RIP Phil Cooke, the Wizard of Poser

[English Bob]

There won't be many old hands in the Poser community who didn't know PhilC. I just read on Facebook that he passed away on 17th March, shortly after his wife Jan on March 2nd. I only knew him online, but by all accounts he was as kind and generous with his time in real life as he was in cyberspace.

I emailed him just after he'd set up his new website to point out a problem of some sort (the message is long gone), and he sent me a copy of his Wizard outfit for the Poser 4 man by way of thanks. Since I only had Poser 3 at the time there were some follow-on questions but I made the Wizard work. I still have the PZ3 file, dated January 2001, but I can't find the render I sent back to him. It must exist somewhere, I never deliberately discard anything.

 

[Electro-harpist]

That's very sad to hear, but thanks for passing the news to the community. His various scripts and training book/pack helped a great many into PoserPython, and he was always generous with his time and advice on the forums over many decades. Some of his scripts, written way back when, were so good that they can still work without any fix in Poser 12 - a true tribute to his clean and efficient coding! Like you I only knew him as an online acquaintance, but I'll remember him fondly.

 

[English Bob]

One of my favourite Phil-isms was "I used to be a plumber, and if I can do it, so can you"!

 

[DanaTA]

Sad news, indeed.

Dana

 

[Doug Hunter]

Thanks for this notification.
Saddened to hear of his passing.

 

[Hornet3d]

Very sad news but it is right his passing should be noted. Over the twenty plus years I have been playing with Poser I came to love his scripts and indeed, all the efforts he made in the 3D art world. He will be sadly missed.

 

[Alisa]

Very sad. His work was legendary....and he seemed like a really nice guy.

 

[KageRyu]

Another tragic loss. Though I had only had a handful of interactions, they were all positive experiences. He was and iconic figure in the Poser community and was happy to share useful tutorials and advice.

 

[Owlman]

A big loss to the Poser community. As KageRyu said, I also only had a handful of interactions, but they were all positive. Moreover, his countless products and all around innovation were a real boon for us all.

 

[Janet]

I loved his vids about Poser. So sad.

 

[eclark1894]

I bought one of his books about learning to write scrips for Poser. I couldn't do it. So I just considered the man a freaking genius.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Losing Phil is a great loss to the community. He was one of my "go to" people when I was stumped in Poser.

 

[Doug Hunter]

Renderosity's tribute:

Renderosity Member PhilC has Passed Away

 

[RAMWolff]

Oh dear. What a good man he was. Generous and kind and funny. R.I.P. Phil!

 

[English Bob]

Update: I found that early Poser 3 render, made with Phil's gift of his Wizard character back in March 2001. Some stupid-head had named the file 'chess' and not 'wizard'.

 

[MEC4D]

Oh no.. I just found this thread .. so sad ! We working together on so many Poser projects with Phil in the past and he was very creative and good friend , kind person .. love his wood work as well , that is a great lost for our community , he was a legend and a genius! Rest in peace Phil ! and thank you for all your creations !