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SnowSultan β Creating Categories in DAZ Studio
Published: 2012-06-14 02:43:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 12958; Favourites: 99; Downloads: 463
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Description
A quick tutorial on how to gather a bunch of content together where it can easily be found in DAZ Studio without having to actually move any files around. It should come in handy if you have characters that you use often (like me) or if you're working on any large project where you need to use a lot of elements from many different products.Now like JGN79 said below, of course it's a lot easier to just assemble a figure and save it as a Scene file, and I do that as well. This way is useful as backup (since sometimes Scene files can have issues between versions), or just to gather everything in one place if you want to quickly test materials on individual items or before working on a big scene.
I hope it can be helpful and thanks for taking a look!
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Comments: 45
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I'm glad! Thanks for taking a look!
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Really helpfull, thanks your tutorial I created some new categories, it's a quick advantage on working with daz.
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Categories can be useful if you tend to use the same content in multiple images. Glad it was useful!
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Yes, really usefull, I'm following the others tutorials, it help me a lot, it take long time to create such tuto, thanks again for your dedication.
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This is so helpful! My files are a MESS and I can't find a thing. SO many freebies that are just floating around all willy nilly all over the place under random categories ....ahhhhh. lol THIS is going to save my sanity for sure! 
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You're very welcome, I'm glad it can help!Β
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_your quite welcome_``~...
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thanks for this! content libraries in daz studio are insane. i feel like i spend just as much time searching for items as i do creating the actual picture. this is going to help tremendously.
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Thanks, I'm glad it can help! I don't actually use Categories much these days but they can be a useful feature. Just be careful when updating Studio, I lost what few categories I had created when I updated (probably why I don't use them now).Β Β
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and here is to create smart content fav.me/d6ctii8
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Thanks, that looks like a good tutorial.Β
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thankyou very much i m pretty sure this will save me a lot of work in finding the files again and again...
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You're welcome, I hope it can help! I've also found it useful for collecting things like trees and plants, floor/ground planes, and other items that may be scattered everywhere and also may not show up in a search (because people give them all kinds of weird names).
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This is exactly the use I had in mind when I came across your tutorial. Β Besides universal scene items, I'm likely going to add my favorite Iray shader directories so I don't have to keep swapping as I work. Β (I tend to re-shade things immediately after adding them into the scene.)
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Things have changed a bit in Studio 4.9, you can create your own folders within Studio and drag 'shortcuts' from the Smart Content panel to the Content Library panel to create custom folders without having to use the Categories. However way you choose should help you keep the files you use most often handy. Another very useful method that I like is to right-click on an item in your Content Library and choose "Create Custom Action". A link to it will appear in a Scripts menu item in the top bar, and you can move them around through the Customize... feature later. Hope it helps!
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I knew about the custom action option but it really only works for a few options without getting cluttered. Β I set up the custom some custom categories last night and found them immediately useful. Β
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Someone at DAZ pointed this out to me, thank you!
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I hope it can help, thank you for taking a look!
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Ooh, I've been trying to figure out how to do this! Thanks!
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Thank you, I'm glad it can help!
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This tut is very useful, especially for me. I'm not currently a content creator, but I am creating image series, and find myself loading the same figure into multiple scenes,often with different styles of hair or clothing, and always with different props. Having a categorized list of all the items this character is associated with is a huge time-saver later on down the road as a series progresses. JGN79's method of just saving a fully-loaded scene file is good too (and I've done that), but doesn't help much when you use the same character in multiple styles of dress and environments. If you want to "mix and match" props, hair, clothing, all on the same character and in the same kind of series, this tutorial explains the easy way to stay organized. Thanks for this.
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Very glad it could help! For me, it's been mostly useful when I have to rebuild characters after a Studio update refuses to load my previously saved ones.
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This is a very nice tut, and as I'm... actually almost finished... with a character, it would be useful. But strangely, when I go to create a subcategory & give a name (whether I name it Lucy_Zepp or Lucy), it says it cannot create a subcategory...? I don't expect you to know the issue, but just in case someone else has that issue as well, they'll know they're not alone, or if anyone know's why or the solution.
I have my folders set as tree, with a few runtimes just in case.
Thanks for this tut and submitting it to the #Daz3DelightExp group
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That's very strange, I am unable to duplicate that error. I tried using underscores like you did, tried right-clicking in different places, and it always works. Did you not install the Content Manager? That might have something to do with it.
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Hmm, it must've already installed (Content Manager), I see it running in my Task Manager Processes. Maybe I'll try when I get time. Thanks so much, Snow! If I find the problem, I'll let you know
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If you see it running in the Task Manager, then yeah you installed it. I honestly don't know what's wrong then, but I'll try to mention it to DAZ guys the next time I get a chance. Thanks for letting me know.
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Thanks a lot, friend
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Did you know that you can save items to a drop-down menu so you can find them quickly? I was going to write a tutorial on that too, but here's the secret: right click on any content and choose "Create Custom Action". It will appear in a new menu on the top menu bar under "Scripts".
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Actually I did know that trick, even since DS1.8 when I started 3D. Got a few main things, such as my V4 "default" scenes (V4 alone with all the morphs and no textures, another same scene which is the "perfect fix" version sold at Rendo, another with NPM, etc...). With categories, I'd like to have the idea of grouping certain folders, such as my current character's folders (morphs/mats/SSS/etc..), or "Clothes" under V4 runtime figures, then "Clothes mats" under V4 runtime pose, like the script "Favorites" was. The Custom Action is different then the idea here.
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That's good, yeah I've used those for a long time too. I've got V4, M4, Genesis, the base morphs, some lights, base shaders, and all the stuff I use often in there.
I did ask some tech guys about your problem with Categories, hopefully I'll hear from them in the next few days and I'll let you know.
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Very useful piece, kudos to Daz for putting that there
Thanks for asking the tech guys, if they ask for details, let me know and I'll give you what I can
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You are a angel!
Thank you very much for this tutorial!
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I use to create the full character, (dressed, textured and morphed) save it and then load it all at once.
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Oh sure, I do that too. This way is also good for backups (since Studio is always updating and occasionally old scenes may not work) and for collecting large amounts of objects. For example, when I get around to rebuilding my medieval city, it will help if I can gather every medieval-themed prop I can find in one place before I start building.
Thanks!
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Thanks, hope it can help!
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