FRACTAL DESIGN POSER(tm) ----------------------------------------------------- Thank you for purchasing Fractal Design Poser. It has been installed on your computer and added to your Programs group on the Start menu. Be sure to fill out and mail your registration card so we can let you know about the latest changes and improvements to Poser. Registering entitles you to free technical support, product updates and special offers. APPLICATION NOTES ----------------------------------------------------- *** Correction to the User Guide Page 41 and 76 of the User Guide state - to save a render window, select Save from the Window Control Menu. This is incorrect. It should say - if you render to a New Window, select save from the File Menu. *** Speed The best way to improve the speed of Poser is by changing the bit-depth (number of on-screen colors) of your display adapter. In wireframe mode, Poser prefers a 256 color palette. When rendering, Poser is faster with a true color palette. To change the onscreen palette of your display adapter, click the right mouse button on the desktop and select Properties. Click on the Settings tab and select the palette from the Color palette drop down. *** Copy to the Clipboard When you select Edit/Copy (or Ctrl-C), Poser copies the contents of the active window to the Clipboard. You can paste this image into most Windows applications. Optionally, if you hold the SHIFT key as you copy the active window, Poser copies the contents of active window and the alpha channel, or mask of the figure into the clipboard. Most applications do not support this optional 32-bit clipboard format. *** Printing When Poser prints, it always prints to the maximum size of the printer. If you want a smaller image, adjust the scaling by clicking on the Properties button in the Print or Print Setup dialog. If you want a larger image - one that tiles across multiple pages - export your Poser document and print from an application that supports tiling (like Painter or Photoshop). *** Paste onto Background Poser can work with multiple figures, but each figure you add to the scene requires more memory and processing time. A great way to simulate working with multiple figures is with the Paste onto Background command. When you choose this command, the current view is painted onto the background. When using this feature, please keep in mind that the painted background is not saved when you save the Poser document. To preserve the background you must select File/Export. *** Maximum render size The maximum size of a render is 4090 x 4090 pixels. The maximum size of an imported background is 4095x4095. When working with large files be patient - they take a long time to import and save. *** Exchanging files with Macintosh Poser documents (.poz) can be saved and opened by the Windows or Macintosh versions of Poser. In order to open a document, Windows users will need to make sure the .poz extension is added to the filename and Macintosh users will need to make sure the filetype is .poz (use a Macintosh utility like Resedit or FileTyper to change the Macintosh file type). Backgrounds If you have imported a background image it will not survive the cross platform leap. The background will need to be converted to the proper file format (using a program like Painter or Photoshop). The Windows version of Poser imports TIFF and BMP backgrounds. The Macintosh version imports PICT backgrounds. Bump and Texture Maps Bump and Texture maps will not survive the cross- platform leap. You will need to convert them to the proper format for the target machine and set the extension (or filetype for Macintosh). Texture maps are: Bump maps are: --------------------------------------------------- Windows BMP or TIFF BMP with .bum extension Macintosh PICT PICT with .bMp filetype Libraries Macintosh libraries can be converted to Windows libraries with a utility called "CopyRC". Windows libraries can not be converted to Macintosh. For more information about converting Poser documents between Macintosh and Windows or to download the CopyRC and FileTyper utility, check out the Poser web page - http://www.fractal.com/poser. *** Device Dependent Bitmaps If the interface in Poser becomes corrupted with wild colors, make sure the item "No Device Dependent Bitmaps" on the Edit/Preferences dialog is selected. Enabling "No Device Dependent Bitmaps" causes Poser to use the system palette, not the palette stored with a bitmap. If you need to import a background into Poser that has a custom palette (and your display adapter only supports 256 colors), deselect the "No Device Dependent Bitmaps" on the Preferences dialog. HOW TO CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT ----------------------------------------------------- Technical support is free of charge to registered users. Please have your serial number handy when contacting Fractal. When calling, it is most helpful to be calling from the computer where you need support. This way we can work with you to solve the problem or demonstrate a particular function of the software. Technical support is available by phone: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PST), Monday - Friday (408)688-8800 phone (408)688-2845 fax Technical support by email win_support@fractal.com mac_support@fractal.com World-Wide-Web www.fractal.com America online Keyword: Fractal