I've recently moved from a windows platform (PC) to OSX (mac). I'm clueless on how to move all of my poser content over, or if I even CAN do that. Please, someone help me!

The only thing I know about MAC is that you can't drag and drop over a folder because instead of adding the  new contents to the folder like a PC does, a MAC replaces it with the new stuff.

I've never seen that happen, actually, and I've used Mac since the 80s. In fact, if duplicate names appear on what you're trying to drop into the folder, it pops up a dialog asking if you want to replace the files or halt moving the duplicates into the new location.

Quote - I've never seen that happen, actually, and I've used Mac since the 80s. In fact, if duplicate names appear on what you're trying to drop into the folder, it pops up a dialog asking if you want to replace the files or halt moving the duplicates into the new location.

I don't have a MAC. I'm only repeating what someone told me.  If I got it wrong, my apologies :)

grin No problem -- just that I've never had that experience. I'd completely freak out if that happened! laugh I do know that some zip utilities have overwritten files in the past in that fashion if they hit certain glitches, but with drag and drop it shouldn't be a concern. (BetterZip is fabulous for unzipping Poser content to the right locations, too, and takes care of that potential problem nicely.)

How about copying your content folders onto an external drive.

Attached Link: Soft Rabbit.

(Edit timed out) If your CR2 files don't use Windows style file paths, it should work fine. If they do... there used to be a tool that could fix them, but it's been a while. I would just try adding the Runtimes in Poser first.

don't bother converting any files. if ya have trouble opening any, let 'em know in mac forum. martin c's maconverter et al. are only for OS 9 (previous century).

Pharie, I've been thinking of making the switch myself. Please let us know how things work out, and if you're satisfied that you made the right decision.

My experience is that files with pc style paths will open fine on the mac, only it takes longer time for Poser to locate the files.

Also, you can hook your pc up to your mac to transfer stuff directly. I have both a mac and a pc and I do that often.  As mentioned before, assuming you're using Poser 5 or later, the only real problem are rsr-files instead of png's for thumbnails.

At this page you can see how you can network mac&pc:

joelandfaith.com/computer/mac/macfilesharing.html

The Mac is a good system.  I wish you well with it.

The major drawback will involve waiting an extra 6 months for the new software that PC users have been working with already.  Except in those cases where there is not and never will be a Mac version of the program, of course.

MarianneR: Thanks, I'm transfering all my content from my server... no issues with transfer... like you said, the only issue I've encountered is the rsr files instead of png.... do you know of an easy way to create png's for those products? Is there by chance an rsr-png conversion program, or do I have to just deal with no preview thumbs? Thanks again to everyone for your responses!

Quote - The Mac is a good system.  I wish you well with it.

The major drawback will involve waiting an extra 6 months for the new software that PC users have been working with already.  Except in those cases where there is not and never will be a Mac version of the program, of course.

True and Not True all at the same time.

Most 3D/CG apps release both versions pretty much simultaneously. Games and certain DX-dependant apps tend to take a bit more time to port over, but this is increasingly not the case as time goes on. Both Poser and D|S nowadays release Windows and Mac versions simultaneously.

I believe that Silo and Rhino are the only real apps that I've found to be Windows-only; my older version of Rhino 2 OTOH runs just fine in VirtualPC (which runs a Windows 2000 instance).

I shovelled over all my old PC-based Runtime stuff to OSX ab't 3-4 years ago... aside from legacy .rsr's that needed converting to .png, I have had no problems. Even today, .rsr files can be opened and read 99% of the time on the Mac.

/P

Quote - Is there by chance an rsr-png conversion program, or do I have to just deal with no preview thumbs? Thanks again to everyone for your responses!

There is - FWMorgan (somewhere in Rendo) has both free and for-sale conversion utilities to do just that.

/P

Quote - True and Not True all at the same time.

I've seen incompatibility issues crop up often enough to discourage me from going the Mac route.  Espeically when it comes to matters like 3rd-party add-ins for programs such as AutoCAD.  In addition, I've also seen Mac users complain about their inablity to get the latest software package often enough to discourage me from going with a Mac, too.  Plus there's the fact that Macs are virtually unknown in the engineering circles that I travel in.  I once worked for a corporation which had over 6,000 employees concentrated throughout the city where we were located.  I wasn't aware of any Macs being used in the entire complex.  Rarely -- almost never -- have I seen a Mac in my primary line of work.  I'm not saying that it never happens: just that I haven't seen it happen over my years of working for a number of very large corporations -- some of the largest in the world.

That being said: the Mac is a fine system, and a good way to go for those who are so inclined.  It's a much better fit in the 3D/graphics world than it is outside of that world.

Quote - MarianneR: Is there by chance an rsr-png conversion program, or do I have to just deal with no preview thumbs?

I found a helpful little freeware application called RSRConv that I've just started using that will convert .rsr files to .png files on Mac OS X if needed. It also has a widget for Dashboard. You can download it here: http://braintrigger.com/software/RSRConv/ Good luck with your Mac adventures. :)

Quote - I've never seen that happen, actually, and I've used Mac since the 80s. In fact, if duplicate names appear on what you're trying to drop into the folder, it pops up a dialog asking if you want to replace the files or halt moving the duplicates into the new location.

Mac uses a 'replace' copy method.  If you are replacing a folder, it WILL replace the current contents with the new ones.  I've personally (and detrimentally) seen it remove an entire Runtime (many Gigabytes as it deleted them!!!) to add a single Runtime content folder.  Never again.  Now I copy stuff individually or use Ditto.  You must not use the Mac often...

On the later topic related to the lack of or slowness of Mac support for software, I've seen some issues here or there but not enough to consider Mac a non-viable option.  You talk AutoCAD (or 3DSMax for that matter) - you talk 'We Are Windows Only' mentalities.  In the 20+ years that both have existed, never has AutoDesk ever, ever considered such a move - their loss.

On the other hand, Poser, Cinema 4D, D|S, Firefox, and a wide swath of applications are available for both systems.  Yes, Mac versions usually get late or little attention but at least the direction of late is more towards satisfying both major platforms.  Unix is another story. :)

surreality, kuroyume0161 is correct and you are wrong. I have a PC and a mac, and until you get a PC you don't understand that PCs merge folders and their subfolders, and only replace files of the identical name in the subfolders. It is a fundamental difference that any switcher should understand or they could completely wipe out a runtime. It always makes me wonder when PC users say they manually install their runtimes and mac users think they are doing the same thing, because for a PC user you just examine the contents of the runtime with winzip or something then drag and drop the folder into the runtime of your choice. I can imagine all the mac people who don' know this, slowly adding their props contents, and pose folder contents bit by bit into the runtime everytime they buy something new like I used to have to do, until I got the utility called Ditto by Kaveman (he's a member here and can give you the URL). It enables folders to merge on your mac ie PC style. If u have an old PC it is good to keep it. I don't use my PC much but it is indispensible for a couple of softwares at the moment. I network it to the mac with an ethernet cable. My poser is in my applications folder on my mac computer with my runtime and all my external runtimes. I have mapped the network drive on the PC and given the disk image the name Z, and the PC softwares can then see my mac disk and runtime and work on it. I much prefer my mac to the PC though and everything I can I do on my mac whenever possible. it is nice to have both. actually my mac is an intel mac anyway so if i wanted i wouldn't need the seperate PC but i don't want to mess around when my 2 puter system works so well. love esther

kuro's experience has been confirmed by several other mac users here. however, I can confirm surr's experience, as I copy stuff onto the main drive, hence I always get the warning.

That's odd. As a MAC user, I always have installed my stuff, even on Windows machines. You can use MacInstaller, but I prefer to do it myself. DAZ installers will put things where they go for you. But again, I prefer to do it myself. My Runtime would be a HUGE MESS if I didn't organize it the way I like. bB

But BastBlack, a windows user, when he says he installs it himself, means he checks what is in it, maybe renames a fokder if he wants inside the new runtime folder,, then say for example, he wants this new runtime in his poser runtime, he simply drags and drops the whole new runtime into the poser 7 runtime and say there is a folder called newstuff in his props folder of his new runtime, then it just ends up automativally in the props folder of his poser 7 folder.. ie the two runtimes get merged. did u not realize that PCs can do this? love esther

Well, I went the other way, from a Mac to a PC. For the specced machine I was after a Mac would have cost me another 1K minimum. Plus it seems to me the peripherals are more expensive.

Anyway, as for file compatability, you should be able to copy a runtime folder onto a DVD from your PC, and just put it onto the Mac. In OSx I believe there are no conversions necessary.
The one exception can be thumbnails, where I've converted them to PNG files.

Things that I miss on the Mac that are'nt on the PC:
Spotlight: Just being able to type in a file name your looking for in the corner of the window to find what you want without having to go through a search file programme.
Views: The vertical rows view is so useful for moving content around, and seeing previews of the file as you tab across is superb, whether they're PDF or image files.

esther wrote: "did u not realize that PCs can do this?" If you did that on either a Mac or a Windows machine, it will ask you if you want to want to replace your old folder with a new folder. If you say "yes" everything in your old folder is deleted.

I have a question: Do you have an Intel based Mac?
Mine isn't, but I am considering getting the new Dual Core Intel MacMini.

I am wondering if you use Boot Camp and can run programs like FaceShop, Universal Texture Converter, Universal Morph Transfer, and any other PC only Poser app within Boot Camp.

bB

Quote - esther wrote: "did u not realize that PCs can do this?" If you did that on either a Mac or a Windows machine, it will ask you if you want to want to replace your old folder with a new folder. If you say "yes" everything in your old folder is deleted.

WRONG!  I've been using Windows since v3.0.  It will replace the existing contents if the file names are identical.  ANYTHING already in the folder (same name) remains in the folder - unremoved.

I can drag and drop a product Runtime folder over a Poser install folder and it will ADD the content to the existing Runtime folder - nothing 'removed'.  Do this on a Mac (please try it - back up first), and it will REMOVE everything in the Runtime folder by replacing the original Runtime folder with that being copied/moved.  You have two options when the folder name already exists: Stop or Replace.  Stop, well, stops the paste process.  Replace does as I said.  On Windows, you say 'Yes, replace all' and you don't lose anything.

Mac REPLACES the folder.  Target Folder A has 100000 files in it.  Source Folder B has 1 file in it.  When done pasting the folder or dropping it at the same level of the same named folder, you have Target Folder A with 1 file in it.  I just tested this (iMac Intel G5, OS 10.4.10) with some folder copies - one I chose "Replace" and for the other I chose "Stop".  Replace replaced the several existing files and removed the rest - as expected.

I've done this with my source code folder as well on occasion.  I only copy the changed files.  If I just drag and drop the source folder into my project where the target source folder and let it 'replace', the target source folder only contains the changed files (after having deleted everthing else).

Maybe we have a different idea about copy-pasting folders to update existing ones?...

that is what i was trying to tell u BastBlack - a pc merges folders - a mac replaces folders - it is the most fundamental difference one sees when using the two machines and the most dangerous for PC-> mac switchers. beware- you could destroy your whole rubtime in a second of forgettfulness! merge vs replace i have intel mac but haven't put a PC OS on it (as my PC is networked to my mac), but if i did i would use parrallels rather than bootcamp so as not to have to reboot each time i wanted to use the PC part. then if the PC can be made to see the mac partion you would be able to do everything i think with only needing to have your runtime on one of the partitions. love esther

I have been using Virtual PC (does not require a reboot) to run Universal Texture Converter, UMT, and Tailor. I think VPC would gag and die on FaceShop, so I haven't tried it. I was curious about Boot Camp. Didn't know you had to reboot, but I guess that makes sense, hence the name Boot Camp. Doh! ^^;

Macs replace the directory with the new one that you are copying, loosing everything in it, while windows merges the two directories and only replacing the files. I lost a few runtimes on the mac because I did not realize this. I have been using crossover office and an explorer replacement utility to simulate the windows version of copy, that or Fusion and start up windows to do my installs. Crossover does not require windows to run but I have not found a good enough utility to use as an explorer replacement and allowing me to view inside of zip files instead of decompressing them. Fusion runs great giving me Windows but you have to wait for windows to start and it slows things down a bit. I will have to find this ditto program and give it a shot. I use a macbook pro for Poser, Vue, and the daz programs mostly. I have to start up windows in Fusion to run clothing converter and tailor with a version of poser installed on it and it works fine.

I use that Xdresser proggie on my PC, and it works on my mac runtime across my network. Well not perfectly, but it converts the clothes (no PNGs) Love esther

Quote - I have a question: Do you have an Intel based Mac?
Mine isn't, but I am considering getting the new Dual Core Intel MacMini.

I am wondering if you use Boot Camp and can run programs like FaceShop, Universal Texture Converter, Universal Morph Transfer, and any other PC only Poser app within Boot Camp.

bB

I have parrallels, which runs both at once. UTC wants to find a poser.exe file to work. Have not got over that hurdle by purchasing another copy of Poser yet. Tried all kinds of ways to try to fake it out including installing D/S for win and no dice so far. Need to revisit this in the coming weeks and see if I can hack a solution. Other pressing matters right now. XDresser doesn't support net worked drives yet. You have to create a dummy runtime on the win side and drop a copy of the object file you want to wotk with, etc.. Minor pain. Morph Manager, UMT and a few others I have all work flawlessly looking at my runtimes located in my docs folder on my mac from the win side.

Boot Camp no experience.

Xdresser isokay with the network. What I do is creat a disk image of the network drive on the PC and call it Z drive. evilinnocence has a tutorial how to do it on her website. I am sure this would work for other things to. For UTC (I don't have it) have you tried just creating a text file and calling it poser.exe I bought a cheap poser 6 copy anyway for my PC. Love esther

Quote - Xdresser isokay with the network. What I do is creat a disk image of the network drive on the PC and call it Z drive. evilinnocence has a tutorial how to do it on her website. I am sure this would work for other things to. For UTC (I don't have it) have you tried just creating a text file and calling it poser.exe I bought a cheap poser 6 copy anyway for my PC. Love esther

Have to try the drive trick when I get home Yes I tried the text file and D/S even installs a false poser.exe file. Shoot I even copied poser.app tomy windoes machine and tried to rename it poser.exe. I assume it is looking at byte count or header data and that is why it doesn't work

One thing PC users should be aware of if you are going to use your intel mac with bootcamp to run pc applications etc. Bootcamp will only allow you to READ NTFS files but not to WRITE them you can only read/write pc files when the drive partition is FAT format and this will restrict file sizes although it may be acceptable to you. However, NTFS format writes much larger files on a pc but for some mysterious reason APPLE in their wisom have disallowed writing to NTFS files I wonder why? :)

Perhaps this restriction will be removed with their Leopard OS to be released in October.

i use a software called dave - my pc and macs read and write to each other just fine. love esther

@estherau

quote: *i use a software called dave - my pc and macs read and write to each other just fine.

*I know about DAVE its a very nice networking package for Macs and PC's personally I use the inbuilt networking between the Mac and the PC but thats a matter of preference.
However if you are running pc applications on an intel Mac with Bootcamp and I do not think that DAVE runs pc or mac applications, unless I am mistaken and please correct me if I am wrong, then the NTFS file format write limitation will matter a lot especially if when files are very large.
PXP

I was at the computer store yesterday and they have Parallel. It's $79, and allows you to run a different OS without rebooting. Anyone have experience running Parallel and what kind of limits it runs into?

Quote - [I have parrallels, which runs both at once. UTC wants to find a poser.exe file to work. Have not got over that hurdle by purchasing another copy of Poser yet. Tried all kinds of ways to try to fake it out including installing D/S for win and no dice so far.

Sounds similar to Virtual PC. On OS9, i was able to create to a dummy Poser.exe and that worked fine. I would run UMT inside VPC and have the new morph injections saved right inside my external HD Runtime Pose library! I only needed to run MacConverter on the pose files in OS9, and I was good to go. ^^ Things I ran in VPC OS9 were: UMT, UTC, Tailor, OBJconverter, PP, P5, Python that's PC only (tkinker), and several Sims 1 apps. bB

A lot of tinker stuff was fixed in the P7 release. Thumber used to die before. Now it runs just fine. Still some python scripts here and there that don't work. A few using a python book for help I have fixed or modified to do what I want. PhilC just released a huge online book for Python. Have yet to plow through it. The others I do not have (OBJConverter and Tailor) so I can't answer your questions.

Interesting.  I thought P7 used a different python format for the MAC. It's neither the older Mac python format or the PC version of the format, -- but I could be mistaken.

I will have to check out PhilC's python book. ^^

bB

dave enables me to copy enourmous files too and from my mac to my PC.