I just deleted those files, which are recognizable by their very small file size (or I open them in BBEdit to verify it's just a link to the ContributorDirectory.pyc script). I very much appreciate all the Content Vendors who donated content for the Poser 11.2 update, and their generosity makes me even more likely to purchase from them in the future. But I would do so by going to the Renderosity store and searching for them by name.

I'd never use a library file to get there, esp. when the library file just calls a script that's already available under the Help: Poser Content Web Links menu. But maybe others would, so I guess I don't mind that they're included, given that it's a relatively simple matter to just delete them. I also organize my library content folders by figure or prop-type rather than by vendor, and I don't mind that I have to do that manually as there must be a good reason for the way they're organized by default!

I'm just glad that it's possible to customize library content folders so extensively, so that I always know where everything is and never need to use the library's "Search" function.

I agree with the others that it would be helpful to have some details about what exactly has been changed between the 09-26-2019 downloadable and the one from 09-19-2019, given that installing an update apparently requires me to download nearly 2GB of files again (much of which is redundant, since it's not like the entire app was changed).

Like many others, I have bandwidth limits (with satellite internet) that prevent me from being able to make such large downloads more than a few times a month. When I open Poser, it informs me that an update is available, but I don't want to get the downloadable available today and then find that there's a new one there tomorrow, since I don't have enough bandwidth for that. But if the one there today has notable improvements I could benefit from, then I'd go ahead and get it.

What I'd prefer is if Poser could run an in-app "update" that doesn't require downloading the entire zip again, the way many apps do (at least on my Mac). Only what's actually changed gets downloaded, which uses a lot less bandwidth. But maybe that's not possible for some reason?

I know this thread will be of interest primarily to Windows users, but in case there are any Mac users viewing it, esp. MacBook Pro users, I thought I'd add that I've finally been able to outfit a MacBook Pro w/ enough power to run Poser pretty well, even with my modeling app (Cheetah3D) and/or Photoshop CC running at the same time. I'm using a 2019 MacBook Pro with 32gb of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i9 processor, and the Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB graphics card. My previous MacBook Pro had the same size of SSD, but the RAM, processor, and graphics card are all significant improvements, and it shows!

I agree with others: Poser 11 has always been fairly stable on my Macs and continues to be so with the update to 11.2. But I've never had more than one version of Poser installed at a time, and I suspect that's the culprit for the issues you're seeing.

I know you want to "try before you buy," but it might work better if you archive* your existing Poser 10 folders (the one in Applications and the one in Library:Application Support) and then delete them (or run an un-installer). Then install Poser 11.

• By "archive" I mean copy to a backup drive.

You might also want to archive your existing Poser 10 "Poser Content" Runtime, but that should not be affected by changes in which application version you're using, so you don't need to delete that one. If you have any separate Runtimes for your downloaded or custom content, those shouldn't be affected either, although they'll need to be manually added back to the Library once you launch Poser 11. (The only reason you'd ever actually lose a Runtime is if you delete the folder from your hard drive; even if you remove the Runtime from Poser's Library, you can still find it via the Finder.)

For what it's worth, I had a lot of issues with Poser Pro 2014 to the point that I almost gave up on using it. But I gave Poser 11 a shot when it first came out and found it ti be a DRAMATIC improvement, in terms of how it works on a Mac. (I've heard Windows users say the opposite.) I'm now running Poser Pro 11.2 on a MacBook with macOS 10.14.6 (with 32gb of RAM and the Radeon Pro Vega 20 4 GB graphics card) and it's more stable than Poser has ever been for me before!

Boni posted at 12:39PM Sat, 21 September 2019 - #4363060

Most older figures have a "core" rotation with the hip. Antonia overcame this feature by having a secondary hip where you can rotate the hip and the feet stay planted. It is a feature that I really like in her. I'd like to see future figures ONLY rotate on the body and rotate like Antonia's second hip with the primary hip. Don't know why this has been all these years. Actually, because most figures come into the scene with the hip as the first part selected automatically ... for the first several years I didn't even know that I could pick the whole "body" and used the hip to move the figure in the scene and rotate. Caused all sorts of issues.

Karina's S-16 version of V4 solves these issues with the "Movement Control" feature, which (when enabled) limits which trans and rotate dials work on the hip and which on the body, to prevent gimbal lock and various other issues. (The manual that comes with S-16 explains it in depth.)

He also set up some Easy Pose dials so you can rotate the hip by itself (under the Torso section) and do various kinds of bends and twists that weren't easily accomplished in a standard V4. I'm attaching a screenshot of the Easy Pose dials I just made to show someone the options available, but that's just one of the many things I love about using S-16!

ader posted at 12:11AM Fri, 12 July 2019 - #4355865

In this pic note how the PoserPlace WM fixes the shoulder but elbow is not wonderful. Alfaseed WM is better (I think PoserPlace shoulder is better than AlfaseeD but in my opinion better to have both looking decent than one looking great and the other not good). All figures are using the fitness morph set to 1.

I think Sasha_2019 is the best V4 of all - especially now she supports so many morph packages.

I did a similar set of tests a few years ago, using the weight-mapped V4's by PoserPlace, Alfaseed, and Nerd3D, as well as a V4 with the various "Perfect" fixes loaded. Given that my characters are always clothed, I was most interested in bends in the arms and legs (and less so in the areas typically covered by clothing).

The "Perfect" fixes produced what I thought were the best-looking bends, but at the cost of inflating file sizes for both figures and clothing, so I decided they weren't for me. Of the WM options, I thought Nerd3D's produced the best bends in the most troublesome areas, and I also liked how lightweight it was and how easy to apply to clothing (using Nerd3D's pose file rather than the standard "magnetize" pose file). So for a year or so, I set up all my V4 characters using a Nerd3D WM "base."

And then I came across Sasha-16 -- and I have to say, her weight mapping is the LEAST of all the cool things about her, and the weight mapping is excellent! While the other solutions were focused mainly on improving how V4 bends, Karina's solution covers so much more, to the point that S-16 feels like a brand new figure, with all the features I want in a figure PLUS the ability to use all the V4 content I've amassed w/o needing to convert anything.

Here are some of the features I love:

• all the "Easy Posing" controls on the Body actor, which make posing a joy
• the nifty new posing controls for the hands
• all the extra morphs for shaping body and head, as well as the extra expressions
• all the little tweaks to enhance posing, like the ability to make her butt squish down when seated or to make her toes wiggle
• the "Looks" dial for the eyes, which produces solid red lines to show what the eyes are focused on
• the "True Age and Height" dial, for adjusting height and proportions
• the various "controls" that effect other things, like "strength" dials that apply to all pose and expression dials, the "collar control" feature, and the feet bending presets (to help w/ shoe fit)
• the way all the dials (esp. on Body and Head) are organized neatly and logically, keeping Shaping dials separate from Body Language/Expression dials

Because S-16's rig is new, conforming clothing will seem a little offset when you first load it, but the fix is as easy as applying a "magnetize" pose: For shirts, shoes, and anything else that doesn't include the hip area, using Poser's "Copy Joint Zones From" works like magic. For pants and shorts, using the "Copy S-16 Joint Centres" pose that comes with the package does the trick.

I truly cannot thank Karina enough for making such a wonderfully usable version of V4 available to Poser users who want to continue using V4, for whatever reason! And I can't wait until the M4 version is ready!!

I just posted this on another forum thread, in response to a similar question, so I thought I'd post it here as well. (My apologies if that other thread was started by the same person!)

You might want to try out some of the older Japanese figures that were designed for anime and are still available for free. My favorites are Sera (by futepen) and Kururu (by Mato). I downloaded both of them a few years ago and managed to gather an impressive collection of free stuff for them (clothes, hair, skin, etc.) I also have the Wardrobe Wizard module for them, so I can convert clothes from other figures.

There's also Deco (woman), Decocco (girl), and Maybe (man), all by Akatora, and they also have some free clothes and hair. They're set up to be used with Poser's OpenGL Cartoon mode, so their coloring will look a bit weird in the more standard Texture Shading mode. But you can apply other kinds of materials to them if you'd prefer to get the anime look another way.

You might want to try out some of the older Japanese figures that were designed for anime and are still available for free. My favorites are Sera (by futepen) and Kururu (by Mato). I downloaded both of them a few years ago and managed to gather an impressive collection of free stuff for them (clothes, hair, skin, etc.) I also have the Wardrobe Wizard module for them, so I can convert clothes from other figures.

There's also Deco (woman), Decocco (girl), and Maybe (man), all by Akatora, and they also have some free clothes and hair. They're set up to be used with Poser's OpenGL Cartoon mode, so their coloring will look a bit weird in the more standard Texture Shading mode. But you can apply other kinds of materials to them if you'd prefer to get the anime look another way.

Thank you so much for sharing this. It definitely makes editing Poser library files easier to do in BBEdit!

On the topic of maintaining Firefly for "backwards compatibility," I thought it might be worthwhile to point out that just because PBR rendering is a newer method, that does not mean it's a better method for all users, and certainly not for users whose primary goal is to produce renders that are stylized rather than photorealistic.

Going forward, I hope that Poser continues to offer two main TYPES of render engine, each with its own Preview renderer: a Non-Photorealistic Renderer (NPR) and a Physically-Based Renderer (PBR).

Under NPR, I'd want most of the capabilities of Firefly plus all of the toon rendering options (rather than having some available only in Preview and others only in Firefly). Perhaps the Sketch Renderer would fit in here as well. The goal of non-photorealistic rendering is not to "fake" PBR effects but rather to enable users to achieve a stylized look not possible when one adheres to the rules of "physically accurate."

Under PBR, I'd expect whatever combo of Superfly/Cycles features are most wanted by those whose goal is to produce photorealism.

I would NOT expect for materials designed for NPR renders to automatically work fine for PBR renders, or vice versa. In fact, it would make more sense to me if the shader trees for each render engine were completely separate, not mixed together in some kind of sphaghetti-node mess that makes it hard to figure out what to adjust. If I happen to load an item that's setup with FF/SF "hybrid" materials, I delete all the nodes and start over with a PoserSurface root node, not b/c I'm unwilling to learn the Superfly/Cycles nodes but b/c I have no interest in the kind of renders they're designed for.

All of which is to say: just b/c PBR is all the buzz right now, that doesn't mean it's the future for every user of 3D graphics software. So continuing to support Firefly (or something similar) isn't so much about maintaining 'backward compatibility" as it is about offering an alternative to photorealism that still appeals to many, many users.

caisson posted at 6:28PM Wed, 10 July 2019 - #4354788

+1 for material room navigation. Zoom, click and drag to pan, buttons to align selected nodes horizontally, vertically or by grid ... like Substance Designer. Would make life much easier.

Just wanted to chime in as a daily Poser user who actually loves the Material room just as it is. I already have zoom and "click and drag to pan" features simply by virtue of using my MacBook's track pad to navigate. I can also get a nearly "full screen" view by simply "floating" the Materials window and maximizing it. And I can reposition the shader tree to 0 using BB's macro.

But the ability to align selected nodes vertically or horizontally would definitely be a handy addition -- so here's another +1 for that feature!

To get clothing to adapt to a figure's morphs once you conform it, two things need to apply: (1) the clothing must have the same rigging as the figure; and (2) the clothing must have the same FBMs and/or PBMs as the figure, or at least the same ones you dialed in. A few other things may apply as well, depending on the figure, but these are the big two.

Clothing made for the figure should, of course, have the same rigging as the figure, but it may not have the same Body Morphs for any number of reasons. It could be that the clothing item was made before the Body Morphs you're using were even released. Or it could be that the clothing vendor supplied an INJ pose file you can use to load morphs. Or it could be that the vendor figures you'd rather pick and choose which Body Morphs to put into clothing, instead of having them all dumped into an enormous CR2 file. (The data for each morph is recorded in lines and lines of text inside the CR2 file, or inside the PZ3 scene file as you work.)

Whatever the reason, there are several ways to get the Body Morphs from the figure into the clothing. The way I do it is to use Poser's Figure->Copy Morphs From menu command, which lets me select only the FBMs I need. Other ways include using the Fitting Room or Wardrobe Wizard. Those two tools can both copy over morphs AND rigging, so you can use them to convert clothing for one figure to another figure.

In some cases making sure the clothing has the same Body Morphs isn't enough b/c you also need to make sure it has the same joint zones, which you can do by using Poser's Figure->Copy Joint Zones menu command OR by using whatever utilities came with the figure. For example, the various WM (weight mapped) versions of V4 all come with pose files you can use for this purpose, instead of the menu command.

And speaking of V4, if you're using a version of her that still relies on magnets to provide shaping, then you'll ALSO need to make sure the clothing item is affected by those magnets just like the figure is. The way to do that is to apply the "Magnetize to V4" pose file to the clothing (that file comes with V4).

So the short answer is "Yes, Poser still supports conforming clothing that adapts to a figure's Body Morphs," but the longer answer is: a lot depends on the clothing you're using and the figure you want to wear it! Even when all the right morphs have been "injected" into the clothing, you'll still find that some clothing models work better with some Body Morphs than others, based on their geometry.

Hope that's at least a little bit helpful!

Just in case anyone reading this thread is interested in the "Messy Painter" freebie set, I just uploaded it to ShareCG.

I used scripts by KarinaKiev and IronSoul to set up the materials for this set and a companion "Messy FX" set I'm still finishing up, but neither script is included with the set. Many thanks to both of you for your help!

Here's the final promo image, which got kinda crowded b/c Renderosity only allows one promo image for freebies:

Just wanted to post a quick update to let anyone looking for a similar solution know that Karina's Batch Color Gadget works very well for the purpose I described above!

You just have to set up your materials so that the main color is driven by a Simple_Color node that's plugged into a black/0 Ambient channel. The Simple_Color node should also be plugged into whatever part of your shader tree makes the most sense. If I was still using the Blender method I started with, I would've plugged into the Blender inputs. But now I have it plugged into the inputs on a Clouds node that mixes two shades of the color. If I want to change the color on multiple props, I just invoke Karina's gadget, select a new color, and voila, everything has the new color! Very nifty. THANK YOU Karina!!

You can find the Batch Color Gadget on Karina's Sasha-16 forums in this post.

Here's a screenshot of one of my simpler materials to illustrate. (You'll note that I changed the name of the Simple_Color node, but the script still works!)

KarinaKiev posted at 12:09AM Fri, 31 August 2018 - #4335432

Hold out Lady Paintalot! Rescue is near!

Actually, a wxPython script I dangled together the last days. It's not the most elegant one, but it should be OK for now. It should work alike on an MS-Windows-PC AND a MAC.

That's awesome, Karina! Thanks so much for working on this! I look forward to testing it out.

I haven't yet posted my "Messy Painter" freebie set b/c I want to finish up a companion set first ("Messy Fx," w/ lots of blobs, drips, splats, and spills). So I can still fiddle with the Messy Painter props' materials, if need be, so that they'll work with your script.

Again, thank you!