Hey, all!

I've pretty much gotten my actual Poser skills up to a point where I'm ready to take it up a notch. Through playing around with AMAPI's free version I'm finally getting comfortable with making my own props, but I really don't like the way it triangularizes the polygons. I'd REALLY like to find a sub $100 program that actively exports directly to OBJ format with a minimum of fuss and bother.

The MAJOR problem I have is that on a 56K dialup I have neither the time nor the inclination to DL hefty demos and learn each and every one's SOP.

Can anyone suggest one or two for me? Even a pointer to "obsolete" versions to search for in the "used" software categories (a la EBay) would be great!

It would definitely be a plus if I could use the same App for creating my own MT's.

...And just what program did Metacreations use to create THEIR figures and props, anyway??? I figure THAT one should be relatively cheap by now!!!

Thanks!

Now if I could only find a decent texture map program....

Starlok

Here you go: "Nendo" address is: http://www.izware.com/ check out the gallery, when I bought it, the price was $99.00 and it's great

Attached Link: http://www.annsartgallery.com/freeprop.html

MilkShape handles OBJ files quite nicely. The trial software is a 1.6MB download, and you have 30 days to try out the fully-functional program before the save features are disabled. Registration is only $20.

Two caveats:

1. It currently won't handle anything over 16000 polygons (it doesn't like the Millennium figures' heads, either)
2. It's a simple polygon modeler; no splines, boolean functions, or other advanced features

Other than that, it's great for Poser-work; I've created props, figures, and morph targets for Posette, the P4 Male, and the reduced-resolution version of Victoria.

Carrara 1. Since C2 just came out, you ought to be able to pick C1 up cheaply. It has 3 different modelers, so you can experiment with construction methods. Carolly

...or try Amapi 4.15. o It's free o There's a link to the d/l in the Amapi Forum o It's a fine modeler o There's a set of get-to-know-the-tools tutes in the Forum o ...and a start-up walkthrough that takes you through modeling a jacket for Mike, getting it into Poser, grouping and CR2'ing it. And BTW - I d/l'ed Amapi 4.15 on a 56K modem ;o) Whatever you decide to do, have fun.

If you like Nendo, you'll love Wings3D... it was written as a Nendo clone by a guy who had problems purchasing Nendo. It is very actively updated, has all (?) the same features (and more), exports in .obj format (and doesn't force you to triangulate the object... it prefers to work in quads, by design) and best of all - It's FREE. http://www.wings3d.com MilkShape - it's a nice program too (I own a registered copy), but an additional caveat is that it only works in triangles.. it will convert your quad meshes to triangulated ones, but fails to load lots of .obj files. It does understand groups and materials pretty well though (Wings3D seems to think the two are linked). Another one I recently purchased (sub $100 range) is 3D Canvas ( http://www.amabilis.com/ ). I hadn't had a chance to play with it much yet, but it looks fairly feature-rich and also supports .obj format.

Attached Link: http://anim8or.com

Milkshape gets my vote, not only is it dirt cheap but i've found it insanely easy to use, true that when you try to import an object over 16,000 polygons it pretends not to hear you and jus' sits and waits for a more reasonable request hehe so its cheap and lazy.....

:) Ever

Amapi 6 exports wavefront.obj, so there's no triangulation of the mesh.

Thanks for the Tips! Unfortunately, Milk shape is out because of the Traingles, and I already have Amapi 4.15 Again, it tringularizes so any or their pay2play products aren't really going to do it for me. I'll try Anim8or and Nendo (7Megs for the DL!!!! I'm gonna be up all night! ;) !!!) I thought about carrera when I first got poser, but bought bryce instead. BIG waste of money since I couldn't export my boolean type creations... and with a K62-400 i didn't have the patience for even the simplest render-times! Ah, well... maybe Nendo or Anim8or will do the trick! Thanx again! Starlok

Starlok - Amapi does not triangle. Export as Lightwave LWO and use Anim8or or LithUnwrap (both free) to convert to OBJ before taking into Poser. It's one extra step, but three great apps ;o)

Whoa! Thanks Thip! Those stupid triangles were ticking me off! Any way I can still use AMAPI 4.15 to make my own morph targets too?

None that I know of, but there may be others who have found a way. If you custom-build a clothing item in Amapi, and alter it in Amapi to make morphs, you can export both item and morphs via the LWO format. But if you pull a Poser mesh into Amapi and re-export, the vertex is messed up, it seems. Anyone with a solution, pls step forward - I'd like to know, too ;o)

You may not be able to use Amapi for morphs, but you can use Anim8or. That's how I've done all the morphs for my P4 folks.