Thank you! :biggrin:

Quote - > Quote - Has anyone done a render that looks like it couldn`t be done in poser yet?

Yes, Laurie has... the second render of that building and trees in front would have been impossible in Poser. Have a look a few pages back...

Page 43 to be specific.  Just stumbled into this thread, and was very curious about the results.  In case anyone else wanted to see it, the image that Laurie created is here. 

I still have one file which simply refuses to network render, but I'm going to assume it became corrupt somewhere along the way, and hope I don't find others like it.

E-on said they could not reproduce the problem.  I finally got a scene with GI to render (all the way through!) via hypervue yesterday, after changing the encryption. 

Strangely, this only seemed to be an issue with the 64-bit windows 7, not the 32-bit.

Thanks again,

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3650623&ebot_calc_page#message_3650623

OMG...  I THINK THIS MAY HAVE FIXED IT!!  

Quote - Well I only know those details because in creating the above imaged space ship, I never did figure out how to get it converted to a figure so it's a heirarchical series of parented props with a main parent. It allows all the bits and pieces that need to move to move. Everytime I've tried converting it to a figure the entire hull of the ship does weird things when the landing gear is moved.

It comes down to the red and green "falloff zone" spheres/capsules.  If you export your props correctly as one obj file with each prop acting as a new mesh group, then when you import it into poser, you will have one object mesh with group names for each of its parts.  When you bring this grouped mesh into poser's setup room and add bones, each bone controls a different group on your mesh.  The trick, however, is to adjust the red and green "falloff zones" for each bone so that they affect ONLY the part of the mesh you want, without any other.  (Falloff zones govern the part of the mesh joint that bends as one group moves but another doesn't.)  I understand WHAT they do, but I do not claim to be an expert on HOW to implement them-- the darn things mystify me, too, lol!

There is an easier way to do this with a prop, though, using morph targets -- and you may already know this, but it bears repeating for anyone interested.  With this method, you would end up with one prop with morph dials to adjust parts of the mesh, instead of several props parented to each other.  If you export all your spaceship parts as one mesh with the landing gear down, and then retract the gear and save as an obj with landing gear up, you could use the "gear up" object to create a morph in your "gear down" prop (or vice-versa.)  Poser would then rotate the landing gear up & down as you turn the dial, making the landing gear retract.  You could repeat this with every moving part of your spaceship, just adding new morph dials into one master prop.  As long as every object used to make a morph has the same number of polys, this works really well.  I did this to create a wing prop not too long ago.

If you ever figure out rigging and falloff zones, let me know.  I have mastered every other part of creating conforming clothing, but I just CANNOT rig it without the mesh splitting or massive pokethrough occurring.  Not for lack of trying, I assure you!  :)

Quote - > Quote - Here ya go!  www.karibousboutique.com/shares/poserfordummies.pdf. 

It's long, but VERY comprehensive.  Enjoy!  :)

Ok, Today I did read some of your tutorial. My first minor correction is to this little tidbit:

• Props: This folder contains prop files (.ppz.) Props are “one-piece” only.

You can save more than "One-Piece" to a PP2/PPZ file by clicking on the Select Subset button on the Save Prop dialog that pops up when you hit the + to save a new prop. This brings up a dialogue that allows you to put a checkmark in a box next to as many props in the scene as you wish to have saved together in one prop. They'll still load as separate and movable props but they are loaded with 1 click.

The image in this post contains a Spaceship  "Prop" made of many separate pieces that all load together.

Good point.  Loading one "prop" file can indeed bring many props into a scene, all of them related and parented to each other.  I think what I was (somewhat clumsily, lol) trying to explain is that each part of the "prop set" loaded will be one item, connected only by a loose hierarchy, not rigged together as one body.  For example, I can load one of Stonemason's amazing scenes with one click.  And there is usually one "master/base" prop in the bunch that allows me to move them all around with one turn of a dial.  But, unlike Victoria (whose arm moves if I reposition her hand), if I move something further down the prop hierarchy list -- say, like a box on a sidewalk --, the rest of the scene doesn't move.  In fact, without the help of a python script, I cannot even delete ALL props in a set with one click.  Each prop exists independently of each other, whereas a figure has one connected mesh that is grouped and connected by a skeleton.

By definition, props can morph, or be parented, but they aren't rigged --no IK chains, etc.

Thank you for your attention to detail.  :)  A thorough explanation is always much better than a lazy one.

Quote - On the whole "Hair" issue. There are THREE types of hair. There are HR2 Prop Hairs which come in either 1)Dynamic or 2)Geometry formats that have Transmaps and textures applied and there are 3)CR2 Hair figures which are usually made for a specific figure.

Yes... I did neglect dynamic props entirely in the tutorial -- clothing, too.  But, given that this is a VERY basic tutorial, I didn't want to delve too deeply into anything dynamic.  The Cloth room could be a tutorial all on its own, just as lighting and the Material room could be.  And you're correct that conforming hair can be used as a parented prop if scaled/morphed for another figure.  But that, too seemed a little beyond the basic thread I was addressing.

Still... all this info would make good tutorial fodder for the future!

Here ya go!  www.karibousboutique.com/shares/poserfordummies.pdf. 

It's long, but VERY comprehensive.  Enjoy!  :)

I'm absolutely baffled.  I've tried ticking and un-ticking all the objects, to no avail.  I'm going to try removing the spaceship and see if that fixes it.  I just created a new file from scratch and had no problem rendering lens flare.  Bizarre...

Poser Guru at your service.

Having said that, Poser 6 was the earliest version I ever used.  Still, the basics should be unchanged.

1. Can you "work" on 2 figures at once?  Hmmm... Not exactly.  Poser requires you to manipulate one object at once.  However, once you have them positioned next to each other (say their hands are linked the way you want), you can parent one figure to the other.  That way, when you move the parent figure, the other moves along.  Oh, and, remember that when you are posing, you can move the figure's BODY -- which moves the whole figure -- or individual body parts.  Using the tools (transform/pull, etc.) is best to get figures into close proximity and roughly posed.  I recommend dials for fine-tuning. 

2) Dynamic hair... sigh  Let me give you a word of advice... use prop hair instead.  Dynamic hair requires a pretty good understanding of the cloth room.  Basically, when you add hair, it just creates the strands, sticking up everywhere.  You need to set up a simulation in the cloth room where the hair collides with the figure and its clothing.  It's very difficult to control and style, even for advanced users.  There are, however, very good freebies for most of the Poser people and the DAZ base figures.  If you tell me which figures you are using, I can point you to some.

1. Don't give up.  I realize the Poser interface isn't always intuitive, but once you use it, you will see that it is done that way for a good reason (mostly).  A LOT of the stupidness has been pummeled out by Poser 8, lol.  

I am going to put together a "Poser for dummies" quick tutorial on my deviantart page.  I have offered my Poser experience to any Vue user who will answer MY dumb questions about Vue, because i seem to have a LOT of them!

Quote - I thought so before, too, but in fact it doesn't need to be as big as you might think :-) Even at an AP of 1 the clouds will gradually fade into the haze in the distance, so unless you have a camera focal property of 10mm or less, a big but still managable primitive object will do. The only downside to this is that the clouds fade away in a straight line (they are conforming to the shape of the cube), but you can easily work around this by using more irregularly shaped objects, e.g. a standard vue rock.

I think originally impish published this trick on his Vue blog. He used it at that time to "shape" cloud layers to his liking and to achieve Godrays a lot easier.

That's ingenious.  I would not have thought to do this!

Are there rules about postworking or importing content from other applications?  I couldn't find one specific statement about this.

Thanks!

Oooh!  Neato!  I will give this a shot and cross my fingers.  I noticed a drop off in the number of TDRs the last time I updated my driver -- didn't stop them entirely, but I got fewer.  Maybe this will do them in once and for all!  

Thanks!

Btw, download of current W7x64 video driver (197.45) is here.  Good luck.  You have 4 extra GB of RAM, (and a nicer version of Vue, lol..) and I built my PC myself, but we otherwise have nearly identical systems.  Let me know if you figure anything out, and I'll do the same.

I have the same video card and the same problem.  It's called a TDR -- Timeout Detection and Repair.  Your GPU (video card) is freezing, so Windows (Vista and 7) is programmed to reset it.  It happens when you're at the upper end of usage.

Sadly, there is not one fix for this, and I have not found it yet.  I have updated drivers, turned off Aero, turned off all power management schemes, run memory checks, checked to be sure the card wasn't factory overclocked, run a CPU stress test, checked system temperatures...  Nuthin.  Still happens.  Sometimes in photoshop, too, when I'm placing a mammoth layer or using a huge, detailed brush. 

If you manage to find a solution, PLEASE tell me. 

My specs:
Intel i7 quad core 267GHz (no OCing)
12GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
Win7 x64