OK, having read a fair few tales of both delight and horror, can anyone summarise the state of the PPP? Is there actually a LIST of pros and cons (particularly cons!!). If not, can we start one please? No doubt a patch will emerge at some point, but it would be useful for us all to see how the package stands as is, prior to making the decision of whether to lay out good money for it yet...

So far no problems with it, it works with what I've created. Plus it comes with a mess of new cartoon-esque characters, and the zygote gremlin. And the new python scripts have some good simple uses for now. Really it depends on what you use poser for.

The problems I've heard of and experienced are: 1. The new way they handle figures makes exchanging figures a bit different. Any character with custom geom made with the group tool will get a new, overall obj file that would need to be distributed with the model. 2. There is a bug in the custom geom files that cause polygons to drop out. Its fixable but a pain. 3. Menu system can crash game. If you pull up a body part or props property dialog, then do a set parent, then lose focus, Poser loses the dialog boxes and you can't get control of the app nor can you use menus. Also, the set parent with the bend flag switched on causes this similar problem. 4. The Flash animation plugin is awesome. If you want to do flash work this is a must have. 5. The transfer to other apps like Max and lightwave was made smoother plus bones were added but I haven't heard rave reviews on this. 6. There's nothing new in the materials section. I would have loved a better selection method for materials. If I change a skin I have to either force all parts to this skin or systematically set each material seperately. Hopefully someone will write a python script to do this. 7. It supports python scripts. If you're just modelling its not real useful. If you want to write scripts to help with rendering and such then its a boon. Someone in the Python Forum has already written a random face creator that dials in random settings to get new faces. My feeling is if you just want to bring up a figure and pose and render them then PPP is probably not a good choice. If you want more higher end functionality, multi view ports, customizability through python, flash, max and lightwave support and bone controllers and are willing to deal with some annoying bugs then PPP is a consideration. PPP also has some funky little cartoon figures.

What about the issue of PZ3 files? I read something in a thread that it will not it open them correctly. That would be a big issue for me. Pinto

It opens Pz3 files just fine.

pinto it will open pz3 the problem people were having was with characters that were grouped like above it is simple to fix though youll need to download the cr2 editor aND LOAD THE CR2 TO THE CHARAcTER YOUR FIXING at the top there is a button that says search hit it and type just the letter g it will bring up each g line one at a time when it does this on lines that have only a g simply type in a generic comment like blank or blah ex g hair g g hair would be changed to: g hair g blah g hair that will take care of the holes! simply save it as the origional character and put a 2 after the name load it in the same file as the origional thats it

Pardon my ignorance, but I can't seem to get ANYONE to tell me what a python script is. I've asked several places and no one will fill me in. The slight description above makes me think it might be something like a macro in WordPerfect or Word, but for 3D? I've heard some horror stories about it being a postential breeding ground for viruses and trojan horses? I would appreciate some clarification on this before I even consider buying the PPP. Thanks for your help, Melanie

Python is a programing language. C++,Basic,Delphi,Perl,Cobol,etc...... Just like other languages. It's purpose is to execute a task by accessing the the Programs code. If you know how to program something. And have access to the source code. You can make it do whatever you want. Good or bad. ScottA

Opens a PZ3 file fine BUT my either Mike or Vicki lose any coloration of the pupil or iris...in other works a white eye results....and the eyebrows turn white.... Any ideas on how to fix it!!

Just re-set the colors then ;-)

BIG Question, Mason! (and Curious Labs!) If making a custom figure creates a new obj for it, that then has to be provided for it to work, then isn't that ILLEGAL??? We cannot share zygote's or Curious Labs obj's!!! It has been known for a long time, that if we make custom figures, then sharing ONLY the good old cr2 is the legal way to go....

Marie - Yes that's an issue. If you use objaction mover and distribute the obj that way but use the base figure as the key then its not theft since the other person has to have the original base obj as the key. If you just pack up the obj and send it out then it is theft. The thing about cr2s is you could "steal" a character obj anyway. All it would take is for you use the group tool, group the whole figure, add them to a group then save the cr2. The cr2 would then contain the entire obj data. I don't know what CL's plans are for distribution or how they intend to handle people making custom figures and selling them on EBay. I beleive the reason Pro Pack makes the new obj file is to support 3d max and lightwave better. Having geometry embedded in the cr2 is impossible for 3d max or light wave to interpret since cr2 files are not industry standards. Melanie - Python is a script language used by professionals in the computer industry for the last decade or so. The key thing about python is it is portable because its a script. Each line is interpretted by Poser. It allows the same code to be run on a MAC or PC or whatever system supports Python. Its not as fast as a compiled language (the languaged used to code Poser itself for example) but for smaller tasks it works well. The big thing is Python already has a huge support group and industry scripts written. What Pro Pack has done is added functions into Python so you can accesses information about the scene, cameras, lights, figures etc.. This allows us to make utilities to modify pose for our own uses. For example, Python would allow us to make a much more detailed and elaborate material editor than the one in Poser. PhilC wrote a nice script that just sets all the materials in a figure to color white, ambient black and hilight black in one click.

Thanks, Mason. I appreciate it. Melanie

Hi Mason, Okay now I am confused... you said: __________________________ The thing about cr2s is you could "steal" a character obj anyway. All it would take is for you use the group tool, group the whole figure, add them to a group then save the cr2. The cr2 would then contain the entire obj data. ____________________________ But how could you "use the group tool" if you don't have the original obj that allows you to OPEN the cr2 figure in the first place? If you try to open a library character cr2 in poser without the original obj in your geometries, Poser will crash or lock up! Perhaps the best way to share custom figures here at Renderosity now, is with a pz3 file? (if it is still called that... I mean where you do a "save as" in poser, and save the whole "scene") ? I would think that both Renderosity and all of it's users would be VERY concerned and want to know how to "do the right thing" so we all can still enjoy sharing, even with all these new versions of Poser... Thanks for answering me, and being patient with my confsion and questions!