Adding Metadata to Products *

2023-10-19T06:00:52+00:00

Adding Metadata to Products *

TODO: Review for accuracy.

Summary

The Content Management System (CMS) provides significant usability enhancements for end users. Once metadata for a product has been created, the Smart Content pane automatically filters content that is compatible with the object selected in the viewport, greatly speeding scene creation by helping the user identify compatible accessories, materials, and poses. Tools to create metadata for new products are provided with the application.

Process Overview

Create Product Database Entry
Categorize Product and Files
Link Scene ID and Compatibility Base
Finalize Metadata in Content DB Editor
Add Product Icon

Foundation

Before beginning to add metadata to content, be sure all files are arranged in an appropriate Content/Runtime folder structure. The process will be easiest if a separate Content/Runtime directory for the product is used. If a separate directory is used, be sure it is added to the Content Library pane, either by right-clicking the DAZ Studio Formats and Poser Formats in the location based containers, or clicking the Content Directory Manager... action in the Option Menu.

Remember that for both Daz Studio and Poser content, the Runtime that will be added is IN the selected folder.
If there is a base product (e.g. a figure or a clothing set), be sure it is also installed and added to the Content Library.
If there are both Daz Studio and separate Poser folders, add them both. Not Daz Studio files in the Runtime, a separate content folder.

Step By Step

Create Product Database Entry

If your product is isolated in a separate Content/Runtime folder, create a product by right-clicking on the Content/Runtime folder and selecting, “Create a Product…”.

Use the exact name used in the store when possible.

If there are both Daz Studio and Poser folders then you will need to use this procedure for both, using the same name for each. Daz Studio will combine them into the same product.

To create metadata for a product installed into a Content/Runtime structure containing other products, follow these steps:

Start Product Entry

Find a folder containing some of the product's assets in the Content Library pane, e.g. in the Poser Formats folder, open the context menu and click “Create a Product…”. A small dialog will pop open, prompting you for a name, and after confirming it with “OK” a new product container will be created in the correct alphabetical sub-folder of the top-level “Products” container.

All contents of the selected folder and all sub-folders will be added to the Product. Try to find a folder that contains only items from the Product you wish to create, if possible.

Add Product Files

Now locate all the assets that belong to this product in the various folders/categories of the Content Library pane, in both DAZ Studio Formats and Poser Formats. Select and copy the references, then return to the product folder and choose to “Paste Reference” from the context menu.

Create a temporary root category and assign the assets to it, as you locate them inside the folder tree, so that you can copy and paste them all in one go from that new category folder at the end, rather than jumping back and forth to the Products folder.

Categorize Assets

Once all assets have been added to the product, they need to be categorized. This can be done either from the Product folder or from the “Daz Studio Formats” or “Poser Formats” folders. The Daz Studio and Poser formats folders have the advantage that the files are already sorted by type, which makes categorizing them easier. However, if you do not have a separate runtime for the product, it may be easier to use the Product folder.

If you are categorizing weight-mapped content, i.e. content with the .duf extension, you have the opportunity to set the categorization and other information when the .duf file is saved.

Navigate to the folder you have chosen, and select the thumbnails of the items you will categorize. Then right-click and select “Categorize…”

In the Select Categories dialog, select all categories that apply.

Only check the most specific applicable sub-category in the tree. However, if a product fits multiple sub-categories, go up one level in the category tree.

For files that apply specifically to a product (lights for a specific scene, clothes for a custom figure, all materials, and anything that is not for general use), create a new category where applicable using the exact product name of the compatible product. The main determination is how many files could conceivably wind up in there, not just in your product.

Link Scene ID and Compatibility Base

In order for Daz Studio to recognise an asset when it is selected in the viewport or the Scene (WIP) pane and know what content is compatible with that asset, its internal “Scene ID” must be associated with its Compatibility Base, so that the Smart Content pane can filter its contents appropriately.

To link the Compatibility Base with the Scene ID, the item must be loaded into the current scene. However, all items for a product can be loaded at once, and need to be fit to or parented to anything.

Load an object into the scene
Switch to the Scene (WIP) pane
Select the object (if it is not already selected)
From the tab menu select “Edit > Scene ID Editor…”,
Click Compatibility Base

In the dialog, select the base that you created for this asset and click OK. From now on, whenever this object is loaded into a scene, Daz Studio will know what it is and which objects and presets are compatible with it.

Create Compatibility Bases

Right-click in the “Select a Compatibility Base” dialog and create a new root compatibility base by the product name.

For products with more than one object, you will create a new sub base under that root base for each item, using the item name.

Finalize Metadata in Content DB Editor

To add metadata to a file or set of files select the Products folder, click on the tab menu icon in the corner of the Content Library pane, and select “Content DB Editor…” A dialog will pop open.

Product Page

In the Product page you set the metadata for the product (collection of assets), such as the store, description, and artists. The latter two are shown in the Info Page of the Smart Content pane, and Info Page of the Smart Content pane. Details of each field are listed below the sample image.

Store: For products being submitted to the Daz 3D store, choose the “DAZ 3D” option.
- To add to, remove from, or inspect the list of available stores, see the Stores section of the script samples page.
Global ID: This value is automatically set. It defines a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) that is used to uniquely identify the product within the ecosystem. This value should not be changed for a product once it has been set and the product has been distributed.
Token: This is the identifier used by a store to identify the product. In the case of Daz 3D, this is the SKU value found on the product page - set by QA when the product page is created.
Description: This is optional.
Artists: Right-click in the field to add artist names. These should use the exact same spelling as on the store page.
Support: This points to a Metadata Support File (WIP) containing the information presented in this dialog. This file is written when the “Export” button at the bottom is clicked, or the dialog is closed while “Auto Export” is checked. If “Auto Fill” is checked, the name of the file is generated automatically from the Store, Token, and Name values.

This is a relative path, and will save to the first …/Runtime/Support directory recorded in your Content Library. If that directory does not exist, you will be unable to save this file without manually changing the directory here or creating the directory in …/Runtime/Support. You may wish to change this to the separate Content/Runtime file structure for your product, if you have one.

Files: This will contain a list of all files that belong to the product, irrespective of whether they have anything to do with the visible assets. The files can be added one by one or by entire folders.

This is simple if you have a separate Content/Runtime folder: Add your product's files to the Files list by right-clicking in that box and selecting “Add fromDirectory (Recursive)”

If you have both a Runtime and content folder, or other files that should be included, make sure to add them as well. Be sure to select the correct level directory. Check that the paths start with Runtime or Content as appropriate.

Scene IDs: This data cannot be altered from the Product editor. It automatically shows the scene IDs that have been assigned to compatibility bases declared by assets in this product. For example, the Product “Victoria 4.2” would contain the asset “Victoria 4.2.cr2”, which has a declared compatibility base of “/Generation4/Victoria 4”, which is associated with the scene ID “#blMilWom_4b_68498” (the name of the .obj file and the number of vertices) - therefore a line showing this relationship will appear in the “Scene IDs” area of the Product tab.

After filling in all the information you wish and exporting the support files (either manually or automatically), the product will be visible in the Products view of the Smart Content pane, just as its individual assets are in the Files view.

Assets Page

Switch to the “Assets” page. Make sure that “Sync Product and Local Database” is checked. The files listed in the top half of the page can be sorted by filename or extension to simplify selection.

The Content DB Editor will list all files defined in the currently selected Product as “Assets” in the top half of the dialog, showing in a table what kind of metadata is associated with each. Selecting one or more of the listed assets will make them show up in the bottom half of the editor dialog, where data can be assigned or edited. This needs to be performed on a per-file basis, although multiple similar files can be selected and edited at the same time, as appropriate.

Path: Lists the path to the specified Asset file
Type: Used for Content Swapping, if the user has that feature enabled. With Content Swapping, if the figure is wearing an Asset of a particular Type, and another of the same Type is loaded (e.g. hair), Daz Studio removes the first asset from the scene and replaces it with the new asset. Only one type can be selected, so select the one that best applies to the asset.

Audience: Daz 3D has not yet implemented an audience filter within the Daz Studio application, but may provide this as a user-configurable option in the future. QA provides the following guidelines:
- Child: Appropriate for all ages, e.g. many Toon characters, animals.
- Teen: Superheroes, dance clothes, costumes, most content by default.
- Adult: Nude skins, Genitals, Thongs, etc.

Asset Sub-Pages

Categories: “Categories” govern where assets will appear in the Smart Content pane and the Preset pages of the Posing (WIP), Shaping (WIP), and Surfaces (WIP) panes. These should already have been set from the Content Library in a previous step, but you can also right-click assets in this dialog and select additional categories.

Additional Root Categories can be created from this menu. Use with caution. Attempt to match how the product will be categorized in the Daz 3D store as closely as possible.

Tags: These are search terms that can be used from the Content Library or Smart Content panes, in addition to the asset name. At the present time, QA recommends adding the artist name, supported figures etc. because these aspects are not automatically included in the search criteria. Other search terms should be added as applicable. Add whatever tags you feel will help users find your assets more easily, remembering that users can add their own also.
Description: In most cases the individual asset descriptions should be left blank. Exceptions would be for files that do something 'nonstandard' or need more explanation. The description shows when you have pop-up tool tips enabled, or in the “Info” panel at the bottom of the Content Library. This might be a good place to note licensing restrictions.
Compatibility: See next section.
Userwords: Provided for end users and should be left blank by the content creator.
User Notes: Provided for end users and should be left blank by the content creator.

Link Assets to Compatibility Bases

Switch to the “Compatibility” sub-page, where you can specify the relation between assets, i.e. which of them are modifiers for which other assets. Declare a compatibility base for each asset that represents a selectable, modifiable viewport object, such as actor figures, props and clothing figures. Assets that share all the same modifiers (e.g. a long and short version of the same pants, which both take the same material, morph and pose presets) can share the same base for simplicity. The declared “Compatibility Base” tells the application what the asset is, and the asset can also have one or more “Compatibilities”, which tell the application what other assets it can be applied to. This is the information that allows the Smart Content pane to show only the materials or clothes that fit the currently selected figure in the viewport.

The bases you created in the Scene (WIP) pane with Edit→Scene ID are declared here.

Any file that works with or on an asset is compatible with that asset. If the asset is not included with this product, you should have already set it up enough for it to be available as a compatibility base. Clothing is compatible with the base figure, presets are compatible with whatever they apply to, etc.

The Content Management System comes with several Bases already pre-defined in the database (such as all human DAZ figures from Generation 1-4 and Genesis), but for most objects, e.g. new clothing in your Product, you will need to create new root and sub-bases from the context menu of the Compatibility Base dialog.

Add Compatibilities

Add compatibilities to all assets that modify other objects, such as material presets, poses, morph injections, auto-parented props, clothing figures. Some presets can be compatible with multiple bases (e.g. generic material presets or multi-fit clothes or hair).

After assigning categories, compatibility bases and compatibilities to all assets where appropriate, you can now close the Content DB Editor dialog. You will now be able to see Assets in the Smart Content pane.

Add Product Icon

In order for the Product to display icon, an image file of the same basename as the support files has to be placed in the same Support folder as the .DSX support file. The default location is “<Path to My Library>/Runtime /Support/”. For new Products, this image should be 114×148. If you are creating metadata for older products, you may use the 100×143 product thumbnails in the Daz 3D shop website.

You may need to select different folders in the Content Library or Smart Content pane to force the Product view to refresh.

Wrap-Up

The metadata as defined here does not populate the store categorization at this point. Daz 3D hopes to have them work together eventually.

Next Steps

Defining Content Presentation

Documentation Center public:software:dazstudio:4:userguide:creating_content:packaging:tutorials:adding_metadata

Adding Metadata to Products *

Adding Metadata to Products *

Summary

Process Overview

Foundation

Step By Step

Create Product Database Entry

Start Product Entry

Add Product Files

Categorize Assets

Link Scene ID and Compatibility Base

Create Compatibility Bases

Finalize Metadata in Content DB Editor

Product Page

Assets Page

Asset Sub-Pages

Link Assets to Compatibility Bases

Add Compatibilities

Add Product Icon

Wrap-Up

Next Steps