For the record, I think they are still having serious problems. I have been trying for days to log on. Here is a copy of my latest effort to use their system. For one thing it is not working for me, and apparently for others. For another it does just not look well designed. One should not have to fill out a form just to send an e-mail!! Who thought that up? They won't answer the phone either. I have been trying various things on and off for days. I agree with those who wonder about doing business with a operation where getting through is like winning the lottery. Congratulations to the lucky winners. Lets hope they can get their act together. "I have spent a lot of time tring to log into your site. I put in a name, pjbear and a password, and then tried to authenticate. But I have not gotten back an e-mail. I tried a number of times to follow your instructions. But still have not gotten back an e-mail. I do think you have a problem with your system and would like to hear from you. I called Zygote on anothe matter and mentioned this to them and they mentioned that they have heard that others have been having problems with your system. So I do think that there is a problem either within the system or with the clarity of the instructions. Would you please communicate with me?"

Just installed Hiro and like most of what I got, seems a good price. But ------- He is supposed to take David textures? I can get david skins on him except the thighs and calfs do not take the texture, only above and below! Tried both Hiro and Hiro to David options. Same deal. Also, the David Mat clothing sets I have do not seem to go on at all. Do I need to do something to make this work? Or did I misunderstand what DAZ meant when they said Hiro takes David textures? Anybody tried textures?

Very nice, I like the way he pops out of the more muted and somewhat flat colors. Curious how you did it.

Hmmm. Actually I am not sure what I am doing. I saved the two hooves as a single obj object. I don't know if that was right or not. If it was, I guess what I have to do next is groups polygons according to their original designations and names. Is there an automatic way to do this? Did I miss something? I have never used the grouping tool, so I have to read up on that. Anyway, so far as I can tell I have to group the polygons as in the original minotaur figure. Then I guess I just attach the bones by assigning names. Is that right? Then even though they are one obj mesh now, once I groups and divide they will move independently of each other? Is that right? The manual does not say anything about deleting the upper body bones. Do I just leave them there? Then how does this figure end up on david? I would guess that I simply parent this figure to david and conform the whole figure to david? Then do all the bones in this figure move with david? Or do I have to delete some? They will not be attached to any of his body, so maybe it does not matter. Then what about his own legs? I would guess I just turn them off in the hierarchy editor. Am I on the right track? Or should I try to delete them somehow? Just thinking. Probably I will sleep on it. In the meanwhile here are a few pictures of satyrs (or pan) to make the point that artists will want to portray a variety of them.

I am working at it! following pdxjim's plan. This is how far I am now. I have not used P5 before, just opened it a few days ago. So I have to take a break and read the manual a bit. Jim's suggestions worked okay except that when I loaded the minotaur in P5 part of the leg was always missing. So I had to load it and work in P4 where I had it installed all along. Managed to save it as an obj. Then fooled around importing it. It was huge! I had to scale back to 29% and have it import on the ground in order for it to line up automatically with david. Last, I got it into the setup room and had to fool around a bit to get to what you see. Now I have to read the book a bit. My tendency would be to start deleting bones of the upper body to get them out of the way, and then go from there (whatever that means!). But for all I know this is exactly the WRONG thing to do. So I have to read. At least I got this far, and I am learning about P5 which so far is easier to use than I thought it might be. BastBlack: Thanks for the tips. I will check them out as soon as I make a bit more progress here. nOs4ra2: That sounds great!

Oh boy. I can see this is going to be a learning experience and take some time for me to figure out, being I am not a wiz at this stuff. B But let me make a few comments before I try to figure all this out and dive into the challenge itself. pdxjims: Great image! And, it makes my point that even though the satyr set-up on the freak is fun, there is a lot more artistically that can be done here. No reasons all satyrs should have to look alike. Let me add that I don't understand what you mean after BTW. Is the JimBoy morph available? Does the satyr texture go right onto all of it, or did you first go through the steps that you first outlined to get the hooves on it? rawnrr: Thanks for your comment. It gives me a chance to say again that it is a very nice texture with a lot of possibilities. It looks as though it can go on other figures easily, except for the hoof issue. bastblack: Very cool werecatguy! I can't quite figure out your suggestions. I don't know some of the things you are talking about, like what are the cat girl boots (I can't find them), and so I can't visualize a lot of what you are saying. It seems that if I put on boots and then somehow morph them to look like hooves, the texture will not necessarily go onto that mesh. I would have to make a new texture, right? And I would have to somehow morph the boots to look like hooves, right? And it is not clear if you morphed boots to look like those nice cat feet, or if they were already that way in the cat girl boots that you mentioned and that I can't find anywhere. But anyway, very cool figure. Let us know how it goes. nOas4ra2: Thanks for the clarification. I suspected they were not just morphs. Yes, it would be a good idea to make future products more versatile. You would certainly have a bigger market! In this case, I do like the freak as a satyr, but one could do much more artistically if the legs and textures could be put on more versatile figures like david. there could be a whole gang or army of satyrs, for example and it could be more interesting if they were different sizes and shapes and faces. I am very curious to know what you mean by "these types of legs." Give us a hint????? Are you saying that creatures that go bump is not yet up but will be soon? Small suggestion. If you make legs for a lighter guy, and it is not too difficult, smaller hooves might be nice, as illustrated. But this would not be critical for me personally.

Here are the minotaur files that I came up with in a search of poser 4 runtime. So this is what I could work with, apparently. But I don't know what is actually possible. I don't understand the logic of all these files and of what is involved in this figure.

Message edited on: 03/20/2005 02:17

I tried resizing the colored figure and parenting it. Everything crumbled. I can't understand your second suggestion. How can I apply a figure as a morph target? I would have to think about that. I forgot about the nudity business, so thanks. Hmmm. Getting philosophical here --- Satyrs are not human, and they are not really naked, because they are covered with hair. So can virtual representations of mythical and non-human creatures, clothed in hair be considered nude? Hmmm. Oh well, the world has never been easy to understand. I have my hands full understanding the logic behind how poser works. But thanks.

Here we go, ALL three actors in this mystery. I am able to texture the colored figure without conforming it, if it helps to know that.

Let me try that. In the meantime I remembered that when you buy the Satyr they have you apply something called Minotaur legs in the figure file. It seems to involve a cr2 and a whole bunch of pz2 files. I don't understand all of this. In the thumbnail it shows up as a red body and green legs and head, and cream colored below the knees. Then as I recall you conform this to the freak (it does not conform to David) and then apply the MAT texture to this. Again, I don't understand all this. I will be back, let me play with renders.

For me the irritation involves a lot of mixed feelings. There are my personal problems with the uncertainty and not being able to plan my time, which is limited. Like, will my order go through easily or will there be days of trying to straighten things out if I don't do something EXACTLY right? etc. But also I have a lot of "compassionate" frustration FOR Curious Labs. I think Poser is a great product, but it does not get great support. For Poser 4 at least (which is what I use, because I have not opened 5) I think that the manual is not very good, and I don't know where I would be without the Renderosity Forum. Also, I think they could make things more clear over at their home webpage. Not all of us are as at ease with computers and the internet as others, and maybe that is my problem. But this special offer is an example. I had to do a lot of running around to figure out what I would be buying and I still am largely in the dark!! Then there is the unclarity about the serial number and whether I would get the special deal if I were to go ahead and order but have not registered. Or can I still register my P5 after such a long time holding it, and then get the special deal a few hours later? All this could have been made clear on their webpage. I would also like to see Curious Labs do well. So I am frustrated FOR people with a good product in terms of engineering who do not also do as well in dealing with customers. I don't want to seem to be overly critical, I don't know what their budget is etc. I can't stand in their shoes. They have their problems, I have mine. I guess where I stand, after reading the comments, is that the serial number they want is inside the disc package. Now the question is can I just go ahead and register it and still get the special deal? What do I have to lose by trying? Only getting misbilled or something like that and having to spend time trying to straighten it out. Plus, I get the impression that orders are not going through right now anyway. Right? So is this the right time to try to register my P5 or what? If my registration on P5 does not go through would P6 upgrade even work for me? I.e. is registration of P5 necessary to use the upgrade? Since it is mostly Shade that I am after right now in the near future, I would go ahead and order and put aside P6 until the bugs have been worked out if I thought the order would go right through. Then hope that P6 is worth the trouble to learn.

I got one like this that said that someone was trying to use my account and I had better get them the information quick or they would shut me down. No detailed questions of course!! about whether it was really me or not. Very interesting especially since I have never been able to clear up a snafu and can not even use "my account" myself. Obviously I did not respond.

Does anyone know if the sidewalks in stonemason's urban sprawl would match up with those in Daz Paragon and Deco Club? It looks just great and I may get it eventually. But right now I have been itching to put the Deco Club and Paragon into a "run-down" neighborhood. I have seen such things! The problem with those particular models is I can't match up their sidewalks and streets with anthing. So it is difficult to shoot from many angles if the ground shows.

So thats what its for, Thanks. Yeah, photoshop. Just playing around with Apo to find out what it will do and thinking of ways to use it. Getting absorbed by sort of abstract stuff right now -- flat-looking more or less. Not what I started out trying to do. Speaking of science fiction, did you see Titan AE? There are some beautiful scenes that have a sort of fractal quality (what does that mean?) and I intend to watch it again, now that I have had more experience with 3D programs. Thanks again. Phil

Thanks Kathye, I will try the uv mapper when I get something I want to import into poser or vue, and when I get up the nerve to struggle with yet another new program! Right now I am going back and forth between XD and Apophysis, and hope to make some combined 2d images. Welcome! Phil