I finally got P5. Looks good, works just fine, not a hang in sight, using SR2.1 of course. First thing I did was to copy the entire contents of my P4 Runtime to P5, I don't want to do external connections, I want it to function perfectly - V3 INJ, textures and all that. I got it to work in the end. (I have the P5 install on a new, separate disk) Now my qestion to the P4-P5 experts is: What should I watch out for? What should I avoid? Are there situations where a P4 file is not going to work in P5, or some contents of the Librariea folder, or bumps or anything else? What do I need to know to not get trouble as I move over to P5? For instance, does P5 understand Bum files or do I have to create jpg somehow? My P4 cr2's and Pz3's seem to load and render just fine so far in P5. What I do know is that a P5 file may not necessarily work in P4. Nodes and stuff like that are added so PZ3's are not backwards compatible. But that's OK. Hopefully I can do a permanent migration. Are cr2's and other file types also not backwards compatible? :] Fish

cr2's and stuff are backwards compatible, though you'll get the "newer version than expected" error if you open something in P4 that has been made in P5. I really don't think you would have needed to actually COPY the runtime to P5. Perhaps the V3 stuff but all other things works just fine and dandy from a linked runtime, at least I have never had any problems. I have heard that in some cases bump maps are not connected when you use a MAT file in P5, so that's a thing to check. I like P5 but still do most of my work in PPP, coz P5 IS slower and I'm so darned IMPATIENT!

The reason I copied the entire Runtime was that when I tried loading cr2's and such from it as a linked folder, I got questions all the time about where texture x and y were, even the obj files sometimes! So I gave up. My Runtime is 69 000 files, 18 Gig. Oh, another reason - I organize all the folders differently, for instance Poses. Since I was using boring old 4.03 I had continual trouble with too many folders, had to move MATs to camera and all that. Now I can have them nested, yayy! Incredibly convenient. I love the interface already. Spent the whole day yesterday renaming and moving files. With 28 000 files in Pose, it takes a while :o) And I still have all of Props, Figures, camera, Faces (expressions) to do. Another 20 000 files, yuck. :] Fish

Heh and you want to know why I keep my files in my linked runtime? ;o) I have "only" about 15Gb (I think, been a while since I looked and I'm at work now) but I still install new stuff into my P4 Runtime (unless it's specific P5 things of course) But then I've got PBooost. Couldn't live without it. And ok, P5 has those nifty nested libraries, a real plus for sure. But it IS notably slower, so untill SR3, I'll stay with PPP. But I DID install only P5 on my new laptop :o) Gotta get used to that program one way or the other ;o)

You will notice that P5 asks for a .bum file it can't find if you installed items that have a .jpg as bump map and the creator assumes that the user converts it to a .bum. Just change the pointer in the file in question or (if you are lazy like me) point to the correct file when the problem accurs. I suppose that P5 can theoretically use a .bum file if you load it in the bump channel, but you are supposed to use .jpg's as bump maps. Saves you a lot of hard disk space as well! Watch out for certain MAT-files, they might not load bump and transparency maps correctly in the Material Room. I developed a habit of always checking if maps got loaded correctly when starting to use P5, made me spot the most obvious problems and correct them. The problem with transparency settings loading incorrectly was a big issue, but it was resolved with the service packs. I have heard problems with light sets from P4 creating problems in P5, but I have yet to experience it (maybe because I seldom use light sets, I think it's fun to create my own lighting!)

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=1193760

Poser5 has trouble with reflections. Here is a thread with the accurate settings although they still are not as good in P5 as they are in P4PP. Also the walk designer doesn't work proprely. the workaround is to use the P4 walk designer, create the tracks, save it as a pose file and bring it into P5 that way. The Tailor does not read P5 files. P5 does have trouble with light sets. It prefers to ray trace. I find this set has lots of variety and works really well in P5. Vision Lights by TiffT785. Also, there is usually only 1 light that casts shadows so it is easy to set it up for ray trace. Best of luck. I love P5. Wouldn't want to be without it. Happy rendering.

• Don't try to use "collisions" in the hair room. Unless doing Bride of Frankenstein renders, of course. * P5 hair takes forever to render. Expect it, plan for it. * The Face Room doesn't work on anything but Judy/Don/etc. Textures applied by the Face Room (a) won't match any body textures and (b) are near-impossible to delete. * I've had good luck using Pro-Pack MAT pose files in P5. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to make adjustments in the Material Room - most frequently, "select all" and "apply to all" is the fix needed. * Bombshell hair, if you have that, has real problems rendering with the Firefly renderer. * DAZ's Complex Global Lighting can cause problems in P5. Best workaround to date: delete ALL lights before loading the lighting pack of choice. Hope these help.

A utility by agiel called "Reset lights - A python script" available in the free section, does a great job of clearing the lights and the problems associated with them. I use it whenever I change lights in P5....and I use DAZ Complex Global lighting. I've not had a lockup since I started using it. Thanks lululee for the tip on Vision lights....now on my "wish list" :)

A lot of the lights can cause lock ups. You need to change all lights to the ray trace setting, not the other one. (Sorry, I'm not at a Posered computer right now.) I've had problems with MAT files sometimes not working. P5 just decides I've changed my mind enough times and refuses to apply MAT files some times. Don't know why. P5 has severe hissy fits if it can't find a texture. You might be able to get it to recover, but it's a crap shoot. I'm in the habit of saving files before using textures or MAT files, just in case. Good luck!

KISS, Keep It Simple Silly. Learn the Material room and Pose room before going into the Cloth, Hair, and Face rooms.

I certainly agree there herr67.....keeps the frustration level down if you do :)

Thanks guys, lots and lots of good stuff here. Whew, I'm glad I asked. I wish Rosity had a decent print function, I need to get this out on paper. :] Fish

Occasionally, a pz3 from p5 will glitch (poses change axis or reset) when loading into p4 and vice versa. Only had it happen in heavy scenes though, (more than 4 millenium characters loaded) Basically, save before and after you do anything, don't use p4 light sets, and make sure you run the "correct reference" util across you library to sort out hardcoded library link problems, "file not found" is a bitch. Also, don't use V3 from a linked runtime. She has to be installed (and untouched) into the base p5 runtime to work properly. Don't use Mats. later jb

What is all this about changing lights to raytrace? I have used raytraced lights, but never had to change anything to raytrace to prevent crashing. I never have light related crashes.. since I got ProPack (and now in P5), I got into the habit of using a Delete All Lights type python script in between each light change. I think (as others have suggested) that this drastically decreases the amount of light related problems in P5. Quick tips: 1) Learn the material room. Learn the material room. When that gets boring, learn the material room. The Firefly renderer isn't even mildly interesting until you take advantage of the material room. So, learn the material room. =) You can put a material on ANYTHING.. think light gels, atmosphere, volumetric lights, and so on. Get Traveler's free P5 materials from RDNA to help you get started. I have some freebie (old) materials in my rosity home page as well. 2) If something that is transmapped renders funny, connect the bump (or trans) map to the displacement node and set it low, to like, .001 or .01. Enable displacement in the renderer. 3) For complex scenes, build in cartoon shaded mode with full-tracking enabled. 4) If you have XP, disable all the XP graphical goodness in P5 by changing the properties of your P5 launch shortcut.