I got Poser 4 because everybody that talks about it at Renderosity says how powerful, amazing and clever it is. I just realized that I'm on the wrong planet.
Nobody told me how unbelievably involved the program is! Every sort of help that I try to get, uses language that is over my head. I know that I have to learn how to use Poser, but it's beyond my present learning.

I downloaded the Tailor 1.03 Demo, but had to delete it because it didn't let me conform already morphed body part.
I downloaded PInstall 1.3.4, but deleted it because it did not properly install any of the free clothing downloads I got form Renderosity.
I have Ron Knight's Tailor 1.1, P4 & Beginners tutorials.
I have Bloodsong's 'Painlessly Easy Conforming Clothing' tutorial, found at www.3dmenagerie.com/goodies/tut/conform.htm.
I have the 'Conforming Clothing Figures' tutorial from www.nerd3d.com/Tutorial/ConformingPrint.htm.
I have the 'Easy Conforming Fifures' tutorial from digilander.iol.it/piergemin/Easy_conforming_clothes.htm.
I have Morph-Manager 4.0, but it's too complex to use.

I bought Poser for the simple task of illustrating my unpublished manuscripts for possible publication as e-books. But the necessary poses that I visualize in my mind cannot be created with Poser. I have found many of the correct clothing (both translucent and transparent), hair (styles and lengths), and even went as far as order several things from the Marketplace. Unfortunately, I cannot create the illustrations that I need. I can morph a P4NudeFemale into the beautiful character that I need, but posing the character and clothing the finished female is impossible for me.

For example, I had to hand install Dark Whisper's Short Top into each correct subdirectory. When I ran Poser and tried to use the Short Top, my 512Meg 500MHz PIII notebook computer told me that I was out of memory! "Nonsense!" I yelled. The only way I can use clothing is to use only the default library clothing. (Which is horribly limited.)

So far, Poser 4 is just a toy to me, unable to do what I need it to do. I don't know if there is a 3D, or even a 2D, character generator program out there with the vast predefined library of attributes, bodies, clothes, props and extras, like Poser 4 has. If there is, then I'd better look long and hard for it.

I think you're taking on too much at once. It's not necessary to have Tailor, Pinstall, et al. Morph manager is for when you have already become more comfortable with the basics of adding clothes, hair and props, posing and placing, etc. Learning Poser can be overwhelming if let it. Keep it simple, at first. In order to narrown down which of Poser's many attributes that this forum can really help, please tell us what you have in mind as an end product in terms of setting, costuming, poses (doing what), and props as if you were describing a scene on stage or in a movie. The folks around here are really helpful and understand the frustrations invoved. I've been fussing with Poser since version 0.0 and still learn something new here every day.

bkriter, I know EXACTLY how you feel, and I'm sure most other people here do too. For most of us in the communities, poser is a wonderful and fascinating program....but no one ever said it was child's play. It can be frustrating, infuriating and INCREDIBLY rewarding when you get the hang of it. I'm not quite sure what to advise you. So much of it comes with time. For instance, bloodsong's conforming tuorial isn't exactly beginners' stuff, but you weren't to know that. If I were you, I'd try to make a list of things you want to do in the program, then go to the tutorials section and look for those subjects. Use the manual and above all, ask questions in the forums. As far as poses go, Schlabber has made 1000s of poses that cover every imaginable situation. I'm not sure where they're currently available, but I do know this.....if he hasn't done it, it probably can't be done! Don't give up yet! mac PS 'Out of memory' is a standard message that really means 'You've put something in the wrong directory and poser is now totally confused!' Just re-open it and check the directories to find the problem.

Attached Link: http://schlabber.com

maclean is right bkriter, slow down a bit, you're trying to run before you learn to walk, poser is fairly easy to use but you need to get used to it before you do anything complicated, unless you've got a deadline leave the ebook idea for a couple of months, read all of Ron's tutorials at least twice and work slowly through them a bit at a time, ask questions here as often as you need to. Schlabber is the master when it comes to poses, the link above is his. Rob (newbie 9mnths in)

Tell us which type of poses you need and we might be able to help you a bit more.

Hang in there! Keep practicing and experimenting. I know for myself there was a long period at first where I just could not get the poses I wanted. Then one day I hit on an idea to stand just like the default pose and then move myself into the position I wanted to pose. I did it one move at a time and then made the same move for my posed character. I think I would have died of embarrasment if my wife had come home early and found me standing like that, moving one arm, then tapping at the computer, then repeating this until I was sitting in the sofa... but hey, it worked. Another big thing for me was when I realized that the motion is not necessarily the movement. By this I mean, you turn your head to the right - that's the motion. But the movement (for your character) is -not- to click on the head and set twist to '23'. The movement is more like lower neck twist 7, neck twist 10, head twist 6. Well, this is just my .02 worth. Hang in there and keep trying. For myself I know there was a frustrating 'hill' to get over.

Just a note on installing items from the MarketPlace: Most of these come in ZIP files that will extract to the correct folders. Just extract them to your root Poser 4 directory (such as C:Program FilesCurious LabsPoser4). WinZIP or equivalent will do the rest. Brian

heyas; you dont need to know how to create conforming clothing to get clothing to conform. i'm not sure you are following the difference, there. to conform clothing, just load your figure, load the clothing (and be sure it is FOR that particular figure), then tell the clothing to conform. (figure: conform to: [choose figure]). the other stuff, my tutorial, and nerd's, etc, is for when you model your own clothing, and want to poser-ize it and make it work on a figure. that's advanced stuff. :) let's see, what's some other good newbie tips...? oh! for heaven's sake, when you load your figure, turn the leg iks off!! or else their feet will stay glued to the ground. if you are using limits (and i do recommend this, to start), and you can't get the limbs to the pose you need, go ahead and turn them off and finish the pose. just make sure you're not trying to move the wrong bit. for example, to twist the hand, don't twist the hand. twist the forearm. (try it with your own arm, hold your forearm rigid and try to twist your wrist. ow!)

A good rule of thumb on any new [to the user] graphics program, wether Bryce, Poser, Vue, Rhino or whatever.... allow six months of learning the basics and working with the basics til they start to make sense and one learns the ins and outs, then allow another six months for them to become second nature to where you don't have to really think about it untill you have to figure out something you've never done before. You can shorten that a bit by doing what I call "total immersion": whre you do nothing else but work in that prog til it "clicks", but very few people have the free time to do that. Reasonably though... Poser 4 is a complex program. The documentation in not well written, what little documentation there is doesn't explain things well, and all too much of learning things like transmapping, posing, the best ways to set up scenes and lighting and renders are trial and error, which is frustrating. If you keep at it though, it does click.

Hey, you're a writer - that didn't happen overnight. Mastering everything in Poser simultaneously doesn't happen; you gotta set some priorities, and probably simplify and focus your goals. I don't know if you have any Photoshop or 2-D paint program experience - but many problems can be fixed much more easily with post-production touch-ups outside of Poser. Do you really need photorealism with elaborate details? Depending what look you're after, you might want to use Poser's sketch renderer or add Painter effects to the Poser images, in a style that fits the mood of your writing (and hides flaws). Good luck - Elisa

The short answer is, "Yes." I'm a newbie too--6 months in--and before Poser I'd always considered myself to be fairly intelligent--LOL!! It IS learnable, I promise you. It's just that it's very complex, a world of it's own, and you have to be highly motivated to learn it. More times than I care to recall, I've been on the point of tears trying to get clothes on or to pose a figure right. We all know what you're going through, believe me. Between the Manual and printing out and reading the tutorials over and over and asking silly newby questions, my images are finally coming together. My advice would be to put the clothes issue on the back burner for now and work on posing and creating characters with the dials. Go to Digital Babes (see Webring list below on right) for some really nice hair for them. It's similar to clothes to attach, but less complex. Get WinZIP (or Maconverter or Macinstaller if you're working on a Mac). Go ahead and search out all the props, clothing, etc for your project and download them into a 'goodies' folder for now....Soon the file structure will begin to make sense. Use the Search here in the Forum to read over all the other new user's questions--that alone will save you a lot of time and frustration. This is a community of very kind and patient folks, and without them I would have chucked my first free magazine cover disk of Poser into the Pacific long ago! Just hang in there. And remember--Poser newbie-ness is NOT for the weak!

I agree with the folk here, you are taking on too much at a time :/ I understand how frustrating it is for you tho. The first day I got my Poser 4 I just sat there and cried because I was so frustrated! (and that was with reading the manual haha). I made such a mess out of my directory because I sure didnt' know what the heck a CR2 or PP2 file was or even where they belonged. What I ended up doing was just "play" and have fun with the program! You'll learn a lot this way and get a good feel for it :) Here is a link that I found useful and hope it will be for you too. It explains what the different files are :) http://www.grottoazura.com/Products/Tutorials/PoserFiles/index.html Hang in there ...it does get easier!

Lessee if I simplify some of the good advice above: Posing a figure: 1. Make sure you have the right figure a. Click on the figure, any part, or b. Select the figure in the screen by clicking on the pull down menu below the lower left corner (it says "figure 1, etc") 2. Use the dials to move arms, legs, whatnot ... not the cursor ... dials are on the right of the screen (behind the libraries) *Use the pull down menu below the center left of the screen to select the body or body part you want to move. 3, Use canned poses ... some come with the program, others are downloaded. Again, select the right figure. Conforming clothing: 1. Load clothing from the character library that come with Poser ... for starters. 2. The clothing will be automatically be selected in the lower left pull down menu (unless you have clicked on something else .. follow rules above to select the clothing again). 3. From the "figure" pulldown menu in the upper left of the Poser screen, select "conform" which will give you a list of the "characters" in your scene ... and select the character that you want the clothes to conform to. The clothes will conform to that figure, regardless of it's pose. *If it screws up, conform to the "none" option and retry conforming it to the figure you want. Smart Props, and dumb ones: 1. Smart props go the the head, foot, or hand that it's been set to go to if you have selected the right character as above in the lower left pull down menu. Smart props include what's in the hair library, and most shoes available as props. 2. Dumb props don't go anywhere except where you place them. 3. You can smarten a dumb prop but placing the prop exactly where you want it (hand, head, waist, ...) and clicking on Object/properties menu (top of screen) and a window will pop up with an option to select the parent part of the figure (hand, head, etc) which will show up on a complete heirarchy of all that is in the scene. You can make props stick to other props the same way. That's for starters ... have fun

Oh, you're inundated with answers! You probably won't get to mine, but I'll type it in anyway. Poser IS tough to learn, you're right. It has a quirky, weird interface, and then when you understand the interface, you realise that you have to know human anatomy before you can pose something right. I spent months playing with Poser 2, pulling figures into all sorts of weird positions, until I discovered that moving each part slowly and carefully using the translation dials was the way I need to work. It's not for everyone, but it works for me. Other people use a mouse, or a graphics tablet, to pose. Whatever works! Just like most other applications, there is more than one way to do anything in Poser; there's no hard-and-fast structure to it. You just have to become acquainted with the program, and to do that, you have to play. Just toy about with the images-- don't focus on a final image you want to produce, just play, and see what you can create. Have some fun, and don't take it to seriously. Post your work, and if you have questions, ask them. I won't be the one to answer, knowing next to nothing, but there are many skilled artists here who can and will. I'm with the one who posted above-- I can often be found, sitting in some weird position, moving some part of my body extremely slowly... ach well. Artists are supposed to be weird.

Its not so bad when you get the hang of it. I got poser a couple of months ago and took right to it, but of course, that was after 4 years of brycing. Just take it easy and get used to it. Get those third party apps only when you need them. And I agree, pinstall didn't work for me either, I manually install then use pbooost to organize.

Attached Link: http://205.122.23.229/ronknights/

bkriter, by now you should know you're not the first person to feel overwhelmed with Poser. I skimmed through the list of things you're trying to learn all at once. Jeepers! No wonder you're having problems. Why not just pick one thing you want us to help you with. Then let us help you. Then when you feel good about that, move on. I'm really sorry you didn't find my tutorials helpful. I have a pretty good reputation of being good for beginners. However, yes, you're allowing yourself to be overwhelmed here. I have tutorials telling you how to install Poser files, how to put a character in a scene, to put clothes on the character, and to pose characters. Take one step at a time. Come back to us and let us help you through this.

jus a quick one.. Poser is actually the easiest (i think) of all the 3d packages out there.. which doesn't mean it's easy.. L.. just EASIER.. I went round to friend's the other day and tried out 3DMax and got thoroughly lost in tech specs and found myself pretty much unable to do anything but get frustratedL Keep at it :D Dolph..

thanks for all the feedback. you stopped me from putting up my poser 4 software on an auction site. next question on my mind: where can I get a gargantuan collection of p4 clothing? it would take me a whole lot of web surfing to collect it on my own. next question: i printed out the image on www.deesden.com/images/bellydancerM.jpg, because it had the necessary transparent cloth in the upper left model (blue/green outfit). where can i get the required file or how do i make the blue cloth transparent, like that?

I mean, the upper RIGHT model.

Attached Link: http://poserworld.com/

If you're willing to dump a bit more money in, you might consider a Poserworld subscription. There's scads of stuff on their site; have a look through the preview pictures to see if they cater to your needs. You can also search by category in the Freestuff here, which will save you some time. Do you have the Victoria Fantasy Dancer costume from Daz3d? That's the basic model. The picture shows an add-on for that model, a texture map set that you'd have to buy separately. If you bought that, you would just use the MAT pose files that come with the set to change the colours of the rendered figure (you might not see a change until you render). As for the transparency, that's in the 'materials' dialogue. There you'll be able to assign various properties to the models: object colour, texture maps, reflection maps, and transparency. Choose the material you want to make transparent, and move the little sliders that say 'transparency min' and 'transparency max' up. Don't worry if the model now has wavy lines or dots instead of the solid thing you saw before-- it's supposed to do that. You can work in 'cartoon view' if you need to be able to see it more clearly. Some files make use of transparency maps, for example on the eyebrows and eyelashes of models. These are black and white or grayscale images, and Poser applies the separate texture map to a greater or lesser extent depending on how black or white the shade in the corresponding area of the transparency map: all white, total cover; all black, total transparency. There are some easy-to-follow tutorials on this kind of thing in the 'tutorials' section here on just this kind of thing. Common uses of transparency maps are for hair, lace effects, netting or webbing, that sort of thing. Don't worry, it will all come together!

bkriter, If memory serves, you'll find a huge collection of free P4 clothes right here at Renderosity Free Stuff. If you're willing to spend some money, Poserworld has a tremendous amount of high-quality clothing, props, scenes, even characters. Most of their stuff is P4-related, but over recent months they've also done more for Vicky, Mike and the Millennium Kids.

Attached Link: http://www.lvsonline.com/index.html

LVS Online has a Poser basic course. I took it even though I have been using Poser for a while. Great class and will help you get up and running quick. Course is 6 weeks for $20. Hang in there! Peggy