I keep getting the error message "FreeImage_x64Release.dll" not found. I'm running LW 9.6 64-bit. Maybe PoserFusion only works with 32-bit Lightwave??
Thanks!
Gordon

Okay, I solved that problem by sticking FreeImage_x64Release.dll into the lightwave programs folder. I got LW to load the plugins, too.
Now I have no idea how to operate them inside of LW. For some reason, the Poser Pro help docs only cover using Poser Fusion with MAX and Cinema 4D.
Thanks,
Gordon

Heh! Found some info in the SmithMicro database on how it's supposed to work in LW. It doesn't work, though.

Gordon

 

Quote - Heh! Found some info in the SmithMicro database on how it's supposed to work in LW. It doesn't work, though.

Gordon

 

It doesn't work, and this surprises you? I would be surprised if it DID work. Not just Poser's fault, although I don't exactly have the utmost confidence in a company that makes cell phone software churning out anything that's going to wow me in a 3D app, but Lightwave's SDK leaves alot to be desired as well.

Do yourself a favor and just spend some time rigging your favorite characters in Lightwave. Not only do you avoid that whole idiotic eport mess , but you can add as many bones as you want for some seriously extreme control. You can also use the preset shelf in LW to make material presets and apply them to your figures in the same way you would do a mat pose in Poser. Except, unlike in Poser you can save out your presets in LW.
And you also get the advantage of LW's graph editor and all its other tools too, which make Poser's tools look like... well..
Oh and also you can then deal with dynamics, morph targets and all that in LW.
Speaking of morphs, you can transfer all those Poser figure morphs to a Poser mesh in LW and they work exactly the same. Takes a while but it's well worth it for the more difficult ones.

As for LW's display speed problem, you can use a very low poly proxy mesh for posing and animating your figures and an lscript to go between the proxy and the real mesh. It's a truly awesome thing.
I bit the bullet and dug into it all and learned how to rig. Having done so, I see no reason whatsoever for Poser and its ridiculous limitations and idiosyncracies any longer. Aside from the endless (and often unintentional) entertainment the Poser community provides, Poser as a program might as well not even exist for me any longer.

I have the original Messiah pluging for Lightwave. I wonder if it still works? Probably not.
Gordon

Surely not for 64 bit if it's old. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it worked in 32 bit LW. A surprising number of the older plugins still work, but might give strange results or crashes.

If you know who Megalodon is at the Newtek forum you could ask him. I know he uses Poser and Messiah. I think he uses Messiah with LW 9.6 actually, although probably the newer version. I've never tried it, myself.

It used to be pretty awesome for rigging. Haven't used it in years, though.

I totally second MikeJ's suggestion for learning to rig. It offers so much more flexibility (and honestly  headaches too) and I won't go back. Except I'm using Maya rather than Lightwave. And I've recently decided to create my own meshes. So I guess that has nothing to do with your issue.

Quote - I totally second MikeJ's suggestion for learning to rig. It offers so much more flexibility (and honestly  headaches too) and I won't go back..

It's really the only way, in my opinion.
I guess some people become expert Poser technicians and figure their way around alot of the problems, but I got sick of it finally. There's just so much Poser can't do when you hold it up against something like Lightwave. I suppose Maya is a little more powerful too. ;-)

In my case my biggest gripe against Poser has been its lighting and rendering and even simply setting up a scene can be a bitch when the lights you see in preview look absolutely nothing like what you get in your render.
I guess some people like it and can deal with it. FWIW, I've used every version of Poser since Poser 3 right before Poser 4 came out. I gave it more than a fair shake, and finally have said to hell with it for good.
One thing which really pisses me off is the so-called multi-processor rendering. The way they implemented it is just stupid. Half your CPU for the top of your scene and the other half for the lower  half of your scene, and never the twain shall meet. Just stupid. I have a quad core and Poser rarely uses more than two cores at any one time. it just spikes from 25% to 75% to 100% to 50%, and all over the place like it's trying to decide what to do but not quite sure.
"Poser Pro". Yeah, right. You really have to question an app whose main "pro" feature is a (broken) ability to get your scene into a better app. ;-)

And of course just about anything out there has better animating tools. I make a keyframe in LW and it acts like a keyframe should. I make a second keyframe and it anchors that motion down, solidly. Poser's keyframe is like a banana on the sidewalk or something. Your animation slips on it, but everything just continues interpolating happily along, often well beyond any parameters you actually set.

I could go on and on with all the things I've come to detest about Poser, but this is a Poser forum after all. ;-)

Just mentioning that the developers for Poser are working for Smith Micro along with most all the staff. Just look in the Credits for Poser 5, Poser 6, Poser 7, Poser Pro... you will see some names come and some go, but most are the same.

Also, I use Poser Pro and Poser Fusion with Lightwave and I have no issues. Make sure you have updated both your Poser Pro and you have installed the latest Poser Fusion available (and you installed the 64 Bit Version if you are using Lightwave on a 64 Bit OS)

ratscloset
aka John

I installed the latest Poser Pro updates as of this past October 1st including the 64bit version of Poser Fusion. I'm baffled. I'll have to query Smith Micro I guess.
Thanks,
Gordon

Gordon

I sent you a Site mail...

ratscloset
aka John

Thanks! Smith Micro tech support comes through.
It seems I was using my Poser Pro serial number to try to initialize the software, forgetting that Poser Fusion has its OWN serial number.
Thanks again,
Gordon