How to Package Your Poser Freebie Using Winzip

If you've been using Poser for a while then you are aware of how many Poser freebies are available online. All you have to do is visit Renderosity, Daz 3D, and Runtime DNA just to name a few places online, and you will find hundreds if not thousands of free Poser products. Everything from clothing, to 3d human models, to character morphs, to skin and clothing textures is represented at these websites.

So, you've had Poser for a while and you finally feel comfortable using it. You've begun creating characters, and props and you want to begin offering them for free to the Poser community. There's only one problem, you have no idea how to package your freebie, so what do you do now?

Believe it or not packaging a Poser freebie is not as difficult as you might think, in fact if you do it correctly it is one of the easiest things in the world, especially if you have Winzip. If you've been downloading the many available Poser freebies online then you are familiar with zip files, and most likely you know how to open one, but did you know that in the case of Winzip, you can use the same software that you use to open a zip file to package up a Poser freebie? Well you can!

Now I should mention that you can probably use most any software that reads zip files to package Poser freebies, but the one that I like the most and which I have found to be best to use is Winzip. Winzip offers its software free for 30 days after you download, and you can even continue to use it for free after that, you just have to wait while it counts down the days you've had the software on your hard drive. If you don't want to do that, then you can do like I do, after the 30 days have passed, uninstall Winzip and reinstall it for another 30 days. Winzip is fully aware that people do this, and while they would prefer that you purchase their software package, they have set it up so you don't have to. You can download a copy of Winzip here.

Here is how you package a Poser freebie to make it available to the public.

Step 1: On your desktop create a folder called "Poser to Be Zipped." For those who may be computer challenged, you do this by right clicking your mouse, clicking on New and then Folder.

Step 2: Once you've created and named your new folder then open it. Inside this folder create another folder called "Runtime."

Step 3: Inside the Runtime folder create a folder called "Libraries."

Step 4: Then inside the Libraries folder you need to create an additional folder. Now the name of this folder will depend on what kind of freebie you are offering. If your freebie is a character, then your folder will be labeled "Pose," if it's prop, then you'll label your new folder "Props."

The reason we are creating the folders this way is that the listing tells Poser when someone extracts these files to Poser where to put the files. If you put say a character in the Props folder on Poser then you will not be able to use that character until you move it to the appropriate folder, which is the "Pose" folder as mentioned above. Make sure before you try to package a Poser freebie that you understand what things are in what folders in Poser. This tutorial assumes you already have this knowledge.

So, for the purposes of this tutorial we're going to assume the freebie is a character and we're going to label the folder in Libraries "Pose."

Step 5: Open your hard drive, this is usually your C drive, and go into the Programs File and then into your Poser file and find the folder that holds the character you created. Hopefully you gave it its own folder (it is always a good idea to do this), as this will make this next step much easier! Right click on the folder your character is in and copy it, then paste it inside the Pose folder.

Step 6: Okay now you are ready to create the Readme file. The Readme file is a file you create in Microsoft Notepad or Word to tell those who download your freebie what they can and cannot do with your freebie, as well as what programs the files work with, and any other information you might like to add. I looked at other Readme files to get an idea what to put in mine before I wrote my first one. Generally speaking you want to put what the freebie is called, what version of Poser it was created in, what additional software you might need to use it (in the case of a character you will often need to have purchased the morph packages for the human 3D model the character is for), whether or not the freebie can be used for commercial or only non-commercial renders, your contact information, and finally a copyright notice at the bottom.

Once you are satisfied with your Readme file, then save it and move it into the same file that contains your freebie. You want it to be inside the actual file that you copied from the Poser files on your hard drive.

Step 7: Okay now you're ready to "zip" your file! Back out of the final file until you are back to the Runtime folder. You don't want to be inside this folder, just be able to see it. You'll be inside the first folder the "Poser to be Zipped" file. Using your mouse right click on the Runtime folder, click on Winzip and then click on Add to Zip File. This will open a window asking you what version of Winzip you want to use, make sure to click the Evaluation Version. This will then take you to a window where you will see Add to Archive, and then a small box with the file hierarchy in it. Leave everything alone here except the last part. Where it says Runtime.zip, change Runtime to whatever you named your freebie. This will usually be whatever you named the folder in Poser that houses your freebie. Then click Add. In a few seconds there will be a zip file sitting next to your Runtime folder in your "Poser to be Zipped" folder. All you have to do is move it from that folder to your desktop. Your freebie has now been packaged and is ready to give away!

Anyone that downloads your freebie will find that all they have to do is unzip the file to the Poser folder on their hard drive and all the files will land in the folders where they are supposed to because you set up the hierarchy of where the files go ahead of time when you set up the files to be zipped! Trust me there is nothing more annoying then having to figure out where each file goes because the person that zipped their freebie just put all the files in one folder and zipped it up. Don't misunderstand me, I'm happy to get any freebie, even if I do have to figure out where to put files, but I'm especially appreciative of those that take the guesswork out of it for me. And trust me those that download your freebie will be too!

So, now you know how to package your Poser freebie! I hope you found this tutorial helpful and please feel free to contact me with any questions.