Attached Link: http://www.leolaughlin.com/poser

This document is not meant to be the word in how to package your Poser products, but more to give newer merchants and prospective merchants a set of guidelines for things that customers desire in all Poser products. As suggested by the title, these guidelines came from customers (and merchants as customers) and their issues with purchased products. The objective is to help you prepare your products to be compatible with Poser 4 standard (P4), Poser Pro-Pack (PP) and Poser 5 (P5), and both PC and Mac systems. If your product requires the use of another product, state this at the beginning of your promotional text and provide a link to that product. This information is to be included in your readme file as well. While clickable links are encouraged, they are not required. Example: You are making textures for another product or your product requires Morph Manager or Objacation Mover, etc. State this and provide a link to the required product. Marketing tip: A good marketing technique is to show enhancements for your product. The reasoning behind this is that some customers may wait to see what add-ons are available for your product before they purchase it. Links to supporting products should be near the bottom of the promotional text. (This helps differentiate them from required products.) While clickable links are encouraged, they are not required. Example: You are selling a pair of pants and someone has made a texture set for the pants. Include a link to that product in your promotional text. State clearly what items your product can be used with and what versions of Poser your product has been tested with. Example: If your product can be used with V1/2 or V3, state this in your promotional text. State what versions (P4, PP, P5) of Poser your product has been tested with. List Morphs that are included in the product. No postwork is to be used in promotional images (other than composition), EXCEPT when a postwork tool is being sold OR when the postwork has nothing to do with the product being sold. It is best to keep postwork to a minimum. Resources: Merchant's Forum - Forum for merchants only; keep updated about Marketplace changes, ask questions, etc. Product Showcase Forum - Post images and information about upcoming products or new releases as well as sales, etc. Product Showcase Gallery - Post images for upcoming products or new releases. All packages are to include RSRs or PNGs for all Poser thumbnails. All thumbnails for transparent items are to be rendered. The exception to this would be where it is not applicable such as "Trans on". Thumbnails for light settings are to be rendered. This lets the customer preview each light setting without having to render them all. Formats: P4 only: Use RSRs ONLY. P4/PP/P5: If your product is designated for all three versions, include RSRs ONLY. Reason: Poser 4 cannot read or use PNG thumbnails; PP & P5 uses PNGs and can automatically make them from RSRs. PP/P5 only: If the product is designated for PP and/or P5 ONLY, include PNGs ONLY. Sizes: P4: The thumbnails are to be 91 x 91 only. P5: The thumbnails can be taller, i.e., 91 x 180, but 91 x 91 is still preferred. Resources: Seno Software - P3dO Explorer or Poser Explorer - converts between RSR and PNG. All products are to include the Poser version number(s) that your product can be used with. P4: All version numbers for P4 are to be 4 or 4.01. Reason: Poser 4 users will get an error message every time they load your product. PP/P5: Version number for PP is to be 4.2. Version number for P5 is to be 5. Readme files are to be placed in runtime in a folder titled Readme, along with the license.txt file, and are to be named productname_readme.txt, NOT just readme.txt. This folder is NOT created by Poser. You will need to make it and name it exactly as shown: Readme. Reason: If everyone names their readme file, readme.txt, it will get overwritten. If you do not use the exact same name for the Readme folder, the customer will end up with additional readme folders. The readme file is to be in ASCII text, no logos, just text. Reason: Anyone on any system can read the file. Each Readme file will contain (in the following order): Product Name Product Creator Copyright Contact Information What the Product is What the Product requires (with links) Example: Lace for BlackBettys Stockings for V3 BlackBetty (merchants name) Copyright (C) 2003 BlackBetty@Renderosity.com This is lace transmaps for the V3 Stockings by BlackBetty Requires BlackBettys Stockings for V3 available at: http://market.renderosity.com/softgood.ez?ViewSoftgood=00000 It is important to list required items and to provide links. This includes such things as the base product if your product is an add-on, objacation mover, morph manager, etc., if your product requires these in order to work. If more instructions are needed (i.e., with graphics), they are to be in html or pdf format; do NOT use a doc file or any specific word processor file! Option: Save your word processor file in RTF, rich text format. Reason: The customer may not have the same word processor as you! Face folders that are expressions only, are to be identified by using EXP in the folder name. Example: EXP_ProductName. Non-Alpha characters are NOT to be used at the start of a folder name, such as ! + , or a space. Keep the number of folders to a minimum. Keep folder names and filenames short (the shorter the better). Do NOT exceed 30 characters (not exceeding 16 is better). OBJ files are to be placed in a subfolder and/or subfolders that you create within the :runtime:Geometries: folder. For example, if your merchant name is BlackBetty and your product is a Biker Jacket, one of these methods is acceptable: :runtime:Geometries:BB_Bikerjacket:BB_bikerjacket.obj :runtime:Geometries:BlackBetty:BB_bikerjack.obj :runtime:Geometries:BlackBetty:BB_bikerjack:BB_bikerjack.obj Texture files are to be placed in a subfolder and/or subfolders that you create within the :runtime:Textures: folder. Example: Your merchant name is BlackBetty and your texture is leather then: :runtime:Textures:BlackBetty:BB_leather.jpg Templates are to be placed in either the :runtime:Templates: folder or in the product textures folder. Note: You will have to create the template folder in your runtime folder since this is not a default Poser folder. You should type the name of the template folder exactly as shown here or it will create a new folder in addition to the one every merchant is asked to use: Templates. Note: Templates should be in jpeg format. This is common to the industry because Poser uses jpeg for textures. GIF is another option that provides lossless compression. PZ3 files are to be placed in the :runtime:PZ3: folder. Note: You will have to create the PZ3 folder in your runtime folder since this is not a default Poser folder. You should type the name of the PZ3 folder exactly as shown here or it will create a new folder in addition to the one every merchant is asked to use: PZ3. Python scripts for PP or P5 are to be placed in the :runtime:Python: folder. Reason: this folder is created by Poser PP & P5 to hold the python scripts The morph injection files for DAZ based products are to be placed in the !DAZ folder. The merchant can add his/her own folder inside this one. This folder is created by newer Daz products. MAT and/or MOR Pose files are to be placed in the :runtime:Libraries:Pose folder. Hardcoded source files should be avoided. In other words, the path will begin with runtime, NOT with C:Program Filescurious labsPoser4 Example texture map: :runtime:Textures:BB:BB_oak.jpg The delimiter : is preferred over /. For example, use :runtime:Textures:MyFolder:myfile.jpg instead of runtime/Textures/MyFolder/myfile.jpg. This will make the files compatible with Mac as well as PC. Example texture map: :runtime:Textures:BB:BB_oak.jpg Be descriptive with any file names including texture names. Do NOT use generic names like leather.jpg or wood.jpg. You need to have a more descriptive name. You can use your name/initials with the texture. Example: BB_Leather.jpg BB_Oak.jpg Reason: If the textures are not in their own folder, Poser may apply someone elses texture to your prop, figure, etc., or it may get overwritten when another product is loaded! All zips need to have this file structure so everything lands in the right place when the customer unzips it to his/her Poser folder. Example: Runtime Libraries Pose MyProductMAT face MyProduct Textures MyTextures ReadMe MyProductReadme.txt Resource: Poser File Path Tutorial - How to zip your files using the correct path for Marketplace products. Mat Pose files are to be included for applying texture sets. (If for some reason they cant, such as a prop or background, this needs to be stated clearly!) Mat Pose folders are to have descriptive names and include MAT in the name, such as ProductNameMAT. The same applies for MOR Pose folders such as ProductNameMOR. The pose file will only pose the figure. If it does anything else, it should be identified as such! Pose files will place the figure on the ground. This means that the Y position of the hip will place the figure standing or laying on the ground UNLESS the figure is to be posed on a prop, then the Y position will place the figure on the prop. Examples: If the figure is walking, the feet will be on the ground. If the figure is laying, then the pose will have the figure laying on the ground or on a couch, for example. Pose files will have the hip X and Z position equal to 0 UNLESS the pose is part of a "Couple Pose" or combined with another prop, e.g., a couch, pedestal, etc. Pose files will NOT include props, hair or light. When you are setting up your pose, do NOT use smart props, hair, or have a light parented to the figure UNLESS the pose is designed for the figure and prop. Example: If you have hair on a figure when you pose it and you save the pose, Poser will save the position of the hair. Then when someone else uses it and they have different hair, with a different offset, the hair will be offset to match the original hair. Pose files are NOT to include morphs unless expressly stated, such as using MOR in the title of the pose or the title of the folder. Example: MOR-Annette Move Pose files: If the merchant wants to move the figure somewhere (such as in a castle), then the pose file should be written to change the X, Y, Z position of the body, instead of changing the X, Y, Z position of the hip. Reason: if after the move file is used, another pose is applied, it could move the figure back to the starting position. By moving the body position of the figure, a different pose could be applied. Bump Maps, if used, will be named product_bum.jpg. with directions on how to convert them to bump maps for P4. The cr2 file will NOT reference them. Two sets of MAT files will be included, one to apply the bump maps for P4, and one to apply them for PP/P5. Do search in the freestuff area or check out these links: Marketplace Merchant Resources - Many additional resources for merchant's that may not have been listed elsewhere in this document Seno Software - P3dO Explorer or Poser Explorer - converts between RSR and PNG Merchant Utility Resource by laetia checks several things including version numbers She has several good utilities and instructions on making your Poser files, MAC compatible MAT Pose Edit by scourge Applies textures/MATs to figures and clothing Collected, compiled, edited and assembled by BlueBeard & Exotica Graphics Copyright 2003 by Exotica BlueBeard's Website BlueBeard's Store: Renderosity Exotica's Website Exotica's Stores: Daz & Renderosity Background tile from Outlaw By Design membership area Published November 2003