There is a small triangle in the top right hand corner of the brush pallette.Click on it you will get a drop down menu including the option "Define Brush".I think it is greyed out unless you have already selected an area ready to make into a brush.I use the circle selection and just use one of the preloaded brushes to gauge the size I want.I create the brush black on white.Once you have created the brush and it appears in your pallette,double click on it to get an option called spacing.This contols the area between the brush marks as you drag it along.A low setting gives you a continous line (good for hair,wood grain etc) a high setting gives a series of patterns one after the other.

Use the Habware Obj to Max plug in to import the posette figure as an Obj file.This way the mapping stays the same and the Poser texture fits fine.Do not apply the uv mapper to the poser model or you destroy the original poser mapping and have to start again.The Habware plug in is free,and can be found under utilities on this site.

I did not know this tip.I,ve just tried it and it works fine.One of those little bits of information you come across now and again and think,"Hey that is so great....why did I not know this".Thanks Cote.Made my day.

The manual comes in PDF format with the download,as well as a copy of the latest Acrobat reader if you need it.It,s odd but about 2yrs ago it was a case of Strata Studio Plus for the Mac only vrs 3d Max for the Pc only. They were both very similar programmes at the time and yet neither has bothered with OBJ files.I know you can get the Habware plug in for Max.I wonder if anyone knows of anything similar for the Pc version of Strata.

You have enough software there to make Toy Story Three,let alone some posable clothes. Roys Poser,Max tutorials linked at the bottom of the page may be a good place to start.

Looking superb.As your going for very realistic nipples what about a light bump map to go under it to increase the feeling of texture.This would be really effective for those who render in 3dMax.I,m not sure what plans you have for the pubic area but prehaps it would be best left "clean" & you could just use the Pubic hair prop,if you needed it.All in All, your well on the way to your goal of most photorealistic texture ever.The big question now is "what about the face".Hope this isn,t a set up & she,s got a moustache!

It all depends on the final goal.If your looking to work in some form of computer art,say for an advertising agency or a web site design company then the qualification can often be nessissary just to get the interview.Once your in the door though I think it is the portfolio that gets the actual job.If your doing illustration in any form then nothing matters exept the quality of your work & the time it takes you to produce it. I,m afraid though that like a lot of things in life sometimes its just being in the right place at the right time,Often just attending a course can put you in touch with the right people.I took a year lomg course in Computer art & design,covering Photoshop,Quark Xpress,Freehand & some 3d.I met a guy on the course who ran a video company and ended up working for him where I use Premier & After Effects both of which I,m self taught in,so go figure!

I use Jim Moores method it,s quick and flexible but he forgot to mention to make a selection of the car area you want to colour first with the lasoo tool otherwise you change all the colours in the picture to the same as your car.

I would advise you to check out the tutorials section at www.comiccolors.com a site dedicated to computer comic colouring.Jacko,s method above works fine the only difference between what he describes and what the pro,s do is that they load the line art in as a seperate channel but that,a just to save memory as they work at 300dpi for printing.It is better to work at as high a dpi as your computer will let you to keep the line art smooth then reduce it.There is also a link on there to download a series of actions that will set the art up for you ready to colour.If you cant find it just ask.

As far as I know there is no way of directing the gradient fills in the manner you want.Depending on what your trying to colour another way to duplicate it is by repeated passes of the airbrush,set to screen & using smaller brushes each time.It,s the technique they use to colour comic books & there some good tutorials on it at www.comiccolors.com.

Tried it,turned up the contrast in photoshop & loaded it into Max.It makes a fantastic BumpMap under another faint texture.Thanks a lot.

A lot depends on what software you have access to with regard to post production.I use Photoshop 5,which I find by far the best.I save the poser render as a Tiff.Load it into photoshop then go to the channels menu,highlight the Alpha 1,channel then click on the broken circle at the bottom of the menu.This is a shortcut to load selection.This will load the alpha channel & neatly select your figure.You can then copy & paste it to a new layer.Before you flatten the picture select the layer with the figure on and go to Layers,Masking,defringe,this blends the image edges with pixels from the layer beneath it.It also helps if you render in poser with a suitable background colour for the anti ailising.

I think Sansho is good,but how about Miki,(Miki Myce could be her full name....or prehaps not.)

If you have saved the image ie the jet against a solid coloured background then just use the wand to select the background then go to the selection menu & select "inverse".You should then be able to copy the jet & paste it onto a new clear layer.Load your Jpeg or whatever & copy & paste it over your background. A little tip before pasting the Layers together make sure the jet image layer is selected go to the layers menu -matting-defringe.This helps blend the top image with the background.

P.S. Might I suggest a working title of "Mumbles Grail" seeing as you have started the quest.(and Mumblebox,s Grail is just a bit on the awkward side.)