I have a query, I started using poser just before christmas and I have downloaded a ton of free and bought content. Now what I would like to know is, how much content will poser hold? Is it going to fill up so I need to delete things? Stupid question I know, but it worries me.

Also, I am really interested in learning to create my own characters for V3, so is there a website or anything that will point  me in the right direction?

Many thanks,

Paula.x

Yes. Everything you add slows P6 down. P6 (clean) starts (boots) in 10 seconds. That can stretch out to 10 minutes if you carry too much content. Ideally, all new content should go to new Runtime(s) created by you. Linked and stored out of P6. Small Runtimes are better. Get some good personal advice from someone you know here on how to structure it. There are many tuts, also.

I would just add that in order to make Poser run a wee bit faster at startup, keep your default Runtime as is, and yes, organizing your thingies in runtimes according to figures, themes, etc, can make your find your items your items, and for that matter, it will help Poser too.

As to character creation, it involves some knowledge in actual 3d polygon mesh editing, as well as image editing. If you do not have much experience in those fields, I suggest you try first doing some simple props for your characters to hone your skills and gradually move yourself to character editing/creation. If you do have experience in that kind of stuff, well, nuff zed. There are several tutorials out there which explain the methodology much better than I can.

Well, you can't "fill it up" to a point where it won't run, but it's correct that a larger runtime will take longer to start up. Not that I've really noticed much of a difference, and my runtime is some 50Gb (yep, Gigabyte)

My Runtime is divided with PBooost though, something I started using back in the Poser 4 days. I wouldn' miss it for the world today, but in theory, since you're just starting, you might as well simply make separate runtimes for different stuff  (like have a Runtime for V3 stuff, one for M3, one for scenery and so on)

Quote - I have a query, I started using poser just before christmas and I have downloaded a ton of free and bought content. Now what I would like to know is, how much content will poser hold? Is it going to fill up so I need to delete things? Stupid question I know, but it worries me.

Also, I am really interested in learning to create my own characters for V3, so is there a website or anything that will point  me in the right direction?

Many thanks,

Paula.x

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2434533

http://www.canary3d.com/tutorial/3d-intro.htm

http://trekkiegrrrl.dk/tut1.htm

Here is some information for you.  The first link in this post is to a thread where someone was new and asking questions.  Lots of good advice there.

Here is a link to a tutorial on how to create and package a character up:

http://www.thepalace.com/wonder/poser/posebuilder/character_creation.html

Well ladies and gentlemen, thank you for all the info you kindly sent, I had a look at PBoost and decided it was worth having, I like the idea of being able to keep track of things. However, back to the runtime folder, if I have more than one runtime will they have to be renamed, eg, runtime1, runtime2. 

Sorry to keep going on about it, but I really want to get all my files as organised as I can get them so I don`t slow my system down too much.  :biggrin:

Paula.

The runtime folders are always called 'runtime', it's the folder that contains the runtime that you give a different name. Personally, I like to keep everthing in one big runtime. This method does mean that Poser takes some seconds longer to start up but once started, there is no problem and no further delay. I used to keep about 7 runtime folders but found that switching between them while building a scene took an annoying amount of time.

I have everything in one runtime now, but it sure is slow on startup, saying that, after I click to start poser up, I almost have enough time to go to the kitchen and make a coffee........hahaha.

Quote - if I have more than one runtime will they have to be renamed, eg, runtime1, runtime2.

A runtime is a runtime is a runtime.  People tend to get confused by the term "External Runtimes" and "Multiple Runtimes" thinking that it's all different things and  that they all work differently when they don't.  I found that out the hard way after spending 3 months  (yes, it really was 3 months) trying to help my friend set up her files. I was sooooo frustrated that she just didn't get it even after I hooked up to her and gave her a visual walking tour of my runtime setup!  Then out of the blue it hit me that she could possibly think they are different and behave differently than the runtime inside the Poser 6 folder.  Sure enough that is what she thought, and the light bulb finally went on,  LOL

Anyway, all an "external runtime" is, is a runtime that sits outside of the actual main Poser program's folder.  You can put them anywhere on your hard drive you want, even an external hard drive.  There is absolutely no difference between them and the one in the Poser program folder, other than the location on your hard drive :)

You will of course have to name each one differently otherwise they will end up all lumped into one.  For example:

V3
SP3
M3
props
poses
cartoon figures
aiko
animals

etc.

You can of course break the runtimes up in any fashion you like. Those are just some examples.  You could also decide to have a runtime for V3's clothing, and another runtime for V3 character addons if you like more organization.  Or you might decide to put V3, SP3 and Aiko into one runtime as they can share skin textures, and many clothing items come with fits for all 3 of them.  The choice is entirely up to you. 

Decide on a location and names for your runtimes.  Create a folder  for each one and give it the desired name.  Open each folder that you created and create a new folder in it. Call this one "Runtime".  Create a new text document (leave it blank), and name it  poser.exe. You will get a message that the file may not work. Say OK.

That's all there is to it.  Just install the desired items into that runtime like you would normally do if you were installing into the main poser runtime.

Once you have your runtimes set up, all you do is add them to your library in Poser. For example if you have a  Props runtime, add that folder  (the one that holds your "runtime" and "poser.exe") to your library.  When you want to use something from that runtime, just browse for it, open it and access the files.

For Daz products, you will have to put a copy of the !DAZ folder which is found in your Library folder, into the same spot in your actual Poser runtime.

You can of course do one runtime and sub divide the contents that are in the Library folders.  For example  could make sub folders for V3, SP3, M3, props, etc. Then all your files for a particular figure are located in one folder in characters, poses, props, faces, camera.  You can further sub divide those folders to break up the contents even more.  For example in your V3 folder you could have  "clothing", "shoes", "hair', "poses".

Poses and hair tend to be able to be used cross figure with tweaking of the parameter dials, so I like to keep those in a folder all by themselves so that I can take advantage of all of the hair and poses that I have, and not just hair and poses for the particular figure that I'm using.

Ok, I'll stop now that I've totally confused you,  hehe

Quote - The runtime folders are always called 'runtime', it's the folder that contains the runtime that you give a different name. Personally, I like to keep everthing in one big runtime. This method does mean that Poser takes some seconds longer to start up but once started, there is no problem and no further delay. I used to keep about 7 runtime folders but found that switching between them while building a scene took an annoying amount of time.

LOL, I think my last count was 40 runtimes.  I know exactly what I have installed for poser and where to locate it without having to play search and find.  Plus it makes uninstalling things much, much easier because there is less to search through.

Yes, uninstalling is a great benefit to keeping lots of smaller runtimes. I do now have a new reason to keep everything in one runtime though. Carrara 5 does have a native Poser import but the first time you use it, Carrara asks for the default runtime and for reasons I cannot fathom, there seems no way to change that default (apart from re-installing Carrara). You can still import from other runtimes but you will have to locate the obj and for mat poses, all of the texture files.

Quote -  You can still import from other runtimes but you will have to locate the obj and for mat poses, all of the texture files.

Ewww!  Someone should let them know what a PITA that is so they can fix it and give a patch update!

Oops! I'm spreading lies. Sorry. HumanTex just put me right on this one over on the DAZ forum.

On the import options, below the crease setting, there is a '...' button which allows you to change the source runtime.

I feel a little daft for missing it, especially after I did a re-install just to reset the folder.

Sorry for the the mistake! Seems you can have as many runtimes as you like without problems in Carrara.

Neill

Think I must be crazy, I just dumped poser plus content off the computer, then hooked up the new external drive I got for christmas,Downloaded PBoost, and am now in the process of loading everything onto the new drive....

Ernyoka1, thanks for the link to it, its great, I can see everything at a glance now.

One last question, the poser installer, using this seems to lose bits of files every so often, so is it possible to unpack all zip files through winzip? And does this mean that all the content will go into the poser folder and not the download one?

Thanks

Paula.

For !DAZ files.....if you're setting up runtimes outside of the main Poser6 folder, as long as you set them up in the proper format:

Aiko -- Runtime -- (all other files as they appear)

You don't need to worry about putting another copy of the base Daz files in the main P6 runtime. I have all of my stuff separated out and have had no problems doing it this way. Just make sure to keep everything together in it's own runtime. I think the only time you have to worry about where the !Daz folders go is if you have things scattered between differing runtimes.

Generally you can tell zipped files to follow folder setup and unzip to location without a problem. Personally, I install everything myself (just dragging the files to their locations after opening with WinRar) to make sure my files end up where I want them. I also direct exe installers (like DAZ and other sites) to a temp folder rather than letting them install themselves to the main runtime. I just like to have a bit more control over where things end up because someone else isn't going to organize the same way I do.