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Daz Studio 4.9 Beta Now Available..

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  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    Nyghtfall said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:
     

    So you are not infallable. :( Sorry to hear that. :)

    We're all human.

    Yes we are. :) 

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    edited October 2015
    Novica said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Novica said:
     

    The render tab moved? Are you using a custom layout, or one of the defaults? 

    I did screenshots of everything, step by step, for my Art Studio thread (haven't posted them yet) but I'll go ahead and grab the one showing how it first loaded, with Render at the top. Was a tab supposed to be located somewhere else that perhaps I didn't see? I used the up and down scroller and scrolled way down (toward the Store) and no Render tab. I had to go to the top and drag it down.

    And this is when I had to pull it down and attach it, you can see the tabs on the left in this one, and there was no Render tab.

    Is one the Beta and the other release version? 

    Richard got me thinking. The difference is probably because layout is not something that Release and Beta do share. 

    Post edited by DAZ_Spooky on
  • lx_2807502lx_2807502 Posts: 2,996

    The Render Settings window wasn't there for me either, but since I rearrange everything anyway I just went to window>panes and dragged it into place without even thinking it was odd.

    So far everything seems to be running exactly the same or a little faster. Content initially loaded very slowly the first time or two but since then has been faster than ever. Not sure if it's because of the amount of content in the library or just a faster newer version, though.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Novica said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Novica said:
     

    The render tab moved? Are you using a custom layout, or one of the defaults? 

    I did screenshots of everything, step by step, for my Art Studio thread (haven't posted them yet) but I'll go ahead and grab the one showing how it first loaded, with Render at the top. Was a tab supposed to be located somewhere else that perhaps I didn't see? I used the up and down scroller and scrolled way down (toward the Store) and no Render tab. I had to go to the top and drag it down.

    And this is when I had to pull it down and attach it, you can see the tabs on the left in this one, and there was no Render tab.

    Is one the Beta and the other release version? 

    Richard got me thinking. The difference is probably because layout is not something that Release and Beta do share. 

    Nope, I found it. It is a bug. thanks. 

  • MKeyesMKeyes Posts: 467

    Okay... QUICK question for those whom have downloaded 4.9 and tried it. WHAT'S BETTER? What about it make it worth giving it a go right now? Due to the extremely long thread, I can't go back and find if it says it can be installed along side 4.8 can it?

  • Nyghtfall3DNyghtfall3D Posts: 765
    edited October 2015

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

    Post edited by Nyghtfall3D on
  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874

    Not following you Spooky- It's all the same studio- the Public Beta one- I simply did screenshots of step by step from when it loaded, to the next step when I dragged the Render down to add it to a pane. Is that what you're asking?

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 14,970
    MKeyes said:

    Okay... QUICK question for those whom have downloaded 4.9 and tried it. WHAT'S BETTER? What about it make it worth giving it a go right now? Due to the extremely long thread, I can't go back and find if it says it can be installed along side 4.8 can it?

    From my direct experience:

    Some nasty bugs are fixed.

    A few Iray materials seem to work better, particularly with bump map. It's subtle and could be my imagination, I don't know (and might be related to the previous)

    Smart content seems a little easier to manage. There's a 'lost and found' bin that looks interesting (stuff lacking metadata that you can then assign properly, I think?)

    If I don't have to enter serial numbers again, that's a big plus. It's so annoying previously. (But I'm not 100% if that's changed)

    That's the only stuff I've really noticed so far.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    Novica said:

    Not following you Spooky- It's all the same studio- the Public Beta one- I simply did screenshots of step by step from when it loaded, to the next step when I dragged the Render down to add it to a pane. Is that what you're asking?

    Yeah. it is a bug. I have it. Thanks. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    MKeyes said:

    Okay... QUICK question for those whom have downloaded 4.9 and tried it. WHAT'S BETTER? What about it make it worth giving it a go right now? Due to the extremely long thread, I can't go back and find if it says it can be installed along side 4.8 can it?

    Yes, I have my 4.8 and 4.9 both open right now. I did a render with 4.8 and the exact same one in 4.9, and 4.9 (with Iray) was almost three minutes faster. It was done in 16 minutes 3 seconds, and the 4.8 was at 96% at 16 minutes and took to almost 19 minutes to finish. That's all I've done so far. I did drag and pull tabs to rearrange it back to the way I had it in 4.8. When I opened 4.9 for the first time, for me, it only took a minute or two for the 4.9 to populate, and I have 4160 loaded in DIM. It was amazing. However, I can't go product by product to see if it's all there, but Smart Content is showing all my Genesis 3 Females, and very quickly.

    Gotta go get some sleep, been up all night. Glad we could help find a bug Spooky (and that someone else also had to move Render so it wasn't only me!) 

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100

    The underlying mess of the folder structure is a hold over from Poser thinking and can not be reasonably fixed. Further adjusting that folder structure can and does cause products to get broken.

    The most efficeint way to organize large amounts of data, so that it has and maintains relationships is through the use of a database. This works regardless of the actual physical structure of the files and is exactly the design purpose of a database. It improves and speeds searches, allows searches to be transparent to the customer. (I want a shirt that fit Victoria 7, I don't have to build a search, there already is one.) I have pants that fit both Michael 6 and Victoria 6, I don't have to have two copies of the pants, I have one copy, and when looking at pants for either Victoria 6 or Michael 6 it shows up. 

    It is easy to talk about, but without a common frame of reference and a practical example it isn't going to make much sense. So we are in the process of making a video to show how it works (in my mind something that I should have done to answer questions long before now, since nobody had done it. Mea culpa.) so people can see it before judging it.  

    Nyghtfall said:

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

     

  • MKeyesMKeyes Posts: 467
    Novica said:
    MKeyes said:

    Okay... QUICK question for those whom have downloaded 4.9 and tried it. WHAT'S BETTER? What about it make it worth giving it a go right now? Due to the extremely long thread, I can't go back and find if it says it can be installed along side 4.8 can it?

    Yes, I have my 4.8 and 4.9 both open right now. I did a render with 4.8 and the exact same one in 4.9, and 4.9 (with Iray) was almost three minutes faster. It was done in 16 minutes 3 seconds, and the 4.8 was at 96% at 16 minutes and took to almost 19 minutes to finish. That's all I've done so far. I did drag and pull tabs to rearrange it back to the way I had it in 4.8. When I opened 4.9 for the first time, for me, it only took a minute or two for the 4.9 to populate, and I have 4160 loaded in DIM. It was amazing. However, I can't go product by product to see if it's all there, but Smart Content is showing all my Genesis 3 Females, and very quickly.

    Gotta go get some sleep, been up all night. Glad we could help find a bug Spooky (and that someone else also had to move Render so it wasn't only me!) 

    THANKS... gonna give it a go. I've been reading the FAQ - and all I care about is my external harddrives that I have set up a certain way. It says they can still be used and that's all that matters to me. I buy all of my content because I use it for my bookcovers, websites, and other peoples books to illustrate. So I have to PAY for it all. Also, as an author, I know how it feels to work HARD on a book - blood, sweat and tears... and BOOM... I find it being giving away on Sharez sites, etc. However, this is our NEW world. It is what it is, and there is NOTHING I can do about it. I long accepted it. Doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt though. I applaud Daz3d for TRYING to protect their vendors! Bravo! Now... I'm going to go download and see what's new!

    Cheers!

  • diogenese19348diogenese19348 Posts: 927
    CypherFOX said:

    Greetings,

    Morpheon said:

    I'm not buying DAZ's song-and-dance about how this is being done "to improve the user experience" when it's blatantly an anti-piracy measure

    Why does it have to be one or the other?  I find this idea so odd...

    They implemented a content download and management system that would resolve the large majority of issues that users have with the system, based on their data from a lot of sources.  They realized that as part of that system, they could encrypt the data, and make it harder for pirates to be assholes. Nobody thinks it's going to be perfect (except those erecting straw men), but 'the perfect is the enemy of the good'.  In strong opposition to your 'badly thought out' comment, they've thought deeply about how to make it usable for people, minimizing the encrypted parts to the parts that are DAZ specific, to the acknowledged detriment of the level of security.  That's a choice to make things easier for users, at the expense of anti-piracy measures, which says clearly where their priorities are.

    They're continuing to work on improving it.  There are also multiple issues being conflated, and at different levels of being resolved.

    But the idea that they shouldn't be allowed to do anything, and everyone should just suck it up and let the pirates do whatever they want without any barriers, is toxic and nauseating.  If it doesn't work for you, when and if they do it, then don't buy it.

    --  Morgan

     

    Morgan, the part I don't agree with is that stopping piracy increases sales, it doen't matter if DRM works.  The question is does making it impossible to obtain your content free get you more customers.  The answer, at least for items that are mostly for entertainment, is no.  A person is not going to start buying something they were formerly getting for free unless they see some value in it.  Realisticaly the only customers you are going to gain is people who have a financial stake in continuing to use your content.  As a businessman you have to decide whether the costs of the barriors you put up are counterweighed by the extra sales you gain.

    In most case of DRM use that simply does not happen, particularly with entertainment products.  Now if someone is trying to resell your stuff, that needs to be smacked down hard.  But stopping peer-to-peer shareing has never been proven to increase sales.

    The problem with using DRM on DAZ content, unless you are very careful, and DAZ seems to be with what they have outlined, is that a lot of it needs modification in use, and DRM can get in the way of that rather quickly.  For stuff that you don't modify (Zev0's scripts would be an example), yeah, DRM the heck out of them.

    Bottom line though, from everything I have looked at, even if DAZ succeeds in completely stamping out the unauthorized use of its content, it is very unlikely to increase sales at all.  And isn't that really the bottom line of the exercise?

     

  • atticanneatticanne Posts: 3,009
    Stezza said:

    I guess no-one has found the Carrara developers yet no

    Maybe because there AREN'T any?

     

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    timmins.william said:
    MKeyes said:

    Okay... QUICK question for those whom have downloaded 4.9 and tried it. WHAT'S BETTER? What about it make it worth giving it a go right now? Due to the extremely long thread, I can't go back and find if it says it can be installed along side 4.8 can it?

    From my direct experience:

    Some nasty bugs are fixed.

    A few Iray materials seem to work better, particularly with bump map. It's subtle and could be my imagination, I don't know (and might be related to the previous)

    Smart content seems a little easier to manage. There's a 'lost and found' bin that looks interesting (stuff lacking metadata that you can then assign properly, I think?)

    If I don't have to enter serial numbers again, that's a big plus. It's so annoying previously. (But I'm not 100% if that's changed)

    That's the only stuff I've really noticed so far.

    To add to this. 

    There was a nasty bug in NVIDIA Iray which caused a few products to crash on render, that has been fixed. 

    NVIDIA noticed a bug in how SSS is calculated, so that is fixed, but causes some color shift in renders with some skin shaders that were created for the buggy version of the SSS calculation. (There is a quick adjustment posted in the FAQ.) 

    Fixes made to the implementation of Sub Surface Scattering (SSS) in the NVIDIA Iray renderer affect materials which have "Translucency Weight" active—not set to 0. This manifests in skin tones appearing more blue than they do in 4.8. A quick adjustment that can be made during the BETA phase is to adjust the "SSS Reflectance Tint" from a light blue to a light yellow—R: 1.00, G: 0.88, B: 0.67. Adjust this value to your liking.

     

  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,127
    DAZ_Spooky said:

    The underlying mess of the folder structure is a hold over from Poser thinking and can not be reasonably fixed. Further adjusting that folder structure can and does cause products to get broken.

    The most efficeint way to organize large amounts of data, so that it has and maintains relationships is through the use of a database. This works regardless of the actual physical structure of the files and is exactly the design purpose of a database. It improves and speeds searches, allows searches to be transparent to the customer. (I want a shirt that fit Victoria 7, I don't have to build a search, there already is one.) I have pants that fit both Michael 6 and Victoria 6, I don't have to have two copies of the pants, I have one copy, and when looking at pants for either Victoria 6 or Michael 6 it shows up. 

    It is easy to talk about, but without a common frame of reference and a practical example it isn't going to make much sense. So we are in the process of making a video to show how it works (in my mind something that I should have done to answer questions long before now, since nobody had done it. Mea culpa.) so people can see it before judging it.  

    Nyghtfall said:

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

     

    Wouldn't it then be possible to make the Content Library pane completely dynamic? The reason most users are shuffling the folder/files is to change the appearance in the Content Library pane anyway.

    If users could just simply drag-n-drop stuff on that pane to their hearts desire, and not touch the underlying files it would solve a couple problems.

    1) the underlying files would still be in the default location so support would be easier.

    2) we could make our own custom catalogs :)

  • SyndarylSyndaryl Posts: 521
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    You can hack your own files, but that is not a safe workflow and is discouraged. 

    These days, all warrenties are usually null and void when you service your own equipment. Loosing your warrenty is not the same thing as "dangerous", and having to reinstall a product is hardly onerous.

    I haven't messed up a registry edit yet, but if I do, not only am I aware that it's my own stupid fault, I'll probably go tell my IT friends so they can point and laugh at me for a while.

     

    Somewhere in this big tangle I saw a whisper that there's some sort of solution in the works to allow me DUF access without having to write my own plugin to give me a "bridge" to my text editor or some of my home-brewed batch programs. You have NO IDEA how thrilled I am to hear that (well, actually you probably have a good idea because of how much of a stink I've made about it, but seriously, that's HUGE). If the first draft is awkward, well, fine. Frankly, if the first version means I have to go online and validate every ten minutes like Origin while I've got direct DUF access, whatever - I'll cope while you come up with a more elegant solution.

     

  • DAZ_RawbDAZ_Rawb Posts: 817
    SassyWench said:

    Rawb if you're still here I have a question? I downloaded and installed 4.9 beta but haven't opened it up yet. Will I still need to use Connect with your "1995 workaround"? Or will it be done another way?

    And thank you again for hearing us! smiley

    I know that this is pages and pages old, but I wanted to reply to it specifically.

     

    "1995 mode" is not currently implemented in Daz Connect. Currently any product downloaded through Daz Connect needs to have it's files left in their default locations in order to not mess up operations on those files. We have figured out some solutions we could implement on top of Daz Connect in order to let people sort their content in the filesystem as many of them are used to currently.

     

    To let you know how serious we are about this today is normally my day off but I am heading in to the office right now in order to talk with the team about how we want to handle this.

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    icecrmn said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:

    The underlying mess of the folder structure is a hold over from Poser thinking and can not be reasonably fixed. Further adjusting that folder structure can and does cause products to get broken.

    The most efficeint way to organize large amounts of data, so that it has and maintains relationships is through the use of a database. This works regardless of the actual physical structure of the files and is exactly the design purpose of a database. It improves and speeds searches, allows searches to be transparent to the customer. (I want a shirt that fit Victoria 7, I don't have to build a search, there already is one.) I have pants that fit both Michael 6 and Victoria 6, I don't have to have two copies of the pants, I have one copy, and when looking at pants for either Victoria 6 or Michael 6 it shows up. 

    It is easy to talk about, but without a common frame of reference and a practical example it isn't going to make much sense. So we are in the process of making a video to show how it works (in my mind something that I should have done to answer questions long before now, since nobody had done it. Mea culpa.) so people can see it before judging it.  

    Nyghtfall said:

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

     

    Wouldn't it then be possible to make the Content Library pane completely dynamic? The reason most users are shuffling the folder/files is to change the appearance in the Content Library pane anyway.

    If users could just simply drag-n-drop stuff on that pane to their hearts desire, and not touch the underlying files it would solve a couple problems.

    1) the underlying files would still be in the default location so support would be easier.

    2) we could make our own custom catalogs :)

    It is the categories part of the Content Library pane. It doesn't have the full capability of the Smart Content pane but it is already there. 

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    DAZ_Rawb said:
     

    To let you know how serious we are about this today is normally my day off but I am heading in to the office right now in order to talk with the team about how we want to handle this.

    Umm    what's a "Day Off"  curious mind wants to know.  

  • Jason GalterioJason Galterio Posts: 2,562
    DAZ_Spooky said:

    The underlying mess of the folder structure is a hold over from Poser thinking and can not be reasonably fixed. Further adjusting that folder structure can and does cause products to get broken.

    The most efficeint way to organize large amounts of data, so that it has and maintains relationships is through the use of a database. This works regardless of the actual physical structure of the files and is exactly the design purpose of a database. It improves and speeds searches, allows searches to be transparent to the customer. (I want a shirt that fit Victoria 7, I don't have to build a search, there already is one.) I have pants that fit both Michael 6 and Victoria 6, I don't have to have two copies of the pants, I have one copy, and when looking at pants for either Victoria 6 or Michael 6 it shows up. 

    It is easy to talk about, but without a common frame of reference and a practical example it isn't going to make much sense. So we are in the process of making a video to show how it works (in my mind something that I should have done to answer questions long before now, since nobody had done it. Mea culpa.) so people can see it before judging it.  

    Nyghtfall said:

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

     

    This goes back to something that I have been asking for for over a year now...

    IM00004165-02_AQuietStreetStudioCF
    IM00004341-01_LisasBotanicalsBlackEyedSusanDS
    IM00004194-02_Sector15StudioCF
    IM00004709-01_DystopiaCityBlocks011020Poser
    IM00005859-01_TimelessPs
    ​That's six different naming conventions (counting the ones with no extra characters at the end).

    Just tell me which ones I need to install for my particular installation.

    I don't want to hear "You only have to install the no extra character ones and the DS ones, except in the case of some items pre XXXXXX. For those items you also have to install the StudioCF files..." etc. etc.

    Make it straight forward. Let the program tell me which to install. So that I don't have to find out (at the worst possible time) that I am missing xxxx geometry file or xxxx textures.

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874
    edited October 2015

    Well, guess what? I went to Smart Content to try and help find Bethany's materials, and ALL my gals are gone except one! The studio dropped them all. Not under Products, not under Files. When I went to People to begin with (In Smart Content) it had different options under it too, now there's none. I logged out and back in, and Smart Content is still not showing the People>Female except for Jazlyn. Nothing was selected in Scene, nothing in search box. I typed in Genesis 3, Genesis 3 Female, nothing changed the results. So when I was doing a render, apparently it affected the Smart Content, as everything was gone after the render was done. I had loaded the scene using Content Library, not Smart Content, in case that makes a difference. The render was Iray.

    Going offline but thought I'd let you know.  EDIT: They are all still in Content Library.

    Post edited by Novica on
  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    Jason Galterio said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:

    The underlying mess of the folder structure is a hold over from Poser thinking and can not be reasonably fixed. Further adjusting that folder structure can and does cause products to get broken.

    The most efficeint way to organize large amounts of data, so that it has and maintains relationships is through the use of a database. This works regardless of the actual physical structure of the files and is exactly the design purpose of a database. It improves and speeds searches, allows searches to be transparent to the customer. (I want a shirt that fit Victoria 7, I don't have to build a search, there already is one.) I have pants that fit both Michael 6 and Victoria 6, I don't have to have two copies of the pants, I have one copy, and when looking at pants for either Victoria 6 or Michael 6 it shows up. 

    It is easy to talk about, but without a common frame of reference and a practical example it isn't going to make much sense. So we are in the process of making a video to show how it works (in my mind something that I should have done to answer questions long before now, since nobody had done it. Mea culpa.) so people can see it before judging it.  

    Nyghtfall said:

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

     

    This goes back to something that I have been asking for for over a year now...

    IM00004165-02_AQuietStreetStudioCF
    IM00004341-01_LisasBotanicalsBlackEyedSusanDS
    IM00004194-02_Sector15StudioCF
    IM00004709-01_DystopiaCityBlocks011020Poser
    IM00005859-01_TimelessPs
    ​That's six different naming conventions (counting the ones with no extra characters at the end).

    Just tell me which ones I need to install for my particular installation.

    I don't want to hear "You only have to install the no extra character ones and the DS ones, except in the case of some items pre XXXXXX. For those items you also have to install the StudioCF files..." etc. etc.

    Make it straight forward. Let the program tell me which to install. So that I don't have to find out (at the worst possible time) that I am missing xxxx geometry file or xxxx textures.

    One of the things Daz Connect addresses. 

  • DAZ_SpookyDAZ_Spooky Posts: 3,100
    Novica said:

    Well, guess what? I went to Smart Content to try and help find Bethany's materials, and ALL my gals are gone except one! The studio dropped them all. Not under Products, not under Files. When I went to People to begin with (In Smart Content) it had different options under it too, now there's none. I logged out and back in, and Smart Content is still not showing the People>Female except for Jazlyn. Nothing was selected in Scene, nothing in search box. I typed in Genesis 3, Genesis 3 Female, nothing changed the results. So when I was doing a render, apparently it affected the Smart Content, as everything was gone after the render was done. I had loaded the scene using Content Library, not Smart Content, in case that makes a difference. The render was Iray.

    Going offline but thought I'd let you know.  EDIT: They are all still in Content Library.

    Sounds like the migration did not complete. 

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,874

    This is bugging me so I tried two more times before I leave- I completely shut down the studio and started it back up again TWICE- only that one female is showing under People>Female. Now I'm going offline.

  • lx_2807502lx_2807502 Posts: 2,996
    Nyghtfall said:

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

    As I mentioned earlier, the folder structure is still there: Daz Connect content makes a new folder called cloud in the data folder of My Library. Within that there are all the usual folders, only the daz type files now have .enc at the end. Images are completely unaffected. You can still poke around and copy backups etc.

    I still think DRM is stupid and a complete waste of time and costs you more in customers than it gains, but this system as it stands in the beta is not that bad at all.

    The real problem is that its simple existence is causing all of these worries and doubts and misunderstandings about how it works. Which makes it already a bad thing, in my opinion. It really doesn't do much to mess with any user's current work, only slightly inconveniences pirates who do buy your content giving it to people who weren't going to anyway, and makes all your legitimate users worried over basically nothing. Simply not worth it at all.

    The best way to stop piracy has always been making the legitmate content more accessible. Daz is already pretty good at that, and putting the shop into the program is going to do more to combat piracy than the DRM will. As long as it doesn't start spamming with advertisements, anyway.

  • WilmapWilmap Posts: 2,917

    3 Questions

    1. How can I get my layout to show up in Windows/Workspace?

    2. How can I get items to sort in Alphabetical order in Content Library?

    3. I prefer my content Library list at the top and items for the selected item underneath - not side by side as they are now. How do I set this up?

  • willowfanwillowfan Posts: 238
    Digital Lite Design said:

    Here is a step by step on how to categorize your assets for those who want to give it a try.  :)  Notice I am using Littlefoxe's Xanadu hair, from another store....NOT a Daz store product to demo this.  :)

    1. Open both the Content Library and Smart Content panes.  (However you want your layout - you just need to be able to access both)

    2. Drag the asset from Content Library into the appropriate Smart Content Category.  (You can multi-select as needed)

    3. If there isn't one that matches what you want, or prefer, then you can create one.  :)  (See attached images)

    4. When you finish, be sure to Export User Data!

      a. R-Click the Content Library pane's tab

      b. Choose Content DB Maintenance...

      c. Check (only) the Export User Data

      d. Hit Accept

    You are all set.  You can now find ANY content from ANY store in ANY category (virtual filter folder) you wish.  :)

     - and if you already have a directory structure that you like you can import it lock, stock and barrel into catagories by selecting the top of the directory structure and selecting >Create a category from > this folder and sub-folders.

    This can take a while if you have a lot of content in that directory :)

    But you will then have a good starting point to add purchases using the new delivery system without having to categorize everything from scratch.

  • Jason GalterioJason Galterio Posts: 2,562
    DAZ_Spooky said:
    Jason Galterio said:
    DAZ_Spooky said:

    The underlying mess of the folder structure is a hold over from Poser thinking and can not be reasonably fixed. Further adjusting that folder structure can and does cause products to get broken.

    The most efficeint way to organize large amounts of data, so that it has and maintains relationships is through the use of a database. This works regardless of the actual physical structure of the files and is exactly the design purpose of a database. It improves and speeds searches, allows searches to be transparent to the customer. (I want a shirt that fit Victoria 7, I don't have to build a search, there already is one.) I have pants that fit both Michael 6 and Victoria 6, I don't have to have two copies of the pants, I have one copy, and when looking at pants for either Victoria 6 or Michael 6 it shows up. 

    It is easy to talk about, but without a common frame of reference and a practical example it isn't going to make much sense. So we are in the process of making a video to show how it works (in my mind something that I should have done to answer questions long before now, since nobody had done it. Mea culpa.) so people can see it before judging it.  

    Nyghtfall said:

    The problem with using DS to organize content is that, while everything may look nice and tidy in the program, the underlying folder structure remains a bloated mess of files.  If something does go wrong internally, and we find ourselves at our wits end trying to fix it, the first thing someone like me is going to want to do is open the file system and examine the folder structure as a backup option.  My understanding is that will not be possible with DAZ Connect-exclusive content.

     

    This goes back to something that I have been asking for for over a year now...

    IM00004165-02_AQuietStreetStudioCF
    IM00004341-01_LisasBotanicalsBlackEyedSusanDS
    IM00004194-02_Sector15StudioCF
    IM00004709-01_DystopiaCityBlocks011020Poser
    IM00005859-01_TimelessPs
    ​That's six different naming conventions (counting the ones with no extra characters at the end).

    Just tell me which ones I need to install for my particular installation.

    I don't want to hear "You only have to install the no extra character ones and the DS ones, except in the case of some items pre XXXXXX. For those items you also have to install the StudioCF files..." etc. etc.

    Make it straight forward. Let the program tell me which to install. So that I don't have to find out (at the worst possible time) that I am missing xxxx geometry file or xxxx textures.

    One of the things Daz Connect addresses. 

    That's good to hear... As long as that doesn't mean when there is a missing file (geometry, texture, etc.) I need to find an internet connection.

    There is a reason why I install everything that DIM says I need for a DS 4.5+ installation...  Then download everything else that I supposedly don't need, which I squirrel away into a sub-directory.

  • FetitoFetito Posts: 481
    edited October 2015

    Is there a way to replace automatically the DIM versions with the Cloud version to always have the latest version of the meta data? I bet DIM does not download all Cloud stuff.

    So far in "data" I have a cloud folder, but just with some small json-database files and some JPG thumbnails.

    Post edited by Fetito on
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