I got DCM up and running and, when working as intended... its pretty awesome.
v5 was pretty ambitious in its scope, maybe too ambitious... and there is not a lot of user manual stuff, so I thought I put down some observations (and questions).
When you have DCM running, in the Dashboard in step 2:
2. Import Pre-scraped asset catalog (optional, but recommended)
The import/export Admin tab has it looking in my DCM asset folder (C:\Users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library\#DCM\data)
so I assume that the purpose of this step is that if you have installed a version of DCM previously and have used it, it will now look in those folders to see what has been previously scraped... correct?
Step 3 says
3. Import your downloaded assets (Optional)
DazContentManager scans your DIM Install folder (2 sub directories deep) for all files in the DIM Installer Format. (e.g. IM000012346-01_xxx.zip)
It will then extract the information out of that filename. First letters are the Vendor, the following numbers are the SKU
If you did not package your asset as a DIM Install File OR named it other than my logic, DCM will not detect it properly.
DCM will then start downloading Asset Information from the Vendor pages - this will take some time
After that, you can browse your assets in the Asset Menu folder
In this step, is DCM now checking your C:\Users\Public\Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager\ folder to see what you have installed (Correct?)
Step 4:
4. Config scraper and scrap Download Sites
Go to "Admin", "Manage Scrapper" and Scrape the Download Catalog you want to use. This will take a while and you can see the progress under Admin, Work Queue
DCM will load all Data from the download site and will link it to your assets (or download the asset info, if it doesn't exist)
I am thinking it might be best to do these one at a time right?
If selected in the Admin/Manage Scraper tab, DCM now goes to Daz3D's site and creates an entry on your computer's storage space for every asset it finds under
C:\Users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library\#DCM\data\assets\
- DAZ3D
- RENDEROSITY
- RENDEROTICA
- FORENDER
- RENDERHUB
- MOSTDIGITALCREATION
Just a warning though, if you choose Thumbnail + Large Promo or ALL Preview Images, you need to have a decent amount of storage space. My asset folder is 238 GB right now (Daz3D site is 210GB alone).
So, now you've got what you want scraped, ( For me I have Daz3D, Renderosity, and Renderotica) and have Scraped 3DLOAD & F95.
When you click on Assets, you get a screen like this.
I have the Asset Tab open, and it took me a while to figure out that when you click on Assets, it NOT just showing you what you have installed in you DIM folder (see Step 2 Above), but it seems to be showing Everything you got and what has been scraped at the sites in step 4. I kind of just wanted to know/see what I installed... and i was banging my head against the wall cause I know I didn't install any Gen 2 Assets or Bird God Action Hawk whatever the hell that is....
It took me a while to figure it out, but I did have my "A-ha" moment... and that is brought to you by the filter icons on the right side of the image.
On the Screen, the word ASSET (left side of image) means, "everything for DAZ3D that can be found on the major sites that is in IM Format".
To pear it down you have to click the filter icons. Clicking on the "DIM file created" icon will turn it green, which means you should only see the assets that your computer has an IM file for. Click it again, and the icon goes red, and you will now see the assets you don't have an IM created for.
This all works in conjunction with JDownloader, so in theory, you click on a an Asset that shows up when the Downloads icon is clicked (picture above on left side). When Jdownloader is running, the assets have a green Clickn'load button. Click it, and it goes to Jdownloader... From JDownloader you can than download it back to your DCM folder, where you can find it under that asset's Vendor SKU number in a folder called originalFiles.
If you want to install that asset, go to the ASSET panel (top right side of photo) find the asset (search by title etc) click on it, then drag and drop the rar/zip/ file that was downloaded into the little box that says... "drop asset archive here".
The magic of DCM then takes your rar/zip file and MAKES an IM install package and dumps it into the Vendor Asset folder SKU file in a folder called "installFiles".
All you gotta do now is point your Daz Install Manager program to the installFiles folder, and it will now see the IM and buddabing, it is now installed.
Now, what I'd like to know is how do I get DCM to show me which files I have downloaded from Jdownloader into my DCM asset folder and have zip/rars waiting for me in the origialFiles folder?
I would think that I should go to the Asset panel, click the filters:
DIM FILE CREATED = RED (hasn't made a DIM from originalFiles)
DOWNLOADED = Green (cause' its been downloaded and should have a OriginalFiles folder ?)
DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE = Green (This means I have something in the OriginalFiles Folder no?)