How can I make my own props. Namely, I would like to make fantasy weapons like swords and such. Is there a tutorial out there somewhere? Thanks for any help! HipCheck

I asked this same question a while ago and the answer I got was this: "We never make props in Poser. EVER! We use other 3D programs like 3D Studio Max, Lightwave, Maya, etc. There are some free 3D programs out there that can help you with this like Anim8or (www.anim8or.com) and Open FX (www.openfx.org)." Well, the answer was KINDA like that. But in essence, get another 3D program (I'd recommend Open FX--40 Megs, though--if you can't shell out 5,000 bucks for 3D Studio Max) and do the props there, then export them to Poser. Hope this helps.

Thanks! This helps a lot! Would something like gmax work? Would I export it as a Wave object? Thanks for your help! HipCheck

gMax will work, but not the free version. For Poser you really need something that can work with the Wavefront OBJ format. The free version of gMax has all its Export file types disabled : The full version of gMax can export to 3DS (A format Poser knows) and there is an OBJ plugin available. Maybe somebody will create a gmax <-> OBJ converter. What's really cool about gMax is that it looks very much like Max and will allow you to really get the feel of a high end modeler.

Well, I have 3ds max r4, but I can't get it to work with WinXP. Not sure why. I guess I'll have to go back to Win2k... Thanks for your help everyone! HipCheck

You know why that is, HipCheck? Because WinXP (and WinME) sucks, big time! I still use Win98, and I don't get hassles like insufficient memory and common crashes. And guess what? I run Poser 4 and 3D Studio Max R4 on a Pentium II, 500MHz, 64MB RAM (with 8 shared with the vid card), and it runs pretty well. It takes forever to render a scene with lots of elements, but it still does render.

I think you're right. I like Win2k tho. Never had any problems with it and everything seems to run so well on it too. Ugh... I dread wiping my hard drive and reloading everything... glad I have a burner! HipCheck

Have you tried installing Max using XP's compatability wizzard? If you tell XP to simulate NT for MAX it should work. (Not that XP ain't a piece o' 54lt) W2k has its share of bugs but it's ability to run multiple instances of MAX sure is nice. W2K has the NT stability without the ginger bread, bugs and security leaks of XP Since XP and W2K both use NTFS you may actually be able to load W2K without a total wipe. Try doing a side-by-side install. I've never tried it, but it just might work. You will still need to relaod many programs, but most of them will preserve their settings. Poser, for exmple would retain all it's libraries.

Great idea! I think I'm gonna try that! I let you know how it turns out... I'll try both options and let you know which is best! HipCheck

Actually, you can use the free version of gmax. If you visit the Discreet website, you'll find the latest version of gmax (v1.1) and a Quake 3 export plugin (called Tempest).

With the Tempest plugin, you can create and save models in Quake 3 game format. You can then convert the model to Wavefront .obj format, using a freeware utility like LithUnwrap or an inexpensive shareware modeller like MilkShape.

A tutorial on this process (by JoatMon2) is available in Renderosity's tutorials section. Do a keyword search for "gmax", and it should turn up.

Amapi, Strata and Truespace all have workable freebies at least they were free when i downloaded them and they will save to either 3ds or obj which is poser friendly