Semidue posted yesterday in rdna forum -- "the upgrade is 'done', I need to make the doc, bug resolving, add one or two incredibly new features and it will ok" -- so I'll wait to see the proper pp2010 version. :)
(from http://www.runtimedna.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46160&page=2 )

Quote - Paul Francis: The render on the right was produced in P7, using Semideu's depth cue plugin.

That right one is what I would like from the pp2010 native output :)
Afaik Semideu's plugin (Advanced Render Settings http://www.runtimedna.com/Advanced-Render-Settings.html ) is only for p7/ppro he's still finishing up the p8/pp2010 version. So will have to wait for the new one or write the python myself. He's got a 50% off sale right now, darn tease of timing when the item I want isn't even available yet lol

Quote - Paul Francis: Imagine my horror at realising that 2010 can dot it natively...the article hasn't even been published yet!  Having used it a couple of times, I still prefer the output from the plug-in though, so can breathe a sigh of relief......also, I noticed that the 2010 Z-Depth render sometimes doesn't render transparency maps either.

lucky for you lol goes to show there's always a bright side ;)

thanks for the suggestion :)
would be nice if it worked so I only have to render once lol

Not sure about injecting jcms with the erc after loading the figure or clothing as the erc may be getting linked (ie the slave dial linked to its controlling joint) on load of the figure and injecting it after might no longer work as an erc, but only as a dumb dial like other morph dials. Do a simple erc of any morph (even one that just moves one vert) to test it out before you go too far :) 

I'm not sure I understand why you want to do this as I haven't followed your development so I can't suggest any alternatives, but goodluck! :)

As for alternative geometry to give alternative mat zones... aside from carrying extra materials in the figure section... each bodypart in a cr2 can have its own materials that do not have to be read from the figure section.  Look for the "customMaterial 0" line, turn this to 1 and then have your material channels under there.  This is how partial bodypart mats were treated at least since  Poser 4 (may have started way before, but this is when I saw them for the first time.) These have fallen out of use since people just over-ride the materials in the figure section only. One thing for you to check:  once you declare customMaterial for a bodypart I'm not sure you can remove it again to make the bodypart go back and obey the figure materials  without reloading the whole figure from scratch. 

You'd have to test this in all the poser versions you plan to support, maybe even other apps like ds. Not really the fun part lol 

Quote - But you should understand all your options, because you'll get in another situation where you really don't want to disable polygon smoothing - bb

so what's the downside of "shadow min bias at 3 inches" ? won't that make stuff look like they are floating cos the shadows are detached too far?

Yes, you use the usual photoshop tools and paint direct on the mesh that you can rotate, zoom, pan, etc.  The painting works well but a bit slow changing numerical entry  values in the 3d palette. Strange, that. If anything were to be slow, I'd expect it to be the actual 3d painting part heh... 

Photoshop CS5 is due out this year sometime, some rumours say first quarter. 

:) I should mention that the application is called DAZ Studio or DS for short.  When you say "DAZ" that's the company itself.  We don't call Poser 8  ... "Smith Micro" hehe

Robyn, how nice would it be to have a bagginsbill equivalent for the DS shader builder and shader mixer ;)   Not many people really using them yet... actually the mixer plugin is still marked as "beta" from what I can see - unless I missed an update. 3rd party shaders (pwSurface and omnifreaker's hss and ubersurface) have more people and store content using them.

The Elite products are skins and morphs by DAZ (or commissioned and owned by DAZ.)  The skins are made from photos taken by DAZ and are exclusive to DAZ (they invested in some expensive camera and scanning booth.)  The end result is still subject to your taste, of course, and that's beyond the scope of your question. :)

Power Loader is a script/plugin for DS that allows you to pick and choose which morph channels load with the Mil4 characters. Simply allows you to choose before loading rather than loading then injecting.  You can still inject more after loading - unless you checked the "support selected only" box, in which case the empty channels are not even loaded for you to inject into.  Helps minimise resource requirements.

hth

I've used both and I rate them about the same. Though note I'm less than an animation featherweight. Their interfaces are different but nothing I couldn't understand/translate... eg Poser has the animation pallete+graph and walk designer, DS has Puppeteer http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/daz_studio3/popup?s=features&p=puppeteer.php and/or you could add 3rd party aniMate and aniMate Plus. A bit apples and oranges but I like both shrug Depends on how ingrained you are in the Poser animation tools...

I have not had those wierd effects you mentioned happen in Poser 7. My animations aren't huge though. http://aprilsvanity.com/video/index.php earlier two are Poser, more recent DS. 

If I were you (and had time) I'd try to to isolate the problem causing those wierd effects ... all apps have their "quirks" and you'll just be swapping one set for another lol  ... Unless you had other reasons or just had time on your hands to get into DS.  As I said, I like both!  :)

I'm on pro so waiting on the next pro (have not bothered with p8 despite the nice enough pricing offers, haven't got time anyway and like my pro just fine)... meanwhile been watching this thread, among many :)

Quote - dk3d said: The "Library" is a hassle either way and I almost wish we could just have a plain old windows style navigator/explorer to wade through to manage all this stuff (and delete stuff too). 

as you said, just personal preferences... this library idealism has existed since way before p8 and at least long as i've known poser (which is not as long as some!) and yarp came around with his free p3dobj explorer (i don't like to call it p3do explorer mentally sounds it out and winces ) which is now available in a pro flavour:
http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=yarp
i used to run the free one to convert rsrs to pngs and vice versa (thanks yarp!) but otherwise never really used it for browsing, searching or loading content so i can't comment on that.

and more recently Dimension3d with his PX (Poser eXplorer )
http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=62059&vendor=288865
which i have not used at all but i do REALLY like (and highly recommend) Dimension3d's poser file editor (his store here http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=Dimension3D - lots of nice utilities) and i just like all his UI in PFE, very compatible with me ;)

maybe there were others developers in there with their offerings but these were the only two library utilities i became aware of :)

(ot - i wish the forum quote would attribute WHO was actually quoted... pretty disconcerting to come along in the middle of a conversation and see a quote with no name if the quote or reply were of interest)

Quote - Finally, some love lol.

i've got plenty lol
anyone who doesn't want it, i have friends i am working on convincing to upgrade who could be willing to buy your license (if transfer is allowed, i don't know, i wouldn't ever consider letting go of my ps license o.O )

yes, i love it :)  i upgraded to cs4 a while ago but only just tried the 3d painting about a month ago and ended up playing in it for a couple of weeks, it's SO much fun!!!

it's NOT the same as the "3d" in cs3. this is direct painting ON the object and seeing the result ON the objest, not some 2d painting to 3d preview like in cs3. 
(maybe in cs5 we'll get rigging and morphs enabled too, that would be cool... dreams)

it can handle layered UVs fine, each material works on its own .psb file which you can open and put into your regular .psd file.

• import your object, no mess, no fuss about modifying uvs or materials just for cs4 8)
• look in the 3d pane and select each material and load an empty texture file at the correct dimensions to start on. the default is too small, like 512x512pixels iirc, while I like to work on 4096x4096 ... you will see the difference pretty early on if you forget to do this.
• paint away with your favourite and familiar photoshop tools and brushes!!! <--- this is what makes it so good for me. i don't have to learn another app with different tools and brushes, presets, texture resources, etc.  i've been working with ps (and painter) for sooo many years, they're a second skin.  makes it totally worth the adobe lifetime tithing and/or firstborn fee  chuckles
• you can choose to paint for diffuse, bump, etc... have only been doing diffuse and bump so far so i can't say how the others go.

i love it... hugs little cs4 box that came with no printed manual but i don't miss it anyway

so, i'll stop now... heehee

If I wait for pro2010 release, could I still get p8 free then?
In other words, how long is the p8 price discount from pro2010 good for?
I'm quite happy with pro(2008) and not in a hurry to use p8... so was wondering how big my window of opportunity is. ;)

Quote - However, transmapped hair is still a bitch. - bb

I wonder if transmapped render times are insane with the new GI compared to, say, 1 rt light no ao...
My current favourite portrait light set is one ibl with ao, one spot rt mainlight and one infinite rt backlight - renders closeups (hence hair filling a lot of the 600x800) within 15 mins. (i7 920)

Quote - For some people, I suppose P8 is not worth the step up from P7. But P6 to P8 is a crazy big difference. - bb

I just hope there is a relatively cheaper upgrade from p7pro to p8.

Don't use the Content Database (categories view.)  Use a folder view and you will be viewing your content folders as they are in your hard drive. 

(As 3anson replied Posted Tue, Jun 23, 2009 4:42 pm...)

Quote - change your content browser view to either 'view folders as list' or 'view folders as tree'
when the content pane is open(in font of the scene pane) at the top right is a down pointing arrow, click on that to get your choces of how you view the content.

View Folders should have been default.  View Categories is very annoying to people with established poser content folder structure.