Hello All.

I'd like to know what it takes to make clothes for Poser charactes V4 and M4. Can someone recommend some learning books, videos, software etc.? I'm interested in making clothes such as robes, veils, capes, ... typical bible era clothing. I've already checked varioius similar clothing products already made but they are not what I'm looking for so I'd like to try making my own or at least know what is needed to make such clothes.

First you need a modeling program. Hexagon, Blender, Wings3D and Truespace are cheap or free. Hex is the one I use and find it the easiest.

Second you need to learn to model and rig.

Third you should read the tutorials on this site as to how to make conforming and dynamic cloth and use the cloth room.

There is probably a lot more but that is a good start. LOL

Also you might check out PhilC's article in 3DArtist this month or last, it was very detailed on this subject.

Learning how to model will take time and effort.

Once you get your modeling accomplished then http://www.contentparadise.com/productDetails.aspx?id=812

Quote - First you need a modeling program. Hexagon, Blender, Wings3D and Truespace are cheap or free. Hex is the one I use and find it the easiest.

Second you need to learn to model and rig.

Third you should read the tutorials on this site as to how to make conforming and dynamic cloth and use the cloth room.

There is probably a lot more but that is a good start. LOL

The "And Rig" bit you can get around - and save yourself a lot of frustration - by getting PhilC's Obj2Cr2. It completely takes the pain out of rigging conforming clothing. Best investment stuff...

A Different Opinion ! 

for capes and robes you should have a look at dynamic clothing if you use Poser.  Instead of conforming you model the clothing item , and then run a cloth simulation to fit it to the posed figure. Dynamic works well for capes and loose fitting stuff where conforming becimes a problem with long skirts.

To make conforming clothes grouping and using a donor cr2 is not that difficult , and just needs some joint adjustments.

you can make the grouping in blender 2.49.

you load M4 for example. make every groupp a different color. then you make the cloth semi transparent. and then you only select teh vertices under like on M4. export the polygroups and you have all the important body groups done.

then you load a blank M4 file and you are 50% done.

it will take time to learn. i am still learning.

If you want to make clothes, I would start with dynamic while you are getting the hang of modeling. So you're not overwhelmed with all the stuff you have to learn at once. Learning the cloth room in Poser is a little easier than learning how to rig. I've started making dynamic clothes here recently, but my 1st outfit had some conforming elements. I spent a LOT of time just doing the rigging and fixing the "poke thru" issues when joints were bent. Some people may disagree with me, but as a "somewhat" noob myself, I would say start with some dynamic clothes to begin with, then once you get the hang of modeling and all that, then start the conforming. That is, unless you get the Obj2Cr2 program.

No, that's pretty good advice.  "Making clothing for Poser" is actually MANY separate skill sets that don't have anything to do with each other, better to take a modular approach and learn it in parts rather than trying to start from scratch and master everything all at the same time.  Things you have to learn:

• Modeling (and before that, spend some time on design really) ... just getting past the point of making a cube or cylinder is a massive amount of brainwork, don't let anybody fool you.  Learning the specific steps to do anything at all in your modeler is again a ton of mental effort that has to be done before you can even start.

• UVmapping ... another immensely complicated task that will take you a lot of time to learn, but is pretty necessary for any 3D work.  You don't have to get into UVmapping on your first day, but for any kind of advanced work you'll eventually have to learn it.

• Import/Export between whatever modeler you use and Poser; complicated, frustrating, and a complete roadblock until you learn the issues and how to solve them.  In fact it's not a bad idea to select your modeler based on what can get models in and out of Poser in a state suitable for rigging.

• Rigging in Poser ... although for conforming clothing this is greatly simplified, since mostly you will be adapting an existing rig onto your model, the tools are very complicated and require a lot of learning and practice in order to get anywhere at all with them.  For what you're talking about, biblical era clothing, much of it probably would look better if treated as dynamic rather than trying to rig it anyway, so you probably also want to learn ...

• Dynamics, which requires some fairly different modeling techniques and considerations from how you'd model for conforming clothing.  For example, the model has to be connected together so that it will not fall apart, and has to be cut in a way that will drape over the character under gravity the way you want it to.

• All the idiosyncracies of Poser itself, and polishing content into a deliverable state.  You can cut a lot of corners if the stuff you're making is only for your personal use, but still, you probably want it to be halfway pleasant to use and functional.

If you're starting from scratch it's reasonable to get a comprehensive tutorial like DarkEdge's, so you can find out WHAT YOU NEED TO FIND OUT.  Prepare yourself for the irritation and heartbreak of wasting money on tools that end up being completely unsuitable for what you want, and don't expect to be productive for at least a year or two.

If you had the idea of trying to do this for money, seriously go flip burgers or something.

Duh I forgot Texturing, another large body of skill.

my problem is that after days of modeling i dont want to texure.

so texturing is always bad on my clothes because i got bored.

After days of modeling I don't want to model. LOL I need long breaks from it. LOL