I just got my hands on poser a couple of days ago and installed it last night. I use Bryce and know that these programs get along very well. I have a couple of questions that i know can be answered here. I played around with the program and got a pretty good understanding of how it works to select and move and pull and yank and twist and levetate and transmography something, so I am OK with that for now.I found a few files that I liked for props and figures, BUT, I have no clue as to what folder to put them in. I see the .pz2, .rsr, .cr2, .pp2, .pz3, .obj, .hd2 and the rest of the Poser alphabet. I looked in the Poser folder and thenthe libraries and it seems like there is no designated folder for each file type. Point is, how do I determine what file is going where when adding a figure, a weapon, hair and so on and so forth? Is there anywhere that I can go that will give me and explanation of the Poser alphabet so that I can make sense of it? Skin textures/.jpeg: I see the files with the images flattened out to look like a back jungle band of primitives got to gether for a war party had an absolute field day. Where do these go? Hang to dy and use as a purse? it's really confusing the hell out of me. Do i put them into the PoserruntimeLibraries...., FileImport....or what? I really am lost on this and any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Well first of all most props and other models should tell you where to install them in the readme folders. If not, try to remember that some of the models made for Poser will have a specific destination: example our models, an object model that is poseable figure will go into: Runtime/Geometries/SAMS3D folder (obviously you would have to create the subfolder SAMS3D Then our cr2 and rsr files that have coordinate information and other information go here (remember these are our models) Runtime/Libraries/Characters/SAMS3D Then you have the texture map for our models, they go: Runtime/Textures/SAMS3D of course you will have to make sub folders for all those catagories. pz2 files go into the runtime/Libraries/Pose folder pp2 files go into runtime/Libraries/Props folder hr2 files go into runtime/Libraries/Hair folder this should help get you started. If you open up a cr2, pz2, pp2 and hr2 on the top line of these files (open in notepad) you will see the top line will direct you where to put these Remember that most object files are going to be located in the geometries folder and most .jpg texture maps will be located in the texture folders. Hope this helps you....Sharen PS: someone around here has a template, hope they post it for you it would help you alot....

I think there is a listing and explanation of all poser file types in the tutorials section... try a search there. Poser 'is' picky about where you put most of them. but in general: PZ2 is a pose file... in the pose library, rsr is a companion file mostly needed to generate library icons and should be placed in the same library folder as its same named pz2, pp2, hr2, or whatever. cr2 is a character file - figures library, pz3 is a scene or animation file (your working file) and can be put anywhere you like. hr2 is hair, pp2 is prop, fc2 is a face file, obj is your geometry file (the geometry matching rsr is not just an icon, but if you delete it and load the geometry file, poser will create a new one)... etc. Check out the tutorials, and search this forum for any file type threads. ...and oh, welcome to the addiction ;)

LOL....don't worry, we have all been there, you will be a pro before you know it...Sharen :-)

Attached Link: http://poserxpage.free.fr/poserxus/download/download.html

I want to mention one thing - although you can create your own subdirs in the various library folders and move stuff aorund without much fuss - leave geometry folders EXACTLY as they are (don't even rename). Poser is VERY picky about the geometry pointers. and to confuse the issue - rsr's go along with every kind of 'library' file (cr2, hr2, pp2, etc) and now with ProPack you can also have png's (taking the place of rsr's) If you don't have a matching rsr - don't panic. You'll just get the ugly "huh" icon. Just resave your thing to the library and it will create a new rsr. Have fun! :) Lyrra

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME adn thank you, Gort. You guys have cleared up SOOOO much for me I can't even begin to explain..but...let me see if I have this (of course you'll correct me if I am wrong, which in this case is a good thing) From what I am following above, Runtime is the folder where everything goes. (good so far, heh? Ya like that?) The geometries folder is where the .obj files, or the main image of what you are working on, like Michael or Vicky or that 3 headed dog guarding the gates of hell. (just threw that one in) The Pose file in the Library contains the pz2 file because that is a pose for one of the characters. That has an rsr file also cause poser likes it that way and everything gets an rsr file. The cr2 file, with it's appropriate rsr file denotes a character, right? Ok, now (confusion point) what, why (and when, where, who and how of course)is there a difference between the .obj and the .cr2 file? Is the cr2 file the stored information that is again usabble, meaning the character. Is it like I said before, the .obj file is the one that you are working on? The Props get the pp2 designator because they are props, again with it's very own rsr file. So, in other words, when I download a file that contains the above mentioned files, I can just plug them into the appropriate folders that they go in and they should be functional, right? If a file has a a geomtry, library and texture and within each of those files is another file, I can just put those into the corresponding files? With Supermodel Vicky, there are a lot of subfolders (which is why I chose the example) When I open the library file ther are three subfolders called character, pose and props labeled Supermodel, Supermodel pose and supermodel props. These can be cut and pasted from where they are directly into the corresponding folders,.....right..I think...or should I not think? I think, HOPE, i've got this and RSR FILES BE DAMNED!!! If you guys can let me know, I'll owe ya. What I don't know, but I'll hook ya one way or the other. Oh yeah, let me know if I missed anything, too, please. Thanks again, everyone.

Seems like you've got the grip on it! The file that is absolutely essential to place in the correct folder is the obj file. The cr2 will reference the obj file location with the full path when the character is loaded. If the obj file is not there, you're in trouble. If you encounter a problem with cr2's not finding the obj file, you can open the cr2 in a text editor, it is actually just a text file. Near the beginning of the text, you will find the path to the obj file. Make sure that it's where the obj file is. If you for some reason want to organize your obj files differently, you can edit the path directly in the cr2 file using the text editor. I might not be the right person to explain the exact technical difference between obj and cr2 files, but look at it this way: The obj file is the actual geometry, the mesh that builds the model. The cr2 contains all the morph and pose dials that lets you control the mesh. You can regards the cr2 as the link between the mesh in the obj file and the Poser user interface. To get a deeper understanding of how Poser works, you can open e.g. face and pose files (fc2 and pz2) in the text editor as well and see that they are just a text representation of the morph dial settings and (sometimes) instructions on how to apply textures and colors.

Thanks everyone. It's a lot clearer now than it was before. As far as changing anything in a text editor goes, Kelderek, I think I might hold of on that just a liiiiittle bit longer until I actually know what I am doing a bit more. Another question, If I may. How do I get to the facial controls? I went to the face cam and figured that the controls would open up with it and when they didn't, I looked around but couldn't figure it out.

close the side bar where your seeing the differant folders like figures, hair ect.... it is under that. Those dials will be your next question. LOL

A clarification on props - they often do not point to an exterior obj file. All the geometry is contained inside the pp2 (which is why they're bigger) Lyrra

If you by "facial controls" mean the morph dials that controls facial expressions, you will find them when you have the figure's head selected. The list of dials for the head usually starts with dials for morphing the head, then facial expressions and the last ones control the position of the head (twist, bend etc). Face files are found, as geoegress points out, among the folders in the right hand side bar. These files can be regarded as a pre-set combination of the dial settings for the head. You can use them as is or use them as a starting point to make your own expression.