Thanks again, Trav. I always look forward to and love your light sets. They save hours of work. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

If you truly feel you wish to embark on the Poser 5 adventure, do not install it in the same directory as your Poser 4 and do not remove Poser 4 from your system. If you use Poser with Vue dEsprit, for instance, removing Poser 4 from your system makes the importation of Poser scenes into Vue much more difficult. Also, if you are using Poser 4 with Pro Pack and wish to easily export into a different rendering program, you will need them since Poser 5 has no equivalent method of exporting into Lightwave, Cinema 4d, etc. Such abilities have been promised for the future, but well Also, for whatever reason, Poser 5 refuses to open previously saved Poser 4 scenes at times. After 4 months and numerous SR patches, we could still never figure out any pattern as to why certain scenes would make Poser 5 choke and puke and other scenes opened just fine. So you will want Poser 4 on your system to be able to use any older scenes that Poser 5 deems unworthy of its time. You will also be able to link your Poser 4 runtime into Poser 5 so do not worry about having to reload all of that. It will also allow you to easily keep your Poser 4 and Poser 5 only files separate. You will encounter problems with Poser 5 being unable to find geometries and/or textures. It might allow you to manually point it to the file or it might not. It depends on the mood it is in on any particular day. >>>And what are your overall opinions of P5?<<< Personally, I view it as worthless, not much better than a poorly written alpha and a final piece of evidence that you should trust no one in the software industry. But then my opinion has earned me endless condemnation, flames and now even threats of violence from the CLCDNW mafia. So do read other opinions and make your decision. I cannot recommend that anyone buy Poser 5. All BS aside, I would at the very least wait until SR3 is released and see the reaction to that. I would think that after 8 months and numerous previous service releases they would finally be getting close to the functional program they promised last year. 8 months. Has it really been that long? Time does fly >>>Is it really much better?<<< No. The Firefly renderer is marginally better than the original Poser 4 but was outdated before Poser 5 was released. And if you are using Poser 4 mainly for animation, Poser 5 in its present condition will be virtually useless to you in my opinion. Also remember that the much touted dynamic hair and clothing will not currently export to any other rendering program I know of. The one thing that I will say was a vast improvement was the library structure, but even that has bugs. Go figure. After looking at your gallery (I particularly liked Maya, Destinys Path, ~Classic~ Tribute to Liv Tyler and Liv Again.), I see nothing that Poser 5 offers that would, in my opinion, add to or broaden your talents or make your work easier. A possible exception would be the dynamic cloth. But I think you would spend more time fighting the frustration of working with an unstable and unworthy product than creating more art or extending your talent. Very good work, by the way. Our production tools currently include Poser 4, Pro Pack, Vue dEsprit, Bryce, TrueSpace, Rhino and Cinema 4d. Lightwave is joining the list. Poser 5 will never be on the list. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

Attached Link: http://host1.bondware.com/~syydr/

cue THE VOCAL MINORITY!!!<<< Nah, I'll pass. I see no need to keep kicking a dead horse. As I stated, the only time I offer my opinion of Poser 5 is when some fellow member of the community asks whether he/she should buy it. Then, contrary to those who seem very intent on trying to intimidate us into silence, I will give them my opinion if it suits me and to hell with those who don't like it. On another point, though I am sure it is a misnomer, it is the EXTREMELY VOCAL MINORITY. EVM for short. T-shirts and ballcaps are on order and should be here within a few weeks. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

I doubt 60 dollar models have anything to do with doing something on the cheap.. they spend in the thousands just on the catered lunches on the set. I think it has more to do with the fact that this is for quick visualization, and the average tv viewer still sees ANYTHING 3D with an ooh and ahh factor.<<< Overall, I agree with you. Remember, though, that the CGI part of it is most likely done by a production company independent of the unit that is doing any live-action work. Many of these cable productions are not far above Corman-like budgets from the 60s. Speaking from experience, nothing surprises me when it comes to what some producer or unit director decides can be cut, decreased or pared. Some of the decisions Ive seen made over the years are absolutely mind-boggling. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

No Cut down on the coffee... and keep your boogers to your self.<<<

I would have thought with all that coffee you would be more concerned about the farts. 8-<

Take care, be well, keep flying.

casamerica

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=1193084

Take care, be well, keep flying.

casamerica

P.S. - Poser 4+Pro Pack gets my vote. ;-)

The statement was my interpretation of the number of people complaining about Major serious bugs (crashes and freezups etc...) Vs the complaints from people who just seemed to be too lazy to learn a new interface.<<< Lazy? JHFC! Are we still hearing that! Is that the best, the very best that can be thrown at the EVM? Let me see, Ive learned Bryce, Ive learned Vue, Ive learned Rhino, Ive learned TrueSpace, Ive learned Cinema 4d and Im about to embark on the learning of Lightwave. So, if I hear someone make the accusation that my problem with Poser 5 was because I was too lazy to learn another interface, or too lazy to go through the learning curve, I might just have to get a bit pissed off and resort to cyber-boogers, face-making and farting in their general direction. >>>It damages sales of P5, which in turn makes CL's precarious financial position even worse, <<< In its present state of stability, Poser 5 should not even be offered for sale. Whatever Curious Labs financial situation may be is a direct result of their own actions and their own failures. I think it is time that they grew up and took responsibility for it instead of letting their ever-shrinking fandom paint them as some sort of victim of some sort of conspiracy. The victims in the entire Poser 5 fiasco were those faithful and trusting members of Curious Labs customer base that bought Poser 5 believing and trusting what they had been told. I was one of them. I still shiver and wince at the smell of Vaseline. >>>Ironically... If you all hadn't done such a good job of bitching you might have a nicely functioning program by now. IMO.<<< Yep, and in my humble opinion that is a load of bulls**t. In my opinion, if people hadn't bitched like they did you most likely would not have gotten the "service releases" you did as quickly as you did! I'm pretty goddamn tired of hearing people blame those who simply wanted what they paid for to work as it was advertised get blamed for the damage done, in my opinion, by the betrayal and lies dished out by Curious Labs. Where I work, we tried Poser 5 in the same environment as Poser 4. We tried to use Poser 5 on actual projects for clients. Not a single project could be completed with Poser 5. Not one! Previously saved scenes would not reload, the system would suddenly reboot for no apparent reason without warning, animations would not render, models that render perfectly in Poser 4 would render with hideous artifacts in Poser 5 like they were suffering from leprosy, the system would suddenly freeze in the middle of renders for no apparent reason and only a hard reboot could bring the system back online, etc., etc., etc. This does not even consider the meandering lights and the completely and totally worthless Walk Designer. Hell, they didnt even bother to fix many of the bugs from Poser 4 in the built new from the ground up Poser 5. Whatever the fate of Poser and Curious Labs may be, it was designed and written by Curious Labs themselves. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica P.S. Do you think weve altered anything either of us believes in regard to Poser 5? Neither do I. ;-)

I only took a jab at the "vocal minority" because you guys just pounce on any discussion of P5 with comments about it being a weapon of mass destruction etc... It just gets a bit old to those with reletively few probs... not to mention it's a rather counterproductive way of trying to effect change. :p<<< The only time I "pounce" is when someone asks opinions as to whether they should buy. Then you can bet your g*****n house that I will try to save another poor sucker from paying out good money on a program and to a company that does not deserve their patronage. Even at $199 Poser 5 is not worth it IN MY OPINION. And I will give that opinion when someone asks members of the community whether Poser 5 should be bought. Now, once the fabled SR3 is released I will most likely keep my opinion to myself since I have no intention of placing it, Poser 5 or anything new from Curious Labs on my computer ever again. Poser 4 and Pro Pack were the last items I will ever purchase from Curious Labs. >>>If I was in your boat I'd be mightilly pissed... <<< Naw, I'm past that. After we fought with the sucker from September of 2002 through January of 2003 and then deep-sixed it, Poser faded into a shadowy history. The only time I get really pissed now is when we're told that our complaints are old and tiresome and we should quietly fade away so Curious Labs can land another sucker for several hundred dollars on a program that still does not function any better than a poor alpha. Then, yea, I get really pissed. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

Lately I do see a lot of Posette and Dork in TV media. ...no Vickys or Mikes though Daz EULA?...<<< The DAZ EULA would have nothing to do with it. There is nothing in the DAZ EULA that would prevent production companies from using Michael or Vicki. I know we have used Posette, Michael, Stephanie and Vicki. I think it has more to do with companies trying to get by on the cheap or who know little or nothing about how to use Poser effectively. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

Just saw Posette on Court TV last night. She was used to recreate an alleged suicide in "Forensic Files." If we ever offered the quality of the animation they broadcast to a client, we'd be out of business in days. Standard Posette with classic plastic hair. But at least Posette is still working! Good for her! ;-) Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

Well, since it is apparent that the opinions of many of those who have tried to use Poser 5 are not welcomed here since we may disagree with the opinions and voices of the self-proclaimed and self-supposed "majority," I will offer my opinion to you privately if you wish to IM me. Afterall, God forbid if someone should be charged with trolling for offering an honest opinion after four months of testing and trying to get a program to work as advertised before deep-sixing the bugger. ;-) Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica SUBTLE HINT*** SUBTLE HINTSUBTLE HINT<><><><> (A proud member of the "Extremely Vocal Minority" now using Poser 4 with Pro Pack, Vue d'Esprit, TrueSpace, Rhino, Cinema 4d and soon Lightwave exclusively for computer graphics.) SUBTLE HINTSUBTLE HINT***SUBTLE HINT<><><><>

Well, so much for this thread staying on topic. ;-) I never realized there was so much jealousy of success out there. It does make me happy, though, to realize that I did still have a shred or two of naivetleft in me... after all these years, too. ;-) Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

With runtime folders on one of my systems at 27.9 gig and climbing I realized real quick that an external HD was going to be the only practical way to back it up. I also make sure that my individual pz3 scene files are backed over to CD-RWs immediately. Between complete backups if I lose everything on the HD I will at least have the pz3s after everything is rebuilt or reloaded. My pz3s change the most often, of course. So, I guess my advice is get an external HD and backup your pz3 scene files daily. I just went through my system last week and cleared away a few gigs of stuff I hadn't used in quite awhile. I learned that that should be at least a quarterly project. You'd be amazed at how much stuff just sits there never or rarely used. But I've always been a pack rat. ;-) Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica

BTW, the ambush link has been removed. I want to thank the administrators and/or mods for moving on this as quickly as they did. Like I stated to ladynimue, I appreciate it. I hope it saves anyone else from getting ambushed. Take care, be well, keep flying. casamerica