Thanks to both Akhbour and RHaseltine! That's exactly what I was wanting to know .. I figured it was pretty basic, somehow I didn't make the mental connection of "if you want to cast a shadow you need something to cast a shadow on!"  I thought the grid was the ground plane ...

Thanks again!  HG Guy

  There we go, that's the advice I needed ... I noted the pixel dimensions of the background pic I wanted and entered those as the dimensions (with the constrain proportions unchecked, as the the backround pic is taller than wide), then went back to the view area, imported my pic and it was fine. 

Thanks for the help!  HG Guy

 I click on the "Backdrop setting" icon, click "browse" from  the "image:" drop down menu, navigate to the the proper folder, click on the tiff file, then click "accept" ... like I say, my previous D/S install I imported a backdrop pic just fine ... but, now it won't.

Thanks!  HG Guy

  Very helpful! Thanks, Acadia

HG Guy

  So, if I still do want to uninstall Poser 5 how do I do that?  I've tried thru the Control Panel Add Remove, clicked on Poser 5 to uninstall, took all of 1/2 a second (I thought that was mighty fast for such a big program with all that data), window told me uninstall succesful, but I can still open Poser5 from the shortcut and the folder is still there with all the files. I tried uninstalling again but I get an error message "following files don't exist or is not a valid uninstallation log file"

And, what's the difference between an internal and external runtime?

And, I just noted the thing about compressed library files. Why are they compressed and how do I uncompress them?

HG Guy

Thanks svdl, I think I'm getting it.  It's becoming more and more clear (not crystal yet, but at least it's not mud)!

HG Guy

Thanks Acadia!  What exactly is a "runtime" ... I know this is probably so very basic to understanding what goes on under the hood of Poser and I see the term everywhere in threads and Poser books etc. but I've never grasped what it is so I've never paid much attention to it.  Is it a filing system? A procedural thing? A noun? A verb? Is it how Poser oraganizes stuff? 

Can I have two instances of Poser on my computer (i.e. 5 and 6),  and can they be rnning at the same time (I know people who have multiple versions of Corel Painter on their machines and jump back and forth between them .. can I do the same with Poser)?

Thanks for the help!

HG Guy  

Thanks! I figured that's all I had to do, but thought I'd ask.. hg guy

That's what I'm talking about!! Definitely headed in the right direction!!! Thanks, dreamer hg guy

Would it be possible for an ingenious person who was lucky enough to get the Bundle from the (now removed) link to upload it to an ftp and post the link here? I missed issue 102 of CA and have yet to get a working copy Thanks!! hg guy

I knew it was something as easy as that!! just couldn't find the right box! As the say in Turkey, Thanks a "millyon!!" hg guy

Thanks, all! This has been an enormous help! I'm really trying to figure most of it myself and not go the "can someone else do this for me?" route. There are so many little details in the workflow to learn!! hg guy

Okay, sorry for the bandwidth waste...I did figure out how to include the image. So far the terrain is coming along... the gear needs help...I used nuski's greyscale above and modified it and got it into the terrain editor, but upon applying it looks like a vacuform object with the flat base plane not cut away yet...nuski, when I get to "adjust as needed" per above what do I adjust to get rid of the square base? hg guy