Poser

What works

The program loads as expected, but when it has finished loading, the parameter dial palette temporarily doesn't display properly. This is a transient issue, not a show-stopper. The parameter dials turn and affect the object as expected, and the textbox permits text entry with no problems at all. At no time has the program ever frozen or otherwise mis-behaved.

Saving, retrieving and manipulating objects behaves as expected. Rendering takes a reasonable amount of time, no faster but also no slower than in Windows.

 [Update 14-OCT-2007] I have recently upgraded to .9.46 and am told that .9.47 will have significant improvements to the child window behaviour which developed into a show-stopper for me. I've also recently purchased Poser 7 and am looking forward to trying it in Linux under Wine. I'll have to admit I had to go back to Windows despite the fact that rendering was *heaps* faster - the dialogues-behind-Windows thing just got too annoying, and then, when Wine went to the next version, Poser failed to load from the menu altogether.

What does not

The Document Window does have severe blackout flickering, where the tabs and menu options disappear and re-appear. This does not go away.

Unable to add runtimes located on an NTFS partition - the OK button in the dialog is never enabled.

Workarounds

What was not tested

Python scripts... but I will do so soon.

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

In the Pose room, view-port windows and the parameter dialog and any other dialog insists on being over every other window on your desktop. If you load a character but you've moved or deleted a texture, a dialog comes up asking you where it is - that dialog comes up *behind* everything else on the desktop.

The program is launched from Applications-> Wine-> Programs-> Curious Labs-> Poser 6-> Poser. It loads fairly quickly, but that is perhaps because my libraries are relatively small. The palettes and windows are their own objects, separate from the background screen and the controls on that screen. These windows and palettes have the annoying property of wanting to be always-in-front of everything, even non-Poser forms and windows. I'm running Beryl, which has screen behaviour rules Poser (perhaps that's true of any WINE programs) doesn't obey. The border around the Document Window in the Pose room seems to flicker to black, to where you can't see the tabs, or options menu or anything else on that border.

The parameter dials *and* the text box associated with the parameter dial work in the customary fashion, with little to no lag time.

Loading a saved character takes no more time than in Windows.

Saving a character takes no longer than in Windows.

Rendering seems slightly faster, given the same setting, but I'll do proper stop-watch testing of this soon.

2013-05-03 Admin note: the instructions below are old and may no longer apply to current Wine. They are being kept here for the benefit of anyone who may wish to test and/or update them. 

This is what 've done to make poser 6 work.

- First install ie4linux.

- copy the wine environment created with ie4linux(~/.ie4linux/ie6) to your own wine environment (~/.wine).

- run winecfg, goto "graphics" and select "emulate virtual desktop"

- Copy msvcirt.dll to wine "system32"

- Download "xp codec pack", and install it

- Install "Poser 6"

Now everything should work correctly, you should be able to make movies using "ffdshow video codec", i've tested "mtjpeg" and "uncompressed" enconders.

Hope this helps.