Another total newbie here ... I see I have already put my downloads to the runtime in the wrong way (copy/paste under Runtime with names of download on the folders) :unsure: ... I will have to do that over I suspect.  Perhaps that is why they do not appear in the alterations(?) room?

I am running Poser 7 32bit on a 64bit machine.  It was very reluctant to install it (very balky it was), and I will get Poser 2010, and Shade 10 soon!

I need the tutorial which says ... this is how you put a figure you want into the modeling space (where are those libraries?) ...  I suppose they are under the menus on the top, and I should just go and look under each? ... Not only newbie but clueless newbie .. (I'll get there it will just take a bit.)

Is there not some tutorial with the program which is for people who are opening it for the first time?  I hope there is one in Poser 2012. 

My ISP has put limits on my upload and download ability monthly ... (I think 2 gigs) ... So I cannot do the candy store download thing ... fun as they are.

Thanks for the great tips and links!!

Hopefully I can put something from Poser into my gallery page in the not too distant future.

Acadia, thanks for the images ... Pics really are worth a lot of text.
hborre, ditto on the screen shots ... very reassuring to have it visually there to refer to.

OMGoodness, I think I am going to invest in a USB removable drive to put all the runtime libraries in ... will Poser 2010 let me do this? ... It seems the best option all round.

I want to do Animations .. that is my goal, and this is going to generate massive files I think, just another reason to have them on a Removable USB drive.  --- I am far from that goal now, I cannot yet get a figure to come into the adjustments room ... but I am not giving up.

There are 2 flavors of compressed content files immdeiately available: DAZ installers and compressed (rar, zip, etc) files.  The DAZ3D installers will automatically load content in their appropriate folders given manual direction to your Poser folder or external folder containing a runtime folder.  Notice, I said an external folder containing a runtime folder.  This external folder may be named anything you like for purely organizational purposes but, again, it must contain the runtime. 

Most for purchase compressed files found here and on other sites have the runtime hierarchy already correctly set up by the vendor.  This is either manually done or with the assist of 3rd party software.  However, I have come across freebie content not adhering to this convention which can cause many headaches in locating rogue textures, clothing, figures, etc. 

The recommendation to newbies, inspect compressed files thoroughly before uncompressing into rutnime folders.  Create a temporary folder, uncompress your content, and check the content.  Afterwards, move that folder into it's permanent  residence.  If the content was correctly setup, you should find everything under their appropriate category when you open Poser.

@WCSally: BTW, I am going to correct you before you get into a habit, the Poser version you are referring to is PoserPro 2010, not Poser 2010.  You are the second individual to make that mistake in the forum.  And I do mention this because in the future you may need assistance with a problem and someone will ask for the proper version.  There were too many confusing moments when someone posted they had problems with Poser 7 Pro and were chided about which actual version they used.  This is just to make sure that we address the problem correctly because there are distinct differences between the regular Poser and Pro series.

Being technically correct is more than half the battle in confusion; Thank you for the heads up. 

I will be getting 2010 Pro (some people running it have commented on DA, that is has nice perks as to background and organizational ability)..

Because the first project is about unicorns and flying horses I have The Mil Horse, & The Black Bull both from DAZ,    The EXE just put them in a extract dialogue, it had nothing but a folder in the same directory as the exe file.  I put them under run time.  Win 7 is not the same as WinZip, it shows you very little!

I just made names for them under run time, and extracted them there.  The same with Harmony and Verde from Rosity, and the Mane and Tail Pack, and the Equine Pose pack with textures -- I put under the Mil Horse folder (???).

OK, just looked --- There are runtimes within runtimes, and more runtimes ... it is all under one runtime, with a Daz  Downloads folder at the top.  If I knew how to do a screen capture .. I would.
I have PS on here (but I am totally newbie to that as well (I can run PSP well --but it will not load, period!) -- the items work differently, and are not where I expect, but it is cool.).

It is to the point to say that the 64 bit system is fighting a robust 32 bit Trojan (PE_xxx) (older monitor?) -- and winning at the current time, and I have no wish to get in it's way.  I have fought that infection for 10 years and will be ever so happy to be rid of it.  Because of this, I am reluctant to force any permissions on the system .. and my Poser Product currently is the 32 bit  regular version.    I have the image from the tutorial on folder arrangement, I will see how well they correlate, but minding your warning, I will not delete or change anything until I can manage the screen shot.  
 
Thanks.

Hello WCSally, and welcome! 

If you want to do a screenshot, this is how I usually do it, very easy...just get your screen setup with what you want to snap a shot of, then hit your "print screen" button on your PC keyboard (usually found to the right of the F12 key). Once you've done that, the screen shot will be on your clipboard, just open any photo editor program you have and go to Edit/Paste as new Image. Your screenshot should now be visible in your photo program, do a "save as" give it a name, and you're all set! 

(btw, you might want to edit out any personal information that might be visible in your final pic, like serial numbers, etc...wouldn't want that posted for public view.)

HTH!

Musikman

It has never worked before ... but one can always try again!

I was just off to download a version of PSP which will do great screen captures, and is the one I usually use; but it has too much of the PE_rascal tied to it, and so it will not load on this new system.

Trial version of the new PSP3 might be OK.

Thanks, I'll try that first. 

Quote - The DAZ3D installers will automatically load content in their appropriate folders given manual direction to your Poser folder or external folder containing a runtime folder.  Notice, I said an external folder containing a runtime folder.  This external folder may be named anything you like for purely organizational purposes but, again, it must contain the runtime.

 
When you say external folder, that means it can be on an external hard drive, correct? For example I can create a folder on my external HD and name it,  G:Poser Free Stuff, and as long as it has a subfile directly under it called runtime, ie..(G:Poser Free StuffRuntime) then I can store content I download from Daz or from here, and that folder will just show up in Poser? Just want to be sure....

If you notice my screenshot of my PoserPro2010 program directory, the runtime folder I've marked #1 is completely empty, the other marked #2 has all the content in it. Does Poser set that up kind of as a "user" runtime empty area to use for downloaded content ? If I follow that structure and set it up the same way on my external HD, will that be ok?.....so for every download I can make a new "runtime" folder on my HD, or do I just need one on my external HD and put everything under that one?  I know Acadia has explained it, but I'm still having a bit  of a time trying to visualize what it would look like, and I'd like to store any massive files on my external if possible. Thanks, appreciate the help. 

OK, mine is not nearly so nice and tidy ... and this is probably because I had to direct the unzip where to put stuff, and was only guessing at best!

It took two screen shots to get the full runtime  line of folders:
Click the image to enlarge it, and click the Pink TV to download it:
(being in scraps it will likely not come up full size .. I cropped out the rest of the screen)

http://wcsallysally.deviantart.com/art/Runtime-1-160266976

http://wcsallysally.deviantart.com/art/Runtime-2-160267089

If Acadia went into this .. I guess I missed it, i will rescan the thread.

Thanks

They seem readable ...  I guess I will go and Aiko and V4 .. too.

This does not really look like the Gif I downloaded from the how to do your folders site .. but it was for version 5? ... maybe they are the same, makes sense they would be.

Thank you again,
I am looking forward to learning all this amazing software!!
(and, Musikman, I see that folder labeled tutorials in there ... Yahoo!!)

As you see, within the runtime folder exists a Libraries folder (circled in blue) which contains each folder that appears as categories in Poser (category folders in green)  I purposely opened the characters folder hierarchy to reveal 2 other vendor folder.  Those vendor folders contain their specific content developed for V4.

If you are in the market for a very good screencap program, may I suggest Snagit.  It will allow you to capture any image on your desktop and internet.  You can save images in a variety of different formats and you can perform quick edits.

I an guessing that means my 9 folders named runtime are way out of bounds?

I named the folders at the top of each set from the unzip/exe .... so those may be delete-able
The EXE did not just place them, it asked and I did not want to lose them, so I labeled them.

Maybe I should just make the external folder now?  Copy these all out and leave only what the DAZ and Poser put there, and then .. when you run the program, how do you direct (what do you direct?) to those folders to open the content ... (really in the dark here).

**VIRUS FOUND! ** Just wanted anyone in this thread to know that when I clicked on WCSally's posted links I got a virus on my PC, so I recommend you don't click on them. Although my virus scanner's files are updated daily, it wasn't able to stop it or clean it, so my PC is pretty much toast now and probably going to be quite awhile before I can be productive with it again. Great way to start off learning poser, right! :-(  Hope no one else got that, those links should be removed immediately.

Hmm. . .
I didn't - they are just JPEG files on DeviantArt.com.  Didn't trigger my scanner or Noscript

I don't know why I got the virus, all I know is I got it when I went to that link, and then clicked on the thumbnail of the screenshot. No disrespect to WC, but just to be on the safe side I wanted to warn in case anyone else could end up with it.

hborre, thanks for the folder chart, when I get my PC cleaned of the virus and reinstall all my programs I'll let you know and come back here to reference your images. What a day it's been!

You say that "extra" empty runtime folder in my screenshot (#1) is "not good", then why do you think the PoserPro2010 install program created it?

So, from looking at your pics, once I create a runtime folder on my external hard drive, I just have to go into the PoserPro2010 program itself and use the "add runtime" button to let poser know where to find my external hard drive directory that I created, is that right?

Another question looking at your directree, does your Victoria 3 folder also contain a runtime folder with all the same subfolders that you're showing in your V4 folder setup? In other words for each model's core folder, V2, V3, V4,M4, etc...each core folder has its own separate runtime folder within it, or is there only one runtime folder for all of the models, hope I'm making sense with the question, sorry.

If I'm understanding this correctly, each has it's own runtime folder and when you download and unzip stuff for V4, you tell the install program to send it to the V4 folder, and same for unzipping V3 stuff to V3 folder. I'm just confused about saying "yes" to replace the existing runtime folder, won't that also delete or or rather "replace" all the existing content in the subfolders that reside within the existing runtime ?  

I think Poser is a very cool program but it does have kind of a complicated filing system!

Answer 1: The Download Folder in Poser is an extra folder which contains its own runtime.  I'm surprized that your content runtime did not replace the original.  However, that will not present any problems.  It will show up in the library as an empty folder.

Anwser 2: Yes, you can tell PoserPro 2010 where your runtime is located, either on a local HD or external.

Answer 3: Each of those folders you noticed in the post image has its own runtime folder within.  Basically, the library hierarchy is duplicated for each folder.

Answer 4: On PC's, directing the OS to replace a folder only adds content to the folder unless it finds a duplicate file within (i.e., readme's, license txt, etc).  Earlier MAC versions completely deleted the original file and replaced it with the new.  I don't know if that has changed.  Keep in mind, the authors create unique content folders within the runtimes to identify their products.  Notice in my image under Victoria 4>Runtime>libraries> Character, there are 2 vendor folders.  The other category folders may contain more or less content depending on the type.

Musikman,

Instead of doing a wipe/reload ... run your win install disk, and choose "REPAIR" .. if you were hooked with my issue (they chase me around the web .. I think) ,... this will put Windows back into it's own shell  ... run this way for some time, and update and run your security utilities before you restart.  

If you have any shreds of the PE_ issue on your machine, it is that much faster to hook it with more.

Some good tools:
Sysinternals  .. a suite of 'what is under the hood' of Windows and it lets you monitor stuff. 

HijackThis, RUBotted,  and Rootkit Buster all from Trend have been very helpful for me.
Search for 'Tools' on the home page

hborre,

After loading in Akio, and V4 and the other assorted files which came with them, my folder looks much, much different.  

Many of the DAZ items have been moved about (seems to me).
I did not know that Poser 7 had heuristic folder workings. 

Now my sound it turned off somehow? ... Audio Service is not running it says .. this is very odd.

I wonder if I will have to venture into the bios?

Thank you for the help, I will be back, but I will be back more surely after I have PoserPro 2010
and am secure in the knowledge that the machine is OK.

I will attempt to make my external folders and then see if it runs.

Thank you for your assistance.

hborre, thank you for the clarification, makes more sense now. I'm on a remote pc now, so I'll get back here to review all this once I'm up and running poser again. Thanks for your patience.

WCSally, I don't think I'll be able to do what you suggested, as this was a malware, a nasty one at that, and I can't even get online anymore, had to literally pull the plug. Probably gonna set up things much differently this time around so as to avoid that in the future. I know it was just coincidence that I stumbled upon it when I clicked your link, I was probably already vulnerable and didn't know it, so no worries. What was "your issue", and what do you mean by "they chase me around the web" ??  You have some bad guys looking for you? :-)

Anyhow, hope you do well with Poser, I noticed you've been a member here for quite some time, what other forums/programs have you been using?  3D is relatively new to me, music is much more my thing, only been at 3D for a few months.

Musikman,
It seems I got snagged as well somewhere (most likely Facebook) .. I had to do a Restore point back up, and that changed all my Poser Folders yet again!  
I am finally back up and online (but not going to FB yet -- as the virus is running around there like a wild fire in high winds.  I had about 20 alerts from people I do not know, with the same subject line.

I was lucky, I have updates set so I must OK them, and when the virus loaded (on shutdown) it said it was an Update -- huh? ... and it said where it went in the registry ... so I checked and deleted it, but did not get it all!! .. Thankfully I tossed enough that I am not reduced to taking the PC in for repairs at $200/ a time.     Can you not even boot to safe mode?   If you are running XP .. then HijackThis will fix a lot of things for you, and if you are in doubt .. it will connect all by itself to Trend Micro, and send the report, and they will mail you instructions,  They are REALLY GOOD about hanging in with you and getting things back up and running.  They Keep my XP machines afloat!!  

The bug I got took out Firefox, completely, it cannot even install correctly, It cannot be run, I had to use IE 8 (gasp)  to get other browsers!!  ..  
Firefox now wants to install with higher level priviledges than it should have and the OS says "no, no, no" ... and those raised priviledges come from the OS Language Functions (which is why my spell checkers are acting up, I guess).  Gee, the web is much more complex, but things are nicer as well, Poser is much cooler than the Version 3 I tried out long ago, and the new Photoshop is almost over the top .. geeze.  

hborre, ... 
I think I have it, open the "categories tab" have poser 7 highlighted/selected,  and add the runtimes with the + sign,  from the zip files --- from some back up location where I unzip them.  ... and I should be good to go.

I will give it a try!
Thank you ....  

Advice on running anti-virus scans: if you are going to run a deep anti-virus scan, disable the restore points on your PC.  While it is enabled, it is protected from any scanning programs.  And if you have virus lurking within it, the virus will become active when you perform a restore.  By shutting it down, you allow your deep scan to penetrate those files and clean out any dormant viruses.

WC, sorry to hear you got hit with that too. I'm working on a complete makeover and will be sure to be armed with some virus and malware programs. hborre is right about the restore points, I had not thought of that.  The one that hit me took out my IE, couldn't even open it.  The virus itself even had the microsoft badge logo on some of the popups to try and trick you into thinking your windows security system was detecting something so you'll be tempted to trust it and click on it, but it was all just part of the virus/malware.  Best of luck, hope you get it sorted out. I'm not really a pc guru, so I can't be of much technical help to you I'm afraid.

I have two separate issues with Daz V4 and V3

1. After creating an external runtime for V4 I tried to run the V4 Daz installer and got an error message:  "Error reading INI File C:Program FilesDAZdzInstall.ini.  The application will exit now."

After searching the Daz FAQ I found this remedy:

To fix this problem you will first need to create this folder on your hard drive:
C:Program FilesCommon FilesDAZThen you will need to search for "dzInstall.ini" on your computer.  This will be in different locations depending on which language your system is using. Then copy the dzInstall.ini ** file* into the C:Program FilesCommon FilesDAZ folder.  After that please run the installer for the product again.*

After creating the DAZ folder I ran the search for the dzInstall.ini file but found nothing.
Any suggestions?

1. See screenshots for this one.......Following the same procedure I've loaded V3 into an external runtime that I created on my external hard drive according to instructions. The installer for V3 did not give me any error messages, but it seems the content got placed into the wrong folders within the runtime. Once I used the "add library" button in Poser, I was able to access the V3 external runtime, but it seems everything was placed in the "pose" folder and when I'm in the poser program I have nothing in the "expressions" library for V3. Is there a way to move the content to the correct folders, and what are the correct folders for each of the content folders that are now all in the pose folder? Where are they supposed to go? Can I do this in windows explorer, or is it done within the Poser program?

Many thanks,

Musikman

Th

Quote - all of the character sets you see at Daz and here at Rendo require them.

Uhm not ALL. Look for characters who state ""Original Morphs" if you want something that isn't just a dial spin of existing morphs.

I  have characters both free and for sale that WILL work with the base Daz characters because they only contain my own morphs which are supplied!

Not trying to muddle the waters  but a blanket statement like that requires an answer :)

Also I have a few tutorials on my site that may be useful. They were made when Poser 5 came out so they're a bit dated, but 99% of the information in them is still correct, And they're aimed at ABSOLUTE beginners! :)

Okay, let's back up a bit and try to sort this out.  Your first problem, I see that you were trying to install V4 using the installer designated for DAZStudio, the reason for your error message.  I am assuming that you inadvertantly used the DAZ Content installation to create the absolute path.  I recommend using Poser (All Files) for that trick. 

Your second problem is not a problem at all.  Those folders you see in Poses actually belong there; those are part of INJ/REM files created for Vicky.  DO NOT MOVE.  Now, you mentioned that you have no expressions in your library, however, I see that you have 41 files in !V3 Expressions INJ and !V3 Expressions REM.  When you say you have nothing, is it truly empty or are there icons with shrugging men?  This is important, because if it is the latter, what you are seeing are icon representations of rsr image files which are not longer supported by current Poser version.  You will need to convert those using an rsr to png conversion program found in the free section here at Rendo.

Now, those expression morphs will only introduce extra dials into your Parameters pallet, they will not automatically change the facial features.  And, btw, I discovered that V3 SAE already has expression morphs already built-in, no need to INJ those features.

I'll try to run down what I did for you. I'm pretty sure I had the correct installer for V4, but I"m only judging by the name of the file, it's: ps_pe069_Victoria4.exe, likewise the V3 installer file is: ps_pe036_V3.exe.  Maybe the filename for the Daz program version of V3 & 4 is named the same? I assumed the "ps" at the front of the file name means "poser" ?

Before my pc blew up I had previously installed V3 using my main poser directory as the target path, and V3 seemed to work fine, there were files in the poses library folder, and there were also files there when I clicked on the expressions library button, which there are not any now. To clarify, you are correct,  there are expression INJ & REM but only within the poses library, but there are none listed when I click the expressions library button, (just [0]V3 showing --**See attached pic) the expressions INJ & REM are are all in the poses part of the library, if that makes sense. (see previously attached pic) I remember about the rsr files and the ones in the poser library for V3 are rsr's with shrugging men, but they were also there the last time I had it installed, and the expressions still worked, just didn't have the png pic showing.

When I try to use the expressions, nothing happens. Prior to installing it this time, whenever I double clicked on any expression, ie....left eye blink, it would cause the left eye to close, and so on. Not doing that now, that's why I thought they were in the wrong folders. Plus this time it's an external runtime on my external HD, do the folders & files look like yours, I mean in the same place? Here you will find the instructions I followed to do the procedure for setting up the external runtime and installing V4:

http://support.smithmicro.com/cs/smkb.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2257

One thing you'll notice is that my folder heirarchy is F:POSER RUNTIMESV3Runtime, instead of the V3 folder being a direct folder ie...F:V3Runtime as in the instructions. Don't know if that makes any difference. I also noticed that the readme folder got installed ahead of the runtime folder, (see the tree pic) and when the installer finished and tried to display the readme file, it couldn't locate it.

Hopefully I'll get this all straight soon. Thanks for your time Hborre, much appreciate the help.

Musikman

EDIT: Ok, just figured out I need to select "head" instead of "left eye" and now I see the blink dials and the eyelids close when I turn them.  Sorry for the confusion!  I'm still not sure my files are where they're supposed to be, but if they all work then I guess maybe it's just a different setup than before.

Still have to figure out why the M4 installer is looking for a Daz ini file, it would make sense that you are correct,  I must have downloaded the wrong one?  I didn't see any specific area of the Daz site that only listed figures for Poser, maybe that's where I went wrong?

Thanks again

Musikman

The newer DAZ installers have both Poser and DAZStudio files integrated into one, hence the selection for either flavors.  I just double-checked M4's product page and indeed it appears that 1 installer contains Poser/DS files.  The PowerLoader is Studio specific and the third supplies the material files necessary for Studio.  When you install M4, you will come across a window that will specify which file types to choose.  There is a pull down menu for the selection field, select Poser (All files).  After clicking next, you will be prompted to select a runtime destination.  Hope this helps.

Ok, I just tried to run the same V4 installer again and this time it worked, very strange that I was getting that message earlier today. Well at least it's working now, I'm not going to rack my brain over it at this point! :-)

Does my file setup for my external runtime look ok? I just thought it strange that everything went into the pose library. With the default Poser figures, there are poses in the pose library, expressions in the expressions library, so I thought it would follow the same with the Daz figures.

Thanks again hborre.

That set up look correct.  True expressions are actually pose files placed into their own category.  Those expressions INJ/REM files are simply to inject the morphing capacity into your mesh; dials are created in the Parameter pallet for more exacting control.

Ok, beginning to understand now. So these Daz figures are either setup a bit different from the default poser figures, or I'm not seeing anything in the expression folders for V3 & V4 because I haven't yet purchased the full morph++ package. That must be why the poser default figures have files in the expression folders because they come with a complete set of morphs already.

Well, as long as you're saying the folder and library setups look correct, then that's how I'll install the rest of the figures I get from Daz in the future. At least I finally have some reference point of how things should look. Many thanks!

Musikman

 This is quite an energetic thread, to say the least!  It's refreshing to see all these newcomers thrash about, setting up their Poser gear.  No doubt you'll be rendering masterpieces before too long.  

I have one advice.  When you've got the basic technical stuff nailed try looking for some tutorials and articles on artistic approach.  In Poser you have a figure and a camera, much like in traditional art and photography and therefor same "rules" apply when doing images in Poser.  You can search stuff like Point of View (POV), Balance, Rule of Third, Color Theory etc.   And like carodan said about the principles of 3D, you don't need to master these techniques but they can really help you produce better images.

Welcome to the Poserverse!!

OK, enough hours of not getting Poser 7 to do anything ... I am really, really lost.  I can take Simon out and put Mil Horse in; I cannot load the textures or the forms of the various breeds.

I cannot seem to make it do anything at all .... and I know it is just me.

The help links in this old program are gone (domains for sale) .. or under construction.

Many of Acadia's links are likewise out of date.

I did try Dr. Geep's but he seems to start where the PDF starts ... Cameras, lights, etc and that is not exactly where I am at  .... I am at -- make it look like it is supposed to, --- and then worry about poses, magnets, etc ...   The object must be secured ...  before you add textures ???

I read it, I cannot find select the object (Object Menu / make ?) ...  I will try and read some more, but there must be a way to get over the first bump of how it works ...

I can do things in Shade,  granted it is not the same, but it is 3D.  So I get the lingo, just not the GUI. 

Are there any video tuts for the very, very basic stuff .. the things you need when you first look at a program and OPEN does not even work for you? ... 

TIA
Sally

Sally, give us a rudimentary issue you would like clarified first and we can proceed in small steps.  Apparently, you are overwhelmed about where to actually start with this program, and you are not alone.  You, at least, figured out how to swap figures which is a beginning.  We just need to nudge you in the right direction.

I feel like I have not read enough or checked for tutorials enough.  I feel like I must have missed something / somewhere .... ....
I think Poser 5 came with a book, but it is certainly down in storage where I will never get to it without hours of shifting boxes and furniture. ... No excuse; Google should have been good enough ... I suspect I need hand holding .. oh sad.    Likely true.

I need a little primer on HOW what happens in each room Happens ... like this and that switch must be set, or no amount of clicking will do anything (at least that is where my brain thinks I am). This machine has enough ram it should not lag, but it does ... so I am being very patient.

I can put Mil Horse in the window (mouse click Simon, hit delete key, find Mil Horse and click once ??or twice?? --stress-I should not stress!!) ... I can find the textures which I loaded to the program as you indicated .. but now they do not load to the controls ... They do not show in the library (are there not supposed to be thumbnails of the textures, etc?).  Or is that a later version, this is version 7 and not the pro model.

I cannot get the Mil Horse to accept any of the custom textures (in fact I cannot even see them because it seems I clicked on the Mil Horse's default color, and that is what loaded in place of the Custom Textures which I got to load into the controls on the first try ... but they will not come back.  (and I cannot remember how I got them to load in the first place) ...

[[are other people afraid of breaking the Program if they do something wrong? ... I know it is silly, and I know I should not be affected like that, but I am ... it is another stress thing, it will go away when I know what I am doing.]]

So something is amiss. 

Thanks.

Have you installed the Service Release packs for P7?  There are, at least, three.  I would strongly recommend downloading and installing them before you proceed.  It should clear some of the issues you are experiencing.  Visit the SmithMicro website. 

There is an electronic manual and tutorial PDF embedded in your Poser folder which I also recommend reading.  They will explain each of the functions and dispense tips how to efficiently use them.  You need to go through a familiarization process to successfully learn the basics. 

There is a video tutorial from Lynda.com specifically created for P7.  There is a subscription for the service, however there are free sample moduals you can access for preview.

http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=271

OK, have Poser7-CH1, P7-Content Errata, Poser7-CU1, and Poser7-SR3 ... hope that fixes things up a bit.

I have a free 30 day sub on Lynda dot com, but have not used it much as PS is being cranky since the fix, and will not load.  I likely will pay for sub service there next month, so it is really good to know that Poser is also there.  Thanks

I was considering downloading the Poser 8 free trial, but they do not say if they charge your card after 30 days ... and actually, if I were to pay $250, I would rather be buying Pro 2012!! ...

Silly to have to pay another upgrade fee if I could not come up with the $250 for the 2012 purchase in 30 days, and they charged my card for P-8!! ... is that how it works? ... or not? ... there is no way to know if they would do that or not ...  so I left the shopping cart and did not download P8.

OK, off to try some more ... calmly I hope.

Thank you for the assist

Things are looking up, but I have noticed that my mouse or stylus, never seems to do anything but jump about on the screen if it is in a room-- even well away from any actors or props!! -- (i.e. inside the interface); and often it is Adobe Reader's hand which is trying to select the camera controls.

Perhaps (or not) the reason:

I was looking for somthing in my start button menu,  ... and I found a folder at the very top called "(Default)" -- it had Poser in it just as it shows in the normal folder!!

... and then down in the list in alphabetical order was Smith-Micro and Poser, etc  in the very normal fashion  .... 

Surely I should not have two installations of Poser on my machine!! But which should I uninstall .. the one which looks odd seems correct .. but I have never encountered this  before ... and ... I "'ONLY' INSTALLED FROM THE CD ONE TIME" ... REALLY!!  moreover .. when I ask it to open the (Default) folder it just sits there .. nada .. as it were.

I just had to bring this over here and ask ...

2.  Legacy items --- are they availabe on the CD like P5, or can (must) they be installed, and can they be? ... after the fact -- since I left them out on the install?

Also is there a URL to store information about how long items stay in the store? 

Could there be a note on store items which must have another item when that Item is no longer offered on Renderosity?  I see I must now join "Daz Club" for a while.  Perhaps everyone else knows this, but such a tag might avoid some confusion later on for others.

TIA ... Sally

You can get the P5 Content updater here if you don't have it on your CD

http://support.contentparadise.com/updates/index.html

HTH

MM

Thanks Musikman,

I have the content CD for V5, it is the stuff after 5 and before 8 which I am craving to find. I loaded the P8 content when the Program went on, but not the Legacy stuff.

I cannot actually see much in my library either .. maybe it was the wierd install?

I remarked out the "Defalut" items and Poser runs much better --selection issues went away totally!

But it does not have anything in the library similar to what shows in the Tutorial Manual.  PC will go in for repair and likely new HD in early 2011!!

I am not really wanting to run the install CD again, but if that is the only way to find the missing content ... ??? ...

I have quite a bit of stuff from Shade 8, but it also is not separate ... and not loaded.

Do you have any idea why I would get the NO GO icon (slashed-circle) with the Mouse when trying to drop and drag a character from the library to the Pose room? .... It has happened a couple times now, and I really don't know why it does not want to load the actor / pose.

Too many things I don't yet understand, but I can now import and clothe, and pose,

HOWEVER ... making the clothes stay on .. I have not gotten that far, the actor translaters off and the clothes stay put ... sad fate for a Poser character.  I'll find it I guess.  .... just patience -- and more tutorials.

Have a good weekend!

I have never encountered the "NO GO" thing myself, so I can't be of much help there. Did you try double clicking instead of dragging it over? Not sure if that would make any difference but might be worth a try.

As for the clothing staying on the actor/figure you have to use the "conform to" command to make the clothes stay with the figure. In my minimal experience I think you have to "zero" the figure to default pose first (Figure menu/Zero figure) so it's in the basic pose before adding clothing, the conforming will be much more difficult if you have already moved the figure around. Once you have loaded the clothing onto the figure, select one piece of the clothing to test conforming it. Go to the Figure menu again and select "conform to", then select the figure's name. Btw, it does help  to use "conforming clothing" that was created specifically for that figure and many times bears the same name as the figure, and easier than dynamic clothing,  but I haven't had much experience with dynamic clothing so I can't advise much on that.

HTH

MM

Double-clicking will bring the character onto the stage rather than drag & drop.

It is not true that the character needs to be in zero position for conforming clothing to work.  It is actually advisable that the figure is in its final pose before applying any conforming clothing.  In that manner, you can easily correct pokethroughs and make final adjustments before rendering.

I always double click first ... drag and drop is the route of last attempt.

So glad to hear that clothes can go on the posed figure.  However, with one set I do not have any success, and have to dress her in Zero position.  The metal fillagree loads to Zero all by itself.

I have not found the way to determine what kind of clothing I have ... but it adjusts with the body morph dials for the actor? ... any! of the body morph dials!!  ...  ???

Figure menu; ... thanks.

What room or camera has the "grasp" command for the hands?

I found it once and now that I need it, I cannot find it again!

I was not in hand camera when it was on the dials ... and yet it has never come up again on the dials ... though I have had to work with hands many times.

Do certain sets of clothing or props come with adjusted dials in them? ... I see some have the translate dials added at the bottom ... which was very helpful!!

It is an amazing piece of software.  Much to learn.

hi all,

I'm not a newby on 3D but I decided to relearn Poser bottom up. Perhaps it's of some help if I share my approach here.

1. decide upon a style, and learn about it. I decided to go photoreal, and started reading a bunch of (e)books on portrait group bridal animal etc photography. Lighting, pose, camera handling, and so on

2. select some images in that style and try to recreate them as close as possible. Currently, some of the female nude shots by rianeli (here on Rendo) work best for me. Just a camera, some lights, one V4, pair of sandals and basic hair, and that's it. No dynamics, no clothes, no props, no expressions. Just do it. Continue till you can't see the difference. Then ramp up to more complex shots, few props dynamic hair more complex skin textures (like Fand's shots).

Or, when you're into cartoon style and animation, recreate a simple 2D sequence into 3D. Like the flamengo short in Disneys Fantasia2000. 

1. I never use the Poser library, it sucks, and whatever you do, can't be re-used in carrara or Daz Studio or so. I use P3dO instead, the basic version is free (www.senosoft.com). It rocks, and yarp provides bout the best support available on earth.

2. make images or shorts that tell a story. Rendo already has too much on images that show how to dress up, to pose and to push the render button. Publish on Rendo and explicitely ask for constructive comments. I know all OOhh and Woww will make you feel good, but will not improve your works.

Have fun, happy posing.

Quote - What room or camera has the "grasp" command for the hands? I found it once and now that I need it, I cannot find it again!

I was not in hand camera when it was on the dials ... and yet it has never come up again on the dials ... though I have had to work with hands many times.

Do certain sets of clothing or props come with adjusted dials in them? ... I see some have the translate dials added at the bottom ... which was very helpful!!

It is an amazing piece of software.  Much to learn.

Hi Sally... to work the grasp thingie, you have to be in the Pose room (which is the main one, I guess) and any camera where you can see the hands move should work. The dials for grasp are in the Parameter Dials dialogue... you can find that under the menu Window. It would be in the Parameters tab, and you would have to have Morphs++ loaded for V4 to make it work and have one of the Hands selected. In the Parameters list, it comes under MorphForms.

Most conforming clothing comes with adjustment dials, but you can more - i.e., the ones you actually need - with a nifty programme called Morphing Clothes by Dimension3D. Cheap at the price, it will add those morphs for the figure you want to put the clothing on, which is very helpful!

Hi aRtBee,

Thanks!

3. I never use the Poser library, it sucks, and whatever you do, can't be re-used in carrara or Daz Studio or so. I use P3dO instead, the basic version is free (www.senosoft.com). It rocks, and yarp provides bout the best support available on earth.

4. make images or shorts that tell a story. Rendo already has too much on images that show how to dress up, to pose and to push the render button. Publish on Rendo and explicitely ask for constructive comments. I know all OOhh and Woww will make you feel good, but will not improve your works.

I have P3do now, will give it a good looking at .. it seems a god send because I will be working the animnations between 3 separte programs .. and I don't think (?) I could save the scenes to work in each without being able to save in Obj. !  Much appreciated.* *

I have not found those "many pages on how to dress, pose and render" .. but now I will increase my looking for them.

I need to find, however, a forum where I can regularly participate, hone my skills, and get constructive criticism!! 

-- I see the gallery item here, which I will use, because it's good site support .. and it is always good to back you software people, (and fun).  But I need the modeling help (really) too, and I am thinking Myrie (?) -- where I purchased Shade 10.  This is an idea, I have not yet done the howdy-dos.

Thanks for your input, see you around, perhaps?

Sally