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Does a software/database app exist for daz studio products? I know for example that such a thing exists in many flavors for movies (my choice being Eric's Movie DataBase). Something we could use to sort all these products in our storage drives would be nice...
I have never felt the need for a product like that, because I use a strict nomenclature & folder hierarchy. If I have a product, I know where it will be.
If it isn't there or my recent download folder , I don't have the item.
🙂That's how I try to manage as well, but it really means a super tight nomenclature and hierarchy. Subcategories can be very troublesome.
Categories or any folder based aggregation is not the best approach for classification of 3D assets. They are inherently hierarchical, which may be adequate for smaller taxonomies. But their limitations become evident in larger taxonomies where you will come across orthogonal categories. Think of each orthogonal category as separate dimensions or axes in space.
For example, lets say you have orthogonal category sets such as "Armor" and "Weapons", then you have "Fantasy" and "Sci-fi". You can have the first set nested under the second or vice versa. Chefs choice, doesn't matter, you have already duplicated one set under each node of the parent set. Now add a few other orthogonal sets such as "Genesis 8" and "Genesis 9", "Iray" and "3Delight" and "Filament". Now, imagine the nested folder structure you would end up with. Mathematically speaking, the redundancy grows exponentially for each orthogonal set added to the classification.
Also, if you ever need to change the hierarchy (changing levels, or adding/renaming nodes), you have to replicate the same change across the entire taxonomy to maintain consistency or else, accept chaos.
Solution: Use tags instead of categories, but that needs a functional CMS. You can add custom tags using the DB editor or your favorite metadata editor. Tags are supported in search, but honestly, I don't know how good Daz studio handles multiple tags within the same search query. Also I don't have the patience or felt the need to tag each installed item manually.
If you don't have a functional CMS or can't use the DB based search, then use Posercontent.com to search for the items you need. From there, navigate to the official item page and from there check the item's readme page to get the official content path to locate the item in your content library if you have the item installed already. Sounds a bit of hassle, but trust me, its more efficient than using the file based search option inside studio especially if you have terabytes of content.
Personally as a casual user, I find Daz's "conventional" classification together with adding favorite items to menus, adequate for items that I use often. I am just glad that this is not part of my job.
I have an embarrassingly large archive, but if I have an item I can find an item easily within about thirty seconds tops, usually about 15 seconds.
Yes, it is a tedious long winded approach, but once you have it set out & religiously maintain it, you have a robust system.
I use the nomenclature Vendor / Base Figure (if any) / Item title / SKU-Outlet
If anyone is interested there is further detail in the Manual Install sticky.
Not following DAZ'S CONVENTIONAL structure is THE problem. Sure, studio allows you to have any esoteric structure that you may fancy, and that's OK if the content never leaves your system.
Also the approach of organizing content under yet another classification system only exacerbates the problem if you ever have to share any of your personal creations to the rest of the world. Imagine being a publishing artist and distributing content that adheres to your personal structure. Basically, you would then be shoving your nomenclature up your consumers orifice. Its not fun having to deal with multiple bespoke taxonomies from multiple artists.
If you can live with having top level hierarchy based on vendors, each following their own bespoke conventions, then you do you. Probably that has the better benefits to effort to ratio when it comes to maintenance, but I would rather have everyone align to Daz's convention. Too bad, they don't have a means to enforce that convention as part of the DIM packaging format.
Daz Connect addressed the issue of segregating the physical folder for each individual items instead of monolithic content dumps, but that approach has its own limitations.
If you don't do that, you have chaos, because vendors do not adhere to any structured nomenclature.
That line of thinking is what I believe how we got here i.e. the present state of chaotic categorization.
Lets start from the beginning. Many folks here would have started off with some freebies from various sites such as ShareCG or DeviantArt or some YouNameIt.com including some dirt-cheap bargain bin items from a Daz sale. There they encountered the "diverse" content structuring from various vendors with varying skill and maturity levels, all dumped into some monolithic content dump in their local drive. They detest the absence of any semblance of order and start seeking advise on how others dealt with this chaos. A few helpful folks drop by, preaching how their own personal content structure helped them deal with the chaos. The naive newbie chooses the most convenient/influential method or decides to create their own approach and starts restructuring their content. It works for them if its a tried and tested approach, or they evolve it to work for them through trial and error. Months go by, may be years, our newbie now has enough confidence to publish their own creations, may be to earn an extra income from selling content, or possibly land a commission. They seek smaller and informal channels like ShareCG / DeviantArt to publish their content. Unlike formal stores like Daz or Renderosity, none of these channels have any requirements or guidelines in terms of standards or conventions. In the absence of any guidelines, they decide to go ahead with their own structure and publish. After all, that structure has been working for them for years and it should work for others as well, right? RIGHT?
Now you see how the chaos originated and propagated?
I am not saying that Daz/Renderosity has the best content structure, but if people have to debate endlessly about which approach is the best, then there is no single solution that fits all. If those informal stores like ShareCG or DA imposed conventions on how to structure and package content for distribution, we wouldn't be in such a chaos to begin with. Now assuming, if any of these publishing channels (including this Zone) begin to set any different standards/conventions than Daz/Renderosity then it would only add to the existing chaos. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I can find most things within 30 seconds or so. My database at the moment is 1.87TB. Quite often I would re-adjust files to make easier for me. For me, manual installation is the best option.
I agree with the manual install approach. That's what I do, too... of course it also has its caveats. Some daz products such as some script-based ones, make use of the daz "smart" system to find morphs, for example, which renders said scripts useless if you're not using the smart thing. I never really did install things that way because I don't trust it. I feel that Daz might still be snooping around thanks to it. And of course I could be wrong...
Anything that is not sourced from Daz won't have 'smart' content anyway.
It was only a half assed sticking plaster, as vendors seldom do the same things the same way twice.One solution doesn't fit all, but like all things computer, if you put garbage in, you get garbage out. It is worthwhile taking the time to decide what makes a logical workflow to you & set up your system accordingly. Yes, it is very time consuming & a bit tedious, but done properly & properly maintained it works.
It is not just me that can find content within a matter of seconds.
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