I am looking at RDS 5.5, TrueSpace4, etc. I have an opportunity to buy either at under $100, in unused, unopened boxes. I am looking at them primarily for their rendering capabilities and not for modeling as I already do most of my modeling in Rhino. Modeling may come later, but the primary use in the beginning would be for rendering. Via the images in the Gallery I have really taken an interest in RDS 5.5. My question is simple - How well does it handle transparencies such as those found when importing Poser figures? Any info or help in this would be greatly appreciated. BTW, you folks do some amazing things with RDS and Carrara!

For those prices I'd buy them both! However, to answer your question regarding RDS transparency: I've never used it on a Poser figure but don't see any problem in doing so. What exactly are you going to make transparent? You can make the whole figure transparent at the end of a sequence & render a fadeing ghost if you want. You could also make the character look like a glass or marble figure too. I think you could also render a hole into the figure if needed so it all depends on your imagination.

willf, thanks for responding. I am wondering about things such as the transmaps used for clothing and hair in Poser. I am wondering if they can be easily imported into RDS5.5. And, to be honest, I am considering just getting both. I agree that the prices are very enticing. The TS4 is from someone moving to MAX or Lightwave. The RDS5.5 is from an online retailer.

Hey, it's easy to spend other peoples' money! Sure glad I get to send some more of mine to politicians who have no problem at it either. I'm fairly sure that you will need to bring the individual "parts" (hair/figure/clothes, etc.) in one at a time & they need to be "pre-posed" to your scene. That makes it easier to map existing textures to the fig or prop. When you save-out from Poser they need to be one group per part, otherwise you need to apply a shader to each body part for colors which can be done but is a hastle. Other then that all the existing maps you have should work. the other option is to bring the obj file into UVMapper & create a new map for it to apply in the color channel of RDS. That works fine if you are making new things. RDS 5.5 is a fine app for that price, don't know about TS4.

Yep, you have to pre-pose figures before bringing them into RDS. But the transparency function of RDS is amazing. You MUST check the dialogue box under Current Scene Settings called "light through transparency." And remember, when you use the area render tool you won't see shadows accurately rendered (see the above illustration). RDS 5.5 is an amazing package. Well worth the money, I think....

Okay, I think I am understanding you on this, AzChip. I figured you would have to bring Poser figures in pre-posed like you do with Bryce or even TrueSpace. That's okay. I guess my main question is does RD recognize the transmaps that you can use with Poser such as with the hair and clothes, etc? Bryce does recognize the Poser transmaps. I am just wondering if RD does so in a similar fashion.

You may have to play with it for a while, building the shader up in RDS, but it's not difficult to do. RDS and Poser 3 were able to shift files back and forth pretty much seamlessly, but P4 isn't quite as integrated.... I don't have Bryce, so I don't know it's procedure, and I don't move poser into RDS very often; I need to try it, though....

Okay, AzChip. Thanks for the input. Considering the price, I'm thinking of just taking the gamble it will import Poser transmaps somehow, someway. If not? Well, I'll figure something out. ;-) Thanks again.

It will work. The shader is very flexible/powerful & more compicated then what you have in Poser. Poser has one option for trans, RDS has many for the trans channel (colors, grays, movies, rotations, flips, flops, mirror images, gradations, ammount, etc.). Once you do one or two it is pretty straight-forward. Regardless, you will be happy with the "things" you can do with RDS. If it is a "ligit" copy you will also get in on a special upgrade to Amapi &/or Carrara if you want.

It will work. The shader is very flexible/powerful & more compicated then what you have in Poser. Poser has one option for trans, RDS has many for the trans channel (colors, grays, movies, rotations, flips, flops, mirror images, gradations, ammount, etc.). Once you do one or two it is pretty straight-forward. Regardless, you will be happy with the "things" you can do with RDS. If it is a "ligit" copy you will also get in on a special upgrade to Amapi &/or Carrara if you want.<<< Thanks for the info, willf. Yes, it is a legit version... or it had better be. It is being sold by two online retailers who specialize in distressed, orphaned or "dead" programs. I had figured there would a bit of a learning curve for me to find the most efficient way to import Poser into RD, but I like what I have seen in the gallery. I think it'll be worth it.