Stupid stupid me..Am having a fit of extra n00bness. I just lost 5 hours of work! I totally forgot to save and made a mess, and wanted to go back just one step and lo and behold I don't have an "undo" in Poser! Am sure you guys must have discussed this a lot, but how do you deal with the obvious limitations in this department? In every other program I get a chance to choose how many undos I want, but obviously not poser. How have you been handling this undo thing that poser doesnt? grrrrrrr

Most 3d programs don`t have an undo because it could at times use a huge amount of memory to store the undo steps, with most things in poser it is easy to go back and redo the last thing that you did (apart from the setup room).

Is it just me but I have an undo? I mean it doesn't always work but there is an undo .. I just see all kinds of people saying there is NO undo and there is. I am just wondering ...

P4 has an undo.....seems to always be grayed out, but it's there.....

P5 too but only for one step.

Yup - just 1 undo step and then not always available (depends on what you did last). The way I work is: Start new scene (empty). Add bits'n'pieces for a while, move them around til approx right then Save in new directory as "/00a" From then on I NEVER do more than about 10 mins work without doing a save. If I'm happy with what I've achieved I save under a new name (eg 00b, 00c, ...) As soon as I get to a point where I think "Ok, I'm happy with that now, time to move on to the next bit", I save as "01a" and continue on as before. (I use the additional leading '0' just so that the files list correctly in the dialogues) I also save immediately before embarking on any experimental stuff, and NEVER overwrite that file. As soon as I have managed an effect/pose/expression/whatever that I like, I save it as a "next number" save. And so on.... It's not a perfect solution, but it works for me (with a few frustrations..) Basically, the rule comes down to "Save Early and Save Often" (like in voting). Once I'm happy with what I've got, I chuck all the redundant "incremental" saves into the rubbish bin Cheers, Diolma

oops - forgot about formatting in HTML posts - that "/00a" was supposed to read "(new-scene-directory)/00a"

'Most 3d programs don`t have an undo because it could at times use a huge amount of memory to store the undo steps' Let's get this right, folks. 3d max has an undo. It's default is 20 steps, but you can set it to anything you want. AFAIK, almost every 3d program EXCEPT poser has a multiple undo. Poser has a single undo, and it doesn't always work the way you think it will. F'rinstance, if you pose a figure then move the camera, poser will sometimes undo both. Other times it only undoes the camera movement. Best solution for TOTAL security. Save TWO copies of important scenes and alternate the saves between them, every 5 - 10 minutes, depending on how much your doing and how important it is. mac

Lightwave has no undo in the layout part at least.

If I'm happy with what I've achieved I save under a new name (eg 00b, 00c, ...) I too do the same thing, but only the number and a new number every 20 to 30 min. MyPic1.pz3 MyPic2.pz3 MyPic3.pz3 Having used computers for many years this is one thing I learned, this is not just for Poser. Thank you Billy Gates for teaching me to save early and often!

C4D has multiple undos with 2 paths of undo available. ;0P Maya has undos and so does 3DSMax. 3D programs don't have undos. Where do you get your info? Poser undo sucks. Not only is it one, but it undoes the stupidest things. Set a morph, move camera, undo morph now gone.

Actually I have used ctrl-z in poser to undo poses I have dialed, in p4 it will let you undo once. Marque

I have too, just don't dial, move the camera, and then hit ctrl-z cause all it does is puts the camera back to where you were. ;)

Lightwave modeller has over a dozen undo steps. It is the "u" key. Z-Brush has over a dozen undo steps too. Even old Raydream Studio has multiple undos. Over the years I have just grown to accept that Poser really doesn't have undo. I don't think they know how to incorporate one with the current code without a rewrite.

The undo thing was one of the questions they had in that Poser questionair. I said it would definately be a good idea to have more undos, 'cos I'm always forgeting to save before doing that experimentation bit. 8) Catlin

Ghostofmacbeth the undo in poser just seems to affect posing so that is why people say that there is no undo, it should be "there is no PROPER undo".

One additional thing that I do, is use the pose dots a lot. You can reset a figure very quickly with those.

The pose dots are very good, the camera dots are handy too.

{Lightwave modeller has over a dozen undo steps.} Just a slight correction: Lightwave has a user-defined-number of steps. The best is about 64, but you can set it to 128 or 256 if you really want that many undos. Photoshop has a History pallette with user-defined number of steps. So, no, there is no excuse that "undo takes up memory". The user should be able to set the number of undos to work the best on their system: 64 to 128 levels for machines with a lot of memory, 8 levels for lower machines. Poser's lack of undo is simply another example of sloppy programming... and something that wasn't fixed in P5 (Can you imagine how powerful this feature would be if you could undo a MAT pose and restore the original textures?) Some workarounds: Pose a figure the way you like it. Before applying a new pose. Go to Edit, then Figure, then Memorize Figure. This will save the pose to memory. When a pose messes up your character, go back to Edit, then Figure, then Restore Figure. Or, if you're working with a number of objects in the scene, simply follow the above advice and save often. If your image is for "production", most definitely save often.

Just a slight correction: Lightwave has a user-defined-number of steps. <<< LW7 Modeler does. LW7 layout only has 1, though LW8 layout will have multiple.

I forgot layout does have an undo but, like the poser one, it doesn`t work with everything.

I have gotten used to using some work arounds... pose dots and camera dots ...alt-clicking to clear them as needed. "memorize" lights... memorize element and memorize figure allow me to "restore" each of those as needed... even magnets and other deformers. spawning morphs to preserve facial settings... in combination these let me use restore and the "dots" to recover many things I need... when I have to I save the whole .pz3 from time to time for security. not perfect but working is less nerve racking then it used to be before i "discovered" memorize/restore.

Queensoul how did you spend five hours making a scene and then doing one thing to mess it up?

human/n00b error. Forgot to save and conformed the wrong object, model completely distorted..etc, etc.... ;) Thank you friends for all your advice. I'll certainly approach poser with a more paranoid attitude.