Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12440&Form.ShowMessage=1110143

I have tried out MIke in his scuba gear which I bought from Daz. I found that:- (0) With this combination, my Poser 4.0.3 always jammed in rendering; see also the thread at this link. (1) Of the scuba set's six "tails" (two regulators & their hoses, two bouyancy deflator pull cords, depth gauge hose, BCD (= stab-jacket) mouthpieces, none were IK-chains. To make his mouthpiece stay in his mouth as his head moved, I had to make the regulator and its hose into an IK-chain myself (so I could set it IK-on and IK-parent the reg to his head): an awkward job with a 25-link chain in that fiddly little keyhole-surgery-like "hierarchy editor" window which can't be maximized or pulled at to make it bigger. (2) The primary regulator is called AltReg and the alternate or space regulator is called PriReg. That is, each has the other's name. Confusing. The reg whose root points upwards is the main reg. I should know, after the amount of scuba diving that I have done. (3) The flotation bags should be bigger and higher up. Never mind if they hide his or her breasts. (4) Mike's and Vicky's scuba sets' .OBJ files seem to be identical except that Vicky's is a bit lower in Y. If both could access the same .OBJ file, that would save space in people's computers. (5) The fins are in the right place **if** I set Mike's legs to IK-off and re-zero his pose with the "re-zero" in the Joint Editor. They are not in the right place as Mike loads initially.

alternate or space regulator space = spare :: sorry mistype.

I found some unusual programming in its regulator hoses. Each hose segment had 3 morphs which were dummy because they had zero amount of deltas. Each corresponded in name to one of its x/y/zRotates. Each rotate was slaved to the corresponding dummy morph in ALL of that hose's segments (and also to a master channel in the scuba set's BODY). That meant that operating one of those dummy morphs changed all the corresponding rotates in that hose, by the same amount. I wonder if all that mass of intersecting "slave-chains" and slaving-in-a-circle that was making something in Poser run out of space? I have Poser 4.0.3 without PPP.

Sorta makes you wonder who's beta-testing over there.

0 - The first I've heard of a rendering problem with it. Often, problems in Poser4 (sans-ProPack) are the result of a corrupt geometry resource (.rsr). Try deleting the .rsr and see if it still happens.
1 - ERC and IK chains do not play well together. IK was built in at first, then based on tests (both in-house and beta), IK was omitted.
2 - None of the reference material collected made a distinction on valve port location, nor did several divers (amateur - master) when asked.
3 - The model was constructed based on photos of divers wearing their gear. Many manufacturer and safety references were used.
4 - In order to properly conform the rig to the figure it was intended for, some things MUST be done in the mesh (not to mention the topological and proportional differences). Believe me, rigging the joints a second time was not fun.
5 - Much like #4, in order to conform correctly, certain things must be done to prep the figure. When conformed, the fins fit as they were intended.

post #3 - Simply put, its called ERC (cascading). In addition to the standard manipulation, are channels that allow upstream/downstream manipulation. targetGeom was used in place of valueParm so that poses could be saved that utilized the 'dummy' channels.

-Rob

I am sorry if I seemed to be too critical.

I'm sorry if it appears as if I'm perturbed by what you typed. I'm not a PR/sales/marketing person, I'm a production/get it done/who,what,when,where,why person. Being short on time and as busy as I often am, I sometimes post very direct responses. With a lack of smiley faces thrown about, it may appear as I'm being rude/short fused. I'm not... I'm just involved in 'about a million' things at once and try to keep my responses concise (admittedly getting carried away at times), so I can get on to the next thing (or back to one I've taken a break from).

I'm not a fan of misinformation. Assumption as to why something was/wasn't done posted as an authoritative synopsis is often full of [assumption]. It seemed to me that questions/misunderstandings that are easily cleared up by someone directly involved in its creation, could be answered/corrected with actual facts and/or simple explanations. Quick, dry, fluff-less responses.

My apologies if it seemed harsh. It wasn't meant to. FWIW, as with all of DAZ's products... if you are unsatisfied with the product, we do have a return policy. Contact sales@daz3d.com should you feel the need to exercise that option.

-Rob (Quick, dry and fluff-less) :)

Sorry. I have made models myself and I realize that making a model this complex is a lot of work. 0 - The first I've heard of a rendering problem with it. ... 1 - ERC and IK chains do not play well together. IK was built in at first, then based on tests (both in-house and beta), IK was omitted. That proved to be correct. Of my copy that I had put the IK chains in, I made another copy and in the copy using a text editor I deleted all the slaving pointers and all the dummy morphs. After that, a setup with Mike in his scuba gears rendered OK. ... 3 - The model was constructed based on photos of divers wearing their gear. Many manufacturer and safety references were used. sorry again. I live in Manchester in England and most of the scuba gear that I see is British made. My stab-jacket (alias BCD) (real, not mesh) was made by AP Valves at a place called Water-Ma-Trout in Cornwall (UK). (That is a real place name! :-) ) 4 - In order to properly conform the rig to the figure it was intended for, ... I did not conform it, I merely parented it to his chest.