I added PayPal to my site a few months back and am very happy with it. Yes, they charge a service fee for every transaction, but it is significantly lower than what VISA or Mastercard would charge. They provide HTML code for creating a "shopping cart" and "checkout" for the customer to purchase items. And since the actual transaction takes place on their server, I don't have to worry about making a "secure browser connection". (Yes, I could probably figure out the code to do all of this myself, but I would rather work on the layout of the site than the transaction-logic.) But, the best part is that PayPal handles the payment part- I don't have to have a merchant account with a bank or each credit card. PayPal accepts debit cards, credit cards, etc., and they have a well-known name. (Remember, some people may be wary about purchasing from "unknown" sites.) --John

Here's the solution to the problem: Whenever you post an image with a nude "child", just add a description saying that they are 400-year old "fairies" that just happen to look like children! Problem solved! It's not a "nude child" picture, it's a "fantasy" picture! I agree with some of the earlier comments- people get all upset when the words "nude children" are mentioned, yet there are plenty of images of "nude fairies" that look like pre-teens with wings! Will these images be against the rules also? Or will it be okay to post a "nude child" image as long as you tell people that it's a "fairy"? But, as hauksdottir said above, the pictures are meant to convey the innocence of children (by using young-looking figures). And, as she also also said: if people find these images to be "sexual", then they have more problems than we can talk about! As long as these pictures do not show the figure in a sexual situation (which IS against the TOS), why should we have a problem with it? --John

I recommend NTFS for many reasons: better security features, less chance of corrupting (or losing) data, more stability, use of long file names, etc. Also, remember that FAT32 is the "upgrade" from FAT16, the file system for Win95, which, in turn, was upgraded from Win3.1, which, in turn, uwas upgraded from DOS. However, NTFS has been used since NT, which means that it is a fully 32bit-compatible, non-DOS-based file system. And, the other thing to remember when asking a question like this: you are asking Poser (and other) graphic artists about something technical. My suggestion would be to go to a search engine (such as www.google.com) and do some research there. Sure, some of the websites may get technical, but you'll get a lot more information than you would from us. --John

Check the fine print of the hosting company- they may offer "unlimited" bandwidth, but there is probably a clause about "excessive traffic" (which is, of course, based on their judgment). Also, many places don't allow "nudity" and may or may not accept Poser-type nudity (even if it doesn't involved real people, etc.) The biggest thing to watch out for is how they notify you that they will turn off your website. When I went over my traffic limit a few months ago, my hosting company (Globalspace Solutions, whom I have been with for over 3 years) shut off my website without telling me. They claimed that they sent me an e-mail to my old e-mail address. And, of course, my usual e-mail address is at my domain name... which they turned off! That's right- when they turned off the website, e-mil was shut off also! And, now it seems that I've gone over the traffic limit for April as well. (And, yes, they shut off my site again, but this time they gave me advanced warning and I told them not to shut off the e-mail.) I will be switching to hostonce.com as soon as Network Solutions/ Verisign gets their act together and switched my DNS information. To make a long story short, they keep sending the "please verify this change" e-mail to my old e-mail address... even though I have been submitting changes online AND faxing them change requests for the past 2 1/2 weeks! (The moral to this paragraph is that it is a MAJOR issue to change information with them, so find a hosting company that you are happy with and don't change it.) --John

Actually, poserBoost is another product, made by another artist. I haven't really kept up with the development on it, so I don't know what features it plans to have. My recommendation: buy my product now and start saving money for the other product. :) Then again, I don't think the artist has even set a price for poserBoost yet. --John

A question for you: what e-mail program are you running? Does this virus only attack Outlook or will people with other e-mail programs (Eudora, etc) need to worry? On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the virus won't get transmitted through a web browser- so people with web-based e-mail should be safe... just don't download any strange-looking files. --John

To answer some questions: Yes, documentation is included (in the form of a readme HTML file), but the program is fairly easy to use- it's just like Windows Explorer. You "expand" folders and "expand" Poser files to see "inside" them (and, depending on the file, click to "scan".) As for the acronym, I bet you're not likely to forget it. :) It's a lot more catchy than just "OO" (for Object Organizer"... then again, I suppose I could have called it the "OOPS": Object Organizer Program Software. --John

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=669717

And, actually, some one else saw the same thing... and took a picture of it. Check out the link for the picture. --John

This is a little off-topic (about textures), but the Spider-Man movie was always scheduled for a May release ("summer blockbuster", you know!) Chances are good that they bumped it up to the first weekend to avoid the Memorial Day weekend "rush" and 3rd weekend's release of Star Wars: Episode II. The producers of the Spider-Man movie pulled the trailer from distribution due to the 9-11 tragedy. (In the trailer, a helicopter flies away from the the scene of crime, then get pulled backwards by webbing, and then into a giant web spun between the two towers.) The scene in the trailer may or may not actually be in the movie, but I'm sure that some scenes had to be shot (especially if the towers could be seen in the scene). --John

Actually, I didn't mean to be "sniping" at other people, but at myself. When I first made my MAT Pose Applier (and Object Organizer) program, I used "absolute" path names, thinking that it was "easier" this way. In fact, I never did mention any MAT Pose Editor specifically by name. However, if I came across as "sniping" the competition, then I apologize. --John

I agree with Ron- If you apply a MAT Pose and then click the Add to Library button (the "+"), Poser will save the pose back to the library, NOT the MAT Pose. Since MAT Poses are basically "hacks" from cr2 files, there is no way to save a MAT Pose from within Poser. However, you CAN create your own, new, thumbnail (rsr) image: 1) Click the "+" button, but use a different name. 2) Open Windows Explorer, go to the PoserRuntimePoses(subfolder) folder. 3) Delete: the old rsr and the new cr2 files. 4) Next, rename the new rsr to match the old cr2. 5) Re-open the Poses Library and you'll see your new "thumbnail", but since it's the old MAT Pose, it will work just as before. --John

Attached Link: http://www.cocs.com/poser/marketplace.htm

Gee, I didn't really have an acceptance speech ready, but here goes: ---------------------------- "First, I'm honored to have my product selected as the first-ever hyper-3d.com review. I'd like to thank all the people out there that made this moment possible. I'd like to thank my parents, of course, and the community for making this so special. Thank you, thank you all." ----------------------------- The article mentions some of the issues with the directory structure within the Poser figure files, such as the fact that they commonly contain the : character. However, Poser files can be referenced 3 ways: 1) ":Runtime:Textures:test.jpg" --this is "Runtime-relative", and seems to mirror the Macintosh's file system (using : instead of ). This is Poser's default method of storing the folder names and allows the figure files to moved from PC to PC (or to a Mac). 2) "c:Program FilesCurious LabsPoserRuntimeTexturestest.jpg" --this is "absolute"- the file is "fixed" in that location on the hard drive. This is caused by improper editting of the figure file (for example, from a 'faulty' MAT Pose editting program). 3) "test.jpg" --this is "sort-of-Runtime-relative"- Poser will search through every folder beneath RuntimeTextures and use the first file with that name (whether it matches the figure or not). --John

Just to throw something else into the mix: We need to take a step back and look at the media we are using: it is a graphics application on a computer. Yes, it can produce "photo-realistic" images, but that fact it this: it is NOT a picture. NOT people (especially children) were "harmed" (or even used) to make the images. These are geometric meshes with coloring applied to it. When fully rendered, it appears to be a person. But, it appears to be- it has never been (and will never be) an actual person. No photographs were used in the product of the final render. (Well, maybe a photo was used as reference, but it's not part of the end result.) Technically, these characters are 2 or 3 years old. Vicky and Mike are around a year old (roughly). Stephanie is a few months old. Going by their "age", does that mean there should be NO nudes of them for the next 17 years (until they are "legal adults" in USA)? And for that matter, do we have the "right" to make nude images of them? After all, if they're "under age", how can they give "legal consent" to have their likeness posted on the Internet? Can anyone see how absurd the whole "computer generated models" as child porn" can get? --John

This sounds like it's related back to my program, the MAT Pose Applier (which creates rsr images with the words "Created by the MAT Pose Applier). This was a design feature to let the user know that the particular MAT Pose was made with the program. However, if you downloaded a texture pack that has these rsr images, then you got them from a very lazy artist. While I appreciate the advertising, he or she should have taken the time to create their own rsr's that actually show the texture. Here is the "fix" to create your own rsr images: 1) Load Poser, load the character, etc. 2) Apply the MAT Pose to the figure. 3) Add it to the Library, but use a different name (for example, "test") --Poser will create the pz2 MAT Pose and an rsr file. 4) Switch to another Library (Hands, Hair, Props, etc.) 5) Open Windows Explorer and 'browse' to the RuntimeLibrariesPose(sub-category) folder. (The sub-category name will correspond to the Pose Library you were working in. 6) Delete the original rsr, delete the new pz2 file, and rename the new rsr file to match the original pz2. 7) Re-open your Pose Library and the rsr that you created will now correspond with the original MAT Pose. --John

Attached Link: http://www.cocs.com/poser/marketplace.htm

The "Out of memory" error is actually false- these errors are caused when the figure file (in this case, the cr2 file) can not find the needed geometry (obj) file. It actually has nothing to due with Poser running out of memory. The BEST way to handle these "errors", in my opinion, is to catch them before they happen. In other words, "look in" the cr2/ figure file for the files that it references and then "scan" your hard drive to see if you actually have these "referenced" files. But how do you know "look inside" a cr2 file? And won't a manual search (for all the files) take a long time? In fact, my new Poser Object Organizer Program does this (and more) for you. It works like Windows Explorer- you "expand" folders and then "expand" figure files to "look inside" them. Then, you can click on the referenced files and the program will find the actual location (or not) on your hard drive. If the file is not found, you'll know that the cr2 file will give you problems. If the file *is* found (but in another folder), the program can correct this "discrepancy". For more information, click on the link to the Marketplace (on my website) and then click on the program. --John