OK, I confess I get easily confused. I'm trying to get a handle on the Anton's Adventurers outfit, with Michael. Already I've run into one thing that always bedeviled me with Superheros. Michael's foot is in the middle of his cape! I read on the DAZ product description that the capes are poseable. Are there pose sets for the capes? (I'm also lazy and easily confused by that stuff). Oh, the outfit in this picture is the Noble outfit. But it is so dark it doesn't look different than any others. What gives there? I noticed the install read me was off. Here is a quote: "Located within the Libraries Figures/ Anton's People tab, you should now find two new icons. This is what you should select in order to load up the model." I reinstalled the Adventurers several times before I found Michael's outfit in "Michael's clothes." Oh, well, live and learn. I appreciate any input on the Adventurer's Outfits. The would likely go good with my dragons and Knights? Or are they from the same era?!

Select the cloak by clicking on it. It's in three parts. There are dials for flowing it in different directions and degrees. Also, there's a texture for Mike's body to give him sleeves and high collar, which are merely subdivided texture maps for his body. There's a MAT file for that, but make sure you have Mike's body selected for that part. It's one of my favorite articles of clothing for Michael. I've used it numerous times. I also made one with the cloak turned transparent so it doesn't show, as in my example here. Tristan's hair (blond) is SanFranciscoHair from DAZ, Rowan's hair (bearded man) Hmann's Total hair. Background is Abraham's Abbey set. Melanie

Great image! Can't wait till the weekend so I can try out Abraham's Abbey.

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I don't know if this will help anyone or not... but at first I didn't understand that you have to first add the model - adventurers outfit in this case - to the scene and then you go to the pose library and apply one of the MAT files. If you try apply the MAT pose file first, nothing may happen. Or worse, Michael may change colors. I've made him multicolored once or twice by doing that. And make sure you have the adventurers figure selected in the scene when you try to apply the MAT file. Often times it seems that you have to have the BODY or some main part of the figure selected too for the MAT file to work. Having the shoulder or some other part selected when you try to apply may not work. And What's a subdivided texture map anyway? Kevin

Well I need to go over my stuff and be sure I had selected the right "figure" when applying the MAT textures. I did figure out something about making the cloak go away from Mike's body. Here is a screenshot.

Now here is the final render. Mike's cloak looks better.

That's what Win XP looks like? ugh... I don't like all that. Do they give you the option of making it look like traditional Win 95/98?

Melanie! where can I get this "Abraham's Abbey set"? I searched Renderosity Store and free stuff and I didn't find it.

velvetdream2: You have many options with Windows XP display. Yes you can make it look just like the old, antiquated versions of Windows (95/98, ME, whatever..) They probably call that the "Classic" Option. I've pretty much stayed with the default displays since I have worked Tech Support in the past. It is much easier if I see what most of my customers see, since I often rely on my own memory of how each screen appears. I routinely say "Double-click on this icon, and this is what you see.." At any rate I've been out of the tech support field for a bit, in a transitional phase. I'm making some changes to the display, slowly but surely. But hey I like Blue!

velvetdream : yes, you can get the old win98 style with one single klick. Im just trying , if i can get the look of DOS 4.0 ( remembers the times , when an OS fits a 720kb floppy)

Hey, one great thing about Windows XP is that it is rock-solid. I can run any application without all the problems I once had. And who can find fault with this kind of desktop?

I've just started a run of textures for the adventurers outfit. (currently 24 pairs possibly planned - see the thread further down for the list) I'm debating wether or not to set up MAT pzs for them (aside from 'set all to white'). On the one hand, it makes it way easy to apply complicated textures with bumps and trans and refl maps and all that. On the other hand, as an artist I like knowing exactly what's going on with my figure at all times. ('cause if you don't know what's happening, you can't fix it) I think I have control issues :) My only quibble with these outfits is that poor vickie has bare knees. (unless you mess with that blasted subdivmap) I do really like the clothing though :) Anton does lovely work. Probably going to get the changing fantasy suits next. Lyrra

Hmmm I had put off even looking at XP. I used to be a sys admin and got too used to NT/2000. And I understand about the tech support biz. Do you have a bottle of aspirin by the phone? lol The icons looks good as well as the grass background. That's pretty neat. I guess it's just the blue task bar that threw me off. I'd rather have a solid running OS than a good-looking OS any day. Thanks for the input Ron!

Attached Link: http://www.3-darena.com/

zooz12000, the Abbey at 3D Arena at the link above, and it's free. The trick is to use the dolly camera rather than the main camera. To MeInOhio, the MAT file is just the textures. The clothing has to be in there first in order for the texture to have somewhere to go. I haven't gotten XP yet. I never buy any Microsoft programs until they've been out for about a year so the kinks can be worked out first. They have a history of releasing new programs with too many flaws. I made the mistake of getting 95 back when it first came out and I hated it. Now I'm on 98 an doing OK. I'm not too fond of the plastic look of the screen if that screen shot is what it looks like. :p Melanie

Melanie, This is the default Windows XP screen.... You can change the look any way you want. You can have a different desktop, toolbar, whatever. I just happen to be partial to the blue scheme. In my past job I did simulations of Windows 98. ME, and Windows 2000 to enhance my job skills. In those days I had a white, plain desktop so I could better show off the icons I used for the simulations. Now I don't do that work any more, so I am enjoying the colors. Personally, I've tried to be close to the forefront with all this stuff. That's why I got Windows 95, 98 & ME pretty much as soon as they came out. I used Windows 2000 Pro for awhile just because we had it at work. I didn't really like it. I used OS/2 for a year or so before Windows 95 came out. I had the "Release Candidates" (Preview version?) of Windows XP for months before it was officially released. So far Windows XP has been the best operating system I've had. I didn't get a break on the price for participating in the Release Candidate Program. So I just couldn't wait till we got the money to buy the Home Edition!

OH, and when it comes to MAT files, I love the concept. They spare me the tedious work of applying all the textures. Except now I have some reason to believe some of them may be wrong (For Victoria). I need to check that out.

Getting off the topic... "And who can find fault with this kind of desktop?" As, PC Gamer magazine said, it looks like the Teletubbies backyard! Or, for the sci-fi people out there, it's the scene from Star Wars: Episode I (and the trailer), just before the Trade Federation tanks coming rolling over the hillside to attack the Gungans. Besides that, it does look like Microsoft is finally moving away from the "computer" look (the default gray background & black text) to a more colorful, "real" interface. Who knows, maybe in a few years, they'll catch up to the Macintosh OS interface. :) --John

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"Im just trying , if i can get the look of DOS 4.0 ( remembers the times , when an OS fits a 720kb floppy)"

Hmm... a fragile file system, no security, no TCP/IP stack, no multimedia subsystem, no meaningful way to stay aware of updates....

Nah, I'd rather not go back to those days :)

"On the one hand, it makes it way easy to apply complicated textures with bumps and trans and refl maps and all that. On the other hand, as an artist I like knowing exactly what's going on with my figure at all times."

For me, I would simply never purchase a complex texture set without MAT files. I don't really have the urge to spend the time to build them myself - it's pointless. I know what you mean about knowing what's "going on" but let's face it - the materials dialog box isn't all that complex - it's not like it's difficult to check on what happened if you want. it's just silly and time consuming to have to set it all by hand.

Besides, if your user didn't like MAT files they can not use them :)

"I'd rather have a solid running OS than a good-looking OS any day."

Fortunately, XP is both.

"I haven't gotten XP yet. I never buy any Microsoft programs until they've been out for about a year so the kinks can be worked out first."

And in the old days that was true - but it hasn't been that way with MS since 2000 came out. They now use massive public beta's... I have been running XP almost a year as have hundreds of thousands of others - sot hat "first year" has already happened before it hit retail.

"Who knows, maybe in a few years, they'll catch up to the Macintosh OS interface. :)"

OSX? I can do that now - it's just a skin... and not all that pretty. If you meant OS9, not only wasn't it that pretty but refer to the above comment about the importance of stability :) :) :)