Even with animation, Transmapped hair can't be written off. It's simple and can be quite stylish,

J.B...you've been silly. Poser is a very nice "cottage" industry. most likely, it will never compete with the "big dogs", in the movie industry. it is more like the thomas kinkaide of programs....and, the folks that like it, and, buy for it are a loyal bunch. even if cl had dreams of going way technical, and, high tech....they would lose that firm hobby based clientele. and, among that clientele...there are those who yearn to create for poser...to create to support their poser habit. i think kupa is smart enough to know that he must please his base audience, and, perhaps, extend to a larger audience, as well. me...i like that face maker...i hope it works. for me, that is the major reason to upgrade. Pop...Pop...Poppi!!!

the reason i dont use it is because it can be rim lit in a true 3d lighting environment. I have my own strand based hair system that i use in my animation work. this is a still from a lipsynch that is rendering in cinema4DXl right now .where mike2 is wearing a strand based U.S.marine flatop that created with cinema's hair plugin.

because the hair strands are true geometry i just apply a basic color and specular and the lighting does all the rest.
and as his head move through different lighting the highlights will change naturally much like the famed "aki Ross" in FF
of course ihave to endure longer render times but to me its worth it for the look i want.

has anyone tryed a hair/fur plugin for max or other software? i only know the max version of "shaq fur" (or something like that) and it takes "realy long" to render. apply gravity and it takes even longer. i think for most people transmap hair will be the way to go. same for the cloth simulation in maya... takes realy long to compute... what i am trying to say is "jim, a lot like your stuff, please continue" ;-) greetings leyla

Correction : I DONT use transmaps because it CANNOT be rim lit in 3D (let start a petition for an "edit post" feature at rosity)

as many typos as I make It sure would be useful.and a spell checker too.(he-he)

I've used Shag Hair in 3ds max. It works pretty well. It has so many bells and whistles that you can't learn all the features. You can have a lot of control over the Hair and can use it with Dynamics. The major obstacle is learning what is possible and of course the cost. I was looking at the features in MAX 5.0 and I think they have borrowed some features from Poser. One of the new features is the Pose to Pose animation which Poser uses. I wonder if Poser 5 will be able to import and export standard BVH files.

I just got off the phone for the last hour with Steve Cooper with all my demands for particle/wave/strand-based nose hair animation and he told me he's putting caller block on my number, having me profiled on "America's Most Clueless" and getting a restraining order preventing me from crossing the Arizona/California border. Now that's personal attention.

ahhh...duane...let the children dream, if only for a bit. it is like dreaming of what santa will bring...no one wants to dream of the k-mart toys that will actually be under the christmas tree...let them dream...let them spend...god rest ye' merry gentleman...oops, wrong holiday. :*) Pop...Pop...Poppi!!!

I'm certain that Poser 5 will support BVH import/export, spurlock5. Poser 4 already has this wonderful feature, and the P5 clothing animation was made with the assistance of an imported BVH file.