It is more than likely a copy protection thing. A lot of companies are doing that now. The program sends it's IP, username and reg info to curious... at least that is my assumption. A rather underhanded way of tracking things if you ask me. Didn't Intel get slammed for doing basically this same thing?

Oh, by the way, is there any difference between the 4.0.2 and the 4.0.3 update? It seems that they just changed the brand... is that true?

The Pro pack is just what the doctor ordered... Better integration with 3ds max, and MULTIPLE VIEWPORTS!!! (HIP HIP HURRAH!!!!) Plus better 3d acceleration. Dear God, they finally listened... THUD! <------ Kyrin faints.

Premiere is the best program available (next to RazorPro, but that's like $6000). Premiere is your best bet. That is exactly what it is for.

How about earlier versions of Max like 1.2? A LOT of people still use that version. (including me) The current version (to my understanding) doesn't work with 1.2 so I've never bothered with it. I'd love to have something that would let me automate the import process to 1.2 Also it would be really nice to be able to keep the materials straight. As it is now I have to import the .obj file then re-do ALL the materials. And since there are lots of them it takes quite a bit of time...too much time to try something different. As it is I only import something to Max when I am REALLY sure that is what I need (and only a static pose) and it takes me about 1/2 an hour just to get the materials straight. If an importer could get the materials straight from load it would be fantastic.

Well, if Poser actually used ANY form of 3D Accelleration I would highly recommend that you stay away from the VooDoo series. The Voodoo cards are optimized for 16-bit color. That is a palleted color depth, meaning that you would see banding in any 3D application. What you need is a 32-bit color optimized card such as the Riva TNT2 Ultra, Geoforce 256 DDR, ATI Rage128 (incl. -pro and -Maxx) or any other card based on a true 128bit or 256bit architecture. You also need 32 MB of video ram minimum. The more the better because the card will be able to hold larger textures in memory. You need 32 bit color in any graphics app to give you a TRUE picture of what you are creating. 16-bit doesn't cut it. Poser is a special case in 3D however because it does not use ANY form of 3D accel. The program only uses your systems standard GDI (graphical interface acceleration). Fortunately all of the above cards with the EXCEPTION of the voodoo series includes that ability. The later series of voodoo cards (i.e. 3) does include GUI acceleration wich WILL assist in the overall speed of the system and help with poser in general. However the Voodoo cards run very very HOT. This increases the overall workload on the system due to excess heat. As a result they tend to be a poor choice in chassis that do not have proper ventilation. In general graphics applications will benefit from a fast video card. Some more than others. Color depth, maximum screen resolutions, overal speed and amount of memory are all factors to consider in a new video card. My personal pick: ATI Rage FURY. Reason: Large texture memory (32MB), 128-bit processor technology, 32-bit color optimized. (And it plays my games great too...) Hope that helps. Kyrin

I just want a CAD style view...i.e. 4 seperate viewports. I want to be able to see my model in from 4 different angles at once. It increases my modeling time exponentially having to switch between left, top, front and camera views...I want a 4 viewport screen!!

I have a question...who here HATES the poser interface completely? Whatever version... Who here wants a more functional less artsy-fartsy interface?

Forget Zygote...They still charge too much for models and Vicky is still a two-bagger. (one over her face and one over yours just incase hers breaks...i.e. she is hideously ugly.). Model one, shouldn't take long. If you can't then find something similar and then alter it.

Your PC is a pretty durable thing. I've moved mine over and over and hauled it over to friends houses, never had a problem. All new (post MFM) drives auto park the heads on power down so you don't need to worry about it. You don't even need to remove it as it is better protected in your case than in a box. Just move your own computer though. No moving company lacky is gonna give it the care and attention required to assure that no damage is done. As for backing up your system I highly recommend that you invest in either a second hardrive or possible a zip drive or tape backup. The best option is to get a zip drive, there cheap and hold 100mb's per disk. The drives also come with a quick and easy backup program that will do the job just fine. I have a zip drive and so do about 1/2 million other computer users. (I also recommend getting an external parrallel port version because you can take it to any other computer and use it. That is great for sharing big files with your buddies and other data transport situations. Parrallel port units are a little slower but since it's a backup/transport thing it doesn't really matter.) You can get a zip drive and about 5 disks for around $200 or less. Internal units are a little less expensive but they are not as versatile. Tape backups are very limited. I had one and I rarely used it because the media is like $50 a tape and it is slower than hell. Not really good for anything other than archival backups. Also with a tape drive, unless another person has EXACTLY the same tape drive and software you used to write the tape then they can't read it. One last option is the CDRW. This is probably the best drive investment you can make because when you write a normal CD (ROM) ANYONE can read it. CDRW disks are another story. CDRW's written in UDF format can be read by anyone while others can only be read on the drive that created them. CDRW's are also a little fickled so I personally don't trust them for important backups. But CDR's are great. The media is so cheap now it comes out to about $1 a disk or less (as low as $.33 per disk in bulk) the nice thing about a CDR is that it is permanent and cheap. You can get a CDR for about $150 and the disks like I said are dirt cheap...you can also burn music CD's and copy your buddies programs too!! :) (If it weren't for CDR's I'd have about 1/10 the stuff I got now...) I recommend the HP line of CDRW's. They are VERY dependable (I've never had a bad burn with one.) But stay FAR FAR away from the creative labs drives. I have one and it sucks. Hope all that helps. Kyrin

Yeah brainmuffin, I started the same way. When I first started coming here it was just to grab the free stuff...then I started learning more in the forums and I began to post...messages then downloads. Thank God for the free-stuff. :) Kyrin

With patches I think you could actually do that momo. Patches are wierd. They are kinda like nurbs in that they dont fold. But they turn into geometry real easy. All the stuff i've done with them have been real specialised stuff like the grip wraping on this Katana I did once. (I might post that model too just for kicks...) You manipulate the control points of the object, not the actual vertices, which is what I do most of the time with primitives or spline curves. They do actually act like 3d splines. That is the best way to refer to them infact. flat rectangles of bezier splines. Hope that helps. Kyrin.

That is exactly what I was trying to say above, melanie. As I understand the way things work, doing a picture with anything, from Poser to a napkin and a bit of ketsup, it's your picture. No matter what the medium. You just can't rip the meshes in there original digital form. I.E. the geometry itself. That is like taking a G.I. Joe or starwars figure and repainting it and calling it yours. (Although you could sell a picture of it!) Kyrin

Glad you all like them. Thanks for the compliments. Kyrin

You can't do it in Poser because it doesn't support AVI or animations as textures. In 3Ds Max all I'd have to do is use an AVI file.