I found an ancient freebie on the Internet Archive that I'd like to play with, but it needs to have a PCF file converted to OBJ. Maconverter no longer seems to be available, and I gather it wouldn't work with OSX anyway. Is there another way for Mac users to convert a PCF, or should I just give up on old stuff?

"Files that contain the PCF extension are associated with multiple programs and applications which include Cisco VPN, PaintCAD, and Pro/Engineer. PCF files contain data and information related to the program that created the file."

http://files.avanquest.com/file-extension-pcf/

There's a bunch of programs that used PCF. Cisco used it for networking, It's been used for proprietary fonts, and Valve games used it to store game parts. They were also used as an image archive. Kind of like the way a PSD has layers but form the 90's and whole images. Since you said it's old I suspect this may be what you have. I've read that winzip can open them but I don't have it and WINzip.

Before you can use it you'll need to know what it was for.

Valve is using PCF Format until today. And Adobe for Autocad, if I remember right.

The Windows utility Objaction Mover, available from FreeStuff here, is one option, if you can execute Windows exe files (Wine or a Bootcamp base Windows installation might be possible). There's also the related RTEncoderPy script which is another way of encoding modifications to a previously owned commercial product. It may be possible to reverse the process of that script. It may also be worth trying to contact the author(s).

Many file extensions are overloaded with conflicting uses by different software vendors. I have font related PCF files, as well as encoded Poser products.

There also used to be (circa 2006) an OSX port of Objaction Mover (guaranteed to be a 32 bit app, and so useless on the latest MacOS Catalina, if not a Fat/PPC binary so useless on Sierra, as well), but the download link on the review site is dead. It appears that the port had been fully approved by Maz, the author of the Windows version (from 1999), whose offering is still available on freestuff here. Perhaps that is something that Renderosity should consider building into Poser directly, with the author's approval. Though nobody appears to be using that encoding to distribute modifications of copyrighted OBJ files at present (as far as I'm aware, but I don't do lots of purchasing, so I may be wrong). If Maz is still contactable (they have an account, but many of us are getting on, or have passed beyond involvement with Poser or the realm of the living).

Thanks to all for the comments. The thing is an OBJ wrapped up as a PCF--apparently there were something like Poser Container Files before my time with poser. Someone on Windows is checking to see if she can convert it for me, so my fingers are crossed.

It's not for something I need. I just came across what looks like a nice low rez '30s biplane pilot that was offered for free, and now only exists on the internet archive. You can see it here if you're curious: https://web.archive.org/web/20190707030807/http://thierry.perrain.free.fr/Downloads.html

Curiously, the biplane that's available for him just has an OBJ file, so it opens fine.

PCF files are encoded to protect the original purchased item ... in this case one of the Lowres figures coming with Poser 4.

They are like RTE encoded files, it is just another method.

As I am not a native English speaker and the above might be difficult to understand, I am going to copy the text for RTEncoder from the poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org wiki:

RTEncoder is utility software that encodes downloads against particular resources. It is most often used to ensure that a download is used only by someone who has purchased a particular resource. (For example, a weight-mapped version of Victoria 4 would be encoded against the original Victoria 4, and if the original V4 is not present in the downloader's runtime, then the download cannot be installed.)

The person who converted the PCF for me checked to see that I owned Poser first. The community tends to take these things seriously.

Sorry - I didn't imply that somebody did something wrong. I just tried to explain why the Biplane doesn't need encoding contrary to the pilot. And an explanation for those in this thread that didn't know about Poser related PCF files.

Kerya, no worries! I only mentioned it because it struck me how careful someone was being with such ancient software. She also commented on what a shame it is that so many things that were meant to be free have been lost as technology changes and web sites disappear. In any case, this had a happy ending, or it will when I figure out what to do with the figure :)

willshetterly posted at 8:20AM Wed, 12 February 2020 - #4380057

Kerya, no worries! I only mentioned it because it struck me how careful someone was being with such ancient software. She also commented on what a shame it is that so many things that were meant to be free have been lost as technology changes and web sites disappear. In any case, this had a happy ending, or it will when I figure out what to do with the figure :)

As long as you don't let him crash, there will be a happy ending ... ;)