What was that I bought, and where the heck did I put it?

Dartanbeck

Okay, I've made it no mystery that I Love using the DIM, well... I guess now it's just called IM? Screw that... I'm still going to call it DIM... is that okay?

Anyway, I've also always been very proud of how I have my content organized so that it's super easy for me to find when I need to use it. But the problem comes when I've been away from the game for a while. Sometimes I end up seeing stuff on sale or even for free or perhaps my client gave me a nice tip so I can spend it freely on my wish list... whatever, and time goes by and I don't exactly remember what all I've recently bought, let alone stuff I've bought (and have yet to investigate in Carrara) over the years I've been collecting.

Well for a long time now, if someone had issues trying to find specific files, I'd advise folks to use DIM to find the location of what's been installed. It works great. Just go into the "Installed" tab, look up the product in the list, and then right-click > Show Installed Files. Sometimes I just cannot figure out where certai texture maps are located. Texture maps are vital to getting the most out of this content in Carrara, because we need to fill in the blanks that aren't yet set up in the basic shaders that load in with the content from the library. Unless it's a Carrara-specific product or one that comes with Carrara-specific shaders, we'll need to apply the Specular and Normal maps ourselves along with glow (illumination) maps and others. 

An example: Ravenheart made the awesome Marcoor FG Starship and its interior products, and has also made a lot of the textures for it. But ToxicAngel has also made some of the textures for it. I didn't realize that until I looked it up. Very simple to do - also vital to making things look right.

Lately there have been a lot of cool freebies and heavy discounts that have been imposible for me to deny grabbing up. Sometimes I end up collecting stuff at a rate that I just don't remember what all I've actually purchased, versus what I've been exploring in the store - especially after lifting heavy stones every day for weeks on end - when it's hot and humid outside... argh....

Before yesterday, I had a fun way of exploring my content collection, but it took time. I'd go to my Product Library in my Daz3d account, take a screen shot, paste it, proceed to the next page, screen shot, paste, etc., and make many sheets of images containing my collection. 

I'm so glad that there's a MUCH easier way - thanks to Daz3d and their wonderful DIM!

I just had an idea to check with DIM and see how I can filter my list in there - sure enough! I can sort by order date, install date and others, instead of just my usual favorite: Alphabetical Order!

So now I can comfortably browse my products, sorting them in all of the ways I've wanted to so far. I find it embarrassing that I'm only learning this now. But, like they say... better late than never - for some things, at least!

Sometimes I like to go back to my very first purchases, and sort by Order Date, Oldest First. It's like a fun exploration down memory lane. It's fun to see how my shopping tastes have changed as I became more experienced with Carrara.

Most of the time I like my stuff in Alphabetical order, but yesterday and today I wanted it more like my default sort mode in the Product Library, showing by Order Date, Recent purchases first. Then the handy (i) info button brings me to the online ReadMe, which can also lead me to the store's product page for the item. Some folks might be surprised if they knew how often I do this for my own purchased items. I've always enjoyed going back to product pages of stuff I've already bought.

Anyway... as if I wasn't already a huge fan of how well the DIM helps me in my creative endeavors - it's fun to learn to like it even MORE! ;)

barbult

You can create your own filters, too.

Documentation

Dartanbeck

barbult said:

You can create your own filters, too.

Documentation

Kick Ass Ankle!!! Thanks!

Mistara

wish my clips were organized neat and tidy  

Dartanbeck

Mistara said:

wish my clips were organized neat and tidy  

So easy to do! I have a really cool system in place using the idea in my Your Carrara Browser article. If I'm wanting to save a new clip or set of clips, and I don't have a good place to put it/them, I just quickly add whatever folders I need, then update that part of the browser to have the new categories show up... works like a charm!

Dartanbeck

Wow... I had some minutes I could spend on my computer, so I thought I'd hit up DIM and my Product Library for inspiration towards this month's challenge. What a wonderful walk down memory lane!

Funny how much of this stuff seems to get kind of disregarded as being Old or Legacy stuff, and then that's it... kinda forgotten. When I look at the earliest Millennium People still available today, which is Generation 2, which I believe is compatible with all products like clothing and hair, etc., made for Generation 1 - but I'm sure there are caveats, I cannot help but notice that these are still some fantastic figures. Get some higher end texture kits and spend some time morphing and posing and there's a fine piece of software there! 

Oh... now that I look, it seems that Generation 2 have now been culled from the store, but there are still some cool outfits for them.

Michael 3.0 base has a retail sale price of $9.95, which is still a really cool human figure. Beyond that, though, some of the outfits and hair auot-fit to Genesis pretty well if we have the Generation 3 for Genesis kits... I got those right away when they came out - half because I had some stuff I wanted to use on Genesis, and half because I wanted to try it out and see. In fact, I just recently bought a cool Aiko 3 outfit for the sole purpose of using it on my Genesis female.

Anyway, going through Mitovo's First projects in Carrara... thread, and then answering it, brought back some memories that were kind of vague in my mind, so I had to take a glimpse back there to see how I started at Daz3d. And it's an interesting trip! I can see where I got some cool bundles for free just for signing a yearly membership with Platinum Club along with enough individual free products to keep me downloading for days. I couldn't stop giggling! Rosie saved up a wad of cash so that I could get a PC year, plus Carrara, plus around another hundred, 'cause she wanted me to be able to get some cool stuff to play with right away. With all of the free stuff that came with Carrara and PC, that extra cash went a long way to getting that roller coaster feeling in my gut rolling for weeks!

Millennium Environment and the Multiplane Cyclorama, I believe both were made by Stonemason - I know the ME was... but just about (if not all) everything made for one also works for the other. I liked the Millennium Environment because of its ability to become a 360 degree scene. Using my Product Library to actually see promos for these things, I totally remember why I loved these things... they are really cool, and have some amazing places to be! That Safari Starter pack with all of the animals and the Serengeti pack for MPC and ME, that gives me a golden prairie land all around in all directions with distant mountains fading into the sky. So cool!

Space is a little trickier because, for me at least, it seems so much harder to keep the camera on the horizontal axis. I want to roll around, up and down and all over in space. But the space kits for ME are really very wonderful too. Inner caves, woods settings, cliffs, Egypt, winter, underwater... all kinds of places to go at PC prices. Was a fun set to collect!

I think some of them were also included in bundles of stuff that was on sale for really unbelievable prices. 

I see they still have the Anime Star Fighter bundle for sale cheap as well. Aiko 3 with the sexy Mech Girl outfit, hair, and the amazing Stinger space vessel by none other than Kibarreto! It is fully loaded with all of the top-notch quality of all of his fantastic wares! I was also collecting all of his stuff then too.

Oh man! Millennium Dragon 2.0!!! When this awesome creature was being released, this cool TV Movie also came out! I was so fired up to own this thing... I still am!

In between these things are piles and piles of more precious goods. SciFi Bundle packed with two Stonemason interiors plus containers and crate by Stonemason, along with a couple of awesome scifi vehicles, lots of props, clothes and hair to test out on the new Generation 4 figures, which came free with Carrara, Nerd3D's cool effects kits like the Waterfall tool, Rain Tool, and his fun environments like thunder river, tropical cove and swampy bottoms... Horse, Cat, Dog and many other animals, including more dragons and such... Man this is a fun spree!

Most of this stuff is not so much an "Oh Yeah... I forgot that I had that" because I actually look through my various libraries fairly often while I'm in my Carrara zone. But the things that I haven't optimized for Carrara and maybe put off for later... wow... it is so cool to see this stuff and remind myself to get it into Carrara and get it fit with some cool shaders!

All those Howie Farkes kits... cool. Too bad they took down ArtZone without replacing all of his notes about his products first. He had some invaluable test results notes toward advising folks how to render his stuff depending upon ones needs... it was very cool and I learned a LOT about Carrara and its render engine , translucency in shaders and such from his many pages of excellent material.

Then along came mmoir. Changed my life with this Carrara's Mystic Gorge! Between Howie and mmoir, I really started getting interested in learning landscaping in Carrara!

So then I also got all of Tim Payne's products as well. Learn through products... good plan. So on with PhilW, Ringo, 3DLust, Dimension Theory... everyone. These folks were all fairly vocal in the Carrara discussion forum too, back then. I think they would really love being a part of today's Carrara forum! 

Once I bought one of Phillip Drawbridge's Star Ships, I went back and bought them all. Fantastic!

Dartanbeck

This is the actual Sopwith Camel airplane that PhilW builds while teacing us how, in Infinite Skills' Advanced Carrara Techniques. As I do with everything, I think I may have played with the shaders a bit... I always do that! ;)  Fantastic, though. The Working Files that came with his course was like a big score of content in its own right! I love all of it, and the courses are truly wonderful - no matter ones skill level.

Dartanbeck

One of Phillip Drawbridge's Star Ship (Deep Space Heavy Cruiser) and mmoir's BMF Landscape Pack

Here is the same ship sunken to the ocean floor

and this is a whole city I made using the Distant City Background distance preset for the above mmoir BMF Landscape Pack. It loads back in the distance but when I looked at it up close, I decided to try it out as a central city environment... looks cool!

Dartanbeck

I  Millennium Dragon 2!!!

But I also  the new Dragon 3!

Dartanbeck

Oh... sorry... lost my mind for a bit. What was this thread about again?

mindsong

lol, good to have you back, even if just a quick visit... best wishes on finishing your project, and returning with inspirations in force!

--ms

Dartanbeck

Thanks Mindsong! Fun to be back :)