This is a Rant, you have been warned...

Hasdrubal · Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 5:56 pm Post subject:

Glad to hear you guys prefer M2/V2 to the newer figures. The Freak is the only generation 3 figure that offers anything unique that wasn't offered on the old figures. I'll be putting up more M2/V2 downloads soon.
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Mizrael · Forum Member Joined: Jan 18, 2004 Posts: 258

I downloaded your "Captain Marvel/Shazam" outfit for Michael 2 and I've tried applying it but the Jacket doesn't want to behave. It comes in with weird chest and shoulder morphs and Michale's back is showing. Do I need to learn magnets to make this stuff fit him? His Right sleeve, while it does conform correctly shows a Ghost Box going straight out to his side.

I am a virtual Poser 4 Pro Newb here so any help would be appreciated!

OrcaDesignStudios · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2004 8:48 am Post subject:

Mizrael, the Captain Marvel outfit was created by CoreArts and to my knowledge, CoreArts does not post on these boards. I haven't had any problems with the outfit, so I can't help -- your best bet is to contact the creator directly.
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Hasdrubal · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2004 4:17 pm Post subject:

Conforming problems can often be fixed by making body parts invisible, or by applying taper adjustments to parts that can't be made invisible.
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digitalmagi

Actually it doesnt bother me so much that people jump on the M&V3 bandwagon. What really gets me is that despite this mass move toward the newer highpoly models, the older clothing paks and assorted goodness for M&V2 has not gone down in price, nor for that matter have the pay for it props, clothes and sets for P4. I am at a loss half of the time because a computer crash cost me my M&V2 clothing paks and ihavent been able to replace them yet. . let me tell you, that blows cause they are both pretty pricey still.

I am not the worlds best modeler, i still dont know how to create conforming figures although i wouldnt mind being shown (i am one of those people that need to be hands on and shown at the same time) but honestly i drop V3 into max so i could model a bit of scenery scale to the figure. holy cripes! i had to optimize the character like 4 times before she ceased freezing my interface up and i do NOT have a slow machine at all.

So yeah i can see this as a plausible rant.

Corearts · Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:25 am Post subject:

Just repasting the runtime folder of my shazam file, should correct anyproblems poser has with it, unless your trying to conform it to another figure file other then the one it was intended for. sometimes the bones get jerbled and just repasting it fixes it. first i have heard of a problem with it.

hope this helps
corearts

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 561 Location: NYC

Well, as an avid series 3 user, I kind of resent the implication that I've just Jumped on a badwangon.

The series 3 figures represent an evolution to the whole millenium line of figures.

They have basically a single UV map between the entire line of figures, and a single mesh. This makes development a lot easier in some respects. The higher polygon details make things like my Age of Heroes morph possible. Trying that with M2/V2 would not have worked. I did try at one point, and I gave up.

The Joint Parameters on M3/V3 are better too giving more realistic bending to certain positions.

Hey... I own EVERY Milly figure. Re-installing V3 is a nightmare for me because I have to start with V1, update to V2, and then install V3.

I would love to have more use for M2/V2, but there is really nothing I can do with them that can't be done with the Unimesh figures.

Another thing is that I only have limited funds to purchase stuff with. (REALLY LIMITED) Am I really going to buy something that doesn't work with the latest models?

As a merchant, am I going to invest months of work into something I myself wouldn't buy?

I really can't imagine what V4 might have that would make her worth upgrading too. They can't do the MORE polygon trick again. V3 is pushing the limits of what a Poser mesh can handle and I suspect V4 might be Daz|Studio only.

So this equates to another a reason to embrace the Unimesh. They will probably be the last in their line.

My favorite characters are probably the least used of them all. The Reduced Res Figures.

They were made obsolete by the series 3 figs since they didn't look anything like them. We finnaly hve some reduced Res V3 and M3 figures that can fit the new clothes.

M2/V2, and even the Milly kids are all Old Technology. In a way this is like me complaining that my old Amiga doesn't run the latest Lightwave3D. Technology does go out of date, and as some one who still plays around with his Commodore 64 on occasion I can tell you that supporting old technology is harder... and more expensive than keeping current. I can get 512MB of RAM for my PC at around $50 a stick, but a 16MB RAM expansion board for the C64 goes for $250-$300.
If you want a hard drive for these old things the interface goes for $175 new, and can only access up to an 8GB dive. Or if you put a 1GB CF card on there it sticks out the back like a 19" tube monitor next to a Flat screen.

Wanna talk about no support at the other end of the spectrum? I have a Being G3 with a 500Mhz processor sitting next to me. I can't run Panther on it because Apple crippled it to specifically not work with the old hardware, and they never update Jaguar with all the stuff like X11 and other tools that would make this thing functional. In spite of the fact that the hardware is in perfect condition, and compleatly capable of running the New OS, it's in effect obsolete, and not worth the $80 I paid for it 2 years ago.

Old Technology my friend. Weather by design, evolution, market demand, or a combination thereof... eventually you need to make a change.

The guideline is always, as long as the stuff does what you need, you don't need to upgrade.
If people aren't supporting the figures you have any more, and you NEED that support, isn't that a sign you need to upgrade? Just like Windows 3.11 (or Windows 95) is no longer supported, or your old 386/Amiga/040toG3 based Mac?

If you really think about it... why SHOULD this be any different.

jje

With the understanding that in my current production well over half my actors are unimesh...

There's something about them that's driving me crazy Honestly I don't think it is to the benefit of the whole V3 line. They don't do enough.

I really like being able to pick and choose what morphs I load. I like the lean model I end up with. Little savings in figure size pays off big at rendering time. There just aren't enough morphs to pick from.
Remember NYW? You could stuff morphs on to her until the break of day. Sure it was a horrid mess but if you didn't like one person's interpretation of a jaw-line you could always find someone else's.

No one is doing bits and pieces any more. Everything, for sale or freebie, is either faces or full bodies. This in not to say folks like Ratteler aren't doing good work. But the ability to do fine adjustment is not there. Using Mr A's forehead and Mr B's nose for example.

I think that is a defect in the whole V3 line.
Maybe we do need a new way of looking at it. Maybe D|S is the answer. But at the rate they are going it is going to take a very long time. They have Longhorn coming up in a few years. Think that will cut into R&D a bit?
Or how about D|S complying to a new OS structure which distributes all of its functions, including rendering, to as many G5s as you want to hang downstream?
That's coming in March with Tiger. You just know that breaks stuff.
The slower the development time, the faster a project will become impossible to complete.

Not to say Poser 5 is any better. What a gawd-awful mess.

The V2 line isn't completely dead yet. We've yet to see Uni-Millenium kids. Although we probably will as soon as I start shooting and can't turn back. I've got a precocious thirteen year old with a lot of dialog.

As for the G3 - well that's relative too. It would make a great print server or mail server or even DNS Server if you were wont to go in that direction. G4 owners like myself can feel the icy hand approaching as well. Then again I have an attic full of old Apples and Macs - who am I to complain?

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 561 Location: NYC

Might not be the perfect solution for you, but have you looked in the sculpture packs at DAZ. They go a long way toward giving you the face options you want. I think the problem is everyone is trying to be Morph Injection compliant. For AoH I was actually considering making a folder of squished OBJ files for old fashioned style ADD MORPH capability.

I belive that "technically" they are still ok to distrubute that way.

What we really need is an upgrade to Poser 5 and D|S that allows an Injection morph to create a channel on the fly. Stocking the CR2 with enough channels is pain. AoH is going to need a custom CR2 just because there are too many morphs compared to user Channels. That means things like international beauties and the face Sculpture packs will be unusable unless I creat CR2's that suppor them as well.

Also, check out Dodger's AEON line at Poser Pros for Unimesh Kids.

If you need links to stuff I mentioned, let me know.

PANdaRUS

*takes down notes of names and connections here to make in the future*

Seriously though I've just done the "upgrade thing". Prior to that I was all first series models with an upgrade only to vicky to V2.

While I'm VERY pleased with the new possibilities I'm VERY displeased in the "sell of every bit and part you can for cash" mentality that's sweeping the poser community. In the days of old - yes I still remember them - there was a thing called freebies. And it was good. Now there are freebies but dangit if all the stuff that was for sale ain't been broken up into packages and sold off in bits and pieces!

If you were a merchant you wouldn't dream of selling a figure without at least ONE default texture - not so with Unimesh folks! I had to buy all my stuff seperate and that just sucks. I'm trying to tell a comic book story here - not fund a small nations war! However in their defense there is the PC club, but that's just relative to how much they update and what ends up in there and when.

They don't even make clothes for M3! It's like they've taken the "ok...now that we are known for our models and figures - let's just sit back, create some quality people models, and let the REST of the folks support them while we get 50% for letting 'em." Granted I wouldn't mind a piece of the action - heck I've even got ideas on IMPROVING the action (given the right funding and creative types to work with mind you) but it can be annoying.

One positive to all of this however is I like when they take their time between models. It gives me time to update my comic and stay current at least for 3 months. (don't worry I'm already behind by 2 1/2 months ugh..)

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 561 Location: NYC

I don't think any of my Milly people came with a default textue. Textures were always extra.

Also, if you add up up the morph packs, Introductory sale and PC Club Discount... the Unimesh base actually comes out some what cheaper than say V2 was when she was new.

I got Freak and Steph P base for free.

Not I do think certain basic expressions should have been included with the Base figure. Things like eyes blinking phonems and mouth open aren't stuff I really think I should have to load in.

I also don't like the fact they all had their own morph packs that I had to buy, but working on a rather extensive Morph pack myself I can see that one size does NOT fit all unimesh. You HAVE to modify your morphs to each figure.

I will agree on the clothing packs. Daz has IMHO gouged for the body suits, and offered far inferior ones for the unimesh than they did for M2/V2.

I also find the clothing packs to be a bit limited for the price, and LATE. I think a default wardrobe should come out at the same time as the figure, and their content should be at least what was available in the original clothing packs.

jje

Thanks to Ratteler for making my life more difficult.

Actually I had given Dodgers stuff a serious look but (and I'm totally talking out the ol'hat here) was worried about the lack of supporting features. Towit: clothes mainly. I'd worry that V3 clothes would have a hard time with what he's done to the unimesh.
But like I said, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Horrible isn't it? Its like I'm saying if DAZ hasn't done it, then its not real.
My screenwriting prof would say I'm talking like a real producer.
:wink:

When actually I'm saying that if PoserWorld isn't building for it, then it ain't happening.

I blame Jack (hi Jack) for all the commercialism. !@#$ prescient bastard.

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 561 Location: NYC

OrcaDesignStudios

jje · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:38 pm Post subject:

>What kind of V3 Clothes would need to fit?

Haven't gotten to the point of developing the wardrobe list quite yet. Likely next week and then for the entire cast.
CeeCee (13 year old) as I recall, starts in jeans and I think gets 2 dress changes plus a variation on jeans at the end.
I may just stick with the MilKid for this one and then go to the V3 teen in the next.
Something there is about time passing.
(heh)