Hello there,

Back again for some more words of wisdom and a bit of help please. :)

I've got my Poser pro up and running now, it was heavily crashing there for a while. But I updated my graphics card drivers and it seems pretty stable now. WOOT.

I've installed the content in there own runtime folders (Victoria, Michael etc.) However, searching through the content is pretty hard going in the Poser library (from the interface). In the Daz studio library interface, you can rename the folders and arrange them in a way you can easily find them (while it doesn't actually change the installed folder structure per se). I noticed you can't  really do that with Poser (or not that I have found anyway).

So my question is, how do you arrange your content in a way it can be found once it has been installed? Do you organize it in the C drive runtime folder or will that disturb your installs?

Thanks in advance,

Rob.

I use External Runtimes for everything I buy/download.  what the product is determines where it's going to go.

For instance, in my external runtimes I have a folder called MilWomen.  Inside of that I have the different characters, each of them with their own folder (V3, S3P, Aiko3, Girl 3, V4, A4, G4 - you get the idea.

I do the same for the guys and for most everything.  Then when I need a particular character, I just load that folder into the library and all is well.

I have one runtime set up with Sub Folders, works for me...

I use PzDB... makes a searchable database. 

Here you go

Organization in Poser is very important.  Libraries grow quickly and it soon gets to a point where you can't find anything.

So far as organization goes...

You have 2 options that can help you with organizing and being able to find things:

1.  Create sub folders inside the library folders.

This is the preferred method for many. It uses one single runtime with lots and lots of sub folders within the main library folders, in order to organize the content.  The learning curve is minimal. If you can right click and create a new folder and drag and drop, you can do this.  The learning curve is knowing what folders you can move files around in and what folders not to touch.

You can move around the files inside the library sub folders. 

Don't move, touch or rename files or folders  in the top level of the library folder that carry the name of the merchants, or the "Morph" or the !DAZ  folder because those are morphs and need to stay where they are.

Just work with the standard ones inside the Library folder such as camera, faces, hand, pose, props, hair, lighting, character. 

Leave the files inside the geometries and texture folders alone.

Right now you have a hodge podge of files for various figures in each folder plus props, poses, lights etc.

Open the character folder and create sub folders for each of your figures IE: V3, V4, M3, D3, Aiko, Apollo etc.  Do the same for each of the other library sub folders.  You can also create other folders too, such as "Poses" or "Props" or "Backgrounds" or "Hair" etc.

Then go through your files in each of the library subfolders and move them into the appropriate folder for the figure they belong.

Things like lights, and poses and hair and props are universal items really, and can be used across figure, so I like to have those separated instead of filed by "figure" because I often use V3 poses on Aiko and hair for Posette on V3 etc.

You will run into a problem for items that are for more than one figure. Like where do you file those?  For exxample an outfit that is for V3 and M3 and Aiko and SP3: where do you file them? If you put them in the V3 folder, then you forget that they can be used for M3 and Aiko and SP3 too. It was this complication that prompted me to move onto using external runtimes (described below).

I did it this way at one time and it worked well enough,well except for items that could be used on a few figures like I described above.   I decided I wanted even more organization, and I didn't like having one huge runtime because it was impossible to really burn it to a CD/DVD without having to break it into bits and pieces.  Plus it took Poser forever to load because the runtime was so big.  So I tried option 2 below.

**2. Multiple External Runtimes
**

This is my choice for organizing my installed content.  I did the first method first and it worked for awhile, but as my content grew, it became cumbersome, so I switched to multiple external runtimes, which works out great.

It's really pretty easy.  The problem is that most people over think it.  

Just remember that an external runtime is exactly the same as the runtime in your Poser folder, only it's just sitting in a different location.  

It functions exactly the same way. 

And files are installed / added to them in exactly the same way. 

And they have the same folders in them as the main runtime does. Well almost the same folders.  Scripts for example have to be installed into the main Poser runtime and won't work from an external runtime.

Here is a sample of an external runtime.  Simply download it and unzip it. You will have a folder called "Runtime_Sample"
**
**www.divshare.com/download/8531562-1f6

Find a place on your hard drive that you want to have your external runtimes living. For me it's on my partitioned drive D.

Make a folder called "Poser Runtimes"

s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii124/Acadia_ca/

Then simply copy that sample runtime you unzipped into that "Poser Runtimes" folder and make as many copies of it as you want to.  Change "Runtime_Sample" to whatever name you want.  Here is what I named some of mine:

s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii124/Acadia_ca/**
**

Then all you do is simply install your content into whichever runtime you feel it fits best into.

Once you have finished installing your content look in the Runtimes where you have Daz characters such as V3 or V4 etc.  Go into the Library folder and look for the !DAZ folder.  Make a COPY of that folder and place the COPY in exactly the same place in the main Poser Runtime. 

Poser looks there first so by placing a copy of them in there, you are helping Poser out.  Don't delete the !DAZ folder from your other runtimes though. That defeats the purpose of having external runtimes, which is not only to allow Poser to work faster, organize your content better, but also to not lose your installed runtime content in the even of a crash because hopefully you have also saved your external runtimes to a couple other places for easy access in case of the need to reinstall.

Hope that helps.  If you have more questions, just ask.

Oh yeah, never install anything directly to your runtime. Always unzip / install to a folder on your desk top so you can see what is in side and what the folder structure is.

Thanks again guys for all the replies.

Wow! Acadia many thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed and informative answer. Everything is so much clearer now - finally! :). Can't wait to get stuck in!

 Acadia,

This is basically what I did before I went to the database. The problem is, you STILL have a ton of searching to do within the runtime, and the names of the top level folders are a pointless mess as they are installed.

The databse shows all of the icons on the same screen and makes finding what you are looking for a dream.

If you don't want a full database then Pdo3 is a good compromise. It at least gets the icons on the screen where you can see what you are looking for.

Quote -  Acadia,

This is basically what I did before I went to the database. The problem is, you STILL have a ton of searching to do within the runtime, and the names of the top level folders are a pointless mess as they are installed.

Which is why you never unzip/install a file to the runtime without first putting it on your desk top and looking through it.  It gives you a chance to move files and the rename folders.

You don't simply plop things into the runtime. You need to rename folders and have continuity when renaming, throughout the library.

Take for example, this package that has files in Character, Poses and Props.

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=61539

This package has files in Character, Poses and Props.

Powerage uses a number of subfolders when he zips up his packages.  I don't like having to look through that many subfolders to get to an item that I want.  So what I did to sort  and store this package in my runtime was:

1.  Open Character folder and create a new folder called "Powerage & Renapd - Extravaganza 3", then move all of the files from inside his last subfolder in the Character folder to that one. This is the path I have:

D: / Poser Runtimes / V4 Clothing / Runtime / libraries / character / Powerage / Powerage & Renapd - Extravaganza 3

1.  Open the Poses folder, create another folder called "Powerage & Renapd - Extravaganza 3" and move all of the files from inside his last subfolder in the Poses folder to that one.  This is the path I have:

D / Poser Runtimes / V4 Clothing / Runtime / libraries / Pose / Powerage / Powerage & Renapd - Extravaganza 3

3.  Again....the same thing as above for the Props folder. Again, this path:

D: / Poser Runtimes / V4 Clothing / Runtime / libraries / Props / Powerage / Powerage - Extravaganza 3

Now when I want to use that package, I simply open the Character folder, open the "Powerage & Renapd - Extravaganza 3" folder and there are the main clothing  files.

Because I used continuity with the naming between Character, Poses and Props,  I now know that when I look in Character, Poses and Props and see a folder called "Powerage & Renapd - Extravaganza 3" that all files in those folders belong to the same package.

If I acquired another texture package for  Extravaganza 3, I would go to "Poses", open the "Powerage & Renapd - Extravaganza 3" folder, create another folder inside and name it for the merchant IE:  "Renapd - "

I do the same with all of my installs.

Another example:  The morphing fantasy dress. There are so many textures for this dress, it's easy to lose them.

In the character folder I creaste a folder called "MFD"  I then put the MFD files into that one.

In the Poses folder I create a folder called "MFD" and inside that I create subfolders named for each texture.  As a result when I want to use a texture for the MFD, all I have to do is go to my Poses folder, open "MFD" and there are all of the texture packages that I have for that particular dress......all nicely placed in sub folders named for the person who created each package.

My V4 library folder is almost 8 gigs in size.  I know exactly where everything is in that folder simply because I used continuity of naming between the folders.  
 

Then you can use the favorites folders to organize your content even further.  The purpose of this feature is to localize content icons from several runtimes into one specific common folder.  For example, you use M4/V4 quite a bit but they reside in separarte runtimes.  Major headache opening one then the other.  Under favorites, create a folder entitled models (or whatever you wish) and save the icons there.  Both in one place, eliminates searching.

Different strokes.

I still prefer Pzdb. Simple. Easy. No hassles.

But everyone has their own way of doing this, and about the only WRONG way is "everything in one runtime as it came from the vendors."  

"Which is why you never unzip/install a file to the runtime without first putting it on your desk top and looking through it.  It gives you a chance to move files and the rename folders."

That's what I do and everyone should. And put stuff you don't use much into a sub-folder and only have frequently used stuff in main folders. I have a folder named "other people" in which I put all the content for figures I rarely use. I search for content using Windows search within my Character and Props folders. If you name your folders and sub-folders logically, you can usually find what you want.