Quicktime Pro? Episode Pro?, Final Cut Pro (ie. Compressor) or anything else that will read the file?  Media Encoder is always trouble...good luck!
coocoo

hborne makes a good point; u need photoshop (or equal) for texture work while inside a 3-d app, and afterwards as as well for finishing. If pisa is a concern, i hear that Gimp is pretty good.

Hi there, interesting post. Not sure what you mean by "story" but perhaps you will post one when you have that done.  On tools, Photoshop is a must but the usefulness of extended is debatable.  The 3-D features are pretty limited and I have always done 3-D work in something like Vue or C4D and exported the rendered items for post-work in Photoshop.  But heck, not sure what the price difference is  - I have extended and feel good knowing it's there, even if I never use it. 

Vue is an interesting product.  I have the xStream package but have only found it useful for landscapes and outdoor compositions.  For interiors I use C4D, which I really like. With the Interposer plugin, bringing in Poser content is a snap. I started out using Carrara Pro, which seems to be a blend of the three above, only the render quality, control, and speed was not there. I'm sure others have opinions, and more experience using Poser for interiors, which seems to have a large aftermarket for props.

Well, good luck!
coocoo

Ha! no i have never seen any poser stuff in adverts here, but that's nepal, where the equal to Best Buy is Samir's Cheap Chinese Imports (with a whopping 1000sqft. of floor space).

The only place i have ever seen poser content used commercially is on porn sites, not that I go there much. ha!

coocoo

the Vicki V4 mentioned there is some free content that is provided as a runtime for carrara, so i would assume it would work...it's just poser content anyway.  but heck, what do i know!
coocoo

u might also benefit from that free program 3DPO (poser runtime viewer utility) if missing files is a problem.  good luck!

Ha! Make it swim with the fishes as my Italian uncle would say. That sounds odd for poser 7, which i have only used on a mac and in XP. Never a problem like that, or any other really that was not caused by human error. Now Poser 6 was a hole nother story. Well, hope someone here can help!
coocoo

oh, by the way have u reset the preferences and failing that, perhaps a reinstall? and then watch this video for a laugh if you have to reinstall Vista too...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVyTnTdijog

Thanks sueposer! on my mac, dragging in a character always creates a new Doc, and will not go into the scene already created.  it also brings it in the same size as if i just import it.  I remember in the old days with tranposer, there was a units setting u could set that regulated the import...i think - ha! well, thanks for playing!
coocoo

Hi, well now that I am pure mac, does anyone know if there is a viewer like 3DPO that runs native on a mac?  3DPO plugins running in a vista virtual space on the mac do not work, there is no linking to Poser on the mac from that space...shame...
coocoo

WAIT STOP THE PRESS

arg, its not fixed just changed now. while network renders work most of the time, clicking on things within that dialog area produce hangs. For example, log.  no render, and when you try and cancel the program crashes (first console message below). Then, if you click multithread the only way out after render is force quit (second console message below). Looks like an issue for DAZ support no?

But if i leave multithread and log options alone, i can get the batch job to render on the network...

Well I rooted around and was shocked to find u set ports in Leopard via Terminal!!!  now that's just nuts.  And what's worse, there is no understandable feedback.
sudo ipfw add allow tcp from 5020 to 5020
returns
00100 allow tcp from 0.0.19.156 to 0.0.19.156
huh? 
the results are now:
coocoo:~ CooCooforCocoaPuffs$ sudo ipfw list
00100 allow tcp from 0.0.19.156 to 0.0.19.156
65535 allow ip from any to any
which makes no sense...does a double positive = a negative?

But what's worse and really to the point, setting 5020 to open via this method did not fix my problem. Ha!

RESOLUTION!!!!
Okay, I fixed it. I turned off the mult-thread check box right above the network render box. it works. but multithread checked with local render is fine.  Why?  don't care. all is well.

thx mark, and may this thread help others.

Mark, i don't think we on the same planet. I don't see it.  Please don't tell me to look at Qmaster next!  apple messed up here, when you search the preferences for ports, the spotlight points u to "Security" where the word ports never appears. What a joke!   But I know I saw it someplace once, perhaps back in the 10.5.3 days. :) 
arg...let me root around on the apple forums...

Quote -  I said IP address when I meant Port address. Change the port address. 

The Firewall settings are under the system preferences. You simply add an exception and name it "Carrara". It should have the same Port setting as your render node. 

Carrara has it's own runtime for content that ships with the program. Carrara allows you to  import/use multiple runtimes from within the browser tray (I have 5) This is much nicer than only having access to the one Poser runtime. 

hi again, do u have the same osx i do? under firewall it's set to allow all incoming exceptions on the host machine and on the render node machine.  i don't see where you can open or close ports under /Security/Firewall. ha!

Quote -  There are a couple of things to double check.

1. make sure that you've actually changed the sub net address as prompted when setting up the node

2. You may need to make an 'exception' in your Mac firewall preferences that uses your spec'd subnet address. (I had to do this)

thx again for ur help...ha! actually changed? i did not. I vaguely remember something about subnet address come up, but i believe it had an "automatic" choice so i went for that, as the macs on our lan are all dynamically addressed. Now, in the render node preferences, I only see a place to change the port, but not assign an IP.  do you think that could be it?

On firewall...not sure what a mac firewall looks like, as we never use it. don't see anything in the network preferences pane...

cheers,
coocoo

ps.Mark, I bet u can answer this one too...
The content install put a runtime on my drive...what's that all about?  I already have Poser installed and was wondering if Daz is giving out some free poser content - i noticed Vicki v4.  Is there any difference in this content and poser 7 content, which i plan on using?  thx again spaceman!

hi, thanks for that...so it's all still at v6 level...i don't think i want to pay for a mac seat on top of my pc seat...too bad they don't have a trade in policy for us switchers! cheers,
coocoo