Poser 4 (according to the front of the Poser manual *smile*) is "The Premier 3D Character Animation and Figure Design Tool."  I call it my Digital Barbie Doll Creator.  It is a 3D design program created by Curious Labs that poses, animates and renders human and non-human figures.  The online Poser Community is a very large and generous group...both with their knowledge and their products.  Collecting Poser and other assorted 3D items can easily become a passion, an obsession, an addiction.

Thanks to the generosity of the many creative contributors in the 3D world, there are many, many free meshes, textures and other assorted files.  Keeping track of them can be quite a task.  These are a few tricks that I use to try to keep some order to the files.

• Create Download Directories in each of your 3D programs folders, then create sub-directories.  For example in Poser, you could create a Character folder, a Prop folder, Texture Folder, Pose Folder, MAT file folder and Morph Target folder under your Download Directory.  In Bryce, you could create an obp folder, MAT folder, br4 folder, skies, etc.  Since there are literally thousands of files, be as specific in creating folders as you want.  It will make it much easier to find items in the long run.  For example under the Texture Folder I could create a folder for each of my Poser figures and favorite download websites...M2, V2, P4, Dork, MilKids, MilBaby, DAZ Props, RDNA Props, etc.

• Create a Download Folder for 3ds and Object Files since these meshes can be used in any of the 3D programs.

• When you save the exe, zip, sit, ace, or rar file, make sure that you give it a very descriptive name so you will know exactly what it is for.  For example, if I download a new vampire character for Michael 2 by HolySmokes I would name the download, M2VampireHS.  I don't need to note if it is a texture, character or pose file since I'm saving it to the Download/Character directory.

• Some files you will want to install and some you will just want to save for that rainy day project.  After installing files I move the compressed files to another drive.  You can save yours to a cd, zip or jazz disk to free some space on your computer.

• You may want to make separate folders for meshes that allow Commercial and Non-Commercial usage.

• Make sure you save and READ each text file that comes with your download.  It contains information such as usage, where the files go and some even include tips on how to best use the product.  Since most people just name the file readme.txt I always rename it to reflect the item's name so I can quickly find it.

• Back up all of your files on a regular schedule.