Hi.  I used to use Poser6, Bryce, Cinema4D R8 (amongst other random things like Xenodream etc) until I got too ill to do that kind of stuff for many years.  Time has passed but I hung onto my original purpose built computer with all my graphic software holding on to the dream I'd get my brain back.  Well, it's slowly coming back PLUS, in the meantime prices of 3D printers are down, my husband has four in the house and suddenly the world feels my oyster again.  Yesterday I fired up that old computer and opened Poser6 and....  oh boy, I'm going to pretty much have to learn from scratch again.  Very much in my favour was that I used to download all sorts of things, bought things from Daz3D and once I get used to where I put everything I might be able to start playing again.  But this time, rather than rendering images I am planning to print 3D

I can't access my old galleries, they were used with a email address and internet provider that doesn't exist any more and possibly they were wiped anyway.  I think I last made a render around 2008.

At least browsing this forum, including Poser being brain dead, I kind of have hope that my dinosaur softwares and computer are pretty much perfect for the job I want to do.

Will I be welcome asking my dated questions here or am I too prehistoric for relevance?  Oh another plus point was I found textbooks for Poser6 and Cinema4D for just a couple of pounds in World of Books second hand section so looking forward to those coming in the post tomorrow.

Feels a little like coming to a long forgotten home though I used to be on 3D commune a little more than here.

Best wishes

Kathy

Welcome back. It sounds like you left about the time I joined, so it's likely our paths never crossed, but it's always nice when people return. You're welcome to ask your questions, and we'll try to help. Most have moved past version 6, so a few things may be different. I no longer have a copy of that myself. 

If you remember your old screen name, you might be able to contact support to try to get access to your old account. https://support.renderosity.com/ I don't know, though. That part of the sight is beyond me. 

As far as 3d printing Poser and Daz figures, I think they'll need some converting first. This is what I've been told. I don't have a 3d printer, so I've never looked into the details.

I'd really miss the undo function if I had to go back to Poser 6, but other than that it's not a bad place to start relearning. Ask your questions here and one of us old timers will try to answer - as long as our memories are still functional, which is asking a lot some days. :)

Count me in!  I'll help anyway I can, although my Poser experience starts well after P6 and I have no experience with the other software that you mention. =)

Teh Mollz

Thank you all, I appreciate your kind welcome.

As to the 3D print bit, if I can successfully create a suitable obj file, I have an in house expert thankfully for the slicing it and printing it.  Looking forward so much to this new chapter of my artistic experience.  It's been a roller coaster I have enjoyed greatly over the years.

Welcome back. 

Alot of things changed since Poser 6, most important weight mapping and Physics based render engine. 

As for printing 3D figures:  The slicer requires manifold meshes, i.e. enclosed volumes. Poser figure meshes are not manifold, so there's work to be done there. Fastest method is to make a render and use an image-to-3D function, for example https://www.krea.ai/3d to generate a printable model. I found it reasonably good at this. 

Hi Kathy, welcome back. Yes, you'll find a wealth of books for early Poser, usually at bargain prices. You should be able to fill half a shelf with them. You'll also find the old Smith Micro forums and RuntimeDNA forums archived at the Internet Archive (downloadable .ZIP files, unzip and index them with the free AnyTxt Searcher for local search).

If you were to upgrade to Poser 11 and also get hold of the old discontinued DSON importer, then your 3D printing would also open up to the original DAZ Genesis (G1) and Genesis 2 figures, as you'd be able to import them to Poser. Not sure how watertight older figures would be for 3D printing today, but doubtless there's now a specialised AI or something that can go into the mesh and fix things. 

Note also that Bentley's E-on Vue is now wholly free - they discontinued it and kindly also gave it away free - it can import Poser and has a huge wealth of exporters.

FVerbaas posted at 4:23 PM Tue, 17 March 2026 - #4504651

Welcome back. 

Alot of things changed since Poser 6, most important weight mapping and Physics based render engine. 

As for printing 3D figures:  The slicer requires manifold meshes, i.e. enclosed volumes. Poser figure meshes are not manifold, so there's work to be done there. Fastest method is to make a render and use an image-to-3D function, for example https://www.krea.ai/3d to generate a printable model. I found it reasonably good at this. 

Thanks for this, I was not aware of the issues but using your information I found this very helpful resource I will return to when ready.

https://kingroon.com/blogs/3d-print-101/how-to-repair-stl-and-obj-meshes?srsltid=AfmBOoqcqvLp792SN0MgjZgm3YkP0XKCvKRja0MIruQYRMUVfIDg0iBH

HartyBart posted at 8:31 AM Fri, 20 March 2026 - #4504661

Hi Kathy, welcome back. Yes, you'll find a wealth of books for early Poser, usually at bargain prices. You should be able to fill half a shelf with them. You'll also find the old Smith Micro forums and RuntimeDNA forums archived at the Internet Archive (downloadable .ZIP files, unzip and index them with the free AnyTxt Searcher for local search).

If you were to upgrade to Poser 11 and also get hold of the old discontinued DSON importer, then your 3D printing would also open up to the original DAZ Genesis (G1) and Genesis 2 figures, as you'd be able to import them to Poser. Not sure how watertight older figures would be for 3D printing today, but doubtless there's now a specialised AI or something that can go into the mesh and fix things. 

Note also that Bentley's E-on Vue is now wholly free - they discontinued it and kindly also gave it away free - it can import Poser and has a huge wealth of exporters.

Brilliant tip about the Wayback archive.  I'd not thought of that but my old machine still has my browsers with bookmarks galore even though it's no longer safe to connect to the internet and the browsers won't work.  

Vue!  I'd forgotten all about that.  I think I had a demo version of it way back in the day but didn't get all that far with it.

It's a challenge at the moment, every step I take I feel like I'm reinventing a wheel I used to ride freely on but I hope stuff is going to flow again eventually.  Aging.  Who'd choose it eh.

Be aware that if you intend to sell 3D prints of models generated from 3D models, there may be copyright issues that need to be resolved first. DAZ3D at one time sold 3D printing rights, but I don't know if that is still applicable.

If you do decide to try the free Vue later on, be warned that it will need Windows 8 or later. From what you've said about your system it doesn't sound as if it will be up to the job, unfortunately.

I gave up Poser-ing some time around the Poser 7 era, although not for as long, nor as completely as you have; but I can relate to what you're going through. With hindsight I think turning my Poser brain off and then on again turned out to be an advantage. I managed to forget a lot of bad habits, and the good habits were easier to re-learn - or so I'd like to think. ;)

hborre posted at 11:34 AM Fri, 20 March 2026 - #4504664

Be aware that if you intend to sell 3D prints of models generated from 3D models, there may be copyright issues that need to be resolved first. DAZ3D at one time sold 3D printing rights, but I don't know if that is still applicable.

Personal 3D printing is allowed, if you want to make any kind of commercial use of the prints then you must but a 3D printing license, if one is even available.

Welcome back...