I know I'm a short-tempered man, but this is just freaking ridiculous. I just bought the Eagle Expansion Pack from DAZ. Now I understand why Poser's mascot is an acrobat. First off, the download is 18 MB. But...you also have to download the library files application from DAZ, which is another 4.5 MB. That's not so bad, but wait, there's more! You have to load the textures and MAT files first, and then load the library files. The original eagle has to be placed EXACTLY, or the new library files will not load. For DAZ's information, not all of us like to put Poser in the Metacreations/Poser4 directory. Since I don't have mine set up that way, I had to create a long string of dummy folders just to get the damn installer to work. When I got it all installed, I had to move it all over to my regular folders and delete the dummy ones. THAT was a pain in the ass. Sigh. But that's not all. The textures have confusing filenames...so confusing that until you're very familiar with them, you'd be hard pressed to know which one you're dealing with unless you open it outside of Poser. This is a problem they could have dealt with. Here's my biggest grief with the pack: the MAT files. It was thoughtful of them to include MAT pose files in the package...that almost makes up for the goofy file names. HOWEVER, when you load up your figure, then load up a MAT file, it asks you to find the *.bum texture. Hey, that would be great if there actually WERE *.bum files included! The bump files are in jpg format, (which is good, because who knows how big this file would have been otherwise). I'm running Pro Pack, which means that it's not going to convert the .jpgs to .bums. So every time I load a MAT pose file, I'm going to have to tell it to ignore the bump map, wait for Poser to stop freaking out, then apply the bump map myself (even though Poser says that the said texture has already been opened. All this happened after it took me over an hour and a half to get DAZ's ordering system to work. Not a good start. Eventually, I got so disgusted with the package that I just stopped playing with it. I'll try again later. All in all, NOT a favorable first impression. You've been doing this for a while, DAZ...can we please get beyond these stupid problems? All it takes is a little common sense.

You are right, not a good start. Im german with german poser.I have to the thing with copying and moving files every time.Searching for files that are spread somewhere around in my poserfolder because the directories in german poser have different names.And because most of the times there is no readme included you dont even know,what to search for.

Just ta help you a bit, here's a quick way to correct the .BUM problem...I don't own the Eagle Expansion, but it's worked on other MAT files flawlessly: 1. Open your MAT .pz2 file in WordPad (NOT Notepad) 2. Use the Replace feature from the Edit menu. Do a 'Replace all' of .BUM with .JPG 3. Save the file (new name or not, your choice) This will now have the MAT files reference the .JPG file directly, rather than the .BUM file. Saved me a lot of headaches, and really only took seconds on any file I ran into the problem with. Sorry you're having troubles, I hope this helps a little...

I have the same experience than you sergeantJack.It takes a long time before i see the first modified eagle on my screen.I email to B L Render and he answers about an update soon for ProPack.He suggest me the same you did ,ChromeTiger.But the textures are very nice and the bigwing eagle bonus you can download from the 3dMenagerie site is good and have some special poses not possible before with the eagle

Please don't think this is a flame...but i have a question for you. Did u read the install text and follow the instructions as per the text? You do know that Bloodsong is the creator of the Eagle expansion pack, and that it would have been much more effeicient and expeditious to have contacted them by IM or email, rather than start a rant here in the forum? Bloodsong is a very receptive vendor and will bend over backwards to assist. I think posting a "RANT" to start with is bad form. First port of call is to contact the vendor directly after reading the setup text and checking twice that you have followed instructions to the letter. Like I said...no flames intended.....just suggestions. GOOD LUCK

Although it is easy to change the MAT files, they are so small that vendors could easily provide clearly labeled alternate folders with pointers to .bum and .jpg file names. And there should always be an option to dump the folders and contents in one location, AND a clear list of all the filenames and relationships, so you can put them where you want. That said, those of us who use non-standard locations should learn how to change the file pointers ourselves; it's not hard. (Probably time for Dan Wilmes to pop in with a nod to CR2Edit.)

Bloodsong probably didn't package everything up. DAZ stuff has several different flavors for their installers. You have to pay close attention during the "automated" install and like you say move things around when it pokes it somewhere you don't want. Also what would be your suggestions for good names? I find naming to be difficult.

Attached Link: http://www.3dmenagerie.com/

heyas; i'm not sure about the trouble you are having with the installer (that's made on daz's end). when i did a test install, i pointed it to my temporary m: drive, which doesn't even have poser on it. as long as it found the runtime/geometries directory and the obj file, it was happy to stick everything there, without reference to metacreations or curiouslabs, or even poser. but the installer is 'not my department,' sorry. :) they say if you have trouble to contact tech@daz3d.com point #2: yes, i am guilty. i HATE long file names. they're all in 3-4 letter codes. i did figure the mat files would make it a moot point, as the user never has to mess with them, or even know what they're called. i did not know that pro pack cant read or make bum files. (and i'm going to speak to my pro pack tester about *that* one!) i also did not know if daz was going to create any pro pack versions of anything. so they didn't get made. i got martial's email last night and i just sent the pro-pack-ized pz2s to daz. since there's no proprietary information in the species pose files, i can probably post the download at my site, as well. these are all valid points; thanks for posting them. i'll create a file directory and texture translation page at my exp1 page. also, sargeant, before you dive back into messing with the birds, i want to make sure you have seen the instructions and troubleshooting guide, as they'll help you avoid any problems (after everything is installed properly, of course.) the instructions are on my exp1 page, or the daz installer has placed them in a "readme's" directory under poser (or wherever you told it to install), with "Eagle Expansion (EXP1) ReadMe.txt" as the filename. (um, daz doesn't share my dislike of long file names! ;) )

I don't know - I bought the eagle expansion pack last night and I had no problems getting it installed and running and Poser is on my E: drive under E:MediaPoser. I had to create the bum files myself - but I would imagine the file size would have been unusually large if they had included bum files. For what I paid for this wonderful package - I'm not complaining. I think bloodsong did an outstanding job as always. Here's a quick render of the male merlin I did last night - a half hour after I purchased it. ;) Jade

I just bought the pack earlier this morning. The only problem I hit was the .BUM thing. I simply copied the .JPGs for them and gave them a .BUM (didn't actually convert them) and I think Propack took them okay . . . I'm satisfied but I realize that some of this could throw some for a loop . . .

Oops -- should have said gave the .JPGs a .BUM file extension (just renamed them)

Well I too am having problems with it. Tried the bum to jpg idea and it's still looking for them so go figure that out. The antelope expansion pack didn't give me this problem, wornder why this one is? Hope it gets fixed soon, but Bloodsong's stuff is so good it's worth putting up with the problems for now. 8^) Wonder why the pro pack beta testers didn't have problems? Marque

Missed one, that's why it didn't work. Thanks for the tip, I'm now off to change them all. Marque

Argh! Daz has just bounced me for the third time, thie credit card software tells me that my address is invalid, that it doesn't match the one on file for my card, which is bullshit, because after I had this problem the first time I phoned up my CC company to ask them exactly what they had on record as my home address. (especially after they told me that they had actually recieved and cleared the transaction...) so I tried again omitting the supposedly "optional" County/State code, (in italics) only to be brough up short by the next page, with the same italics in glorious "invalid" red! Now ordinarily I'd phone them up, but due to cost cutting we can no longer call internationally from work, so I have to use my UK mobile, (I work in Germany) which would cost me at least a pound a minute, ($1.46 or so) so a ten minute phone call is going to cost me about $15 or more... All of which wouldn't bother me so much if I hadn't bought stuff successfully from BBay and the store here without incident on the same day as bounce number two. Argh! jb

I purchased this product as well. I'm running poser 4.03 and found that I only had to convert 2 .jpg's to bums. I simply used a program called ACDsee, clicked on the jpg that poser was looking for, converted it to a bmp, renamed it .bum and voila, every other mat file worked beautifully! I've just ordered the pro pak, it's on its way now and as I understand there are other issues in dealing with it and I'll just have to deal with whatever issues arrise.. one at a time. I've had my frustrations with certain products I've purchased and when I emailed the artist or Daz privately I have received nothing but cooperation, assistance, and resolution every single time! I think the best format for complaints is to deal with the vendor or artist directly... just not publicly as it can be embarassing and humiliating. I think the expansion pak is great and I'm very happy with Daz and the purcahse! Just my two cents... Jazzmin

I don't think the problem is really with DAZ, and certainly not with Bloodsong. This is just another example of people trying to work with the totally irrational file structure constraints of Poser, and it is on TOP of my wishlist to fix in Poser 5!. Why is it necessary to embed the path information in the cr2 or mat pose file at all? Why not let each user define their own paths in the setup, as in most other 3D apps. Why are the "geometries" folders still sacred, and God forbid, you should move something or try to clean house a bit! Not only would it be simpler, but it would reduce the file sizes as well.

Okay, let me re-address this, since I'm the one who started it in the first place. DAZ is having some major problems right now. Besides that, I've sent them three e-mail messages and received no reply. Enough said. Second, it lists the designer as "B L Render". I certainly have nothing against Bloodsong, and I didn't know that was the same person. If I had, I would have ranted at Bloodsong via Renderosity. :) Bloodsong: I think you misunderstand the problem a bit. Pro Pack certainly CAN read bump files...but it will accept them in .bum or .jpg or whatever format. This is a strength of Pro Pack, I think, but unfortunately that also makes it hell when you're dealing with MAT pose files. After you load the MAT and tell it to ignore the incoming bump file, it will load without it. You can load the jpg file, but Pro Pack won't convert it to a .bum file so you don't have the same problem again. Therefore you're forced to go into each MAT pose file and change all the .bum references to .jpg. It's a pain in the ass. Also, I'd have some serious discussion with DAZ about their installer. That was a real pain in the ass, and it made what should have been a two-minute process into a tedious half-hour long process. No disrespect intended. But it WAS a rant.

I also think the problem is from mat file .Because i have changed jpg extension to bum in the past with loading in render options and it was ok.But now ,with this ,no working.But i think with the update every one will see how good the package is and see a perched eagle(i was awaiting about it because i have tried morphing for it without success).Thank Bloodsong

Attached Link: http://www.3dmenagerie.com/

heyas; okay, pro pack can read bums, but not make bums. even if you wanted it to. which wouldnt be so bad, if pro pack didn't flake out when it came to loading a bum that doesn't exist, am i following now? :) at any rate, you can now download the species pose files (the exp1 mat files) specifically designed for pro pack, with the bum's changed to jpg's, at the exp1 page on my site. check the bottom of the page in the troubleshooting area.

My fiancee had problems with this last night. Its not clear that in order to get all of the features that come with the Expansion pak you need to download the Additional Installer which is located after the point on the page where you purchase the product (i.e., you can purchase the product without seeing that there is more stuff further down the page). After she downloaded the Eagle Expansion pack the installer said "You will need to run the "eaglexpansioncr2" installer to install the Poser library entries for this product." Not that it bothers to tell you that this needs to then be downloaded and from where. Having already downloaded everything that she thought she needed, she was very confused and since it was late and she was tired she went to bed. Fortunately I was able to figure out what was going on after return home from work this morning and seeing the nice Rant here. And regarding the BUM file. I do wish there had been some mention of the need to convert certain files into BUMs in the Readme. I hate using MAT poses the come up with missing files because then Poser takes forever to load the pose. And of course the short filenames makes it just a bit harder to determine which file are the bump maps. All that gripping aside, having got everything installed correctly we are very happy with the Eagle Expansion Pak. Chris Cox

Just thought to point out that the e-mals that were sent probably weren't recieved. It is the weekend and they don't work. But they are very good about answering stuff on monday when they come in.

heyas; if you downloaded the 'fixed' pro pack pz2's, they have another problem; i didn't change the gif pointers to jpgs. (those are for the trans maps). however, i just fixed them, so the updated update will be available shortly at my site. thanks, sarge :)

I just found out that :) Bought the Eagle and expansion pack from Daz and have played with it since I bought it half an hour ago. I had no problems with installation at all. Everything went smooth until the problem with the .gif names in the pz2 files. I just made a massive search and replace and it worked great! It looks awesome and I'm thrilled already. Now if I could only find the animation poses... :) Gotta study it some more. Thanks Bloodsong for this wonderful creation! Btw. Daz had a problem with you only getting a $5.00 discount yesterday. The problem is fixed now. But I didn't get a reply on my email. As long as it works I'm happy :)

heyas; yes, the re-did the installation stuff. the poses should be in a pose library named 'eagle.' the animation sequences are there, too (at least, that's where i put 'em). look for flapcycle and strikesequence.

Attached Link: http://www.conan.no/index.php

Found them and they are great! :) I made a flash out of the flapcycle at [my website](http://www.conan.no/index.php) look at the welcome text next to the dragon where it says my flash page. Thanks again Bloodsong. Now I'm not going to get anything done here at work ;)

all right! always glad to help somebody not work ;)