Am I the only one who has collected so many poser assets that I don't even know what I already have anymore.

How do you guys manage?

You're not the only one... and I manage them by naming my download folders by month and yeah, example:

Oct-Nov2012... this way I can keep track by how long ago I may or may not have downloaded it. It helps me a lot...

As for organizing runtimes, I have 4 runtimes... one for Poser 7 which only has the content it came with, one for Poser 9 which also only has what it came with... Then one on my first external harddrive called !X!Poser7 which was stuff mainly for older versions... Then when I got Poser 9 I bought a new external harddrive and made another runtime called !X!Poser9 which contains P9 compatible content...

Although I'm sure there are other better methods than mine, but these work for me.

Nope, you are amongst the majority I think, alot of people have designated external harddrives just for the content.

Over 7 years I've accummulated a harddrive full of stuff of which only 10% is actually used and 15% has been recorded in my brain as being there, the remaining 85% is a surprise and like getting a present when I find it :)

I have multiple runtimes dependant on what type of thing it is, one for v4 characters, one for v4 clothes, one for poser props and scenery, one for hair etc (gen 3 has been put to bed now thank god!)

Oh and welcome to the world of runtime chaos  :p

A good database will also offset duplicating content.  My philosophy has always been: "If you haven't used in 6 months, chances are you are not going to use it anytime soon".  Uninstall or archive content which will not be used in the foreseeable future.

You are definitely not alone.  :)

I think Poser needs to come with a warning. "Poser requires XX G of HD space but you will want 400 T for all the content you collect"

Organization is key, whether you use a data base or multiple runtimes is up to you but find a way to organize so you can find what you want.

I think it is safe to say that 3D artists want a digital model of everything in the world. ^ ^;

my Poser Animations

I am in the minority. But that's because I am not allowed to spend money on content. I make what I need now, and it's in its own runtime.

Not at all! I've been buying and downloading FreeStuff since 1998. I've got stuff for characters I don't use anymore- like Victoria (1) and Posette. I still use V3 and M3 from time to time-but Vicky1 The Millenium Woman? Not for YEARS.

I have a lot of stuff. I have it in lots of external runtimes.  I have names for those like vehicle or stonemason in the folder name, so when I use advanced library manager I can just type stonem and only my 10 stonemason externals (and i won't see all my hundreds of others) will show up and then I can choose the one or ones i want to use in poser.

Love esther

I've been gathering all my poser files onto an external hard drive. I've begun re-labelling so all my V4, M4, A4 and so on will all be grouped together. It's taking a long time to do. Once everything is finished I'd liketo create a database.

had a writer want a mummy outfit and he only wants Vicki3 characters because he prefers their body type... so that Royloo Mummy outfit I bought 3 or 4 years ago has come in handy.

Can never have enough content - never know what you're gonna need until the next new project - so alot of the time ya gotta buy ahead for stuff you think you may need down the road.

Content creators keep this community alive. A toast to content creators free and pro

I've given up on ever finding where I've put content on my ancient runtime and basically use the Poser search function to locate what I need.

If I need a table or a wall or a gun for a scene I just do a search for it.

With the wisdom of hindsight I now place content in sub-folders that are easy to search for. Which is another great reason why you should never let the Daz installer dump directly into your runtime...you'll never ever find it again. For finding texture maps from the Material Room I use the Everything Search Engine (freeware) which IMO is better and more secure than Windows search and the indexing involved, but no thumbnails.

Since I started making freebies my content acquisition habit has got even worse. I now know the value of a usable Poser content item in terms of time saved, so I find it difficult to resist a poser content sale, and I am so grateful for good free stuff. Keeping it all organised and backed up is a challenge.

because i get so much content, it is far easier to me to just leave it in it's own natural folder with all the props, lights, cameras, mats etc that go with it.  Then if it is a race car I would maybe call it poser_vehicle_racecar or maybe have the makers name in the title as well.

Then when I want a car I just type in vehicle in advanced library manger and then I see all my runtimes with the word vehicle in them and I chose the one I want or just pick all of them which makes a giant runtime out of all my vehicles including trucks and buses.

I find this is the quickest way to install my content and then to find it later. If you have a lot of content and haven't got around to installing it all yet, it is quite a daunting task.  Creating subfolders like ashley9803 would just take  me far too long. It is so much easier to keep everything in separate folders and just rename the enclosing folder (you know, the one with the runtime in it) to something that is really easy to find.

If you haven't yet tried advanced library manager I can't recommend it enough.

Love esther

You are definitely not alone.  With DAZ sale season on, I've found to my embarrassment that I've bought many things I do not even remember buying.  I don't know I already have it until I search for it in my order history and find I bought it years ago, or worse, when I download it and find I already have a file with the same name.

I have about 30 runtimes, organized by figure and theme.  (For example, fantasy, nature, horror, contemporary, hair, prehistoric, toon, animals, sports, holidays, materials, etc.)  But these days I don't even bother installing stuff until I actually need it. 

The biggest problem I have is when merchants sell their products at more than one store, or when they move stores.  I sometimes end up buying duplicates then. 

I'm a dinosaur addict, so I keep a draft e-mail at my Gmail account where I list all the Dinoraul products I own.  Since he sells here as well as at Content Paradise and DAZ, I have a hard time keeping track otherwise.

Yes, I am always doubling up.  Especially with the change in the daz website.  When I make a mistake and buy the same thing from 2 different stores I just think to myself, well at least the sales help the artist.

Love esther

Agreed...I think they have a television show for us called "Hoarders."  I've got a box of CDs and DVDs where I've burned off my purchase and download content for several years, and since very few of the files actually tell you what they are, it gets horribly confusing.  I make sure all my Rosity purchases, DAZ, RDNA, and other commercial sites downloads go into individual folders and then I burn those to DVD every six months or so.  This works especially well for me when it comes to characters.  Example: I have a folder specifically for my IllusionsDesigns characters, another for DAZ, etc.  That way I can remember which merchant to look for and sort from there.  I cannot, however, seem to find my V3/M3 download files...I put them somewhere "safe" and don't remember where.

I wish there were an indexing program that would generate an index to follow.

DAZ lets you re-download your purchases whenever you want, so you can always get new copies of your V3/M3.

I confess, I use the store databases rather than keeping my own, and it's often easier to find the product and re-download it than find it my own archives.  (I don't think I've even downloaded everything I've bought.)

I guess I'll regret this if the site goes belly-up.  Like PoserPros...

It never fails though.... I need a Pony Express image for a business and of all of my gigs of content... Not one cowboy outfit.  Had to hit the stores last night. :( (I was so sure I had what I needed)

My Poser library contains only V4 and her sisters, primitives, and some general-purpose lights and materials. Everything else is in a separate library structure which bears no resemblance to Poser's. Since I have P3dO Explorer Pro, I can load content from anywhere on my computer, meaning I can classify things my way.

So I know, for example, that if I want a dress for Antonia, it will be in Z:PoserLibrariesFiguresFemaleAntoniaClothingDresses. If I want a car, it will be in Z:PoserLibrariesObjectsVehiclesCars or a subfolder; and so on. MAT poses, materials and other related stuff is always in a subfolder right next to the item(s) they apply to - I duplicate or create shortcuts if necessary. And yes, Z: is a portable drive, so I can take my stash everywhere with me. :)

This all makes more work at installation time, but I know that if I have something (and more to the point, can remember that I have it), I won't have any trouble finding it. I also keep and backup my downloaded files, so if that obscure freebie site disappears, I won't lose anything. There's also plenty of stuff that I haven't installed, downloaded in case it "came in handy one day". I'd like to claim that's as well organised as my library. I'd like to, but I can't.

:lol: 

You're a pack rat?!  LOL

I have double digit gigs of Poser content that I've bought from here, Daz and RDNA, that I haven't even installed yet!  Or sorted out for that matter. It's gotten to a point where it's so overwhelming to think about sorting and organizing it, that I just can't be bothered to look and see what is in there.

When I get a notion to create and need something, I faintly remember having purchased it it, so I go to my purchase history and search it out and redownload it.

And every runtime I have has all of the content that I have ever installed into it, going back to when I first got Poser. It's a good thing I use multiple runtimes with a highly organized sub folder system so that I can browse and find things.