I have been buying content non stop since starting with Poser 6 then 7. I spend so much time trying to find the right clothing or prop from my library that it limits the amount of time I can spend working. I am scared to make a "furniture" folder and a "Hair for David" folder and then cut and paste into them. I am ready to make a backup of my 2 gig Poser 7 directory and then delete it.
Then a fresh install.
This would let me not use the content import from zip that puts every prop under the ridiculose and unhelpfull filing by vendor method that makes it a 20 minute process to find sunglasses.
Is this a better method to use than trying to use explorer to move content into folders I make and hope i don't hose Poser in the process?

 

I always organise new products into related sub-folders, in exactly the way you are scared of, and I have had no problems at all.

Just do not touch anything that is NOT in one of the following Poser Library folders. Anything within the Poser Library folders may be moved to sub-folders according to your own preferred method of organising them, with no adverse effects.

The Poser Library folders (with their corresponding Poser Library names) are:
Camera (= Cameras)
Character (= Figures)
Face (= Expression)
Hair
Hand (= Hands)
Light (= Lights)
Materials
Pose (= Poses)
Props

PS: I always do this re-organisation after a standard installation to the Poser Runtime, so I know that everything that MUST be in a certain place is where it should be.

Thank you, I will procede with caution, but less worry. . ok but a related question is what if some items like a gun are sometimes a prop and sometimes another one is a figure, do they have to remain seperate in order to function and be found?

I see where you're going with that. I'm pretty sure you can put any Library file into any Library folder, and it will still work okay. For example, putting prop hairsets in the same Figures folder as figure hairsets. But I have not actually tried it.

Personally, I'm not sure I would want to mix up props with figures like that, I'd probably end up confusing myself!

I think we need more expert advice on this one...

Ok I will wait, my estimated 2 gig of poser content turns out to be 11gb so I want to do this just once

I have everything in my main runtime but rather than load from the Poser Library Pallet I run the free application 2xExplorer (sometimes several instances) and the Dimension3D script that loads Poser content (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=62059&vendor=288865) by just double clicking on the file in any Explorer or other Windows type navigation window.

I use 2xExplorer since it has a hugely fast and robust search and two navigation windows with folder trees and favorite folder shortcuts. The Poser eXplorer product has nothing to do with the image in the promo... it runs in the background giving Poser content files icons based on thier thumbnails and loading them in Poser by right click or double click.

The main thing is the speed at which 2xExplorer can find every instance of files with a certain string or partial string in the name... thus I can search "glasses" and all my glasses come up in a couple seconds and then I can just load by double clicking the one I want or right-clicking to load it.

I do hand place all my content in sub-folder organization and check it with PoserFileOrganizer to make sure the paths are good.

I had the same issue, but did a complete reinstall of my Runtimes this summer. Here's the process I followed.

1. Create a separate folder on your drive called "Runtimes"
2. Within this folder, create a series of folders according to category.  Some of mine were Accessories_Buildings, Accessories_Weapons_Modern, Clothing_Fantasy, and so forth.
3. Within each subfolder, create another folder called "Runtime". This allows Poser to recognize that this is a Runtime directory.
4. Add each separate Runtime Directory to your Runtimes list in Poser by using the "Add Runtime" command.
5. Now, that you've got the categories set up, go ahead and install all your content. I used 3D Content Installer, available here on Renderosity. It's well worth the ten bucks because it automates the installation of your runtimes. Set up the archives you want in one particular runtime, point it at the folder you want them installed into, and then go for coffee.

I was able to do a complete reinstall of 32 GB of content in about a day and a half, and it's made working with Poser a lot easier.

Now we are talking. That was excellent help!. I just (60 seconds ago) bough 3D Content Installer and can't wait to get started. As we speak I am doing a fresh p7 install. This time I think I will skip SP3 however.

**hobepaintball: **Glad it was of some help.

Here's a little "gotcha" that you should be aware of. The Daz figures (M3, V3, V4.2) should be installed into your main Runtime in your Poser program directory ( e.g. C:Program FilesSmith MicroPoser). I've read here on Rendo that M3 and V3 don't need to be installed there, but that V4.2 must be. Since I use my main Renderosity directory as a "People" directory and since it doesn't have a lot of content in there anyhow, it's not a big limitation for me.

I'll also mention that I ran into problems using 3D Content Installer on the install of V4.2, so I did a manual install of her. That's the only figure that I had problems with, but a manual install of Vicky 4.2 worked just fine.

Other than those little issues, you should be good to go.