Why is installing Poser 7 content so frustrating?

I bought V4 Character creation kit. In consists of 2 folders, one called Runtime and one called VS-V4_CharacterCreationResources.

The Readme files just say "put what is in the runtime folder in the proper place"  Doh!

So I have renamed Runtime RuntimeV4 and added that to Poser 7 runtimes and i can see the characters etc in that folder.  But how on earth do i get to see all the extras...  of which, this is the Readme

"V4 Character Creation Merchant Resource Copyright  Vickie Davalos 2007'

March 24th 2007'

"All of this product's content was created by victoria Davalos Using the following Merchant Resources:

:Skin from www.3d.sk (I am a Member There)

The Base Textures are found in the Runtime/Textures/VictoriasStyle/VS-V4-CharacterCreation
Folder all other textures are in the : VS-V4-CharacterCreationResources folder
Put what is in the runtime folder in the proper places:

 VS-V4-CharacterCreationResources

Brows1.psd

Brows10.psd

Brows2.psd

Brows3.psd

Brows4.psd

Brows5.psd

Brows6.psd

Brows7.psd

Brows8.psd

Brows9.psd

License.txt

Lips1.psd

Lips10.psd

Lips2.psd

Lips3.psd

Lips4.psd

Lips5.psd

Lips6.psd

Lips7.psd

Lips8.psd

Lips9.psd

Readme.txt

Thumbs.db

V4Lashes1.jpg

V4Lashes10.jpg

V4Lashes2.jpg

V4Lashes3.jpg

V4Lashes4.jpg

V4Lashes5.jpg

V4Lashes6.jpg

V4Lashes7.jpg

V4Lashes8.jpg

V4Lashes9.jpg

VS-V4Eyes1.jpg

VS-V4Eyes10.jpg

VS-V4Eyes2.jpg

VS-V4Eyes3.jpg

VS-V4Eyes4.jpg

VS-V4Eyes5.jpg

VS-V4Eyes6.jpg

VS-V4Eyes7.jpg

VS-V4Eyes8.jpg

VS-V4Eyes9.jpg

Runtime

License.txt

Readme.txt

RuntimeTexturesVictoriasStyleVS-V4-CharacterCreation

Thumbs.db

V4Lashes1.jpg

V4Teeth.jpg

VS-V4Eyes1.jpg

VS-V4Face1.jpg

VS-V4Limbs1.jpg

VS-V4Torso1.jpg

RuntimeLibrariesPoseVS-V4-CharacterCreation

Body-1 INJ.png

Body-1 INJ.pz2

Body-1 REM.png

Body-1 REM.pz2

Body-1.png

Body-10 INJ.png

Body-10 INJ.pz2

Body-10 REM.png

Body-10 REM.pz2

Body-11 INJ.png

Body-11 INJ.pz2

Body-11 REM.png

Body-11 REM.pz2

Body-12 INJ.png

Body-12 INJ.pz2

Body-12 REM.png

Body-12 REM.pz2

Body-13 INJ.png

Body-13 INJ.pz2

Body-13 REM.png

Body-13 REM.pz2

Body-14 INJ.png

Body-14 INJ.pz2

Body-14 REM.png

Body-14 REM.pz2

Body-15 INJ.png

Body-15 INJ.pz2

Body-15 REM.png

Body-15 REM.pz2

Body-16 INJ.png

Body-16 INJ.pz2

Body-16 REM.png

Body-16 REM.pz2

Body-17 INJ.png

Body-17 INJ.pz2

Body-17 REM.png

Body-17 REM.pz2

Body-18 INJ.png

Body-18 INJ.pz2

Body-18 REM.png

Body-18 REM.pz2

Body-19 INJ.png

Body-19 INJ.pz2

Body-19 REM.png

Body-19 REM.pz2

Body-2 INJ.png

Body-2 INJ.pz2

Body-2 REM.png

Body-2 REM.pz2

Body-20 INJ.png

Body-20 INJ.pz2

Body-20 REM.png

Body-20 REM.pz2

Body-3 INJ.png

Body-3 INJ.pz2

Body-3 REM.png

Body-3 REM.pz2

Body-4 INJ.png

Body-4 INJ.pz2

Body-4 REM.png

Body-4 REM.pz2

Body-5 INJ.png

Body-5 INJ.pz2

Body-5 REM.png

Body-5 REM.pz2

Body-6 INJ.png

Body-6 INJ.pz2

Body-6 REM.png

Body-6 REM.pz2

Body-7 INJ.png

Body-7 INJ.pz2

Body-7 REM.png

Body-7 REM.pz2

Body-8 INJ.png

Body-8 INJ.pz2

Body-8 REM.png

Body-8 REM.pz2

Body-9 INJ.png

Body-9 INJ.pz2

Body-9 REM.png

Body-9 REM.pz2

Face-1 INJ.png

Face-1 INJ.pz2

Face-1 REM.png

Face-1 REM.pz2

Face-1.png

Face-10 INJ.png

Face-10 INJ.pz2

Face-10 REM.png

Face-10 REM.pz2

Face-11 INJ.png

Face-11 INJ.pz2

Face-11 REM.png

Face-11 REM.pz2

Face-12 INJ.png

Face-12 INJ.pz2

Face-12 REM.png

Face-12 REM.pz2

Face-13 INJ.png

Face-13 INJ.pz2

Face-13 REM.png

Face-13 REM.pz2

Face-14 INJ.png

Face-14 INJ.pz2

Face-14 REM.png

Face-14 REM.pz2

Face-15 INJ.png

Face-15 INJ.pz2

Face-15 REM.png

Face-15 REM.pz2

Face-16 INJ.png

Face-16 INJ.pz2

Face-16 REM.png

Face-16 REM.pz2

Face-17 INJ.png

Face-17 INJ.pz2

Face-17 REM.png

Face-17 REM.pz2

Face-18 INJ.png

Face-18 INJ.pz2

Face-18 REM.png

Face-18 REM.pz2

Face-19 INJ.png

Face-19 INJ.pz2

Face-19 REM.png

Face-19 REM.pz2

Face-2 INJ.png

Face-2 INJ.pz2

Face-2 REM.png

Face-2 REM.pz2

Face-20 INJ.png

Face-20 INJ.pz2

Face-20 REM.png

Face-20 REM.pz2

Face-3 INJ.png

Face-3 INJ.pz2

Face-3 REM.png

Face-3 REM.pz2

Face-4 INJ.png

Face-4 INJ.pz2

Face-4 REM.png

Face-4 REM.pz2

Face-5 INJ.png

Face-5 INJ.pz2

Face-5 REM.png

Face-5 REM.pz2

Face-6 INJ.png

Face-6 INJ.pz2

Face-6 REM.png

Face-6 REM.pz2

Face-7 INJ.png

Face-7 INJ.pz2

Face-7 REM.png

Face-7 REM.pz2

Face-8 INJ.png

Face-8 INJ.pz2

Face-8 REM.png

Face-8 REM.pz2

Face-9 INJ.png

Face-9 INJ.pz2

Face-9 REM.png

Face-9 REM.pz2

MAT-Texture.pz2

Mat-Texture.png

As all of my Resources they are very Merchant friendly!

use as many as you need to add to your Creations-

I Hope your Days are filled with Happieness!!!!!!! Hugz ;)

Happy Rendering!

Vickie  Davalos

HELP !!

That looks like a resource kit, which is not Poser ready content, but is used to make Poser content.  

Hmmmmmmm i did think when i saw the psd, jpg and png files..... well... there is a wholoe new curve of learning it seems.. in the mean time a waste of $11...tsk tsk.

Well it may not be a lost.

Ask for either a refund or credit from where you purchased it.
As you thought it was something you just installed into Poser and used, but found out differently…..
Most stores/merchants should understand that.

Ahhh well.. its my own fault I should check what I'm buying.  Its just the truth that Poser 7, from e-frontier, to the content makers 'assume' too much knowledge on behalf of the end user.  I'm just starting out, and there must be LOTS like me who are completely dumbfoundd by the lact of user instructions... never mind....

Still.... this Creation Kit MUST be usuable?

Quote - Well it may not be a lost.

Ask for either a refund or credit from where you purchased it.
As you thought it was something you just installed into Poser and used, but found out differently…..
Most stores/merchants should understand that.

Yeah it is to some extent...

If you extract the file you bought, you will find the listed files in the directories they are supossed to be in.
Like "V4Lashes1.jpg" or "V4Teeth.jpg" have to be located in "RuntimeTextures..." because if you load some mat pose it is the Texture folder where Poser will look for the needed textures.
Same with " Body-1 INJ.png" and "Body-1 INJ.pz2" where the .png is the thumbnail for the .pz2 file. To see and use them, you have to put them in your LibrariesPose folder within your Runtime folder.

The PSD files are useful if you have an application that can read PSD files. Like Softimage XSI or Adobe Photoshop.

You can open them and use them to create your own textures or modify existing ones.
For example you can use "lips2.psd" to replace lips coming with some texture that you got already.

But if you don't want to use XSI or PS or similar apps and if you don't want to make your own skins and the like, you may ask the merchant to exchange that product with something else in his store or make use of the refund option.
In one of the manuals that come with Poser you will find a description of filetypes and where they have to be. It's not very complicated after some time.And of all similar applications Poser is by far the easiest to use.
You should also have a look at your installation and what filetypes you find in which folder.
This will give you some idea of where to copy any future content. If you got many products you maybe want to sort them in a different way than what they r sorted after installation.

Any products that you buy from this marketplace should install directly to Runtime so that you can find the relevant items within Poser immediately. 

With this pack, the INJ files are morphs for the body and face of V4. You can apply these directly to V4 from within Poser. 

If you want to use the textures from this pack, you would need to open them in Photoshop and save them out as jpg files, then apply them in Poser's material room.

Over the years I've found Vicki Davalos' stuff to be outstanding and this one is no different.   Extract everything to a temporary folder on your desktop and go from there.

The Runtime folder will put the appropriate content into Poser where everything is supposed to be.  Just copy it into your V4 folder and all will be well.

The Resource folder is just that - extras for making additional texture maps.  These are not Poser ready.  They need to go into a folder that you'll remember so that you can us them in a graphics program that will read .psd files, like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.  I have a folder specifically for textures on my N drive and this is where I go when I'm creating texture maps.

Incidentally, P7 can use .PSD files directly as textures.  I don't
know about earlier versions.

P7 doesn't try to treat the layers separately, but just shows the
same combined result that you'd see when you tell PhotoShop to
'Export the Image', based on which layers are visible and so on.

I've used .psd files as far back as P5 ... but that's when I started making textures.  I never tried in P4.

Ahhhh you guys are so much more advanced than me. I have sooo much catching up to do!  All this talk of textures and maps and bumps have me lost. How do I apply them to just say 'lips', etc etc etc. So many questions, so few answers!   JPG and PSD and PNG files I am conversant with being something of a photographer working with various graphic file formats.  Poser is a whole new ball game...... I must do a course, or three!

With Poser you can have some experience of succes really fast.
Just load a Figure and start to try out things.

As long as you dont delete your runtime, there is not much that you could mess up.
Following the tutorial manual (that comes with Poser) step by step is maybe not the best thing.
IMHO it's always better to try out how things work by playing around with them. It's the fastest way to learn something new and memorize it.
Check out the light settings after loading a figure. The basic light setup is somewhat similar to what photographers use.

You can get a feeling of the way light colors are treated in preview and render.
Then testing the different light types and what they do.
After this you maybe want to check the basic material settings (but in advanced mode) to see how colors will be treated there.

And if you are somewhat familiar with the dials and their meaning you may want to look at the tutorials.
Like in photography, the lighting is very important for a Poser picture to look right.

Have fun! :)

There are a few ways to extract the folders the way you want. I don’t have Poser 7, but I will describe what I would do in Poser 6. If there are any differences, then others with more experience than me will have to help you.

The easiest way would be to go to load up Poser and then click on the Content Room tab near the top of the screen. You should then see a tab that is labelled “Install from Zip Archive.” If you click on that, you will see a pop-up menu. Find your Zip File wherever you downloaded it to and select “open.” Poser should then guide you through the installation process. If you just keep clicking on the defaults, your kit will install in the default Poser runtime.

The content in the RuntimeTexturesVictoriasStyleVS-V4-CharacterCreation folder are textures. That is, they are skin and hair that you are “painted” onto the 3D model to make it look realistic. You can use them by going into the Material Room. The files in the RuntimeLibrariesPoseVS-V4-CharacterCreation folder are injection poses. You can find them in the Pose library. If you add them to your character while in the Pose Room (make sure you have the right figure selected), a dial will show up to the right of your preview window. You can then adjust it to make your figure look more or less like the picture (a value of “1” will probably make that part of your figure look exactly like the picture). This will let you give V4 different bodies and face shapes.

I am not sure what the files in the VS-V4-CharacterCreationResources folder will do, whether they are for post-work in a 2D art program or are additional textures to apply (or both).

I hope that this helps, and please forgive me if I’ve told you anything you already know.

I wanted to keep my explanation basic in case other people new to the program read this.

P.S.  If you go to the e-frontier web site, there is a tutorial on "Managing Content" in the tutorial section that will explain other ways to install the file.

really, it's pretty simple.  to use the character you bought...
on a pc:

• Open the zip file
• Drag the "Runtime" folder to the folder holding the runtime with v4.
• When you get a message asking you if you want to overwrite, say yes.  Windows will merge your old and new Runtimes.
• Start Poser.
• Load V4.
• Go to the Pose folder and look for the "VS-V4-CharacterCreation" folder.
• Apply the settings you want.

on a mac, it's harder because you don't have a copy/merge function.  you can handle that by going into the runtime folders and copying the appropriate folders.

the other content is a bonus.  it's not a waste of $11, because most characters cost at least that much.  if you don't use the merchant resources to make your own textures, fine.  no one's going to force you to use all of a product.  you can just use it like a regular character set.  but if you ever decide to add to that texture to make your own character, you'll find those psd files useful.

Its actually easier to instal from the content tab of Poser7... even for Mac users. Seems to instal everything fine. Ok when i want to instal different runtimes it may get a lil complicated but to be honest i have so much to learn and get used to that will be just added to my 'to master' list.

Hopefully, in no time at all, i too will be able to say "really... its pretty simple......"

Stefi xxx

Quote - really, it's pretty simple.  to use the character you bought...
on a pc:

• Open the zip file
• Drag the "Runtime" folder to the folder holding the runtime with v4.
• When you get a message asking you if you want to overwrite, say yes.  Windows will merge your old and new Runtimes.
• Start Poser.
• Load V4.
• Go to the Pose folder and look for the "VS-V4-CharacterCreation" folder.
• Apply the settings you want.

on a mac, it's harder because you don't have a copy/merge function.  you can handle that by going into the runtime folders and copying the appropriate folders.

the other content is a bonus.  it's not a waste of $11, because most characters cost at least that much.  if you don't use the merchant resources to make your own textures, fine.  no one's going to force you to use all of a product.  you can just use it like a regular character set.  but if you ever decide to add to that texture to make your own character, you'll find those psd files useful.

@ drkfetyshnyghtsYou said you did some photography already... Can we expect to see some your photographic artwork some day?
IMHO this place is great if you got any questions regarding Photography or Poser (or any other of the covered 3D apps)

While installing products from RMP, this sites marketplace, should work fine, it never hurts to know exactly what your machine is doing.

If you visit some of the many freebie sites you may find items that come as OBJ or items that you have to move manually to the right location in your runtime.

Looking around in the folders of your Poser installation might be boring but it is good invested time.**
**