I downloaded the Petite Fleur Hair and Petite Fleur magic from Daz for the project i'm working on.  They are really perfect for the little girl figure in my piece, and even though it won't pair to her, I'm just doing some tweaking to get it resized and arranged so it looks nice for the render.

I had on her, but then deleted the hair to reposition her and was putting it back on.  Now for some reason the Mat pose for the plat blonde hair won't work to change the base hair color - which is brown.  Poser will act like it's trying to load it, but then the change never happens.

I can use Mat poses to change other things, like Morphing FD on the V4 character in my scene, so what's going on here? 

I've already reinstalled the hair files and tried running the poser latest patch. 

In the last couple of days I've had that silly XP 2010 antivirus spamware but I got rid of it.  I'm wondering if it didn't delete something important.

Any ideas are appreciated.  I love this hair and I really want to use it.

The only thing that occurs to me is that the hair isn't parented. Mat poses won't work on a non-parented prop. If it's conforming, I've no idea why the mat poses won't work :o(.

Laurie

That's the only conclusion I can come up with also.  I'm in agreement with Laurie.

There are a number of products that require a parent for the MATS to work, why aren't you parenting the hair to the head?
I don't see why you seem to be doing stuff the hard way, like deleting the hair to reposition your character and then loading the hair again, it's unnecessary...

I see you are new to Poser

The following is a great deal of information to process, but it's only meant as a guide and not to be memorized.  I have it broken up into sections. My advice is to read it through once, print it out and keep the print out next to your computer for reference as needed.

Here is an essay of information that I have been compiling which is geared to the brand new user. **It has links for free characters, tips on clothing, file organization, newbie tutorials etc.
**
V3, M3  and Aiko are free.  3D Models Pack  Free from Daz at Download.com

You just need the morphs packages to change their shape. 

A picture to show you the file structure of a Poser Runtime can be found here:

http://www.daz3d.com/support/faq/index.php?id=94

Basically, what it boils down to in a nutshell:

If you are looking for a Character or a piece of clothing/shoes, in Poser you will find them in libraries/character. These files have the extension cr2 (uncompressed) and c2z (compressed)

If you are looking for hair, you will find them in either library/character/hair OR library/hair

If you are looking for character texture addons, hair textures, clothing textures, you will find them in library/poses. These files have the extension pz2 (uncompressed) and p2z (compressed). Sometimes on the rare occasion, a merchant will package their textures so that they go into the "Camera" folder (.cm2 files). If that is the case then you can either apply them from there, or do what I do and change the file extension to .pz2

If you are looking for props, they are located in library/props. These files have the extension pp2 (uncompressed) and ppz (compressed)

Sometimes you will find clothing and hair or shoes in library/props too, depending on whether the item is actually created and saved as a figure, or it was created and saved as a prop.

Figure (cr2) items like hair and clothing are "conformed". Figure items like wings are "parented"

Props are parented. Some props that are made for a specific figure will seem to go where they are supposed to and "stick" without you having to do anything. Those are called "smart props". You can use those on other figures, but you have to use the XYZ trans dials to place it where it belongs on the different figure. Then you need to parent the item to that new figure's body part.

If you are just starting, it's best to get started on the right foot. DO NOT just install files into the runtime! That will only lead to frustration because you won't be able to find anything, and not all files are packaged equally and land up all over the place.

Here is a link to a tutorial on using multiple runtimes.

http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=9060&start=0

http://www.drgeep.com/p5/run/run.htm

Another tip is to never just unzip or install anything directly to your runtime. Always unzip or install to a separate folder. Then browse through the folder to have a look at the structure of where things are going and make sure that it's in "proper runtime structure" so that when you move it to the runtime, they get into the proper folders.

Once you get your files installed, the next thing you want to do is to start making things :)

Here are some great newbie tutorials that will get you through the bare basics. They are for Poser 5, but it is still the same in newer versions:

http://trekkiegrrrl.dk/tut1.htm

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/issues/issue2/cover.htm

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/issues/issue3/cover.htm

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/

http://www.canary3d.com/tutorial/3d-intro.htm

http://www.ebonshire.net/tut-posb/index.php

http://www.cooltuna.com/poser/poser-tutorials.html

Dr. Geep Studios ( Basic to Advanced Tutorials. Periodically offers free classes for Poser)

http://www.anniescorner.net/posertuts/GettingStartedinPoser5.htm

Getting Started in Poser

Video Tutorials

If you don't have the Daz  V3 or the V4 figure, you should pick one or both. I'd personally suggest that you go with the V3 one as it's been around for years and there is a TON of freebies around for her, as well as a TON of stuff in the various Poser stores.  It will be a couple of years before V4 catches up with clothing content and stuff, especially FREE stuff  and  V3 stuff won't work on V4 because they are different figures. There are work arounds to getting clothing from a figure to fit another figure. I've included information on that further down. 

Victoria 3

3D Models Pack  Free from Daz at Download.com

Victoria 4

But if you want to change the look of her face and body, or use any of the available character addon packages, you need to buy the head and body morphs.

The V3 head and body morphs are here:

http://www.daz3d.com/shop.php?op=itemdetails&item=3008

There is also "Michael 3".  He is available free at the link above at download.com.  Again, like Vicky, you need the head and body morphs to change the shape of his head and body. Those can be found here:

http://www.daz3d.com/shop.php?op=itemdetails&item=3009

If you have both figures, you can get both of their head and body morphs in one package, here:

http://www.daz3d.com/shop.php?op=itemdetails&item=3010

NOTE:  You can use the textures from the character addon packages without having the head/body morphs. 

If you want to change the look of the head/body and have the head/body morphs, do the following:

Install the head and body morphs. 

Locate the morphs you want to use in the "Poses" folder.

Find the set of morphs you want to inject IE:  Full Body, Full Head.... or just certain parts. 

Left  click the picture

Click the Single Checkmark at the bottom of the page.

Go to your Parameter Dials and start turning dials.  (make sure that you have the part of the body you want to adjust as the active one IE:  Morphing the ears, make sure you have the had selected.

Also, you can find many, many free morphs and textures for Vicky, and Aiko, and some even for David and Michael.  So you don't have to turn any dials if you don't want to.  Here are a couple links to get you started.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=55140

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=178490

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=105158

Using ready made character addons is pretty easy.   You need to have the figure and it's head and body morph packages installed.

Load up the figure IE: Vicky

Go to the Poses folder, and instead of looking for your morphs from the packages, look for th character you want to use.  Left click the image that has INJ, click the SINGLE checkmark at the bottom and the morphs for that character's look is injected into your figure.  No dial turning necessary.  Of course if you want to tweak the settings you can, but that's not mandatory.

Next locate the textures (if the package has some). They will be usually in the same library menu as your INJ that you used.   Left click the image for the texture and use the SINGLE checkmark to apply it.  If you don't like that texture, apply another one overtop. 

You can even use a texture from another package.  IE: Morphs from package A  and textures from package C.  Or morphs from packag A, texture from package C, eyes from package D, lips from package E.  the combinations are endless :)  If the packages have their head morphs seprate from the body ones, you can mix and match morphs too. IE: body morphs from package A with head morph from package D.  That allows for even more versatility.

There are lots of sites out there that has free V3 character addons, and some that have for Aiko, Michael and even David.

Hair, clothing and textures are all figure/item specific, which means:

Michael 3.0 needs hair and clothing and textures made for Michael 3.0
Victoria 4.0 needs hair and clothing and textures made for Victoria 4.0
Victoria 3.0 needs hair and clothing and textures made for Victoria 3.0
Victoria 2.0 needs hair and clothing and textures made for Victoria 2.0
Aiko needs hair and clothing and textures made for her.

Like figures, a texture made for one hair style can only be used on that hair style.

Clothing is also specific when it comes to textures. A texture for a pair of pants, won't fit all pants... just the pants that it was made to fit. Same with all clothing items.

Sometimes you can manage to  clothing item to fit another figure by tweaking of dials and increasing or decreasing the scale percent, but that doesn't always work. Sometimes a clothing item for Victoria 2 will fit Victoria 3, but their joints are different so posing a figure wearing clothing not made for it specifically will be hard.

Some figures can share items more easily than others, here is a link that will help sort that out:
http://market.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=2682279

There are 3 types of clothing:

Dynamic:  This is clothing that you use inside the Cloth room. It takes longer to work with and there is a bit of a learning curve, but it's not too bad, but the results are more appealing in that the clothing actually looks more natural instead of "posed and stiff".  I have included information about this type of clothing further down.

Confroming- Non Morphing:  This is clothing that you conform to a figure. The clothing is made to fit the base figure.  If you change the shape of the figure you will also have to refit the clothing, which isn't always easy if there aren't any corresponding body morphs in the clothing.  Plus posing a character in positions where they are not nearly upright is difficult.  But many prefer this type of clothing over dynamic.

Conforming-Morphing: This is the same as conforming-non morphing, only there are morph dials that you can turn that have corresponding body morphs for easier fitting.  This is the preferred type of conforming clothing because it's easier to fit.

Using a clothing item on a figure that it is meant to be used on, after you have added morphs and adjusted the shape of the body,  can be problematic because the clothes are made for the default figure shape and not the new morphed up shape. So the clothing no longer fits and you get parts of the body showing through the clothing after you add morphs and change the shape of the body.

There are programs that can help fit clothing from one figure to another, or even from the same figure to one that has been "morphed up" using their morph packages.

The Tailor, which can be bought here:
http://www.daz3d.com/shop.php?op=itemdetails&item=677

Wardrobe Wizard (I use this one and it's great). It can be purchased from PhilC's site here:
http://www.philc.net/WardrobeWizard.htm

Clothes Converter, which can be bought here:
http://www.daz3d.com/shop.php?op=itemdetails&item=3069&cat=131

Things like hair can be used across all figures just by tweaking the scaling and trans dials and then parenting the hair to the figure.

Poses are something else that can be used across most human-like figures with just a bit of tweaking to dig out a hand, or fix a shoulder.

Dynamic Clothing (more information):

A nice thing about dynamic clothing is that you can easily use clothing on various figures.Here are some tutorials on how to use dynamic clothing in the cloth room:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2665209

http://www.philc.net/CC_sampleVideo.htm

http://www.poserfashion.net/howvic3dress1.htm

http://drgeep.com/p5/cr/cr.htm

Here are some links to some great FREE dynamic clothing:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?username=mapps

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?username=svdl

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?username=Stegy

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?username=carib98

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?username=teyikung

It's also possible to make conforming clothing into dynamic clothing:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/tutorial/index.php?tutorial_id=868

And it's possible to take a conforming outfit and work with it in the cloth room so that parts of it act dynamic.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2517340&page=1

To get hair to fit a different figure.

Change your camera to Pose or Aux view so you can turn the camera around without affecting your main camera settings.  Then just use your parameter dials: Scale,  XYZ Scale,  and XYZ Trans.   Turn the camera around as needed so you can check all angles.

Once you have the hair fitting the way you want it, go to "Object" in the tool bar at the top of the screen and "Change Parent" and reparent the hair to the figure's head.

At this point if you want, you can save the hair as a smart prop to your props library. That way when you load it again for that figure, it will automatically fit that figure IE: A3.

Thank you all.  Acadia, changing the parent worked!  For some reason when I would try to set the parent though, it never would bring  Lilo up in the menu like it would for everything else that I parented.  I'll definitely save the hair as a smart prop, though would that be best done in a new scene with just a naked Lilo and the hair?  

Clothes really interest me.  I didn't know you could make a conforming one kinda dynamic, that's cool.

I have this bookmarked and I'm going to work through all the links.. especially the runtime.  Ugh, my runtime is so out of control and I really need to get that fixed.  When I find myself staring at a page of freebies I can't just pick one. 

Laurie, your freebies are amazing.  I love your morphing vase - genius! 

Okay, back to this one.  Now I just have to find where it put my wizard props.

Quote - would that be best done in a new scene with just a naked Lilo and the hair?  

Nope. Just the hair is needed, no need to save the figure or anything else from the scene.

Quote - "Can anyone point me to a really good detailed tutorial on how to build multiple runtimes (geared for newbies lol* or maybe there should be a "Poser for Dummies" book )"

It's really pretty easy.  The problem is that most people over think it.  

Just remember that an external runtime is exactly the same as the runtime in your Poser folder, only it's just sitting in a different location.  

It functions exactly the same way. 

And files are installed / added to them in exactly the same way. 

And they have the same folders in them as the main runtime does. Well almost the same folders.  Scripts for example have to be installed into the main Poser runtime and won't work from an external runtime.

Here is a sample of an external runtime.  Simply download it and unzip it. You will have a folder called "Runtime_Sample"

www.divshare.com/download/8531562-1f6

Find a place on your hard drive that you want to have your external runtimes living. For me it's on my partitioned drive D.

Make a folder called "Poser Runtimes"

s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii124/Acadia_ca/

Then simply copy that sample runtime you unzipped into that "Poser Runtimes" folder and make as many copies of it as you want to.  Change "Runtime_Sample" to whatever name you want.  Here is what I named some of mine:

s263.photobucket.com/albums/ii124/Acadia_ca/

Then all you do is simply install your content into whichever runtime you feel it fits best into.

Once you have finished installing your content look in the Runtimes where you have Daz characters such as V3 or V4 etc.  Go into the Library folder and look for the !DAZ folder.  Make a COPY of that folder and place the COPY in exactly the same place in the main Poser Runtime. 

Poser looks there first so by placing a copy of them in there, you are helping Poser out.  Don't delete the !DAZ folder from your other runtimes though. That defeats the purpose of having external runtimes, which is not only to allow Poser to work faster, organize your content better, but also to not lose your installed runtime content in the even of a crash because hopefully you have also saved your external runtimes to a couple other places for easy access in case of the need to reinstall.

Hope that helps.  If you have more questions, just ask.

Oh yeah, never install anything directly to your runtime. Always unzip / install to a folder on your desk top so you can see what is in side and what the folder structure is.

What you're telling me about runtimes makes so much more sense than the other things I've read.  I'm definitely going to spend part of tonight and tomorrow beginning my reorganizational process so I can find my stuff, instead of endlessly clicking around in poser being lost. 

I may have more questions, and I really do appreciate the time it took for you to teach this newbie.  :)  I'm not only bookmarking this thread, I'm making a document with everything in it.

DA 

Yep, Acadia is our font of information around here ;o).

Laurie

So, I'm working through, building my new runtimes.  Once I have things installed into the new runtime, is it safe to go through and just look at the structure in the new runtime and then go into the old one and delete those folders?  

nm, I see that I can.  silly question.

I posted the piece that I've been working on in the critique section.  Hair works and the new runtime thing is awesome.  I'm going to be doing more organizing today. 

I did have one question.  With the content that came with Poser8, and the legacy content, should I just install those into the regular runtime library and leave them be?

Most of us, especially those that have been using Poser lo these many years, have um, collected gigabytes upon gigabytes of content between freebies and purchases ;o). I can't speak for anyone else, but I separate all my content thus:

I normally leave all the content that came with my current version of Poser in its default folder (I currently use Poser 7). So all the figures, clothes, props, etc. that came with Poser 7 is in my Poser 7 folder. I can do this because I don't normally use the original figures or other things much. Everything else, I break down by figure, for example: Vicky 2 and clothes, Vicky 3 and clothes, Michael 4 and clothes, etc. Legacy content is in a "Legacy Content" folder. Also, since I model a little bit and texture a lot, I have a folder strickly for saving my little pieces of freebie junk into ;o). Makes it easier for me to find later when it comes time to zip it all up. I even break my folders down into Sets and Scenes, Props, Prop Hair and Conforming Hair. That way, there aren't too many things in any one folder and I can normally find what I'm looking for. I'm not sure how many runtimes I've got, but I know it's more than 20 ;o). Sounds like a lot, but I can normally find things that way :o).

It's probably best to break everything down in a way that sounds logical to you. You'll have better luck at finding what you're looking for.

Laurie

Okay, I think I'll just leave that stuff where it is.  :)  I have a fear of breaking Poser, but slowly getting over it, now.

Your morphing pot nearly made it into the render, but I decided on the wizardy props instead.  It will be in an upcoming picture though.  I love that pot and already have the picture all planned out in my head.

Glad you find it useful :o).

Laurie

For me, everything that comes with Poser install, goes into the main Poser runtime.

With few exceptions, everything else goes into one of the external ones.

The exceptions:

• Materials (not pose file materials....material room materials)
• Python Scripts
• !DAZ  foldes (just a copy of each one. The original is left in the external runtime)
• Copies of other morph folders that get deposited into the top level of "Libraries" where the !DAZ folder is.
• V4 (For some dumb reason they only install to the main Poser folder.  S I then copy the files to my external runtime)
• M4 (again, I make a copy and put them into my external runtime)

Personally I find that I really don't use the installed content from Poser. I really don't even remember what all is in there from Poser 6, Poser 5 and the legacy stuff from earlier.

I think maybe these links have gone away.  :)

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/issues/issue2/cover.htm

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/issues/issue3/cover.htm

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/

Just to let you know, or maybe they got updated?   Anyways, two days off work, more time for poser.  :) 

Quote - I think maybe these links have gone away.  :)

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/issues/issue2/cover.htm

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/issues/issue3/cover.htm

http://www.poserguide.nimprodaction.com/

Just to let you know, or maybe they got updated?   Anyways, two days off work, more time for poser.  :) 

Thanks. I'll make sure to remove them in my next thread update.    

NM.. got it!