Thanks!--T

There's no real need to abandon the low-end market. Poser just needs to perfect what it already does--3D character creation and manipulation--and make it work with other 3D apps, high, low and middle. That would make it available to everybody, with no real cost increase, and allow people to do high-end work if they want to, but hobbyists could still use the basic app. If they could once afford to give away plugins that let Poser work with other apps, then it seems to me they could just build in that capability without too much cost or effort.--T

All I want is for Poser to work better with other 3D apps--the key to any real 3D software is its ability to integrate with other applications, for example, the last time Poser made a plugin to work with Cinema 4D was about 5 years, 2 versions and one (Mac) operating system ago. 3D animators use a number of programs in concert, utilizing each one for its strengths. Nobody does out-of-the-box human figures better than Poser/Daz--you'd think they'd want to build on that.--T

I guess I'm on the other end of the average--I've got about 3 1/2 minutes (of a proposed 55!) after a year's work: http://home.comcast.net/~t.vining/Scene01_high.mov (this had been in the Animation Outlet so you may have already seen it) Granted, a lot of that time was just figuring out a working method and software etc., but still, pretty painful. If I have one piece of advice, it's to render your figures against a flat picture (rather than full geometry) whenever you can--with matched lighting etc. nobody can tell the difference. Also, composite in post whenever you can, if you have the software (like Final Cut, etc.). Above all, keep in mind that It really does take a long time, so if you want to do movies, be prepared... --T

Wow, so many ways to tackle this problem. Thanks, Little Dragon, for the tut! I'll give this a try, too. --T

Thanks, pakled and nomuse--sounds like I need to learn some new software! I'll look into these. --T

Attached Link: http://home.comcast.net/~t.vining/Scene01_high.mov

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I'll agree with the comments about the importance of the eye movements--despite all the other subtleties you put in an animation, it's the eyes that people are looking at--and add two things: 1. If I can suggest, you might try using the "point at" feature for the eye movements, since, even when somebody is looking at "nothing" they're almost always actually focusing on something, and their eyes will track on that thing when they move their head, even a little, until they look at something else. (I use a "ball" prop--made invisible--that I move around as needed.) Upshot is that the eyes should never move with the head. 2. The other thing is that you generally don't actually see people's eyes move around that much--people usually blink when they move their head to look at something else, and the eye moves to its new position in that small interval while the eyes are closed. (And, specifically for this clip, I'd expect the character to close her eyes while she shakes her head.) Anyway, my 2 cents. --T PS: attached url is to a clip I previously posted here and got my own working-over for (which I recognize as a compliment in this forum)--I include it only as an example of my eye-movement solution.

Whew! Thanks--sounds like Frankenstein there at Daz. This actually clears things up quite a bit. I think I'm going to err on the side of versatility and stick with M3 and V3 for now. Thanks--T

Thanks! The background sounds are Trek sounds I got off the web--people post them everywhere. The voice(s) are/is my wife (I built a little mini recording "studio" to record voice.) The title song is "Aurora" by Veruca Salt, off the "Tank Girl" soundtrack--I'd actually named the ship first, then remembered the song, which seemed to work. --T

I used Daz V3 models & clothing for the figures, plus some Poser-based models for most of the setting; Mimic for the lip sync; Poser 5 for animating,; Cinema 4D (using the ancient Mac OS9 plugin) for rendering (and the ship); Final Cut Pro for editing/compositing. It took me a while to figure out a working method, but it seems to work, tho it's a drag to have to keep going back and forth between OSX and OS9--I'm really hoping somebody makes a new Poser/Cinema 4D plugin for OSX soon! --T

I can't add much to what has been said, just that I was particularly impressed by the camera work and lighting. --T

Thanks--I purchased Billy T's "PC only" canvas sneakers (which I really wanted) and they worked great on my Mac after running them through Macconverter. Thanks all! I guess I have some shopping to do... --T

Okay, thanks. I have Maconverter and have used it on items that have stated that you'll need to convert, but I've always shied away from items that say "PC only"--I'll give it a try. Thanks--T

(I'm using a Dual 1ghz G4 OSX10.3.9.) Hm, I got fmorgan's Mac Converter and that fixed some of the png thumbnails, and I was able to get some of the files to work, but a little hit-and-miss, i.e., the Spacefleet Officer for V3 worked, except for the thumnails on the MAT files; the Sneaker Boots didn't work at all; the pngs for Sport Set for V3 worked, but it crashed Poser 5 when I tried to open them; the Combat Boots for V3 worked fine...I guess I could be doing something wrong, but I don't know what...--T

That worked perfectly, lesbentley--thanks! In fact, after deleting the twist parameter, I found that the other parameters were causing weird morphing, so using what you showed me, I was able to delete those as well, now it's just the way I want it. Thanks so much--I never would have figured this out in a million years. I really appreciate the help and advice you and others offer on this forum! --T