It is about that time for me to upgrade my computer.  I may take the opportunity to switch from PC to MAC.  I don't want to start a big MAC vs PC hallaballoo.  Lets just assume that all else equal, I would make the switch for my own reasons, and I'm not looking for anyone to talk me out of it, or talk me into it.

What I would like to know beforehand, what are the financial implications for my Poser program and my Poser content?  Would I generally have to repurchase the MAC versions if I wanted to generally maintain my current library of extra stuff?  I have Poser 9 for PC (not PoserPro).  I have quite a bit of Poser-related content bought from the renderosity store (and elsewhere + freebies), always in the PC format when there was a choice.

Has anyone made this migration before - and how much content did you lose, if anything?

Note - if you want to throw in some information regarding related 3D programs, etc. that would be great, but I understand this is the Poser forum.

I'm not following your question. Here's my experience. I have a bunch of Poser external runtimes on a USB drive. (Not a thumb drive, a big spinning disk, but externally mounted in its own box. It's about 1 terabyte and cost $99 a few years ago. They are cheaper now. )

I unplugged that from the PC.

I plugged it into my Mac.

Done.

Hi Ted,

Could you please explain that a little clearer?

:-)

Tom

It could be that what Bagginsbill describes is the end of the story, which would be TREMENDOUS.

When I purchased Poser, there was a PC version and a Mac version.  There were PC and Mac versions of content.  I was just assuming that if I bought a Mac, that my PC versions of the Poser software and content would not always run, or if it did, that there would be extra hiccups unless I got the Mac versions.

If that is wrong, hooray! One less thing to worry about.

If I have learned one thing, Ted is never wrong, well most of the time. :-)

Good to see you posting again Ted.

Tom

Good to see you Ted!  Lots of paying work I take it? 

If you have the physical Poser 9, you can install to a Mac from the same DVD.  I have the download version of PP 2012, which came with a download of both versions; I don't know if the Poser 9 download is the same way...

Sorry for yelling, but it really is t-r-e-m-e-n-d-o-u-s, if I don't have to reconstruct all the Mac versions when migrating. 

if your Poser P9 was a download, not a hardcopy. you will likely have to re-purchase P9 as a Mac version, unless you bought the extended download service.

only the boxed Poser discs come with both Mac and PC versions.

as BB said, copy your runtimes over to an external drive. a new mac should recognize it straight away. then its just a matter of linking the runtimes to the library.

Quote - I'm not following your question. Here's my experience. I have a bunch of Poser external runtimes on a USB drive. (Not a thumb drive, a big spinning disk, but externally mounted in its own box. It's about 1 terabyte and cost $99 a few years ago. They are cheaper now. )

I unplugged that from the PC.

I plugged it into my Mac.

Done.

Running a virtual PC on a Mac?  Aren't the binaries different?

Other than that, the hardware is more expensive, remember that as well.  ;)

Quote -
Running a virtual PC on a Mac?  Aren't the binaries different?

Other than that, the hardware is more expensive, remember that as well.  ;)

The runtimes are the same either way...

Actually the binaries may well be the same, at least for 32-bit, as they are both Intel architecture...

If I can't re-use my digital purchase of Poser 9, I note that the PoserPro sale through Renderosity is cheaper than the sidegrade price on the SmithMicro website.  I could take advantage of the sale and move to PoserPro at the same time.

SmithMicro just told me that PoserPro that is sold through contentparadise allows hybrid (either/both?) PC and Mac download on digital (not just physical), and that if I got extended download, then the iniital download could have been PC and the later download could be Mac in a situation like mine.  The key is extended download.  Otherwise, it is only for 30 days.

Yes; I downloaded both versions, just in case...

I suspect the OP is concerned because most DAZ items come with both PC and Mac installers. It is my understanding that the only reason the different installers are needed is, well, to accomodate the different computers during unpacking. The resulting runtimes are, afaik, identical.

Short answer: Bagginsbill is spot on.

(And yes... good to see you back, BB!)

Quote - The key is extended download.  Otherwise, it is only for 30 days.

They are DELIGHTED to sell you extended download at anytime after your purchase. Ask me how I know. It's a very liberal policy and can be handeled through the website without contacting support.

The follow-on comments have it right, but just to be clear.

I'm saying that my already-installed content (previously "installed/unpacked" into these runtime folders) works as-is.

I do not have to run mac-installers, as all they do is assemble my folders. Since my folders are already assembled, moving them to the Mac is all that needs to be done.

This is not the case for the actual program, or any plugins that include compiled binary libraries (.pyd files or .dll files). Programs are built for the target OS and will not run on a different OS. Poser content is generally not built for the target OS and can be used by whatever kind of Poser you have.

However, if you wish to install something new you will need a Mac installer for that new thing, not the Windows installer.

Once installed, said content can be transferred without any extra work. This is why zip files are better than installers, too, IMO.

Quote - Good to see you Ted!  Lots of paying work I take it? 

Thanks. Yes lots of work. In fact, speaking of zip files, I'm doing lots of work for PKWARE, the company that invented the zip file.

I designed and helped build Viivo.

Check it out.

http://viivo.com/

Viivo is actually useful if you're paranoid. You can keep stuff in free cloud storage with almost absolute certainty that nobody can read it. (I only say almost because if you let somebody hack your computer and become you and you let it remember your Viivo password for you, then it's game over. But in that case, they already got your files off your computer directly.)

It encrypts stuff transparently and then sends it to the dropbox. Said encrypted stuff is automatically decrypted by your other devices. The keys never leave your computer, so even the administrators of Viivo cannot divulge your content to anybody - not even the US government.  It also manages sharing with other people, and does so while letting you control who can access the content. No administrator or government agency can do anything about it.

Once Viivo is installed and set up, you can forget it. It will handle everything automatically. If you modify a file in your protected area, Viivo will detect the change and just encrypt that. You can even put an entire Poser runtime into Viivo and it will be kept in sync on all your computers, while remaining unreadable to anybody else. (Well they can read the file and folder names, but not the contents, if they are a dropbox administrator. We are considering offering file name encryption as well, but that means you will not be able to "see" your files in the dropbox web site anymore.)

It uses RSA-2048 and AES-256 encryption technologies. Your bank data already is held in "the cloud" using similar technology, so if you think it's not good enough, then stop using banks. With Viivo, you hold the encryption keys. Banks don't do that, so if they get a subpoena they can and will reveal your data to investigators. This is because the bank holds the keys, not you. With Viivo, you hold the keys.

Here's a recent, unbiased, unsolicited review:

http://www.web2andmore.net/2013/03/13/viivo-encryption-for-cloud-computing-is-simplicity-itself/

Quote - > Quote - Good to see you Ted!  Lots of paying work I take it? 

Thanks. Yes lots of work. In fact, speaking of zip files, I'm doing lots of work for PKWARE, the company that invented the zip file.

I designed and helped build Viivo.

Check it out.

http://viivo.com/

Looks interesting.  Hopefully they can make money with it...

Have you got many external runtimes?  there are python scripts that can load a folder full of external runtimes into poser all in one hit as poser only allows you to add a runtime one by one into poser.  that would be a lot of work for me if I was switching.  

I have a mac so let me know if you have any problems but it should all just work the same without the need to do very much at all apart from add the runtimes from within poser.

Viivo looks very useful BB... thanks for the heads up.

As for the mac / PC content thing... as everyone has said, there should be no difference for current content. Copy your runtimes over. Not much more to it... unless you're actually looking to reinstall, anything, i.e. using the DAZ Installers. That would just be a case of downloading the alternate installer though, after resetting the download.

I didn't opt for the extended download when I purchased my digital copy of Poser Pro 2012. But I did download both Mac and PC files, just in case.

The one thing I've found with being on a mac is with some add-ons, scripts and so forth... for example, Morphing Clothes... and most of the Poser File Editor programs I've seen... are Windows only.

However, even that limitation can be fairly easily gotten around, using something like WineBottler... thanks to Esther and a few others for recommending that to me in a previous thread, if I recall correctly...

To be honest though... I get by quite happily with the bundled version of Wardrobe Wizard and OS X's TextEdit, for editing cr2s etc.

So GLAD I found this post ,

 I have just gone to mac and have asked this question to . I may be mad , but my wiffy loves her apple gear and thumb on head , persuaded me to get an imac. She loves it .....

For me , it`s a whole new system and is screwing with my PC ways. I have used poser for many years , from version 1. However , since version 7 and learning to setup runtimes in a reasonable way . Using the imac , is , well , new. I had purchased Poser pro 2012 and hardly used do to our circumstances.

So , having the hard copy , installed to the imac . What a dream ,.......... Installed so easy......

Untill , and I am preparded to redue all content I have purchased from here /Daz / Rdna etc, I downloaded V4.2 from Daz and was told in so many words "You can not install this etc ".

 Ok , so after researching found I had to give permission . Did this , just for the V4.2 and it installed into a folder in Applictions/ poser / 4 folder...............hm. Ok booted up Poser and it did not go into main folder of Poser ..............

Here we go..... so searching the web , came up with no darn help , seemed to me that no mac users have openly shown newbie mac peeps How to.

Then I found at good old Renderosity this post. Wow.......

So , now I wished I had saved my PC poser runtimes on a exturnal drive.....

On the Daz site , they are about to change everything , no more installers , just a Daz installer. Sounds good but scary as with all new things , well you know.....

If , and I say " Please " loudly ,  would a Mac expert / user help , from , a  Mac newbie point ,on how to download and install to the mac OS x 10.8.3. And if possible setting up seperate runtimes on the Mac system .

Then please help.... Thank you in advance ,

To the Poster , go for it if you can , the mac seems very good ...............

Hi Peterpan

Try re-running that V4 installer (may run the uninstaller first if you opted to install that and can find where it installed to).

Anyway, when you re-run the installer, you should get an option "target application" - set to "Poser (All Files)", then, on the subsequent screen, you get a "Destination Directory" option.

You can use the browse button to change this to your "Poser Pro 2012 Content" folder (within which is your main Poser runtime).

That main runtime enclosing folder is in the following path on the mac:

"/Users/Shared/Poser Pro 2012 Content"

You could probably just copy and paste the above over the default "/Applications/Poser 4" option.

Alternately, create a new "Victoria4" folder in the "/Users/Shared/Poser Pro 2012 Content" folder or within the "/Users/Shared/" folder. Add the "Victoria4" folder as a new runtime, from the Poser Library window...

...there's a button (top right I think it is) in the Poser Library window / panel to add further runtimes (by selecting the folder enclosing the runtime folder structure).

Obviously the additional runtimes can be any location you choose, more or less.

Although, ideally they should either be under the "/Users/Shared" or under your own folder (e.g. Peterpan or whatever your computer username is, under the "/Users" folder)... to avoid any permissions issues that could arise.

Also, it could be on an external USB or firewire, etc, drive.

Any help so far?

:)

@ monkeycloud, Thank you very much , will try this tonight and post back  . I had read that things are different in mac systems , and as ours is OS X 10.8.3, I had no idea what had changed let alone how to .  Thank you very much