First off, I would just like to say I'm grossly disgusted with the way Smith Micro has handled Poser.  At one point I was decided to tell them to shove it and go and learn DAZ Studio.  I don't know who the yahoo was that decided to leave out the .rsr thumbnail support, but that was just plain ignorant.  There is absolutely no reason for making us have to use a third party program to fix a mistake that should have never have been there in the first place.

I did, however, fix a major graphical problem that I had been having.  This recent version of Poser has had me ready to break something... and unfortunatelyI have $600 in new monitors sitting in front of me and they are in arms reach... that would not be cool.

My fix comes from a problem that after I run a render and go back to preview mode, I am hit with a blank screen when I mouse over the figure.  Thankfully ATI JUST came out with a new update a few days ago that fixed this problem, but I'm still having a problem that has migrated from Poser7.  When I first load a figure, some of the textures are replaced by eye textures, until I do a render of the figure, then it returns to normal.

The new library system is a totally FUBAR, the previous library look was just right because I could stretch it across my second monitor and see everything.  Now I'm reduced to a single line and it is very hard to pick anything out.  This obviously comes from someone that has no clue what Poser is and has never used it.   What I don't understand is, what's the point of having the library palette stretch so big when all the folders remain to the left?  They stay stacked instead of moving with the screen.  If I missed something about changing the library layout, please tell me because I've been through all the options and files and there is nothing I can see.

I do have a few other minor issues, but at least now the damn program is somewhat useful.  I've been scanning the forums here and I cannot believe just how many problems (especially the same) that have popped up.  Seriously, how can you screw up a program that you aren't even building from scratch?  This has even been a problem with the P7 SR3 update, before that one, I never had a problem (save for an ATI problem, that wasn't Poser though), and the SR3 was under Smith Micro.

In closing, I'm going to stick with Poser for now, I'm looking into 3rd party library options... though once again I shouldn't have to... and hope that nothing else screws up.

If you check the bottom of the Library palette you'll see something that looks sort of klingon in origin, click on it & you can change the library settings to something that might suit you better.

Quote - I don't know who the yahoo was that decided to leave out the .rsr thumbnail support, but that was just plain ignorant.  There is absolutely no reason for making us have to use a third party program to fix a mistake that should have never have been there in the first place.

So removing a no longer necessary "feature" because an easier method of doing the same thing is available is ignorant?

I suppose Microsoft and Apple should continue to support and update their pre-2000's OS too, right?

Or maybe SM should remove the Advanced setting from the Material Room, because it's too complex.

Honestly, .rsrs became obsolete with Poser 5, it's about time the portions of code related to it was removed from the program.

I can understand why many users miss the library. But feeling it was ignorant that  the stupid *.rsr files were finally gotten rid off? I replaced them long before P8 with *.png files because I wanted to see them in the Windows Explorer.

cujoe

You didn't say which Poser you're talking about - you only mentioned "This recent version of Poser". Well the recent version was Poser Pro 2010, and the library has all the options you want. Most people think it is superior to the Poser 7 library. If you're talking about Poser 8, the new library will be brought to Poser 8 in the next SR.

The library has a ton of options for you to customize it. Perhaps a little consult with the manual, or perhaps a little more reading of all threads, not just negative ones, is in order? I only posted about 20 screen shots of the new library and its various display options over the last few months, so I suppose that's a needle in the haystack. But seriously, a little less hysteria and a little more "How do you guys use this or that" might be in order.

You mentioned scanning the forum and seeing lots of problems. Are you talking about Poser 8 or Poser Pro 2010? P8 did have some teething pains, but PPro 2010 has been the smoothest new release ever.

Seriously, what are you talking about? You asked (perhaps rhetorically) how you can screw up a program you aren't building from scratch. Well, I feel the need to point out that the entire Poser 8 user interface was built from scratch. That was an enormous task. The previous UI technology was a limitation. With that rewrite behind us, the pace of feature and rendering improvements will increase from the past.

I don't know what you use the product for, or what your style of rendering is, so maybe my experience isn't relevant. But my impression is that a lot of user rants about workflow are illogical. Suppose, for sake of argument, it takes somebody an extra 15 minutes of work to use the library to load content for a scene. (I don't believe there is any reason for this, other than not reading the manual.) Now let's subtract about 10 hours from the process because the Poser Pro 2010 lighting and rendering is so superior. What did the library cost you - nothing? You saved 10 hours less 15 minutes.

The new library can be set up to work very nearly the same as the old if that's how you want it, and I have no doubt you'll find it is faster than the old one. Its default configuration is a matter of some debate and not what I would choose, but really who cares.

One small point I'd like to make, when I first fired up Poser Pro2010 with it's new Library I wasn't impressed, after fiddling with the settings & using it for a few weeks I can't use the old Library in Poser 8 without banging my head on the keyboard.

Nor the Poser 7 library - the traditional one. I was trying to help someone with Poser Pro (not 2010) and I fired it up to make a test scene. I almost died trying to navigate between runtimes the old way.

I cannot start a scene anymore without visiting at least 4 runtimes. Clicking up, up, over, down, down makes me nuts.

I think your secret identity is that you  are the daddy  of Poser.

I dont follow all the threads......but I just get the feeling.

Please stop, you'll give me nightmares. ;)

Cujoe

Do you really think it's okay to bad-mouth the SM Poser development team like that? And, by implication, those of us who think they are doing a good job? Perhaps you do. Anyway, I really just want to put forward an alternative viewpoint, in more considered language, then I'm going away (hurrah).

There are many like me who think that Poser 8 was a vast improvement in every respect to Poser 7 (including the library), and Poser Pro 2010 an even bigger improvement in every respect over both Poser Pro and Poser 8 (especially the library). Are we ignorant? Do we have no clue what Poser is? Have we never used it? Are we paying out for totally screwed up software, and getting greater pleasure from learning and using it?

Thanks, sweetheart, we love you too.

I say thank goodness SM have people with the courage, vision and technical know-how to make the sometimes difficult development decisions that will keep Poser moving forwards and improving release by release. I applaud them wholeheartedly.

Respond, or not, however you will. I have no more to say about it.

Izi