Did you try my suggestion of loading one of your regular Mikes and comparing your material settings? Its really an easy way to figure out what you've done different. I looked at mine, and I don't have textures set for the brows or lashes. I have color settings and trans maps at 100%. I checked the M2 Mat files, and they load the same way, so try that.

Maybe you mean one with shadowy stubble? If so, you'd need to paint it on a texture. I don't think I've seen any textures like that before. Most people just go with the default bald look.

The installer has an error of some kind, and I don't think a readme.txt actually gets installed (couldn't find one anyway). However, there is a .pdf file. Search the Poser directory for Musclebound Michael Guide.PDF. He uses regular Mike textures and Mike hair. I don't think I used the MAT poses, but I didn't have a problem applying Mike textures so you probably just didn't get the settings just right (brows and lashes can be a pain in the butt). Try loading one of the regular Mikes with the texture you wanted to use and compare the material settings between the two. Once you get him the way you want him, save him to your characters with another name and you'll have a copy ready to go.

Darn! I don't have Massive Mike and can't afford yet another one right now. Real shoulders just don't "balloon up", they have shape. You don't notice it on regular Mike, but it gets obvious when you bulk him up.

Oh wow, I didn't know Vue could do that. Knowing what all these programs can do sure is confusing LOL! I think I'll download the demo and see if I like it. The review links were helpful too, thanks.

Attached Link: http://www.jaguarpc.com/hosting.php

DOH! Sorry pokeydots, I misread the last part of your quote as being from you :) No Bam, you don't have to tell them where you are being hosted to buy a domain. You don't even have to have a site to buy a domain. They will point the DNS (domain name server) to their server for now, and it will just give a not found error if someone types it into the addy bar (because its not really pointing anywhere, its just a "holder"). When you get a host, they will tell you what their name servers are, then you just edit your registry account and in a couple of days the update will take and you domain will resolve to your new host. I'm not familiar with godaddy.com, but I'm sure they work the same way. When you sign up with a host, you tell them the domain you've already registered, usually indicating it is a "transfer domain" instead of a "new" one. Sometimes they will have options on the sign up form to specify you will change the DNS yourself, sometimes not. If not, specify it in comments, or email them to verify that you will do it yourself. Its not a problem at all. Determining how much bandwidth you need can be hard for a new site. Large images can use up bandwidth quickly - Renderosity's bandwidth usage must be truly astronomical! 2MB is fairly small. If your site is even fairly popular and graphics heavy you can use that up pretty fast. The best thing to do is find a host with multiple plans and who makes upgrading to the next one as easy as one email. That way, when you need the extra bandwidth you don't have to change hosts to get it. The link is to my host, and they have been very good to me. Their $10/mo plan comes with 6GB of transfer, which is quite high for that price range. Their top (no reseller) plan goes up to 15GB. That's about the top end for bandwidth on a virtual hosting account. If you're using more than that, you probably need some kind of dedicated server. A good place to get fair info on hosts is in the forums at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/ Finally, I definitely recommend Unix based hosting and not the security hole ridden, worm target darling of all the script kiddies, Windows the wonder sieve. Hope that's helpful.

Hey! No keeping things to yourself...where's that shoulder fix? And you're right, Darkness does have some darn good body morphs. Predator did a really nice job on that figure. There's a wicked pic in the gallery where someone stuck the texture on Vicki.

Attached Link: http://www.hostonce.com/terms_conditions.htm

The small print you need to read (see link). First, note they specifically prohibit hosting files for others, so your idea is a bad one pokeydots :( Second, the real kick is the (intentionally) vague restrictions on bandwidth: "UNLIMITED USE POLICY High bandwidth usage: HostOnce.com offers an unlimited use policy by maintaining very large ratios of bandwidth per customer. In rare cases, HostOnce.com may find a customer to be using server resources to such an extent that he or she may jeopardize server performance and resources for other customers. In such instances, HostOnce.com reserves the right to impose the High Resource User Policy for the consideration of all customers. HIGH RESOURCE USER POLICY Resources are defined as bandwidth and/or processor utilization. HostOnce.com may implement the following policy to its sole discretion: When a website is found to be monopolizing the resources available HostOnce.com reserves the right to suspend that site immediately. This policy is only implemented in extreme circumstances and is intended to prevent the misuse of our servers. Customers may be offered an option whereby HostOnce.com continues hosting the website for an additional fee." Hmmmm..."very large" eh? By who's standards? Compared to what? Most likely, they will be gauging your site based on "typical" web sites that have low traffic, are mostly text, and don't really use that much bandwidth. A site that features downloads and images for a community like this one is not going to have "typical" traffic. So, they may suddenly throttle your site and demand more money at some unspecified, in thier "sole discretion" point. Read down the page and you will see that you will get no refunds of prepaid months if you violate these same unspecified and at their whim terms. (NOTE: CPU usage usually does have a more vague limit, but unless you are executing a lot of perl scripts, or poorly designed scripts, this should not be a problem...its the transfer that a graphics site needs to worry about). Their privacy policy leaves a lot to be desired: "HostOnce.com may share customer information with selected partners/third parties, for example, to provide you with information about products which might be of interest to you or to enable you to take advantage of special partner programs. HostOnce.com may also use customer information to provide customers with system information or information about new or upgraded products." Translation: we sell our member lists to spammers. I would not recommend this host for a graphics and download focused web site, or for anyone who prefers their host keep their personal information private. I highly suggest anyone looking for a host seek out and read all terms of use and privacy policies before signing up for a host and giving them money. Dirt cheap hosts should be viewed with extra suspicion, but I've seen plenty of other hosts with terms that are just as bad. Any good host will (among other things) 1. Tell you what the usage limits actually are, provide you with tracking (logs) so you can monitor your usage, and only charge you if you exceed the stated limit, and 2. keep your personal information private and not peddle it out to every ad company they can. A final note: Domain names are cheap cheap cheap. Go to http://www.discountdomainregistry.com/ and get your domain for $15 a year and retain total control over it. You've probably spent a lot more than that for one Poser model. Isn't your domain name worth it? A word of warning: some "free" domain name companies register themselves as administrator. That means they own it, not you. You leave their service, you don't get to take the domain with you. Of course, they may let you buy it from them...

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=105114&Start=133&Sectionid=1&WhatsNew=Yes

I can't say what's "better", but I had the same question! I'm still conflicted because M2 isn't out yet, but from the pic to promote the textures he's got seriously improved muscles so what to do! Wish I had more money so I could get them all. In any event, check out a pic by SergentJack in the gallery (see link) for a comparision shot. It at least gives you a side by side look to get an idea of what each offers (except he doesn't have Virus' version).

Bah. Who cares if the naked women get the most viewings? Is that the art YOU want to make? Its not like you're getting paid for page views, and there's plenty of people who are coming to see your kind of art. Post your art to share it with others and, hopefully, get some feedback so you can continue to improve. The thumbnail could be better though. Its so close to the dragon's eye its doesn't give much indication of what the picture is about. The atmosphere that looks so cool in the whole pic makes the thumb look overly blurry. You could try to zoom out a little and give people a better tease. BTW, you should be proud of all your art. Being creative is its own reward.

• Always post the .RSR with library files. Non ProPack users have little to no use for .PNG files. - Please make sure to save library files with version info for stadard Poser, having to change 100+ pose files by hand because of ".. is a higher version, trying to load anyway" is quite tedious. I don't have propack, but I don't think that's possible. If they have pro pack, it creates pngs not rsrs, and the file contains info that will give that stupid Poser "new version" message. Just don't extract the png at all...you'll have a shugging guy either way.

OK, some feedback: Well, I had some trouble with the installers (I bought the leathers for Mike too--very snazzy). One of them created a new folder called Runtime instead of putting it in the folder I browsed to (had to rebrowse to Metacreations instead of Curious Labs). The other kept trying to make a Runtime/Runtime folder after browsing and I had to manually type the directory name in. Sorry, I don't remember which did which. If I had the option of a zip or exe, I probably would choose the zip because its just as easy for me. On the general installer thing and directory structure, I do like having control over directory names because its the only way I can remember where things are. For instance, I have Clothes- Dork, Clothes- Vicki, etc. directories for textures, with subs for different kinds of clothes. If I followed all the "recommended" directories, I'd have clothing textures spread out all over the place under mysterious "somebody's name that doesn't tell me what's in there" directories. For my sanity, I have to organize. Same for poses, etc. I'd have 500 menu items, many with one or two things in them, if I didn't organize them by what they are and not who made them. Now for pz3 files, I don't keep those in my Poser directory at all. I keep them in a My Documents folder because I don't want clutter up the Program Files directory with content any more than Poser already does (content shouldn't be in a program folder anyway). So for those, I'd definitely prefer a zip because then I can send the PZ3 where I want it, and move any textures into my regular Poser textures directory where Poser will find them on its own (and if it doesn't, telling Poser where to find a texture only has to be done once so no big deal). Icons on my desktop? Ummm...don't like that, but I can delete them easy enough. No offense, but the new start menu folder doesn't seem necessary. In any event, both were a surprise. Installers usually ask you where you would like the new start menu folder so you know one's coming and where it will be. I don't know what your exe packager is like, but if you could make checkbox choices "add icons to desktop?" "create start menu folder?" "view read me on exit?" that would be nice. In any event, it really doesn't bother me too much to move stuff around, or extract them where I want them from a zip especially when it was free in the first place. Heck, it was free. But with the Mat poses, well I've got to keep the textures where they expect to find them or they won't work anymore right? So that kinda sucks, and as I collect more of them I'm going to have directory bloat that will make it harder to mix and match stuff on my own. Now that there is a MAT editor available, I may take a stab at moving those too. PS: Just wanted to say thanks for the little adjustment options to refit Mike's leathers for best look with and without boots, and to eliminate potential poke through without making body parts invisible. Makes life easier!

Attached Link: http://www.jaguarpc.com/hosting.php

There is no such thing as unlimited bandwidth. Read the terms of service and you will always find some kind of restriction. Avoid any with "our discretion" or vague limits based on "average" use like the plague. Unlimited space is just as much of a myth. Decide what you need, and find a host that offers it to you up front and honestly. You get what you pay for, so it pays to know what you're getting. I also don't advise a reseller. When you have to contact support, you want to be talking to the actual people who can help you, not someone who has to contact someone else to find out what's going on. (note: none of that's not a comment on any host mentioned, just general advice from someone who's run web sites since 1996 and had his share of really bad experiences ;) ) I use JaguarPC for my high traffic SciFi site. Their servers are red hot fast, support is responsive (believe me, that's important!), and their plans are very reasonably priced for what you get.

Attached Link: http://www.buffyupn.com/player_witch.html

Pretty close. Allyson has fairly prominent cheekbones...I can't quite tell from the angle of your render if that's where the crease is coming from or what. Maybe thin the upper lip a touch more. The brows need to be little higher, and she keeps them very thin. I think her nose is bigger too (i.e. less pinched). There's a fairly good face shot at http://www.buffyupn.com/player_witch.html. The other pic they have is too airbrush perfect so its not a good one for reference (she never looks like that on the show). I'm sure you can find good pics of her on Buffy fan sites to work with.

Oops! I guess I should learn to type faster :)