Just out of curiosity, how long does it take you to create stuff for poser? Not just the modeling, but the UV mapping, texturing, rigging, and bug-hunting (if any). I know this depends greatly on the artist's skill and available time as well as on the complexity of the project, but an answer like "X item took me about X time to do" would be great. Forgive me if this has been asked before and thanks in advance.

It all depends on the project, whether this is a single item or a combination of items.
Let's take the first instance. I am making guns and military gear, so we'll presume that the item in question is a gun.

1. You need to do research and gather your documentation together --two to four days.
2. Decide on the way to tackle the project in question and do some rough drawings plus a list of the parts you need to make --two days.
3. Modelling. Depending on the complexity of the object --four days to two weeks.
4. UV Mapping --One day
5. Texturing --One to two days.
6. Rigging for Poser --One day.
7. Testing in Poser --One day.
8. Promo "pretty pictures" and PNGs --One to two days.
9. Readme and presentation text --One day.

So, you can say that it will take a minimum of two weeks before your gun (of average complexity) is ready to hit the market.
For more complex projects the time-table varies of course. For example, I've been working on my last product ever since September and it is just finished.... :)

I hope this gives you a general idea.

Panos

Thats a question with a millon answers ...
It totaly depents on what your making .... 
You beter give a example of what you are thinking about.. ...

I made a Ring for somebody here on R'o in 1 hour ..and maped it the next day in a hour so
totaly it toolk 2 hours ...
But you cant compare that to a outfit etc etc..
I made a full SF workshop, A huge one .. that took me 3 months only the modeling  ...

So ...

Chris

Panko has it pretty close to right, IF you have time to dedicate whole days 8-12 hours to each step. Unfortunately, it takes me much longer to get a difficult project out. Modeling is by far the longest step in my creations, but rigging and such is right at what Panko says. Also, the less complex the project, say, you don't have treads and wheels, the rigging is much much easier. Figure a month per large project, and 2-3 weeks for smaller projects, down to a day for a simple prop.

Agree with Barcode... there's a million ways to answer that question.  It depends on a lot of variables, such as skill and experience as you mentioned, which modelling program you're coming from (some import into poser with dreamlike ease, while others take a bunch of fiddling and tweaking to get it to work right), what you're making (I made a fliptop lighter, with rigging and pretty renders in under a day, but there's a clothes outfit that I've been working on for weeks).  And lets not even get into waiting for the Renderosity testing queue or having to have the item beta tested if it fails the acid test.

That's for models you've made yourself... for textures for other's products, there's a whole other process.  Getting the right seam guides, re-mapping the UVs if necessary, checking for stretching on the textures, and again if you fail the Renderosity upload testing, then you have to turn around, find beta testers, etc. etc.  All that eats into your time, from project beginning to being available in the marketplace.

Ditto Panko, but I'd add the trick answer that research tends to take a lifetime.  
Most of what I build is houses and furnishings, and I started examining and
disassembling such things, and drawing them on paper, around age 3.  
So when I model a stove or a ranch house, I don't need to do much 'live' 
research because I have the proportions, measurements, and inner workings 
solidly in mind.  When I try to model something I've never actually handled or 
repaired, no amount of book or Google research will make it come out right.

The part that takes the longest (or at least feels like the longest) is working 
around the limitations of 3D meshes.   Determining which pieces need to be 
separate body parts, which need to be groups, and which should be 
material zones, can take an unbelievable amount of cut-and-try.  
Poser will often refuse to 'understand' a shape that looks just fine in 
the original modeler.

Shhh, don't ask these questions, they will all figure out that they aren't charging us nearly enough!

I'm actually glad to hear this from you fine people.  I get frustrated so often about a week into a project, figuring I must just be an idiot who is taking waaay too long!  I spent three days, four hours per day modelling a hull for a spaceship in Hexagon and figured I was taking way too long.  (Oh, it's not done, btw!)

well I usually take about a month from first sketch to finished product, but I tend to work on 2-3 projects at the same time, rotating between them. I do this partly because I find myself going stagnant if I stare at the same model too long. Then again, as I learned from writing classes. I like to put the model away for a bit then re-look at it to see if there are any improvements I can come up with. Then again some things are still on the hard drive waiing for me to get back to them. 

I find that tweaking the produc to work well in poser is the most fustrating part of the job. While, for me, textureing takes the longest time.

mike

I don't model but it takes a good month at least for me to do my stuff, minimum. Some stuff takes me 6 months.

Supermodel Vickie took about 6 months, on and off.

SuperStar Vickie (who got through QA at DAZ yesterday) took just under 4 months of 40-60 hour weeks.   My first V4-based figure, so first thing I had to do was reverse-engineer everything, which added to the time.  She looks good though, doesn't she?  ;-)

Most of my products take about a month. 

As has been said earlier it depends what you are making, the mr hankey figure I made recently took about 5 or 6 hours but a simple prop could take 15 minutes if you include uvmapping and making a texture map for the prop.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1229440&member

Two weeks at present, although I'm hoping to get it down to one soon. For a one-off prop I can usually get it done in a couple of days. My work schedule being what it is, tho, I spread those weeks of work over a period of up to two years -- and have to add another two weeks "interest" as it takes that much extra time to figure out what I was doing last January and get back to it. Roughly working it out, about 1/6 of the time is modeling. UVmapping and rigging are the biggest chunks of time. When making distribution-ready stuff (not just stuff for my own renders) about a third of the time is thumbnails, promos, file organizing, and endless testing.

Thank you everyone. I'm aware that its a question with no simple answers, but your replies have been appreciated.

I was hoping to hear something like what Panko stated.... and, wow, I got it on the first reply! :laugh:

So, let me rephrase the question... Could any merchant point out a product they've done and how long it took them to make? The more troublesome it was the better! :biggrin:

@Tilandra - do you mean that some 3d programs are more "poser friendly" than others? can you please give examples?

All right... Although I am not sure we could mention our products here lest it is taken as advertizing...
For my GI Combat Gear_Vietnam (for M3) I spent more than four months working full time, but this is a package containing lots of items, like gear, helmets, accessories and weaponry. I find that in a project like this what is even more troublesome and time-consuming than modeling, mapping and texturing is the testing and packaging process, a stage in which one is usually catching all sorts of glitches... :)

And then, when you think you are ready to launch, you run a last test and discover that something that worked fine up to now isn't working anymore!!! Why? Who knows? The Curse of the Pharaoh Pozer perhaps.......... :))

usually 3 hours to make a model, and a half-hour to do the UVMapping (but then they're very low quality..;) I try to make a model for every pic that I do, so I'm just not patient enough to put in days of work (did an Escher building [Mark I] that took 3 days, but that's the longest time ever..;)

Some things I was able to finish in about a week but they never saw the light of day because they didn't pass my personal quality testing. I mean, if I don't like it, and I made it,  no one will, right? Others get fairly well along but then a problem will arise which will cause me to either start over from scratch or force me to reconsider some aspect of what I've done. The 3 products I have selling, one took me about a week if you were to tally the hours (I have a day gig so that slows things down). Another, took me about a month (again, this is total hours worked). The last one was finished (rigged by PhilC no less) but then scrapped due to my personal quality testing and decision to go for more realism in my imagined creature design. The remake took me about a month and a half to complete (total time worked) including an entirely new rig (which was a real shame because Phil did awesome work) and learning a new program to texture with.

So it depends on you, how well you know what you're doing, what your sense of quality is for the item in question, and the amount of time you have in a day to work on it.

Quote - I mean, if I don't like it, and I made it,  no one will, right?

Teyon, I wouldn't say that.  Americans go gaga over "American Idol" but I can't stand that show... the taste of the average consumer can be perplexing at times.  :D

Quote -
@Tilandra - do you mean that some 3d programs are more "poser friendly" than others? can you please give examples?

I've been out of the marketplace for two years, so I can't point to any of my current products as examples just yet... I cleared room for the new stuff I'm planning.  :D

However, while getting back into the swing of things and going over the various programs I've collected over the years (I've been playing in 3D for... I think 10 years now.  Wow) to try and decide what one I'm going to concentrate on now, I've found that certain programs like C4D need a lot of tweaking export/import settings to get it right, or require a plugin.  However, Shade has been amazing... Just using default export OBJ settings I can do all the texturing in Shade, and when I import it into Poser it's already textured and ready to go.  Including effects settings like ambient glow.  Although I'll usually go into the Shader nodes and adjust a bit more, as I get finicky.  :D  I created a prop yesterday, textured, and imported it in Poser and it looked exactly the same.

This makes sense, as Shade and Poser are owned by the same company now.

However, Shade as a modelling tool has been difficult for me to wrap my head around.  But for various reasons, I was pretty much forced into choosing it as my modeller.  Not that I'm complaining!  By concentrating on one program, and quitting my usual switching back and forth between tools to accomplish tasks, it's made life a lot easier.  I just have to change my way of thinking a bit to do the same things I did in other programs.

Being a merchant here is not easy.  The product verification can seem restrictive and overly-harsh sometimes.  You pour your soul into creating a product and for weeks there's not one nibble in the marketplace and you feel like giving up.  But it can be a tremendous source of satisfaction as well, especially when everything "clicks".  So don't give up, you'll get it.  :D

It took me several months to do my high detail vampire/undead textures in the marketplace, but I didn't have all day, everyday on them. Seams were difficult to deal with, constantly checking and repainting. It was a bit disheartening for sales to peak at Halloween and then tail off steeply afterwards though: don't other people like vampires the rest of the year?:-( Just kidding:-) But to be honest, I didn't make the textures to make millions here at Renderosity, I made them for people who like them, like me. That's all part of the fun. I assume you asked the question because you want to start creating your own content? My advice then would be: just dive in! It doesn't matter how long it takes: you'll be having fun, doing something you enjoy, learning new skills, and maybe even making a bit of spare cash if you choose to sell your creations. What could be better?

I have a different approach

**0) Have an idea of what to do.

1. You need to do research and gather your documentation together

2. Decide on the way to tackle the project in question and do some rough drawings plus a list of the parts you need to make.

3. Modelling.

4. UV Mapping

5. Texturing

6. Rigging for Poser

7. Testing in Poser.

8. Promo "pretty pictures" and PNGs.

9. Readme and presentation text.**

10. The most difficult part, can be one month, half year, a year or only one hour (insight)!  I run many ideas in parellel.

11. Zero to one month.

12. Fast, once you know what want to do, you know how to do it.
    3 + 4 + 5 + 6) All the steps I do at the same time. One, two , three or four days.

13. Once the model is done it's already tested, probably I posted some images with it.
    8+9) One hour.

Quote - I assume you asked the question because you want to start creating your own content?

I'll admit I have toyed with the idea before. Truth is that, very often, my job ends up taking a chunk of my leisure time and would rather spend the rest with family, friends, and my drawing table.

Once, as an art student, I dabbled with Studio Max, Gmax, Poser, Maya, Blender, and Wings. The most I've been able to do with those hallowed skills is 3 renders and mod my favorite videogames :blushing: . And then, one day, I get a job at an ad agency and CS2 becomes my bread and butter.

I don't believe I'll be cranking out poser content in the near future (never say never! ). Poser 4 was all I was ever exposed to, and it wasn't for very long. My attention has always been more on traditional illustration and 2D digital art. However, I like Renderosity a lot and I regularly browse the galleries and ooh and aah at all the stuff the merchants provide.

So, I tip my hat to you folks