A few months ago I seem to remember you did a video asking whether ppl used Smart Content at all. At the time, I had just started to use it but hadn't gotten very far with organizing my content in it. Now I feel I have a better understanding of the system, so I'll give my thoughts on it as a tool. First up, I think it can be a bit more versatile than using the folder system that you explained in this video. For instance, with the medieval dress you were using as an example, in your folders, it only has one category... medieval dress. Using Smart Content, it can be in multiple categories. You assign it into Wardrobe>Dresses... but from there you can add multiple subcategories. So, you can have a Medieval Dress category, and a Long Dress category, and you can tick the boxes for both. So using Smart Content, it will now appear in both of these sections. Footwear is another good place to add sub-categories... boots, high heels, sandals, sneakers... the only limit is the amount of effort you want to put in. Secondly, if a product has multiple disparate items in it, then Smart Content is an easy way to organize them all. Let's stick with clothing. You get a product that is an outfit consisting of shirt, skirt, socks and shoes. There is also a load complete outfit option in the product. So that option goes into Wardrobe>Outfits, and then you tag up the individual items as you deem best. This is where Smart Content really helps, or so I've found, as you can now mix and match items. Sticking with the clothing example, how many clothing outfits have footwear as part of them? If you don't know which outfits have footwear and which don't, you may be missing out on some good choices for your particular outfit that you're assembling. And it goes double for add-ons like gloves, spectacles, jewelry and the like. And from Smart Content, you can do as you explained, and right click on an item to Show in Mapped Folder so you can see all the other parts of the product the item belongs to. Yes, there are some issues with Smart Content, and I tend not to filter by context as it seem that it will drop an awful lot of items from the list. Also, as someone else commented, I believe Smart Content doesn't handle migration between drives well. I'm sure some people swear by Smart Content and some people swear at it. It's going to be down to your workflow and preferences. Smart Content has the advantage that Daz Store purchased products are automatically categorized, although you might find you want to add or change some of those categories. 3rd party products have to be done manually, but once you've bitten the bullet and actually done it, then keeping it up-to-date is relatively simple. Buy the product, install it, categorize it. So far, I've gone through and sorted clothing, poses, hair, props, and environments. Next will likely be characters... as soon as I figure out how I want them sorted. But already I find it easier to browse my content. Well, there's my two pennies. I'm happy to answer any questions with my limited knowledge.
Thanks again! I thought I was the only one spending time organising my Daz Stuff!! I think your "Category" method will make things much easier for you. Myself, well . . . . . Trying to show a clear example of what I do is not easy!: I have a 5TB drive with JUST my "Archive" on it. Everything I have, Daz wise, goes to this drive and is sorted into Categories like yours, Hair, Clothes, Expressions, Poses Etc. Those are then broken down to just a Data File, Runtime File and the Product. (By the way, don't forget, because you are making your own Archive, you can click through to the product, cut it, and bring it to the front without going through all the levels to reach it.) Okay, so I have my Archive. Then: Like yourself, I have jobs, or "Projects" to do. You know if you Right-click on the "Daz Studio Formats" button at the top, you get the choice to "Add" or "Remove" a Directory, well each Project gets its own "Self-contained Directory" which I can then Load/Remove as and when I want it! Now my Directories: (These are on several external drives.) I have a "Master" Directory, which gets renamed for each Project. In each Directory I have basically a small Archive of its own:- a Data - Runtime - and (what I call) the Element Folder. The Element folder is than divided into Categories like the Archive. Yes, a lot of effort is needed in the first place, but the long term benefits far outweigh the trouble!! I know I can go back to a Project months after it was last used, Load it, and everything related to that job will be there, ready to use again! Remember, when loading, Daz will scan every item, folder and morph in the "Library"/Directory every-time you attempt to do ANYTHING! . This can lead to long loading times and generally a lot of lag when you are talking about huge libraries! My method means it takes virtually micro-seconds to scan my Directory! I can load the G8 Female character in 2 seconds if I need it. Sorry for this long comment, but I couldn't seem to get it to be shorter.
@@notfromthisworld7672 You could give each Comic its own Directory, so each time you go back to it, everything will be there, to just carry on with a new page, or Episode! If a new, more important Project comes along, just Remove that Directory and load a New one! Load it with the Characters, Buildings and Clothes etc you need, and off you go! Simples.
Organising DAZ content is one of the dark arts as far as I'm concerned. Seriously, it brings me out in a cold sweat. Next year I will update my PC (okay... buy a new one I mean) and already I am dreading having to move everything over to it. As the time gets closer, the nightmares will begin... again. Even watching this vid is making feel queasy; so I'm going to turn the volume off and just let it run in the background. Good luck Indigo.
Thank you so much for your explanation. I have my content in one folder on my F: drive. But making categories in the database to find my content will be a lot faster to find things. It will take some time to organise this offcourse. I see you can export and import the database content. Mabey you can use this when you reinstall daz3d. Great video I really appreciate this.
Funny enough that's what I have been doing for 2 days 😣😣 I am going to give this a watch because I am not getting no where fast! This is another thing from you that's made my Daz life easier the denoiser was a big game changer for me so thankyou ♥ big question can you show the poser content sorting? Can we put that stuff from poser content in categories too?
@@notfromthisworld7672 oh that's fantastic news it is time consuming I must admit & I made so many mistakes as not moving it over by picking the subcategory folders 🤦 Thankyou for all you teach ❤️
I wonder if I could organize my database/assets to a OneDrive folder that 2 different computers could use so that I could offload rendering to a second computer?
I use onedrive to save all my renders and comics because I churn out 100's of pictures, but I haven't tried to keep my Daz content folders on it. Interesting idea.
Another tutorial that hits the spot, I also run on a problem of space, I have a 500 nvme ssd where I put my daz into for now I will work with it and I plan to buy a 4tb ssd for blender, daz and other softwere I plan to use (Most likely nvidia ominverse). How can I orginize my content if I installed it manually and not on smart content, and how can I move my dazz to the new ssd when the time will come for it. Thank you very much for your fine work dear friend.
I install almost everything manually these days. Just follow what I did in the video and you should be good to go. As far as moving Daz, the problem will lie in all your saved scenes. Once you move your content let's say from your C drive to your spare drive you will receive errors for any scenes you try and open because Daz will be searching for your content on the original drive. If you have the patience to "Locate" each file as you open a scene, it will eventually load, but it will be a hassle. Any new scenes you create after the move won't have this issue.
@@notfromthisworld7672 Yeahh, my issue that I created so many costum morphs in those scenes, and I mean I really looked to the smallest precentages to have perfect bodies, how can u save costum morphs on daz??
Hey i have a question,i’ve been using 4.20.0.2 for a very long time and it seems like new content’s don’t support it as well as g9 addons,so im asking you for an advice,which new daz studio version is safest for render crashing and general usage?,thanks in advance
I think you would be good if you wanted to upgrade to the current version. I'm using it and have had absolutely no issues with it. 4.23 has a few nice updates over 4.20.
The biggest taboo with DAZ... Content organization. I have pretty much the same process as you, sorta.. I have a ton of content as well and I wish i had done a better job categorizing. But I do know where everything is... for the most part... Doing a search finds the stuff I can't find. Where I struggle is finding all my 3rd party Textures. I do a lot of kit bashing.
It's only a pain moving Daz studio if you use smart content, otherwise it's not much of an issue moving Daz. I run two versions of Daz and two different drives, and have my content on a separate drive from them. Nothing at all except windows on C. Never install stuff to C.
Trying to do just that...I don't use smart content either. Just purchased a new pc and would like to move my Daz over, preferably not to C on my new PC. Could you please explain what files I need to move over?
A few months ago I seem to remember you did a video asking whether ppl used Smart Content at all. At the time, I had just started to use it but hadn't gotten very far with organizing my content in it. Now I feel I have a better understanding of the system, so I'll give my thoughts on it as a tool. First up, I think it can be a bit more versatile than using the folder system that you explained in this video. For instance, with the medieval dress you were using as an example, in your folders, it only has one category... medieval dress. Using Smart Content, it can be in multiple categories. You assign it into Wardrobe>Dresses... but from there you can add multiple subcategories. So, you can have a Medieval Dress category, and a Long Dress category, and you can tick the boxes for both. So using Smart Content, it will now appear in both of these sections. Footwear is another good place to add sub-categories... boots, high heels, sandals, sneakers... the only limit is the amount of effort you want to put in. Secondly, if a product has multiple disparate items in it, then Smart Content is an easy way to organize them all. Let's stick with clothing. You get a product that is an outfit consisting of shirt, skirt, socks and shoes. There is also a load complete outfit option in the product. So that option goes into Wardrobe>Outfits, and then you tag up the individual items as you deem best. This is where Smart Content really helps, or so I've found, as you can now mix and match items. Sticking with the clothing example, how many clothing outfits have footwear as part of them? If you don't know which outfits have footwear and which don't, you may be missing out on some good choices for your particular outfit that you're assembling. And it goes double for add-ons like gloves, spectacles, jewelry and the like. And from Smart Content, you can do as you explained, and right click on an item to Show in Mapped Folder so you can see all the other parts of the product the item belongs to. Yes, there are some issues with Smart Content, and I tend not to filter by context as it seem that it will drop an awful lot of items from the list. Also, as someone else commented, I believe Smart Content doesn't handle migration between drives well. I'm sure some people swear by Smart Content and some people swear at it. It's going to be down to your workflow and preferences. Smart Content has the advantage that Daz Store purchased products are automatically categorized, although you might find you want to add or change some of those categories. 3rd party products have to be done manually, but once you've bitten the bullet and actually done it, then keeping it up-to-date is relatively simple. Buy the product, install it, categorize it. So far, I've gone through and sorted clothing, poses, hair, props, and environments. Next will likely be characters... as soon as I figure out how I want them sorted. But already I find it easier to browse my content. Well, there's my two pennies. I'm happy to answer any questions with my limited knowledge.
Thanks again! I thought I was the only one spending time organising my Daz Stuff!!
I think your "Category" method will make things much easier for you.
Myself, well . . . . . Trying to show a clear example of what I do is not easy!:
I have a 5TB drive with JUST my "Archive" on it. Everything I have, Daz wise, goes to this drive and is sorted into Categories like yours, Hair, Clothes, Expressions, Poses Etc.
Those are then broken down to just a Data File, Runtime File and the Product. (By the way, don't forget, because you are making your own Archive, you can click through to the product, cut it, and bring it to the front without going through all the levels to reach it.)
Okay, so I have my Archive. Then: Like yourself, I have jobs, or "Projects" to do.
You know if you Right-click on the "Daz Studio Formats" button at the top, you get the choice to "Add" or "Remove" a Directory, well each Project gets its own "Self-contained Directory" which I can then Load/Remove as and when I want it!
Now my Directories: (These are on several external drives.)
I have a "Master" Directory, which gets renamed for each Project.
In each Directory I have basically a small Archive of its own:- a Data - Runtime - and (what I call) the Element Folder.
The Element folder is than divided into Categories like the Archive.
Yes, a lot of effort is needed in the first place, but the long term benefits far outweigh the trouble!!
I know I can go back to a Project months after it was last used, Load it, and everything related to that job will be there, ready to use again!
Remember, when loading, Daz will scan every item, folder and morph in the "Library"/Directory every-time you attempt to do ANYTHING! . This can lead to long loading times and generally a lot of lag when you are talking about huge libraries! My method means it takes virtually micro-seconds to scan my Directory!
I can load the G8 Female character in 2 seconds if I need it.
Sorry for this long comment, but I couldn't seem to get it to be shorter.
I think organizing content into folders is a necessity.
@@notfromthisworld7672
You could give each Comic its own Directory, so each time you go back to it, everything will be there, to just carry on with a new page, or Episode!
If a new, more important Project comes along, just Remove that Directory and load a New one!
Load it with the Characters, Buildings and Clothes etc you need, and off you go!
Simples.
Organising DAZ content is one of the dark arts as far as I'm concerned. Seriously, it brings me out in a cold sweat. Next year I will update my PC (okay... buy a new one I mean) and already I am dreading having to move everything over to it. As the time gets closer, the nightmares will begin... again. Even watching this vid is making feel queasy; so I'm going to turn the volume off and just let it run in the background. Good luck Indigo.
Thank you so much for your explanation. I have my content in one folder on my F: drive. But making categories in the database to find my content will be a lot faster to find things. It will take some time to organise this offcourse. I see you can export and import the database content. Mabey you can use this when you reinstall daz3d. Great video I really appreciate this.
Hope it is helpful.... I know I put a lot of information into this video.
Funny enough that's what I have been doing for 2 days 😣😣 I am going to give this a watch because I am not getting no where fast! This is another thing from you that's made my Daz life easier the denoiser was a big game changer for me so thankyou ♥ big question can you show the poser content sorting? Can we put that stuff from poser content
in categories too?
@@MissElviraWales I'm not looking forward to re- organizing but I know it needs done.
@@notfromthisworld7672 Can I put my poser content into categories that poser library is a disaster?
@MissElviraWales Yes, you can add the Poser content to any folder you want in the same way I show in the video.
@@notfromthisworld7672 oh that's fantastic news it is time consuming I must admit & I made so many mistakes as not moving it over by picking the subcategory folders 🤦 Thankyou for all you teach ❤️
Here is my video on using Poser content: ua-cam.com/video/9hT8URWznWw/v-deo.html
I wonder if I could organize my database/assets to a OneDrive folder that 2 different computers could use so that I could offload rendering to a second computer?
I use onedrive to save all my renders and comics because I churn out 100's of pictures, but I haven't tried to keep my Daz content folders on it. Interesting idea.
Another tutorial that hits the spot,
I also run on a problem of space, I have a 500 nvme ssd where I put my daz into for now I will work with it and I plan to buy a 4tb ssd for blender, daz and other softwere I plan to use (Most likely nvidia ominverse).
How can I orginize my content if I installed it manually and not on smart content, and how can I move my dazz to the new ssd when the time will come for it.
Thank you very much for your fine work dear friend.
I install almost everything manually these days. Just follow what I did in the video and you should be good to go. As far as moving Daz, the problem will lie in all your saved scenes. Once you move your content let's say from your C drive to your spare drive you will receive errors for any scenes you try and open because Daz will be searching for your content on the original drive. If you have the patience to "Locate" each file as you open a scene, it will eventually load, but it will be a hassle. Any new scenes you create after the move won't have this issue.
@@notfromthisworld7672 Yeahh, my issue that I created so many costum morphs in those scenes, and I mean I really looked to the smallest precentages to have perfect bodies, how can u save costum morphs on daz??
@@notfromthisworld7672 Another question, is how to fix duplicate morphs??
Hey i have a question,i’ve been using 4.20.0.2 for a very long time and it seems like new content’s don’t support it as well as g9 addons,so im asking you for an advice,which new daz studio version is safest for render crashing and general usage?,thanks in advance
I think you would be good if you wanted to upgrade to the current version. I'm using it and have had absolutely no issues with it. 4.23 has a few nice updates over 4.20.
@ ok i will give it a try,thanks for the advice brother
@@mhamadmstafa1969 Good luck! Let me know if you have any issues!
Ouch !!! Too much to digest in one sitting. Makes it all clear as mud. grin
It is a lot to learn, but it is worth it. You'll be happy with your organized content.
The biggest taboo with DAZ... Content organization. I have pretty much the same process as you, sorta.. I have a ton of content as well and I wish i had done a better job categorizing. But I do know where everything is... for the most part... Doing a search finds the stuff I can't find. Where I struggle is finding all my 3rd party Textures. I do a lot of kit bashing.
I agree. The more content, the more crazy it gets!
It's only a pain moving Daz studio if you use smart content, otherwise it's not much of an issue moving Daz. I run two versions of Daz and two different drives, and have my content on a separate drive from them. Nothing at all except windows on C. Never install stuff to C.
I got the E drive for that very reason, to move it off the C drive. I'm just very apprehensive about taking the plunge and actually doing it!
Trying to do just that...I don't use smart content either. Just purchased a new pc and would like to move my Daz over, preferably not to C on my new PC. Could you please explain what files I need to move over?
@@datingsignals8851 Oh I cherish the day when I come on here & say I just purchased a new pc 😭can you write the specs just to break my heart lol
i like you talk about nsfw art work i am wlf2501.