I am new to 3d rendering.  I use Daz Studio 2.3.3.146, and am ready to install the new Daz Studio 3 free version.  I cannot afford Poser program at this time.  I spoke with a Renderosity vendor who told me some of his older Poser 3d models work on Daz Studio.  But apparently some of the Mat files might not, and some of his newer products don't.  Someone at the Renderosity "store" told me I could manually install Poser products to Daz Studio.  Thought I don't know if they will still work properly.  Does anyone know the general compatibility of Poser products  in the Daz Studio programs, or if you have to check each Poser product, how do you find out this information, through the vendors of each product only?  Seems to me they are either compaitble and/or can be intalled automatically or manually, or not.  Also I'd like to use the Daz Studio content in some of my Bryce or Carrara renders, if compatible.  How would Poser products work if installed to Daz on these programs.  Sorry for the lengthy question.  Would appreciate help if you have a moment.
Thanks, redwoodcats (new member)

 Poser products will generally work in Studio. Studio has a very high degree of compatibility. The CR2 files will be handled correctly. Whatever works with 2.3 will work with 3.x 
In the past the general issue with Poser/Studio compatibility was the lack of shader support in Studio for some of the most "exotic" functions of the Poser Material Room (fancy name for the shader setup).
Studio 3 has corrected that and now it has more sophisticated shaders than Poser. This doesn't mean that you will have automatic conversion of the materials from Poser to Studio, a few issues will still be there but, you have very sophisticated shading control in Studio and you can use that to fix whatever is not converted automatically. 
Reagarding Bryce I would not spend much time there as it seems to have reached End Of Life status. For Carrara things are in much better shape but you will need both Studio advanced and Carrara Pro, in order to use the DAZ Collada import/export feature.

As you did spend the money for Poser, I would suggest to not think about buying it for the future. I own it but I spent all my time in Studio. It has a maturity, ease of use and streamlined UI that Poser can't claim. Don't mean to start a holy war between Studio/Poser fans, it's just my opinion.

To this day the only Poser products that you cannot use in Studio are the ones that use either Dynamic Clothes or Dynamic Hair. Everything else should be just a matter of adjusting the Shaders.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=378658

I seem to have been so fortunate to meet such friendly vendors and members, who have taken the time to assist me with my questions.  Maybe Renderosity is just that kind of place.  Thank you so much for your reply.  The vendor I spoke with who created the products did in fact mention there may be a problem with shaders designed for Poser 5 and up, the Mat files he felt would still work were designed for Poser 4, out at the time he created the 3d models I was looking at.  I appreciate your comments praising Daz Studio programs as I am really set up for Daz, and all my products I have at this time are Daz Studio products.  I also cannot afford Poser right now.  I will focus on Daz Studio, at pick up the DS 3 advanced, it is on sale for a very good price at this time.  Thanks for the advice on Bryce and it's not being the most current program  to use.  I have just purchased a new guide to Daz Studio, still available at daz3d.com for $20, which comes with some great free 3d model content, but also has included the "full version" of Carrara Pro 6 and Hexagon 2.5.  Really fantastic offer from daz3d.com.  They have an upgrade from Carrara Pro 6 to Carrara Pro 7 for only $118(?).  The original Carrar Pro 7 costs over $300 by itself.  Something for members here to look into if interested in these programs.
Thank you again for your time and help, and advice about all of the various render programs.

I seem to have been so fortunate to meet such friendly vendors and members, who have taken the time to assist me with my questions.  Maybe Renderosity is just that kind of place.  Thank you so much for your reply.  The vendor I spoke with who created the products did in fact mention there may be a problem with shaders designed for Poser 5 and up, the Mat files he felt would still work were designed for Poser 4, out at the time he created the 3d models I was looking at.  I appreciate your comments praising Daz Studio programs as I am really set up for Daz, and all my products I have at this time are Daz Studio products.  I also cannot afford Poser right now.  I will focus on Daz Studio, at pick up the DS 3 advanced, it is on sale for a very good price at this time.  Thanks for the advice on Bryce and it's not being the most current program  to use.  I have just purchased a new guide to Daz Studio, still available at daz3d.com for $20, which comes with some great free 3d model content, but also has included the "full version" of Carrara Pro 6 and Hexagon 2.5.  Really fantastic offer from daz3d.com.  They have an upgrade from Carrara Pro 6 to Carrara Pro 7 for only $118(?).  The original Carrar Pro 7 costs over $300 by itself.  Something for members here to look into if interested in these programs.
Thank you again for your time and help, and advice about all of the various render programs.

 You're very welcome, and yes, Rendo is just that kind of place :)
Any time that you spend getting familiar with the Shaders is time well spent, if you don't model then Shaders, together with lights, are your painting tools.

Good luck and don't hesitate to post here if you need more help

There is a thread now in the Bryce forum on this subject as well as the compatibility of Poser products installed in Daz Studio and transfered to Bryce for use in renders.  I happen to ask about these issues there as well and there's a great discussion about Daz and Poser, as well as Bryce.  They also recommended  I contact the various Daz Forums for more discussion on the compatiblity issues.

 Hi Esther.
This problem is usually related to the way some CR2 are built. The correct path to refer to an OBJ is something like:

:Runtime:Geometries:product_dir:product_file.obj

I noticed that several products made for Poser use this path instead:

Runtime:Geometries:product_dir:product_file.obj

Note the missing ":" at the beginning. If you open the CR2 file and correct the path for the figureResFile statement, it should fix this problem. 

So you have the "/SAM HD/Applications/PoserAll/Poser_Victoria4 folder selected as a Poser content directory (in Edit>Preferences>Directories, click the button at the top to get the Poser content folder list - it says DAZ Studio content directories at first - or click the Advanced button to open the Content directory manager and expand the Current>Poser Format Content branch) and that is the folder you installed Victoria 4 to?

Looks right, assuming the disc identification isn't needed.

 strange that DS can't seem to find the .obj (and if I find them for it) then the textures for the PZ3 I am trying to import.
Love esther

Pret-a-3D - yes daz studio doesn't  like this absolute path.

 SAM HD/Applications/PoserAll/Poser_Victoria4/

It wants me to delete this.
If I resave the Cr2 in poser for some reason it keeps this absolute path,and my only fix is to manually edit the Cr2.  
Daz studio doesn't mind the backslashes just the absolute path.  that is odd. It should be able to cope with an absolute path.
Love esther

Hi I am new to DAZ 3 also. I have found a Kaposer Fig called NaikaV4 which has some great morphs. Vendor warns it doesnt work with DAZ but has similar features eg magnets for clothing fit. The figure is a pose file rather than a morph and had many ways to morph the body. My aim is to morph V4 for fashion illustration purposes. ie 9 heads tall (not 8) longer shins and neck and slim waist. The Naiko fig has all I need but doesnt seem to work in DAZ 3 very well. Any suggestions for other ways to achieve my aim. At present I am on a strict budget and have downloaded all the freebies from DAZ, maybe I need to shell out and get Morphs ++ but I dont know???

 You are not giving us many information to judge what is the problem. If the figure is a morph for V4, then it should work in Studio. Pose files are generally used to inject morph into V4, that's the normal way since V4 has numerous injection channels. Before you buy the Morph++, which are a good deal, check if  NaikaV4 requires them. The author should provide the information including what exactly is not working in Studio. Generally when authors warn about Studio incompatibilities it refers to shaders and those can be recreated in Studio with a bit of experimentation.

sorry should have been more specific. The morph files are .obj files and the sliders appear but they dont manipulate the figure as expected. They deform the figure with magnets in poser (native Poser magnets) so strictly speaking it isnt a morph inj (I think). Here is the link to the fig if you want to have a look at the vendors docs
http://www.kaposer.com/NaikaV4.htm

Bottom line is I dont have to use this figure but want to uniformly stretch the lower limbs of V4 (the shins) but the scale slider that comes with free base V4 doesnt do this

Just got some information  from a vendor of Poser products, regarding installing Poser products to Daz Studio.  He suggested you find the "My Computer" icon, double-click to open, find the C: folder (your hard drive, the icon is not a folder but a small graphic of your hard drive), double-click the C: folder, find the "Programs" folder, double-click again, right-click in that folder, choose option "Create new..folder", and name it e-frontier.
Then double-click your new e-frontier folder to open, and create a new folder inside this called "Poser 7".  Finally, open the new Poser 7 folder and create a new folder called "runtime".
Right-click your zip, choose "Extract to..." and set the file path in the field at the top of the unzipwindow to C:Programse frontierPoser 7, then click "OK".
He said there's alot of commands but there's a pattern to them.
This might help someone with installing Poser products to Daz Studio.
He did suggest that if you know someone who knows how to install them manually, it might be a good idea to work with them first.  He works mainly on Poser, not Daz Studio.
Hope this helps.

That shouldn't be needed - unless the content uses absolute paths (C:Program FileseFrontierPoser 7RuntimeGeometriesDAZPeopleblMilWom_v4b.obj instead of :Runtime:Geometries:DAZPeople:blMilWom_v4b.obj, which will fail on Macs, or on Windows system using any version of Poser other than 7) then putting things in a folder called Poser is pointless, and putting data in your Program Files folder is a bad idea (especially on Vista or Windows 7). Essentially that's a fallback for badly set up content that was built using the Windows version of Poser 7 - not very useful.

Thank you for your information.  He did say he was more familiar with Poser, not Daz Studio.  And suggested I get together with my friend who knows how to "manually" install a Poser product to DS.  This vendor, and another one, who designed some Native American clothing, etc., for M3,V3, and Mil Horse, did say their products would work in the Daz Studio.  They may just need to be "manually" installed. 
I am very new to all of this so if you or someone has some pointers on how to "manually" install the Poser products to DS, I would appreciate your help.
Thanks again for your response. 

All you have to do is unpack the product to a folder you have selected as a Poser content directory*. If everything is set right then that will put the files where they need to go. If you are using the default category view on the Content plaette you will either have to do a search to add the new items to the database or switch to one of the folder views**.

• Edit>Preferences>Directories, click the button at the top (DAZ Studio Content Directories) and pick Poser from the menu.

** Click the triangle button at the extreme top-right of the palette to get the option menu, change the View option or do a search

Thamk you for your help. But i am still not quite understanding, since I am so new to 3d programs.  How do I select a folder to unpack to product into?  How do I select this folder to be a Poser content directory.  Do I need to create this folder first, how?
I am somewhat familiar with Edit, Preferences, and Directories.  And clicking on the button at the top and selecting Poser from the menu.  But usually doesnt' a number of folders or files show up representing your content, say in DS 2.3 or 3 Advanced?  How do I create the Poser folder I need to be included in these  Directory llisitngs, thus representing installed content.?
I don't know what path or directory I need to create with the browser when installing the Poser product to DS 2.3.  Would it go into the C:/Program Files/Daz/Studio/Content like daz3d,com products or do i need to direct it elsewhere.?  I don't know if I am making much sense.  Just trying to understand computer and 3d installation lingo.
Thank you again,
redwoodcats

Yes, installing to the Content folder is fine (though I prefer to install outside the program Files folder, and in general it's a good diea not to put data - such as content files - in there). You just use one of the folders in the list, or create a new folder (anywhere that's convenient, but don't nest them - don't put a new content folder inside a folder you are already using as a content folder) and use the Add button to select it. In Windows you can simply double-click the zip to open it, then drag the Runtime folder from that into your chosen content directory and everything should go where it needs to go.

I think a friend who helped me install some compressed zip files, products, did something like what you saying.  He opened to "program files", then  "Daz", then " content", and we either click and dragged it to the "content", or I think we actually copied  and pasted.  Some of the files worked just fine, some we I had a problem with, they would not install.  We did work with the "runtime" I believe.  These were Daz products, but the vendor who created the Poser products I purchased said they would work in Daz Studio.  Part of them, shaders(?), or some mats (designed for Poser 7?), might not work, but the rest would.  I presume either dragging or copy/paste might work. 
Thanks again.