Hi... sorry if this is a terrible newbie question, but I was wondering if anyone could help me out with learning how to do the above, as I'm pretty new to character modelling. I need to learn some of this because I'm working with a small group who are in the process of making animated Star Trek episodes set circa "The Undiscovered Country", and - as their MAX ship and set builder (which reminds me - what's the best way to get Poser characters onto a Max set?) - it's fallen to me to do the character work as well. Tips on how to make humanoid (and nonhumanoid!) aliens using simple methods would be welcome, as well as explanations of basic clothing creation. Many thanks in advance!

I'm sure a lot of the wiz's here - and some of the amateurs, such as myself ;-) - will be glad to offer some advice. But it will be a lot easier if you could be more specific as to what tools you're going to use (for modeling, texturing/UV-ing, rendering, animation etc.).

Um, what tools I have? Well I've got Poser 4 and Max 3, and that's it. So if there are any tools, webpages, techniques etc. that you would recommend I would love to know!

Oh, and I forgot. If I can figure out how to texture I'll be using Paint Shop Pro v7

Basic method : o Build clothes/figures mesh in your 3D app (i.e. Max) o Import into Poser (resize and fit clothes around a zeroed target figure) o Use grouping tool to "slice" into groups o If using Poser Pro Pack use setup room to create figure o If NOT using PPP save sliced mesh, copy an existing CR2 file and change the OBJ reference to point to your new mesh (but in this case you can't sell or give away the figure!) o Open OBJ in UVmapper and create tex template - save both o Open template in Paint Shop Pro and make texture o ...and try out your figure, and fine-tune, fine-tune, fine-tune.... Tutorials for all the above steps are available at the "Tutorials" link in the menu column on the right of this very page, as well as on many of the "Web Ring" links. Any problem encountered along the way can be presented to 50.000 fellow users on this forum ;-) PS : If you'll post your e-mail address, I can mail you a copy of a walkthrough tutorial that takes you through all the above steps (for non-PPP users) except tex'ing. Have fun!

theforeverwar@hotmail.com Cheers! I could do with some more detailed advice (for example I don't know what Poser Pro Pack or UV mapping are), but this is muchly appreciated.

Poser Pro Pack is an add-on package to Poser that (among other things) makes figure setup and plugging Poser into Max far easier. Have a look at www.curiouslabs.com. Tuto is on its way. Have fun!