How to properly package a model for distribution?

JoshuaProArt

Alright, here’s the deal. I want to start selling my own models on RenderHub or other sites but I have no idea how to go about it. I’m looking for a step-by-step tutorial that covers the entire process. I’ve found some tutorials on YouTube, but they only cover things like clothing or props separately. What I need is a full guide on how to package the entire model, including the character, textures, clothing, and everything else needed.

Richard Haseltine

Moved to Techncial Help.

First, make sure that you are including only elements to which you own the rights - you obviously can't include the Daz figures, or anyone else's morphs or textures (even baked in with elements you made yourself).

Assuming your product is stand-alone, with presets to load any Daz or third-party elements from their own installations, the steps are the same as for the items you saw in the tutorials - you need the assets (textures from /Runtime/Textures), the presets (for shape, materials, for loading wardrobe or hair models, etc., ) and you need any asset files (in the /data folder - base assets, in /author/product/, for models you made yourself, and morph .dsf files for any custom shapes you sculpted yourself). The store should be bale to tell you exactly how they want those packaged.

It is geenrally easier to keep all of your files in a separate content directory, that way they are separate from other people's content (avoiding accidents) and packaing is simply a matter of  adding any readmes or oither support files and zipping the content dirctory up for testing.

JoshuaProArt

Thanks, I actually figured it out by using a software called Content Gatherer which makes my life much easier

Richard Haseltine

JoshuaProArt said:

Thanks, I actually figured it out by using a software called Content Gatherer which makes my life much easier

Yes, but make sure that it has gathered only the files you are allowed to share/sell - the problem with automated tools like that is that they can easily cause issues by including too much (which is why I didn't suggest it)..

crosswind

Packing content assets manually is always the quickest and safest way... Content Gatherer which was proved to be cumbersome and waste of time in my journey of making things. It turns out to be useless... at least for me.

If you don't want to make installation package with metadata for use with DIM, copy / paste data, runtime and user-facing folders to target product folder will be very fast.

If you want to make installation package with metadata for the customers, Content Wizard is a must-to-have tool.

lilweep

JoshuaProArt said:

I’m looking for a step-by-step tutorial that covers the entire process.

 

A step by step guide that would say to use content gatherer is completely wrong.

The first step of a step-by-step guide on content distribution is:
 

1. Create a new content library for your project

2. Save all your figure/prop assets into your newly created content library (so that all the /data folders are created)

3. Save all the one-click presets for your product into subfolders of your content directory followinfg the standard conventions for such thigns (these presets should call your figure/prop assets you saved in step 2)

4. test test test

5. zip for distribution

 

3WC

http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/publishing/start

Might find some helpful documentation here.