How do I make my products visible in my Smart Content?

DDCreate · June 2022

90% of the time I pull my props/hair/clothes ect from my Content Library and I'm fine with that. But I'd REALLY like to be able to view my expressions in my Smart Content. It helps because it's sort of like a preview. I used to be able to but then I had a crash and had to reinstall and they don't all show up. I'm officially tired of leafing through content folders to find them. Any help would be...helpful :P

Thank you!

Richard Haseltine · June 2022

The item needs a compatibility, even if Filter by Context is off, a type, and a category as I recall.

ShelLuser · June 2022

To get the most out of Daz Studio you really want to combine the Smart Contents tab and use it in combination with the Content Library tab... for example I have both pinned at the left side of my screen (vertical) to have easy access. Alas... I know this has been explained before but I'm currently working on some renders and I'm fully in "that" mood... DS is one of my all time favorite software environments, right next to stuff as ZBrush, Ableton Live, FL Studio.... and then stuff like this happens ;) Alas... enough offtopic venting, let's dive in!

Add a custom library

Optional, but highly recommended: don't muck around in your main Daz Studio library because that can only become problematic. Adding stuff is easy, but... what about removing? I also strongly suggest that you don't "ab-" use your personal library for it because... why mix re-installable static contents with your own work that you'll want to backup? Waste of backup space!

And this is easy:

Make a folder somewhere for your custom stuff.
Start DS, press F2
Open the 'Content' section, click "Content Directory Manager" at the bottom.
Decide if you're working with DS contents or Poser contents (maybe both?); add your new folder to the appropriate section(s).
For now your content folder / library will only be accessible using your content library pane.

Add metadata + categorize

So, the first thing to realize and understand is that the smart contents section is fully virtual: it only exists by the grace of a database, no more and no less. You only need to add / assign so called metadata to your 3D material, and then assign it with its own place within the category section. So how do we 'recognize' the presence of metadata? Easy: by the small rectangluar "icon" in the upper right corner of a product image. For example: expand the 'Figures' category within the smart contents pane, click on "People". Notice the many green (and sometimes blue!) "Actor" icon? That's what I'm talking about.

Now... open the content library pane, browse to a section which contains item(s) that you want to add. In my example I'm focussing on some clothing (a bodysuit) that also came with some material presets.

#1 Categorize

Now, a word of warning: #1 & #2 can be swapped, np. So if you're checking out the "Lost + Found" category for "missing" contents then you should categorize something after you added any metadata (when needed). For obvious reasons: the moment you categorize something within Lost + Found it usually disappears from there. Could be annoying if you still had to add metadata.

Having that out of the way: the reason why I categorize first is to start by thinking what kind of material we're dealing with. In my example a bodysuit, so... right click on the item(s!) you want to add, click "Categorize" and then find a suitable (and logical!) location for your stuff. Also be aware that you can easily make sub-categories (or new ones) if you want to.

I'd add a bodysuit to "Wardrobe => Full-body" and optionally to the "Outfits" section as well (assuming it comes with more accesoiries). SO find the locations and enable the checkbox in front of the one you're going to use. Click ok if you're done, you'll notice that nothing has changed.

#2 Add metadata

Now we're getting to the "cool" part: right click on the folder in the content library pane that contains your item(s) and select: "Edit metadata...". Now this screen can become confusing at first... First: make sure that "Sync product and local database" is enabled (option at top). This is important!

On the top half of the screen you'll see all the physical files. This section will also tell you if metadata is already present (notice the 'file type' and 'type' columns?). Select the file you want to edit. Now you need to select a "Type".... click the small arrow button to open the selection screen. Careful: if you move your mouse too far away it'll auto-close.

Generally speaking...

Use 'Actor' for older posable figures, use 'Actor => Character' for new(er) ones. When in doubt you'll probably want to stick to 'Character'.
"Preset" is the most often used section today. Pose? Use "Preset => Pose", clothing? "Preset => wearables".
Notable exceptions to the point above: Props, Sets, Hair (see 'Follower => Hair') and "unfiltered wardrobes" (when using "Preset => Wearables" you may not see your items appear until you have a compatible figure selected, with "Follower => wardrobe" this won't be a thing (this can be important when you rely on auto-fit to use items for unintended figures)).

When you have selected the right type click "accept", now the main product icon/preview should show the "metadata indicator" as mentioned above.

At this moment you're done and your stuff is added to the smart contents pane.

But wait... there's more!

Compatibilities

The main advantage of 'smart contents' comes from the fact that it can filter your stuff based on what you have selected in the scene tab, and thus only show you assets that are compatible. So let's say our bodysuit is compatible with... Genesis 3 Female, how do we set this up?

And in addition: how do we make the "link" between the bodysuit and its material presets?

In the "Metadata edit" window as mentioned above you'll notice some sections in the lower half of the screen. By default "Categories" is selected, but we also have stuff like "Tags", "Descriptions" and.... "Compatibilities". That's what we're after. Select it, then right click on the entry in the lower half of the screen and click: "Add compatibilities to selected files...".

Now you're taken to a "meta database" as I like to call it, referring to the fact that this is a support section. Scroll around and find "Genesis 3", expand it and you'll see "Female". Select the main entry, click 'Accept' and you should now see this added ("/Genesis 3/Female").

If you click "Accept" again you've now told DS that your new item is compatible with Genesis 3 females and thus whenever you select one in your scene tab it'll show up.

But what about our own stuff? How to tell DS that whenever we select the bodysuit it should show us the compatible materials?

Adding your own compatibilities

Beware! The "meta database" (as I like to call it!) is already in use, so be very careful before you start changing stuff in there. My advice is to add a dedicated node / "root base" for your local stuff add add everything of your own in there. How? Well...

Add the main item to your scene. So in my example I'd add a Genesis 3 female figure, then I'd add the bodysuit for her to wear.
Make sure the new item is selected in the scene tab, right click on said scene tab ("Pane") and click on: "Edit => Set default compatibility base(s)....".
- Note that you can select multiple items, for example using control-a or using control-left-mouseclick.
Click on the "3 dot" button at the end of the entry field.
- You will now see the same screen as when you added compatibilities, but now you can also edit!
Right click somewhere, use: "Create new root compatibility base". I'd suggest a name like: "Local items" or such (local is easy to find again later).
Select the newly created root base, click "Accept".
You're now back to the previous entry screen, but the entry field should have an entry ;)
Enable "Selected nodes only" at the bottom (otherwise you may interfere with the Genesis 3 node).
Click "Accept".

What did we do here? We told DS how to identify our 3rd party asset, so all that remains is to "link" this to our material:

Follow the steps I've already explained above to add the material items to your smart contents pane. I'd categorize this under "Materials => Wardrobe", but you're always free to set up your own categories. I'd use the "Preset => materials" type. Now... as soon as you set up the metadata, you need to search for "local" within the "meta database" when you're adding the compatibilities. In case you didn't notice: the entry field on top can be used to search, and "local" isn't an often used word, so it'll be easy to find.

Expand the root base and you should see an entry for whatever you added. Select it in the same way we selected the "Genesis 3/Female" node before and you're good to go.

It sounds more complex than it is ;)

And there you have it!

I've spend hours, no: days adding my own stuff and it made me appreciate Daz Studio all the much more, because with this software we're in full control.

Hope this can be useful for some of you out there!

Chezjuan · June 2022

If these are Daz store-based items that used to appear, you might try to re-import the metadata.

In the event you haven't done that before, here are the steps.

Right-click the "Smart Content" tab

Select "Content DB Maintenance"

Check "Re-import Metadata"

If you have a lot of products, this will take some time to do, even though the progress bar indicates 100% complete very early. I've had it take an hour or more when I recently re-imported data on a new install on a secondary machine. I did not re-download any items, simply pointed the new machine at the library on a network drive, so the DB had no metadata in it even though I could access the products through the content library.

brittanica · May 2

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