Renderotica

I have been trying to get back in the swing of things.  I am still using Daz studio and I have to admit, I am not very happy with it.  But the biggest problem, is that all my downloads and work files that I had very carefully or so I thought, had backed up, 3 times on different backup drives are corrupted beyond bringing back.  I traced the problem back, and found the issues are with the old computer that I had been using.  It was an old HP laptop that I had brought back from the dump and thought it was fine.  It finally died, and I had to wait till, I could get my new HP all in one.  It is a very nice computer.  Anyway, the files that I had backuped from the laptop are all CRAP!  So once again I have lost most of my work files.  At this point, I am going to bite the bullet and save up buy Poser.  I started with the original Poser that came on 3.5 floppies.  I went through all the versions up through 7.  I haven't tried any of the latest editions.

The problem with Studio, is that I find the libraries clunky and hard to find things.  I load things and then can't find them or various bits and pieces are missing.  The other thing is that right now everything I have is from DAZ and you would think that it would load right? Wrong!  Some things I just can't get to install.  

One final thing that is taking up a large part of my time is that we are in the process of some major remodeling here and taking care ot things, take a large part of my time and energy.  I am tired of moving the same chair three  times to allow the work to get done.  One thing that we are putting down a new hardwood floor.  It is bamboo and looks awesome.  I like the bamboo because bamboo grows like kudzu and you don't have to chop down trees to get the hardwood.

Any that's my morning rant...

thanks for listening

Butch

PS, I have forgotten how nice it is to be able to type on a full size keyboard instead of a laptop!

I didn't like the confusion inherent in DAZ Studio library management either, so I came up with a convoluted, but workable solution.
First, I have two folders on an external hard drive (Call it my 3D drive). Folder 1 (I named  it "Content") receives zip-file assets purchased and downloaded from the marketplaces. Folder 2 (I named it "DAZAssets") receives the products of the unzipping operation, the working files to be loaded into DAZ Studio.

Inside Content I create sub-folders named for the categories of the assets I buy: Genesis 1, Genesis 2 Female, Genesis 2 Male, Genesis 8, Lights for DAZ Studio, Places for DAZ Studio Exterior, Places for DAZ Studio Interior, etc. Inside the DAZAssets folder I create a similar set of sub-folders for what will become my working assets in DAZ Studio. These have names like Library 1 Genesis 1, Library 2 Genesis 2 Female, Library 3 Genesis 2 Male, Library 4 Genesis 3, Library 5 Genesis 8 Characters, Library 6 Genesis 8 Wearables, Library 7 Places Exterior, Library 8 Places Interior, Library 9 Lights, etc.

Now, let's say I buy Double Breasted Uniform for G8F. I download the zip files to the Genesis 8 sub-folder in the Content folder. I navigate to the zip file and unzip it. Then I open the folder that operation produced and open the Content sub-folder inside. Next I copy the sub-folders inside Content -- in this case they were named data, People, and Runtime -- to the Library 6 Genesis 8 Wearables sub-folder in the DAZAssets folder. Of course, everything G8F wears ends up there.

Finally, I open DAZ Studio, select the Content Library panel, right-click DAZ Studio Formats and select Add a Base Directory. Then I navigate to and select the Library 6 Genesis 8 Wearables sub-folder in DAZAssets.

Of course, any newly downloaded purchases are simply unzipped and added to the appropriate library folder. Everything is organized by category where I can find it at a glance across about a dozen Base Directories. Admittedly, all this took a little work and deliberation, but it was certainly worth the effort. I'll never go back to DAZCentral which just dumps things in all higgley-piggley every which-way.

Cheers, and stay safe until it's over.

Edited by user Monday, July 19, 2021 1:12:38 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified