Hmm with the vines, what I would typically do is model  the vine, itself,  as normal but the leaves would be transmapped to flat squares that are only one poly each. This signifigantly lowers your poly count.

This is also nice if you want to have different leaf shapes and colors. You can create material zones of 3-5 (or whatever) for the leaves and have that many different leaf types of varying shape and color and it doesn't effect your overall polycount. You could also feasable get away with doing the grapes, themselves, this way if you aren't relying on a closeup of the vines. The leaves would be fine on closeups though since leaves are flat anyhow.

Quote - In Maya, the polygon reduction tool pretty much destroys your mesh, and overall is useless. I am mildly interested in the Okino poly reduction tool but it seems like overkill.

The best way to deal with this is model something low poly and smooth it / subdivide it. Doesn't work so well the other way.

Okino works nicely although it WILL triangulate some surfaces (or many). It doesn't do well on nonorganics however and, much like Maya, will collapse some surfaces creating an unusable mesh. But otherwise it is a nice tool for poly reduction on organics (if you don't mind an ugly mesh LOL). Bare in mind though that ugly meshes aren't usually problematic, just ugly at the wireframe view (and most of us modelers are anal about how our meshes look visually LOL). Now, with that said, it's the outcome and useability that is important overall.

As aside, has anyone ever looked at the production specs for Shrek (the first one)?

A generic character in Shrek (without clothes, hair, etc) weighed in between 600,000-700,000 polys. The clothing and/or fur and hair an additional 800,000-900,000. Now with that in mind, guess how many generic characters (with textures, etc) filled the pews and halls of the cathedral scene (wedding)? If you guessed approximately 1500, you win the prize! Imagine rendering just one of those characters without any scenery ;o)

Yeah I see that. Hmm .. does changing bucket size have any effect?

Ok, on my monitor here at work I can see where the bucket artifacts are. They aren't too bad really, at least in a single render, they could be touched up in post quickly and easily enough. An animation may be more labor intensive, but then who really uses Poser's sub par animation tools? :o)

Lovely and awesome model! I think I can't say anything that hasn't already been said.

As an add though, I'm not sure how adept you are at rigging, but this may be worth a look. It is a much more detailed rigging setup but the results are spectacular.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2752937

And though I am a big fan of "low poly" modeling, being a modeler myself, it has it's drawbacks as well as benefits. With today's systems it's fairly subjective in terms of weights and balances. As you had mentioned, if subdivision was a possibility within Poser, itself, there would be little issue and the drawbacks of "low poly" models would be a moot point. The major drawback being detailed, 3rd party, morphing of the existing geometry without subdivision. Sure, displacements could be used to simulate some details, but comes with it's own inherent set of limitations and at rendertime it's still as much of a resource hog as is a higher poly model. Regardless, I think the majority of modelers make it a goal to stay at or under a certain poly-count as a rule and I think it is a good thing, but as systems become more powerful it is only natural to raise the bar a bit and alleviate some of your own headaches, as a modeler, to say "okay, maybe a few more thousand polys isn't going to hurt". I for one, am anal about poly count and have some architectural models that I have never released simply because I couldn't get the suckers under 100,000 polys without causing issues or losing detail that I found necessary (but architectural models are another monster altogether hehe). I finally released one recently after it sat on disc for a couple years and I have had no complaints as of yet (Helloween House.... approx 115,000 polys). And it is merely a static prop with no interior designs. Ughh... LOL. However I have done some research and found automotive models and others (very fine models to boot) that average on 200,000-400,000 polys! So, I would say a figure between 30,000 and 100,000, by today's standards may still be acceptable as "low poly".
Just my thoughts ;o)

~Will

I force texture filtering off for all of my products because I can never tell when it will cause issues for the user. It should have been left off by default and used only as an option by the user to begin with.

As for artifacts with the sync filter, maybe my eyes are going bad, but seems hardly noticeable. At larger resoultuions perhaps it is more noticeable, but I would guess it is something that could be touched up simple enough in post if it's so minimal that it can be hardly visible at 512x512. Not to mention I need a new monitor, this one sucks (it's old and has seen it's better days) ! LOL

You can put you image in your Gallery. Not sure if you knew. Use the tab at the top of the page that says "Galleries" and then choose "My Gallery"

As an aside, the Physical Memory issue was a problem with windows 98 not with XP nor P4 itself. At least after the P4 4.03 update.

The specific problem, thereafter, with P4 -6 is a VM problem (Virtual Memory).

As a test, try setting your VM to manual (not Windows Managed) and raising it above 2GB or lowering it below. What is the outcome? By allowing Windows to manage it automatically, you can be inadvertently causing the issues. This would be especially so since you mention having a 750GB HD. Windows uses available free space on your HD to manage VM.

I always set my VM manually and never let Windows manage it.

The problem itself is not a Poser 4 Specific problem, but is an inherent design flaw through Poser 6.  For example, Poser 6 has issues beyond 2GB of as well. I don't know about Poser 5 as I have never run it on a system with over 1GB, but I suspect the core code for all Poser versions is the same and has, simply, been added too and/or revamped over time to give us the newer versions. Hence, I believe that none of the versions after 4 was a total rewrite of the core code.

With that, here is a possible fix, albeit a risky one, but gives some insight into a solution otherwise not disussed here. Take note that this fix involves modifying the poser executable file itself (poser.exe).

http://www.keindesign.de/stefan/poser/3gb.html

Also take note that this addresses Virtual memory rather than physical

Only one word about your rigging skills and the ideas behind them... AWESOME!

Some of the most natural bending figures I have ever seen. Bravo.

Quote - Well for what it's worth I can't afford to use the cuopons either. Ever. Guess thats what I get for being poor as dirt. :lol:

I"ve said it before and I'll say it again! I'd like to see a "Club" type deal here at rendo myself. I'd be more than happy to shill out a few bucks every month to get a discount/voucher deal here at Rendo. Infact I'd prefer it over the alternative.

I second that!

I'm considering a Travois for my next VISIONS Props product package.  However, I'm not certain when it will be finished. 2-4 weeks or longer I would suspect and that wouldn't include how long it would take to get the product through the Market Place testing process.

~Will

Thanks everyone... you are all very welcome. Hope you can find good use for it ;o)

~Will

Thank you Bobby and Brynna for expediting the process of getting my freebie into the "free stuff" section. You guys are awesome! Mucho appreciated!

~Will

Quote - Will, I read your posting and I appreciate your kindness and thoughtfulness. I know you and others are also victim to the bungling, bumbling attempt by the powers that be in this Halloween "fiasco".
That being said, I'll take my leave and blow out of here this morning...

To all vendors and merchants, who are participating in this Halloween freebies events,

**Thank You!!!

**:b_smile:
**
**

Thanks TS, have a great morning. All is not lost LOL! Now just need my coffee and some donuts or something smothered in chocolate ;o)

~Will