Clothing styles database
deepred6502
Posts: 327
Having amassed a sizeable collection of virtual clothing, I often attempt to find specific styles when putting renders together, and it can get rather cumbersome. The DAZ3D & DAZ Studio search engines (and even Google) can be quite hit-&-miss, as they tend to search by title rather than description. I'm thinking of compiling a database of products with certain clothing features, eg, cropped/necklined shirt, polo, pleated/mini/maxi/slit skirt, buttons/zips, denim/leather/cotton etc.
If such a list/database doesn't already exist, it might be easy to make one in MS Access but ideally it'd be platform neutral, such as in a browser. Any other suggestions very welcome.
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Comments
Actually you don't have to do such a thing outside of DS.... You may add user-defined Catogories or add Tags to the clothing items. Then search by KEYWORD in Smart Content or Content Library by using metadata, which is pretty fast and convenient...
I used to develop a catalog application years ago for similar purpose (esp. for 3rd-party products) but finally I gave it up because I really found it's much much more convenient and fast to do so with Smart Content in DS based on my workflow... ( I installed 3rd-party products into Smart Content by using Content Wizard...)
Hats off to someone as crazy as me. I have created several variations of MS Access DBs to track products with very granular details and ... never have time to keep them updated.
I created a sub-category for 'Wardrobe/Footwear' and if a product includes that I can search by say boots or historical or ethnic... I also moved older products from 'Shoes' to 'Footwear'. But for those items without footwear is an issue I am still pondering. I have bought all the utilities that are to make this easier but never had the time to use them. Sub-categories should be thought through on paper (google docs/spreadsheets) before messing with D|S though. Think how you work with D|S and how you refer to a product.
I've already organised items into categories & sub-categories which makes things slightly less cumbersome. That said, I'll look into the tags thing before I look into a 3rd party solution.
I've been experimenting with a content database for some years now, the main concept is to make it as simple as possible to categorize and find any product you own, based on your own criteria and categorizing preferences. Still lots of things to be done yet though.
On a related note, is anyone else noticing that when Poser items are categorised, they don't show up in the category folders?
Did this just start happening? I've never seen this problem.
It's been happening for a while. Could it be something to do with older Poser formats needing to be converted to new ones? If so, I'm looking for a batch converter for it.
What's the file type? Where are you categorizing them from?
They're mostly in .cr2, pp2 and .p2z format. While they show up in the Poser library as normal, they're completely absent in the Categories folders.
Do they show up in Content Library > Poser Formats > ...? What's the full path after Poser formats?
For me, Categories shows Poser format items that I added. I am attaching an example of a category I created, Clothes Office, which has subfolders for the figure it was made for and whether it was from Daz or elsewhere. I categorized this 3DAge blouse from Rendo and it functions like other items I have categorized.
Could your database have lost the folder you keep Poser content items in? I had to recategorize once after an update (argh).
Now that I see an example of using 'Tags', I think I will try that method in the future.
My Poser items show up in the Content Library as normal. The full path after that is Poser Pro 2012 Content, then the usual directories (Figures, Poses, Props etc)
Meanwhile, adding tags to item metadata is doing wonders for the search tool.
Are you categorizing by right-clicking the items in Content Library > Poser Formats?
Yes, it's usually how I categorise them.
That's very strange, they should work. And only Poser-format items don't show up in categories?
Yep, Poser items are still not showing up in Categories, only in the Poser library. I've checked the Preferences and there's no obvious setting to change.
All Poser items, or just the ones you've tried to categorize since this started?
It's been happening with all Poser items from the onset.
And they work normaly if you load them from Poser formats? Are you categorizing them in default categories or your own categories? Do Poser-format products that come with metadata show in categories?
My Poser items appear and load as normal when I select them from the Poser Library. I use a mix of default and custom categories. Even after adding metadata to the Poser items, they still don't show up in the Categories.
In the end, I've decided to use Code66's Legacy Set Converter to make DUF files from the Poser originals, which now show up in the Categories & metadata search. No point in attempting to fix what might be the unfixable.