Forum: DAZ|Studio


Subject: File and Folder Best Practices

dbwalton opened this issue on Dec 26, 2022 ยท 9 posts


dbwalton posted Mon, 26 December 2022 at 2:03 PM

Back in the '70s in college I took a course in Software Quality Assurance (SQA).   Two of the main attributes are consistency and standards.   When it comes to DAZ products, DAZ has set the standard for consistency.

I get a little irritated when I see folders like "prop" or "readmes", as well as misspelled folder names.   So, I thought I would post a list of the DAZ implemented folder names.   These are folders found at the library level (i.e. My DAZ 3D Library as default).

When you put together packages to sell or give away, these are the key folder names that DAZ uses at the My DAZ 3D Library level (ignore my date and time stamp.   For accuracy, I simply did a "dir" command to get the list):

10/12/2022  10:39 AM    <DIR>          Accessories

12/06/2022  10:49 AM    <DIR>          Animals

12/15/2022  10:18 PM    <DIR>          Architecture

12/15/2022  10:18 PM    <DIR>          Camera Presets

12/15/2022  10:28 PM    <DIR>          Cameras

12/20/2022  12:32 PM    <DIR>          Environments

03/02/2022  12:36 PM    <DIR>          Fabrics

12/07/2022  10:09 AM    <DIR>          Figures

11/13/2022  06:47 AM    <DIR>          General

12/21/2022  01:36 PM    <DIR>          Geometries

09/07/2022  09:06 AM    <DIR>          Hair

12/17/2022  07:26 AM    <DIR>          Light Presets

10/05/2022  08:32 AM    <DIR>          Lights

12/20/2022  01:05 PM    <DIR>          Materials

12/18/2022  07:28 PM    <DIR>          People

12/20/2022  01:05 PM    <DIR>          Presets

12/26/2022  11:54 AM    <DIR>          Props

12/18/2022  07:06 PM    <DIR>          ReadMe's

12/15/2022  10:28 PM    <DIR>          Render Presets

09/28/2022  03:16 AM    <DIR>          Render Settings

12/18/2022  06:31 PM    <DIR>          Scene Subsets

12/18/2022  07:09 PM    <DIR>          Scenes

12/22/2022  07:24 AM    <DIR>          Scripts

12/21/2022  03:35 PM    <DIR>          Shader Presets

12/17/2022  07:27 AM    <DIR>          Shaders

12/26/2022  11:58 AM    <DIR>          Templates

12/26/2022  11:58 AM    <DIR>          Textures

11/09/2022  11:35 AM    <DIR>          Transportation

As many DAZ products deal with "people", inside the people folder it should be broken down by the character's base figure.   Here are a list of folders used by DAZ in the People folder:

04/18/2022  09:23 PM    <DIR>          Genesis

09/23/2021  08:41 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 1 Female

10/02/2022  10:11 AM    <DIR>          Genesis 1 Male

11/01/2021  05:08 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 2

07/22/2022  01:38 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 2 Female

10/21/2022  01:28 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 2 Male

12/10/2022  12:59 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 3

12/08/2022  06:02 AM    <DIR>          Genesis 3 Female

09/28/2022  12:22 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 3 Male

12/15/2022  04:49 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 8

12/22/2022  06:11 AM    <DIR>          Genesis 8 Female

12/08/2022  11:25 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 8 Male

07/22/2022  01:39 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 8.1

12/07/2022  05:05 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 8.1 Female

09/17/2022  08:17 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 8.1 Male

12/07/2022  03:49 PM    <DIR>          Genesis 9

Inside EACH of the above you'll find more consistency:

12/05/2022  09:51 AM    <DIR>          Accessories

12/06/2022  01:55 PM    <DIR>          Anatomy

12/15/2022  10:25 PM    <DIR>          Animations

12/26/2022  11:54 AM    <DIR>          Characters

12/24/2022  06:37 PM    <DIR>          Clothing

10/05/2022  05:11 AM    <DIR>          Daz Originals

05/14/2022  08:39 PM    <DIR>          Developer Kit

12/21/2022  01:58 PM    <DIR>          Expressions

11/12/2022  09:41 AM    <DIR>          Footwear

12/21/2022  03:51 PM    <DIR>          Geo Shells

12/17/2022  07:24 AM    <DIR>          Hair

12/17/2022  07:33 AM    <DIR>          Materials

12/22/2022  06:11 AM    <DIR>          Modine

11/19/2022  08:46 PM    <DIR>          Nails Factory

12/24/2022  11:17 AM    <DIR>          Poses

12/18/2022  06:31 PM    <DIR>          Props

It's important to note that the Props folder in the people subfolders are props that are specific to that character.   Example, a sword that is fitted to the hand of a G8F will be in People/Genesis 8 Female/Props.  Whereas, if it is just a general prop, not specific to a character, it is found in the library Prop folder.

In each subfolder, most vendors organize their products in their own folder.   For example, in People/Genesis 8 Female/Characters you might find a sub folder for Sabby if you own some Sabby products.   That folder would contain various characters for Sabby's products.   However, it is also acceptable to preface your products with a name.   An example of that is in my Character folder I see that the SASE products are prefaced by SASE instead of being in their own fold.   Either is acceptable, but should be consistent.

Feel free to share this, and if you have input, please add to it.   It's to ALL of our advantage to be consistent.