Quote - The low-polygon V4s that come with DS are LoD meshes - lightened versions of the full mesh. They are not the SubD cage from which the released figure was made. A LoD mesh must have the vertices that it shares with the full res mesh in the same place, while a SubD cage's vertices will generally lay outside the final mesh (you can see this dramatically in DS or a modelling tool by sub-dividing a six favet cube).

Hey, I learned something today. Thanks for this! (Bad luck for RorrKonn, though.)

The new UI looks great , about bloody time , ....  BB. is it my imagination or did i see a little analog clock display on the UI  in that previous screen cap you posted . .....coffee break timer perhaps ?lol

Not sure if you can share this but can you undock the preview window? Like in current versions? I am just trying to figure out a way to reduce the clutter I am seeing. Thanks

Probably a premature question, but has Poser 8 been tried under Linux with wine?

It's frustrating... I know the answer but I don't have the same rights than BB... So you'll have to wait the answer from BB! (I know the answer for the docking question... not for linux)

I am repeating myself, here, because the questions are repeating.

This time I will make it bigger, so nobody fails to read this.

Each panel can be floating or docked. Each can be visible or hidden. You can undock any panel and re-dock it in the same place or somewhere else. If a panel is floating, you can size it and drag it wherever you want, including onto a second monitor.

**The preview/render area can be floating.
**

Quote - The new UI looks great , about bloody time , ....  BB. is it my imagination or did i see a little analog clock display on the UI  in that previous screen cap you posted . .....coffee break timer perhaps ?lol

Quote - > Quote - Does the inclusion of wxpython mean we (the script writers not me personally) can create proper interfaces that are dockable within Poser?

  

stewer:
That's exactly what it is. If you look at Bagginsbill's screenshot, note the little analog clock: That's a 3rd party Python script. Not the most complex example, obviously, but yes, you can create interfaces that are dockable.

Tkinter and the Poser specific dialog library remain in place for compatibility with legacy scripts.

Quote - I am repeating myself, here, because the questions are repeating.

This time I will make it bigger, so nobody fails to read this.

LOL, it can be a bit hard to keep up and get all the info.

i've been following all along and this morning had to read 3 pages of new posts.

Question on the interface

is the Hierarchy also dockable?
can you show a screenshot with the Hierarchy?

ya know. maybe it's time to split off some of your answers BB into a sticky thread that you can just post the link to.... we're at 31 pages on this now and I doubt ppl are reading back into it.

"Undocking and resizing the content library is a feature since P6"

Yes, I know. I should have been clearer. What I meant was does it actually dock - as in 'snap to' - as opposed to just moving around.

What I can't tell from the UI images I've seen is whether the docking gives us the freedom to resize the various UI elements but with some sort of 'snap to' so they all line up. For example, I only keep the library, main doc window and parameters open, and the rest are hidden. So I'm trying to figure out what happens when only a few are visible. Can they be docked to the left-right sides, leaving the main window in the center to fill the available space?

mac

Attached Link: http://poser8.smithmicro.com/gallery.html

Screenshots here http://poser8.smithmicro.com/gallery.html

that's where the stickiness comes in.  I don't have a way to split the thread.  I guess people will have to stop being lazy and read a little more than 3 posts into the thread :lol:

Quote - I am repeating myself, here, because the questions are repeating.

This time I will make it bigger, so nobody fails to read this.

Each panel can be floating or docked. Each can be visible or hidden. You can undock any panel and re-dock it in the same place or somewhere else. If a panel is floating, you can size it and drag it wherever you want, including onto a second monitor.

**The preview/render area can be floating.
**

I'm not sure I understood you, could you please repeat that again??  

ducks

:lol:

Quote - > Quote -

Question on the interface

is the Hierarchy also dockable?
can you show a screenshot with the Hierarchy?

Screenshots here http://poser8.smithmicro.com/gallery.html

been there, done that.

I did not see a screen shot with the hierarchy.

Sorry, BB. Right after I posted, I saw your LARGE CAPS post - lol.

Thanks.

mac

PS. Dockable Hierarchy? Oh, pleeeease, yes!!!!!

Tyger_purr, are you talking about scene hierarchy, or figure hierarchy?

Quote - Tyger_purr, are you talking about scene hierarchy, or figure hierarchy?

um, in p7 you go to the "window" pull down and click on "Hierarchy editor" and it shows you the Hierarchy. It is the only Hierarchy i know of.

Regarding the lib and saving off cr2's into the poser lib (hoping, beyond all hope)

in poser there are 8 lib sub groups
Figures, pose, hair, props, hand, camera, expressions, light

if you look at the gallery sample at

poser8.smithmicro.com/images/narrow_scene.jpg

and look in the top right hand corner, there are now 9 lib sub groups. Easy to figure out what 8 of the 9 should be by their icons The one on the far top right, the icon looks like an painters-artist pallet is new.

What it holds, I am sure certain people know (nudge, bump, push, wink). Come on tells us! :biggrin:

Quote - > Quote - Tyger_purr, are you talking about scene hierarchy, or figure hierarchy?

um, in p7 you go to the "window" pull down and click on "Hierarchy editor" and it shows you the Hierarchy. It is the only Hierarchy i know of.

Since the parameters are dockable, until I'm shown/told otherwise, I'll assume the Hierarchy editor is dockable.  I'm sure someone who's allowed to show off wouldn't mind showing us when they get the time ;)

Quote - Regarding the lib and saving off cr2's into the poser lib (hoping, beyond all hope)

in poser there are 8 lib sub groups
Figures, pose, hair, props, hand, camera, expressions, light

if you look at the gallery sample at

poser8.smithmicro.com/images/narrow_scene.jpg

and look in the top right hand corner, there are now 9 lib sub groups. Easy to figure out what 8 of the 9 should be by their icons The one on the far top right, the icon looks like an painters-artist pallet is new.

What it holds, I am sure certain people know (nudge, bump, push, wink). Come on tells us! :biggrin:

Are you sure that's not just a new icon for the morph brush?

in poser there are 8 lib sub groups
Figures, pose, hair, props, hand, camera, expressions, light  <<<

Don't forget materials!

Quote - >>> in poser there are 8 lib sub groups
Figures, pose, hair, props, hand, camera, expressions, light  <<<

Don't forget materials!

Dah, yeah, it is always hidden until you invoke the material room (need more coffee this morning, long night at work) Dumb assumption on my part

I have to go to work, so I'll be short.

The heirarchy editor docks. The Python buttons dock. Everything that is non-modal docks.

There are multiple nestable docking zones - left, top, right, bottom.

Docking means it "snaps" into place and lines up. When multiple items are stacked in the same dock, they adjust their size so their edges line up.

Floating means no snap, no automatic sizing - it is what you say it is. Panels in floating mode can overlap, and come to the top or go to the back, just like windows in ... Windows.

If you use a shortcut key to hide a docked panel, other panels sharing the same dock grow to fill the space in the same dock. If you hide the last panel in a dock, the dock disappears, making all other dock zones become bigger.

Thus if everything is docked and you hide all panels except preview, then preview becomes full screen.

If you re-show another panel, preview will shrink to make room for the dock zone that re-appears.

Materials are always visible now - no need to go into the material room. You can drag materials and material collections into the preview window onto props and figures. You can double click material collections to apply to the currently selected item.

First I top-docked a horizontal stack - Editing Tools and Document Display Style.

Then I left docked the Library all by itself.

then I left docked a stack of Parameters and Python Scripts.

The other panels, include preview, are floating.

If you drag a material in will it apply to what you have selected or to what you move the mouse to if it's different?

Brilliant!  Thanks, BB :)

BB says  "Materials are always visible now - no need to go into the material room. You can drag materials and material collections into the preview window onto props and figures. You can double click material collections to apply to the currently selected item."

NEAT !!!!!
 

BB,

Thank you! You answered my questions.

Looks as though Poser now has a UI I'll like.

mac

Quote - If you drag a material in will it apply to what you have selected or to what you move the mouse to if it's different?

you drag the material directly . fr example head or arm.

I'm wondering how it works in Poser when dragging single materials - ie. mt5 files? In DS, you drag single materials and they apply to the currently selected surface. In Poser, will it apply to any  material you drop it onto?

mac

Quote - If you drag a material in will it apply to what you have selected or to what you move the mouse to if it's different?

What the mouse is over is where it goes. It looks at the polygon under the cursor. When dragging a material collection, it applies to that pro or figure.

When draggin a single material, whatever material zone belongs to the polygon under the cursor gets loaded.

BB  but we still can load materials for the whole body right? 

Quote - BB,

Thank you! You answered my questions.

Looks as though Poser now has a UI I'll like.

mac

I agree.  Brilliant move.  Still has the older look so folks won't feel alienated but this is a brilliant move.

One question I do have though, is there a way now to multi select (Ctrl + click Select) body parts or in the Material Room material zones to apply surfaces to more than one area at at time?? 

Thanks!

That isn't necessary, they distribute the 15k mesh with the free version of DAZ|Studio.  Err... in spite of what Rich says.

As a character creator---THANK YOU for the material room being available all the time. That's gonna save a lot of work...

Quote - BB  but we still can load materials for the whole body right? 

What do you mean? A material collection or a material? You cannot drag a single material (mt5) and apply it to all material zones. You still have to do this one by one. A dragged material collection (mc6) doesn't pay attention to the drop zone polygon - it applies to the materials of that prop or figure as a whole, regardless of which part you drop it on.

In other words, the cursor identifies a single material zone/actor/figure as if you were in the material room with that material zone showing. The item then applies either to the specified material zone or to the entire figure/prop, depending on if it is mt5 or mc6.

do MAT pose files still work?

"What the mouse is over is where it goes. It looks at the polygon under the cursor. When dragging a material collection, it applies to that pro or figure"

Perfect, BB.  Thanks.

mac

Quote - BB,

Thank you! You answered my questions.

Looks as though Poser now has a UI I'll like.

I agree, maclean.

This new version looks very promising.  I can't wait to see it when it's launched.  Very interesting since it's Siggraph time in August.

Quote -
One question I do have though, is there a way now to multi select (Ctrl + click Select) body parts or in the Material Room material zones to apply surfaces to more than one area at at time?? 

No there is no multi select.

One of the fundamental requirements with Poser 8 is to maintain backward compatibility with everything that has gone before. In particular, this applies to all Python scripts.

There is a big difference in the data model between having a "current actor" or "current figure" versus having potentially dozens of "current actors", potentially not on the same figure. This would break everything.

It's quite a bit of serious work re-writing the data model to accomodate multi-select.

Related to this is the total absence of a concept of "current material zone". Unless you're in the material room, there is no such thing. Which is why you cannot simply double click a material file and get it to load. There's no notion of where it should go, without more input from the user.

We discussed adding a dialog box for the case of double clicking a material. This dialog would pop up a list of material zones from the current actor and allow you to check off which material zones to load it into. We all agree that's a good idea, but felt that the development and testing of this (and a hundred other "good ideas") would unnecessarily postpone the release.

Many trade-offs (buid this, not that, build now or later) had to be considered. Far more "good ideas" did not make the cut than did make the cut. Nobody on the team wants to do the wrong thing, i.e. leave a good idea on the table, but the realities of running a business drive the decisions. We can arm-chair quarterback these decisions all day, but I can tell you that juggling all these choices is a very difficult job.

OK, I understand.  It's too bad though.  Be nice to have some sort of an option to apply materials to multiple nodes of the end users preference rather than one or all.... still seems a bit archaic to me with that sort of limitation!  

Thanks for the info BB, I was hoping it would be that way. :D

A little field test of the V4 subdivision thing - the 16.6k poly version of V4 distributed with DAZ|Studio, taken into my modeler and subdivided once, actually contains 294 more vertices than the standard (67k poly) V4.  However, points selected around the mesh e.g. the 5-edge pole at the base of the thumb, have exactly the same coordinate values, so yeah they're very nearly the same mesh.

Quote - > Quote - BB  but we still can load materials for the whole body right? 

What do you mean? A material collection or a material? You cannot drag a single material (mt5) and apply it to all material zones. You still have to do this one by one. A dragged material collection (mc6) doesn't pay attention to the drop zone polygon - it applies to the materials of that prop or figure as a whole, regardless of which part you drop it on.

In other words, the cursor identifies a single material zone/actor/figure as if you were in the material room with that material zone showing. The item then applies either to the specified material zone or to the entire figure/prop, depending on if it is mt5 or mc6.

i mean can we save a material collection of the whole body(eyes,lips,arms) ?
and how do we load this? like in the  old poser?

Quote - OK, I understand.  It's too bad though.  Be nice to have some sort of an option to apply materials to multiple nodes of the end users preference rather than one or all.... still seems a bit archaic to me with that sort of limitation!  

It's still not all that hard to change the material zones you want to change.  If certain figures didn't have eleventy-billion material zones, it wouldn't take as long (I'm lookin' at you, DAZ figures, LOL).  Just highlight the nodes (right click, select all) and paste the nodes (right click, paste), and it's done.  

Quote - > Quote - OK, I understand.  It's too bad though.  Be nice to have some sort of an option to apply materials to multiple nodes of the end users preference rather than one or all.... still seems a bit archaic to me with that sort of limitation!  

It's still not all that hard to change the material zones you want to change.  If certain figures didn't have eleventy-billion material zones, it wouldn't take as long (I'm lookin' at you, DAZ figures, LOL).  Just highlight the nodes (right click, select all) and paste the nodes (right click, paste), and it's done.  

i agree with this post 100%. its not a problem of the software. its the problem of  those creators. waaaaaaaaaaay to many material zones .

what they should is that when you click '' apply to all''  that then it should delete  all old materials. not add to them. thats how get 300 nodes that are not even connected

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - BB  but we still can load materials for the whole body right? 

What do you mean? A material collection or a material? You cannot drag a single material (mt5) and apply it to all material zones. You still have to do this one by one. A dragged material collection (mc6) doesn't pay attention to the drop zone polygon - it applies to the materials of that prop or figure as a whole, regardless of which part you drop it on.

In other words, the cursor identifies a single material zone/actor/figure as if you were in the material room with that material zone showing. The item then applies either to the specified material zone or to the entire figure/prop, depending on if it is mt5 or mc6.

i mean can we save a material collection of the whole body(eyes,lips,arms) ?
and how do we load this? like in the  old poser?

The bold part is where he answered the question you just asked.

Can't waite to get this and try it out , i was hoping it would be 64 op.. O well. 
The morph tool, brush being able to work on the entier figure in P8, awesome! 

Example of poser 7 morph tool brush , (some work on the little yellow guys)
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1829033

 like to see a screen shot of the material work in action, how it looks, Please?