Hello, I Just started using Poser on an imac, I did not know where to download all the freebies & paid third party products, so (being a newbie) I downloaded them all to users/shared/poser9 content/downloads/runtime/libraries/character.  So I'm figureing I need to move them to other places, like camera pose prop etc.. Am I correct ? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks regilio

Welcome to the Poser community.  We are glad that you joined us.

Technically, in the current Version of Poser (9/2012) you can put any file in any folder.

It isn't recommended however.

Runtime structures are can be like snowflakes - everyone is different and unique.  Some folks have 1 massive runtime with everything in 1 place.  Others have multiple runtimes.

I belong to the multiple runtime school.  I have found it easier to maintain (and more importantly), it is a whole lot easier to find something with multiple runtimes than it is in 1 runtime.  My Runtime structure is as follows:

The Top folder is called:

!! Additional Runtimes (Not very creative, but it is clear - the "!!" insures that this is the top folder)

Inside that folder is a seperate folder for each of my characters (Apollo Maximus, Antonia, A3 (for Aiko 3), etc.

As far as how each runtime is structured it goes like this:

Runtime/subfolders:

Geometries - your obj files go here.

Textures - you texture files (*.jpg, *.png, etc) go here

Libraries  - Subfolders:

Camera - your camera files (*.cm2) go here

Character - your character files (*.cr2) go here

Face - your expression (*.fc2) go here

Hair - Hair files (*.hr2) go here

Hand - Hand files (*.hd2) go here

Light - Lighting files (*.lt2) go here

Materials - Material files (*.mt5 & *.mc6) go here.

Pose - Pose & material files* (*.pz2) files go here

Props - Prop files (*.pp2) go here

Scene - (*.Pz3) files go here

Now let me go over some of the exceptions......

Much to everyone's annoyance, Poser still has some cruft leftover from Poser 4 and it is still being used today. 

Let's start with those extra folders in the libraries folder......

The folders that I listed above (Camera, Character, Face, etc) can be seen in the Poser main window.  As you install products, you will discover that some products will add additional subfolders (that can't be seen) in the main Poser window. These are usually morph packs.  An example is the M3/V3 body morphs from DAZ for Michael 3 and Victoria 3.

The most common example is the !DAZ folder.  Thes folders hold morphs that are called by a figure that you may load.  For example, if you the Michael 3 morph pack has a !DAZ folder.  Inside that folder is a subfolder labeled Michael 3.  And it has various subfolders in it (and sometimes other 3rd party vendors will add subfolders to them.)

LEAVE THESE FOLDERS EXACTLY WHERE THEY ARE IN THE LIBRARIES FOLDER!

Sorry about shouting, but this is important.

When a product installs one of these invisible folders, the files in them are hard coded.  By that I mean that if I go to use those body morphs, Poser will look for that pz2 file in that specific location.  If you move that !DAZ folder to anyplace but where it was originally placed in the Runtime folder, Poser will ask you for the location of EVERY SINGLE INJECTION.  And no, selecting no doesn't stop it from going down the list; it just stops looking for that pz2 files and goes to the next one. 

So let me repeat this:

LEAVE THESE FOLDERS EXACTLY WHERE THEY ARE IN THE LIBRARIES FOLDER!

Moving on to Materials and Poses.....

You will find a lot of material files hiding out the the Pose folder.  This is yet another pre-Poser 5 artifact.  With the advent of Poser 5, Curious Labs (The owners of Poser at the time.), added the Material folder and a new file type for materials (such as skin, fabrics, etc) - the *mt5 file type.  This was improved apon in Poser 6 with the *.mc6 file type. 

A lot of vendors still make their materials as *.pz2 files.  (This is so they can sell to the Daz Studio folks and/or they are too damned lazy to spend 10 seconds to convert them from pz2 to mc6 files) 

You can easily convert material files from *.pz2 to *.mc6 files with Batch Material converter:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/batch-material-convert/89330/

It can automatically convert any material *.pz2 file to a *.mc6 file and will also automatically make an identical subfolder in the materials folder.  This way, your materials are in the materials folder and poses are in the pose folder.  The way they should be in the 21st Century.

I hope this has helped. I would recommend that in the future, if you have questions, ask them in the main Poser forum.  You will get your questions answered quicker.

And once again, welcome to the Poser community.

Thanks ssgbryan,

I appreciate the help, will take your advice, and use the main Poser forum int the future.

Thanks again

regilio

Well, bloody hell... Thank you so much, **ssgbryan. **

This information will simplify my life so much. So glad I lurk in the forums.

A virtual pint going your way, mate.