Quote - ... I didn't locate the Quick Reference Card the manual mentions. Where would that be?

I didn't get that either.

Okay, so I'm not the only one. Wonder why they didn't include it.

So, to get back to topic, it would be nice to add a PDF version of that Quick Reference card to that SP1...

The Quick Ref Card should be in the folder you extracted your Poser8Installer file to.

Quote - The Quick Ref Card should be in the folder you extracted your Poser8Installer file to.

Well, it was in the original download package, but in a separate Documentation folder. I just extracted the installer itself and then stupidly deleted the download package.

Anyway, I just downloaded again (much faster this time!) and all the documentation is there.

If you open the window menu, all the keystrokes are listed.

I use keyboard to show/hide python buttons, library, heirarchy, and joint editor. If you know how to program extra keys on your keyboard you can make it even easier.

If you have a flight-stick like setup with 2611 buttons on various pods sticking out under all your fingers, you can operate Poser like a fighter jet, no keyboard at all.

I have this:

I need to figure out how to get all those switches to do things in Poser.

Do you realize just how quickly I'd crash a fighter jet?

Whichway

Quote - I need to figure out how to get all those switches to do things in Poser.

If the buttons can be set to return keycodes, you can map those to Poser actions by editing Runtime/ui/Poser.xrc

And don't forget that you can add keyboard shortcuts to scripts inside the scripts menu, too ;-) 

Formal shoes for Alyson. I know that WW2 comes with P8, but it does not do shoes too well.

Quote - The Quick Ref Card should be in the folder you extracted your Poser8Installer file to.

Thanks!

If and when you quit poser and the restart-relaunch(intel Mac), no matter which runtime you were in it shows the last runtime you where in, in show library, yet it really is in all. Either revert it to all in the show library or have it come in the last library you were in. Because to get the library to work currently you have first have to select all then the library you want. Seems odd

Quote - > Quote - Give me back the normal library menu... the new one doesn't yp date quick enough... tooo 

Hmm. Could you be more specific about what you mean by update quick enough?

I'm asking because the key thing about this library (despite whatever else is wrong) is that is opens and is ready to work even with 500 GB runtimes.

Is it drawing slowly?

Is it opening folders slowly?

Is it populating thumbnails slowly?

Are the item counts on folders filling slowly?

The library is now incredibly multi-threaded. It is often doing over 40 things at once scanning and populating things in the background. Months of work went into making sure it is the fastest library anybody has every seen. Compared to P7, this GUI loads instantly with 100GB runtimes, versus 5 minutes. Compared to P7, this GUI can handle 1000 GB runtimes, while P7 would just immediately crash.

The #1, by FAR, request from the user community was to deal with gigantic runtimes, find and show content FAST, navigate FAST. Almost everybody using it says it is fast.

I really would like to know which of the above is happening. And you should open a ticket with SM. There are many people with corrupted Flash players, out of date Flash players, etc. Maybe this is the problem.

The thumbs will be bigger, and there will be more options coming.

Im having thisproblems
Is it drawing slowly?

Is it opening folders slowly?

Is it populating thumbnails slowly?

Are the item counts on folders filling slowly?

Also folders dissapears and have to update

 I have Ati Radeon HD 3800, Vista, 4 GB Ram, AMD Phenom 9500 Quad Core Processor 2.20 GHz, Over 50gb content

Another Super Great feature will be right click mouse opens Conform to...
This will be very useful to.

I would love to have mouse control over camera positioning - scroll-wheel to zoom in and out, right-click and drag to rotate, that sort of thing...

Quote - I would love to have mouse control over camera positioning - scroll-wheel to zoom in and out, right-click and drag to rotate, that sort of thing...

3dconnexion's Space Navigator will give you better control over the camera than anything you could do with a mouse.

http://www.3dconnexion.com/3dmouse/spacenavigator.php

Works in Poser and D|S

Thanks Tyger_purr - you're probably right about Space Navigator. I've used up my current 3D budget on the P8 upgrade, but I'll put this at the top of the list.

(Note to self: Stop wasting money on extra content when you haven't installed everything you've bought...)

Edit to add - only pity with the Navigator is that the list of supported apps drops significantly when you switch the list to Mac OSX.  Still Poser at least will work.

Any chance that the dimensions of the preview window could be explicitly set even when it is docked (perhaps an option). 

As it is, it sizes to fit the available space, which is good, but I'd like the option to set it to a specific resolution but also keep it docked (so that I don't have the window dialogue edges) since it looks nicer.

An option to toggle between specific size and fit to space would be appreciated.

Quote - Any chance that the dimensions of the preview window could be explicitly set even when it is docked (perhaps an option). 

As it is, it sizes to fit the available space, which is good, but I'd like the option to set it to a specific resolution but also keep it docked (so that I don't have the window dialogue edges) since it looks nicer.

An option to toggle between specific size and fit to space would be appreciated.

That's sort of there already. Press Ctrl-Alt-D and set the render dimensions

The preview will show a highlighted box that is the same aspect ratio, but scaled to fit the preview window size. This way you get the same render no matter the window size/layout, and also you can compose effectively because the area that will be rendered is highlighted.

EDITED: I wrote the wrong keystroke  - it is Ctrl-Alt-D not Shift-Alt-D

Ah yes, forgot about the highlight border. Thanks for the reminder...!

...no chance of altering the shading difference of the box though is there...? Hard to make out on a dark scene...

Quote - ...no chance of altering the shading difference of the box though is there...? Hard to make out on a dark scene...

I'm not aware of any, sorry. Perhaps there is a secret parameter in poser.ini?

Sometimes when working with a dark scene, posing in general is difficult.

I usually add a point light - it lights up everything - just for posing/preview. I turn it off before rendering. Then turn it on again to do more tweaking with good light.

me want my p4 rendering engine back... sniff... it was nice and fast, exactly the right thing for a preview.

Quote - I second the library motion.

Add my vote to that. I prefer the old library to this new version.

That "bug" about the runtime folders being named specifically would be a problem for me.  I'm trying to justify upgrading to Poser 8 even though I like the new interface, but all my external runtimes start with Runtime [space] and whatever the content is (Mil3, Mil4, Props, Sets, etc.).  I don't want to put them all back into the same runtime again.  Too much of a pain for backups even though I use Norton Ghost for drive backups, I still like to do uncompressed backups for smaller runtimes.

Quote - That "bug" about the runtime folders being named specifically would be a problem for me.  I'm trying to justify upgrading to Poser 8 even though I like the new interface, but all my external runtimes start with Runtime [space] and whatever the content is (Mil3, Mil4, Props, Sets, etc.).  I don't want to put them all back into the same runtime again.  Too much of a pain for backups even though I use Norton Ghost for drive backups, I still like to do uncompressed backups for smaller runtimes.

Which "bug" are you referring to? I'm not aware of any naming requirements for the parent folder of a Runtime folder.

XYZ/Runtime/Libraries works for any XYZ.

There's no bug about having the word "Runtime" as part of the name. In fact, the name can be Runtime as in:

Runtime/Runtime/Libraries/...

I made one post where I said that is dangerous, but not becuase Poser has trouble with it. I meant that if you're looking at a folder in explorer called Runtime, and you're trying to install something in your Runtime by dragging-and-dropping a Runtime tree from a ZIP file, it's dangerous because you can get confused about where you're drag-and-dropping. I was concerned about the user being confused, not the software.

Somebody mentioned about their runtimes starting with the name Runtime P6 or P6 Runtime (example) as mine are and that Poser 8 will not accept it.  As I said, mine are setup as Runtime and whatever category it is, then underneath that folder is the real folder called runtime and everything that follows according to Poser logic.  The original runtime folder is not changed, just the parent folder if that makes any sense.

In Poser versions 5-7, I usually select the individual runtime folders, i.e., Runtime Mil3, Mil4, etc., and Poser doesn't seem to have a problem realizing that a real runtime is beneath it.  I like the new interface and that is the number one reason why I would upgrade and the library categorizing looks interesting.

I don't care about all the content because I rarely use any of the Poser figures except for crowd scenes and they're far enough away nobody sees the faces.

Forgot to add:  I would never copy anything from a zip file.  I always extract to a temporary folder.

Quote - me want my p4 rendering engine back... sniff... it was nice and fast, exactly the right thing for a preview.

You mean they got rid of it?  I use it only when I want to render something that doesn't require raytracing or displacement maps.  They probably figured that Poser4 was dead and anything connected to it would be gone by this version.

Hmm. If you find this posting, could you let me know? Because either this person is confused, or this person has an unusual system configuration problem and has mistakenly assumed it had something to do with the folder name. Or this person actually said something different - I can't test that theory without seeing the post. Thanks again if you find it for me.

I just renamed a couple of my runtimes and added them in Poser 8 and it works fine. You needn't worry about this. See screen shot.

Quote - > Quote - me want my p4 rendering engine back... sniff... it was nice and fast, exactly the right thing for a preview.

You mean they got rid of it?  I use it only when I want to render something that doesn't require raytracing or displacement maps.  They probably figured that Poser4 was dead and anything connected to it would be gone by this version.

well, yeah, at least i couldn't find it any more. it was hands down the fastest way to quick-check the scene and shadows before it gets really time consuming. can we have it back, please? pretty please? :)

First page about halfway down.  My apologies to the original poster for singling your post out.  I could be mistaken in what they were saying.

This thread.

I'd also like to find more online screen shots of the interface.  SM doesn't seem to eager to give us a complete breakdown of what's new and what's improved.  Most of the product page seems to mostly reference the new figures and that isn't a reason for me to upgrade.

It's too bad they don't have a demo even if it's online.  The few screen shot images I've seen don't present a full picture for me.  Too much emphasis on the new figures and extra content.

Quote - First page about halfway down. 

Got it. The post by TGuyus, who said:

Quote - My Poser 6 runtime is set up on a separate drive, in a directory named "P6 Runtime."  When I try to link to that runtime in Poser 8, it returns an error saying "That folder doesn't seem to be a runtime folder.  Choose a new runtime folder to add."  

Looks to me like TGuyus does not understand what you do, when you said:

Quote - mine are setup as Runtime and whatever category it is, then underneath that folder is the real folder called runtime and everything that follows according to Poser logic. 

Since Poser 7 SR3, the ability to have a runtime NOT called runtime was dropped.

You can have a parent folder for it, named how you like, but it must CONTAIN a folder called Runtime. This is not a new behavior of Poser 8, but of Poser 7.

The rule is, you need a wrapper folder and it can be called anything you like. In that must be a folder called Runtime. The name of the wrapper will be shown in the GUI. This is Poser 7 SR3 and Poser 8 and Poser Pro behavior.

Your runtimes will work fine, because you have them structured correctly.

Quote - I'd also like to find more online screen shots of the interface.  SM doesn't seem to eager to give us a complete breakdown of what's new and what's improved.  Most of the product page seems to mostly reference the new figures and that isn't a reason for me to upgrade.

It's too bad they don't have a demo even if it's online.  The few screen shot images I've seen don't present a full picture for me.  Too much emphasis on the new figures and extra content.

There are quite a few, but they're all over the place. I showed a few when we were discussing the ability to rearrange the panels in many different ways.

There are a couple on this page:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2774766&page=29#message_3484553

(Link takes you to just one by me - scroll up for more once you're there)

Shall we start a new P8 Screenshots thread, so potential buyers can get a good look? I'm sure lots of people would jump in and make it fill up fast.

OK, I just got my Poser 8 and installed it. I had been reading other post throughout and it was suggested that you could run other Poser Programs, or at least Poser Pro along with Poser 8.
anyway I get this message.

The application has failed to start because its side-by- side configuration is incorrect. Please see application event log for more details.

I have Smithmicro Poser 7, Poser 8, and Poser Pro installed. they are all installed under Program Files (x86).

What do I do (uninstall Poser 7?) or what?

Side-by-side in this case has nothing to do with other copies of poser.

Hang on I'll try to search for the posting about this. I think it's a DLL thing or something.

Here is the side-by-side thread and fix.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3493627&ebot_calc_page#message_3493627

Quote - Please add a Minimize button to the Render Status window.

I like watching my renders in progress, but the Render Status window sits there with its Cancel button hanging out. One mis-touch of the Enter button and my render is dead. I can minimize the Render Status window from the Windows Task Manager, but it is inconvenient.

[Restart on renders would be nice as well, someday.]

Whichway

I did not see if anyone mentioned this, but just move it over one of the Docked Bars or to the lower corner.. if you are launching to previous state, it will always appear there. I park mine over the lower right corner (Timeline and Parameters)

Quote - mine are setup as Runtime and whatever category it is, then underneath that folder is the real folder called runtime and everything that follows according to Poser logic. 

RESPONSE:  I originally read it as similar to my situation unless they are saying that their Poser 6 program and runtime are on the external drive.  All of my separate runtimes are on an external drive, but Poser7 is on my main system drive (C).

Since Poser 7 SR3, the ability to have a runtime NOT called runtime was dropped.

RESPONSE:  I didn't know you could ever change the name from runtime to something else.

You can have a parent folder for it, named how you like, but it must CONTAIN a folder called Runtime. This is not a new behavior of Poser 8, but of Poser 7.

RESPONSE:  All of my external runtimes (see image) reside on their own external drive called Runtimes.  Underneath that they are laid out specifically as shown in the image.

The rule is, you need a wrapper folder and it can be called anything you like. In that must be a folder called Runtime. The name of the wrapper will be shown in the GUI. This is Poser 7 SR3 and Poser 8 and Poser Pro behavior.

Your runtimes will work fine, because you have them structured correctly.

RESPONSE:  I hope so.  I spent several years reorganizing them and I'm stlil not completely satisfied.  That's why the category thing in P8 sounds intriguing.  I always wanted to create a list of what props/items I have and where they're located.  I'm always hunting for things and usually not finding them especially when props are included with clothing items and in a different runtime.

If you have even a clue of some part of the name of the item, the Search tab is a big help with finding things.

Here I searched for "mindvision" and it found 3 folders with that name. Opening the folders, I see the BowTie I wanted.

I can now double click it to load it. Or you can add it to your Favorites, possibly creating a new folder for it at the same time.

Also, there is a "Locate" link. If you click that, it will automatically navigate you back to the Library tab, find the item, open all the folders necessary to reach it, and highlight it for you.

Again, I can load, favorite, or locate these now.

These are remembered even after you restart Poser.

I saw your screen shot and I'm impressed.  It looks like it has a lot more flexibility.  Poser7 and before just had too much clutter and I was always having to move things out of the way.  I hope they improved the layout under the Materials tab as well because sometimes I am only interested in the library and the main window to apply textures.  The box in the middle (Simple/Advanced) is always in the way and it can't be minimized.

I saw what people are talking about with the library thumbnails being so small.  I can work around that until it is updated since the name of the item is more important.  I also like you can add other information to them.

I'm going to bite the bullet and purchase this right now.  I just hope my crappy old system (meets specs) can handle it.

The problem here was, that for years Poser did not create new runtimes correctly, so you could have a folder "New Runtime" that did not have a runtime folder inside it, but a libraries folder. That lead to all kind of trouble, but did work (mainly due to Poser's complicated file seach algorithm).
I've asked for years to have that fixed ;-)

Can you categorize them within Poser without having to move them from their current folder?  If not, it's still a lot better than searching all over the place.

Quote - I hope they improved the layout under the Materials tab as well because sometimes I am only interested in the library and the main window to apply textures.  The box in the middle (Simple/Advanced) is always in the way and it can't be minimized.

One more reason for you to like P8, then: you can see the contents of the Materials folders and apply materials to your objects without leaving the Pose Room!

Quote - One more reason for you to like P8, then: you can see the contents of the Materials folders and apply materials to your objects without leaving the Pose Room!

That's even better.  I always found it a pain to have to keep switching back and forth especially when I found a problem and had to go back to the pose room to correct it, then back to the materials room.

I also wish there were a faster way to convert all those Pose Mat files to just materials so I could clean out my Pose folders.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - me want my p4 rendering engine back... sniff... it was nice and fast, exactly the right thing for a preview.

You mean they got rid of it?  I use it only when I want to render something that doesn't require raytracing or displacement maps.  They probably figured that Poser4 was dead and anything connected to it would be gone by this version.

well, yeah, at least i couldn't find it any more. it was hands down the fastest way to quick-check the scene and shadows before it gets really time consuming. can we have it back, please? pretty please? :)

It was listed in the Readme

it said:
Due to fundamental architectural changes in Poser 8 that have removed legacy code, and improved overall performance in many areas across the application, the old Poser 4 renderer and automatic RSR Library thumbnail conversion to PNG has been discontinued.

so i imagine the chance of getting it back are pretty much nil.

It usually works to move the mat pose files to the materials directory and change the extension... but with Poser 8 you don't need to change the extension anymore, it's not hiding files types with extensions that don't match the selected category anymore.