Melanie - I think you've just predicted where live "acting" will go : reality shows. The so-called spontaneous performances in these are already suggested (read : type-cast and coached) and edited to a remarkable degree. They just don't have professional training in what they do - yet. Film actors as we know them will become part of character creation teams. Well, actually they already ARE part of character creation teams - they will just have to accept that they provide less of the "input", such as mime and audio, and no longer the visuals. "Their" visual input is already only part of a team effort (involving stylist, lights/camera man and director etc.) There will still be a good market for the right skills - who wouldn't want Robin Williams to provide audio for one's own CG production? It will just eliminate the "star system" that pours $$$ into the egos/bank accounts of all the Give-me Moores of present Hollywood. If some of all those $$$ could be poured into actual filmmaking instead (especially into CG, with its potential doubling every sixteen months by Moore's Law), I think we'd have a lot more great new movies than we do now ;o)

V3 and M3 are intended to offer greater variability and realism, I think. We all want that, we just don't want the increased systems demands ;o) What usually happens is that the "outdated" figures are gradually retired towards the background, as happened with Posette and Dork when V1/M1 were introduced. Games do the same thing - some actually change the resolution dynamically as things move closer or farther away. When the machines get stronger we don't want the present highest-res figures all over - we want even HIGHER resolution figures up front. Happens with every new generation of games. When V1/M1 first came out, many a PC was at its limits with both figures in the same scene. Moore's law has taken care of that - it will probably take V3/M3 to stardom and then to the extras crowds in less time than we imagine ;o)

Very fine thread this - I'd suggest a mental experiment, though : think "virtual" instead of "CG". CG is just a WAY among others to make virtual characters. All actors create a virtual persona, in cooperation with writer, director, customier, etc. And we have designer actors, designer bands, designer politicians, all carefully "animated", i.e. designed and stage-managed to project the impression that makes us like them and pay or vote for them. They are a kind of theatre performances in their own niches, supported by ever-growing armies of writers, coaches, and stylists to make them what we like them to be - and PR and spin pros to help us CONTINUE to believe they are "really" like that. One historical pope is reputed to have given his blessings with a muttered "Mundus vult decipi - decipiatur", which translates into "The world wants to be decieved - let it be decieved" ;o) Don't care what happens to virtual characters? Ever watched "Bambi"? Don't want stereotypes? Ever wonder why the plastic surgeons are laughing all the way to the bank? Can't mingle face-to-face with virtual celebs? Ever noticed what Honda's Asimo is doing for a living? Ever wondered how long it'll be before it's posh and cool to interact with a hologram of your favorite CG celeb? Poser, or more generally CG, actors will most likely be used to replace people whereever it's economical to do so, in order to produce the virtual character(s) that the paying public want. Film producers are already joking that virtual stunt men work 24 hours a day and don't complain when they are blown to pieces. Directors might soon joke that CG actors don't ask for horrific wages, and don't throw tantrums that mess up a week's shooting. Music producers will not even joke when they say that CG stars don't fall out of character, or do drugs, or whatever. In CG film, ILM points the way : they simply do what it takes to get the image in the box. If it takes CG, they'll use it, if they need a live actor, they'll use one. If they need 2D mattes, that's what they do. The "real" actor simply provides the figure, the mime and the audio, while the "CG supporting actor" provides the mime and the audio. What will remain for humans is choice, composition, creativity. You can program a computer to give us - statistically - what we like, but you need to study the consuming ape to see what s/he likes before you code it. And you need an idea-getter to come up with new things the consuming ape does not know s/he likes because s/he never saw it before the idea was born. Why so afraid, people? We buy it - literally ;o)

Extremely interesting links, both the gallery one and the Pierre&Gilles one (although reitnomud's images remind me as much of Bosch as of any modern artist). Actually, I think Poser has the edge in this genre - photographs are, somehow, "too real for fantasy". It's something that I've often wondered about: what is it that makes some fantasy and surreal images so immersive, and others so silly? My guess is that the elements have to be so realistic that we accept them as reality, but not so realistic that we accept them as our everyday reality - if that makes any sense. Poser can achieve that almost invisible stylized edge, if all elements in the picture are "harmonious" (not second-rate props with pixelated tex's, or window-mannequin poses together w/ hi-rez figures w/ super tex's). Photography can't, unless Photoshop is enlisted to harmonize and stylize elements. I'm still not sure I've nailed down the essential factor, though... I'd love to hear anyone's views on this subject : What IS it that makes both reitnomud's and other (good) fantasy images so immersive?

Just FYI : converting V2->V3 (or M2->M3) is usually a little more than just a few hours work. It involves, at the very least : o Re-scaling - figure dimensions are different o Possibly re-fitting - figure dimensions etc. o Re-grouping - joints have different positions and settings o Re-polishing joint parms - joints have different etc. o Possibly re-texturing - tex's may have been stretched by re-scale It's not an entirely new figure, you have the mesh. But it's largely a new setup, and that's roughly half the work in creating a clothing item. Add to this that customers expect more and more morphs - understandably, as the increased flexibility of the figures isn't worth much if the clothing can't follow. I'm sure all vendors would love to make all clothing in both #2 and #3 versions, but some patience is necessary - we all want new clothing, too ;o)

Don't forget www.belino.net - rendered in Vue, but animated in Poser.

I'd still try the suggestion in posting 7. When you have the new OBJ, use it to create a new figure using the old OBJ's CR2 (or just hack the old CR2 to point at the new OBJ). Works for me, anyway ;o)

Import the OBJ, apply new magnets, copy the settings of the magnets shown above to modify the OBJ, then re-export the OBJ. Oughta work.

Kuroyume, et al. - please note that I wrote "do-it-ALL-yourself-from-scratch". There's a crucial difference - content providers that build new stuff will always be needed. At least I hope so, I'm a clothesmaker myself ;o) My point is that apps like Poser allows anyone to concentrate on what they like best, and get everything else "outsourced" via Poser's superb capabilities for integration. The "storytelling" point is that there are many more people who want to do pics and movies than there are people who have the tech/artistic training to create all the figures/props/etc. by themselves. And even those who do, do not have the TIME to do it all themselves, if they want to finish their pic this year or their movie in this decade ;o) Since we all devour masss quantities of pics and movies (ask the desperate TV channels how hard it is to keep up with demand for new content!!!), the release of all the untapped potential is not only artistically exciting - it's also a very exciting business opportunity. That's probably why Kaydara is keen to make everyone aware of the trend ;o)

None of us poor users have any "hard" knowledge, but then we do lots of guesswork instead. Some of this guessing can be quite fascinating. IMHO, the Poser idea is decades ahead of its time, and it IS the future, no matter what particular app may express it. Why? Well... Poser may not get to version 6, but unless DAZ goes out of business, there will be a DAZ Studio sooner or later - they need SOME Poser-like application for people to use the stuff they make for a living ;o) More generally, the trend in 3D stills and movies seems to be towards more use of pre-made content from many different sources (unless you're ILM and can afford the time and talent to make everything from scratch). A few key developments that may interest you : o More and more companies on the web sell ready-to-use figures, models, movements, sounds etc. Any app that allows easy integration and use of all this stuff will be attractive. o The "machinima" (www.machinima.com) concept is sort of a "real-time Poser" method of making movies using the pre-built figures, sets and moves in a games engine, and "filming" while you go through the game. More and more games producers include machinima-oriented tools. o In the latest issue of 3DWorld (www.3dworldmag.com), Michael Besner of Kaydara (www.kaydara.com) prophesies that the next big development challenge and opportunity for 3D app makers will be to "drastically simplifying the 3D tools without sacrificing the control or quality of animation [...] to develop tools that will compel artists and hobbyists to use 3D in everyday storytelling". That's sorta what Poser and DAZ has been doing for all of us here at R'osity for years ;o) o Steve Cooper (formerly) who's one of the key people behind Poser actually pointed out this tendency when Poser 5 came out (check the manual's "Message from Steve Cooper"). o In the same issue, industry legend Alvy Ray Smith (www.alvyray.com) prophesies that "images [...] will be streaming out of computers in real time soon. [...] I suspect the artist's job will be more aabout editing the flow." The Poser idea is precisely to provide an app that integrates and simplifies the tech stuff, allowing the creator to concentrate on ... well, creation ;o) The diehard do-it-all-yourself-from-scratch guys are dinosaurs already. Just lean back and let the future hit'em. Will that future will be called "Poser" or something else? Well, frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn ;o)

VERY informative tute - thanx loads for sharing. One trick to "reduce" map sizes by improving utilization of the UVmap might interest some of you - it's a RenaPD trick, and it's a good one ;o) If two parts, such as two sleeves, are identically mapped, except that they are mirrored, select one, and use the Select-Rotate-Flip option to give it the same orientation as its "twin". Then move to position overlapping the twin. Using this trick means that you can't have separate tex's for each sleeve (or whatever you overlap), but it allows you to increase the size of the sleeve UVs without increasing the tex map size => more "bang for the buck" with the same texture file size.

Do some TOC ;o) What's your goal, and your constraints ? As an example, I want to do lots of Poser clothing quickly and cheaply, since I'm an poor amateur working in my spare time ;o) So my constraints => key criteria were o cheap or free app (and legal, I'm too chicken to use warez) o strong modeling (don't need materials or rendering) o flat learning curve (minimum learning time) o low system requirements (hey, I only have my home PC!) o high ease-of-use (minimum model creation time) o can exchange files w/ Poser (and UVmapper) The high-end do-it-all apps are marvellous pieces of software - but they don't fall within the above criteria. Which is why I'm still using TrueSpace 4.3 w/ a few plugins such as LUUV for OBJ exchange (and Amapi as example tool in tutorials). Your constraints or key criteria may be different - but figuring them out is usually a good idea. Often saves lots of $ and time ;o)

PoserStyle has a Mike 1-2 Commando add-on set including a bullet-proof vest on http://www.poserstyle.com/modules.php?name=Products&file=view&func=f2one&id=362 Not free, though - sorry.

If you saved your money by not buying the P5 Handbook, here's the place to spend them ; http://www.curiouslabs.com/article/articleview/911/1/13/?nf=1 ;o)

Depending on the setup of your dress, the problem may be the one described in this post (figure thighs are not welded in the CR2, dress thighs should be) : http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1096097 Traveler describes the solution in posting 8. Good luck ;o)