SharpConstruct

Have made some progress with SharpConstruct. The program has been throwing up the following problems so far:
(1) When I import one of my own Poser figures from Poser 6 (as in, one of the ones I have made in Wings, imported into Poser as an .obj file, and rigged, then export it as an .obj file and open it in SharpConstruct, it turns invisible - well, bits of it, anyway.
(2) When I export part of another Poser figure as an .obj file (for the purpose of using SharpConstruct to make morphs for that figure), the body part appears in SharpConstruct facing in the wrong direction, and rotating the part causes it to fly off the screen.
(3) When I make a figure in Wings and then export it into SharpConstruct, it appears left of the centre, so that modelling symetrically doesn't work.

I have, at least, managed to find a way around problem number 2. When I have tried exporting part of a Poser figure, say, the head, and opened it in another program - Photobrowser (a handy little utility for viewing 3d objects and images) - it opens facing the same way that it does in SharpConstruct. However, when I try opening the same file in Anim8or, it displays the right way up.
Why this should be, I don't know. It also appears that when I export a part of a Poser figure like that, it is retaining the part's location in relation to the rest of the figure. This is probably why, when I try to rotate around the head in a program like SharpConstruct or Anim8or, the part moves off the screen, because the program thinks it is rotating around the entire model rather than just that part.
Anyway, the way round this, as I found last night through a lot of trial and error, is:

1) Export the body part (head) from Poser.
2) Export the entire figure from Poser as a separate model (there is a reason for this).
3) Open the head in Anim8or.
4) Rotate the head forwards 90 degrees so it is facing you.
5) Choose Edit - Locate - Centre about origin.
6) Export the head.
7) Import it into SharpConstruct. Produce your morph.
8) Export again.
9) Import the entire figure that was exported from step 2 into Anim8or.
10) Import the morphed head into Poser
11) Cut and paste the morphed head into the same object window as the entire figure. The head will be lying, face down, between the entire figure's feet. Now rotate the head backwards 90 degrees so that it is facing you. Then move the head until it is in the same position as the head of the entire figure.
12) Delete the entire figure.
13) Export the head.
14) Import the head into Poser as a morph target. Hopefully, this will now work with the figure in Poser.

Hexagon and SharpConstruct

Well, so much for Hexagon. It doesn't work on my computer, and if the posts on the bug tracker forum are anything to go by, it's not too good on other people's computers either. The displacement mapping function and the painting function don't work at all.
As for SharpConstruct, I'm sure it will be fantastic once it's been developed a bit, but at present there are issues - one in particular with importing models from Poser. One of the things I'd like to be able to do with this program is produce morphs for figures, but the program won't display them properly. I might post something on the SharpConstruct forum to ask if the developer could build in some kind of function to centre the model in the window.

2 more programs

Have started using two more programs recently. One is Eovia's Hexagon 2 - Eovia have recently been bought by DAZ productions, and they're doing an offer where members of their "Platinum Club" can get the download version of the program for $1.99 (about a quid in English currency). The attraction of this program for me, the intriguing-looking modelling features notwithstanding, is a function for "painting" detail onto models, and another function for painting textures. Also the UV mapping feature looks very interesting. Texturing is something I've avoided like the plague so far, since the whole business of trying to paint a flat texture for a 3d figure is SUCH a fiddle. (There is, apparently, a program out there called Deep Paint 3d that allows you to paint textures directly onto models, but it is very expensive.)
Alas, these things are never without their drawbacks, as I discovered once again on trying to use the program this week. The "Paint" window, which is supposed to be a part of Hexagon's interface, has disappeared, and nothing I do can bring it back again, thereby making it impossible to do any painting onto models with it. There are other bugs as well. I've emailed the technical support people for the software, but that's about all I can do until they release a new version or service pack to address these issues.
The other program was brought to my attention by someone on the Deathfall website - it's an open-source modeller that's supposed to be similar to ZBrush. Again, it allows the user to paint detail onto models, but it's still in the developmental stage, so there are issues with the interface and other things. However, my fiddling around with it has yielded some promising results, and I can't wait to see what the programmers do with it in the future.
Work is progressing, on and off, with my lizard character in Wings. I gave him some teeth last night.