" that it is a Genesis-3 only morph. Unless that is in the mysteriously hidden files as part of the morph.

I looked under my ID name... in the DAZ folder. I found two lost objects there, but no morph file. No other folders with that ID exist.

 

Design Anvil - Razor42

Generally when you save a morph it isn't a user facing file meaning that there will be no icon to click to load it in your content library. A morph is generally stored in the base data folder of the associated figure.

For example when you save a morph asset for Genesis 2 Male it will go to: Data/DAZ 3D/Genesis 2/Male/Morphs/USERNAME

To find the files in DS load the associated figure and find the slider under Parameters and the category you loaded the morph into DS under.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I believe you choose edit mode from the dropdown menu now. Unfortunately there is only one true constant and that is change these tuts were correct at the time of publishing.

 

 

 

 

 

JD_Mortal

Found it... Thanks... and the other missing ones.

Funny that this new one is the ONLY one showing-up when I load a Genesis-3 model, but there are four other morphs in "My" folder...

I remember creating them, remember using them as it showed them after creation... Then I closed DAZ, and they disappeared forever... Well, until now...

How do I get those back into DAZ, if you can't "Load them"...

I didn't load anything, it just put it there, when I created it... and this one, for some reason, happened to stick. (I did something right. SOMETHING... Whatever it was... Who knows... Hope I can do it again, or I will have a hundred other files in this folder, cluttering-up daz, and no apparent way to load them.)

Simple concept...

1: Select "Make a morph" option from the menu. (No morph-stuff anywhere, except when you select this mode.)

2: Make a morph...

3: Switch-back to normal mode and play with that morph, saving the morph-data if the scene is saved... But not as an actual "Morph", just as the live-edit of the morphing-edits.

4: Go back to "Make a morph" mode, after playing around and testing it... Now HERE ONLY, is all the options for morphing-saving. Kindly doing a 1-2-3 save-setup, to ensure it is saved as desired. Even if you are not sure what you "want", then it will just save up to that point, as a morph-project, an incomplete "morph-item". Follow it through, and you end-up with either a "Morph Asset", complete with all required controls, and the controls being either "User-loaded on-demand", or "Auto-loaded, with smart-content", or "Saved as a compliment-control or linked-control", not intended for "user input", but for other controls or code to play with.

5: Get rich!

 

This is another example of how DAZ is not making this easy, making it more complex...

The files, MY FILES, should all be in one location. Easy to find, and easy to setup for distribution. No fear of anyone over-writing my files. (It wrote over my own files, and didn't even warn or prompt me that it was doing it! What if I typed a name that was another person's morph, or use a name that someone-else I don't know of, is using... Pure mess...)

When it comes time to "Package things for resale or/and distribution"... Then DAZ should look into OUR files, the only thing that we should be distributing, and setting them up where they NEED to go, on other peoples computers. Either in a generic location, with generic stuff, or within DAZ's close proximity (In the genesis-3 folder inside DAZ's core-folder), or inside of an "Artists folder", and demanding that the artist, at-least create a meta-data file if they are going to bury the files inside of that "special" location that "Users" don't care about. (Spam folder.)

Honestly, for simplicity, all of our distributed stuff should be in one ZIP, that doesn't have to actually be "installed", and the folder structure inside should not matter, since the FILE knows what ASSETS it needs. Folders should be irrelevant. That is what file-types are for, and internal content-types are for... "What am I"... Oh, a morph, an image-bank, an asset, and object, a figurine, a script, a collection of assets objects and scripts.

Ok, sub-rant over.

Easter-egg hunt is done. I assume there is something within the file itself, which is telling DAZ to auto-load it with the Gen-3 model, as opposed to my other morph-assets, which don't seem to auto-load, for some reason. THough those too, are all for Gen-3-Female (They may appear when I select some option, on some window, for some control, for some MORPH-FILE to use... For something... I am sure... I hope... I guess...)

Oh the "Tutorial" is a 2014 tutorial for DAZ 4.6.0.xx... New sub-version, new whole-tutorials needed...

Not sure if they realize what versioning is designed for. Sub-versions are "Fixes" not "Dramatic changes to operation and the environment", those are "Whole-version changes". I don't care, it works better, looks better, feels better, but eats assets. Just like a loyal pet dog. Only without the odor and fleas... But still has bugs, just not fleas.

Funny that my other morphs are in another location. (Understandable because they are not for GEN-3-Female... But folder locations are moot to file-function, and everything to the USER.)

Cris Palomino

RKane's tutorial should be useful.  While I understand frustration, it's all too often not having the information you need and not that Studio is difficult to work with imho.  I agree that it would help to have the documentation updated, but thankfully, RKane did a very nice job of things.

http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/6483/tutorial-creating-a-genesis-g2f-g2m-full-body-morph-for-daz-studio-pro-4-6-by-rkane-1

Richard Haseltine

I strongly advise creating a new folder, not inside any of your existing content directories, and selecting it as a DAZ Studio Content Directory. When it's time to save a morph, select that as the Base directory at the top of the option dialogue and your files will go there in splendid isolation. Once done with creation, zip them up for distribution (along with the readme) and merge the content with your main content directory, leaving the empty folder ready for next time.

Saving a scene or scene subset without having saved the morph as an asset will make a temporary asset file that won't load with other instances of the figure, just with that scene, allowing you to work on it until ready to save as an asset.

JD_Mortal

Done, done and done... But it still saves some stuff, where-ever... xD

Richard Haseltine

If you save a scene or scene subset and place it outside all of your DAZ Studio content directories the Data folder files (the auto assets) will go in the first listed DAZ Studio content directory; if you save in an existing DAZ Studio content directory the auto-generated files will go in the Data folder in that directory. Saving an asset the files will go in the content diectory you set in the options menu (assuming you have write access to it).