Bigger is better. Rectangular vs. square doesn't matter, especially if the textures are seamless. Bump maps are great. I'm most likely to buy seamless nature textures - tree bark, ground cover, leaves, snow, etc. I've also bought some fabric and lace textures. I've been happy with most of the textures I've bought. I was disappointed in one pack of fabric textures; all the textures were the same, except different (solid) colors. I was hoping for more variety.

Maybe if you posted an image of what you've done so far, and one of what you want it to look like, people could make some suggestions.

Thank you so much, everyone! That's exactly what I wanted to know. I spent hours searching the net last night, and found a lot of helpful info, but not the answers to these particular questions. The Renderosity Brain Trust comes through again! :-)

Thanks very much for your reply! "Some cr2's & pp2's contain the required geometry info, some reference an external resource file" Is there any way to control which it is? I built the models myself, and imported them into Poser and made them into a figure with parented prop. (Very simple ones.) I would like to post it to free stuff. Looking at the CR2, it looks like it is referencing the OBJ. There a couple of lines that say: I:Poser4RuntimeLibrariescharacterRandymToy Mouse.obj Obviously, I was testing it in a copy of Poser 4 on my I: drive. I guess I should move the OBJ to Geometries instead, but how do I get the CR2 to look there instead of on my I: drive? If I just delete that line, will it look in Geometries instead?

I don't think it's bots or warez. It's just human nature. :-) If you offer something for free, people are going to grab it, whether they need it or not. Just watch people at trade shows, filling bags with cheap pens, coasters, mouse pads, etc., that they'll probably never use. I think there are a lot of people who only visit Renderosity for the free stuff and the marketplace. Until very recently, I was one of them. What changed? I got a broadband connection. With dial-up, it took forever to view the galleries or follow the forum threads (especially in a busy forum like this one). So I'd swoop in, see what was new in free stuff and the marketplace, and leave.

I'll be buying M3, too. Especially if he's slender. :-) IME, it's easier to bulk up male characters than to make them boyish and slender. That was my main complaint about the previous versions of Mike: it's hard to make adolescent or anime-type characters with them. I'm very pleased with the M3 renders that have been posted. I want Fairy Mike! ;-)

There are still some good free sites available. Look here: http://www.free-webhosts.com/ http://www.freewebspace.net/ http://www.0hosts.com/ You might also be able to find someone here who pays for web hosting, and who's willing to host your stuff for you. Also, most ISPs give you web space as part of your account. That might be the best solution, if you don't want to pay for webspace.

I, too, found the Vue registration process a nightmare. I ended up in an endless loop. First it told me I needed to register. I did, then it told me someone else had registered that e-mail address, and told me to register again. When I did, it told me that address was already registered. Etc. The same thing happened again, when I tried a different e-mail address. First it told me that I wasn't registered for the right product, then when I tried to register for the right one, it told me someone else was already registered under that e-mail address. I did eventually get a response by posting a message to their message board. (That took some doing, too. I had to try several times.) They fixed something on their end and told me to try again, but I didn't do it. It was just such a headache. I'm going to wait until the update that allows Poser 5 compatibility comes out before I wade into the swamp again. Even buying the program was a headache. I ordered it from their web site, and my credit card company rejected the charge. They said it was submitted with incomplete information, so they thought it was fraudulent. I ended up buying it elsewhere for cheaper, so I'm not complaining. Still...Vue is a terrific program, but the business/customer service end of it is not ready for prime time.

What version of Poser are you using? The morphs didn't work for me because I installed V3 into Poser 4, then tried to use her in Poser 5. Once I copied the !DAZ folder to Poser 5, it worked fine. If you don't understand what I'm saying, make sure you've installed Vickie into the version of Poser you're using her in.

It was easier than I thought it would be. I made the mouse a little rounder and cuter, since that's what the wind-up mice I've seen look like.

What would be the best way to make the key posable (so you could turn it)? Maybe I should just make it a separate prop. That way, it could be positioned at the best angle for any render, even on the side, as many mechanical mice are designed.

Tomorrow, I'll give texture maps another try....

Attached Link: how to fix "holes" in Poser 5 rendering

Thank you, Ernyoka. I didn't realize you had to save the OBJ in UVMapper. Duh!

All of my modeling experience was yesterday, unless you count Play-Doh. However, I like the idea of making it into a wind-up mouse, and will try it. No clue how long it will take me, though. (I do have a model to work from, somewhere around here. I bought it for my cats, but they are terrified of it.)

And I just realized who you are! I know you in my runtime folder as TrekkieGrrrl. You've done some fantastic stuff for Poser. I hope I'm half as good as you, some day.

Thank you all very much for the replies. They have been very useful.

I gave UVMapper another try, and did manage to get reasonable-looking UV maps in planar and cylindrical mode, but they didn't wrap correctly. The colors weren't where they should be, and I have no clue why.

But I have gotten the material zones set. I was very confused, because Anim8or has a materials editor, but none of the files I exported kept the color info. Turns out that was because I was exporting them as OBJs. I guess you have to export in 3DS if you want to keep the color info. The 3DS imported into Poser fine, colors intact.

I will definitely check out that UVMapper tutorial. I doubt I'll ever be a great texturist; I was one of those kids who hating coloring books, and could never stay in the lines. :-) But I want to understand how it works, just as a matter of principle.

Looks like you got the cloth to drape. You're getting there!

It might be tricky to get the cloth to fall exactly the way you want it, along his leg that way. It may slide all the way to the floor, because of his position. If so, try selecting a frame before the cloth slides to the floor. If it doesn't look exactly like you want it, you could always use magnets to pull it into place.

Just a comment on the manuals... I did find the tutorials in the Poser 4 manual very helpful. But I gotta say, the Poser 5 ones are confusing. They seem to be shorter, and aimed at people who already know Poser. I found them difficult, even though I had some Poser 4 experience. I have a feeling someone starting with Poser 5 would have a hard time following some of them.