Looking for a chapel which will work in Poser.. I found a lovely dark one at 3D cafe but it doesn't work for me OR.. alternatively.. suggestions as to how to make a stained glass window in poser :P (I said it was a silly request but I have my heart set on this one) Thanks in advance! :)

Do you have the program 3D Exploration? I think it would be able to "fix" the chapel. There's ALOT of stuff at 3D cafe, though so if you let me know which one it is specifically, I can check it out for you. :) As far as stained glass windows go, you can use anything really and make the texture for it and then set the transparancy to a suitable level. Using UV Mapper, you can even set up new materials, for varying transparencies.

Um.. no 3D Exploration mjustmike :) I am fairly inept at the moment at most 3d programs.. but the Chapel that I LOVE is in environments at 3D cafe.. under free stuff. I downloaded it but haven't a clue what a .cel file is Thank you so much for the answer.. and if I can't get THAT chapel.. I may try what you said and make a window in poser.. ponders how to do this Okay..I think I can :) Still.. if you find a good chapel out there in your wanderings... that works in Poser.. I would love to have it Thanks again for the advice :)

I'll go have a look at it and see what the deal is with it, and let you know what I find out. :)

Attached Link: http://www.xdsoft.com/explorer/

LL, The link above is to the site where you can get 3D Exploration. I'm assuming you are on a PC with Windoze? There is no Mac version of it. But if so, then if you're going to be doing alot with 3D models, you need this program, trust me. It's shareware, nit free, but the download is for the fully functioning 30 trial. I guess you could say it's "trust-ware". But it is very good, and can convert all that weird stuff into more common formats such as 3ds, obj,, and all that. And it reads .prj files, which is what the chapel is, as well as the .cel files which I think is 3D Studio Max' version of a bump map, but I'm not so sure of that. Then you load the .prj file into 3D Exploration, and let it do it's thing, and then you can save it out as wavefront.obj, and choose the export option , "generate a .mtl file". Then you have to ssave that .obj file into the same folder that you unzipped all the files from the chapel.zip into. It looks really strange in Poser, I have to say, but once you get inside of it, you'll see what I mean. But it's definitely worth it! I just did a few quick renders of it in Bryce and Vue d'Esprit, and it's got to be one of the most unique models I've ever seen. Trust me on getting 3D Exploration, too, because you will never regret it. I know I made this quick, but believe me, there's nothing complicated about the whole process, really, and if you need more info on how to do it, by all means, ask and I can help you more. :) Cheers, MIke

3d explorer is one little thing that is handy to look at .obj .3ds .prg .max files. every time i tryed it out it worked different. they are always improving it. build your UTILITY libary it will help. go to free stuff/utility and get everything, you will need most everything one timt or another. and Yarp's new release of po3dexplorer should bee usefull too. one place looking for sw is windows.com good luck

Mike.. you are an angel!! I am very glad you like the chapel since you went to so much trouble to find out about it for me :) I'll follow your advice and perhaps actually learn something here! Thanks a million for your time and assistance :) And reddog.. thank you for your answer as well :) Have a great evening ! (morning?)

There is a church in the store with stained glass windows.

I'm not an angel, but thanks all the same. :) Anyhow actually, i myself just learned a few new things about using 3D Exploration, and this was the perfect opportunity to put some of that to the test. There's some really bizzarro stuff going on in that chapel. There appears to have been some sort of object used to create light beams or sun rays or something. Poser will give you an error message, like "the file was not found. Continue?", or something to that effect. If you just press OK, it'll still load. I think Poser just is referring to the .cel files. Also, you have to make sure you do two things, namely, save it out of 3D Exploration as .obj and make sure you check the option to "generate a .mtl file", and the other important thing is that all the textures have to be in the same folder as both the .obj and the .mtl files, or else the chapel will not load textured, though I'm sure Poser would ask you to locate them, that's still a nuisance with so many textures involved. You could also save it out as .3DS format and get a much smaller file, but currently 3D Exploration doesn't map 3ds files right or something like that. Also as a side note, if you have Bryce 4, it will load the .prj file without any converting necessary. I just found that out with this object-- I had never noticed before, or if I did, I guess I forgot. Again, if you need any more help, just ask. :) --Mike

Thanks for tips MJ - I did get that chapel from 3DCafe and I wrestled with it for hours. It looks so plastic-y, and I couldn't get the lights correct either. I read that you can put a light behind the window for a very cool effect - but my lighting skills are poor. I would like to know just how to get a light behind the stained glass... I have 3dexplorer and I didn't know about the conversion utility. Just used it as a browser - what a DUH!

I don't really know, off hand, because I haven't really been messing with it yet, but if the window is mapped separately, I suppose you would just make it semi transparent and put a spotlight behind it, but I honestly don't know if colors will be transmitted by light through transparencies in Poser. I don't use Poser to render, just to set up characters, for use elsewhere, so I'm pretty weak on what Poser does and is capable of as far as rendering and lighting is concerned, but I'll take a look at the chapel and see if I can come up with something. You have to realize though that it was most certainly not nade to be used in Poser. 3D Max, LightWave, probably, but Poser, no. It has it's own internal cameras and lighting, which you would see if you read the materials and objects summary in 3D Ex. Those things, I believe, will translate and work in 3D Max, but Poser cannot do anything with them. I'd be willing to bet that the chapel would have to be re-mapped in order to get the best use out of it in Poser. I had some better luck with it in Bryce and Vue d'Esprit, but Poser has a hard time with it. But, I'm curious too, so I'll have a look at it. :) --Mike

I was playing with it a couple of weeks ago and the 3D Cafe Chapel can work pretty well in Poser. At first I thought the model was corrupted because of the huge object in the center of the hall but then realized that it was supposed to be the beam of light coming in through the stained glass window. Map it as semi-transparent and you get a pretty cool "cast-light" effect. New Trick for me -- I don't recall seeing that done in Poser before. btw Lady Light, with 3D Explorer, you also have the option of exporting individual parts or groups of a model. This makes it handy if you want to remove a wall or roof for a clear view of the interior in Poser renders. With no 3D programs other than Poser, the lack of that ability had prevented me from using some great models prior to getting 3D Explorer.