(JB previously posted.) Revised here on 01.17.2005
I'm just getting started with Poser 5.
The manual's Chapter 11 is where the hands on stuff starts.

The pages I want to comment are 66 through 69.
To make it easy for all, I'm including the areas that gave me trouble, and caused me to appeal to this forum for help .

My annotations, are the results of the much appreciated forum member help I received.

Growing Hair..........(Trimmed)

19 Select the Twist Hairs tool and drag your mouse left or right. (trimmed)

JB Annotation:
When twisting hairs, select the hairs first. The Twist Hairs Tool and others are in the same window only they cant be selected until the hairs are selected.

ADDING CLOTHING..........(Trimmed)

1 Return to the Pose room and open the Library palette. Select .....(Trimmed) then clicking the Apply Library Preset button.

JB Annotation:
The Apply Library Preset button label is in error.
The name of the button is Create New Image. It is the button with the double check marks at the bottom of the Figures Palette.

APPLYING A SHADER
Lets try out the Material room.

1 Pose your figure with an upturned hand to hold the next item youll add to the scene.

JB Annotation:
The upturned hand had not been taught at this point. To accomplish this:

1. Select the Left Shoulder and using theTwist dials in the accompanying window, rotate to -27.

2. Select the Forearm, again using the Twist dial to set -91.

3. Select Left Hand and set to 40. It looks very natural.

ANIMATE ..........(Trimmed)

2 Open the Library palette, select Poses>Walk Designer, and choose any walk you
like.

3 Open the Animation controls at the bottom of the Poser workspace, click the Play
button, and watch your figure move!

JB Annotation:
For the animation to work properly, before selecting the walk:

1. Make sure your main model is selected.

2. Then using the Tracking Buttons on the right side of the display window, select the Full Button.

3. Now make your walk selection as described in the manual.

The model should now walk fully rendered and her clothes should conform to the model.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a pretty cheezy score for just four pages dedicated to the kickoff, "get-your-feet-wet," tutorial. This isn't a role playing game. It is a tutorial. For those who are sufficiently confused to doubt it is a tutorial, the manual defines this chapter as a tutorial.

I leave it to the readers to judge for themselves. Review my annotations. You may then decide for yourself how indequate or inaccurate this portion of the Poser 5 manual is.

For myself, I certainly didn't buy Poser5 to audit and proofread it's documentation.

However, after completing the Chapter 11 tutorial, it is fair and important to note, once I received the necessary corrected or clarified instructions from my forum helpers, Poser 5 performed flawlessly.

Annotation task methodology,
I've copied the pdf file into M'soft Word (the illustrations won't copy) and made the Annotated corrections in a blue typeface, and highlighted the errors in red type. I hope my entries and my method is of some help to other beginners.

Jim. 01.17.2005

The poser 5 manual seems to have been written for people who have already used poser 4 or pro pack and it seems to assume that somehow you already know all about poser which is a bad thing. You can download the poser 4 manual at curiouslabs.com, it teaches you most of the basic poser stuff, just ignore the texturing part as that might be confusing.