Anyone running Poser in Linux

[Hornet3d]

I have been involved in a small discussion in the 'RDNA and Daz merge' thread regarding the running of Poser in Linux, something I am interested in as the above title suggests. I am not sure this is the right place to add this but the RDNA merger is sort of history now so the topic might get missed there.

The point is I am planning to stay with Windows 7 for as long as I possible can, which gives me a few years, but have no intention at this point of using Windows 10. There are multiple reasons for this but I won't bore you. I am therefore looking at an alternative. I am a complete newbie at this but in the last few days I have downloaded Linux Mint 18 and have managed to install it on an old machine configured as a dual boot with Windows 7. My first impressions of Mint is encouraging and I have also installed Poser 2014 via Wine. It does work but with a few issues. Firstly left mouse click in the library either does nothing or crashes Poser. Also the running the render engine as a separate process causes Poser to crash during the render. With this option un-ticked all is well with the render.

The other problem is that the library does not 'see' all of my drives and therefore the options of where to put my runtimes is restricted.

I need to play a lot more but I would be interested to hear from anyone who has experience of using Poser in Linux, good or bad as this may make my playing a little more productive.

 

[English Bob]

Sorry, I have no experience of using Poser in Linux - I'd better put that in big friendly letters right at the top to avoid too much disappointment on your part.

I'm in a similar situation. I hope I don't have to continue with Windows once Win7 becomes unusable. I do most of my casual computer use (Internet, e-mail, document processing, posting this thread...) on Ubuntu Linux right now, but for now my graphics and music applications are too dependant on Windows to swap over.

I remember a thread from years ago at Renderosity that went into some detail about running Poser 6 under Wine, but I have no knowledge of any later versions being viable. I read Poser-on-Linux threads if any crop up, and they've been thin on the ground recently. I'm posting here chiefly in the hope that someone will have better news.

Regarding your library problems - are you aware of the 'external library' mod which enables you to use any browser to access your library? It may be worth a try. The thread about it is here: External Library Trick

I've thought of posting at Smith Micro, asking them to consider making a native Linux version of Poser in the future. Maybe a petition would get more attention? It wouldn't be a trivial exercise for them, but if the market is there they might do it.

 

[eclark1894]

Ask Robynsveil. She LIVES in Linux. If there's a way to get Poser in Linux, she'll know.

 

[Hornet3d]

Sorry, I have no experience of using Poser in Linux - I'd better put that in big friendly letters right at the top to avoid too much disappointment on your part.

I'm in a similar situation. I hope I don't have to continue with Windows once Win7 becomes unusable. I do most of my casual computer use (Internet, e-mail, document processing, posting this thread...) on Ubuntu Linux right now, but for now my graphics and music applications are too dependant on Windows to swap over.

I remember a thread from years ago at Renderosity that went into some detail about running Poser 6 under Wine, but I have no knowledge of any later versions being viable. I read Poser-on-Linux threads if any crop up, and they've been thin on the ground recently. I'm posting here chiefly in the hope that someone will have better news.

Regarding your library problems - are you aware of the 'external library' mod which enables you to use any browser to access your library? It may be worth a try. The thread about it is here: External Library Trick

I've thought of posting at Smith Micro, asking them to consider making a native Linux version of Poser in the future. Maybe a petition would get more attention? It wouldn't be a trivial exercise for them, but if the market is there they might do it.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Although I have only just started using it I have to say that Mint seems to come well prepared for casual computer use, as it comes with a word processor. spread sheet and Firefox as part of the install. Creating a dual boot was painless and it found and used my wi-fi with no issues so within minutes I was able to web browse and log into my web mail. Videos and music work straight from opening it for the first time and the interface is not a million miles away from Windows, well Windows 7 at least. There is a link that Miss B added to the 'RDNA merge with Daz' thread that shows which program have had some testing in Wine. Poser 2014 is listed but nothing for Poser 11. On the whole Poser launches OK although I have to use the external library and cannot render as a separate process. The odd niggles I have seem to be easily to duplicate so i may be able to find a work around.

The next thing I want to try is Shaderwork Library Manager 6 as I have that on my main computer and I have been using it for some time. This could solve some of my problems but could of course give me a whole new set.

 

[Hornet3d]

Ask Robynsveil. She LIVES in Linux. If there's a way to get Poser in Linux, she'll know.

Thanks for the tip, that could be very useful. What I want to do first is install some of the add-ons I use in Poser to see how they get on. I also want to add a couple more programs such as Vue, to see how that fairs. I don't want to waste anyone's time reporting I have an issue in Poser, such as Poser crashing when clicking in the library, only to find that it is common to a number of programs and not just Poser. I also want to be in a position to be able to document the fault and how I can duplicate it (comes from my years spent and a field trial manager/coordinator). When I can do that I will be happier to bother some Linux experts and it sounds as if Robynsveil should be top of my list.

Thanks yet again.

 

[Carey]

At one time poser had a version of poser written for linux, Now the question comes to mind that you might contact smith micro and flat out ask them about a version that works in that operating system. I will be in the same boat. Due to a number of reason's windows 8 is the last version of windows I ever plan to use.....

 

[Riccardo]

Should the Linux solution not work as expected, maybe there are other ways.
I bought Poser 9 in a Smith Micro sale but it does not work under Windows 10 because of a problem in the Poser Library using Internet Explorer to show the content!!
So now I have: Win 10, running Oracle Virtualbox, which is running a Win XP virtual machine, that has Poser 9 installed and working
(it only gave me a problem with the mouse moving the camera oddly, but this can be solved by allowing mouse integration in Virtualbox)

 

[kobaltkween]

I used Poser in WINE for a while (a few years, I think?). I gave up because small interface problems made production slower, and I already needed Windows to have pressure sensitivity with my pen and tablet in Windows apps (neither WINE nor virtual machines could do that). That was back with Poser Pro 2012.

In my experience, the problem with using Poser in WINE is with its completely non-standard interface. Fonts size is hard coded, so they can be the wrong size and not anti-aliased and you can't adjust them like you could in a normal app. I had it basically crash if I clicked outside of an input field when I used a popup of the Poser variety (but not an OS type one, like the standard color picker). My efforts to make it work in WINE taught me how hard it is to do basic interface customization in Poser, the same way doing screenshots for tutorials taught me how very many elements aren't even exactly aligned, and have obviously been placed by hand rather than using a grid. I think Poser could benefit from a new interface engine, even if the design were kept basically the same.

I think support has improved since I last tried it.

If you want to try to use Poser in WINE, you should use a bottle management program (Q4Wine, PlayOnLinux, Crossover Linux, etc.), and keep it in its own "bottle." Same goes for other groups of Windows apps with similar requirements. The trick to getting something to work in WINE is basically installing all the Windows dependencies it needs. And not all of them play nice with others. I thought at first that it would work best to have a single comprehensive WINE, but it worked much better to optimize bottles for specific apps or suites. Also, I suggest at first starting Poser up from the Terminal rather than the GUI. That way you can see errors if it fails to launch. It will often tell you what it you need to install.

Also, the Adobe Air/Flash library wouldn't work. I had to use D3D's library. Which was fine with me because I _much_ prefer it, and now use it in Windows. The HTML 5 library might work OK.

Here's the Poser 2014 Wine page: WineHQ - Poser Pro 2014
It's apparently been a while since someone posted about it. That's a pretty old version of WINE, and that should really be gold, rather than bronze (you can get around the problem with 3rd party software).

Just as an FYI, in case there are DS users lurking in this thread, DS has "Gold" level performance with 4.9.0.64 and 4.8.0.59.

 

[Hornet3d]

Thank you for the input. This is my first venture into Linux and as I was using Mint 18 for my test I took the recommendation and used PlayOnLinux although I did not know why I was doing it at the time. Thanks to your explanation I now understand why it was suggested.

I have Poser running and the Library as well but it is not very stable so I need to work on that. I am not really planning to use Poser in Linux while Windows 7 is around but I thought it was wise to look at the options rather than leave it to the last minute. At least I have a few years to try and improve the running. I would prefer to stay with Windows but there are a number of issues I have with Windows 10 and there is no way I am going that route in the present form.

I am very impressed with Mint for general computing such as Internet, Word processing and the like, so much so, unless I am playing with Poser, Linux is my OS of choice.

 

[Pendraia]

Interesting thread...as many have already stated...I'm not happy with the later versions of Windows I have 8 on my work computer and it drives me crazy. So would really like an alternative. I would be looking to run both Poser and DS though as well as zbrush.

 

[Seebee]

Never ever had problems with Poser on either Xp, 7,8 or 10 !
But I do remember some folk complaining about XP, Vista Windows7 and 8, 8.1 and 10. and how both Poser and
their lives were ruined by ...take your choice of operating system...
Linux does work with Poser. I have had it running as have may many others that I know.
But..and this is it...It's horrible, buggy and horrible again.
No one who wishes to be at all productive would touch a Poser/linux combo. Most have given up as is obvious from posts.
But it's a great excuse for all their Windows "problems!" and allow them to WINE
Joking aside though, Unless you are proficient in o/s', stay well away from Poser with Linux. Not worth the trouble as
you will find out. But lots of fun for those who dabble. For instance BASIC, beats Windows in a for-to loop by heaps and heaps.

 

[AlphinaNovaStar]

I wanted to use Linux on my old machine but did not know how to use poser with Linux. That is one of the reasons I use win 10