Just a post to let Ockham know how much I appreciate his Python scripts. I constantly use the light panel and delete light scirpts. I also make good use of the "set al morphs to 0" script, even if it has issues in poser 5. I also liked the eureka script, which I find easier to use than trying to learn to master the cloth room. These scripts are really time and pain savers. I cannot recommend them enough. Thank you, Ockham, for making my posing life easier. Compiler

Well, you're welcome. (blushing)

Adds to the 'Make the Ockham blush' party and hugs the stuffing out of em! Thank you soooo soo much. Your recent help with my morphs has been absolutely invaluable! THANK YOU OCKHAM!!!!!!!

Three cheers from this corner for Ockham!

He blushes? Oooh! :wide evil grin: If he saves 100 of us 5 minutes a day (a major understatement), that is a tremendous gift of time to the community. With a couple of his scripts in the 2000+ download range, that is a lot of artists who can concentrate upon making art and not deleting lights or arguing with some dials. Carolly

I guess I'll take this opportunity to ask the master: WHAT IS THE BASIC NECESSARY SETUP FOR THE PYTHON DIRECTORIES IN PROPACK? I had a PC drive crash on me a bit over a week ago and, after getting a new drive, and reinstalling stuff, when installing environment deluxe and (trying to) run(ning) it, I get various errors? I've made screen captures of some of them, but before I post any I'd like to find out: Is there something I need to get (DLLs or otherwise) to put in or around my Python directory(ies)? Shouldn't whatever it is (the directory structure related to Python) come with the program (ProPack) already? Did I somehow miss a posting somewhere that says "Hey Larry! You need to [fill in the blanks] before this thing will work!"? Is this an OS related problem (Win98SE)? Is this a problem related specifically to the program in question (Environment Creator), which, after past hitches, has worked extremely well? If so, I'll contact pcbos, who hsa always been extremely helpful in the past? Could this be the result of some other (combination of) hardware and/or software problem (P IIi, 512 SDRAM, NVIDIA 32 MB, blah blah blah)? How can I go about seeing the basic structure of others' Python directories to see where I might be going wrong or lacking, even though the setup in my own Poser (of which I am running the latest patches) is the -- I guess -- generic one that came when I installed the program? Sorry to be a bother, but a very annoying little problem. Help me if you can; I'll be really grateful! Thanks in advance. Larry F

If you'll post one of the errors, by copying and pasting from the error box, it should be possible to diagnose. The Python error messages are fairly informative -- to programmers anyway! Without that info, I can't tell what's going on.

Well, there are two possibilities. One is simple, the other not so simple. First, there's a file named FixTK.py that seems to be necessary as a sort of key to the TK system. (That's the Windows- style GUI for Python.) FixTK should be at: Runtime/Python/Lib/Lib-TK/FixTK.py If you can't locate -any- of that path, especially the entire Python/Lib folder, then your installation is seriously messed up. The indication that MainButtons.py can't be found, tends toward the more serious problem. Can you find FixTK.PY in that folder? Is the LIB folder full of other PY and PYC files? If so, you're not too badly off....

And, yes, the Lib folder has many many other .py and .pyc files in it, bookended by aifc.py and xmlib.py.

Attached Link: http://ockhamsbungalow.com/python/FixTK.zip

All right! I'm on that fast quick and in a hurry! Forgive me if I don't get right back! Gotta run a quick errand! Back in about 45 mins, if that matters! Thanks again. Larry F

I would also like to say thank you, Ockham! I like your scripts because you put commentry that is easy to understand in them so I learn while playing around with them. Thank you! Diana

Before I go out, though, renamed and moved the old, D/L'd, installed and tried out the new, same result! Oh yeah, rebooted and tried, same result! Is this a mystery? It seems the program can't now or then find the TK 8.3.

Good!!! It's especially heartening to know that you're learning from my stuff. One huge problem with the Python world in general is that sample scripts are just about non-existent. Even if you do find one or two in a book or website, they won't apply to Poser.

I'm heading for bed now, but I can't think of any other obvious possibilities. You'll probably have to ask P.C. Bos about it. Some TK scripts (especially if they're mainly written for Mac) use a variable called sys.path to locate the necessary stuff. If the sys.path in Environment Creator disagrees with your location, that could cause the problem...???

sys.path? Could this be the problem? I say this because the trusty "Find Files thingy" (see above posts) does not find this file on my system, either in or out of Poser. Where can I find this little devil? I see you've headed to the sack, which is what I must do, since I must arise early Friday. Thank you and, yes, I have learned stuff here. Appreciate your help. Larry F

sys.path isn't a file, but an internal variable in Python. One last random thought: the "permission denied" message is one I haven't seen before. Could it be that your Python folders were installed as read-only or some other non-standard mode?

Good morning, ockham. "Could it be that your Python folders were installed as read-only or some other non-standard mode?" Can't say. Could be. If that is the case, though, then it is how they - my Python folders - came because they are like they were set up in Poser and/or ProPack when I installed it. I have seen a remark somewhere about "making sure the MainButton.py wsa unlocked". What does that mean, do you know, and how do I go about that? Could this be referring to "read only"? About the Python folders being installed as "read-only", I can't see how I would be the only person with such a problem/configuration. Further, would this folder configuration be something that was peculiar to a particular (version of) either the OS - Win98SE - or ProPack or some other system characteristic or something similar? Looking at it this way, I installed ProPack on a PC I use only for work - mostly word processing and spreadsheet stuff at home - but has the same OS and all the problems are exactly the same. I did e-mail pcbos but have not heard back yet. Frankly, I'm not all that far from giving up on this for awhile. It's making me want to go walk the back streets and cry, LOL. Also, looking around on the web I found www.python.org and a url for downloading Python 2.0. I D/L'ed it but did not run it yet. Should I? What version of Python would I already have in Poser ProPack, seeing as how I only have what came with it? Thanks very much again though, ockham. You're outstanding so I'm still hopeful. Larry F

Attached Link: http://ockhamsbungalow.com/Python/DeleteLights.zip

Yes, that works fine! I have a couple of other scripts which, come to think of it, are probably by you and they work fine!!! Creator even worked and quite fine at that - before the drive failure that is - though using it would almost continuously return errors!! You know, I could probably learn Python and write scripts myself. 20 years ago I used to write a good deal of macros and "glossaries" (Wang!), but these days I spend most of my creativity on dancing - Argentine tango mostly (which is a form of scripting in itself, I must say - and strive mightily to have my PC time be in the end-user catergory - Poser, Vue, Imagine, etc. Having said that, I do admire folks who do write such things and most especially those who provide such wonderful goodies - freebies and otherwi$e. Like yourself.

If the simpler scripts work, then there's no big problem with your installation. Maybe one of the underlying DLL files in the TK/TCL area is corrupted. Tango, eh? Have you considered making some animated PZ2 files for the steps?

Attached Link: http://www.pcbos.nl/3D.htm

The solution is very, very simple.
No dlls, no FixTk.py in the picture anywhere!

Larry, you seem to have forgotten to UNlock mainbuttons.py..

Any Poser related Python prog must run from mainbuttons, otherwise path flags arent set correctly.. If you run the programs straight from the menu, weird things might happen- like not finding Tk.

So your solution is:
1)Make sure you have the latest update to Poser itself.

1. unlock mainbuttons.py.

3)Install Environment Creators.

1. After that, run the update to EC II 2.0.1.

You can now start running EC II from mainbuttons.py.

Let me know if you need any more help- you mailing me at tech@pcbos.nl is the quickest way!

Cheers,

Paul Christiaan

Hi, Keep trying to reply in this thread but everytime I hit "Post reply" I get logged off! ?? !! After typing the same message twice and it getting lost, will explain about this later. Thanks again. Larry F How do I UNlock a Python script?

Attached Link: Unlock and unfold EC II - or I

Okay. Here's what I have done. Completely reinstalled Poser ProPack. Yes, that's right - since I had just installed it a week ago on a new, what the hey? Latest patch and all. Went to the poserscripts folder and selected "archive" instead of "read only". I suspected this is what you meant by "UNlock" - just had never heard that term before (I don't "do" Python). I had done this before I reinstalled Poser et al. I installed the ORIGINAL program, EC I, I guess. I got errors. I installed the upgrade. I get errors. Sigh. There's something wrong here and I can't figure it out. At first I thought it must be OPERATOR MALFUNCTION (LOL) but I'm not so sure now. Why doesn't this thing work?? It worked before the hard drive failure, even though it gave me errors when accessing some of the modules in EC I/II. Now all it does it give me errors. I have deleted and reinstalled it ad nauseum.

Attached Link: http://www.pcbos.nl/3D.htm

first of all: the difference between the old Environment Creators and the new version, "Environment Creators theLuxe Version II" is about as immense as that between Windows 3.1 and Windows XP :-)
Version2 can create Ligthing Environments from photographs, for instance.. Wonderful how you seem to mix the two as if they are the same :-)

I think that -unless your windows installation is at fault- your problem is as simple as you having not unlocked mainbuttons.py. It is not effective to unlock only the folder "poserScripts". You must specifically SELECT mainbuttons.py, and unlock THAT file. The state of the folder it is in is not significant. I hope the rest of my answer below may make it clear why it is so important to have this right.

Lets come back to your problem in detail. I want to be quite specific about this: if your windows installation is OK, and IF you checked your new drive thoroughly (including surface check and thorough formatting!- this process might take an hour or more!), and IF you installed first Poser, then the ProPack extension, both from their respective original CDs - thereby not running the risk of importing faults from your backup: EC really should run without any problem whatsoever. The program has many users who make extensive use of it, and only under a German OS it needs an adaptation to run smoothly.

The detailed check of your new disk is a lot of work that has nothing to do with the Environment Creators, but that is the price you have to pay when you work with IDE disks. If it is of any consolation: I do the same with my SCSI disks. In fact, the thorough check thing I do twice a year for all my disks. And I have not had a disk crash for the last 15 years...

So lets approach this analitically- I have worked with computers, Mac, Unix and Windows, since 1987 by the way, and this is how I always get round any computer problem.

First the simple way.

Remember EC only runs from the Python window- the small window with a row of buttons you get when choosing "Python" from the "Windows" menu in your Poser.

This is why, once you ran the DAZ installer, you have to run a small Python program to install EC under one of those buttons in that window.
The DAZ Installer will tell you what Python program to run once you installed.

I understand from you you first bought the original, EC Version I, and then the update to Version II.

So there we go. In your existing Poser-with-ProPack installation, install Version I with your DAZ installer.
Now run the Python program as instructed by the DAZ installer.

!!First UNLOCK Runtime:Python:poserScripts:mainbuttons.py of course, since this file must be changed. If you close and then restart Poser, you must unlock mainbuttons.py again before running any script that changes it. Its simply a bug in Poser, but once you know about it, it is not that difficult.

Run the Python program the DAZ installer asks you to run. You unlocked mainbuttons.py beforehand naturally. You now have installed EC to the Python Window- youll see a button there, labelled "lights-the-Lux" or something like that. Click on that one, and a new menu will appear, with all ECs modules.

OK, so that works. Now run your DAZ upgrade installer, and then the Python script the Installer asks you to run. If mainbuttons.py is locked, this installer will tell you it is and what to do about it.
If everything is fine, EC II will now be installed.

If you want, you can now install the update to EC 2.0.1, and the manual (pretty important information to be found here!).

Updates and manual to be downloaded from the product pages at DAZ (so if you bought an UPGRADE, only download from the UPGRADE page at DAZ!!), or from EC IIs download page at my site:

http://www.pcbos.nl/3D.htm

Finally, you can replace the Runtime folders with those in your backup- AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT REPLACE THE "PYTHON" AND THE "SCRIPTS" FOLDERS!!

If you can now run EC as normal, you know the problem was as simple as not unlocking mainbuttons.py.

If not, youre in deep trouble with your windows installation.
Check your disk to the maximum, reinstall windows from its original CD and so on.

By the way: I banned Windows 98 from all our computers two years ago, I had too many problems with it- hardware that suddenly didnt work anymore (though 100% OK in other computers!), data losses and so on. For PC work, I now rely on NT 4 and Windows 2000 Pro. Had not had a problem for two years.

I hope this helps you! If you need help again, mailing to tech@ pcbos.nl is the quickest way to get an answer.

Cheers,

Paul Christiaan