Best way to speed up library access is of course to ensure there is less need for storage access:

First: Make references correct so there is no need for 'deep' file searches. 

Second: disconnect libraries you do not use.

Third: The graphics also have a large influence on load times. Switch off he shadows and see what effect that has. 

Quote - ... Most structures in this area had 12-14 foot ceilings primarily to allow heat to rise high above the living space. 20 to 21 risers for a 12 foot ceiling is about right.

...

Well, if the situation in that area is like that, so be it modelled.

I looked at the image from a european perspective and the ratio just struck me.

Looks good but check whether the number of steps of the stair is consistent with the floor height, and whether the height of the balustrade floor is consistent with structural requirements. At a floor-to-ceiling height of 2.70 m you usually see 13 steps from floor to floor. Public spaces like this cafe may have more, but the image suggests too many steps here for a normal stair. 

Except in DIY projecs, floor tiles are not normally laid so that one 'native' edge runs along the wall. The tiles usually are laid from a reference in the centre of the room so that there can be a good fit at the wall. 

Otherwise I really like the scene. 

For many scenes inded a head-and shoulders only figure works out well and economical, either as main character in portrait shots or as 'insert' in full-clothing figures.   

The root-tip ratio depends on the haircut. If my hair is 20 cm with tip/root ratio 0.4, and I cut it to 10 cm, the root/tip ratio will be 0.7, assuming smooth taper. The follicle just pushes out hair at a constant rate and diameter. I think there is natural wear/aging that  makes older hair, i.e hair further away from the follicle, thinner than newer hair.

As for length variation: this of couse entirly is down to haircut. If the hair is uncut, (Tyler as Simson) the natural process of breaking will take care of a sort of logaritmic? (not sure here without having done the math) distribution of hair length. 

V3/M3 RR were great! No difficult inections and all essential morphs included so no complex injection.

These figures could be a great basis for a weight mapped rig (fewer verts so easier to paint the global behavior) and with Snarly's subdivider plug-in the rendered results could be surprisingly good.   

But of course there is nothing against weight-mapping V3. The tools provded trough PoserPlace are still there and could serve.

See the above. I used all the hair groups from the baron hair. A lot is hidden inside the 'turban' I made her (Antonia) wear with the hair. For practical applications of course I could make some invisible, move and use magnets, but the name of the game here is how to constrain hair. Other solutions are postfix recourse. 

The thing on het head is the 'mould' I used this time: A transformed torus. In fact it is the outer torus, because I used a second torus inside this one to make the 'pressure' on the hair more intense. During the simulations I noted the hair, when squeezed, at some moment jumps trough the surface of the mould and then, once passed, there appears to be no holding back anymore. Apparently, once the process has taken the 'penalty' asociated with  a hair vertex entering illegal space, there is no further penalty if it drifts away there further. By adding a second mould inside the first one, I added a new penalty. I can not give a weight to the penalty function in the collision. I assume this is something internal hard coded in Poser. I can not find it in the .cr2 and PoserPython does not give any handles either. Logic has it however that vilolating more constraints gives more penalty. Will try agian later and see what happens if more consecutive constraints are imposed, either as back-up to the final surface, or as 'waymaker', preceeding the final surface. 

A second conclusion I made is that it is better to actually let the hat come down on the head than to 'shrink' the hat onto the head. The crux seems to be that the process lacks methods to find a place for the hair when 'caught' between head and hat. The available input parameter make me assume the structural model of the hair contains only bending and maybe torsion. Strain, and certainly 'buckling' appear to be not represented in the model. Hence the best way to move the hair aside would be a 'sliding' load, much like 'combing' your hair with your hand.            

The 'dynamics' parameter for the hair groups indeed can be set to values higher than 1.0.

Capturing the morph I have not investigated yet.   

To be continued!

Interesting idea, mysticeagle!

Any 'standard' sections or groups we can agree on would work, or maybe a standard skull cap with morphs to suit the various figures. Definition of the hair groups should be more or less standard for a hair style irrespective of the figure it is applied to. The hair room uses a different process than a hairdresser, but it is a process nevertheless, and at least the hair room process has a universal basis does not need to deal with differences in natural characteristics of hair.  

@acadia: I am afraid so, but it would do away with the advantage and be as cumbersome as transmapped hair. I have not given up the hope yet!

@EnglishBob: That may be an idea. Spawn Morph Target will not work I am afraid, but I do not know whether dynamic hair would be exported in a .obj an could be read as a morph target.

@CaptainMARC: That is another good idea; thank you; will try this and revert.

@RedPhantom: Cage's bake Deformation script. I do not know that one, but if it does what the name suggests it may be useful. Will sort that out.

@MysticEagle: That is plan B indeed. It would work for closed and non-transparant hats only, and I would need to work out the hair style!. Thank you anyway. 

Thank you all for your responses. you gave me some good ideas. Will revert on this. (Need to do something these days ;-) )

There is no 'fault' or 'good'. If we want things to be compatible, we must agree on a light level we can consider as 'standard'. In real life we have this, at day the sun shines on all of us the same way. In Poserverse we must find a standard ourselves.  

Quote - > Quote - You can try to reduce the 'lightness' value in the skin nodes.

Yikes.  I don't have a clue how to do that.  Without EZ Skin, I'd still be using Poser 5 MATs.

I did try turning down the specular using EZskin.  Light is 100%.  That delicate glow that SSS gives you is gone, and the eyes look downright creepy.

 

In EZSkin, open the 'skin' tab. On top you see ' HSV Control', with inpute for 'H' 'S' and 'V', allowing you to change the tone (Hue), saturation (S) and value, or value (V) of the skin. If you have Photoshop, see what an HSV correction layer does. There the 'V' channel is named 'lightness'. It makes your skin darker so less chance of wash-out.

altenative: If you have Pro try the exponential mapping modes (in render settings window, below, on the right). This will affect your whole scene, but over-exposed areas less than areas than have correct exposure. 

Quote -
After some experimentation, I think it's simply a matter of the light intensity.  Setting the light bright enough to make the hair glossy washes out EZskin shaders.  Not sure if anything can be done about this.

You can try to reduce the 'lightness' value in the skin nodes.

dadt, you can add 'maitre coiffeur' in your profile! Chapeau!

Good to see this aspect of Poser gets attention. I have always been at a loss when it comes to the hair room.

I remember one single successful appliciation that used a 'moniker', a low-res cape type representation of the figure that was used as collision surface. The hair was connected to the moniker, and the moniker was to be conformed to the figure. The moniker was fully transparant and just served as collision surface.