My eyesight has taken a huge turn for the worse lately and i can no longer discern between subtle color changes. Hence, the problem illustrated in the pic. The library on the left is the Character library; the one on the right is the Camera library. The shades get gradually darker as you go down the main library list, but the text remains black. Because of this I have hard time reading my Props library and can't read the Camera's at all without clicking on each one. And that's the one with all my MAT files. I searched this forum and the manuals but can't find anything. With P5's new use of xml and the way it seems to effect P4, I thought mayhaps there's a way to change these colors. Anyone know? (My monitor is already set to as bright as possible without ruining lighter colors.) Thanks. PS: I know I can nest directories in P5, but I still mostly use P4 because of speed & other problems with 5.

I have trouble with that too. How difficult would it be to provide a high contrast option? Please....?

This is a really good request, hope CLs listen to you. I was having almost the same problems since Poser 3. I know there is commands to use Poser2's interfase, but I would like to have a better options to change the contrast colors with poser, well I guess poser 4 will not going to be updated anymore by CLs, but at least it could be a good addon for your new release of Poser 5 isn't CLs team?

Try adjusting your monitor's gamma. I can read those graphics just fine even with my glasses off.

If the problem will be able to solves that easy I guess nobody was asking this kind of request Jeff, don't ya think? :)

I feel your pain Jackson, the words on the dials are so small that I need binoculars.

How old is your monitor? They lose brightness and no amount of tweaking will help. Since the loss of fidelity is slow, it goes unnoticed and uncorrected by most people. A monitor more than 4 years old is ok for spreadsheets, but not for art. Carolly

They lose not only the brightness, but the focus, too. My previous monitor's picture was awfully blurred and I couldn't read anything at the end, although I don't wear glasses.

Virus, I lost hope on any updates to P4 years ago. But I hoped if they changed the colors in 5 it would effect 4, since other things seem to. And Jeff, thanks for the suggestion but I'd already done that many times. Yes, my monitor is about 5 years old, I think. But it's still too good to replace--especially at 21". I hate to say this but I don't have problems reading text in any other program. It doesn't take a design professional to realize black text on a dark background is hard to read. But I don't hold out any hope CL will address it; I was hoping some xml guru could come up with a method.

Ben, it really is that easy :-) A good monitor with proper gamma settings (adobe) makes that graphic very readable. It's clear as day on my Viewsonic. -Jeff

It is a valid problem with Poser though, the contrast is bad and the text is too small. I hate trying to find the right morph dial for Vickie II in that long semi-unreadable list, Help, I'm going blind! If sombody was really clever they could find the part of the program that sets the windows color and write a patch, we could all then use DEBUG to change it. Sure!

I have problems too. Even if the text could be bolded that would help alot. I have changed my background colour in Poser which helps some too but reading text on dials, particularly on Vicki, Mike, etc. is difficult to say the least. Thanks for bring up a good issue Jackson! :)

Oh yeah those dials are a bear to read too. At least with P5 grouping capability I no longer have to read...er squint, as much. JeffH, If you change the gamma on your monitor to read the labels, wouldn't you impact the image you're trying to render? It seems that would open up the potential to screw up the finished product (unless every monitor used to view the image had the same gamma settings).

A good monitor with proper gamma settings (adobe) makes that graphic very readable. It's clear as day on my Viewsonic. -Jeff Wow, what a coincidence! I have a ViewSonic21 and also use Adobe Gamma! You have great eyesight if the text in my screen shot is clear as day to you, Jeff. Congrats! (It is a lot clearer here than in the actual Poser screen.) Unfortunately, we aren't all blessed with such great vision. Again, it doesn't take a design professional to know that black text on a dark background is hard to read. It's true on paper and it's true on screen. As for the dials, I find them much better in P5 but some of the text in P5's material editor is ridiculous. Again, this should be an easy problem to fix in both programs. Since CL won't do anything about it, maybe some kind soul with the knowledge will? I'd pay; I don't expect anyone to work for free.

It would be better really if CL dropped the dial images altogether. Come on, by now we all know what a dial looks like don't we? So why waste all that precious real-estate showing us dozens of pictures of thumbwheels? That space could be used for larger fonts, narrower parameter palette (leading to wider document window), and better contrast - I hear black or blue text on white has been used before in other applications with some degree of acceptance :-) How to adjust without wheels? Adobe After Effects came up with the solution in v5.5 I think (about this time last year). They place the label on the left ending with a colon and the number on the right, down the screen in just the typical format of a standard list - 1 line per parameter. The number by default is in blue on the white background with an underscore (a la a browser link) just so that you know it's adjustable. The font is generously sized. You can click on it and edit or overtype the number OR you slide the mouse cursor over the number right or left: right increases the value, left movement decreases it. In other words it works just like Poser's parameter wheels in P3/P4/P5 in every way but... without the silly pictures wasting space, just a label and the value. It is SO much easier to find and read a value that there really is no comparison. I haven't tested it, but I'd guess a 30-40% percent REDUCTION in parameter PANEL size vertically and horizontally, while at the same time DOUBLING the parameter NUMERIC VALUE font size and increasing the LABEL font size by 50% might easily be attained.

My gamma is about 1.8 and I see the text and all renders very well.

Gee Jeff, you on a Mac? ;-) 1.8 is pretty low for a PC, most are about 2.0 to 2.2, Adobe says 2.2 is the PC standard, 1.8 is the Mac standard, If I recall. BTW guys, as Jeff forgot to explain it, sort of squit your eyes a little so your sight blurs a tad, and pick the box that seems to be the same brightness as the left side. Mine is 2.2. Now, you all know what Gamma is, right? Anyway, I think one of the reasons Poser has getting accepted as a "serious" application is because of it's non-professional interface, with mindlessly hard to read stuff.

I'm using an HP with a fairly new viewsonic. I didn't set my gamma to 1.8, but that's how it reads from that graphic. Guess it's a combo of the monitor settings and the adobe utility.

Originally, I'm under the impression that the Mac Gamma was set to about 1.0 (to match printed output), and most earlier VGA systems did around 1.8 to 2.0. The "official" NTSC Gamma is 2.2, I think. Anyway, what is Gamma? (This is for prople who have no idea) It is the contrast curve. Human eyesight is a lot more sensitive to colors near the dark end than the light end, the Gamma curve attemps to spread out the mid range so there is equal incriments on each end- a gamma factor of 2 means the the midpoint (that is, when the computer calls for 50% brightness) is only 25% bright, where a gamma of 1.0 it would be 50% bright. White is always white, black is always black, gamma effects the middle.