It was working fine yesterday and has been for months, but today when I brought up Bryce 5 I got a message on the splash screen that said "Invalid serial number encountered. Please enter your information below". I entered it, but it will not take it. I uninstalled Bryce and reinstalled it but the same thing happens. So,I went to use Bryce 5.5 trying to remember why I'd abandoned it in the first place and was reminded when the OBJs I import are imported in groups according to their Poser material name (SkinBody), and without their figure name. I want them to again import as separate elements with their figure name(Dancer-Rcollar, Dancer-Lcollar, Dancer-Abdomen) so I can apply different materials to them if needed. Can anyone help?

You can designate the names or groups when exporting from Poser, that would fix the Poser obj thingy. On the Bryce5/5.5, I'd un-install both, clean up the disk, wash any window fragments up, do a defrag, and then re-install whichever one you want to use. Sometimes little bits and pcs of reg entries, tail ends of install/un-installs, and general crap from surfing the web can cause problems. A routine of disk cleaning, window washing, and defraging will help keeps things running correctly...in any event it's worth a try....=)

Zhann is wise.....

You're talking about when you export the object as an OBJ and the last thing it shows is that little window with the checkboxes, the top one of which is "Include bodypart names in polygon groups", right? Because I do check that, and in Poser the figure's names do show in the Hierarchy Editor and in the Main Window. But once in Bryce 5.5, the different bodyparts have become one thing e.g. "Fig. 1 Skinbody" and "Fig. 1 Skinhead" instead of Freak LCollar, Freak RCollar, Freak Head 1-2. I'll try uninstalling everything tonight. I routinely clean out the recycle bin, delete temp files, and defrag. Anything else you'd recommend?

Okay, I know Poser is a pain, lately when I export from Poser in obj format, the materials don't get included anymore, sooooooooooo, I've been running the Poser obj exports through DAZ Studio first and exporting the obj from there, seems to work okay. Some models just do not cooperate though and with those I'm at a loss as to what to do......

If you don't want to format, just search in regedit.exe and delete any reg entries associated with Bryce.

Cleaned the registry, archived all my presets and scenes, uninstalled Bryce 5 and 5.5, and then reinstalled them both. Bryce 5 installs but when launched displays the "invalid serial number encountered. Please..." message. The serial number used previously (the one used to install) will not work. Bryce 5.5 works but still won't import OBJs as separate sections, although the very same OBJs imported into Bryce 5 that way just fine, along with their figure names. The colors in 5.5 look washed out too. This is weird. Maybe it's time to get Vue.

I would ask DAZ to help you out on this one, that's a definite support question, and you may need a new reg number to boot....

OK! maybe the format is an option then. Definitely contact Daz first though as Zhann recommended.

Here is the response I got from DAZ for anyone else who might have the same problem: "Try going to your Bryce folder, and deleting the Bryce 5.DTA file. Unfortunately, recent security updates on Windows XP, or some other facet of XP, have started to corrupt the file where Bryce stores its Serial Number information. This tends to be sporadic, and computer-specific, and we have not been able to duplicate the problem. Deleting the Bryce.dta file in your Bryce folder will allow you to enter the Serial Number and open the program. The .DTA file is hidden, so you will have to have hidden files enabled in your Folder Options. Please note that unfortunately, we do not have a fix for this issue, so you may have to continue to delete the .DTA file, and re-enter your Serial Number each time this happens" I did as instructed and it worked. I haven't tried to launch Bryce 5 yet today, but at least we know what to do. Maybe they'll make a patch for it. I'm still having the problem of the materials looking washed out. I found a workaround though. I open a Bryce scene that was saved before the problems began, and import my figure into that scene, apply the materials, and save the scene with a different name.

Man those Daz boys are lazy lol.