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Where should Poser geometry files go? Best practices.
- Thread starter Gadget Girl
- Start date
eclark1894
Visionary
I think he's working on the late Monty Oum's project RWBY. I THINK.Where oh where is Joe? *sniffle*
Yeah, his day job has been keeping him so crazy busy and I guess other life stuff, that he's not been able to get us products. Believe me, Toybox will be a priority to get in the store, as soon as I get stuff from him. It is an awesome product.
It sure is. I absolutely love it.
I have been preaching SMS to change this OBJ thing since Poser 7. Some big vendor names have also voted for the change at the internal Poser tech support forums, suggesting (like I did) that Poser actually asks us where to place the OBJ, and remember it for the session. It was also suggested that Poser could have a new internal file entry in the configurations to store the last used paths. When it comes to Props, things are even more critical, since there is NO online store that will accept embedded geometry in props, and that's the default Poser behavior - actually the only one available.
Thankfully, there is a lot of options for tools and scripts that fix those things. I think Netherworks and Dimension3D have some of the best ones. I am happy to hear that Joe will be joining us at HW. As a CA, I have bought almost all of his tools. ^___^
Thankfully, there is a lot of options for tools and scripts that fix those things. I think Netherworks and Dimension3D have some of the best ones. I am happy to hear that Joe will be joining us at HW. As a CA, I have bought almost all of his tools. ^___^
I've also noticed something else recently that was a bit annoying until I figured it out. I will often save multiple versions of a figure to my library while I'm working on it, so I can go back to a previous revision if needed. So I might have Armband1, Armband2, Armband3 etc. Now most of the time the geometry is not chasing between these, but everynow and then I do try to change the geometry, and then load the figure skeleton from a previous version. What I've noticed when I got back and try and clean things up, is that I have to open the cr2 file of every version I want to keep and check which geometry it's using, because if the geometry doesn't change it just references the old geometry. Which isn't a bad thing per se, but it means that I have to carefully check to make sure I don't get rid of the wrong geometry.
I organize my geometries like this:
\runtime\geometries\Ken1171 Designs\Dawn\Superhero\
If I make another "Superhero" product for another figure, it won't conflict with the one I made for Dawn. It also keeps things organized by figure, which is how most people manage their runtimes in Poser. It is also similar with the way files are organized in DS, which I think makes a lot of sense.
\runtime\geometries\Ken1171 Designs\Dawn\Superhero\
If I make another "Superhero" product for another figure, it won't conflict with the one I made for Dawn. It also keeps things organized by figure, which is how most people manage their runtimes in Poser. It is also similar with the way files are organized in DS, which I think makes a lot of sense.
When you put supporting files in your Poser presets library- meshes, textures, morphs, etc.- then people who decide to reorganize their preset libraries suddenly find all of their reorganized content broken. And unless they're a techie or forum goer, they probably won't know why. They might just stop using that content and buying from either you as a vendor or the entire brokerage.
I've placed a ticket with SM about this before, and been officially blown off. I thought that since they keep saying they want people to use their figures they'd make it so that their stuff didn't break the moment you decided to rename or move a preset folder, but no dice. Every time I get a new version of Poser, I organize the SM content in one central runtime of Poser native content. Then I have to spend about least 2 or 3 hours fixing native content and its references so it can load at all.
Not to mention, other developers can't count on those files being in the same place. I can't speak for others, but that discourages me from making add-ons that need them. That's why I keep my morphs outside of the library folder. I have several very distinct characters I want to make. I'm really hoping I can make morphs good enough that they're useful to others. And I would love to be able to incorporate others' morphs (via references, of course). But I won't distribute a morph preset that references a file that only has a slim chance of actually being there. Not when so many have said so much about the importance of library flexibility as a feature.
The only benefit to putting files in the same folder as the presets is that it's easier to delete the whole item. Maybe I'm totally off in this, but I think most people just leave stuff around, even if they haven't used it in ages.
If you do leave the file in the presets library, then it could be really helpful to edit your cr2 or pp2 anyway, so that you make the link relative instead of absolute. That is to say, instead of ":Runtime:Libraries:Characters:ArtistName:FigureName:file.ext", it should just be "file.ext." That way, if someone decides, say, to put the character in Libraries > Characters > FigureName, or even Libraries > Characters > CharacterType (women, men, birds, etc.), your figure shows up, has its morphs work, and doesn't trigger any error messages. I've had to fix a whole lot of files to make morphs work properly because I changed one folder in my library. And at least I knew what the problem was and how to fix it. To a newbie, all that would have happened was the morphs seemed to load but none of them worked.
I've placed a ticket with SM about this before, and been officially blown off. I thought that since they keep saying they want people to use their figures they'd make it so that their stuff didn't break the moment you decided to rename or move a preset folder, but no dice. Every time I get a new version of Poser, I organize the SM content in one central runtime of Poser native content. Then I have to spend about least 2 or 3 hours fixing native content and its references so it can load at all.
Not to mention, other developers can't count on those files being in the same place. I can't speak for others, but that discourages me from making add-ons that need them. That's why I keep my morphs outside of the library folder. I have several very distinct characters I want to make. I'm really hoping I can make morphs good enough that they're useful to others. And I would love to be able to incorporate others' morphs (via references, of course). But I won't distribute a morph preset that references a file that only has a slim chance of actually being there. Not when so many have said so much about the importance of library flexibility as a feature.
The only benefit to putting files in the same folder as the presets is that it's easier to delete the whole item. Maybe I'm totally off in this, but I think most people just leave stuff around, even if they haven't used it in ages.
If you do leave the file in the presets library, then it could be really helpful to edit your cr2 or pp2 anyway, so that you make the link relative instead of absolute. That is to say, instead of ":Runtime:Libraries:Characters:ArtistName:FigureName:file.ext", it should just be "file.ext." That way, if someone decides, say, to put the character in Libraries > Characters > FigureName, or even Libraries > Characters > CharacterType (women, men, birds, etc.), your figure shows up, has its morphs work, and doesn't trigger any error messages. I've had to fix a whole lot of files to make morphs work properly because I changed one folder in my library. And at least I knew what the problem was and how to fix it. To a newbie, all that would have happened was the morphs seemed to load but none of them worked.
Glitterati3D
Dances with Bees
I organize my geometries like this:
\runtime\geometries\Ken1171 Designs\Dawn\Superhero\
If I make another "Superhero" product for another figure, it won't conflict with the one I made for Dawn. It also keeps things organized by figure, which is how most people manage their runtimes in Poser. It is also similar with the way files are organized in DS, which I think makes a lot of sense.
One thing I have started doing as well, Ken, is append all my geometries and textures with text - gi_<object or texture name>
I have had textures fail to load because Poser loads the first (TShirtWhite.jpg) it finds without the appended text on mine. If I name it gi_TShirtWhite.jpg Poser behaves properly. As runtimes fill up, we're all subject to being caught up with this Poser issue.
I guess I have been lucky, or maybe the way I organize my geometries and textures doesn't give Poser a reason to look for files at the wrong places. But I am starting to find it useful to prefix my own internal JCMs, FBMs and PBMs, for it makes it easier to locate them when adjusting morphs. Poser lists EVERYTHING in the same LONG list, and it's not even alphabetized to help finding things. Apparently morphs get in the list in the order they were added. Sometimes it takes me longer to FIND a morph than to adjust it on the clothing. LOL
Glitterati3D
Dances with Bees
I thought I had it covered, too, but recently I had a trans map from a V4 outfit load instead of the one I had in the path. And the path was exactly like yours........runtime>textures>Glitterati>Dawn>Outfitname>filename.jpg
The path alone was not sufficient to load the proper file - it had to be a unique filename as well.
I still prefer the geometries in the Geometries folder, it confuses me to have to look for it in the character folders.
So if I do a pose that need a pmd and it calls for the geometries it will point to the geometries folder.
So if I do a pose that need a pmd and it calls for the geometries it will point to the geometries folder.
I prefer to keep my PMDs together with the CR2 that uses them. If it's in the same folder, it doesn't need a path, so I always remove the PMD paths from the file. This eliminates the location dependencies, so people can move the folders around without breaking anything. Geometry folders are for geometry, while PMDs are morphs. But either ways will work, so it's more a matter of personal preference.
This is what I like about DS: is always knows where to put its own files, so we don't have go worry about it. Not only that' but it also creates and maintains its own folders, and we ever so rarely have to hack files to fix things. This is how Poser should be as well, but I guess it has its own culture.
This is what I like about DS: is always knows where to put its own files, so we don't have go worry about it. Not only that' but it also creates and maintains its own folders, and we ever so rarely have to hack files to fix things. This is how Poser should be as well, but I guess it has its own culture.
Poser used to be a bit easier on some things.
for instance creating a character file.
In older Poser versions we just loaded an obj and saved right to the character folder and it worked.
Now it has to go into the setup room and that is chaos if you have no idea how to do it.
If a pose uses a pmd file, I put it in the pose folder with the poses.
Geometry files goes int a geometry folder.
for instance creating a character file.
In older Poser versions we just loaded an obj and saved right to the character folder and it worked.
Now it has to go into the setup room and that is chaos if you have no idea how to do it.
If a pose uses a pmd file, I put it in the pose folder with the poses.
Geometry files goes int a geometry folder.