I don't know if anyone remembers me, but I was semi-active in the forums and marketplace in 2002. Then, I think it was right after Poser 5 came out, I took some time off from making things to learn the new software so I could really get serious about turning this hobby into something. Instead of diving into the new software and learning from it however, I let it gather dust.

Now, nearly a year and a half later, my boredom level being what it is, I'm trying to get back into it, but what a nightmare! Every zip file I burned on my old CD burner is coming out corrupted on my archive disks. The items I've managed to get the downloads reactivated here and at DAZ I've gotten back, but my Poser folders are a mess... I can't find anything. I would swear I had the upgrades for both Victoria and Michael up through three, but I can't find them, or if I have I'd swear I'm using v. 1.0. since nothing fits them. DAZ has their stuff squirreled away in a dozen different places. Meanwhile my five year old is her usual self, heh heh, demanding attention. Talk about needing a Calgon moment...

Bleah. Anyway, dozens of ideas busting out of my head but no way to make them appear because I can't figure out the new materials interface. Hair I think I can kind of figure out what I'm doing, but I'd like to be able to save my efforts for later use, but the description of how to do that in the help file is confusing.

I realize there are several tutorials here covering all these things and I've perused most of them, but I just wanted to vent my frustration. I want to get in there and start making art, not fiddle with folders and the techie stuff. Any advice, encouragement, or links to magical programs that will sweep through my folders and organize them logically are welcome.

I sympathise. As a new user to Poser, I'm amazed by the fiddly nature of the file structure. I've never come across a programme which is so powerful on one hand, and on the other such a pain to use. Seems to me from a little experimenting that nearly every file except Object files can go wherever one wishes, and even then if I find the pointers to the OBJ files in the CR2 files I can put those where I like too. This has made an enormous difference. I wiped my whole installation and started again, putting everything in a logical structure like this: FOLDER NAME OF OBJECT then underneath: CR2 Poses Extras Textures No need (as far as I am aware) of 500 subfolders full of mess under the runtime folder. I just don't see the logic of placing files belonging to one object or figure all over the place. It leads to a total nightmare in managing files and folders. It's like Curious labs had a conference and said: "OK, how can we design this program to be as awkward to use as possible!" Hope you get your stuff sorted... Kind Regards, Leonardis

Attached Link: http://www.3-AXIS.com

Tilandra: It's good to have you back. You MUST check out the link! This is right up your ally. Poser 5 Demystified won't help you find Vicky but it will sure help you learn the new tools in P5. Check it out. The video just got a 9 out of 10 in 3D World magazine! Make sure to check out the demos in the demo section. Cheers. Joe

Ummm... yeah. 60$ for a two-hour VHS tape gets a "Thanks but no thanks" from me. I was eying Hoagland's organizer program here on R'osity. Anyone have any experience with it? Is it more for keeping all an item's files together when moved from Runtime to Runtime, or will it move items easily within the same runtime folder?

Hey no sweat on the video. I was just offering a way to "bust out those ideas that you can't figure out" as fast as possible. :) For the record, it's 2 1/2 hours. ;) I guess you really were just venting. Sorry to have bothered you. All the best, Joe

The problem is not so much using the program as finding the figure I need in the mess of folders. Maybe once Vicky is in a place I can find her, that video would be useful... maybe. It's a little hard to create an image when you can't even find the model you want to make it with. All the techniques on that tape won't help with that, you said so yourself. If I can't load the figure, I can't start an image. And if I load a figure, there's no guarantee it's v.3 instead of v.1.... which makes a big difference when selecting clothes and other props, all of which are scattered in about five different folders also. There's a product showcase section in the Merchant's forum that might be more appropriate for you to showcase your product. I was really looking for other users of poser's ideas on how they organized their Runtime folders.... folder structure, or how they manipulated the files into a better system. Speaking of which, Leonardis, when you listed your folder structure above, am I right in thinking that you have a basic Victoria folder that looks something like runtime/Victoria/CR2, then /runtime/Vicrtoria/Poses, ect.? If so, how do you handle, say, poses or textures that apply to either Victoria or Stephanie? Did you use a second runtime folder to install to, so you could easily see new items and move them?

I understand your frustration. I wasn't showcasing the video actually. If I was showcasing it the text would have been in chrome in a big image. LOL On the figure stuff. I installed V3 with P5 for the first time the other day. I use the new multiple runtime feature. I use this all the time now. 1. I have a folder called P5 runtimes on a seperate drive 2. Inside that folder I created a folder called V3 3. I started the V3 installer and told it to install to that V3 folder. Now I have a runtime for V3 only that is seperate from the rest. Now all you need to do is add a new runtime and select the runtime folder inside of the V# folder and boom, you have a completely seperate runtime for V3. I did the same thing for Vicky but I Moved all the stuff into her seperate folder because it was already installed. Oh... One more thing about V3. You need to move the folder that holds the actual injection morph scripts (!DAZ) to the main runtime, this will make it so your injection morphs don't take forever to load. I hope this helps in some way. Cheers, Joe

One more thing I forgot to mention. I didn't want to reload all the stuff from Poser 4 that I have collected and installed over the years so I just hosted the runtime From P4 and it showed up fine and works great. Joe

Okay I'll give some of this a try. I may have to do a reinstall to clean up the mess I have now, but we'll see.

Tilandra, I can't add anything better to Joe's description of his setup. And joe, that's a great tip about moving the morph folders. At the moment my V3 Morphs take forever to load. Leonardis

Leonardis: I was in the same predicament about the morphs taking FOREVER. I got that tip from a thread here at Rosity. I tried it and the morphs load fast fast fast. Keep in mind that every time you load a new V3 character into your V3 directory you will need to copy the (!DAZ) folder over so it adds the new morphs. Glad I could help... Cheers, Joe