Okay, so the temp directories can be cleared from Poser itself?

I've got the program installed directly to C -- C/Poser7 or whatever -- as people told me letting Windows stick it in with the progam files would cause problems, potentially.

Not entirely sure what you're saying I need to do at this point.

Should I run SP3 again, or will I have to reinstall from the ground up (after having "hidden" the current runtime somewhere else)?

Is hiding the current huge runtime -- moving it to a new folder -- necessary?

Just trying to be completely clear before "surgery."  So, steps -- and confirmation -- appreciated.

Just killing those 3 doesn't seem to have done it.

When I try to delete the starting figure, I get the confirmation message, and then the whole thing freezes.

"Are you sure you want to delete the current figure?"

Followed by:

"Poser executable file is not responding."

And then a "wait" or "end" option.

Where are the temp dirs?

I've cleared the library and UI xml files along with the ini.

I didn't see anything in the 2 temp directories I looked in that screamed "poser."

Cool.  I know where that tab is, but I didn't know that use for it vis the hair (or anything else).

Turns out, my renders were being slow (and crashing) because of a problem with the floor in the scene: I used a PP version rather than a P5 version under the mistaken believe that PP was the newer/better program.  (Thought it was between 5 & 6, instead of between 4 & 5, which it is.)

It kept looking for a bump map, which wasn't where it expected -- in the textures file.  So it just kep looking.  It wouldn't let me remove the floor and replace it (on advice from the creator); the program would just crash.  So I took the texture bump jpg, duplicated it, and then renamed the copy to the file the PP floor expected to find.

Which, apparently, it did.

Suddenly, no crashes and vastly faster renders.  Of course, I took the advice about 2 threads and such, too.

So, now it's running fine, I've got a setting for the render I can live with, and I learned a lot, too.  The final result looks a lot like the one I last posted -- though that's a close-up of the image I intend to use as a cover.

And I learned a heck of a lot.

Thanks to you and all the other fine folks who chimed in.

The Renderosity boards are the best!

I have just one rendering thread now; I'll up it to 2.

I think I have 64 bit Win 7, though I'm not sure.

Having had an old computer until very recently, I'm not used to being able to run an image editor (Photoshop) at the same time I run anything else.  Certainly not with Poser running, too -- until now, maybe.

The hair is the v4 Ranger hair from DAZ (part of the Ranger package, though it has a separate morph/mat set which I wish I'd gotten now when it was on sale; penny wise, pound foolish).

I have no idea how to set the shading rate for the hair (to match the render settings).  I'm much more of a writer/artist than a program geek -- though I'm willing to learn.

Okay, looking carefully at the last render (after a Poser crash probably caused by an unrelated update), I think that the problem is nearly licked.

I'm trying it again with the blur factor of 2 on the light in question, to see if that helps.  But I think the issue may be one of resolution on the hair maps at this point.

Looking closely, I see that the "smudge" on the face seems to be made up of the same pixilation I see in the hair near it.  (It's better with these settings, and we'll see whether it smooths out in the blur.)

I may also try the post filter on "sinc" and 2, to see if that will even it out a bit more.

But at least it's close now.

Thank you all.

I"m currently rendinging, which is taking a long while.

Would setting up multi-thread and/or separate process rendering (which I've just discovered the options for) help with the speed at this point?

(I have only a dual-core machine.)

Again, thanks for all the help.

Attached Link: Snowraven Wallpaper

I want to thank you all for chirping in on this.  I'm learning, if slowly.

New computer, new OS (Win 7), so I wasn't immediately sure how to screen cap.  (Probably it's the same -- alt+printscrn, but...)

In any case, I decided that it would be faster to try and use the setting ONNETZ suggested (above), and see if that worked.

Clearly, it's improved, but it's still a little smudgy to the right of the main hairline shadow on the figure's lefthand side.

Obviously, I'm past my level of knowlege here.

What I'd ideally like is the knife-like hair shadows, similar to those on my Snowraven render.  Obviously, just lucked into that with that hair and light set and whatever.  I'm attaching a URL for that image.

I will try the additional settings that Anthansius suggested on my next pass.

But here's where it's at now.

Result is attached.

Robyn - I'm not sure I have the vocabulary to describe the lights in detail.  I tend to work intuitively, find lights from sets I have, and then modify them a bit.  (Moving, changing color, etc.)  I'm not very technical with Poser, though I'm learning.

In this light set, which came from DM's moon cult,  there were orignally 4 lights, all infinite.

2 are now infinite with no shadows.

1 light, an overhead one, is infinte but has shadows (which I didn't know until you asked).

The main light was an infitite that I turned into a spot. It is set to cast shadows.  It's min bias is now set to .15, though that didn't seem to help -- just made things different.

I am using a mid-level automatic render setting currently, where you get some shadows, etc but not final render quality.

Is this enough info to help?

I have downloaded SR3, and I believe I have installed it.

Let me check...

Okay, I'm not sure, as the About file says:

7.0.4.220

Wouldn't it have been easier if it said "service release 3?"

Okay, the facts are:

Yes, Render Studio's Advanced AO editor from RDNA.

Poser 7 - which does okay on its own, but...

The aikobot has a lot of pieces with strange names -- at least, I assume that's what all the pieces are when they come up on the AO editor -- there's a boatload of them.

The editor launches, and then -- in theory -- I get to check off which pieces of the whole scene I want to use the AO on.  Works fine on the human figure alone, but with the aikobot in the scene, it won't allow me to check anything.  (Well, I can check things, but then it doesn't apply them -- and the "check all" function doesn't work.)

I suspect the aikobot has some fancy stuff going on with reflections, transparencies, etc. -- though I'm no expert on any of that.

I'll attach one version of the render below, in case it helps to see it.

Really, I'd just like to add some AO shading on bits of the human figure where clothes meet skin, etc.

Thanks, everyone.

Quote - Sorry, got a 500 internal server error clicking your link...

You mean the e-book link?  It's worked fine for me on 2 computers.

Maybe this more general one -- going to my Smashwords e-book page -- will help.

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/stephendsullivan

You can scroll down and find the "Monster Shark" story link there.

Could you see the illo okay?

Should have updated y'all.  Using Bubblestorm worked out well on both my underwater covers.  Here's the one I was working on:

And here's the link where I have the e-book published.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25243

I've also used it on my other Umira cover -- for which I haven't actually written the story yet.

Ah, the strange life of the writer/artist!

Thanks for all your help.

 Hey, thanks.  Glad you liked it.

Still working on it.  Replaced the background, as it's supposed to be more Carribean (the old one was giving digital trouble anyway), and put in a bunch of bubbles to render before going out this evening.

Little did I know they'd end up being the colors in the preview.

Guess I have to check the materials room or something, but do you know a fast & easy way?  (I was hoping for MAT files in the Pose library....)

Again, thanks for the compliment and thanks for the advice.

Cross your fingers.

;-)

Note that the angle doesn't actually show the teeth much.  But knowing the details are right is what counts.

;-)

(Note this is still a work in progress.)