Hi everyone! I'm a relative newcomer to Poser 4 (I tried Poser 1 ages ago and decided to wait, but I think I waited too long :-) )... I've caught onto this great product quickly. It is, indeed, the most powerful human figure creation tool ever created. But I'm having a couple of problems and I need some general tips from those of you who are more experienced. First, I'm having a dickens of a time with hair. The stock out-of-the-box Poser 4 hair looks plastic. I think I've downloaded every hair morph and texture I could find (many from this site or the links on the right). Most of them do NOT work right -- either they do not conform correctly, they are hard to morph, or the texture/trans map doesn't look good. I've even given up on freeware hair and gone looking for something I could buy with no luck! I'm working on a series of roleplaying fantasy pieces (thank the gods for Nerd Stuff chainmail!) and my heroine will NOT have short hair -- I'd prefer she had long flowing locks in the tradition of Vampirella, Barbarella and so forth. Any thoughts on the best morphable and texturable hair you've found that actually works well? Any tips on using hair? (While we're on the subject, I also need to find some costume jewelry type props for fantasy genre -- bracers, crowns, chokers and so forth, any ideas?) Second question has to do with BBay. I was so excited to find their site and see all the great Poser stuff for sale, but NOTHING works! Everytime I find an item to buy, it tells me the "store bbay.com does not exist"! Any inside story on what the problem is and whether they'll be fixing it anytime soon? Thanks in advance for you replies. I have to add that what I've seen so far of the online Poser community has impressed me very much. You guys are great. Marc

If I'm not mistaken, I think BBay (Bill) posted a couple of days ago that they were having problems with their online store and that it would be corrected soon--can't remember the exact post. Someone here will give you the correct info soon, I'm sure. Diane B

Bill is working on the problem. If you go back a few pages you can get the phone number to palce orders. they are realy great people to work with and I have no hessitiations with dealing with them on the phone.

For somewhat long-ish hair, the best-looking hair I've seen in poser was Allerleirauh's transmapped curls. That's only a little past shoulder length. Transmap tricks are about the only way to get somewhat realistic hair.. Oh, and please don't go using Nerd's chainmail bikini for fantasy pics. I admit he did a great job on it, but the "chainmail bikini" is the most annoying part of fantasy artwork I've seen... oh well, do as you like. That's just my opinion. Good luck on the hair, though. =) Rosh

Maybe if someone buys and we see a Poser 5 there'll be the possibility of long, flowing hair. And collision detection. Most likely if there is a P5, it'll be some time down the road, so computers will most likely be able to handle these additional features by that time. I agree, the trans-mapped curls are the best option so far. As far as the mail bikini thing, I agree with Roshigoth. It's kind of odd to see "warrior" characters running around almost naked. Then again, this is fantasy, and do what you like. For me, I'm in the planning stages of an RPG (which I hope I can eventually put together and get a developer for PS2 to bite on), and all my characters wear clothes ;) Actually, my main character wears a mail byrnie, a pair of leather pants with guards, bracers, and elk skin boots. It's more of a speed-based protection, but it's a bit more reasonable, I think.

make sure the bryne is either long enough to not impact when running or short enough... there are areas where one does NOT want maille to hit while at a brisk run. (Speaking from experiance)

Marc- I agree with Roshigoth, Allie's hair is about the best around, but at times it does kill your render time, especially in Bryce. I'll add a picture of my own modest effort here when I get home later tonight, it will be available at my site at BBay, when BBay comes back up.

I appreciate all the great responses. I had a suspicion on the long hair already, I just wanted to make sure. Someone (I forget where I found it) had made some long fully-morphable hair and it did work semi-reasonably, but the texture map wasn't very realistic. I do see lots of Poser images on the web that have great-looking shoulder-length hair that looks much more natural than the stock hair. I wonder what they're using? Where do I find Allerleirauh's transmapped curls? Oh, and on the chainmail bikini: I'm not too worried about reality in a genre where magic and dragons exist :-) I just want to see if I can do it. Thanks again and I'll keep checking BBay! Marc

They're probably using Allie's hair.. to find it, search for Allerleirauh in the Free Stuff pages. Have fun, Rosh

heya; i rather like the long flowing fantasy hair by... i think it was jeffh. it doesnt have tiny strands, but it is better than the helmet hair that poser comes with. some really GOOD hair is faked, either by a 2-d photo on a square framing the figure's face, or composited afterwards. next time you see one you like, ask 'em how they did that. :)

In addition to Allie's & JeffH's models there is Kosoburo /Yamato's transmapped hair at PoserFactory and Ian Grey also has a transmapped model with morphs at PFO. Here's some anti-helmet-head maps I was working on, but never posted, for a model I have posted at PFO. Let me know if its anything you can use.

I would've mentioned Kozaburo's and Ian Grey's hairs, except he wanted long flowing hair.. they're both rather short.. though I do like them. Rosh

...and btw - here's a thread on the "hair-on-a-square" technique but it won't really work well in an animation because it can only be viewed from straight on. http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=55458

I'm still working on this, I think a 5th layer is going back in (it had one for awhile but I took it out). Blonde is difficult, BTW, I wound up using a dark ambient color in addition to the color map.

Looking good! Can't wait till it's done! Rosh

Wow! That does look great Jim. Nice work on the part.

Wow everyone! For starters, I went back and worked a bit more with Allie's transmapped curls and they work great for the purposes I had in mind (long length wasn't as critical as much as just being longer than the pixie-style). But I'm also one who is forever looking for variety, so yes Nance, I'm very much interested in the hair you showed here -- looks good. Jim Burton, I love the looks of what you've done too -- are you planning on posting your hair file here or somewhere in the near future? I've seen Kozaburo's hair -- very impressive and I will probably use it as well at some point but it's not the right length for my current ideas. Nance and Jim, if you aren't posting your hair stuff in public soon, would it be possible to email them to me at mfisher1@kscable.com? I'd really appreciate it! Options are good. Options are always good :-) Marc

Marc- I'm going to sell mine, once it gets up to spec, I just found out that two of the maps aren't working the way I thought, so it is going to look alot better with even 4 full layers- right now it is 4 in places, 3 and 2 layers in other places. It will be at BBay, in a couple of more days.

That's great, Jim. I'm a believer in rewarding people for their hard work. Hopefully BBay will get their problems fixed, too, or it won't do the rest of us any good. Marc

Great Job Jim! I can't wait when you post it at BBAY! Please post a message and a final pic in this forum when it will be available. Also, will you have different colors?

Josian- At least a blonde and brunett to start, maybe a "dirty blonde" and a "platinum" blond and a brunette, and there will probaly be other maps available at my free site.