Once again I am asking a question. I really have NO idea about alot of Poser things. First question, whats "posette"? Secondly, how is it that people make characters? I am not looking for in depth, I am just not sure of how you make a whole new character is all. I am also guessing, that Millie is a character? I say this because I d/l somethings and they don't work. It says "cannot open runtime/geometries/blahblah/obj" then I get this lovely message about not enough memory and I lose the figure I have on the stage. This happens with any prop/figure (character) that it can't "run" or open. Why is this? I actually have one prop/figure (its a dress, pardon my ignorance with poser please) that worked last night but doesn't work tonight...go figure. I have installed the 4.03 update for poser, so that part I got. Any other suggestions?? Thanks everyone.

"Posette" is the Poser 4 nude female figure in the library. "Millie" is a remapped version of Daz3D's Victoria. You will get that error when you try to open a library file for a figure you don't have.

This is a pretty fundimental problem that causes a LOT of trouble for folks until they understand a bit of the history of Poser & it's characters. Poser 4 comes with a fair starter selection of characters, clothes, hair, poses, etc. The basic Nude female (nicknamed POSETTE) and the basic Nude Male (nicknamed DORK) are included in the starter selection. The company that designed basic figures that come with Poser 4 was Zygote. Their Poser division has been "split off" into a new company called DAZ. (you'll see their products refered by both names). DAZ sells a number of Add-In & extra characters, & accessory files for Poser. Year or so ago, DAZ developed and started selling a higher-detailed, more versatile character they called the "Millenium Woman" which was marketed as Victoria, sometimes called Millie (Although a separate charracter has been distributed under the name "Millie" as well). An enhanced update to Victoria is available as a separate product called Victoria 2. In the same vein they later developed a male character they call the millenium man, or Michael 1, or Millenium Mike {since updated to Michael 2). Variations on the Victoria figure have been developed and marketed as "the millenium girls" and the "millenium boys" - both these sets require ownership of a Victoria figure to work. A lot of other companies & individuals make & distribute variations & add-ons for the millenium characters; some are free, some are sold. All of these require the previous purchase of one or another of the DAZ Millenium characters to work. There are also other completely original & separate characters available that don't require the DAZ characters (such as the even higher-Rez Dina, Natalie, Etc), or are based on the basic P4 figures. When you look over the offerings in free stuff, or in the market, look for these terms in their names or descriptions to determine if you could use them. If you're uncertain what you need for a particular product, you can Instant Message or EMail the creator of the product for clarification. Although special variations have been made for the Millenium figures from DAZ that can use regular Posette & Dork clothing, generally each character can only use clothes specifically made for that figure (has to do with the part names and articulations), so Posette cannot use clothes for the Dork or Victoria or Michael, Dork cannot wear clothes made for Posette or Michael or Victoria, etc. There are exceptions, as I said, where people have chopped figures up & re-combined them in different ways, but this is the general rule. Another complication is where you morph the body of a figure to make it fatter, more voluptuous, more muscular, etc. You have to play with any clothing you put on them as well, or it no longer fits the new shape. Some clothes (Most of them, in fact) aren't capable of this shape modification without special re-shaping software outside of Poser. Confusing? Complicated? Until you catch on to these basics it can be. Hope this helps orient you. :-)) Render On! leather-guy

By the way - here's a suggestion I try to follow every couple of weeks; From time to time, as you learn more and more about Poser, click on the Poser Forum FAQ above and browse thru, also click on the Tutorials Link above that, and browse thru the titles of the 100+ Poser section tutorials. At first you likely won't understand the questions or the purpose of some tutorials, but you'll soon find your self understanding more & more. There's really a lot of information available via those two links! (Sometimes, even after you've posted a question, you might get faster info or better understanding that way:-)) I'm often too impatient to post a question, or I'll post it, and still go looking on my own.

Thanks...that answers a ton! :) Lots o terminology with poser, so I am noticing. :)

One possible fix for the dress that worked last night but not now is to find its .OBJ in the Runtime "geometries" folder and delete the .RSR file. Sometimes this works, you cannot do any harm as long as you dont delete the .OBJ. Poser will recreate the .RSR next time you access the dress. With the "Cannot find" message make a note of the name of the OBJ and its pathname. Do a file search in the Runtime "geometries" folder. If it finds the .OBJ you want and its not in the right directory copy (don`t move it in case it is used by other items) it to where it should be and try again. The "out of memory" message is rarely because you are actually out of memory. Keep plugging away, it gets clearer eventually B)

Thank you! I'm a 'beginning Beginner' with Poser and sometimes I don't have the vocabulary to phrase questions. Your answers were so helpful that I'm gonna print 'em out for the Basic Reference section of my (non-virtual) 3-ring binder that I've started on Poser. {Oh, for a fast-forward button to push in real life, to get me to a few months from now when (please God!) I will know what the (!#?!!) I'm doing!}

Ok I realize I am beating this to death and I am truly sorry for everyone who gets it to have to explain it, but seriously whats the diff? Cant you basically make a "character" from the p4 female? By giving her new textures and a few body morphs? Why so many char's? Again I am sorry for the silly questions...Thanks.

DAZ characters have, a new kind of knee and elbow joints that bend far better, and have much higher polygon count so they look smoother and hold a lot more detatil in close up images. :)

Cimerone, You certainly can make new characters from the P4 woman (Posette) and the P4 man (Dork). Many people have (and still are) making characters for them every bit as good as any made for Victoria or Michael. Some people prefer to use the newer models because of the higher polygon count. In many ways this allows more versitility. As for why so many characters... well many different people with many different tastes, I guess. Everyone wants to populate their poser world with a variety. mike

Well that certainly clears up alot. :) Thanks again everyone!!

..also 3 new body groups (L&R Buttock and Upper Neck) and a two layered UV layout allowing higher detail mapping. Basically, Victoria bends, morphs, and maps somewhat better than the P4 NudFem figure.