So I've just recently switched over from the Mac to using Poser 6 on the PC platform for a commercial project. whatever. But,...now we just opened up the session we've been working on all week and shazaam: all the lights are gone. Zero lights. None more black. Plus, all the conforming clothing props have disconnected from the figure. Oh, they are there on the stage.....just not on my naked figure. Thanks Poser....but I'll make the artistic choices myself, thank you. AND Poser decided to go with the Lit Wireframe rather than the smooth shaded setting that I've been working with....so... I went back to a previous save... but the same fubar. I literally had to go back to a worthless save from about 18 hours ago in order to get a proper session. Brand new computer... clean ...new install.,,,wtf? No crashes...all my other programs work a treat. Has this happened to anyone? And if so, any suggestions to assure that it never happens again. - Grumpy in LA.

Hey there, My sympathies :( Yah, it happens. I'm still trying to redo a set of morphs I did a while back and lost. Get the update and then save multiple copies of the same file.

I get that from time to time. It also seems that once it begins, you can't get a good save (you can tell because the cr2 will be a little bit smaller than other saves). eric

Never switch anything while working on a commercial project. Don't update the OS, don't update software, and, most of all, don't switch platforms! I haven't even considered upgrading to MacOSX Tiger because I've heard too many compatibility issues with software that is critical to my current project - even though I'm not working on the MacOS version yet. I'll upgrade way down the line and far after this project is complete and stabilized.

repeat after me "poser is a diva" rules of thumb: ALWAYS save multiple copies ALWAYS save before loading anything new into a scene, and before rendering EXPECT at least one total file corruption in any given project also, try to defrag your poser runtime directory about once weekly, more if you can it happens to everyone ... sorry :( Lyrra

Or... ...you can always load up Poser with a standard or your choice of light set... Now save that blank scene with the light set of your choice as a .PZ3 or whatever version of Poser you are running... Now open your old saved data for your project in a word program (like Microsoft Word) and open the new .PZ3 (or format that you saved in) and cut the lines of code about the light set from the newly saved .PZ3 and paste it into your project that got FUBARed in the area where the code should be. Now save your updated project .PZ3 (or whatever format) with the new lines of code you just pasted into it and load the scene back up in Poser... TADA!! The Project .PZ3 (or whatever format) is usable again!! Save multiple copies of the repaired .PZ3 and your are good to go. It's a pain in the butt, but sometimes worth it if your scene has taken forever to create and don't want to have to redo everything! Hope that helps! Jack

But make sure that you don't mess up the { } (curly bracket) matching.

IMO It's your fault for: A: Using a very new version of this software with a history of heinous bugs in early versions for a commercial project. (I'm still using P5 on my movie until they shake a few more bugs out of 6, which is a shame cuz I love 6) B: Switching platforms during a project. anyway you have my sympathy.

Question - is there more than one frame in the project? If so go to the last frame and you will find all is as should be - I have been fooled by this at times as well, not too sure why Poser does this on frame 1

Oh yeah... In Poser 6 for some damn reason it's always loading scenes in like the middle of the default 30 frames. I've had that problem myself a few times. Very annoying.

Question; Frame one looks as if it has a background loaded on an alpha square. Are you perchance using IBL? If so, check your dope sheet and see if there are any keyframes for the light beyond frame 0. What this -looks- like is that you have inadvertently added lighting at the end of the dynamic drape, and Poser is doing a 30 frame fade from background image to foreground illumination with spots. If that is the case, you can fix it in the dope sheet by copypasting the last keyframes on the spots to frame 0, then deleting all the later keys. If the cityscape is intended as background, then deleting any keys past frame 0 in that timeline should break the dependencies that seem to have appeared between them.

I think that is exactly what is happening in this case - I just felt that ketok may have been a bit hasty to scrap the entire project until it was investigated further.... Apart from things like the previous post, I also have scenes that have needed draping etc and when I open those scenes, frame 1 has all the props and background in the default loaded position, where as frame XX will have the scene as intended. The reason I questioned whether the file was actually corrupt or not was that ketok said that two files were the same. I think a deeper look may have saved a lot of work - of course I may be wrong and everyone else is right, I've just found it doesn't pay to jump to conclusions with Poser