poser help
benjbernstein
Posts: 0
I'm using Poser, I'm an absolute beginner in 3d stuff, been at it a few days only. I want to install one of the victoria 6 packages, either Victoria 6 or Victoria 6 starter bundle. Tech support says I need Genesis and Genesis 2 starter essentials. I have the Daz3d program installed already and I downloaded the Genesis Starter Essentials PoserCF and I'll download the Genesis 2 stuff shortly. Does anybody have any idea on what the steps are to install one of those packages? After download of the Genesis Starter Essentials PoserCF nothing happened. I was thinking a dialogue box would open to walk through installing into Poser or to a file somewhere.
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To get the Genesis 2 Starter Essentials and Poser Companion files, you need to "buy" DS Pro 4.6. It still free so it won't cost you anything.
As for Poser, one you need to have Poser 9 or better. Make sure you have the latest Service Release for whatever version of Poser you are running.
You also need to purchase the DSON importer if you have not.
http://www.daz3d.com/dson-importer-for-poser
You do not need to install DS but you will need to install the importer. If you don't have DS installed, when you install the importer make certain the check box to install the DS 4.x files is checked when you go through installation of the importer.
I believe you received the Genesis Starter essentials and Poser Companion files with the importer so you may also receive the Genesis 2 Starter Essentials with it as well.
Install the importer to the Poser python folder. After installing the importer, if you only want to V6, you will need to install the Geneses 2 Female Starter Essentials and the Genesis 2 Female Poser Companion Files. It is important to install both of these files to the same runtime. Make sure it can be written to by the importer. Meaning, if you install Poser to a write protected directory, you need to create an external runtime the importer can write to.
Make sure Poser's library is pointing at the runtime. After you have the Starter Essentials and Poser Companion Files installed, install the V6 files to the same runtime. V6 is a morph set of the Genesis 2 Female. You must have the Genesis 2 Female and Poser Companion Files installed in order for it to work.
A side note, to use the characters that come with the V6 Starter and Pro bundles, you will need to buy the Genesis 2 Female(s) head and body morphs. The characters in those packages use those morph packages. You can buy them as 2 separate packs or buy the head and body morphs in a bundle. It's usually cheaper to buy in the bundle. No, the morphs to not come with either the V6 Starter or Pro bundle. They are a separate purchase.
Depending upon the version of Poser you are using, there are a couple of things to be aware of. The DSON importer is not without issues with Poser. If you are using P9 and P10 are 32 bit apps that have the 32 bit app ram limit. It doesn't matter how much ram you have or if you are using a 64 bit OS. It's the app. I know Pro 2014 is full 64 bit but I can remember off the top of my head if Pro 2012 is 32 with a 64bit render engine or full 64bit.
You may find that after you load V6 and hit the apply active morph script in the importer that Poser slows down or you suffer the dread "library lock". Library lock is where the Poser library locks up and you can't do anything but exit the app. If this happens, it can sometimes be solved with an external library app. Sometimes nothing fixes it.
Wow, a lot here to digest. I just learned how to use Sketchup and the learning curve was pretty smooth. This 3d world is so brain draining. I'll have to read your reply a few times. I'm still trying to understand the runtime stuff, I'm lost with understanding it. I don't get what writing to the runtime means or how to make sure the poser library is pointing to the runtime or how to tell if it can be written to the importer. I think I have a general understanding of a write protected directory but not enough to know if it applies here.
And then the part that get me blown is you say that it may not work when and (big if) I can figure all this out.
Also, you said I would need to buy the Genesis and Genesis 2 head and body morphs. I downloaded, (I think) the Genesis and Genesis 2 starter essentials (both said PoserCF) at the end of the name. The Daz importer opened and it appears to have downloaded but it didn't specify whether it did or not and it didn't say where. Besides being able to make those usable for me in Poser, do you know if those starter essentials have the head and body morphs you're talking about?
By the way, even though your explanation is way over my head I really appreciate it.
I think you need to backpedal a bit, because I'm afraid that you're missing some basic non-Poser-specific knowledge that you need to have:
* The Importer installs nothing. You have to do that yourself. The importer is what allows Poser to translate and load the files when you click on them in Poser's Library
* You need the PoserCF AND the DSON core files. The PoserCF are Poser Companion Files. They are just there so that you can see and load the files from the Poser Library, the same as you would any files made specifically for Poser. The DSON Core files are the actual files themselves. If you don't install them, then the PoserCFs have nothing to load.
I'm sort of following what you're saying but I just can't yet understand how and where to install these files and how they're accessed by Poser.
Thanks so much for posting.
Yes, I would suggest that you start by getting more familiar with Poser itself first. What you're doing right now is sort of like trying to learn how drive a high speed automobile before you're even familiar with how to shift gears. :-) Learn your way around Poser first, then come back to this. It'll make far more sense to you then.
Ok, first question: which version of Poser are you using and what OS?
Have you actually looked at the manual?
Hopefully since you are trying to use V6, you have Poser 9 or better. If you have anything less than Poser 9, Genesis, G2F/M and their various morph sets will not work in it.
To use Genesis the G2M/F and their various morph sets (the Gen 5 series for Genesis and Gen 6 for G2F/M).
Basic Poser: a runtime is the how the files are arranged. Prior to Poser 8, Poser had a very rigid file structure. If certain files with specific designations were not in the proper folder and set up in particular manner, Poser could not use them.
If you locate the main Poser app folder, you will find a folder labelled Runtime. Inside is folder labelled library. Inside this are the various folders arranged in the older Poser file structure. While newer versions of Poser can handle a less rigid structure, most vendors still use the old structure because they are familiar with it, the users are familiar with it and all versions of Poser are happy with it.
Version 5 of Poser and up gave users external runtimes. You can make as many as you like. In the old days, keeping your main Poser runtime lean was useful as Poser loaded faster. Now it isn't as important. There was also the danger of losing your runtime data if Poser decided to crash on you. This is rare these days but many of us still stick to it. Better to err on the side of caution than to lose models and textures because you didn't back them up.
You have to manually point the Poser library at any external runtimes. Many Poser users keep Genesis and G2F/M and their morphs in a separate external runtime because of the need for the DSON importer to be able to write to runtime folders.
Since you are brand new to Poser, it might be a good idea to find the Start up PDF that comes with Poser and read that.
Some other things to be aware of: Poser cannot parse many DS files. It can parse DSON files that have Poser Companion Files. If you do not see the words Poser Companion File on the product page, it does not have them and they rarely work in Poser out of the box. There are ways around this but you need to learn the basics of Poser before you even begin to worry about that.
Did you purchase the DSON importer for Poser as well as V6?
When you install the DSON importer, you should make sure the path it installs to is your Python folder in your main Poser app folder. This is where Poser is happiest with Python scripts. Python is the scripting language Poser uses. Be aware, you cannot use DAZ Studio scripts in Poser and you cannot use Poser scripts in DS. They use different scripting languages.
The importer is a set of Python scripts that aid Poser to import the Genesis and above files into Poser. Anything designed for Generation 4 or lower does not need the importer. Poser can load those files (except for scripts and DS cloth dynamics) out of the box.
When you purchased the importer, you likely have the importer and the other files I listed above. Right now, until you are familiar with how and where you want your files set up, I would recommend manual installations rather than the DIMM. You can use it as a Download Manager without having it install the files.
TheWheelMan-how much of the way around Poser do you think is ok, so far I've downloaded Miki4 and messed around with scenes, the hair room, morphing, posing, I downloaded a bedroom set and did a scene with that, messed around with editing the keyframes and the graphs, use the library ok, got a slight handle on the lighting (moving them around, deleting lights, changing light colors, adding lights, and a few other things. I tried the hair room but the follicle had just one strand sticking out that I could grown and pull back so I gave up on that and then when I was working on a scene I noticed the follicle cap that had the one strand was now off to the side somewhere but I couldn't move it anywhere (it would just go in a circle when I tried to move it). I briefly looked at adding a new texture to the body but haven't gotten a face or profile picture yet of someone that I could use there plus it was kind of intimidating. So far I'm a master at nothing, (when I did a scene I couldn't get it to play back more than once and the Miki4 figure looks way too plastic for me). There seems to be a lot of inside information here that I'm not able to understand yet, like the runtimes. Also, if I try basic things like the scene I was talking about, if it doesn't work then I pretty much feel stuck. The response from the Forums especially the Daz one has been amazing, but I feel like there's not much out there to go for quick answers to things and it seems like there are many gaps missing and you really need a good background to understand how to navigate here. So as far as things making more sense after getting more familiar with Poser, I'm not sure it will make any more sense without some outside knowledge, or I'm just slow...
I'm using Poser 10, I've looked through the manual also but since I went page by page just once not much has stuck. As far as the runtimes, I don't remember seeing much detailed information in the manual, but I may have missed it. I was planning on going through the manual again. I also have no idea how to point to runtime or how to keep them in separate folders. I have downloaded DazStudio4.6 and I thought that came with the DSON file. Do I have to download that separately? I
Well, the reason I said what I did was because you didn't know what "writing to the runtime" means, and that's sorta Poser 101 (well, maybe 102). But anyway, it's pretty much basic terminology. That means that you have gaps in your understanding of the program. You can't tell a person how to build an engine if they don't happen to understand what a wrench is, you know? Hands on is a great way to learn, but it doesn't help when you are asking others for help because hands on alone won't teach you all of the simple terminology and such. And it's hard to explain stuff to you when you don't know the basic terms. Kinda make sense?
icprncss asked you some very good questions. We'll all have a better understanding of how to advise you if you could answer them. And the manual is a good source of the basic knowledge you need as the foundation to build on.
Go to your DAZ Product Library and search for "Genesis Starter Essentials". That'll bring up all of the files you need.
Poser Basics Tutorials:
http://poser.smithmicro.com/tutorials.html
TheWheelMan- I agree with you. What I was trying to explain was that I don't know what I don't know. I've been picking up pieces of information, some of the terms etc. but when I google them, not much comes up. Maybe since it's such basic information there isn't much out there about it, so it seems like when I ask a question about something, I may be getting good information but much of it is beyond what I know at this time. The only question I saw from Icprncss was what version of Poser was I using and i answered that. The rest of it was mainly good information which I'm going to try to figure out if possible. I'll be going through the manual again to see if I can fill in the some of the gaps here.
And check out the link I posted above.
I just looked for Daz Product librarty in DazStudio and in the Daz3d folders, couldn't find anything that says Product library. Where is that located?
I'll check that link now.
Just looked at the Poser reference manual, nothing in there about runtimes. The link you sent me, I've looked at some of the videos there, not all. They've helped me get started but if you get stuck anywhere they're aren't helpful. Also, I didn't see any videos about runtimes or installing characters from Daz. There are so many steps involved it seems, wouldn't it make sense that Poser had an installer that walks you through installing a Daz character? Is there anything like that?
As far as a link to a video, do you know of any videos or reference materials that would explain why a scene won't play? As I mentioned before, I created a scene about 30 frames and it played once or twice and then I couldn't play it after that. I could go through it using the slider but not the play button. I couldn't find any info about that in the reference manual either.
If you purchased the DSON importer for Poser, you should have the Genesis Starter Essentials and the Poser Companion Files for it and the Genesis 2 Stater Essentials and it's set of Poser Companion Files.
Or, you can go to the DS Pro 4.6 product page, add it to your cart and buy it. It's free so it won't cost you anything. DS Pro 4.6, the Genesis Starter Essentials and Poser Companion Files as well as the Genesis 2 Starter Essentials and it's Poser Companion Files will be added your product library. You locate your product library by going to My Account and Clicking on My Product Library at the top of your account page. If you have the DSON importer or DS 4.6 Pro, you will have the Genesis and Genesis 2 Starter Files.
This is the only way you can get them. DAZ gives them away as part of the included content for DS4.6 Pro and the DSON importer for Poser.
Since you are new to Poser you also might want to go over to Renderosity and look at their beginner's tutorials specifically for Poser. Rather than just randomly "mess around", you might want to look at the included tutorials and guides and begin with those.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend Ironman13 and Fugazi's Poser Beginner to Advanced set of tutorials available over at Renderosity. We can't link to it because of the DAZ TOS. They have recently been updated for the newest versions of Poser and are available as a Staff Pick Bundle at significant savings. You also might want to ask some of your questions over at the Poser Forum at Renderosity and the Official Poser 10/Pro 2014 Forum over at RuntimeDNA. Most who post there are long time Poser users and can give you just about any information you need when it comes to Poser.
There is also a Poser Forum here at DAZ but it is less frequented by Poser users. If you have questions regarding the Poser material room, I highly recommend searching the Rendo Poser forum for posts by Bagginsbill. Much of the recent improvements to the Poser material room are due to his work.
Poser is owned by Smith Micro Systems. They and DAZ are two completely separate companies. One installation of DAZ content is now primarily aimed at DAZ Studio users. At one time, DAZ was a Poser content provider as Poser was all there was. Due to corporate issues with a former owner of Poser and seeking to protect their company, the original owners of DAZ created DAZ Studio. Up to DS4, Poser and DS content could be used interchangeably for the most part. With DS4 and Genesis, that all changed.
SMS made a decision that they would leave Poser files as open access and refused to tie their application to another company. DAZ created the DSON importer for Poser for many reasons, not the least of which was an attempt to recover lost sales to Poser users.
When you played the scene, had you one rendered all the frames and are all the rendered frames in the same folder? What format did you save the finished animation to? If you saved it in a common video format, can you play it on a standard player like Windows Media Player?
Sorry, I meant go into "My Account > Product Library" here on the DAZ website, search for Genesis Starter Essentials there.
Actually, the scenes I created were with Miki4, (a Poser figure as far as I know), I haven't rendered the scene yet, at that point I was trying to figure out to use the animation palette, graph and the other grid thing, and whatever else involved with getting the scene the way you want before you're ready to render. I haven't gotten as far as rendering partly because I got side tracked on trying to figure out how to play the scenes back for inspecting. So I'm pretty sure nothing was saved to a folder other than the .pmd file. It sounds like I didn't use the right terms when trying to explain what I was talking about earlier.
By the way, when the scene in rendered, that's when Poser makes a picture of every frame and ready for editing with movie editing software right? There no changing the scene of whatever has been rendered, you'd have to go back to the .pmd file and make any changes there?
TheWheelMan-I looked in the Daz installer and see that the Genesis and Genesis 2 starter essentials are there. They seem to be in the Daz library. I didn't try the way you explained yet but I'll try that too.
I just purchased Vitoria 6 starter bundle and tried to figure out how to get that going but had no luck last night. I'll be trying again today.
As a side note, in general, I've got the paths all messed up. The files don't seem to be located where the paths point to when looking in the content library manager for Daz. I may have made it worse last night...