Thanks for all the info, Lobo! Very helpful.

I think your link to that training vid might actually get me to dive into Silo and give it a real serious go. I keep falling back to Blender 'cause I'm more familiar with it, but at the same time it feels like "too much" for what I want to do. I bought Silo specifically because it was more purpose-built, and doesn't try to be "everything at once". I find myself spending more time than I'd like hunting things down in Blender.

So.. I think I'm gonna give that course a go.. learn a new software, and learn to work with Poser. Two birds, one stone and all that.

Thanks again!

I hadn't checked out those formats, yet. I replied to you before checking it out. I can do that now, quick and see...

... time passes ...

Okay, the FBX imports a bit wonky. Alembic works perfectly though. The materials aren't applied correctly, but I don't need those. I just need the figure to work as a scale reference.

So.. I guess that solves that!

Thanks!

Hi there, Lobo, and thanks!

To answer your questions...

• I'm using Blender 2.9x right now. I'm not "married" to it by any stretch. I'm still getting used to it after the major update from the 2.7x series. So it's "whatever works" in that case.
• I'm using Poser 12. I'd purchased 11, and went ahead and got the update.
• I did export a character from Poser to use as a scale reference, but the axis are rotated. If I change the Z value of the scale, it scales along the Y axis. Really odd. Never seen that happen with models from other software. The axis usually remain intact. So I kinda set that aside for the time being and figured maybe I could just find some info about what scale/measurements Poser works in. If I know the standard figure in Poser is 1.8 meters tall, for example, I can work from that.
• I actually own Silo, so I'd be able to follow that course you linked. Silo's weird to work with, though. Can't decide if I like it or not. I'm sure I can take the information in the training and apply it to Blender, which I'm more comfortable with.

In any case, thank you for the info/suggestions!

I'll see what else I can find regarding scale and such.

Thanks!

I was checking out ProRender on my system and it was extremely unstable. Froze up my system, crashed the video driver - running current drivers on a 1660., so not an old model, either. Had to hard-reboot my system several times just while trying to render with it.

AMD makes great hardware. I love their CPUs, and their GPUs seem fine, if a bit power-hungry. But they seem to have a problem with reliability on the software end, especially drivers. It seems spotty at best based on a variety of reports I've read here and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, I've never had a problem with Cycles, IRay, or anything else NVidia related. Across multiple system configs and video cards (all NVidia).

Now, if Cycles were to add solid AMD support, that would be great. Let it be completely hardware agnostic.

Retrowave posted at 7:53AM Sun, 15 March 2020 - #4382638

@Nagra - Sorry, missed your post. Pro Render is designed to run on Linux, MacOS, and Windows, supports GPU rendering on all platforms, and does so with AMD, nVidia, and even Intel graphics. Regards Bondware giving Firefly GPU acceleration through OpenCL, that is exactly what I wish they would do, cause I like the artistic freedom and control Firefly gives, in ways that Superfly does not. With Bagginsbill's Parameter Modulation technique built in, Firefly would effectively become a hybrid renderer, or at least that's the way I see it since he was getting results every bit as impressive as a dedicated PBR renderer.

Here's a PBR render Baggins made in Firefly using his Parameter Modulation technique, so just imagine this technique built-in to Firefly, and GPU-accelerated:

Sorry to piggy-back on your thread/question, EClark. I'm curious if people might share some reasons they prefer one figure over another? Is it related to amount of supporting assets, materials and/or rendering quality, ease/range of posing, etc?

I'm pretty much brand-new to the Poser ecosystem and, similar to when I was first learning about DS, I'm curious when or why certain figures might be preferred over others, etc. In DS, I learned how in some scenarios, the newest options aren't necessarily the best ones.

Okay nice.

So, I don't really need everything there, but some of it can be useful. Got it.

Thanks for the help everyone!

I'll be FINALLY getting Poser tomorrow. So, I'll have plenty to keep me busy.

Thanks again!

Oh nice! I saw a lot of stuff I really liked for that figure.

More money to spend! Yay!

Thanks for the info!

Awesome. Thank you for posting the link, Kerya!

Kerya posted at 10:59AM Sun, 08 March 2020 - #4382866

pikesPit posted at 4:09AM Sun, 08 March 2020 - #4382857

If you already have V4 and a couple of her morph packs (Morphs++ are mandatory) then you should try "Sasha-16". Can't remember the source right now because I'm on mobile. Just google for it - the first search result should be bull's eye!

regards, Peter

http://sasha-16.forumprofi.de/t151f23-SASHA-Edition-is-here.html

Hi, Peter,

I have V4, and several related files. Not sure all what I need beyond the base, and the "shapes++". Maybe high res skins?

Here's what I have available through the install manager...

Which stuff should I download in there?

Thanks :)

pikesPit posted at 10:55AM Sun, 08 March 2020 - #4382857

If you already have V4 and a couple of her morph packs (Morphs++ are mandatory) then you should try "Sasha-16". Can't remember the source right now because I'm on mobile. Just google for it - the first search result should be bull's eye!

regards, Peter

You weren't kidding!

I did a quick search and just in the first few links I clicked there were some gems. Well, I predict some hours being lost in google in my near future lol.

Thanks for the tip!

Incantus posted at 9:41AM Sat, 07 March 2020 - #4382811

@ TwoCatsYelling

The best experience you might have if you want to stock up you Poser Content with stunning models would be to simply type in in Google search

free Poser Ds

you will be stunned about the results already on the first page and the models you will see that are offered for free are going to keep you occupied for a long time :) you will be able with this search term to find your favorite creators and sure make big savings for quality stuff. I usually use this term then go to Images it makes life easier to find what I did not know that i could use ....

give it a shot and believe me you gonna have a blast

Hey those are some very cool suggestions.

I really like the looks of Scene Toy Pro. So I'll definitely look into that. I've seen the DSON Importer mentioned a number of times, so that's obviously a no-brainer. For the library/runtime management addon, I think I want to learn the ins-and-outs of how Poser handles runtimes inherently first. I think that'll help me better understand the benefits of using an addon for it. Though, like you said, waiting for version 12 could also be a good idea.

I've been looking through a lot of the packs just for V4 and have been really impressed. Some of them look as good as G8 figures I've seen and used, maybe better in some cases. I've looked at some in the store, and assumed it was for a later Genesis figure, or maybe LaFemme, and was surprised to see V4.2. Not sure how folks pulled that off with such an older figure, but the results speak for themselves. Some skilled folks working with it. I've been bookmarking some V4 stuff for later purchase.

I learned about Comic Life from checking out BlackSun Comics and following some of his content. It looks like a really cool program. Will have to look into that more.

Thanks!

HartyBart posted at 9:28AM Sat, 07 March 2020 - #4382790

I'd suggest:

• the free DSON Importer for Poser and its extender (I forget what that's called now), for loading older DAZ Genesis figures and props into Poser.

• the latest Scene Toy Pro (paid), for easier and quicker scene work.

• PzDB 1.2 (paid, cheaper than 1.3) for finding and loading stuff as your library expands. Not vital at first, but you may soon find you need it. Although you might wait for Poser 12 and see what changes there are there, and if there's a better Library for handling large runtimes. I'm not sure there will be, but the Library does get a bit better with each release. I tend to use it for Lights and PzDB for everything else.

For custom 'monster fantasy' that's unique to you, you might want the various packs for M3/M4/V4 + morphs that go under names like Creature Creator and similar.

If your story is aimed at a comics format, then Comic Life is a solid layout and lettering software, very much easier to learn and cheaper than Clip Studio.

Ahhh yes... Humans. Those mythical creatures :p

Well, I should be getting Poser on Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest. I'm mildly excited. That is to say, I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning lol.

So I'll be able to finally set all this up and really dig in!

Kerya posted at 8:10PM Fri, 06 March 2020 - #4382590

Yes, DSON handles the morphs. For the textures you will have to remember to load the Poser mc6 materials (which are included in the Dragon 3 files).

What is she reading? Hmmm ... a fairytale book about ... humans? Maybe. LOL

Wow. That's quite the setup. Sounds like it was fun to set up.

I'm thinking of getting a personal NAS. Just not the WD "MyCloud". Tried that before, and it was awful to work with. Looks like there's some better options out there.

thoennes posted at 8:06PM Fri, 06 March 2020 - #4382705

My storage setup is:

2 development systems. Same OS and software stack on both. MacOS using brew to keep things up to date. One is a laptop and the other a desktop. Both are SSD so not as much chance of failure as an HD. I don't raid locally.

1. I use rsync to keep my content and app libs in sync. The content sync also de-dupes within runtimes to hardlinks (using jdupes.). brew maintains a brewfile that can be used to restore my complete software stack on reinstall of a computer (or a new one). The rsync gets me a kind of lazy "raid" as far as I need. I can move back and forth between them with the same software setup.

2. I only keep runtimes i'm using on either computer. All runtimes are sync'd also to local and remote server. I can clone a runtime if I need it. I split them off by character generation and/or category. It's unlikely that I would use PE and toon at the same time :)

3. I use git to maintain all my projects. Each project is its own local git repo. This works well for poser since they're text files. I have a remote repo on my local server and a remote repo on a cloud VM (both servers run ubuntu). So not only are all my projects in source control, but there are 2 remote repos (one off site). I can delete any local repo I'm not using. I can clone it back from either remote. I have a non-git "working/play/experiment" directory that I use rsync to keep in sync between the two machines.

4. For binary (image) assets I have a sparse diskimage that's in slices, making it much easier for rsync to deal with. It also is sync'd between machines and servers, local and remote.

There are some scripts that handle the mounting, de-duping, unmounting, syncing, etc. I just "work-sync" or "content-sync -a". I have some utility scripts like one that creates a custom folder embedded with a cover image for the project, usually the last image in the "renders" project, or a the "images" directory, or whatever is the last image it can find. Nice to look at a directory of folder icons and have a visual as to wtf is in there :D

The local server is ubuntu, AMD in a tower case, with 12x 4TB drives, 3 as 3 way mirror (double redundant) for homes, and the rest as raid6+hot spare. Essentially, I have to lose 3 drives in the mirror or 3 drives in the raid before I lose data. And the critical (git) data is still on the remote. Just not the runtimes.

When I got a new computer (replaced laptop which crashed and burned) it was pretty trivial to bring the new one back up with everything.

In my case, I do a lot of other stuff on that ubuntu server. If I didn't, I'd use a 3 bay 3 way mirrored 12TB drives JBOD external. That would be 12TB double redundant. The cost for redundant drives is nothing compared to the cost of reinstalling, rebuilding everything.

As my dad used to say... there are two types of people: Those who have lost data and those who will lose data.

I'm both. I've blown days (probably weeks) of my life, recovering from system failures over the years. No more. Let the record show, I eventually learn.

What kind of external drive do you use? USB, like a Western Digital "My Passport"? Or something else?

Boni posted at 8:05PM Fri, 06 March 2020 - #4382685

I keep a major back-up to back up my system ... periodically. And I have a simple external drive that I save all my downloads, projects, images and renders to ... as well as major documents. When my computer died a couple years ago ... it was a blessing to have these.

Ohhh nice!

So that DSON importer handles all the morphs, too, then? That figure has a great number of options available. Would be great to have them available in Poser, too. Cool render, by the way. What's she reading?

Also, that's a great resource for the freebies. I'm going to have to keep a bookmarks folder for all the resources I've been linked to here.

Kerya posted at 7:34PM Wed, 04 March 2020 - #4382530

As for the Daz Dragon 3: it does work in Poser with the DSON importer ... or I couldn't have rendered this picture: Fairytale Hour

Free dragons: https://poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org/wiki/Fantasy_Monsters#Dragons