Quote - Keyboard shortcuts - crap. Nobody mentioned that in testing. Yes, Ctrl-R should render.

This happens if the Library GUI has the focus. Poser should not be giving the Ctrl-R to the GUI - it should process that itself. Can you file a bug report?

snicker
Focus bugs are always annoying.

Posertrust.cfg is not a firewall thing. It is a file added by the Poser installer, and is there to tell the Adobe Flash player that the Poser library GUI components are trusted. This let's them do things that a Flash app is usually not allowed to do.

The name of the file is not important, but the contents should be the exact path to the folder that contains LSMGUI.html and LSMGUI.swf.

The library GUI is a flash app and must talk to Poser itself via sockets. This is local loopback and does not involve connecting to the network. But, the OS still considers it network communication (never understood why but I digress) and sometimes firewalls prevent it.

These are two reasons the GUI failed in the past, so we check these. I think there is something larger at work here, though. I have a laptop at home that won't run any Flash files, not just Poser, even though I have the latest Adobe Flash player installed on it.

Could something like Firefox's NoScript plugin interfere with all this?

Don't think so, I have noscript running and my library works fine...

But the LSMGUI does use Javascript, and potentially that could be disabled by security settings. Without Javascript allowed, it will not run.

Even if you both have the plugin, one could be configured differently than the other. If I understand correctly, NoScript allows selective control on a per-site basis. But what about your own machine, where the content is local, not hosted on a site? How do you set that?

Too many mixed inputs on P8 so far. I'm gonna wait until
all the pros go through it and if they start to like it I'll order
the box set. I don't like to download these programs-I need
a hard copy disk and a real manual to read. So you folks
who know what a good program should be keep testing so
I will know if I should buy it or not.

As far as I understand NoScript is a Firefox plugin, so it should not interfere with other programs outside firefox. If you close Firefox, you also close NoScript.

I run XP Pro Sp3 and I only use the default firewall (I am behind a router that does NAT) and Avira.

The library works fine (except for some crashes when I tried to update a folder after I copied something now in there). I also like the fact that it now orders stuff regardless of upper and lower case letters. Yes, the thumbs could be bigger (it would also help if they get bigger onmouseover).

my guess is that this is one of those IE and the Windows interface are basically the same app kind of things.  when i've had issues like this in the past, i've had to change my IE settings. 

Quote - I need.... a real manual to read.

You won't get a printed manual, at least not yet. The word is that maybe it will be available in hard copy later.

Quote - my guess is that this is one of those IE and the Windows interface are basically the same app kind of things.  when i've had issues like this in the past, i've had to change my IE settings. 

That might be possible. I have never changed anything in IE8, because I do not use it.

EDIT: For those having troubles with extensions in upper case letters, use the ren command in this folder.

Example: ren *.CR2 *.cr2

EDIT 2: I have mixed emotions about my purchase. I like the new GUI and the IDL feature. I do not like much of the content. A new horse would have been great, or some hires outdoor scenarios (like stonemasons stuff). But hey, now I've got an Aircraft Starter and a Concrete Hopper!

As a former P6 user, I like that I can use my SpaceNavigator.

i don't tend to use it for anything but testing.  that's why i vaguely remember having to do this, even though my guess is that it was years ago when i thought i wanted to know how to program Java.  which in the end was good for AS3, but i digress.

Quote - Set up the walks you want in DAZ Studio (DAZ3D is the company, not the software) using Aniblocks, and then export them as Poser .pz2 pose files using the free PoserFileExporter. Then you can apply them in Poser.

Care to explain the steps further? I'm not familiar with this process but it sounds like it would sure get me where I want to go with my animations.

Thanks!

Attached Link: http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/poser-format-exporter?item=8040&_m=d

*Thanks for the reply and so quick I might add! I have taken a look at the tutorial and all the discussion, lots of it!

Thanks for steering me in the right direction.*

I've not bought it yet, so my impressions are based on what I'm reading here and the images provided.

Having said that, the human figures are, to be blunt, a mess. I dont know who designed these, but it just seems with every new edition of Poser, the main characters wander further and further into stylish-in-a-not-so-good-way. This isnt talking about height or realistic proportions, but just simple basic "look": they're hard-edged and and far too angular. They have a perpetually angry look, even when they're smiling.

If indeed it's true that the hair in the promo images was painted in, the marketing director at SM should either be fired or whacked at the kneecaps for that kind of bait-and-switch. I hope someone will come in with the real info one way or the other.

Further, it seems we still have the same arm problem (not the elbow, guys, but the entire arm) of it bending in and looking more like a stalk with a claw attached than an arm.

When is SM gonna realize that it's the stores where a lot of the cash can be made and that a lot of that cash comes from vendor support? The only way you're going to get support is by having something worth supporting in the first place, and these, guys, are not it. Not even close.

As for the program itself, I've not seen enough in the way of complex renders to know what the new render engine looks like. Hopefully someone will post a few where this thing is really put through its paces? Thus far, there hasnt been much to convince me that I need to make this upgrade jump, and I'm not gonna do it just because it's there, guys. This is an impulse buy, so I need to be convinced before I'm shelling out this kind of cash. Thus far, there hasnt been much to convince me.

Here here!

 Oh, Sean, you so picky!:biggrin:

TBH the render engine has some serious problems, and the new figures have some pretty significant anatomy problems.  The greatly improved multiprocessing is the major thing that is all positive and nobody's going to complain about, everyone will benefit from that.  If you make a lot of renders, this upgrade will definitely trim down the time spent on rendering - it can be literally many times faster than previous versions if you have multiple cores/CPUs to work with..

Quote -  Going for something a bit more complex. Well... for me at least.  :biggrin:

uhm... looks like they will be going for something a bit more... basic... pretty soon.

I dont have the same opinion ... Even with 4 cores my computer stay busy when rendering, i need to reduce the priority process below normal to have the hand !!!

For exemple, 3 hours to render this, i dont talk about the quality !!!
( 1 envsphere IDL + 1 infinite )

Yeah that's the splotch artifacts problem, it's ugly and definitely needs work.  I agree with you about the priority thing as well, that was discussed earlier - you can modify the startup shortcut to make this the default:
C:WINDOWSsystem32cmd.exe /c start "runbelownormal" /belownormal "C:Program Files (x86)Smith MicroPoser 8Poser.exe"

Note you don't HAVE to use indirect lighting, although everyone would like to; even when they fix the splotch artifact problem, it's still going to be a lot slower rendering with indirect lighting/global illumination enabled, than it will ever be with it disabled.  That is true in all rendering applications, global illumination takes a lot of CPU time to calculate.

One thing to check that can really kill your render times: look at the min shading rate on the properties tab of the hair (for each body part, if it's a conforming hair figure).  Some vendors set it to 0.0, which is probably way higher than you need; make it 0.1 or 0.2 if so.

Quote - fuggedabout Poser 8 GI... how is its regular lighting? Same old same old Poser/Firefly?

Good question.  Did the fresnel bug get fixed?  (where specular gets brighter instead of darker?)

Regarding the splotches, don't use an IBL with an image map. Been messing around all morning. Not done testing, have to leave for a wedding in a few. But IBL's are giving me heavy splothes when using IDL. Also higher the IDL bounces seem to cause fits too. Try using the D3D render controls found in the partners script folder and lower the IDL bounces compared to the RT bounces and see if that helps.

You get splotches with spotlights anyway, and while lowering # of GI bounces does make it appear less blotchy it's also less accurate - and that's really the opposite behavior that you should get, in other GI rendering apps when you increase # of GI bounces, quality goes up.
edit: I realize you're trying to help with a workaround, just observing that the renderer is really a bit borked and needs work.

Quote - Regarding the splotches, don't use an IBL with an image map. Been messing around all morning. Not done testing, have to leave for a wedding in a few. But IBL's are giving me heavy splothes when using IDL. Also higher the IDL bounces seem to cause fits too. Try using the D3D render controls found in the partners script folder and lower the IDL bounces compared to the RT bounces and see if that helps.

Thx for the D3D render ctrl, playing with them ++

Yeah render has IDL problems. IDL does not like transmapped hair at all. Yet there are times you want the hair to cast a dramatic shadow on the face so turning it off in ray tracing to get around the IDL issue is not a long term fix either. Square falloff seems so far to add to the render issues whereas linear fall off seems in limited testing to work a whole bunch better. But lots of variables still to mess with yet

You said it.  IDL just doesn't like transmapped hair, it doesn't like it at all.

I tried everything to get A4V4 BunHair to work with IDL.  It always hangs.  I remove the hair from the scene and it renders very quickly.  Anyone have any work arounds for this?

Dennis

I found that reducing the bucket size - down to 16 or even 8 - makes IDL renders a lot faster (since transmapped hair monopolises processor cores, it pretty soon gets down to only one being active at, say a buket size of 64; reducing the bucket size means more cores handle those 'sticky' areas).

GUI question:   Is it possible to tell Poser to keep an aspect ratio when loading scenes?
I'm loading old scenes, which have a specific aspect ratio, and because of the docked preview, Poser re-frames them... Which means that you just can't use a docked preview, unless you leave the decision about your framing to Poser ... !  Can't be, does it.

Vue does keep the aspect ratio, adding gray borders to show what is the active picture and what is just landfill. Any way to have the same thing in Poser, or do I have to undock the preview to work?

Yeah, that's a bit of a pain, and it looks like undocking is the only fix. If you set your required render size it does grey bits out (if necessary), but it could be a lot more obvious where it's doing this.

I've not been having a problem if the old scene has Constrain Aspect Ratio and Fit to Preview Window set in the Render Dimensions panel. You effectively get grey bars.

Whichway

the grainy shadow on back wall in latex's render may be ameliorated by increasing IC on the IDL, but D3D has several variables in his render script which I suspect will be supplemented by what they release in SR1.

latexluv,
Very nice.  It appears that only some hair kills the render engine with IL enabled.  That would lead me to believe, based on your sucess, that it is only certain hair models. (A4V4 Bun Hair is givng me trouble..  Can someone try this one?

latexluv, can you post a screen shot of your render settings you used for the above picture?

dlm

Quote - My copy of it is still downloading ... and good grief it is a slow slow download tested my speed and everything else will download with my usual speed except for the smith micro downloads I sure hope poser 8 is going to be faster then its download other then that i am pretty excited to see what it will be like ... in 8 hours or so -_-

Same here. I have the program itself downloaded, P8 content is at 77% and Legacy at 35%. I'm almost late for work so I will leave it to download and check in after work.

Quote - ...Now, granted, my video card is a Radeon 9200, which may be out dated, but P7 and Poser Pro both worked fine and this issue was fixed in an earlier build of P8, only to be "broken" in the final release.

I am using that very same card, I'll let you know if I get that problem when I install P8 later.

Quote - the grainy shadow on back wall in latex's render may be ameliorated by increasing IC on the IDL, but D3D has several variables in his render script which I suspect will be supplemented by what they release in SR1.

And Poser 8 has no printed manual to translate this into English.

Quote - > Quote - the grainy shadow on back wall in latex's render may be ameliorated by increasing IC on the IDL, but D3D has several variables in his render script which I suspect will be supplemented by what they release in SR1.

And Poser 8 has no printed manual to translate this into English.

cackle - good one.

Quote - GUI question:   Is it possible to tell Poser to keep an aspect ratio when loading scenes?
I'm loading old scenes, which have a specific aspect ratio, and because of the docked preview, Poser re-frames them... Which means that you just can't use a docked preview, unless you leave the decision about your framing to Poser ... !

Quoting myself - Is there really no way to keep the neat docked window and still be the one to decide on scene aspect ratio?  :-(

I use use explicit render dimensions. I much prefer this. My screen size or shape becomes a non-factor then. These get recorded with the scene, so moving from one Poser to another doesn't change it.

I do test renders, say at 600x400 for speed. When I am ready to see it larger, I press Shift-Alt-D, change the 600 to 1200, the 400 automatically changes to 800 (same aspect ratio). Hit enter and render.

rty - Sorry, but what about the combination Constrain Aspect Ratio and Fit to Preview Window doesn't work for you? That leaves the preview window in place and size, but fits your defined framing into the window with gray overlay bars. Or am I misreading what you're saying?

Whichway

Quote - I use use explicit render dimensions.

Sure, but how do you see what this gives on your preview, if it's docked?
I have that nagging feeling something is eluding me.

You should get either a horizontal or vertical bright band down the middle indicating what is too be rendered, and two dim bands at the outside that show what will be cropped.  That's what I get anyhow, docked or not.

Quote - rty - Sorry, but what about the combination Constrain Aspect Ratio and Fit to Preview Window doesn't work for you?

The fact that it's pulling the piano towards the stool... In a normal work flow, you would size the preview (your empty canvas), and at the end tell Poser to render it in that same size (or double, or whatever) - just like you did till now in Poser.

Now i have to undock the preview, frame my scene as I would like it to look like, get the pixel values that gives, go enter them into the render menu, go back, dock the preview, and at last work... And if I decide afterwards I want it to be a little wider or narrower or higher, here we go again...

It's not that it is impossible, it just feels clumsy. What lacks is that the preview size can be changed inside the docked preview pane.

Quote - You should get either a horizontal or vertical bright band down the middle indicating what is too be rendered, and two dim bands at the outside that show what will be cropped.  That's what I get anyhow, docked or not.

Okay, so it's like Vue does.

Still feels awkward though (see my post just above). sigh
I'm just too used to be able to change my frame dimension freely I guess.

It also means that you can't load old scenes made in old Posers which had no fixed render sizes (render into preview window), unless you undock. That's a pain.

Why is that so diffficult? Note the window size of the old file. Import the pz3. Reset the new window size to the previous one.

Am I missing something?

Well I just got home from work and installed P8. I took the advice here and installed Flash 10 while I was at it. No problems with the install and my first impressions are restricted to the layout for the moment.

The interface layout is excellent and makes much more efficient of monitor space. The folder structure is very good and similar to Photoshop, which I am very much familiar with. I know some of you don't like the small folders, but I love them as they mean less scrolling to locate. The content is massive and makes the upgrade price seem reasonable to me.

That's all for now. Thanks to those who posted useful installation and upgrade infor here and in other threads.