REV July 31, 2012

ii Poser Pro 2012

Reference Manual

Credits Poser Content:

Biohazard boundless Danie & Marforno (DM
Poser Pro 2012 Development Team includes: Productions)
Dark Edge Design DevilDogStudios Dead_Reckoning
Larry Weinberg Jack Walther Stefan Werner
(Brent Bowers,
Walter Hunt Eric Long Jianhua Shen Christopher
Brian Romero Colin Gerbode Steve Rathmann Haigood, Wayne
Martell, Vik
Darrell Glidden Teyon Alexander Ted “Bagginsbill” Czotter Sorensangbam)
Phil Cooke Jason Cozy James Feathers Dimension3D Don Albert Esha
Denise Tyler Uli Klumpp Steve Cooper evg3dren HDR VFX llc Jay Koelzer Illustration

Support by: Jennifer Greenlees Kamilche Karanta

Matt Ko John Czaky Gerard Espinoza Kozaburo Lady Littlefox Letterworks Art Studios
Takahashi
Ross McCord Seth Cable Tori Porter
MaxStudios.de Meshbox MindVision-GDS
Michi Catanese Stacy King Maria Diploudis
Nerd3D Olivier Vinet PhilC
Dave Cunningham Alex Gonzalez FortyThree PR
Pixelwarrior Rhiannon royloo
Nisha Morris Lin Petrucci John Bruner
Runtime DNA Shaderworks (Basil Sixus1media
Steve Yatson (Colm Jackson, Gass)
Eric VanDycke,
Syyd Raven)
VanishingPoint Zygote
(John Hoagland,
Barry Gibson, Ed
Wright, Gunpoint
3D, Helgard de
Barros, Al Reed,
Panos Coliopoulos

Special thanks to Wim van de Bospoort and Charles Taylor

“Bene Gesserit” Cover Image by Syyd Raven


 Poser Pro 2012 iii
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Technology or content provided in part by Trademark & Copyright Notice

Singular Inversions, Inc.
Portions of the FireFly renderer and associated shading technologies ©2002 by Poser, Poser Pro, the Poser logo, and the Smith Micro Logo
Pixels Digital, Inc. are trademarks and or registered trademarks of Smith Micro
Cloth Simulation by Size8 Software, Inc. Software, Inc. Poser copyright © 1991-2012 All Rights Reserved.
Lip Sync Technology provided by Automatic Sync Technologies (www. COLLADA is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.
automaticsync.com). Used by permission by Khronos. All other product names are
Wardrobe Wizard from Phil Cooke/Cindy Carney. trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Open source components include:
Before using this software or reading this
FreeType http://freetype.sourceforge.net document, make sure you have read, understood,
libCurl http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/ and agreed to the license contained in “Poser End User
libjpeg http://www.ijg.org License Agreement (EULA)” on page 14. Licensed
libtiff http://www.libtiff.org product.
Boost C++ http://www.boost.org
FreeImage http://freeimage.sourceforge.net
numpy http://numpy.scipy.org
OpenEXR http://www.openexr.com
OpenSSL http://www.openssl.org
pcre http://www.pcre.org
Python http://www.python.org
PIL http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil
pthreads http://sourceware.org/pthreads-win32
SFMT http://www.math.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~m-mat/MT/SFMT
XMLRPC++ http://xmlrpcpp.sourceforge.net
XMP http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp


iv Poser Pro 2012
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A Message from Larry Weinberg incorporate Poser into scientific, medical, architectural, CAD,
theatrical, and dance-based projects and presentations. Ideas
In the 1980’s, my secret ambition was to become an illustrator, kept pouring in as more and more people joined the Poser
to draw like the great old masters. But something was lacking community. Poser also evolved to include a new friendlier
in my brain that kept me from being able to visualize my interface, more rendering powers, new content, and many new
characters’ complex poses. I knew what I wanted to draw, and features.
I knew what was great when I saw it, but starting from a blank
The following that Poser attracted continues to amaze us all,
page just never worked. I dropped into my local art supply
as does the community’s ongoing diversity, creativity, talent,
shop and bought one of those little wooden mannequins that
and passion. The Poser artists and modelers of the world have
I thought would be my friend. He wasn’t very nice to me and
pushed far beyond anything I thought possible. Poser has been
never did what I asked of him. I quickly became determined to
used in award winning character animations, as design for
put him out of a job and thus set out to build the world a better
huge sculptures, for comic books, for medical illustration and
mannequin. At the time, I was programming and animating in
instruction, for legal reconstruction, and for unleashing the kind
Hollywood, mostly for Rhythm and Hues Studios. I had built up
of astounding images that, well, move us all.
a wealth of 3D math and computer graphics knowledge. Why not
make a digital mannequin? So, while giving life to flaming match In 2000 Curious Labs took Poser’s reigns. Our team began
characters, Mr. Peanut, and billowing sheets of fabric softener looking at where Poser and human simulation could (and
during my day job, I began creating Poser at night. should) continue growing. We knew we needed to remain
committed to making products that would be easy enough
All I wanted was a simple visualization tool, one that would be
for every artist to use. We also knew we needed to integrate
easy to pose with and quick to use for any artist. I wasn’t yet
our capabilities with the world of professional 3D graphics
thinking about high quality rendering, shadows, animation,
productions and with the new emerging Web-deployable
textures, or anything else. But Poser, like old John Henry,
technologies. Poser 4 Pro Pack was born of these needs, allowing
had a mind of its own. Poser 1 was released in 1995, and grew
Poser scenes and characters to be hosted inside high end
quickly. I knew Poser could be a useful tool but the response was
professional packages such as 3D Studio MAX, Lightwave, and
overwhelming and the art it helped create was mind blowing.
Cinema 4D. We also added Flash and Viewpoint Experience
Throughout the subsequent version releases, Poser’s community Technology capabilities for real time display via the Web.
kept growing and diversifying, with people beginning to

 Poser Pro 2012 v
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Today, Poser has obtained huge levels of growth through the

courageous efforts by many extremely talented and motivated
professionals. Believe me, Poser is no longer written by me
coding alone into the night. It’s a powerful graphics product that
is the culmination of the work of a very talented group that spans
the globe.
While streamlining our interface, we’ve integrated a large
database of scanned human heads into a phenomenal
face-designing environment. We added realistic rendering
capabilities far beyond where we started, with the ability to
create networks of complex shading nodes for unlimited textures
and materials. We also added physical simulation of cloth and
hair. By combining these new powers with a new suite of human
models and poses, and a new portal to allow people to find
content on the internet, Poser should, well, change the world–
again.
Each of us at Smith Micro Software sees what we do as a labor
of love. Poser could never have gotten this far without each
and every one of our dedicated staff. And, Poser could certainly
never have evolved this far without the involvement of the Poser
community, who has supported our efforts with enthusiasm,
forum inundations, email blasts, contributions to the product,
and a stream of unbelievable images.
Thanks to everyone who has touched or been touched by Poser.
Larry Weinberg
Original Poser Creator

vi Poser Pro 2012
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Contents Setting Up Your Workspace

Part 2: Building Scenes 45

40

Part 1: Poser Introduction 1 Chapter 4: The Pose Room 46

Menu Bar 47
Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser! 2
Light Controls 47
What’s New in Poser 3
Camera Controls 48
System Requirements 9
Room Tabs 49
When You Have Questions 11
Editing Tools 49
About Your Reference Manual 13
Document Window 50
Chapter 2: Installing Poser 14 Display Controls 51
Poser End User License Agreement (EULA) 14 Parameters/Properties Palette 51
CONTACTING CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TECHNICAL Parameters Palette 52
SUPPORT22 Properties Palette 52
Installing Poser 22 Library Palette 52
Installing Queue Manager 26 Memory Dots 54
Upgrading From an Earlier Version of Poser 27 Animation Controls 55
Registering Poser 28 Showing and Hiding Windows and Palettes 56
Updating Poser 28 Keyboard Shortcuts 60
Project Selection 29 Other Basic Operations 64
Project Guide 29
Chapter 5: The Document Window 70
Chapter 3: Setting Up the Poser Workspace 31
Preview Tab 70
Setting Application Preferences 31 Title71
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Options Menu 71 The Editing Tools 182

Preview Tab Context Menus 77 The Parameters/Properties Palette 190
Render Tab 95 Properties190
Render Comparison 99 Parameters Palette 194
Displaying Recent Renders 100 Posing Faces 202
Uploading to Facebook 101 Posing Animals 207

Chapter 6: The Display Controls and Menu 103 Pose Dots 208
Saving Poses in the Library 209
The Display Menu Commands 108
Other Posing and Figure Aids 209
Chapter 7: The Poser Library 119
Chapter 10: Working with Props 216
Displaying the Library Palette 122
About Props 216
Accessing Different Content Libraries 128
Hair217
About Library Palette Categories 135
Strand-Based Hair 217
Maintaining Your Library Palette 158
Prop-based Hair 217
Dragging and Dropping Library Content 165
Clothing218
Searching the Library 165
Adding & Importing Props 220
Searching for New Content 167
Moving, Resizing, and Deforming Props 220
Favorites Tab 169
Deleting Props 221
Chapter 8: The Content Room 170
Creating New Props 221
Downloading and Installing Content 171
Creating Prop Parameters 222
Chapter 9: Posing Figures 173 The Prop Origin 222
General Posing Principles 173 Prop Properties 222
Selecting Body Parts 178 Prop Parameters 224

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Replacing a Body Part with a Prop 225 Selecting Lights 258

Chapter 11: Cameras 237 Creating Lights 258

Adjusting Light Intensity 260
Camera View 237
Light Color 260
Show Camera Names 237
Delete Light 261
The Camera Controls 237
Aiming Lights 261
The Main, Auxiliary, and Posing Cameras 238
Using Light Indicators 263
The Face Camera 239
Light Properties 265
Left and Right Hand Cameras 239
Light Parameters 271
The Dolly Camera 240
Saving & Loading Light Sets 274
Orthographic Cameras 240
Memorizing and Restoring Lights 274
Shadow Light Cameras 240
Animating Lights 274
Changing Cameras 241
Select Camera Control 242 Part 3: Materials 275
Flyaround View 243
Chapter 13: The Basics of Materials 276
Positioning Cameras 243
Creating Cameras 246 Why Multi/Sub-object Materials? 277

Camera Properties & Parameters 246 Color277

Pointing & Locking Cameras 253 About Maps & Templates 278

Camera Dots 254 Texture Map 279

Saving Camera Sets 254 Bump Maps 280

Transparency Maps 281
Chapter 12: Lighting 256
Reflection Map 282
Light Types 257
Displacement Map 282

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Procedural Shaders 283 Render in Background 379

Creating Character Textures 283 Render in Queue 380
Putting It All Together 290 Sketch Style Render 380

Chapter 14: The Material Room 291 Antialias Document 381

Motion Blur Document 381
Navigating the Shader Window 293
Render Settings 382
Simple Shader View 293
Render Dimensions 382
Shaders304
Materials382
Wacros305
Reload Textures 382
Chapter 15: Working with Nodes 310
Reuse Shadow Maps 382
About Nodes 310
Clear Shadow Maps 383
The Material Room Options Menu 311
Chapter 18: The Render Settings Dialog 384
Material Room Node Connections 313
Render Engines 384
Chapter 16: Material Room Nodes 320
Sketch Tab 385
Root Nodes 320
Preview Tab 385
Math Nodes 328
Tips & Tricks 389
3D Texture Nodes 359
Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render Engine 390
2D Texture Nodes 368
Firefly Tab: Quality Settings 392
Part 4: Rendering 378 Manual Settings 395
Indirect Light 399
Chapter 17: The Render Menu 379
FireFly Options Settings 403
Render379
Saving and Loading Presets 408
Area Render 379

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Smoothing Geometry 408 Skip Frames 432

Network Render Queue 412 Mute Sound 432
64-Bit Render Engine 417 Clear Sound 432
Gamma Correction and Linear Rendering 418 Play Movie File 432
Gamma Correction Per Texture 419 Chapter 22: Animating with Poser 433
Rendering Layered PSD Files 420
Animation Overview 433
Chapter 20: The Sketch Designer 426 Using the Animation Controls 436
Sketch Elements 426 Using the Animation Palette 440
Presets427 Animation Palette Options Menu 442
Checkboxes427 Keyframes View 443
Brushes427 Layers Tab 455
Sketch Parameters 427 Animation Sets Tab 458
Rendering Sketches 429 Using the Walk Designer 460
Exporting Painter Scripts 429 Sound467

Part 5: Animating 430 Using the Talk Designer 469

Importing BVH Motion Capture Files 473
Chapter 21: The Animation Menu 431 Advanced Animation Techniques 473

Make Movie 431 Saving Animations to the Library 478

Recalculate Dynamics 431 Chapter 23: Rendering Animations 479

Retime Animation 431 AVI Options 481
Resample Key Frames 431 QuickTime Options 482
Loop Interpolation 431 Flash Options 484
Quaternion Interpolation 431
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Part 6: Customizing Content 486 Step 2: Cloth Controls 522

Step 3: Cloth Groups 527
Chapter 24: The Face Room 487 Step 4: Cloth Dynamics Controls 530
Using Images to Create Heads 489 Cloth Parameters & Properties 534
Creating Custom Textures 495 Creating Props and Morph Targets 534
The Face Shaping Tool 496 Adding Dynamic Cloth to the Library Palette 535
Loading/Saving/Previewing Textures 500 Chapter 27: Wardrobe Wizard 537
Applying Custom Heads/Textures 500
Using the Wardrobe Wizard 537
Chapter 25: The Hair Room 502 Converting Clothing 538
Step One: Defining Hair Groups 503 Finding Your Converted Clothing 544
Step Two: Growing Hair 505 Analyzing Full Body Morphs 544
Step Three: Styling Hair 507 Common Questions (and Answers) 559
Step Four: Setting Hair Dynamics 511
Part 7: Content Creation Tools 561
Hair Properties & Parameters 513
Hair Colors and Materials 515 Chapter 28: Modifying Figures & Props 562
Adding Strand-Based Hair to the Library Palette 516 Using Deformers 563
Chapter 26: The Cloth Room 518 Creating Magnet Deformers 564

Using the Cloth Room 518 Using Deformers with Grouped Objects 578

Conforming vs. Dynamic Cloth 519 Creating Morphs with the Morphing Tool 578

Adding Dynamic Clothing 519 The Combine Tab 579

Using Dynamic Clothing without a Figure 520 The Create Tab. 583

Step 1: Create/Set Up a Cloth Simulator 520 Creating Morphs in Other Applications 592
Combining Morphs in Poser 594
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Using Dependent Parameters 598 Adding Affected Actors 676

Managing Morphed Figures 612 Copying and Saving Joint Settings 679

Chapter 29: Figure and Prop Editors 614 Weight Maps 679
Transferring Zones and Weight Maps to Clothing 695
The Group Editor 614
Skinning Methods 699
About Groups 621
The Hierarchy Editor 626 Chapter 32: Using Poser with Other Applications 701

Chapter 30: The Setup Room 635 Importing Files 701

Exporting Files 707
Creating Figures for Poser 636
Using Poser with ZBrush and GoZ 713
About the Setup Room 636
PoserFusion Hosting Plug-ins 723
The Setup Room Interface 637
Setting Up an Original Figure 638 Part 8: PoserPython 757
Troubleshooting650
Chapter 33: About PoserPython 758
Chapter 31: Working with Joints, Weights, and Skinning
651 Why Python? 759
A Word of Warning 759
What are Joints? 651
PoserPython Types & Methods Listing 759
Using the Joint Editor 652
Copying Joints from Another Figure 657 Chapter 34: Basic PoserPython Concepts 760
Joint Attribute Types 658 Basic Python Structure 760
Creating and Using Falloff Zones 664 Sample Python Script 761
Setting Joint Angles 673 Writing Python Scripts 762
Editing Bulge Settings 674 Folder Syntax 762
Setting Joint Orders 674 Running Your Script 762

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For Further Information 762 Polygons788

Chapter 35: Running PoserPython Scripts 763 The Poser Workspace 788
Normals789
The Scripts Menu 763
Camera789
The Python Scripts Palette 763
Lights789
Running Python Scripts Directly 764
Hierarchy789
Appendices765 Appendix D: Creating and Converting Hierarchy Files
Appendix A: Technical Support 766 792
Hierarchy File Explained 793
Appendix B: Poser File Structure 768
Converting Hierarchy Files 795
About Poser Files 768
Verifying Hierarchy Files 796
A Word of Warning 768
Editing Files 769
Poser File Types 769
File Hierarchy 770
Commonly Used Poser Objects 772
Basic File Syntax 773
Poser & OBJ Files 774
Dependent Parameters 775

Appendix C: 3D Basics 778

About 3D Space 778
Vertices787
Splines787

Contents
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Part 1: Poser
Introduction


2 Poser Pro 2012
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Chapter 1: Welcome to interchange between game engines and other 2D and 3D tools
such as Photoshop, Softimage and SketchUp
Poser! Poser Pro 2012 is optimized for 32/64 Bit and multi-core
systems, better utilizing system memory and multiple threads
Thank you for purchasing Poser®. If you’ve never used Poser to improve overall performance and reduce rendering times,
before, welcome! Are you upgrading from an earlier version of with background rendering so you can continue working on
Poser? Welcome back! other projects. Poser Pro’s OpenGL Support takes advantage of
graphics card hardware to provide realistic lighting, shadows
Poser Pro 2012 is the fastest way for professional artists and
and color. Poser Pro 2010’s Queue Manager lets you distribute
production teams to add pre-rigged and fully textured 3D
and manage renderings across a Network Render Queue of cross
characters to their projects. With over 3GB of included content
platform systems.
libraries and richly varied third party Poser content, Poser Pro
2012 is the perfect link between professional production tools Poser Pro 2012 supports HDRI output to produce images with
and ready to use 3D character assets, saving development time full range of shadow, color, contrast and highlight intensities.
and resources. With Gamma Correction, specify gamma values for textures and
exported images for linear rendering with increased luminance
Poser Pro 2012 includes intuitive posing, animation, and rigging
accuracy. Poser Pro 2012’s improved Firefly render engine
tools all designed to make working with 3D character content
supports Indirect Lighting with Irradiance Caching for Global
as easy as possible. Poser Pro 2012 provides a node-based
Illumination effects and now even supports rendering with
material system, dynamic hair, dynamic cloth, morph creation
Ambient Occlusion at the same time. New Shader nodes enable
brushes and facial photo matching tools Automatic tools lipsync
Subsurface Scattering for luminescent skin tones and Custom
phonemes with imported sound files and create walk and run
Scatter for bioluminescent effects. Poser’s physically correct
animation cycles. Poser Pro renders video or still images in
light fall-off produces more photo-real final renderings. Normal
photo-real or sketch styles. Included are an updated set of
Mapping adds the appearance of complexity and surface detail
PoserFusion hosting plug-ins to integrate posed or animated
to 3D objects without increasing geometry resolution. Render
Poser characters and scenes into 3ds Max, Maya, and Cinema 4D
out PSD layers for improved compositing, share final content via
and Lightwave. Import/Export COLLADA content for 3D figure
Facebook.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!

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Poser Pro 2012 includes advanced Weight Map Rig support for better workflow, new camera modes to focus on your selected
enabling vertex by vertex fine painting of joint bends and area, pressure sensitive tablet support in the Morph Brush and
bulges, to generate better performing 3D characters that can be Weight Map Painting tools, . Improved Content Management
more easily posed with natural joints across the body. Hybrid system with drag and drop, auto conforming, search, metadata
Rigging supports both traditional Poser Sphere and Capsule support, zone strength display for figure rigging, parameter
zones to be used in combination. Poser Pro also supports both change indicator and the Recent Render palette.
traditional grouped body part figures and single skin figures for
Whether used a standalone character animation system, or as
interoperability. Weight Map Support for third party figures
a critical tool in your existing production pipeline, Poser Pro
is delivered within our native poser file format, the PZ3, an
2010 is the most efficient way for game designers, 3D artists,
open, well documented format that has been at the heart of the
professional illustrators, animators and graphics production
creative Poser community for over 15 years.
teams to add 3D character animation content to any project.
Poser Pro 2012 is designed with Poser Character Creators in
mind and includes a suite of vertex Weight Map Creation tools
including Vertex Weight Auto-transfer to permit the creation What’s New in Poser
of new weight mapped figures from an existing rig, generation
Poser includes the following new features:
of new Weight Maps from existing Poser Zones of Influence,
pressure sensitive painting of Weight Maps and interactive
color display of affected vertices. Another advance in Poser is Vertex Weight Maps
the ability to set-up both traditional zones and weight maps to
affect body parts beyond the parent or child of the selected actor,
• Vertex Weight Map Support: High-end professional 3D
enabling complex figures such as winged figures that need to
applications like 3ds Max and Maya have set the standard
interact with multiple body parts simultaneously. Once you’ve
for vertex Weight Map Rigging, and now both Poser and
created Weight Mapped figures using Poser Pro, they can be
Poser Pro provide the most open vertex Weight Mapping
fully integrated into Poser 9 or any of the third party host apps
support available to Poser users today. Weight Map Rigging
supported by PoserFusion.
offers several benefits including smoother bending folds
Other new features include Multi-Select Drag and Drop from and bulges with vertex by vertex control over every bend
and within Poser’s Content Library, Expanded Context Menus or bulge. Weight Maps can be added to any joint bend,
Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!
4 Poser Pro 2012
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to twist and scaling channels and can be used to control even transfer the full set of morphs from the source figure to
bulges. Plus Poser takes the standard of Weight Map your newly created figure.
Rigging several steps further with support for Hybrid Joint
Rigging (combining traditional Poser Sphere/Capsule Zones • Weight Map Creation Tools: Poser Pro delivers the most
with Weight Maps), using either single mesh geometry or complete suite of vertex Weight Map Creation tools in the
traditionally grouped geometry, and enables Weight Maps world of Poser. Creating and fine-tuning Weight Maps is
or zones to affect any number of body parts beyond the easy using Pro 2012’s updated Joint Editor features. Select
current joint. Poser’s new Weight Map Rigging provides any joint and simply add a new Weight Map. Click on the
a platform that will support third party figures that use Paint Mode to interactively paint vertex weights, with full
Weight Mapping, by expanding the open, well documented pressure sensitive tablet support for optimal rig fine tuning.
and easily editable Poser PZ3 file format, to encourage Apply Symmetry to transfer bend and bulge Weight Maps
creativity and user driven enhancements to Poser figures. from side to side. And if you want to convert existing Poser
figures to the powerful new Weight Map Rigging system,
• Vertex Weight Map Auto Transfer: For easy character simply convert the figure’s traditional Poser Sphere and
content creation using Poser Pro, we’ve developed the new Capsule Zones into a Weight Map that is fully editable.
vertex Weight Map Auto Transfer feature. This powerful Combine Weight Maps with Zones of Influence for Hybrid
new feature makes it incredibly easy to transform any Joint Rigging, providing the best of both rigging systems.
existing clothing item into a full vertex Weight Map Rigged And of course, with Pro 2012’s new Weight Map Auto
conforming clothing item. Simply open the object you want Transfer, you’ll be able to transfer any existing Weight Map
to transform in the Set-Up room, click on the figure you Rig onto any new figure. This state of the art suite of Weight
want the item to match in the Poser Library, and let Poser Map Creation Tools is going to change the face of content
Pro do the rest. Once transformed, the new figure will development for Poser.
inherit the source figure’s vertex Weight Maps and even
body part groups. It literally takes seconds to transform any
imported or older figure or geometry into a fully Weight
New Object Tools
Mapped Poser Figure. Putting on finishing touches is a
breeze with Pro 2012’s vertex Weight Map Painting tools. • Grouping Objects: Need a way to move, scale or hide a
Combined with Poser’s included Wardrobe Wizard, you can bunch of objects in a Poser scene, at the same time? Now
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 Poser Pro 2012 5
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you can simply add any number of scene elements, from and large area lights to cast ambient light without being
figures and props to lights, into a Grouping Object. They rendered in the scene. Combined with our new Poser Scene
can be moved, rotated, scaled and animated or even hidden Library category, this feature will be a great way to deliver a
and revealed. Create multiple Grouping Objects to hold fully lit IDL environment.
different areas of a scene, or related props and figures.
Adding selected scene elements into any Grouping Object is
easy using our powerful new Context Menu controls. This
Workflow Improvements
significant new feature will change how you manage your
scenes, providing you plenty of control over whole groups of • Expanded Context Menus: Sometimes, it’s the simple
objects in that scene. things that make the biggest difference. Poser’s expanded
Context Menus will vastly improve interaction and scene
• Constraint Channels and Constraint Objects: For our creation, and change the way you work with Poser forever.
animators that have been looking for a way to animate a Six unique Context Menus have been developed for Figures,
ball being throw or caught, we’ve introduced Constraint Actors, Objects, Lights, Cameras and Backgrounds to
Channels and Objects. Basically, the Constraint Object is an provide quick access to the most useful menu operations
animatable handle for an object that will allow you to parent including selecting, toggling IK on/off, copying symmetry
it to a figure’s hand as it winds up for the throw, and then in poses, pointing lights, conforming clothing, setting
have the object leave the hand and fly through the air as if parenting, changing light types, and even hiding/revealing
it’s being thrown. Constraints are a simple to use feature all items in a Grouping Object. Once you start using Poser’s
that will permit all kinds of cool animation effects. new Context Menus, you’ll enjoy working and playing with
Poser all over again.
• Light Emitting Objects: We changed the face of rendering
in Poser when we introduced Indirect Lighting (IDL). Poser • Morphing Tool Tablet Support: If you own a Wacom
users quickly discovered that, with high ambient values to pressure sensitive tablet, Poser is going to make you a very
cast light that with a few tweaks, they could open up a huge happy camper. We’ve engineered Wacom tablet support into
array of lighting effects. Now you can create Light Emitters; the Morph Tool so you can have much finer control when
toggle off visibility in rendering for objects, yet still enable creating morphs. Vary brush strength with pressure for any
them to cast light. Build light domes, environment domes brush size you’ve set. The Morph Tool is powerful, but with
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6 Poser Pro 2012
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tablet support, it’s gotten even better. The new ‘Flatten’ Library Improvements
option for Morphing Tool Create mode moves points toward
a “best fit” plane determined by the affected vertices.
• Full Scene Category in Library: In the past, if you wanted
to re-use a Poser scene with that perfect environment
• Mac OS X users will find improved gesture support for
settings, lights, cameras, props and dependencies and
Apple track pad and Wacom tablets.
even render settings, you had to build it, save it, then find
• Frame Selected Object: In complex scenes it can be a little and import it. With the new Scene Category in the Library
challenging to keep your camera focused on an area that you simply add that full Poser scene with lights, cameras,
you’re working on using Poser’s original camera controls. all props and figures in place, and with all dependencies
To help out, we’ve introduced the Frame Selected Object right into the Library. From there your new scenes can be
Camera. With the click of a button, your current camera will dragged directly from the Library into the Poser workspace.
zoom in on the selected object, allowing you take a closer For Poser content developers this new feature will enable
look at exactly where you’re working on. This makes it easier you to deliver fully constructed scenes with dependencies
to navigate in and out of your deep scenes and saves you and optimal render settings that require less user support
time when creating them. and are far easier to use.

• Orbit Selected Object Mode: Poser also includes a new • Multi-select Drag and Drop Library Support: When
mode as a companion feature to the new Frame Selected we introduced Drag and Drop support in Poser’s Library,
Object Camera. Simply toggle on the Orbit Selected mode our users found it so much easier to apply materials, or
and your current camera will rotate around the center point conform clothing, or drop a pose right onto a figure. With
of the currently selected object. This makes it easier to focus the Library’s new Multi-select feature, you’ll be able to select
on a selected element, and view it from every direction by several items of clothing and drag them right onto a figure
spinning Camera trackball controls. and auto-conform them in one step. But it gets even better
when working with multiple categories of items in your
Favorites; Multi-select a hairstyle, several clothing items
and a pose all at once, then click and drag them right onto
your target figure. Poser will automatically apply the items.

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Reference Manual

It doesn’t get much easier. Within the Library, you’ll be able indirect illumination to the scene. In addition to our new
to drag and drop items from folder to folder making it easy Subsurface Scattering Nodes, we’ve included a new Custom
to reorganize your Content. Scatter Node to support effects such as bioluminescent skin.

FireFly Performance Enhancements

• Subsurface Scattering: Skin, wax, and marble are just • Real-time OpenGL Scene Preview: With Poser Pro’s
some of the materials that are translucent when struck OpenGL improvements, you’ll see accurate, real-time
by light. To recreate this subtle yet crucial effect when previews of Spot, Point, Infinite and IBL (Image Based
rendering these materials in Poser, we’ve incorporated a set Lights) Lights, Shadows, with Screen Space Ambient
of easy to configure Subsurface Scattering Material Nodes. Occlusion, Normal Maps and Back Facing Polygons in
New Nodes include Subsurface Skin, Custom Scatter, a Gamma Corrected scene. The Light Properties control
and basic Scatter. The Scatter Node includes a number allows the user to toggle specific lights to preview in the
of optimized pre-sets for Skin, Marble, Milk, Fruit and scene, with accumulated brightness for each selected light.
Vegetables. With Poser’s new Subsurface Material nodes, MIP Map support improves performance when previewing
you’ll transform your scenes into rendered masterpieces large textures. Our OpenGL hardware improvements
with lifelike translucent surfaces. preview textures more efficiently, with reliable onscreen
display of lights, shadows, and color, for smarter, quicker
• Rendering Performance Improvements: Poser’s FireFly interactive scene creation.
Rendering Engine keeps getting better with numerous
improvements in reflections, transparencies, depth of • Full 64-bit Mac/Win: Building a cross platform (M/W)
field and 3D motion blur quality, netting visibly smoother application with full 64 bit support is no easy task, but with
results without significantly impacting render times. We’ve this release of Poser Pro, both Mac and Windows users
invested time in Indirect Lighting (IDL) which now can be can now benefit from the virtually unlimited use of system
combined with Ambient Occlusion (AO), and is faster when memory, and full processing power of 64 bit hardware.
rendering transparency. We’ve also enabled Light Emitting The Poser Pro application, with its FireFly render engine
Objects which are invisible in final renderings yet contribute and included network capable Queue Manager are 64 bit
Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!
8 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

enabled so you can use your memory more efficiently, create 3D applications with COLLADA integration keeps growing
and render larger scenes, and ultimately save time across and includes Adobe Photoshop, Softimage XSI, LightWave
the board. 3D, CINEMA 4D, Houdini, Modo, SketchUp, Blender, and
Wings 3D. COLLADA makes it easy to export to various
• Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Support: Poser Pro 2012 and Poser 9 game engines and WebGL frameworks. Poser provides one
are now fully Cocoa based and supported on Apple’s latest of the most robust integrations in the market, and to ensure
OS X 10.7 Lion. that our support is second to none, we are actively involved
in the COLLADA specification and conformance programs.
• Faster Dynamic Hair: Our engineers spent time under
New to Poser Pro is editing of fully rigged, single skin mesh,
the hood to speed up Dynamic Hair. Now Poser’s powerful
weight mapped figures for inclusion in projects created
Dynamic Hair calculates collisions faster and renders it
using other tools with COLLADA support.
faster as well.

• Pre-render Texture Caching: We’ve heard your requests • Included Documentation

for faster pre-render texture handling and delivered two Poser includes the following documentation:
new methods that will save time the minute you press that
Render Now button. Poser now preprocesses all scene • Poser Reference Manual: This Reference Manual has been
textures in the background making use of your multicore rewritten and Poser features added. It is included in both
processor, in prep for that first render, and can cache those hard copy and in electronic PDF format on your Poser DVD.
textures session to session if you desire. Choose between Selecting Help > Poser Reference Manual from within
traditional and the new Crisp’ texture filtering options. Poser will also launch this manual.

• Python 2.7 Support: Poser keeps improving and so does The version of the manual accessible from the
Python. We now provide Python 2.7 support to take full help menu is optimized for screen viewing. If you
advantage of improvements to the scripting language. wish to print it out, your Poser DVD contains a version
that is optimized for print in the documentation folder.
• Improved COLLADA Support: COLLADA is the most
broadly adopted standard 3D content and figure interchange
format in the industry today. The list of powerful 2D and
Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!
 Poser Pro 2012 9
Reference Manual

• Quick Reference Card (QRC): The QRC is a fold-out • OpenGL enabled graphics card or chipset recommended
reference that briefly describes key Poser features and (recent NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon required for
includes a comprehensive list of Poser keyboard shortcuts. advanced real-time preview features)

• PoserPython Methods Manual: This manual contains • 24-bit color display, 1024 x 768 minimum resolution
an organized listing of each PoserPython method available
in Poser. It is included in PDF format on your Poser DVD • 3 GB free hard disk space (5 GB recommended)
and is also accessible from within Poser by selecting Help >
• DVD-ROM drive (Physical product only)
PoserPython Manual.
• Internet connection required for Content Paradise
• Quick Start Guide: This Quick Start guide is an on-screen
step-by-step interactive guide that takes users through the • Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 or newer
necessary steps to quickly create scenes within Poser.
• Adobe® Flash® Player 9 or newer (Flash® Player 11
required for 64-bit embedded library)
System Requirements
• Adobe® AIR® (external library)
System requirements for Poser installation are as follows:
• Hosting plugins require a valid English language installation
of their respective host application:
Windows
ƒƒ Maxon CINEMA 4D R10-12 (64 & 32-bit)
• Windows XP, Vista or 7 (64-bit OS required for 64-bit ƒƒ Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 - 2012 (64 & 32-bit)
installation)
ƒƒ Autodesk Maya 2010 - 2012 (64 & 32-bit)
• 1.3 GHz Pentium 4 or newer, Athlon 64 or newer (1.65 GHz
ƒƒ Newtek Light Wave 3D
or faster recommended)

• 1 GB system RAM (2 GB or more recommended)

Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!
10 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

• ZBrush 4.0 or later required for GoZ interoperability with • Hosting plugins require a valid English language installation
Poser Pro 2012 SR3 or later. of their respective host application:

ƒƒ Maxon CINEMA 4D R10-12 (64 & 32-bit)

Mac ƒƒ Autodesk Maya 2010-2012 (64 and 32-bit)

• Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6 or 10.7 ƒƒ Newtek Lightwave 3D

• 1.5 GHz Intel Core processor (Core 2 Duo or faster • ZBrush 4.0 or later required for GoZ interoperability with
recommended, 64-bit CPU required for 64-bit support, PPC Poser Pro 2012 SR3 or later.
supported for Queue Manager only)

• 1 GB system RAM (2 GB or more recommended)

Poser Content Online
Poser’s Content room includes a direct link to the online
• OpenGL enabled graphics card or chipset recommended
Content Paradise (http://www.contentparadise.com), which
(recent NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon required for
offers hundreds of figures, props, textures and other content
advanced real-time preview features)
available for use within Poser. Also, Poser’s Download Manager
• 24-bit color display, 1024 x 768 minimum resolution makes the process of downloading content and installing it to
the appropriate Library categories fully automatic, so accessing
• 3 GB free hard disk space (5 GB recommended) high quality content has never been simpler! See “Chapter 8:
The Content Room” on page 170 for more information about
• DVD-ROM drive (Physical product only) the Content room, and Content Paradise.

• Internet connection required for Content Paradise

Other Smith Micro Software Products
• Adobe® Flash® Player 9 or newer (embedded library)
Check out these products from Smith Micro Software:
• Adobe® AIR® (external library)

Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!

 Poser Pro 2012 11
Reference Manual

• Manga Studio: Manga Studio, the leading manga and Need Help?
comic art software, provides all the essential tools you
need to create professional, ready-to-publish pages from Poser includes the Help menu, which serves to answer most of
start to finish! Manga Studio offers an intuitive interface, your questions while using the application:
and delivers the best suite of ready-to-use screen tones,
content and special manga and comic effects for hobbyists, • Poser Help: Selecting Help > Poser Reference Manual
experienced artists and professionals. opens the Poser Reference Manual in PDF format.

• Anime Studio: Anime Studio is your complete animation • PoserPython Help: Selecting Help > PoserPython Manual
program for creating 2D movies, cartoons, anime and cut opens the PoserPython Methods Manual in PDF format.
out animations. Create your own desktop animated shorts
• About: Windows users can select Help > About Poser
in the style of SouthParkStudios.com and JibJab.com, or
to display the Poser version and copyright information.
use Anime Studio to produce full-length animation for
Macintosh users should look in the Poser Application menu,
film, video or streaming over the web. Anime Studio allows
and select About Poser, to see this information. This option
digital enthusiasts at home and professionals in the studio
will be useful if you need to obtain technical support, since
to bring their imagination to life!
the Technical Support representative will need to know this
information.
When You Have Questions • The Help > Content Paradise submenu contains links to
As you begin using Poser for your 3D projects, you’ll information on content from Content Paradise.
undoubtedly have questions or want to network with other Poser
artists. You’re not alone! There are many resources available for Smith Micro Software Resources
Poser artists. Here are just a few:

• Online Support: For technical support, customer service,

downloads, and to visit the Smith Micro Poser community
and gallery, visit us at http://my.smithmicro.com/support.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!

12 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

• Using Poser: For updates, tutorials, and Poser user stories, Smith Micro Software does not regulate content
visit http://poser.smithmicro.com/index.html. on third-party forums and their listing and
order of appearance in this manual is not an
• To Learn More: If you’d like to learn more about Smith endorsement.
Micro Software, visit us at http://my.smithmicro.com.

• Contacting Technical Support: If our Web Knowledge

Base does not resolve your situation, please contact us Other Important Resources
through http://support.smithmicro.com. Please refer to
Visit the following sites to learn about some of the applications
“Appendix A: Technical Support” on page 766 to view our
and technology supported by Poser:
technical support policy.
• Python resources: The following is a small sample of the
• Sales: You may reach our sales department via e-mail at:
ever-growing body of online and hardcopy information
[email protected].
concerning the Python scripting language:
• Other Links: Selecting Help > Smith Micro Web Links or ƒƒ The basic Python interpreter (which allows you to write
Help > Other Web Links within Poser lists other valuable your own Python scripts for any desired purpose) as
online resources. well as many in-depth documents and links to other
online resources is available for free download at
Third-Party Forums http://www.python.org.

ƒƒ You can find additional online resources on wxPython

You may also visit online Poser forums such as:
at http://www.wxpython.org.
• Animotions: http://www.animotions.com ƒƒ Learning Python, 3rd Edition by Mark Lutz; O’Reilly
& Associates; ISBN # 0-596-51398-4
• Renderosity: http://www.renderosity.com
ƒƒ wxPython in Action by Noel Rappin and Robin Dunn;
• RuntimeDNA: http://www.runtimedna.com Manning Publications; ISBN # 1-932-39462-1

Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!

 Poser Pro 2012 13
Reference Manual

About Your Reference Manual Specific keyboard keys are depicted in square brackets and
are capitalized. For example: [ESC]. If more than one key
Smith Micro Software strives to provide documentation that is should be pressed simultaneously, the notation appears as
complete, accurate, informative, and friendly. Your feedback is [KEY1]+[KEY2], for example [ALT]+[F4]. When a modifier
always welcome. Please e-mail your comments to: techsupport@ key differs between the Macintosh and Windows platform, the
smithmicro.com. Macintosh modifier is listed first followed by a slash and the
Windows modifier key. For example, [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[I]
The Poser Reference Manual is for both Macintosh and
is equivalent to the Macintosh [COMMAND]+[I] and the
Windows. By convention, Macintosh commands precede
Windows [CTRL]+[I].
Windows commands in the text. The Poser interface for
Macintosh and Windows platforms is identical, unless otherwise Screen prompts, menu and window names, fields, buttons,
specified. boxes, etc. appear in bold type. Where you need to access a
palette, command, or submenu, the syntax is Menu > Submenu.
For clarity, this manual uses several notational conventions to
For example File > Save As means you should open the File
present information of special importance. Lists of items, points
pull-down menu and then select Save As to open the Save As
to consider, or procedures that do not need to be performed in a
dialog box.
specific order appear in bullet format:
Program and script code appears in standard Courier font, for
• Item 1 example:

• Item 2 cd\letters\business\legal [ENTER]

Procedures that must be followed in a specific order appear in Notes detail tips, tricks, and other important
numbered steps: information.
1. Perform this step first
Warnings alert you to potentially harmful
2. Perform this step second
consequences such as data loss.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Poser!

14 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Chapter 2: Installing Poser End User License Agreement

(EULA)
Poser This End User License Agreement (“EULA”) is between you
(both the individual installing the Program and any single legal
Before opening your DVD holder, please take a moment to read,
entity on behalf of which such individual is acting) (“you” or
understand, and agree to the Poser End User License Agreement
“your”) and Smith Micro Software, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries
(EULA). If you do not agree with the terms of the EULA, please
(“Company”).
return your entire Poser package including the unopened DVD
holder to Smith Micro Software or your place of purchase. Once PLEASE READ THIS EULA CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE
you have read and accepted the EULA, you may proceed with SOFTWARE. BY CLICKING THE “I ACCEPT” BUTTON WHEN
installing Poser on your system. INSTALLING THE PROGRAM, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE
BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS EULA. IF YOU DO NOT
The Smith Micro online store will accept the AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS EULA, CLICK ON THE “I
return of either physical or electronically DO NOT ACCEPT” BUTTON. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THIS
downloaded products purchased directly from Smith EULA, YOU MAY NOT USE OR ACCESS THE SOFTWARE.
Micro within 30 days of the date of purchase. Products USING OR ACCESSING ANY PART OF THE SOFTWARE
purchased in retail stores must be returned to the place INDICATES THAT YOU ACCEPT THESE TERMS.
of purchase and meet their specific return policy terms.
Smith Micro reserves the right to change this policy at
any time. DEFINITIONS

• “Content” means animations, characters, clothing, faces,

hair, geometries, images, materials, meshes, morphs,
motion files, props, PoserPython scripts, textures, bump
maps, transparencies, and similar files and data created
with the intent of being used within the Program and/or
third party applications.
Chapter 2: Installing Poser
 Poser Pro 2012 15
Reference Manual

• “Documentation” means any written material in any subject to license terms imposed by the Other Content’s
form for installation and use of the Program provided by original creator.
authorized agents or representatives of the Company.
• “Program” means the Company computer software and
• “Legitimate Uses” means (a) creating morph targets based associated files in Proprietary File Formats delivered via the
on the Restricted Content, provided that any distribution accompanying physical media or electronic media.
of the morph targets will not include the original mesh
connectivity information (for example, distribution in • “Proprietary File Formats” means any of Company’s
the form of data utilized with morph moving utilities or proprietary compressed and uncompressed formats and/
in a .CR2 file that references the original geometry, but or future proprietary file formats, including files with the
no inclusion of the complete mesh); (b) creating texture following extensions: CM2, CR2, FC2, HD2, HR2, LT2,
templates derived from the Restricted Content to create MC6, MT5, PP2, PZ2, PZ3.
new maps for either Restricted Content or Other Content;
• “Restricted Content” means all Content included with
(c) creating tutorials, books, or other educational materials
or part of the Program that is not Unrestricted Content,
using images of the Program interface or Content for sale,
including without limitation mesh objects (geometry)
distribution, public display, or public performance, provided
in any format, files in Proprietary File Formats, images,
such materials are intended to educate users as to use of the
materials, texture, transparency maps, Documentation, and
Program; (d) creating original Content for sale, distribution,
Company’s proprietary data.
public display, or public performance; (e) creating materials
(e.g., shader trees) for use with either Restricted Content • “Unrestricted Content” means Content included with
or Other Content; (f) creating characters or props based on or part of the Program that is specifically identified in the
Restricted Content in Proprietary File Formats, where the Documentation or listed in this EULA as Unrestricted
original (or modified) geometry, texture, or other Restricted Content. The following figure geometries and their
Content files are not distributed with such characters or associated textures are Unrestricted Content: low res male,
props; or (g) creating PoserPython scripts. low res female, medium res male, medium res female.

• “Other Content” means Content that is not Restricted

Content or Unrestricted Content. Other Content may be
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16 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY AND GENERAL

CONTENT You agree to use the Program, Documentation and Content only
Portions of the Program and Other Content contain technology for lawful purposes. Any use of the Program, Documentation or
and/or other components licensed by the Company from the Content other than as granted in this EULA must be approved by
following third parties: Pixels Digital, Inc., Singular Inversions, the Company’s prior written consent. The Company maintains
Inc., Size8 Software, Inc., and Automatic Sync Technologies an ongoing EULA enforcement program. Violation of any
LLC, each of whom retain the ownership, copyrights, provision in this EULA automatically terminates this EULA. The
trademarks, and patents to their respective contributions to Company reserves all other rights that it may have for violation
the Program. Open source components include: Open source of this EULA.
components include: FreeType http://freetype.sourceforge.
net, libCurl http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/, libjpeg http://www. PROGRAM LICENSE
ijg.org, libtiff http://www.libtiff.org, Boost C++ http://www.
boost.org, FreeImage http://freeimage.sourceforge.net, numpy Subject to the terms and conditions of this EULA and your
http://numpy.scipy.org, OpenEXR http://www.openexr.com, payment of the license fee, the Company grants you a limited,
OpenSSL http://www.openssl.org, pcre http://www.pcre.org, personal, nontransferable and nonexclusive license (without
Python http://www.python.org, PIL http://www.pythonware. the right to sublicense): (i) to use a single copy of the Program
com/products/pil, pthreads http://sourceware.org/pthreads- (except as expressly permitted in the Documentation) solely
win32, SFMT http://www.math.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~m- for your own internal business operations on a single computer
mat/MT/SFMT, XMLRPC++ http://xmlrpcpp.sourceforge. as set forth in Section K below for production operation or,
net, XMP http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp Other Content on a temporary basis, on a backup system if such equipment
that is subject to third-party rights included with Program is inoperative, consistent with the limitations specified or
and Documentation is copyrighted and owned by the original referenced in this EULA and the Documentation; (ii) to use the
Content creators. Documentation provided with the Program in support of your
authorized use of the Program; and (iii) to copy the Program
to make one (1) archival copy of the Program for your personal
archival or backup purposes, and to make a sufficient number of

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 Poser Pro 2012 17
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copies for Legitimate Uses or the intended use described in the works thereof), not expressly granted to you by this EULA
Documentation, provided that all titles and trademark, copyright remain with the Company. You do not acquire any other rights,
and restricted rights notices are reproduced on all such copies. express or implied, in the Program (and any derivative works
Any other uses of the Program, including without limitation the thereof) and the Documentation (and any derivative works
Program interface, other than those granted in this EULA must thereof) other than those rights expressly granted under this
be approved by the Company’s prior written consent. EULA. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the
Company retains all title, ownership, interest and rights in and
You will not use, copy, modify, derive, or transfer the Program or
to the patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and any other
Documentation, or any copy, modification, derivation, or merged
intellectual property rights in the copy of the Program contained
portion thereof, in whole or in part via any means or for any
on your archival media, and all of the terms of this EULA
purpose whatsoever except as expressly permitted in this EULA
apply to such archival copy as if it were the original Company-
or the Documentation. You will not relicense, sublicense, rent,
produced copy of the Program that was furnished to you when
lease, or lend the Program for third-party training, commercial
you paid the licensing fee.
time-sharing or service bureau use. You will not, and will not
permit any third party to, reverse engineer, decompile, debug, Except as otherwise expressly permitted in the Documentation,
disassemble, circumvent the security features of, or interfere you will only use the Program on a single computer, meaning
with the normal functionality and operation of the Program for that you must treat the Program “like a book.” “Like a book”
any reason whatsoever without the express prior written consent means that the Program may be used by any number of people
of the Company or except to the extent expressly permitted and may be freely moved from one computer to another so long
by applicable law. If the Program is an upgrade to a previous as no possibility exists of the Program being used at more than
version of the Program, you must possess and maintain a valid one computer simultaneously. More than one person at a time
license to such previous version in order to use the upgrade. cannot read the same copy of a book, and this restriction applies
to the Program. The Company is pleased to offer site licenses for
You expressly acknowledge that the Company has a
multiple simultaneous users. Please contact the Company at the
valuable proprietary interest in both the Program and the
address below for details.
Documentation. All title, ownership, interest and rights in and
to the patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and any other You, your employees, and/or authorized agents must protect
intellectual property rights in the Program (and any derivative the Program’s confidentiality and act to enforce your obligations
works thereof) and the Documentation (and any derivative under this EULA. You cannot distribute or otherwise make
Chapter 2: Installing Poser
18 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

the Program or Documentation available to any third party • c. To reproduce, prepare derivative works based upon,
via any means whatsoever, public or private, for any purpose, distribute, publicly display, and publicly perform content
commercial or not, unless explicitly allowed by this EULA. you create using Restricted Content, provided that such use
of Restricted Content shall be solely Legitimate Uses and
You assume full responsibility for your selection of the Program
lawful uses.
to achieve your intended results and for the installation, use, and
results you obtain from the Program. Company has no obligation Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing shall limit the
to provide support, maintenance, upgrades, modifications or Company’s right to independently create, develop, own, market,
new releases under this EULA distribute, license, sublicense, import, export, sell, or otherwise
exploit any content or materials similar to any derivative works
based upon the Content.
CONTENT LICENSE
You will use the Other Content in accordance with all applicable
Subject to the terms and conditions of this EULA and your license terms imposed by the content’s original creator.
payment of the license fee, Company grants you a limited,
You will not use, copy, modify, derive, distribute, transfer or
personal, nontransferable and nonexclusive license (without the
sublicense the Restricted Content, the Unrestricted Content,
right to sublicense):
or the Other Content or any copy, modification, derivation, or
• a. To reproduce, prepare derivative works based upon, portion thereof, in whole or in part via any means or for any
distribute, publicly display, and publicly perform the purpose whatsoever except as expressly permitted in this EULA
Unrestricted Content for any lawful purpose other than or the Documentation.
to create a product which is intended to compete with the You expressly acknowledge that the Company has a valuable
Program or to create new content which is intended to proprietary interest in the Restricted Content and the
compete with the Restricted Content. Unrestricted Content. All title, ownership, interest and rights
in and to the patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and any
• b. To prepare derivative works based upon the Restricted other intellectual property rights in the Restricted Content and
Content solely for Legitimate Uses and lawful uses. the Unrestricted Content not expressly granted to you by this
EULA remain with the Company. You do not acquire any other
rights, express or implied, in the Company-created Restricted
Chapter 2: Installing Poser
 Poser Pro 2012 19
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Content (and any derivative works thereof) other than those as provided herein. All provisions of this EULA that protect the
rights expressly granted under this EULA. Company’s proprietary rights continue in full force and effect
after termination.
Except as otherwise expressly permitted in the Documentation
or unless otherwise provided for herein, you will only use the
Content on a single computer, meaning that you must treat LIMITED WARRANTY
the Content “like a book.” The Company is pleased to offer site
licenses for multiple simultaneous users. Please contact the The Company provides the Program and the Documentation AS
Company at the address below for details. IS with no warranty. The Company makes no representations
or warranties, either express or implied, of any kind with respect
to the Program and the Documentation. To the fullest extent
TERM permissible under applicable law, Company expressly disclaims
all warranties of any kind, either express or implied, with respect
This EULA remains in full force and effect until terminated. You
to the Program or the Documentation, including warranties of
may terminate it at any time by returning or destroying both
merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, satisfactory
the Program and the Documentation, together with all copies,
quality, and non-infringement. The Company does not warrant
modifications, and merged portions of the Product and the
that the Program’s functionality will meet your requirements or
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that the Program operation will be uninterrupted or error-free.
to issue refunds. Company may terminate this EULA at any time
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upon your breach of any of the provisions hereof.
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the Program, return or destroy both the Program and the any way. You assume the entire risk of the Program’s and the
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Termination of this EULA for any reason in no way limits the
Company’s right to continue enforcing all rights provided by law
and does not entitle you to a refund of your license fee except

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LIMITATION OF LIABILITY of the Program, Documentation or Content is unlawful or not

otherwise permitted by this EULA. Company reserves the right,
In no event will the Company be liable to you for any indirect, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defense and control
incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages, of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification hereunder.
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The Program and Documentation is provided with
INDEMNIFICATION RESTRICTED RIGHTS. Any use, modification, reproduction,
release, performance, display or disclosure by the U.S.
You will indemnify and hold harmless, and at Company’s
Government or any of its agencies shall be governed solely by the
request defend, Company and its affiliates, successors and
terms of this EULA and shall be prohibited except to the extent
assigns from and against any and all claims, losses, liabilities,
expressly permitted by the terms of this EULA. The Software
damages, settlements, expenses and costs (including, without
and Documentation are deemed to be “commercial computer
limitation, attorneys’ fees and court costs) which arise out of or
software” and “commercial computer software documentation”,
relate to any third party claim or threat thereof that your use

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 Poser Pro 2012 21
Reference Manual

respectively, pursuant to DFAR Section 227.7202 and FAR and void. This EULA constitutes the entire agreement between
12.212(b), as applicable. Any technical data provided that is not the parties and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous
covered by the above provisions is deemed to be “technical data- agreements or representations, written or oral, concerning the
commercial items” pursuant to DFAR Section 227.7015(a). Any subject matter of this EULA. This EULA may not be modified
use, modification, reproduction, release, performance, display or or amended except in a writing signed by a duly authorized
disclosure of such technical data shall be governed by the terms representative of each party.
of DFAR Section 227.7015(b).

CONTACT INFORMATION
MISCELLANEOUS
If you have questions concerning this EULA or need to contact
This EULA shall be governed by the laws of the State of Customer Service, please contact Company at this address:
California, without giving effect to any choice of law rules. This
Smith Micro Software, Inc., 51 Columbia, Aliso Viejo, CA
EULA will not be governed by the United Nations Convention on
92656.
Contracts for the International Sales of Goods, the application
of which is expressly excluded. Exclusive jurisdiction over and
venue of any suit arising out of or relating to this EULA will be TRADEMARK AND COPYRIGHT NOTICE
in the state and federal courts of Orange County, California.
If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any Poser, Poser Pro, the Poser logo, and the Smith Micro Logo
provision, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, the remainder are trademarks and or registered trademarks of Smith
of this License shall continue in full force and effect. The waiver Micro Software, Inc. Poser copyright © 1991-2012 All Rights
by either party of any default or breach of this EULA will not Reserved. All other product names are trademarks or registered
constitute a waiver of any other or subsequent default or breach. trademarks of their respective holders. Licensed product.
You may not assign, sell, transfer, delegate or otherwise dispose This EULA does not grant you the right to use, and you shall not
of, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, by operation of law or use, the copyrighted materials or trademarks of Company or its
otherwise, this EULA or any rights or obligations under this affiliates in any advertising, publicity or promotion, or to express
EULA without the prior written consent of the Company. Any or imply any endorsement of such party. Without limiting the
purported assignment, transfer or delegation by you will be null generality of the foregoing, you may not express or imply any
Chapter 2: Installing Poser
22 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

endorsement by the Company or its affiliates of any tutorials, running applications, including virus-checking utilities and other
books, or other educational materials you create using images of “background” software. Having this “clean” environment will
the Program interface or Content. help the installation process proceed smoothly and will prevent
any loss of data in the highly unlikely event of a problem. To
BY CLICKING ON THE “I ACCEPT” BUTTON WHEN
install Poser, complete the following steps:
INSTALLING THE PROGRAM, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT
(1) YOU HAVE READ AND REVIEWED THIS AGREEMENT
IN ITS ENTIRETY, (2) YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS Poser Installation (Windows)
AGREEMENT, (3) THE INDIVIDUAL SO CLICKING HAS
THE POWER, AUTHORITY AND LEGAL RIGHT TO ENTER 1. Click on the Poser installer to start the Installer.
INTO THIS AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF YOU AND, (4) BY
SO CLICKING, THIS AGREEMENT CONSTITUTES BINDING 2. The Welcome screen will appear, click Next to continue.
AND ENFORCEABLE OBLIGATIONS OF YOU.
3. The “Poser End User License Agreement (EULA)” on page
14 appears. Select I accept the agreement and click
CONTACTING CUSTOMER SERVICE Next.
AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT 4. The Information screen appears. Review the Readme file.
For Customer Service questions or problems (returns, warranty), This file contains information that was too recent to be
please visit http://my.smithmicro.com/support. included in this manual. Please take a moment to read this
file, as the changes outlined therein may affect how you
For technical support, please refer to “Appendix A: Technical install and/or use Poser. When you have finished reading
Support” on page 766 of your Poser Reference Manual. the Readme file, click Next to proceed with the installation.

5. The Select Destination Location screen appears. Use

Installing Poser this screen to select the installation path for the Poser
executable. Select the destination location where you want
Installing Poser is a straightforward process. Before inserting
to install Poser Pro. You can use the default location or click
your DVD, be sure to save any work in progress and close all

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 Poser Pro 2012 23
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the Browse button to specify another location, click Next to If you are using the 64-bit version of Poser Pro,
continue. you can also choose to install the 32-bit version
of Poser Pro for improved backward compatibility with
6. If you have a 64-bit computer and 64-bit Windows add-on scripts and plug-ins that are not 64-bit capable.
operating system, Setup will install the 64-bit version of In addition, the 32-bit version of Poser Pro allows you
Poser Pro 2012 by default. You can check the Install 32 bit the option of either docking the library or running it in a
files option to optionally and additionally install the 32-bit separate window, whereas the 64-bit version runs the
version of Poser Pro 2012 in its own installation folder. library in a separate window only.

7. The Select Components screen appears. Choose the desired

installation options from the drop-down menu:

ƒƒ Full Installation: Most users choose the Full

Installation option. This option performs the complete
installation of Poser Pro including all content and the
Queue Manager.

ƒƒ Compact Installation: This option installs Poser

Pro 2012, the Network Queue Manager, Application
Support Files, and Core Content Files. Additional
content is installed if the applicable options are
selected. This option is useful if hard drive space is
limited.

ƒƒ Basic Content (Clothed Figures, Props, Scenery):

This option installs clothed figures and medical
Choosing an installation location. references (skeletons and muscles), Props, and Scenery.

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24 Poser Pro 2012
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ƒƒ Custom Installation: Allows you to choose the items the Users > Public > Documents folder on their C: drive;
that you want to install. however, you can browser to or enter the folder or hard
drive of your choice. Click Next after you make your choice.
ƒƒ Queue Manager Only: Installs the Poser Queue
Manager. Use this option for installing additional 10. The Select Start Menu Folder screen will appear. You
network rendering nodes. can use the default location or click the Browse button to
8. Click Next to continue to the Select Content Location specify another location. When you are finished, click Next.
screen. Select the location for the Poser Pro content
Runtime directory. Based on the descriptions below, select 11. Select Additional Tasks screen will appear. Options here
the location that works best for you and click Next. allow you to remove, backup or reuse existing preference
files that store information such as library runtimes,
ƒƒ Shared Documents Directory: This is the default interface layouts, and other preferences. You can also enable
installation option. Files can be shared—useful in multi- the check boxes to create desktop icons for Poser and the
user environment or when UAC is enabled on Windows Queue Manager (Poser Pro only). Click Next after you make
Vista or later. your choices

ƒƒ My Documents Directory: The files will only be 12. Review your choices in the Ready to Install screen. Finally,
accessible to the user who installed them. click Install to install the Poser Pro and Queue Manager
applications. When they are finished installing, click
ƒƒ Poser Directory: The content library resides next to
Finished.
the Poser Pro program files.

ƒƒ Other Location: Specify the directory of your choice. Portions of Poser require that Flash Player is
This option is desirable if you want to install your installed on your system. Verify that Flash
content on a different hard drive or folder name. Player is present before using Poser Pro 2012.
9. If you selected Other Location in step 8, the Select
Custom Content Location screen appears. Use this screen
to choose the installation folder for your Poser content. By
default, Window 7 users install the content folder beneath
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 Poser Pro 2012 25
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Poser’s Content Library utilizes Microsoft Poser Installation (Mac)

Internet Explorer technology. To ensure the
optimal experience and compatibility for the Content
It is recommended that you install Poser 9 Poser
Library, the installer will disable “Local Machine
Pro 2012 on a hard drive that is formatted witih
Lockdown” for the Poser application. This will not affect
HFS+ Journaled formatting. Extended Journaled
other applications outside of Poser. Details about “Local
formatting can be used as long as you do not make it
Machine Lockdown” can be found at http://msdn.
case-sensitive.
microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537641(VS.85).aspx.

1. Double-click on the Install icon.

The installer grants Poser components in
<AppLocation > \Runtime\ui\Flex\ a Flash 2. The Introduction screen appears. Click Continue.
sandbox setting of ‘localTrusted’.
3. The Readme file appears. This file contains information that
was too recent to be included in this manual. Please take
Some features of Poser, such as the Library and a moment to read this file, as the changes outlined therein
rendering in a separate process, require that you may affect how you install and/or use Poser. When you have
allow local network communication to operate. The finished reading the Readme file, click Continue to proceed
features will not work if a personal firewall prevents with the installation.
local network communication.
4. The “Poser End User License Agreement (EULA)” on page
14 appears. Click Continue. Click Agree to continue the
installation.

5. The Installation Type screen appears. Check or uncheck the

content types you want to install (Default Content, Clothed
and Reference Figures, Clothing, Hair, Nude Figures,

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Props and Scenery, Cartoon and Fantasy Figures, and Install option (Mac). You can install just the Queue Manager on
Animals: remote systems by following the instructions below:

6. Click Continue after you choose the content you want to

install. Installing Queue Manager on a Remote
System (Windows)
7. Setup informs you how much space will be used by the
installation, including the content you selected. Click 1. Click on the Poser Pro installer to start the installation.
the Change Install Location button to choose another
installation location, if desired and click Continue to return 2. The Welcome screen will appear, click Next to continue.
to the previous screen.
3. The “Poser End User License Agreement (EULA)” on page
8. Once you have made your selection, click the Install button. 14 will appear. Accept the agreement and click Next.
The Authentication window appears, and you will be
4. Review the Readme text and click Next.
asked to enter your user account password, or an account
name and password with Administrator privileges, in
5. Select the destination location where you want to install the
order to proceed with the installation. After entering the
Queue Manager. You can use the default location or click
information, click OK to continue.
the Browse button to specify another location. Click Next to
continue.
9. When the installation is complete are finished installing,
click Quit.
6. Using the pull-down menu select Queue Manager and click
Next.

Installing Queue Manager 7. Select Additional Tasks screen will appear. Enable the
check boxes to create desktop icons for both Poser Pro and
The Queue Manager can be installed as part of your initial Poser the Queue Manager, click Next.
Pro installation using the Full Installation (Windows) or Easy

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8. Click Install to install the Queue Manager. When the Licensing

installation is done, click Finished.
The first time you start the Queue Manager, you will be
prompted to type in your name and your Queue Manager
Installing Queue Manager on a Remote serial number in the Queue Manager Personalize screen. It is
System (Mac) important to know that you can install the Queue Manager on as
many systems as you wish. However, the number of systems you
1. Click on the Poser Pro installer to start the installation. can use simultaneously will be limited to the number of Queue
Manager nodes that are included with your Poser Pro Purchase.
2. The Welcome screen will appear, click Continue. You can determine how many nodes are available to you by
looking at your Queue Manager serial number. The second
3. The “Poser End User License Agreement (EULA)” on
set of numbers between dashes indicates how many systems
page 14 will appear. Accept the agreement and click
(including the one on which Poser Pro is installed) can operate
Continue.
the Queue Manager simultaneously.
4. Review the Readme text and click Continue.

5. Select the destination location where you want to install the Upgrading From an Earlier Version of
Queue Manager. You can use the default location or click the Poser
Browse button to specify another location. Click Continue.
When upgrading from an earlier Poser version, be sure to
6. Using the pull-down menu select Queue Manager and click install Poser in a separate, empty folder, so as not to interfere
Continue. with existing Poser installations. Additionally, if you have large
amounts of content from your previous versions of Poser, the
7. Click Install to install the Queue Manager. When the
ideal way to add this content to your Poser installation is with
installation is done, click Quit.
the Add Runtime feature. (See “Accessing Different Content
Libraries” on page 128 for more information about the Add
Runtime feature.) We do not recommend attempting to copy

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over or reinstall your content in other ways, as we cannot 4. Enter your user information in the form that appears in
guarantee that the content will be properly transferred to Poser. your browser. Fields marked in red are required for you to
register your copy of Poser. Enter your information, then
click Register to complete your registration.
Registering Poser
5. If one or more fields are missing information, a message
After installation, you can choose to register your copy of Poser will display specifying the incomplete fields. You will be
via the Web. Registering Poser with Smith Micro Software is asked to add the necessary information and resubmit your
required in order to receive technical support, free product user information. Once your registration is successful, a
updates and other benefits. summary screen will appear. Thank you for using Poser by
1. If you wish to register your copy of Poser, simply check the Smith Micro Software!
box on the authentication window that appears upon your
initial launch of Poser, and Poser will automatically register
your product for you with Smith Micro Software. If you use Updating Poser
this method, this is the only action necessary on your part;
the rest will be taken care of automatically. Smith Micro Software is committed to supporting all of our
products by releasing Service Releases and other updaters that
2. Alternately, you can open your browser and navigate address issues present in earlier versions and/or enhance the
to http://www.smithmicro.com/support/product- product’s usability or functionality. Poser will automatically
registration.aspx. In the unlikely event you receive an error, check for product updates upon launching, and will notify
please wait a while then try again. If you get repeated errors you when an update is available. Please visit http://poser.
or if you do not have an Internet connection (or prefer smithmicro.com/updates.html to download the latest updates.
to register via email), you may call or email Smith Micro
If you wish to disable the automatic update notification, you may
Software to complete your registration.
do so by clearing the Check for Updates on Launch checkbox
in the General Preferences dialog.
3. Select the version of Poser that you wish to register from the
dropdown list, and click the Next button to continue.

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If you choose not to receive automatic notifications, please visit

http://poser.smithmicro.com/updates.html regularly to check
for product updates.
Alternately, you can click the Check Now button in the General
Preferences dialog to execute an immediate update check.
(See “Setting Application Preferences” on page 31 for more
information about the General Preferences dialog.)

Project Selection
Upon launching Poser, you may want to choose Window >
Quick Start window.
Quick Start to view the Quick Start dialog. This dialog allows
you to select a Project to load into the Project Guide palette
Should you choose to load a different Project once Poser has
within Poser. A Project is an interactive guided workflow that
launched, simply select Window > Quick Start to open the
you can use for guidance or reference as you undertake specific
Quick Start dialog and change the current Project in the Project
tasks within Poser. Click the icon for the Project you wish to
Guide palette.
select, or choose a Project from the pop-up menu for more
options. Once you have selected a Project, click OK to close the
dialog and complete your launch of Poser.
Project Guide
Use the arrows at the top of the Project Guide palette to
navigate through a Project. Click on the right arrow to step
forward through the pages of the Project, or on the left arrow
to step backwards through the pages. The current page number
and title will be displayed in the center between the navigation
arrows. The page content, as well as any associated actions by

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the Poser application, will be specific to the Project you choose and accessible. You may choose to interact with the Project
to load. Guide at your own pace, either stepping through a given Project
methodically or returning to the Project intermittently within the
process of your own workflow. As such, the Project Guide is a
flexible tool designed to meet a variety of work styles and needs.
Should you decide to close the Project Guide palette, simply
click on the close icon in the upper right corner of the palette.
You can then reopen the palette at any time by selecting Window
> Project Guide from the Poser menu bar.

Project Guide.

The projects in the Project Guide are interactive

workflow guides, which means that you, the
user, perform the tasks described within them. However,
some steps may include actions automatically
undertaken by Poser to assist you in following the
processes described.

The Project Guide palette functions in the same manner as

all palettes within Poser; once enabled, it will remain open
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 Poser Pro 2012 31
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Chapter 3: Setting Up the Document Preferences

Poser Workspace The Document Preferences tab contains settings specific to the
Document window. The Document Preference options are as
follows:
This chapter discusses the ways in which you can customize
Poser to suit your individual needs. Your preference settings will
be stored on your system in the home directory for your user
name. This allows different users on the same system to set up
their own individual preference settings. For specific information
on the location of the preference files on your system, please see
“Poser Default File Locations” on page 771.

Setting Application Preferences

Poser’s General Preferences dialog allows you to control
certain global Poser settings. Open this dialog by selecting Edit
> General Preferences. The General Preferences dialog
appears.
Click the OK button when finished to save your preferences Document Preferences.
and close the dialog. The following topics describe the available
preferences.
• Launch Behavior: The Launch Behavior options allow you
to specify whether the Document window will open using
your customized preferred settings, or the default factory
settings, whenever you launch Poser. If you customize the

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Document window by resizing and/or moving it, or by • Optimizations: The Multithreaded Bending setting is
changing the character that loads when you start Poser, off by default. When enabled the feature will attempt to
selecting the Launch to preferred state radio button after parallelize the computations across multiple threads during
you have adjusted the Document window will save these bending, this will produce faster bending by better utilizing
changes when you exit and re-launch Poser. If you want multi-threads and multi-core CPUs.
your Document window to revert to its default (as installed)
location and size whenever you launch Poser, select the • Interface Preferences
Launch to factory state button. Please refer to “Chapter
The Interface Preferences tab contains application-level
5: The Document Window” on page 70 for more
settings for Poser’s general user interface. The Interface
information about the Document window.
Preference options are as follows:
• Set Preferred State: Click this button after you arrange
your document window the way you like. This will save it as
the preferred startup state

• Undo/Redo: The Undo/Redo options allow you to specify

the maximum number of levels for the Undo/Redo cache.
By default the cache size is set to 100 levels of Undo. You
can leave this setting at 100 if you have available system
resources, or you can reduce the level to conserve memory.
Clicking the Clear cache now... button will clear the Undo/
Redo cache.

• Smoothing Preferences: The Default Crease Angle

setting allows you to specify the default Crease Angle to
be used in polygon smoothing calculations. Please refer to
“Smoothing Geometry” on page 408 for more information
Interface Preferences.
on the Crease Angle setting.

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 Poser Pro 2012 33
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• Launch Behavior: If you customize the Poser interface by want all items to appear in a single level in the hierarchy,
adding, removing, rotating, resizing, and/or hiding different enter a higher value such as 200.
elements, or by creating your own palette arrangements in
any of the Poser rooms, selecting the Launch to previous
state radio button after making your changes will save the
changes when you exit and re-launch Poser. If you want
your Poser interface to revert to its default (as installed)
location and size whenever you launch Poser, select the
Launch to factory state button.

• Mouse Input: The Tablet Mode option decreases the

sampling rate for greater accuracy when using a graphics
tablet as the input device.

If you wish to operate Poser with a graphic

tablet, please make sure to activate Tablet Mode
in Edit -> General Preferences -> Interface -> Mouse
Input.

• Object Popup Menu: When you use the Object Popup

menu to select an actor in your scene, the menu arranges
them in a series of submenus. The value entered in the
Hierarchical Threshold field determines the maximum
Object Popup menu hierarchy.
number of actors that are allowed to appear in a menu item
before they appear in a branch beneath the previous level.
Lower values increase the number of submenus. If you • Display, Color Blind Accessible: Check this option to use
an interface that is designed for those who are color-blind.

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• Display Units: Poser allows you to work with real-world When using a 3D Mouse (such as
units, enhancing your ability to make accurate recreations. SpaceNavigator or similar), by default all
Use the Display units pull-down menu to make your rotation axes and translations will be transmitted.
selection. The available choices are: Holding down the Shift key will filter out translations,
and holding down the Ctrl key (Windows) or Cmd key
ƒƒ Poser native units
(Mac) will filter out rotations.
ƒƒ Inches

ƒƒ Feet
Library Preferences
ƒƒ Millimeters
The Library Preferences tab contains setting that are specific
ƒƒ Centimeters
to the Poser Library. The Library Preference options are as
ƒƒ Meters follows:

One Poser native unit is the equivalent of 8.6 feet,

or 262.128 centimeters.

• 3D Mouse: The 3D Mouse options control the behavior of

a 3D input device such as 3Dconnexion’s SpaceNavigator.
Checking the Reverse Cameras box changes the direction
the main and auxiliary cameras rotate when using a 3D
mouse. Checking the Reverse Dolly Cameras box reverses
the direction the dolly cameras rotate when using a 3D
mouse. Checking the Reverse Actors box reverses the
direction actors move when controlled with a 3D mouse.

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 Poser Pro 2012 35
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unless you change the setting in the Library Preferences

tab.

• File Search: When an object is loaded from the Library,

Poser searches for all the associated files included with that
object. The File Search options allow you to configure the
extent of that search. These options are:

ƒƒ None: Selecting None disables file searching; this

option is useful for content developers in testing the
accuracy of newly developed content, as it checks only
the file locations that are specified in the Poser files.
Referenced files will also be found next to a scene
document when search policy is set to None.

It is recommended that content developers set

the File Search to None when testing the
Library Preferences (Poser Pro).
packaging of content that is intended for distribution.
Doing so will help determine if geometry files and
• Double-click Behavior: The Double-click Behavior textures appear in the correct locations and paths as
setting specifies the results of double-clicking on a Library designated within the library files. Error messages will
preset. Select the appropriate radio button to choose display when content files are not in their expected
between adding the new preset to the scene, or replacing locations.
the selected preset in the scene. Note that the first time
you double-click on a Library preset, a dialog will come up ƒƒ Shallow: Selecting Shallow will reduce the amount of
allowing you to specify this setting. Your selected option will time spent searching for missing or mislabeled files, but
then be applied to all subsequent double-click instances, will increase the instances of files not found. This option
looks in all runtimes for the item, using the relative

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36 Poser Pro 2012
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path and filename provided. For example, if the file ƒƒ Embedded: By default, the library is embedded and
specified is Runtime/geometries/FolderA/ObjectA.obj works internally with Poser Pro. You can dock and float
but the file actually lives in an external runtime folder the Library Palette the same as other palettes in the
named C:/MySpecialFolder/Runtime/geometries/ interface.
FolderA/ObjectA.obj, then the shallow search will find
ƒƒ External: Check this option if you want to run the
it. The Shallow search will also find ObjectA.obj in any
library as an external application. You will not be able
directories that are already known by Poser.
to dock and undock the library palette, but will be able
ƒƒ Deep: This is the default File Search setting. We to position it on a second monitor if desired.
recommend that you select Deep file searching, as this
ƒƒ Foreground Poser on item load: Check this option
option initiates the most extensive searches for content
to bring Poser to the foreground after a library item
file components, hence increasing the likelihood that
is loaded. With the option unchecked, focus remains
missing or mislabeled files will be found. This performs
in the library until you manually switch to the Poser
a thorough search in all Runtime folders.
application to continue with your scene.
If your Runtime folders are extremely large,
resulting in Deep search results that take too Render Preferences
long to find missing files, consider changing to a Shallow
search. The Render Preferences tab contains settings that are specific
to the FireFly render engine. The Render Preference options are
as follows:
• Pose Sets: By checking the Apply Universal Poses box,
poses saved to the library will be automatically written as
universal poses, and library poses applied to figures by
double-clicking will always be applied as universal poses.

• Launch Behavior: Controls how the library launches.

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We recommend rendering your scene with as

many threads as your system possesses CPU
cores. The default value for hyper-threaded CPUs is
twice the number of cores that you have (because the OS
sees twice as many virtual cores as there are physical
cores). On CPUs that are not hyper-threaded, the OS
sees only the physical cores. If you are unsatisfied with
the resulting performance, or if the render fails to
complete, then reduce the number of threads and/or
maximum bucket size. However, if you have a single-
processor and single-core system, we recommend that
you set the number of threads to one, as the increased
memory demand of running parallel threads may offset
the performance benefits.

Render Preferences. For more information on multi-threaded

rendering, see “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly
Render Engine” on page 390.
• Number of Threads: If you have a multi-processor and/
or multi-core hardware system, you can take advantage
of multi-threaded rendering by setting the Number of • Separate Process: Checking the Separate Process box
Threads slider to a value greater than one. enables running FireFly renders in a separate process on the
CPU, and vice versa. This feature is disabled by default. For
more information on Rendering in a Separate Process, see
“Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render Engine” on page
390.

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• Cache: The Max Cached Renders setting allows you to multi-core CPUs only). Chances are that by the time
configure the number of renders that will be cached for you are done preparing the scene for rendering, all your
access via the Render Compare feature in the Document textures are in the cache already, and rendering will
window’s Render tab, or the number of thumbnails that are start immediately.
displayed in the Recent Renders palette. Please see “Render
The render cache for keeping rendered images and displaying
Comparison” on page 99 for more information about the
them on the Render tab of the Document window and in the
Render Compare feature, and “Displaying Recent Renders”
Recent Renders Palette uses the following locations to store
on page 100 for more information about the Recent
image data:
Renders palette.
• Windows:
• Texture Caching: Cached textures are kept in the temp %AppData%\Poser Pro\9\RenderCache\
location specified in General Preferences, even between
sessions. • Windows XP example:
C:\Documents and Settings\<PoserUser>\Application
ƒƒ Persistent size (MB): The maximum amount of Data\Poser Pro\9\RenderCache\
memory allocated to cached textures, in between
• Windows Vista & 7 example:
sessions. When you re-launch Poser, textures from the
C:\Users\<PoserUser>\AppData\Roaming\Poser Pro\9\
previous session are still cached on disk (unless you set RenderCache\
the size to zero). If you re-open the scene you worked
on previously (or one of the recent scenes, if the cache • Mac OS X:
~/Library/Application Support/Poser Pro/9/RenderCache/
is large enough) the texture cache will be prepared
already, allowing for a faster render start. • Mac OS X example:
/Users/<PoserUser>/Library/Application Support/Poser
ƒƒ Run in Background Thread: Loads textures into the Pro/9/RenderCache/
cache while Poser is running, in preparation for the first
You can delete the files in those folders to clear the render cache.
render. Any texture that is not yet in the cache, or not
Please note that your cached renders will be lost after doing so. If
yet up to date in the cache, needs to be processed. If
you reinstall Poser Pro and choose to back up your preferences,
Run in Background Thread is enabled, this processing
happens in a separate thread in the background (on
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the render cache will be moved into its backup location along valuable hard drive space. These compressed files will
with all preferences. act identically to non-compressed runtime files when
used in Poser Pro 2012. To enable file compression,
Miscellaneous Preferences check the “Save Compressed Files” option. Poser will
open both compressed and non-compressed files, but
writes compressed files using specific file extensions.

Compressed Poser files can be opened by Poser

versions running Poser 4 Pro Pack or later. Zlib
compression is similar to gzip and zip compression
methods, and can typically be uncompressed by any
utility (such as WinZip) that handles either of these
formats.

Please note that all content included with Poser

Pro 2012 is compressed.

For more information on zlib, please refer to

Miscellaneous Preferences. http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/zlib/. To
uncompress a file, change the extension on the file you
wish to access to .gz, then run your decompression
• Save Files: Poser offers the following options for file saving: utility. Alternatively, you can use the included
ƒƒ Use File Compression: Poser includes the ability to PoserPython decompression script by launching Poser
save compressed runtime files and scene files using and opening the Python Scripts window.
“zlib compression”. This compression will significantly
reduce the size of your runtime directory and save

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All Poser files (scene, figure, pose, expression, ƒƒ Use External Binary Morph Targets: Checking this
hair, hand, prop, light, camera, material) can be box will enable the use of External Binary Morph
compressed. Compressed Poser files have the extension Targets (EBMTs) when saving new content, or resaving
*.**Z (*.PZZ, *.CRZ, *.FCZ, etc.). Poser prop files are legacy Poser files. Saving legacy figures to the Poser
saved with the extension P2Z to avoid confusion with Library with this option enabled will generate new .pmd
compressed scene files. EBMT files for those figures, thus allowing you to take
advantage of morph target sharing, reduced file sizes,
and faster processing speeds for your legacy figures.
If you plan to distribute files for use by artists
with Poser 4 and earlier, please be sure to save • Set Python Editor: Clicking the Set Python Editor button
them uncompressed. To do so, uncheck the Use File opens a standard Browse dialog, allowing you to select
Compression option in the Misc Preferences tab. the application you wish to use to edit PoserPython scripts
(such as Notepad for Windows).
Poser uses standard Z-lib compression, allowing
• Software Updates: Checking the Check for Updates on
you to use any Z-lib compatible compression/
Launch box enables the Automatic Update Notification
decompression application to compress/decompress
feature (see “Updating Poser” on page 28 for more
files.
information about this feature). Clearing the box disables
Automatic Update Notification. Clicking the Check Now
Some advanced artists use a text editing button will execute an immediate update check.
application to directly edit Poser files. You must
uncompress compressed files before editing them. To do
this, you can either load a file into Poser, disable Setting Up Your Workspace
compressed file support, and save the results to a new
The Poser workspace consists of the entire Poser screen,
filename or use a third-party compression utility to
including controls, the Document window, and other room-
uncompress the file. If you use the second method, you
specific interface elements. You can customize most of these
can recompress the file when you’ve finished making
edits.

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elements to suit the way you work and store your preferences for
later use.

Docking and Floating Palettes

Poser’s sleek interface is geared toward streamlining your
workflow. You can dock, float, and arrange floating palettes in
each of Poser’s different rooms, to set up a workspace layout that
meets your needs.
The Window menu contains commands that show or hide Palette Docking menu options.
Poser’s many palettes. If a palette is hidden, simply select the
desired palette from the Window pull-down menu to display it.
Moving, Repositioning, and Resizing Palettes
The options in the Window > Room Tools
Various controls allow you to resize docked or floating palettes,
submenus are enabled only when the respective
or reposition them as necessary. For example:
room is active. For example, the commands in the
Window > Room Tools > Face submenu will only be
enabled when you are in the Face Room.

The upper-right corner of each palette contains a Palette

Docking Control square. Click the square to open the palette
docking menu, which contains commands that work as
described below.

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• To resize a docked palette, position the cursor over the

resize handle and drag in either direction indicated by the
double-arrow resize cursor.

• To resize a floating palette, position your cursor over a side

or corner, where it turns into a double-arrow resize cursor.
Then drag to the desired size.

• To reposition a palette, position the cursor in the Title area

of the palette, where it turns into a hand. Reposition the
palette to another area on your screen. If the area that you
drag to is highlighted in blue, the palette will dock into the
highlighted area of your workspace. If the area that you drag
to is not highlighted, the palette will float in the new area
when you release the mouse button.

• Some palettes display scroll bars when they contain more

information than can be displayed in the allotted space.

• Some palettes (such as the Editing Tools or Display Styles

palettes) display options that wrap based on the width of the
palette.

• Some palettes cannot be reduced beyond the minimum size

required to display all of the palette options and controls.
For examples, see the Camera Controls or Light Controls
Resizing handles for palettes. palettes.

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Enabling or Disabling Docking Floating Palettes

To enable or disable palette docking: To float a palette, use one of the following methods:

• Click the Palette Docking Control square at the top-right • Drag the palette out of the docked location, and toward the
corner of the palette. Check or uncheck Drag-Docking document window. Release the mouse when there is no
Enabled as appropriate. This selection is checked when highlighted dock location for the palette.
docking is enabled, and not checked when disabled.
• Click the control at the top-right corner of a docked palette,
When Drag-Docking is disabled, you can move and choose Floating from the menu. The palette will float in
the palette anywhere on the screen over the main the Poser workspace.
workspace or to an additional monitor. The palette will
always float until you enable drag-docking again. Closing Palettes

To close an open palette, use one of the following methods:

Docking Palettes
• Click the Close icon in the upper-right corner.
To dock a palette, use one of the following methods:
• Click the control at the top-right corner of the palette and
• Drag the palette toward the area in which you want to place choose Close from the menu that appears.
it. When the area becomes highlighted, release the mouse.
If you drag the palette into an area that is already populated • Choose an open palette from the Window pull-down menu
by one or more palettes, the active docking area will split to close it. Palettes that are currently open are indicated by
horizontally or vertically to provide a location for the a checkmark.
additional palette.

• Click the control at the top-right corner of floating palette,

UI Memory Dots
and choose Docked from the menu. The palette will dock
You can save up to nine interface configurations using the
into the position where it was last docked.
Memory dots (described in “Memory Dots” on page 54).
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Each Memory dot retains a separate instance of your selected

interface settings. This feature is globally applicable, meaning
that UI dots can be applied regardless of the specific scene or
resolution. An alternative method for saving UI settings for
accessibility in any Poser scene is to modify Poser’s general
preferences as described in “Setting Application Preferences”
on page 31. However, while preferences set in this manner
are saved separately for each screen resolution, you can only
save one UI configuration per resolution using the general
preferences.

Setting Up the Document Window

Please refer to “Chapter 5: The Document Window” on page
70 for more information on customizing the Document
window and using the controls found there.

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Part 2: Building
Scenes

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Chapter 4: The Pose

Room
The Pose room is the focal point for much of your Poser
activity. This is where you add figures and props to your scene
and perform your desired posing and animation (you’ll use the
Hair, Cloth, Material, and Face rooms to set up and animate
these items and can access the Library palette from any room).
This chapter introduces you to the basic Poser interface. The
following chapters will describe these interface elements in
greater detail, and then will move on to discussing the other
rooms in Poser. The Pose Room.

The Pose room appears as follows at 1920 x 1200 resolution.

In addition to rooms, much of Poser’s functionality is available
The number of palettes and options that you see by using floating palettes and windows within the rooms
in each room depends upon your screen themselves. Most Poser rooms (including the Pose room) allow
resolution. At higher resolutions, the default work you to customize your Poser workspace by hiding/displaying
spaces display more palettes, while at lower resolutions and relocating controls anywhere you like. You can even save
you see fewer palettes. up to nine different screen configurations for the entire Poser
workspace.
The numbers on the image above identify the controls available
in the Pose room:

• Menu bar (1)

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• Light controls (2) the labeled interface elements and references to more detailed
information.
• Camera controls (3)

• Room tabs (4) Menu Bar

• Editing tools (5) The Menu Bar consists of a series of pull-down menus used for
accessing Poser functionality. Some menus and/or submenus
• Document window (6)
duplicate other on-screen interface elements. The Menu Bar
• Display controls (7) appears as follows and is available from every Poser room.

• Properties & Parameters palettes (8)

• UI dots (9) Poser’s Menu Bar.

• Animation controls (10)

• Library palette (11) Light Controls

• Python palette (12), may not appear by default in lower The Light controls allow you to adjust lighting properties. Use it
resolutions for such purposes as adding and removing lights, and specifying
light colors and other light properties. The Light controls appear
• Hierarchy Editor (13), may not appear by default in lower
as follows.
resolutions
Please refer to “Setting Up Your Workspace” on page 40 for
more information about creating and saving custom workspace
layouts. The following sections provide a brief description of

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The Light Controls.

Please refer to “Chapter 12: Lighting” on page 256 for more

information about the Light controls.

Camera Controls The Camera Controls.

The Camera controls allow you to select and move one or more
The topmost controls are the View controls. Clicking one of
Poser cameras. There are two types of camera controls: View
these controls activates the Face, Left Hand, or Right Hand
and Position.
camera, as appropriate. You can also scroll through the list of
available cameras. The controls beneath the hand controls are
used to turn camera animation on or off, or to use the Flyaround
camera. The Position controls appear below these controls and
are used to move or rotate the currently selected camera. The
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Camera Plane position controls move the camera along the

Room Tabs
X, Y, and/or Z axis, while the Trackball rotates the currently
selected camera without changing its location in 3D space. To The Room tabs allow you to switch from room to room within
use the Camera controls, simply click and drag your desired Poser. To enter a room, simply click its tab.
control. Moving a camera does not change the locations or poses
of figures, props, and other elements in your scene.
The Frame Selected button changes the camera view to fit
around the currently selected actor. Pick a body part or actor, Room Tabs.
and then click the Frame Selected control to change the camera
view to fit around the selected actor.
The Orbit Selected button rotates the camera around the
currently selected actor. This control is a toggle. When toggled
Editing Tools
on, the camera will be centered on the selected object or body The Editing Tools display contains the tools you use most often
part and you can rotate the camera so that it is always in the when posing figures/props.
center.
By selecting a body part or prop followed by the desired Editing
The Orbit Selected mode does not work with tool, you can pose objects in various ways such as translating
cameras that are already set to orbit a specific (moving side to side or back and forth), rotating, twisting, etc.
body part (such as the Face, Left Hand, and Right Hand You can also perform other functions such as editing Inverse
cameras). Kinematic (IK) chains and working with element/material
groups. Each Editing tool is a little different, but their basic
usage is as follows:
A subset of these Camera controls appears in the upper-right
corner of the Document window. Please refer to “Chapter 11:
Cameras” on page 237 for complete information about the
Camera controls.

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Document Window
The Document window is your viewport into the Poser
workspace where you view and pose your figure and interact
directly with your scene. Each view of the Document window is
displayed through a virtual camera, which means you can view
each scene from multiple camera angles, either one at a time or
from up to four angles at once.
You can position cameras to view your scene from any angle
or distance and can resize the Document window to suit your
The Editing Tools. needs. In addition, the Document window has numerous
controls around its edges that you use to change the appearance
of scene elements. You can also select objects within your scene
1. Select your desired body part or prop (referred to as an
by clicking them directly within the Document window or by
element or actor) in your scene by clicking that actor.
using the menus on the bottom of the window. Please refer to
2. Select the desired Editing tool. You can only have one “Chapter 5: The Document Window” on page 70 for more
Editing tool selected at a time. The currently selected information about the Document window.
Editing tool appears yellow within the Poser interface.

3. Click and drag to perform the selected tool’s function.

You can use the Editing tools in any combination to create a

virtually infinite number of still or animated poses. Please refer
to “The Editing Tools” on page 182 for more information on
the Editing tools. In addition, each tool is discussed in depth
where appropriate in this manual.

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Display Controls
The Display controls allow you to select your desired preview
mode for your entire scene, a figure or prop, and/or specific
elements of your currently selected figure/prop.

The Display Controls.

Please refer to “Chapter 6: The Display Controls and Menu” on

page 103 for more information about the Display controls.

Parameters/Properties Palette
The Document Window.
Poser offers an easy-to-use Parameters and Properties palette
that allows you to access any scene object’s properties and
parameters in one convenient location.

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Although both properties and parameters

appear in the same palette, we will treat them as
separate entities throughout this manual for clarity.

Parameters Palette
The Parameters palette contains all of an object’s parameters
transformation settings, (as described in “Parameters Palette”
on page 194) and morph targets. Each object type has
specialized parameters, which are described where appropriate
in this manual. Further, individual objects can have parameters
unique to that object. For example, different figures have
different morph targets available.

Properties Palette
The Properties palette contains all of an object’s properties. In
addition to certain universal properties (which are described
in “Properties” on page 190, each object type has specialized
properties, which are described where appropriate in this
manual.
Parameters Palette.

To switch between the Properties and Parameters palettes, Library Palette

simply click the desired tab at the top of the palette.
The Library palette consists of three tabs.
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The Library tab contains all of the various categories of content page 124 for information on how to show and hide the various
from which you can choose. See elements in the Library tab.

• The Search tab allows you to perform keyword searches Poser ships with a wide array of content that
through one or all of your runtimes. you can use to create thousands of unique still
and animated scenes. You can also use the Content
• The Favorites tab gives you quick access to your favorite room to locate and obtain even more free and for-sale
content. content from leading 3D marketplaces! Please refer to
“Chapter 8: The Content Room” on page 170 for more
information about the Content room.
Library Tab
The Library tab contain Poser’s Library content categories. The
Categories icons allow you to access and search through all
of the content available to your installation of Poser, including
content included with Poser and any additional content you may
have obtained. The Library tab contains categories (Figures,
Props, etc.) and subcategories (Animals, New Figures, etc.)
for organizing your Poser content: You can also organize your
favorite content in the Favorites tab for even quicker access.
Use the Library tab to add or remove elements from your Poser
scenes. The vast collection of content included with Poser allows
you start building scenes right away. The Library makes it easy
to add existing and new content collections so that you can find
and add any items to your scene. Please refer to “Chapter 7: The
Poser Library” on page 119 for more information about the
Library palette and to “Changing the Library Appearance” on Library tab.

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Search Tab
Use the Search tab to perform keyword searches on one or all
of your Runtime libraries. This powerful new features makes it
easier to find the content you want to use, even in large content
collections. You’ll find more information in “Searching the
Library” on page 165.

Favorites Tab
The Favorites tab on the Library palette provides quick access Memory Dots.
to your favorite Poser content. For more information about
adding favorites, see “Favorites Tab” on page 169 Clicking the arrow to the left of the description allows you to
choose between the Poses, Camera, and UI memory dots that
you have saved.
Memory Dots
Being able to customize your workspace wouldn’t be useful if you
had no way of saving your preferences. Poser includes Memory
dots that allow you to save poses, camera locations, and user
interface (UI) preferences and to switch between saved items
with a single mouse click.

Memory Dots options.

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Please refer to the following for more information on each type

of Memory dot.

• Pose Dots: Pose dots are described in further detail in

“Pose Dots” on page 208.

• Camera Dots: Camera dots are described in further detail

in “Camera Dots” on page 254

• UI Dots: UI dots are described in further detail in “Setting

Up Your Workspace” on page 40.

Using Memory Dots Filled, empty, and selected Memory Dots.

To use Memory dots:

To use a dot, simply click it. The stored settings are applied to
1. Set up your pose, cameras, and/or interface (UI) the way your scene. To clear a memory dot (delete its information and
you want them. make it appear empty again), press and hold [OPT]/[ALT] while
clicking the memory dot you wish to erase.
2. Use the pull-down menu to select the dot type, as described
above.
Animation Controls
3. Click an empty memory dot. This dot will appear full, as
shown below. The Animation controls allow you to preview animations and
set up keyframes. You do this by posing your figure, moving to
a new frame, and changing the pose. Clicking the Play button
plays an animation using the keyframes. The Animation
controls appear as follows:

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Animation Controls.

Please refer to “Using the Animation Controls” on page 436

to learn more about the Animation controls, and to “Chapter
22: Animating with Poser” on page 433 for more information
about creating and rendering animations using Poser.

Showing and Hiding Windows and

Palettes
The Window menu allows you to enable and disable (show and The Window menu shows and hides windows and palettes.
hide) various Poser windows and palettes. The upper portion of
the Window menu contains the following commands:
• Animation Palette: Selecting Window > Animation Palette
The palette options that are displayed in each opens the Animation palette. Please refer to “Using the
room vary, depending on your screen resolution Animation Palette” on page 440 for information about the
or upon which room you have displayed. Animation palette and creating Poser animations.

• Graph: Selecting Window > Graph opens the Graph

palette for the selected element in your scene. Please refer
to “About the Graph Palette” on page 445 for information
about using the Graph when making Poser animations.

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• Libraries: Selecting Window > Libraries opens the Library • Python Scripts: Selecting Window > Python Scripts
palette. Please refer to “Chapter 7: The Poser Library” on opens the Python Scripts palette. Please refer to “The
page 119 for more information about the Library palette. Python Scripts Palette” on page 763 for more information
about the Python Scripts palette.
• Hierarchy Editor: Selecting Window > Hierarchy Editor
opens the Hierarchy Editor palette. Please refer to “About • Room Help: Selecting Window > Room Help opens an
Groups” on page 621 for more information about the HTML window with information to assist you in using the
Hierarchy Editor palette. Poser rooms.

• Joint Editor: Selecting Window > Joint Editor opens the • Quick Start Guide: Choose Window > Quick Start Guide
Joint Editor palette. Please refer to “Chapter 31: Working to open the Quick Start Guide, described in “Project
with Joints, Weights, and Skinning” on page 651 for Guide” on page 29.
more information about the Joint Editor palette.
• Project Guide: Choose Window > Project Guide to open
• Sketch Designer: Selecting Window > Sketch Designer the Project Guide, described in “Project Guide” on page
opens the Sketch Designer window. Please refer to 29.
“Chapter 20: The Sketch Designer” on page 426for more
information about the Sketch Designer renderer. • Recent Renders: Choose Window > Recent Renders to
display a palette that contains thumbnails of the images
• Walk Designer: Selecting Window > Walk Designer opens that you most recently rendered. For more information, see
the Walk Designer window. Please refer to “Using the Walk “Displaying Recent Renders” on page 100.
Designer” on page 460 for more information about the
The lower portion of the Window menu contains commands that
Walk Designer window.
toggle frequently-used palettes on and off.
• Talk Designer: Choose Window > Talk Designer to open
the Talk Designer window, described in “Using the Talk
Designer” on page 469.

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6: The Display Controls and Menu” on page 103 for more

information about the Display controls.

• Editing Tools: Selecting Window > Editing Tools toggles

the Editing tools display on and off. A check mark next
to this option indicates that the controls are currently
displayed, and vice versa. Please refer to “The Editing
Tools” on page 182 for more information about the
Editing tools.

• Light Controls: Selecting Window > Light Controls

toggles the Light controls display on and off. A checkmark
next to this option indicates that the controls are currently
displayed, and vice versa. Please refer to “Chapter 12:
Lighting” on page 256 for more information about the
Window menu commands show and hide windows and palettes.
Light controls.

• Camera Controls: Selecting Window > Camera Controls • Memory Dots: Selecting Window > Memory Dots toggles
toggles the Camera controls display on and off. A check the Memory dots display on and off. A checkmark next
mark next to this option indicates that the controls are to this option indicates that the controls are currently
currently displayed, and vice versa. Please refer to “The displayed, and vice versa. Please refer to “Memory Dots” on
Camera Controls” on page 237 for more information page 54 for more information about the Memory dots.
about the Camera controls.
• Parameters Palette: Selecting Window > Parameters
• Preview Styles: Selecting Window > Preview Styles Palette shows or hides the Parameters/Properties
toggles the Display controls display on and off. A check palette, which contains tabs for the Parameters palette and
mark next to this option indicates that the controls are Properties Palette. A checkmark next to this option indicates
currently displayed, and vice versa. Please refer to “Chapter that the Parameters/Properties palette is currently

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displayed, and vice versa. Please refer to “Parameters ƒƒ Hair: When you are in the Hair Room, menu options
Palette” on page 194 for more information about the allow you to show or hide the Hair Growth Groups,
Parameters palette, and to “Properties” on page 190 for Growth Controls, Styling Controls, and Dynamics
more information about the Properties palette. Controls palettes. These palettes are discussed in
“Chapter 25: The Hair Room” on page 502.
• Animation Controls: Selecting Window > Animation
Controls toggles the Animation controls display on and off. ƒƒ Cloth: When you are in the Cloth Room, menu options
A checkmark next to this option indicates that the controls allow you to show or hide the Cloth Simulation, Cloth,
are currently displayed, and vice versa. Please refer to Cloth Groups, and Dynamics Controls palettes.
“Using the Animation Controls” on page 436 for more These palettes are discussed in “Chapter 26: The Cloth
information about the Animation controls. Room” on page 518.

• Room Tools: The Room Tools submenus display options • Document Window Size: Selecting Window > Document
that are enabled when you are using the Material, Face, Window Size opens the Preview Dimensions dialog
Hair, or Cloth room. The options for each room are disabled allowing you to resize your Document window when it
until you enter the room to which they apply. is floating. Please refer to “Chapter 5: The Document
Window” on page 70 for information about resizing your
ƒƒ Material: When you are in the Material room, a menu Document window.
option allows you to show or hide the Material Palette.
See “Chapter 14: The Material Room” on page 291 The Document Window is only resizeable when it
for further information about the Material Palette. is floating. When docked, the document window
expands to fit into the space that is not used by docked
ƒƒ Face: When you are in the Face Room, menu options
palettes.
allow you to show or hide the Face Preview, Photo
Lineup, Texture Preview, Face Texture Tool, or
Face Shaping Tool. These palettes are discussed in
“Chapter 23: Rendering Animations” on page 479.

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Keyboard Shortcuts Edit > Cut Ctrl+X Cmd+X

Edit > Copy Ctrl+C Cmd+C

Keyboard shortcuts are available for many menu commands
Edit > Paste Ctrl+V Cmd+V
found in Poser. The following tables summarize the available
Edit > Restore > Ctrl+E Cmd+E
keyboard shortcuts for each menu.
Element

Edit > Restore > Ctrl+Shift+F Cmd+Shift+F

File Menu Figure

Edit > Restore > Lights Ctrl+Shift+L Cmd+Shift+L

Edit > Restore > Ctrl+Shift+H Cmd+Shift+H

Command Windows Mac Camera

File > New Ctrl+N Cmd+N Edit > Restore > All Ctrl+A Cmd+A

File > Open Ctrl+O Cmd+O Edit > Memorize > Ctrl+Alt+E Cmd+Alt+E
Element
File > Close Ctrl+W Cmd+W
Edit > Memorize > Ctrl+Alt+F Cmd+Alt+F
File > Save Ctrl+S Cmd+S Figure
File > Save As Ctrl+Shift+S Cmd+Shift+S Edit > Memorize > Ctrl+Alt+L Cmd+Alt+L
Lights
File > Print Ctrl+P Cmd+P
Edit > Memorize > Ctrl+Alt+H Cmd+Alt+H
File > Exit Ctrl+Q
Camera

Edit > Memorize > All Ctrl+Alt+A Cmd+Alt+A

Edit Menu Edit > Special Cmd+Alt+T

Characters

Edit > Preferences* Ctrl+N Cmd+K

Command Windows Mac
Edit > Undo Ctrl+Z Cmd+Z * Preferences command is found in the Poser Pro 2012
application menu in Mac systems
Edit > Redo Ctrl+Shift+Z Cmd+Shift+Z

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Figure Menu Display > Camera Ctrl+T Cmd+T

View > From Top

Display > Camera Ctrl+F Cmd+F

View > From Front
Command Windows Mac
Display > Camera Ctrl+= (equal) Cmd+= (equal)
Figure > Drop to Floor Ctrl+D Cmd+D
View > Face Camera
Figure > Hide Figure Ctrl+H Cmd+H
Display > Camera Ctrl+, (comma) Cmd+, (comma)
View > Posing Camera

Display > Camera Ctrl+[ (left bracket) Cmd+[ (left bracket)

Object Menu View > Right Hand
Camera

Display > Camera Ctrl+] (right bracket) Cmd+] (right bracket)

View > Left Hand
Command Windows Mac Camera
Object > Properties Ctrl+I Cmd+I
Display > Camera Ctrl+/ (forward slash) Cmd+/ (forward slash)
View > Dolly Camera

Display > Fly Around Ctrl+L Cmd+L

Display Menu Display > Frame Ctrl+Shift+= (equal) Cmd+Shift+= (equal)
Selected

Display > Orbit Ctrl+0 (zero) Cmd+0 (zero)

Command Windows Mac Selected Mode
Display > Camera Ctrl+M Cmd+M Display > Document Ctrl+1 Cmd+1
View > Main Camera Style > Silhouette
Display > Camera Ctrl+; (semicolon) Cmd+; (semicolon) Display > Document Ctrl+2 Cmd+2
View > From Left Style > Outline
Display > Camera Ctrl+’ (apostrophe) Cmd+’ (apostrophe) Display > Document Ctrl+3 Cmd+3
View > From Right Style > Wireframe

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Display > Document Ctrl+4 Cmd+4 Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+6 Cmd+Alt+6
Style > Hidden Line > Flat Shaded

Display > Document Ctrl+5 Cmd+5 Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+7 Cmd+Alt+7
Style > Lit Wireframe > Cartoon w/Lines

Display > Document Ctrl+6 Cmd+6 Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+8 Cmd+Alt+8
Style > Flat Shaded > Smooth Shaded

Display > Document Ctrl+7 Cmd+7 Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+9 Cmd+Alt+9
Style > Cartoon w/ > Texture Shaded
Lines
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+0 (zero) Cmd+Shift+0 (zero)
Display > Document Ctrl+8 Cmd+8 Style > Use Figure
Style > Smooth Style
Shaded
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+1 Cmd+Shift+1
Display > Document Ctrl+9 Cmd+9 Style > Silhouette
Style > Texture
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+2 Cmd+Shift+2
Shaded
Style > Outline
Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+0 (zero) Cmd+Alt+0 (zero)
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+3 Cmd+Shift+3
> Use Document Style
Style > Wireframe
Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+1 Cmd+Alt+1
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+4 Cmd+Shift+4
> Silhouette
Style > Hidden Line
Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+2 Cmd+Alt+2
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+5 Cmd+Shift+5
> Outline
Style > Lit Wireframe
Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+3 Cmd+Alt+3
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+6 Cmd+Shift+6
> Wireframe
Style > Flat Shaded
Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+4 Cmd+Alt+4
Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+7 Cmd+Shift+7
> Hidden Line
Style > Cartoon w/
Display > Figure Style Ctrl+Alt+5 Cmd+Alt+5 Lines
> Lit Wireframe

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Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+8 Cmd+Shift+8 Display > Preview Ctrl+Alt+S Cmd+Alt+S
Style > Smooth Drawing > SreeD
Shaded Software

Display > Element Ctrl+Shift+9 Cmd+Shift+9

Style > Texture
Shaded
Render Menu
Display > Depth Cued Ctrl+Shift+D Cmd+Shift+D

Display > Tracking > Ctrl+Shift+A Cmd+Shift+A

Bounding Boxes Only
Command Windows Mac
Display > Tracking > Ctrl+Shift+X Cmd+Shift+X
Render > Render Ctrl+R Cmd+R
Fast Tracking
Render > Area Render Ctrl+Alt+N Cmd+Alt+N
Display > Tracking > Ctrl+Shift+C Cmd+Shift+C
Full Tracking Render > Antialias Ctrl+Alt+R Cmd+Alt+R
Document
Display > Show Ctrl+B Cmd+B
Background Picture Render > Render Ctrl+Y Cmd+Y
Settings
Display > Guides > Ctrl+G Cmd+G
Ground Plane Render > Render Ctrl+Shift+Y Cmd+Shift+Y
Dimensions
Display > Preview Ctrl+Alt+O Cmd+Alt+O
Drawing > OpenGL Render > Materials Ctrl+U Cmd+U
Hardware

Window Menu

Command Windows Mac

Window > Animation Ctrl+Shift+V Cmd+Shift+V
Palette

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Window > Graph Ctrl+Shift+G Cmd+Shift+G Window > Animation Ctrl+Shift+P Cmd+Shift+P
Controls
Window > Libraries Ctrl+Shift+B Cmd+Shift+B

Window > Hierarchy Ctrl+Shift+E Cmd+Shift+E

Editor

Window > Joint Editor Ctrl+Shift+J Cmd+Shift+J

Other Basic Operations
Window > Walk Ctrl+Shift+W Cmd+Shift+W
Designer

Window > Talk Ctrl+Shift+K Cmd+Shift+K

Creating a New Scene
Designer
Selecting File > New creates a new Poser scene. A dialog will
Window > Python Ctrl+Shift+O Cmd+Shift+O
Scripts
appear if you have any unsaved changes in your previous scene.
If this dialog appears:
Window > Camera Ctrl+Shift+R Cmd+Shift+R
Controls
• Selecting Yes opens a Save Poser Scene dialog box,
Window > Preview Ctrl+Shift+U Cmd+Shift+U
allowing you to save your current Poser scene. After saving
Styles
your current scene, the new scene will be created.
Window > Editing Ctrl+Shift+T Cmd+Shift+T
Tools
• Selecting No creates a new Poser scene without saving your
Window > Light Ctrl+Shift+I Cmd+Shift+I unsaved changes. All unsaved changes will be lost, so use
Controls
this option carefully!
Window > Memory Ctrl+Shift+M Cmd+Shift+M
Dots • Selecting Cancel closes the dialog and cancels the new
Window > Parameter Ctrl+Shift+N Cmd+Shift+N scene creation, leaving your current Poser scene open.
Dials

Opening a Scene
Selecting File > Open opens a standard Open dialog box,
allowing you to access and work on a previously saved Poser
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scene file. You are prompted to save any unsaved changes in you don’t like your progress beyond a given save point. For
your current scene, if any (see above). example, you could save myscene_1.pz3, then save new versions
as myscene_2.pz3, myscene_3.pz3, and so forth.

Opening a Recent File Compressed File Support

Selecting File > Recent Files opens a pop-up list that displays a Poser allows you to compress saved figures/props/scenes to
list of the ten most recent document files (.pz3 or .pzz formats) save hard drive room. To enable compression support, select
that you opened in Poser. Edit > General Preferences, select the Library tab, and check
the Use File Compression box as described in “Miscellaneous
Preferences” on page 39.
Closing Your Scene
Selecting File > Close closes your current Poser scene while
Reverting Changes
leaving the Poser application running. You are prompted to save
any unsaved changes in your current scene. Selecting File > Revert allows you to undo your changes and
reopen your current scene file in its last-saved state. This is a
great way to do your recent changes over, however you will lose
Saving a Scene
everything you’ve done since the last time you saved your scene.
Selecting File > Save saves your current Poser scene using your This is why we recommend that you save your scene often and,
previously specified filename and save location. If you have not if you think you may want to return to an earlier version, to save
previously saved your scene, Poser will open the standard Save progressive versions of your work using the Save As command.
As dialog box, allowing you to name and save your current Poser Clicking Cancel returns you to Poser, and clicking Revert
scene (see below). proceeds to load the last saved version of your current scene.

Selecting File > Save As saves your current Poser scene

allowing you to select a different filename and/or save location.
This feature is useful for creating different versions of work,
which allows you to return to any previous stage if you decide
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Run Python Script Exit

Selecting File > Run Python Script opens a standard Open Selecting File > Exit closes Poser. You are prompted to save any
dialog, allowing you to browse for your desired PoserPython unsaved changes. You can also type [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[Q]
script. Once you locate your script, select it and click OK to to exit Poser.
execute it.
This menu option is available for Windows only. For Macintosh,
the Quit command appears on the Poser Application menu.
Page Setup
Selecting File > Page Setup opens a standard Print Setup
Undo
dialog box allowing you to set up your printers. Please refer
Selecting Edit > Undo reverses your most recent change to the
to your operating system and/or printer documentation for
actual scene. You can also press [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[Z].
information on setting your print preferences.
Undo applies only to alterations made within the actual scene; it
is not applicable to changes made to application settings, Library
Print content, etc.
Poser supports multiple levels of Undo. Selecting Edit > Undo
Selecting File > Print sends your current scene to your selected
repeatedly allows you to step backwards through your most
printer. A standard Print dialog box opens allowing you to select
recent document changes, reversing each change individually
your desired printer and general printing properties. Poser
and reverting the scene to its previous state. Some operations
documents always print using the full page size. Please refer
within Poser will purge the Undo/Redo cache; a warning
to your operating system documentation for information on
dialog will appear asking you to confirm before the action is
selecting print options.
implemented. Closing the file will purge the Undo/Redo cache.
You can specify the maximum size of the Undo stack. Please
see “Setting Application Preferences” on page 31 for more
information.

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You can specify whether or not the Undo feature Copy

will apply to camera changes. Open the
Properties palette for the currently selected camera, and Selecting Edit > Copy copies selected elements to the Clipboard.
check the “Remember changes for undo” checkbox in You can use this command to copy the position of one prop to
order to apply Undo to camera changes. Alternately, if another. You can also copy transformation and rotation channel
you do not wish camera changes to be included in the information from the selected item and paste that information
Undo feature, make sure to uncheck this checkbox for into another item. For example, the following figure shows
each camera. This checkbox is active by default. rotation information pasted from the figure’s abdomen to its
arm.

Redo
Selecting Edit > Redo reiterates the most recently undone
action, thus reverting the scene to its previous state. You can
also press [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+Shift+[Z]. To reverse a Redo
action, simply select Edit > Undo again.

Cut
Selecting Edit > Cut removes the selected element(s) and places
them in the system Clipboard for later pasting. You can also
press [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[X]. You can do this for poses and
other functions. Before and after abdomen pose settings are copied to a figure’s
arm.

To copy and paste a shaped body part:

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1. Manipulate the body part using any tool you desire. Adobe Photoshop. Your scene is copied exactly as displayed in
the Document window.
2. Select the body part (source), then select Edit > Copy or
press [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[C]. Copying and pasting images in this manner is
not the same as rendering. Please refer to part 9
3. Click to select the body part you wish to copy to (target) for information on rendering Poser scenes.
and select Edit > Paste (see following subsection). This
copies all settings from the source to the target, including
deformers.
Duplicate
The Duplicate [ObjectName] option creates an exact duplicate
Paste of the currently selected figure or prop. The duplicate object
is placed within the Document window, in the same position
Selecting Edit > Paste, or pressing [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[V],
as the original. The duplicate object will appear in either the
places the item stored in the Clipboard into your current scene.
Select Figure or Current Actor menu, depending on whether
If you are pasting a pose, select the element to apply the copied
it is a figure or a prop, and can be resized and repositioned
pose to, then make your selection.
independently from the original object.
Copying and pasting poses from one side to the
other does not mirror the poses. The same pose is
Restore
applied. To mirror poses, use the Symmetry function.
Need to restore a scene element to its default state? Selecting
Edit > Restore opens a submenu allowing you to restore scene
Copy Picture elements, which are completely restored to their Poser default
states, including but not limited to position, scale, morphs,
Selecting Edit > Copy Picture takes a snapshot of your scene, parameters, materials, parent/child relationships, etc.
which you can then paste into a graphics application such as

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The Restore function is literally for cases when scene) at a later time. No problem. Select Edit > Memorize and
you wish to go back and start all over again. Use the element(s) you wish to memorize (the list is the same as for
it with care! the Restore submenu, above). Doing this essentially changes
the default for your selected item(s), which can be undesirable
The Restore submenu appears as follows: in some cases. Redoing this operation saves the new default
overwriting the old. If you later select Edit > Restore, your
• Element: Selecting Edit > Restore > Element restores the element(s) will be restored to the last memorized settings.
current element to its default state. An element could be a
body part, prop, single camera, or single light. It is very important when setting up new figures
to use the Edit > Memorize > Figure command
• Figure: Selecting Edit > Restore > Figure restores the to preserve default poses so that Inverse Kinematics
current figure to its default state. works properly.

• Lights: Selecting Edit > Restore > Lights restores all lights
Memorization works on a per-file basis, meaning that
in your scene to their Poser default state.
memorizing defaults in one file does not affect the defaults of
• Camera: Selecting Edit > Restore > Camera restores the other Poser files or Library entries.
current camera to its default state.

• All: Selecting Edit > Restore > All restores all scene
elements to their default states. Use this option with care!

Memorize
While working, you might arrive at a convenient stopping
point. You know you like what you have so far and do not want
to revert all the way back to the Poser default state should you
need to restore one or more scene elements (or even the entire

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Chapter 5: The
Document Window
The Document window is your portal to the Poser workspace
where you view and can directly manipulate your scene and
the elements within it. The Document window consists of two
tabs: the Preview tab, which is where you do the work to set up
your Poser scene; and the Render tab, which is where you can
view the results of your renders. The following topics discuss the
Document window controls and how to use them.

Preview Tab
Clicking on the Preview tab at the top left of the Document
window brings up the scene preview window, where you can
manipulate figures, props, etc. to set up your Poser scene. Refer
to “Preview Tab” on page 385 for detailed configuration
parameters for the Preview tab’s preview display window. The
Preview tab contains the following controls: Components of the Document Window.

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Title Render
The Title appears along the top of the Document window, and Selecting Render from the Context menu renders your
displays the current Poser scene (such as My Scene.pz3). entire Poser scene, using the render settings specified in the
Render Settings dialog, and the render engine specified in the
Render Engine Selection menu on the Render tab. For more
Options Menu information on Poser’s render settings, see “Part 4: Rendering”
on page 378. The render results will appear in the Render tab
Clicking on the arrow at the right side of the Title bar opens the of the Document window.
Document window’s Options menu. This menu contains the
following settings and shortcuts:
Render in Background
Choose the Render in Background command from the Options
menu to render your image or animation in the background.
This option allows you to continue working while your project
renders.

Export Image
Selecting Export Image opens a standard Save As dialog that
will allow you to save the scene as it appears in your scene
preview window as an image file. This can also be accomplished
by selecting File > Export > Image..

Document Window Options menu.

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Upload Main Render To Clear Shadow Maps

Choose Upload Main Render To > Facebook to upload the Clicking on Clear Shadow Maps will cause Poser to recalculate
currently selected render to your Facebook account. For further the shadow maps for your scene during the next render. Use this
information on how to perform the upload, see “Uploading to option if you have made changes to lights or object positions, as
Facebook” on page 101. such changes will affect the shadows in your scene.

Reload Textures Render Settings

Clicking on Reload Textures will reload into memory all Selecting Render Settings will open the Render Settings dialog.
textures for the current scene preview display. This allows See “Chapter 18: The Render Settings Dialog” on page 384
you to easily update any changes you may have made in other for more information on the Render Settings dialog options.
applications to the currently loaded textures.

Render Dimensions
Reuse Shadow Maps
Selecting Render Dimensions brings up the Render
If you do not make changes to lights or object positions between Dimensions dialog, which contains settings that allow you
renders, there is no need to recalculate the shadow maps for to specify the dimensions of your render tab. See “Render
your scene, as they will not have changed. The Reuse Shadow Dimensions” on page 72 for more information on the
Maps option allows you to save the shadow map computations Render Dimensions dialog settings.
from your previous render and reuse them, thereby saving time
with each subsequent render.
Preview Dimensions
Selecting Preview Dimensions brings up the Preview Dimensions
dialog. Here you can specify your desired height and width
(in pixels) of the scene preview window. Clicking the Match

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Background button forces the Document window to match the Once you have set collision preferences for your scene, you must
dimensions of an imported background image or movie. Clicking then enable collision detection for each of the objects for which
the Match Production Aspect button sets the scene preview you want to use this feature. Do this by selecting your desired
window size to the currently selected Production Frame aspect. objects one at a time and checking the Collision Detection
This button is only active when the Production Frame feature checkbox in that object’s Properties palette. This feature only
is enabled (see “Production Frame” on page 109). Clearing a works between objects that have collision detection enabled.
checkbox disables the specified option. If you have one object enabled and one disabled, collision
detection will not work.

Collisions Objects lose their collision detection settings

when hidden.
A collision occurs when two objects in your scene partially or
completely occupy the same 3D space. Selecting the Collisions
menu item opens a pop-up menu that allows you to set the
following collision options for your current Poser scene: Document Window Size
• Collisions On: Checking the Collisions on option prevents The Document window is dockable and floatable. When the
objects in your scene from colliding with/penetrating each Document window is in its floating state, there are two ways
other. that you can resize it:

• Collisions Off: Checking the Collisions off option allows • Clicking and dragging the bottom right corner of the
objects in your scene to collide with/penetrate each other. Document window to your desired size.

• Show Intersections: Checking the Show intersections • Choose Window > Document Window Size, which opens
option displays colliding polygons in red when objects in the Preview Dimensions dialog. Enter your desired
your scene collide with/penetrate each other but does not scene preview window height and width (in pixels) in the
prevent the collision. appropriate fields and click OK to resize the Document
window.

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ƒƒ Click the Match Background button to match the

Document window to the dimensions of an imported
background image or movie.

ƒƒ Click the Match Production Aspect button to set the

scene preview window size to the currently selected
Production Frame aspect. This button is only active
when the Production Frame feature is enabled (see
“Production Frame” on page 109).

Note that the above two options are disabled (as

shown below) when the Document window is
docked. To undock the document window, click the Float
Palette button in the Preview Dimensions dialog.

Setting Document Window size.

The Document window size is saved in the same manner as

described in “Single/Multiple-View Panes” on page 90.

OpenGL Hardware Acceleration

Poser offers OpenGL hardware accelerated rendering as well as
SreeD software rendering options for the scene preview display.
Simply right-click (Windows) or Apple key-click (Mac) within
the preview window to select hardware or software rendering for
processing the scene previews. In most cases, hardware rendered
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previews will be faster than software rendered previews.

Additionally, hardware accelerated performance is independent
of the preview window size, whereas software rendering will
yield a lower frame rate with larger preview window sizes.
Recent and more powerful graphics cards with OpenGL support
will provide better results with the display of your Poser scene,
with better texture previews and faster interaction and updating
of the scene. Unfortunately, due to the vast variety of graphics
hardware available, hardware acceleration may not be supported
on every system. In that case please use the SreeD software
rendering option. Poser should automatically detect whether or
not OpenGL hardware rendering is supported for your system,
and if not, should default to SreeD software rendering.

Choosing your Preview Rendering option.

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Select Figure/Current Actor Menus

The top left of the Preview tab contains the Select Figure (left)
and Current Actor (right) pull-down menus. The currently
selected figure and item appear as labels, and those item’s
properties and parameter dials are accessible in the Parameters
& Properties palette. Double-clicking anywhere in the scene
preview area will open the Parameters & Properties palette in
the position and state in which it was last used, with the settings
for the currently selected figure and/or actor displayed.
You can also select figures, props, and other scene objects by
clicking on them directly in the scene preview area.

Select Figure (left) and Current Actor (right) menus.

• Select Figure Menu: Use the Select Figure pull-down

menu to select your desired figure. This can be helpful if you
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have a number of figures in your scene (particularly if you

Preview Tab Context Menus
are using conforming clothing, each item of which is a Poser
figure). Right-clicking (Windows) or Apple key-clicking (Mac) within a
scene preview tab will open up the Context pop-up menu. The
• Current Actor Menu: The Current Actor pull-down menu
options that appear in this menu vary, depending on the type of
allows you to select scene items as follows:
item that you right-click over.
ƒƒ Body: Selecting Current Actor > Body selects the
entire body and all body parts of the currently selected
Actors Context Menu
figure.

ƒƒ Body Parts: Selecting Current Actor > Body Parts When you right-click over a body part in a poseable figure, the
opens the list of the currently selected figure’s body context menu appears as shown below.
parts. By using this option, you will select only the
specified body part on the currently selected figure.

ƒƒ Props: Selecting Current Actor > Props opens the

list of all props in your scene (including hair and cloth
objects), allowing you to select your desired prop.

ƒƒ Cameras: Selecting Current Actor > Cameras opens

the list of the cameras in your scene. You may select
any camera from this list. Please refer to “Chapter 11:
Cameras” on page 237 for information about Poser
cameras.

ƒƒ Lights: Selecting Current Actor > Lights opens the list

of lights in your scene. You may select any light from
this list. Please refer to “Chapter 12: Lighting” on page
256 for information about Poser lights.

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• The top line in the context menu displays the name of the
selected item.

• Select: Expand the Select menu to select the part that you
right-click. A checkmark appears beside the name of the
body part when it is set as the current selection.

• Memorize and Restore: Equivalent to using the Edit >

Memorize and Edit > Restore commands as they apply to
the entire figure, or to the selected element. See “Memorize”
on page 69 and “Restore” on page 68.

• Lock: Equivalent to using the Figure > Lock Figure or

Figure > Lock Actor commands. Allows you to lock or
unlock the transformations of the selected actor or figure.
The item is locked when a checkmark appears beside the
item. See “Lock Figure” on page 213 and “Lock Actor” on
page 209.

• Hide Actor: Hides the actor that is right-clicked.

• Show All: Equivalent to using the Figure > Show All

command. “Unhides” any hidden figures or actors.

• Frame Object: Equivalent to using the Frame Selected

Actor Context Menu.
camera control or the View > Frame Selected command.
See “Frame Selected” on page 109.
The Actor context menu provides the following commands:

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• Element Style: Equivalent to using the Display > Element • Figure Style: Equivalent to using the Display > Figure
Style command for the selected element. Choose the Style command. Allows you to choose the display style for
desired display style from the submenu. See “Chapter 6: the figure. See “Chapter 6: The Display Controls and Menu”
The Display Controls and Menu” on page 103 for more on page 103 for more information about the display styles
information about the display styles available in Poser. available in Poser.

• Duplicate Figure: Equivalent to using the Edit > Duplicate • Camera View: Equivalent to using the Display > Camera
command. See “Duplicate” on page 68. View command. Select the desired camera view from the
context menu.
• Change Figure (figurename) Parent to: Equivalent to
using the Figure > Set Figure Parent command. Allows • OpenGL: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview
you to select a prop, camera, or light as a figure parent. Drawing > OpenGL Hardware command. See “OpenGL
Choose Universe to remove the figure parent. See “Set Hardware Acceleration” on page 74.
Figure Parent” on page 226.
• SreeD: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview Drawing
• Conform Figure (figurename)To: Equivalent to using the > SreeD Software command. See “OpenGL Hardware
Figure > Conform To command. Allows you to conform Acceleration” on page 74.
the figure to another figure in the scene. Choose None to
unconform the selected figure. See “Adding Conforming • Toon Tones: Equivalent to using the Display > Cartoon
Clothing: Manual Conforming” on page 141. Tones command. Select the desired cartoon display mode
from the context menu. See “Cartoon Tones” on page 118.
• Use Inverse Kinematics: Equivalent to using the Figure >
Use Inverse Kinematics command. A checkmark appears
beside the leg or hand when inverse kinematics is on. See
Full Figures Context Menu
“Inverse Kinematics (IK)” on page 174.
To display the context menu for a full figure, right-click the
Figure circle that appears around a poseable figure. The options
• Symmetry: Equivalent to using the Figure > Symmetry
in the context menu are similar to those in the Actor context
command. Expand the menu and choose the desired
menu described in the previous section.
symmetry. See “Symmetry” on page 213.
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• Select: Expand the Select menu to select the part that you
right-click. A checkmark appears beside the name of the
body part when it is set as the current selection.

• Memorize and Restore: Equivalent to using the Edit >

Memorize and Edit > Restore commands as they apply to
the entire figure, or to the selected element. See “Memorize”
on page 69 and “Restore” on page 68.

• Lock: Equivalent to using the Figure > Lock Figure or

Figure > Lock Actor commands. Allows you to lock or
unlock the transformations of the selected actor or figure.
The item is locked when a checkmark appears beside the
item. See “Lock Figure” on page 213 and “Lock Actor” on
page 209.

• Hide Actor: Hides the actor that is right-clicked.

• Show All: Equivalent to using the Figure > Show All

command. “Unhides” any hidden figures or actors.

• Frame Object: Equivalent to using the Frame Selected

camera control or the View > Frame Selected command.
Full Figure Context Menu.
See “Frame Selected” on page 109.

• The top line in the context menu displays the name of the • Element Style: Equivalent to using the Display > Element
selected item. Style command for the selected element. Choose the
desired display style from the submenu. See “Chapter 6:

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The Display Controls and Menu” on page 103 for more the figure. See “Chapter 6: The Display Controls and Menu”
information about the display styles available in Poser. on page 103 for more information about the display styles
available in Poser.
• Duplicate Figure: Equivalent to using the Edit > Duplicate
command. See “Duplicate” on page 68. • Camera View: Equivalent to using the Display > Camera
View command. Select the desired camera view from the
• Change Figure (figurename) Parent to: Equivalent to context menu.
using the Figure > Set Figure Parent command. Allows
you to select a prop, camera, or light as a figure parent. • OpenGL: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview
Choose Universe to remove the figure parent. See “Set Drawing > OpenGL Hardware command. See “OpenGL
Figure Parent” on page 226. Hardware Acceleration” on page 74.

• Conform Figure (figurename)To: Equivalent to using the • SreeD: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview Drawing
Figure > Conform To command. Allows you to conform > SreeD Software command. See “OpenGL Hardware
the figure to another figure in the scene. Choose None to Acceleration” on page 74.
unconform the selected figure. See “Adding Conforming
Clothing: Manual Conforming” on page 141. • Toon Tones: Equivalent to using the Display > Cartoon
Tones command. Select the desired cartoon display mode
• Use Inverse Kinematics: Equivalent to using the Figure > from the context menu. See “Cartoon Tones” on page 118.
Use Inverse Kinematics command. A checkmark appears
beside the leg or hand when inverse kinematics is on. See
“Inverse Kinematics (IK)” on page 174.

• Symmetry: Equivalent to using the Figure > Symmetry

command. Expand the menu and choose the desired
symmetry. See “Symmetry” on page 213.

• Figure Style: Equivalent to using the Display > Figure

Style command. Allows you to choose the display style for
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Props Context Menu • Select: Expand the Select menu to select the prop that you
right-click. A checkmark appears beside the name of the
prop when it is set as the current selection.

• Memorize Prop and Restore Prop: Equivalent to using

the Edit > Memorize and Edit > Restore commands as
they apply to the prop. See “Memorize” on page 69 and
“Restore” on page 68.

• Lock Actor: Equivalent to using the Figure > Lock Actor

command. Allows you to lock or unlock the transformations
of the selected prop. The item is locked when a checkmark
appears beside the item. See “Lock Actor” on page 209.

• Hide Actor: Hides the actor that is right-clicked.

• Show All: Equivalent to using the Figure > Show All

command. “Unhides” any hidden figures or actors.

• Frame Object: Equivalent to using the Frame Selected

camera control or the View > Frame Selected command.
See “Frame Selected” on page 109.
Props Context Menu.
• Element Style: Equivalent to using the Display > Element
• The top line in the context menu displays the name of the Style command for the selected element. Choose the
selected item. desired display style from the submenu. See “Chapter 6:
The Display Controls and Menu” on page 103 for more
information about the display styles available in Poser.

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• Duplicate: Equivalent to using the Edit > Duplicate Lights Context Menu
command. See “Duplicate” on page 68.
For information regarding commands that are specific to lights,
• Change (propname) Parent to: Equivalent to using the see “Chapter 12: Lighting” on page 256.
Object > Change Parent command. Allows you to select a
figure, prop, camera, or light as a parent. Choose Universe
to remove the figure parent. See “Changing a Parent” on
page 227.

• Camera View: Equivalent to using the Display > Camera

View command. Select the desired camera view from the
context menu.

• OpenGL: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview

Drawing > OpenGL Hardware command. See “OpenGL
Hardware Acceleration” on page 74.

• SreeD: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview Drawing

> SreeD Software command. See “OpenGL Hardware
Acceleration” on page 74.

• Toon Tones: Equivalent to using the Display > Cartoon

Tones command. Select the desired cartoon display mode
from the context menu. See “Cartoon Tones” on page 118.

Lights Context Menu.

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• The top line in the context menu displays the name of the • Include in OpenGL Preview: Allows the effects of the
selected light. current light to display in the preview render in the
document window. A checkmark appears beside the light if
• Select: Expand the Select menu to select the light that you it is included.
right-click. A checkmark appears beside the name of the
light when it is set as the current selection. • Point At: Equivalent to using the Object > Point At
command. See “Point At” on page 209.
• Memorize Lights and Restore Lights: Equivalent to using
the Edit > Memorize and Edit > Restore commands as • Change (lightname) Parent to: Equivalent to using the
they apply to the lights. See “Memorize” on page 69 and Object > Change Parent command. Allows you to select a
“Restore” on page 68. figure, prop, camera, or light as a parent. Choose Universe
to remove the parent. See “Changing a Parent” on page
• Duplicate: Equivalent to using the Edit > Duplicate 227.
command. See “Duplicate” on page 68.
• Camera View: Equivalent to using the Display > Camera
• Lock Light: Equivalent to using the Figure > Lock Actor View command. Select the desired camera view from the
command. Allows you to lock or unlock the transformations context menu.
of the selected light. The item is locked when a checkmark
appears beside the item. See “Lock Actor” on page 209. • OpenGL: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview
Drawing > OpenGL Hardware command. See “OpenGL
• Light On: Turns the light on or off. A checkmark appears Hardware Acceleration” on page 74.
beside the command when the light is on.
• SreeD: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview Drawing
• Casts Shadows: Turns shadows on or off for the selected > SreeD Software command. See “OpenGL Hardware
light. Shadows are on when the option is checked. Acceleration” on page 74.

• Light Type: Allows you to choose the type of light. A • Toon Tones: Equivalent to using the Display > Cartoon
checkmark appears beside the currently selected light type. Tones command. Select the desired cartoon display mode
from the context menu. See “Cartoon Tones” on page 118.
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Cameras Context Menu • Memorize Cameras and Restore Cameras: Equivalent to

using the Edit > Memorize and Edit > Restore commands
For information regarding commands that are specific to as they apply to the selected camera. See “Memorize” on
cameras, see “Chapter 11: Cameras” on page 237. page 69 and “Restore” on page 68.

• Lock Camera: Equivalent to using the Figure > Lock

Actor command. Allows you to lock or unlock the
transformations of the selected camera. The item is locked
when a checkmark appears beside the item. See “Lock
Actor” on page 209.

• Point At: Equivalent to using the Object > Point At

command. See “Point At” on page 209.

• Change (lightname) Parent to: Equivalent to using the

Object > Change Parent command. Allows you to select a
figure, prop, camera, or light as a parent. Choose Universe
to remove the parent. See “Changing a Parent” on page
227.
Cameras Context Menu.
• Camera View: Equivalent to using the Display > Camera
• The top line in the context menu displays the name of the View command. Select the desired camera view from the
selected camera. context menu.

• Select: Expand the Select menu to select the light that you • OpenGL: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview
right-click. A checkmark appears beside the name of the Drawing > OpenGL Hardware command. See “OpenGL
light when it is set as the current selection. Hardware Acceleration” on page 74.

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• SreeD: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview Drawing Background Context Menu
> SreeD Software command. See “OpenGL Hardware
Acceleration” on page 74.

• Toon Tones: Equivalent to using the Display > Cartoon

Tones command. Select the desired cartoon display mode
from the context menu. See “Cartoon Tones” on page 118.

Background Context Menu.

• Memorize and Restore: Equivalent to using the Edit >

Memorize and Edit > Restore commands. See “Memorize”
on page 69 and “Restore” on page 68.

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• Production Frame: Equivalent to using the Display > the rendered image. See “Antialias Document” on page
Production Frame command. See “Production Frame” on 381.
page 109.
• Motion Blur Document: Equivalent to using the Render
• Document Style: Equivalent to using the Display > > Motion Blur Document command. Adds a motion blur
Document Style command. Allows you to choose the effect to the render. See “Motion Blur Document” on page
display style for the entire document. See “Chapter 6: 381.
The Display Controls and Menu” on page 103 for more
information about the display styles available in Poser. • Camera View: Equivalent to using the Display > Camera
View command. Select the desired camera view from the
• Deformers: Equivalent to using the Display > Deformers context menu.
command. Allows you to show and hide the deformers in
the scene. See “Deformers” on page 111. • OpenGL: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview
Drawing > OpenGL Hardware command. See “OpenGL
• Ground Shadows: Equivalent to using the Display > Hardware Acceleration” on page 74.
Ground Shadows command. Turns the ground shadow on
and off. See “Ground Shadows” on page 112. • SreeD: Equivalent to using the Display > Preview Drawing
> SreeD Software command. See “OpenGL Hardware
• Figure Circle: Equivalent to using the Display > Figure Acceleration” on page 74.
Circle command. Toggles the display of the figure circle
around the figure. See “Figure Circle” on page 112. • Toon Tones: Equivalent to using the Display > Cartoon
Tones command. Select the desired cartoon display mode
• Bend Body Parts: Equivalent to using the Display > Bend from the context menu. See “Cartoon Tones” on page 118.
Body Parts command. Toggles bending on and off in a
figure. See “Bend Body Parts” on page 112.
Area Render
• Antialias Document: Equivalent to using the Render >
The Area Render feature allows you to select a specific region of
Antialias Document command. Smooths rough edges in
your scene to render, thereby allowing you to more quickly view

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the results of changes to one part of your scene, without having Render
to re-render the entire scene each time. Area Renders appear in
the Render tab overlaid on the window’s existing image at the The Render icon at the top of the Preview or Render tab
time the Area Render was taken, so you can view the rendered is a shortcut to the Render command. Clicking this symbol
area in the context of your entire scene. will render your entire Poser scene, using the render settings
specified in the Render Settings dialog, and the render engine
specified in the Render Engine Selection menu on the Render
tab. For more information on Poser’s render settings, see “Part
4: Rendering” on page 378. The render results will appear in
the Render tab of the Document window.

Area Render icon.

To use the Area Render feature, simply click on the Area Render
icon at the top of the Preview or Render tab. The symbol will
turn red, indicating that Area Render has been enabled. Then
click and drag within the scene preview area to select the portion Render icon.
of the scene you wish to render. The results will appear in the
Render tab of the Document window, using the render settings
specified in the Render Settings dialog, and the render engine
specified in the Render Engine Selection menu on the Render
Mini Camera Controls
tab. Poser will save the most recently rendered image in the The Mini Camera Controls located at the top right of the
Render tab, allowing you to toggle back and forth between the Preview tab contain a subset of the total available Camera
Preview and Render tabs, without losing your rendered image. controls. From left to right, these are:
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• Frame Selected Object: Allows you to pick a body part

and then frame that body part in the camera view. To frame
another object, select another body part and click the icon
again.

• Orbit Selected Mode: Toggles the Orbit Selected feature

Mini Camera Controls.
on and off. When on, the camera will be centered on the
selected body part while rotating. The arrow turns blue
when Orbit Selected mode is active.
Changing Cameras within a Pane
The Orbit Selected mode does not work with
cameras that are already set to orbit a specific The camera label in the upper left corner of the scene preview
body part (such as the Face, Left Hand, and Right Hand tab displays the currently selected camera for that pane. You can
cameras). change the selected camera in each pane of the Preview tab. To
do this, click on the Current Actor pop-up menu, or right-click
anywhere within the desired pane to open the context menu, and
• Camera Rotation: The Camera Rotation trackball tilts and
click on the Camera View option.
spins the currently selected camera about all three axes.

• Move XZ: Clicking and dragging the Move XZ control

moves the currently selected camera along the X and/or Z
axes.

• Move XY: Clicking and dragging the Move XY control

moves the currently selected camera along the X and/or Y
axes.
Please refer to “Chapter 11: Cameras” on page 237 for detailed
information about the Camera controls.

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• To select a layout, click the Document window Layout

menu button in the lower left corner of the Preview tab, and
select your desired layout from the pop-up menu.

• To toggle between single pane and the most recently

selected multiple-pane layout, press [D].

• Press [F] to cycle through all of the available multiple-pane

layouts.

Choosing a camera view from the menu commands.

To change the camera, click your desired option. The view in the
selected pane will switch to your newly selected camera.

Single/Multiple-View Panes
By default, the Preview tab consists of one pane, meaning that
you can view your scene using one camera at a time. You can,
however, add up to four simultaneous viewing panes (cameras)
to your Document window using eight customizable layouts,
Multiple view panes.
which helps you visualize your scene in all dimensions.

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• You can resize panes by clicking and dragging their borders. • Fast: Displays figures and props in the currently selected
Poser remembers pane sizes and camera selections if you display style while they or the camera are still and as
switch layouts while working on a given scene, and these bounding boxes when in motion. This combines an accurate
selections are also saved when you save your Poser scene. scene view so you can see before and after images without
waiting for each frame to fully render. Fast tracking can
• To use the same layout every time you launch Poser, select help save time while blocking out scenes and creating
the Previous State option from the General Preferences animations.
dialog as described in “Setting Application Preferences”
on page 31. You can also save up to nine pane/camera • Full: Displays scene elements in the currently selected
layouts using the UI Memory dots (see “Memory Dots” on Document window display style at all times, whether still
page 54). or animated. This mode is suitable for users with high-
performance computers and for performing fine-tuning on
• Clicking anywhere in a pane makes that pane active. A red previously blocked-out scenes.
border appears around the active pane.

Tracking Mode
Tracking mode determines the type of preview Poser uses to
display an object when you reposition either that object or a
camera. The Tracking Mode pop-up menu in the lower left
corner of the Preview tab offers three tracking mode options.
From top to bottom, these are:

• Box: Displays scene elements (figures and props) as

bounding boxes all the time, whether still or moving. This
is the fastest way to preview scenes and is useful for rough
blocking work.

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which can be helpful if you are viewing it using a single pane. To

toggle depth cueing on and off, click the Depth Cueing button.
Depth Cueing depends on the total depth of your scene. For
example, if your scene consists of a single figure, the portions
of that figure farthest from the camera will appear faded out.
Adding another element (such as a prop) farther from the
camera than the figure will cause the prop to appear faded with
the figure being more visible. This is useful if you wish to control
the amount of depth cueing in your scene.

Box and Full tracking modes.

Depth Cueing
The Depth Cueing button appears to the right of the Tracking
Mode menu along the bottom left of the Preview tab.
Depth Cueing adds dimension to scene elements visible in the
Document window. When Depth Cueing is enabled, elements Depth cueing fades objects that are farther away in the distance.
farther away from the camera fade into the distance. This
provides a quick visual indication of the depth of your scene,
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Depth cueing and shadows do not affect your • Ground Shadows: Displays shadows on the ground only as
rendered output. shown in the following figure.

• Hardware Shadows: Displays more realistic shadows in

relation to the lights in your scene.
Shadows
The Enable Hardware Shading option in the
Items in your scene can cast shadows on the ground plane,
Preview tab of the Render Settings dialog must
which can help you orient them in 3D space. Disabling shadows
be enabled for hardware shadows to display.
can help speed up scene redraw time.
The Shadows button appears in the lower left corner of the
• Ground and Hardware Shadows: Displays both ground
Document window. Clicking the Shadows button allows you to
and hardware shadows (if enabled).
choose which shadows will be displayed in the preview window
as you build your scene:

Shadow display options.

• No Shadows: Turns shadow display off. This can help

improve performance on systems that have limited A figure with and without ground shadows.
hardware resources.
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Colors use the operating system’s standard Color Picker, you can
alter the color using numeric values. The Foreground color
You can improve your view of your scene by altering the affects the color of the Silhouette, Outline, Wireframe, and
foreground, background, shadow, and ground colors appearing Hidden Line display modes (see “Chapter 6: The Display
within the Document window’s Preview tab. The four dots Controls and Menu” on page 103).
located along the lower-right corner of the Preview tab allow
you to control the following colors, respectively:

The color picker.

• Background: Change the Background color as described

above. This color affects the Poser workspace background.

The final render will always display whatever is

Interface options for foreground, background, shadow, and ground
attached to the Color channel of the Root
colors.
Background node. However, if you wish the same image
to appear in the preview render, you must also attach it
• Foreground: Clicking the Foreground button opens to the BG Picture or BG Movie node. For more
the Poser Color Picker and displays an eyedropper icon. information about nodes, please refer to “Chapter 16:
Pressing [OPT]/[ALT] while clicking this button opens your Material Room Nodes” on page 320.
operating system’s standard Color Picker. Position this
dropper over the color you wish to select and click it. If you

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• Shadow: Change the Shadow color as described above.

This color affects the preview shadow displayed in the
Preview tab (if enabled).

• Ground: Change this color as described above. This color

affects the ground plane displayed in the Preview tab (if
enabled).

Render Tab
Clicking on the Render tab at the top left of the Document
window displays the main render window, where you can see the
rendered results of your Poser scene. The Render tab contains
the following controls:

Render Window controls.

Render Dimensions
The main render window size is displayed in the upper left
corner of the Render tab. Clicking this display brings up the

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Render Dimensions dialog, which contains the following • Render to Exact Resolution: Clicking the Render to
settings: Exact Resolution radio button will generate the render
results according to the specific resolution specified in the
following fields.

• Width: Enter the width in pixels for the render window in

the Width field. Larger measurements take longer to render
and require more disk space.

• Height: Enter the height in pixels for the render window in

the Height field. Larger measurements take longer to render
and require more disk space.

• Resolution: Enter the resolution in dot pixels per inch

(DPI) in the Resolution field. 72DPI is normal for screen-
resolution images and is suitable for images you intend
to distribute online. 300DPI is appropriate for most print
functions, and 1200DPI is used when you need extreme
Render Dimensions options. detail. Higher resolution images require more disk space
and take longer to render.

• Match Preview Window: Clicking the Match Preview • Constrain Aspect Ratio: Checking the Constrain Aspect
Window radio button sets the resulting render to match the Ratio checkbox preserves the render window’s aspect
existing render preview window size. ratio (width divided by height). For example, if you begin
with 640x480 and change the 640 to 1280, the height
• Fit in Preview Window: Alternately, clicking the Fit in
will automatically change to 960. Clearing this checkbox
Preview Window radio button will fit the resulting render
disables this option.
within the render preview window, while maintaining the
specified aspect ratio.
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• Match Document Window: Clicking the Match Document

Window button sets the Document window’s current size in
the Width and Height fields.
The production frame is determined by the aspect ratio resulting
from the output width and height. You can set the production
frame to be visible in the Document window’s scene preview
area, by selecting Display > Production Frame from the menu
bar.

Quick-Scale Quick Scaling options.

The Quick-Scale pop-up menu is along the top left of the

Render tab. It offers quick access to three different render Render Engine Selection
scale options: Full Size, Half Size, and Quarter Size. Note that
this feature is not intended to replace the Render Dimensions Click on the name of the currently selected render engine, along
menu, but rather is a tool for facilitating quick render previews, the top of the Render tab, to display the Render Engine popup
as the smaller scale render sizes require less time to calculate. menu. This menu allows you to easily switch between the various
renderers included with Poser. To modify the render settings for
each render engine, open the Render Settings dialog by clicking
on Render > Render Settings... in the menu bar (see “Chapter
18: The Render Settings Dialog” on page 384 for a description
of this window).

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Render
To render the current image, click the Render icon along the top
of the Render tab. The results will display in the main render
window area, using the render settings specified in the Render
Settings dialog, and the render engine specified in the Render
Engine Selection menu (as described above).

New Render Window

Selecting a render engine.
Clicking the arrow symbol next to the Render icon sends the
current Main render image to a new window. You can then select
a previously rendered image, or generate a new one, in the main
Area Render render window and compare the two images side by side.

Clicking the Area Render icon along the top right of the Render
tab enables the Area Render feature, which allows you to select
a specific region of the current image to render, thereby saving
processing time. Area Render uses the render settings specified
in the Render Settings dialog, and the render engine specified
in the Render Engine Selection menu (as described above).
Area Render is available for the FireFly renderer only. Please
New Render Window icon.
see “Area Render” on page 87 for a complete description of
this feature’s functionality.

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Pan dialog. (See “Setting Application Preferences” on page 31 for

more information about the General Preferences dialog.)
If the image you have rendered is larger than the render window
size, you can pan the image by clicking and dragging in the main
render window. The Pan symbol at the top right of the Render
tab activates this feature. Panning is useful as it allows you to
shrink the Document window as needed, such as when entering
the Material room, and still have access to your entire rendered
image.

Render Comparison
Poser offers convenient render comparison features, allowing
you to contrast two different rendered images within the main
render window. Clicking either of the two squares in the lower
left corner of the Render tab brings up a pop-up menu listing
the most recent renders by date and time. By default, the most
recent render is set as the Main render, and is checked in the
list under the black square. The second most recent render is
the default Compare render, and is checked in the list under the
white square. You can, however, select any render from the list
Render Comparison controls.
as your Main and Compare renders. To compare the Main and
Compare renders, use the Render Wipe slider at the bottom
of the main render window. Moving the slider to the right
displays the Main render, while moving it to the left displays the
Compare render. The default number of recent renders listed is
ten. You can configure this number in the General Preferences
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Displaying Recent Renders ƒƒ Upload To: Allows you to upload the selected render to
Facebook, as described later in this chapter.
You can use the Recent Renders palette to display thumbnails of ƒƒ Set Compare Image: Designates the selected image as
your most recent rendered images. This palette can be docked or the image to compare with another thumbnail for use
floating in the same manner as other palettes in your workspace. with the Render Wipe slider.
To show or hide the Recent Renders palette, choose Window >
ƒƒ Delete: Deletes the selected render from the render
Recent Renders. A checkmark appears beside the command
cache, and removes the thumbnail from the Recent
when the palette is visible.
Renders palette.
From the Recent Renders palette, you can perform the following
functions:

• Click a thumbnail in the Recent Renders palette to display

the selected render in the Render window. Partially and
fully completed renders appear in this palette

The number of thumbnails that appear in the

palette are determined by the Max Cached
Renders setting in the Render tab of the General
Preferences dialog. For more information on this setting
see “Render Preferences” on page 36.

Right-click a thumbnail to display a context menu with the

following commands.

ƒƒ Export Image: Opens the Export As dialog, which

allows you to save the render in one of the supported Recent Renders options.
image formats.

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Uploading to Facebook ƒƒ You can also choose Window > Recent Renders to
display the Recent Renders palette.Then right-click on
If you have a Facebook account, you can upload your renders the thumbnail of the image that you want to upload,
to your account directly from within Poser. The steps are as and choose Upload to > Facebook from the context
follows: menu.

1. After you complete your render, do one of the following:

ƒƒ Click the arrow at the upper-right corner of the

Document window to display the Options menu. Then
choose Upload Main Render To > Facebook.

Uploading to Facebook from the Recent Renders Palette.

2. In the dialog that appears, you are asked to enter a name for
the Facebook album that you want to upload to, and to add
a description of the image. After you enter the information,
click OK to launch Facebook.

3. A browser window opens and you are asked to log in to your

Facebook account.
Uploading to Facebook from the Document Window options menu.
4. If you have not yet set up the Smith Micro Video Uploader,
you are directed to a page where you check an option to
allow Smith Micro Software Video Uploader to publish
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content. Click Allow Publishing to save the authorization

permissions. You will be prompted to close the browser
window to return to the Smith Micro Software Video
Uploader.

Configure Facebook to allow access from Smith Micro Video

Uploader.

5. Your Facebook account opens, where you should see the

image posted on your wall.

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Chapter 6: The Display Clicking the arrow to the left of the title opens a pull-down menu
with the following options:

Controls and Menu

Poser allows you to select 12 display styles. Selecting a different
display style can help you better visualize your scene and/or
add additional artistic interest to your rendered output. You can
select display styles on the scene, figure/prop, or element (body
part) level.
Display styles can be set for the entire document, for a single figure,
or for an element.

By default, the display style that you select will be applied to the
entire document (Document Display Style). You can also apply
different display styles to the selected figure, or the selected
element.

Document Display Style controls. • To change the display style for the entire document, choose
Display > Document Style > (display option), or choose
Document Style from the Display controls palette and click
The Display Controls palette has adjustable
the display style icon you want to use. This affects how all
width and height, and the controls auto-wrap to
scene elements (figures and props) are displayed unless the
fit the allotted width. If additional height is needed to
display style of a figure or actor is overriden as described
display all the controls, a scrollbar appears on the right
below.
side of the palette.

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• To change the display style for the selected figure, choose twelve different display styles from which to choose. They are as
Display > Figure Style > (display option), or choose follows:
Figure Style and click the desired display type from the
Display controls palette shown above. Selecting the Figure • Silhouette: displays the figure/element only as a cutout, as
Style option accesses the Figure Display controls, which shown to the right.
causes only the selected figure or prop to display in the
selected style without affecting the other scene elements. To
revert the selected actor back to the document style, choose
Display > Figure Style > Use Document Style, or click
the Use Document Style option in the Figure Style display
options palette.

• To change the display style for the selected element (such

as a prop or selected body part actor on a figure), choose
Display > Element Style > (display option), or choose
Silhouette Display Style.
Element Style and click the desired display type from the
Display controls palette shown above. Only the selected
figure or prop will display in the selected style without • Outline: displays the figure/element only as an outline.
affecting the other scene elements. If the selected element When either the entire scene or an entire figure is displayed
is a body part on a figure, you can revert back to the display in this mode, outlines appear around each actor (body part),
mode set for the entire figure by choosing Display > as shown to the right.
Element Style > Use Figure Style, or by clicking the Use
Figure Style option in the Element Style display options
palette.
Whether you use the Display > Document Style, Figure
Style, or Element Style menu, or the Document Style, Figure
Style, or Element Style display control palette, there are

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• Hidden Line: displays only the figure/element’s polygons

that would normally be visible from the current camera.
For example, if you are viewing a figure from the front, the
polygons forming the back would not be visible, as shown to
the right.

Outline Display Style.

• Wireframe: displays the figure/element as a polygonal

mesh. This mode displays the actual polygons comprising
the figure/element, including polygons that would normally Hidden Line Display Style.
be hidden from view (such as a figure’s back when viewed
from the front), as shown to the right.
• Lit Wireframe: displays much the same as the Wireframe
display style, except that the polygons’ colors correspond to
the color of the surface material, as shown to the right.

Wireframe Display Style.

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• Flat Lined: same as the Flat Shaded display style, except

that black mesh lines clearly denote polygon edges, as
shown to the right.

Lit Wireframe Display Style.

• Flat Shaded: displays figures/elements using the surface Flat Lined Display Style.
material colors while displaying the mesh facets, as shown
to the right.
• Cartoon: displays the figure/element using a simulated
hand-drawn style, as shown to the right. See “Cartoon
Tones” on page 118 for more information about this
shading style. Poser offers improved Cartoon display effects
in conjunction with the OpenGL hardware acceleration
option (see “OpenGL Hardware Acceleration” on page
74).

Flat Shaded Display Style.

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• Smooth Shaded: displays figures/elements as smooth

continuous surfaces with the material colors, as shown to
the right.

Cartoon Display Style.

• Cartoon With Line: same as the Cartoon display style, Smooth Shaded Display Style.
except that figures/elements are outlined with black lines, as
shown to the right. See “Cartoon Tones” on page 118 for
more information. • Smooth Lined: combines the Flat Lined and Smooth
Shaded by displaying the polygons as a black mesh over a
smooth surface, as shown to the right.

Cartoon with Line Display Style.

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You can also change display styles by selecting Display >

Document Style, Display > Figure Style, and Display >
Element Style.
By default, Poser renders using the Texture Shaded mode.
While rendering high-resolution output using the currently
selected display styles and/or depth cueing, etc. is not directly
supported, you can achieve excellent results using the rendering
tips discussed in “Tips & Tricks” on page 389.

Smooth Lined Display Style.

The Display Menu Commands
• Texture Shaded: displays figures/elements using texture As the name implies, the Display menu controls how items
maps, as shown to the right. appear in your Poser workspace, specifically within the
Document window.

Camera View
Choose Display > Camera View to select one of the cameras
available in your scene. See “Chapter 11: Cameras” on page
237 for more information about the various camera views.

Camera Layout
Texture Shaded Display Style.
Choose Display > Camera Layout to select the number of
different views that you want to display in the document

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window. See “Single/Multiple-View Panes” on page 90 for The Orbit Selected mode does not work with
more information about multiple views. cameras that are already set to orbit a specific
body part (such as the Face, Left Hand, and Right Hand
cameras).
Fly Around
This command puts the current camera in Flyaround mode. For
more information, see “Flyaround View” on page 243. Show Camera Names
This command shows or hides the display of camera names in
Frame Selected the document window.

The Frame Selected command fits the camera view around the
currently selected actor. For example, you can pick a body part, Production Frame
and then choose the Frame Selected command to frame the
camera view around that body part. Selecting Display > Production Frame allows you to specify
whether you wish the production frame to be visible in the
Document window’s scene preview. The size of the production
Orbit Selected Mode frame is determined by the aspect ratio resulting from the output
width and height. See “Render Dimensions” on page 72
The Orbit Selected command rotates the camera around and “Keyframe Controls” on page 438 for more information
the currently selected actor. This command is a toggle. When about configuring the output dimensions for images and movies,
toggled on, the camera will be centered on the selected object or respectively.
body part and you can rotate the camera so that it is always in
the center.
Document Style
Selecting Display > Document Style allows you to select a
display style for your entire Poser scene. This is the same as
using the Display controls discussed earlier.
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Figure Style Depth Cued

Selecting Display > Figure Style allows you to select a display Selecting Display > Depth Cued toggles depth cueing on and
style for your currently selected Poser figure. This is the same as off. Depth cueing makes objects fade as they get further from
using the Display controls discussed earlier. the camera. A check mark appears when this feature is active
and vice versa. Please refer to “Depth Cueing” on page 92 for
If your currently selected figure does not use the more information about depth cueing.
same display style as the document, choose
Display > Figure Style > Use Document Style to
change to change it to the same display mode that is
selected for Document Display Style.

Element Style
Selecting Display > Element Style allows you to select a display
style for your currently selected scene element (for example,
a body part or a prop). This is the same as using the Display
controls.

If your currently selected element (body part,

prop, hair, and so on) does not use the same
display style as the figure to which it is attached, choose
Display > Element Style > Use Figure Style to change Depth Cueing fades objects over distance.
to change it to the same display mode that is selected for
the figure.

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Tracking A check mark appears next to the currently selected deformer

display mode. You can select hidden deformers using the
Selecting Display > Tracking allows you to set your desired Current Actor pull-down menu. Hiding some or all deformers
tracking mode. Please refer to “Tracking Mode” on page 91 can reduce clutter, particularly in complex scenes.
for more information about tracking modes.

Deformers
As the name implies, deformers (morph targets, parameters,
force fields, and magnets) affect the shape of figures and props
within your scene.

The Alyson and Ryan figures utilize many

deformers to improve bending and joint
performance.

Each deformer type is discussed in its own section later in this

manual. Selecting Display > Deformers allows you to:

• Show all deformers (magnets, waves, and force fields) in

your scene (Display > Deformers > Show All).

• Hide all deformers in your scene (Display > Deformers >

Hide All).
Deformers hidden (top) and visible (bottom).
• Only show the currently selected deformer. (Display >
Deformers > Show current selection only).

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Ground Shadows Figure Circle

Selecting Display > Ground Shadows displays or hides ground Selecting Display > Figure Circle toggles displaying a white
shadows, as shown circle around your currently selected figure in your scene, which
turns red depending on cursor location, allowing you to select
Please refer to “Depth Cueing” on page 92 for more
the entire figure. Please refer to “Selecting Body Parts” on page
information about ground shadows.
178 for more information about the Figure Circle.

Bend Body Parts

Selecting Display > Bend Body Parts toggles bending on and
off. All body parts are separate elements (actors). As you change
their positions, Poser attempts to maintain continuity over the
entire body. The arm should connect smoothly to the shoulder,
etc. Poser achieves these smooth transitions by bending body
parts where they join. However, the bends that work well for a
body part might not work well when applied to figures created
from props, or figures that have some body parts replaced
by props (such as replacing a hand with a hook for a pirate
character). Rendering images with bending disabled can cause
figures to appear “broken”, as shown above.
Displaying figures with and without ground shadows.

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Show Background Picture

If you have a background image in your scene that was placed
there using either the File menu (see “Importing Background
Pictures” on page 702) or by pasting the current figure/prop
into the background (see below), then selecting Display > Show
Background Picture toggles displaying this image on and off.
Please refer to “Importing Movies” on page 701 for more
information on adding a background animation to your Poser
scene.

Clear Background Picture

Selecting Display > Clear Background Picture deletes the
currently displayed background image (if any).
When the Bend Body Parts option is off, figures split at the group
seams.
Paste Onto Background
You can paste an image of your currently selected figure/
Foreground/Background Color prop into your scene background: This is especially helpful for
planning animation.
Selecting Display > Foreground Color or Display >
Background Color allows you to specify the Document
window’s foreground and background colors, respectively. You
can also do this using the Color controls located next to the
Document window. Please refer to “Colors” on page 94 for
an explanation of foreground and background colors.
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Show Background Footage

Selecting Display > Show Background Footage displays
imported animation footage in the workspace background.

Clear Background Footage

Selecting Display > Clear Background Footage removes
imported animation footage from your scene.

Use Background Shader Node

There are two ways of specifying the background of a scene –
by loading an image in the BG Picture node, or by attaching a
shader tree to the Background root node:
You can paste a “snapshot” of your scene onto the background and
make changes. • If you want to use the BG Picture node as the background of
your rendered image, choose Render over > Background
To do this, select the prop/figure you wish to paste into the picture in the Render Settings dialog, as described in
background, then Select Display > Paste onto Background. If “FireFly Options Settings” on page 403. Please refer
you do this more than once, each succeeding image supersedes to “Importing Background Pictures” on page 702 for
the previous one. This is also true if you import a separate information on importing background pictures.
background image/movie.
• If you want to use the shader attached to the Background
root node as the background of your rendered image, choose
Render over > Current BG shader as described in “FireFly
Options Settings” on page 403. Please refer to “Root

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Background Node” on page 324 for information about

using background shaders.

Guides
Poser provides several guides to assist you when posing
figures. Guides are particularly useful for helping you achieve
a particular perspective more easily. To display a guide, select
Display > Guides and select the guide you wish to display. A
check mark appears next to visible guides. To hide a guide, select
Display > Guides and select the guide you wish to hide. Hidden
guides have no check marks next to them. The available guides
are described in the following sections.

Ground Plane

The ground plane provides a basic reference of the camera’s The ground plane represents the “zero” point of the scene’s height.
position relative to the Poser workspace. It also helps show scene
elements’ vertical positions relative to one another. You can Head Lengths
display the ground plane using the same display style as the rest
of your scene or you can give it its own display styles. This guide references the figure’s height. Most people are
roughly seven “heads” tall, meaning that the average head is
1/7th the height of a person. This guide can be helpful when you
are performing body shaping operations such as using morph
targets.

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Hip and shoulder relationship guides.

Head lengths are represented by several parallel planes.

Horizon Line

Hip-Shoulder Relationship This guide references the Poser workspace’s horizon line. You
can check camera orientation by selecting a camera and checking
This guide displays the relationship between the figure’s upper its position relative to the horizon line. The horizon line is also
and lower body. It helps you see the side-to-side, bend, and twist useful when creating perspective between two or more figures
in the hip, abdomen, and chest. This is particularly useful when or other scene elements. For example, if the horizon line crosses
editing/viewing your figure using different cameras. the front figure’s chest, arrange all the figures so that the horizon
line crosses their chests as well. This ensures that all figures are
on the same plane and contributes to a viewer’s sense that all
figures have their feet on the ground.

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Displaying the horizon line. Displaying vanishing lines.

Vanishing Lines Focus Distance Guide

Vanishing lines are an artistic technique for achieving realistic The focus distance is the distance at which objects appear
perspective. You can see this is real life by standing at the corner most in focus. This distance is individually configurable for
of a long building and sighting along a wall. You will see that the each camera. The Focus Distance Guide shows you where the
roof and the ground appear to converge the farther away you focus distance for the selected camera falls within the scene,
look until they eventually meet. This phenomenon is one of the to help you visualize the position of various scene elements in
things that give objects the appearance of depth in both real and relationship to the focal plane. For more information on the
virtual life.

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focal plane and focus distance, see “Camera Parameters” on

page 247.

Preview Drawing
Selecting Preview Drawing allows you to specify whether you
wish to use OpenGL hardware rendering, or SreeD software
rendering, for your scene preview display. Please see “OpenGL
Hardware Acceleration” on page 74 for more information
about hardware versus software rendering.

Cartoon Tones
Selecting Cartoon Tones allows you to choose between the
following options for your scene preview display: One, Two,
or Three cartoon shading tones, Three Tones Plus Highlights,
and Smooth Toned. These shading styles affect the Cartoon
Display Style specifically, and are only visible when Cartoon
is selected as the Document Style, Figure Style, or Element
Style from the Display menu. Note that these styles are for the
scene preview only, and are not to be confused with final render
shading styles.

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Chapter 7: The Poser • Use the Up and Down arrow keys to move higher or lower in
your content tree.

Library • Use the Right and Left arrow keys to open and close folders.

• Click or select an item in the list to expand the display and

Poser’s hierarchical Library palette provides access to all of
view a larger preview of the content item.
the content that ships with Poser such as figures, props, lights,
cameras, etc. It has three tabs: the Library tab that provides
access to the Poser content categories, the Search tab which
allows you to search your content folders for specific files,
and the Favorites tab where you can gain easy access to your
frequently used or favorite content items. The Library tab
contains ten categories, discussed below. Each category is
further divided into subcategories. You can create and remove
categories and subcategories, and can add and remove content,
including your existing content libraries, to/from the Library
palette. See “Maintaining Your Library Palette” on page 158
for information on maintaining your Library palette.
Poser can also automatically install content purchased or
obtained using the Content room as described in “Chapter 8:
The Content Room” on page 170.
The following figure shows the various controls and options that
are contained in the library palette. The boxed area in Figure
1 shows the Library list. Navigate through the Library list as
follows:

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2. Category Icons: Allows you to select one of the ten library

categories. From left to right, they are Figures, Poses,
Faces, Hair, Hands, Props, Lights, Cameras, Materials
and Scenes.

3. Library Selection: Click the Show Library selector to

display all runtime folders, or to display the contents of
a single selected runtime folder in the library contents
window.

4. Expanded folder: Click the down arrow to collapse the

contents of the folder. The number that appears in brackets
at the beginning of the folder name designates the number
of items that are contained within that folder.

5. Collapsed folder: Click the right arrow to expand the

contents of the folder. The number that appears in brackets
at the beginning of the folder name designates the number
of items that are contained within that folder.

6. Category Selection: Allows you to select a library category

(listed above in Category Icons) by name.

7. Remove Library: A Remove Library (-) icon appears to

the right of the Add Library icon when you use the Show
The Library Window.
Library menu to select a Library that you added yourself
through the Add Library command. See “Removing
1. Library Tabs: Allows you to switch between three views in Libraries” on page 131 for details.
the Library Palette: Library, Search, and Favorites.
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8. Add Library: Click the Add Library (+) icon to open 12. Double Checkmark: Click the double-checkmark icon to
the Browse for Folder dialog, which allows you to select add the currently selected item to your scene. The double
additional Library folders that you have stored on your checkmark does not appear for every Library category and
computer. the purpose varies depending on the selected category. See
“Loading and Managing Items using the Library Icons” on
Content that is created for Poser is typically page 132.
arranged in a folder named Runtime, with
13. Add a Folder (+}: Click this button to create a new folder or
subfolders beneath that for geometry, textures, and
subfolder beneath the currently selected library folder.
library items. For more information about creating,
installing and accessing additional library folders, see
14. Save to Library (+): Click this button to add the item that is
“Accessing Different Content Libraries” on page 128
currently selected in your scene into the library.

9. Item List Panel: The currently selected item is highlighted 15. Delete from Library (-): Click this button to delete the
in blue. If the Item List Panel is not displayed, the currently library content item that is currently selected. Note that
selected item displays as a larger icon in the Tree view. this button completely removes the library item from the
Library, not from your scene.
10. Extended Details Panel: Displays a thumbnail, filename,
file size, installation date, and other details about the item 16. Add to Favorites: Adds the item that is currently
that is selected in the library. highlighted in the library to the library’s Favorites tab.

11. Single checkmark: Click the single checkmark icon to 17. Display Options Widget: Click the Display Options widget
replace the item that is currently selected in your scene to expand or collapse the display options in the bottom of
with the item that is highlighted in the library. Functions the library palette.
of the single checkmark button vary, depending on the
Library category that is currently selected. See “Loading and 18. Display Options: Use the Display, Tree, List, and General
Managing Items using the Library Icons” on page 132. display options to configure how content is displayed in the
Library palette.

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19. Breadcrumb Trail: Displays the library path to the currently ƒƒ When using the 32-bit version of Poser Pro, you can
selected folder or item. Use the Up arrow at the left of the dock or float the library palette. Commands to dock or
breadcrumb trail to navigate up to the previous folder level. float the library appear in the docking options menu,
accessible by clicking the Docking Control square in the
20. Library Menu (not shown): Appears in the 32-bit Library upper-rght corner of the Library window.
only. Click the Docking Control icon (the small square)
in the upper-right corner to select commands that dock, ƒƒ In the 64-bit version (Poser Pro only), the Library
undock, close, or enable/disable dragging. Refer to Palette is displayed in floating (external) state only. The
“Docking and Floating Palettes” on page 41 for further docking options menu is not available in the upper-
information. right corner of the Library window. However, you will
notice a library popup widget in the upper-right corner
of the Poser interface that allows you to bring the

Displaying the Library Palette library window to the foreground when it falls behind
other windows.
If the Library Palette is not open, select Window > Libraries.
The library consists of several different sections that can be
shown or hidden. For further information, see “Accessing
Different Content Libraries” on page 128.

• Additional library preferences appear in the Library tab of

the General Preferences dialog. See “Library Preferences”
on page 34 for a discussion of the settings you find in
this tab.

• There are notable differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit

versions of the Library:
The Library Popup widget.

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When you use the Poser Library as an external

application (Poser Pro only), you will see two
icons in the system tray. The icon with the human figure
brings Poser to the foreground when it appears behind
other windows. Similarly, the icon with the scrolled
document brings the external library application to the
foreground.

Poser and Poser Library icons.

ƒƒ When the Library Palette is floating, you can position

and resize it however you like. Drag either side of
the Library palette across your screen to the desired
width. You can also move the Library palette to a
second monitor if desired. For further instructions
on arranging palettes, refer to “Docking and Floating
Palettes” on page 41.
The Library Palette allows you to display your content in
a variety of ways. You can display your content in a Tree
view, which displays all of the content in your libraries in a
Viewing library items in Tree view.
hierarchical list. The tree view appears as shown below if the
Item List display is turned off

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Alternatively, you can undock the Library palette and display The following section describes how you can customize the
content thumbnails in multiple rows and columns, which allows appearance of the Library palette to suit your needs.
a better view of all of the content in a selected folder. When
Item List is open, a hierarchical tree appears in the left side of
the library. When you select a folder in the tree, the folders and
Changing the Library Appearance
content within the selected folder appear in a multi-column
A widget appears at the bottom of the Library palette, just
display that adjusts to fill the width of your library window as
beneath the library buttons shown in the previous figure. Click
shown below.
this widget to expand the Library palette to view the display
options described in the sections that follow:

The Library Display Options widget.

Displaying thumbnails in multiple rows and columns.

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General Options and displaying its path tool tip. Time delay is adjustable
from 100 to 1000 ms.

• Show Folder Counts: Check or uncheck this option to

show or hide the number that represents the number of
items in a folder. When checked, the number of items
contained in the folder appears within parentheses.

Display Options
General library options.

• Always On Top: Check this option to keep the Library

window on top of all other open windows on the screen.
When unchecked, the Library window will be allowed to
move behind other windows when they have focus.

• Reopen Folders: When checked, preserves the state of Display library options.
current open folders when you close and then reopen the
library. If you toggle it off, the library reverts to a completely Check or uncheck the options listed below, to show or hide the
clean state when relaunched, with all folders closed. various areas in the Library Palette as desired. These areas are
labeled in the following figure.
• Show Path Tool Tip: Enable or disable the tool tip that
displays the path to a library folder when you hover your
mouse over a folder name in the library.

• Tool Tip Delay (ms): Drag the slider left or right to adjust
the amount of time between hovering over a library name

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that adjust to the width and height of the Library palette.

Check or uncheck this option to show or hide the item list
panel.

• Extended Details Panel: Displays information about the

selected item. Check or uncheck this option to show or hide
the extended details.

The Extended Details panel will display basic

information such as the product name, size, the
date the file was installed and last modified, and the
path to the file on your computer. Additional metadata
can also appear about a library item if it has been added
by the author of the content. Extended details can
include additional information such as author name,
copyright information, usage instructions, and more.
Breadcrumbs, Tree, Item List, and Extended Details in the Library Metadata is stored in a file that ends with an XMP
palette. extension. For more information, see the article at
http://blog.smithmicro.com/2010/07/12/poser-3d/
metadata-makes-life-in-poser-easier/.
• Tree: Displays a hierarchical view of the contents of your
library. Check or uncheck this option to show or hide the
hierarchical tree in the Library Palette. If the Item List Panel • Breadcrumbs: Displays the runtime folder path to the
is turned off, thumbnails appear in the tree. selected library folder. Check or uncheck this option to show
or hide the breadcrumbs.
• Item List Panel: Displays the folders and content
thumbnails for the folder that is selected in the tree. The
thumbnail display appears in multiple rows and columns

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When breadcrumbs are displayed, you can use • Show Item Details: Shows or hides the File Name, Size,
the Up arrow icon (at the right of the Installed, and Modified details that appear beside the
Breadcrumb trail) to navigate to the next highest folder currently selected library item.
level in the path. You can also click any folder in the
breadcrumb trail to move up to the selected level. • Tree Indentation: Drag the slider left or right to decrease
or increase the amount of indentation for items and folders
that appear within and beneath library folders.
Tree Options
• Show Folder Thumbnails: Check or uncheck this option to
Thumbnails and additional product details appear in the Tree if show or hide Folder icons in the library. When unchecked,
you have selected to disable the Item List Panel. The options in only the name of a folder will appear in the library. When
the Tree Options section control the size of preview and selected checked, a small Folder icon appears beside the folder
item thumbnails, details, and other items in the Tree. name.

List Options

When the Item List is enabled, thumbnails appear in multiple

columns that adjust to fit the width of the panel. Settings in
the List Options section control size of the thumbnail and the
placement of text around the thumbnail.
Tree library options.

• Thumbnail Size: Drag the slider left or right to decrease or

increase the size of the preview thumbnails.

• Selected Thumbnail Size: Drag the slider left or right to

decrease or increase the size of the thumbnail for selected List library options.
library items.

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• Thumbnail Size: Drag the slider left or right to decrease or

Accessing Different Content Libraries
increase the size of the content thumbnails.
Poser contains two Libraries: Runtime (contains the content
• Label Height: Adjusts the amount of vertical space between
that shipped with your copy of Poser) and Downloads (a default
the thumbnail rows to allow for labels that have multiple
folder for added third-party content).
lines.
Poser content libraries are arranged in Runtime
• Horizontal Gap: Adjusts the amount of horizontal space
folders, which contain many different types of
between the thumbnails
components that are used in Poser. In addition to
content such as figures, props, hair, and poses, Runtime
Details Options
folders can also contain scripts, interface files, plug-ins,
and other application-critical data. The collection of
different types of elements in a Runtime folder is known
as a Library.

You may add as many Libraries as you wish. This feature allows
Details library options.
you to store Poser content in different folders and/or different
drives, making content management more powerful than ever.
• Show Image: Check this option to display an image of the Also, should you need to reinstall Poser for any reason, you can
selected library item in the Extended Details panel. Uncheck do so without affecting your custom Libraries. You can access
the option to remove the image display. each of your Libraries using the Library palette.

• Max Image Size: If you have images displayed in the

Extended Details panel, drag the slider toward the left to Switching Libraries
reduce the size of the image, or toward the right to increase
To filter content between loaded Library Runtimes, click on the
the size.
Show Library menu, which is located along the top of the Library
tab of the Library palette. Doing so will open the Available
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Libraries pop-up menu, from which you can display the Adding Libraries
contents of any single Library, or of all your runtime libraries.
As mentioned earlier, Poser creates Runtime and Download
libraries during installation, dependent upon which content
you elect to install during installation. There is also a great
deal of third-party content available for Poser, and if you have
acquired a large collection you may find it necessary to arrange
your content into multiple library folders. Then you can use the
following process to make your additional folders appear in the
Library palette.
Runtime folders have a structure similar to the following.
Folders and content shown in italics are unique to the content
and are named by the creator of the content.
Runtime
Geometries
(vendor or product folder)
OBJ files for product
Libraries
Camera
(vendor or product folder)
Camera and thumbnail files for product
Character
(vendor or product folder)
Character and thumbnail files for product
You can add and access external libraries from the Library palette. Face
(vendor or product folder)
Face and thumbnail files for product
Hair
(vendor or product folder)
Hair and thumbnail files for product
Hand
(vendor or product folder)
Hand and thumbnail files for product

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Light • You create a Content folder to store all this content.

(vendor or product folder)
Light and thumbnail files for product Beneath that Content folder, you create other subfolders
Materials to store each of the content types you want to organize.
(vendor or product folder)
Material and thumbnail files for product The folders can be named for a specific figure (Miki 3,
Pose Terai Yuki, etc) or type of character (Monsters, Animals,
(vendor or product folder)
Pose and thumbnail files for product
etc), or even a theme (Anime, Horror, Sci Fi, etc). Arrange
Props them in any way you like. The following figure shows some
(vendor or product folder)
Prop and thumbnail files for product
examples.
Scene
(vendor or product folder)
Scene and thumbnail files for product
Textures
(vendor or product folder)
texture image files for product

Poser products do not always contain all of the above-

mentioned folders beneath the Runtime folder. For example,
if you are installing a piece of clothing, it might add files in the
Geometries, Props, and Textures folders but not in the others.
As an example of creating a new Library on your hard drive,
assume the following:

• You have collected dozens or hundreds of items that relate

to several different figures. You want to arrange them into
different libraries that make the content easier to find.

• You have an external hard drive D: that has lots of room

to store content. You decide you want to install all of your
Adding a Library folder.
content there.

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• Now you want to install all of the content that relates to one 5. Click OK to add the new Library
figure (such as Smith Micro’s Miki 3 figure). You extract/
install all of your Miki 3 clothing, hair, and other related When adding existing Poser libraries to your
content into the D:\Content\Miki 3 folder. The final path to Poser Library palette, you must preserve your
the runtime folder is D:\Content\Miki 3\Runtime. Runtime folder name and structure (<drive > :\<folder
To add this example Miki 3 Library to Poser, you would proceed > \<subfolder > \Runtime\<folders >. Navigate the
as follows: Browse dialog to your desired Runtime folder. The
added Library will appear using the name of the folder
1. Open the Library palette if it is not open. containing the Runtime folder.

2. Click the Add Library button (+) to open a standard

Browse for Folder dialog box. Poser allows you to create your own folders to
store your own poses, material settings and
other creations, or so that you can organize library
items to your liking. See “Creating Subfolders” on page
159.

Removing Libraries
The Add Library icon. The Remove Library button appears when a library other than
the Poser default libraries is selected. You cannot delete the
3. Select the hard drive that stores the Library files you want to default Poser library. Deleting libraries only severs the link
add (for our example, you would choose D:) between the Library folders and the Library palette. It does not
remove any of the folders or content from your hard drive. This
4. Navigate to the folder that stores the Runtime folder and protects your data from accidental deletion and allows you to
its subfolders (for our example, you would choose Content, reuse Libraries at need (such as from removable drives).
then Miki 3).
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If you want to remove the Library from your

hard drive completely, you will need to do this
manually by deleting the folder and contents from your
hard drive. Exercise extreme caution when deleting
library folders from your hard drive, as they will be
irretrievably lost.

To remove a library:
The Remove Library icon.
1. Use the Show Library list to select a Library that you
previously added using the steps outlined in “Changing the
Library Appearance” on page 124 Loading and Managing Items using the
Library Icons
Note that you will be unable to delete libraries
that were installed during the Poser installation The Library icons appear as shown in the following figure.
You can only remove libraries that you added yourself. Certain Library icons are only available for specific categories.
These icons appear at the bottom of the palette.
2. Click the Remove Library button (minus sign) to remove
From left to right, these icons are:
the selected Library from the Library palette. The name of
the library is removed from the Show Library list, and its
contents no longer appear in the Library.

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ƒƒ Hands: Applies a hand pose to the currently selected

figure. You are prompted to specify right hand or left
hand.

ƒƒ Props: Adds the currently selected prop to the scene.

ƒƒ Lights: Replaces the existing lights in the scene with

the currently selected light set.

ƒƒ Cameras: Applies the camera settings to the camera.

ƒƒ Materials: Applies the single material to the currently

selected single material in an object; or, applies a
Material Collection to all materials in the current object.
Several icons add content to the scene and to the Library.
ƒƒ Scenes: Closes the current scene and replaces it with
the scene you are adding from the library.
• Single checkmark: Clicking the single check button serves
different functions as listed below: • Double checkmark: The double checkmark button appears
for the following categories and serves the purposes listed
ƒƒ Figures Category: Changes the selected figure. below:
ƒƒ Poses Category: Applies the pose to the figure for ƒƒ Figures Category: Creates a new figure in the scene.
which it was originally designed. Typically used to add additional human characters,
ƒƒ Faces: Applies the selected face expression to the clothing, and other poseable figures.
currently selected figure. ƒƒ Poses Category: Applies the currently selected pose as
ƒƒ Hair: Adds selected hair to the scene. a universal pose.

ƒƒ Lights: Adds the lights in the library to those already

present in the scene.

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ƒƒ Scene: Keeps the content that is currently in your selected. You can also Cmd-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (Windows)
scene, and adds the additional content from the to add additional items to the selection. Then drag or drop the
selected library item. additional items into your scene.

• Add a Folder: Click the Add a Folder (+) button to create a

folder beneath the currently selected Library folder.

• Add to Library: Clicking the Add to Library (+) button

adds the selected item to the Library palette.

• Delete from Library: Clicking the Delete from Library (-)

button removes the selected item from the Library palette.

• Add to Favorites: Click to add the currently highlighted

library item to your Favorites list.

Placing/Adding Items to the Poser

Workspace
In addition to using the library icons as discussed in the previous
section, you can also drag an item from the library and drop Adding clothing to a figure.
it into your scene. As you drag an item from the library to the
scene, a tooltip displays the action that you are performing.
You can also select multiple items into the library and add them
to your scene at the same time. Click to select the first item, and
then press the Shift key (Windows or Mac) to select a contiguous
range of thumbnails between the first and last items you

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Removing an Item From the Poser • Click a Category icon to select a Content category. Then
drill down in the hierarchical list in the Library list to select
Workspace the item you want to add to your scene.
To remove an item from the Poser workspace, first select the
item to remove by either selecting it in the Document window
or using the Current Actor pull-down menu (see “Select Figure/
Current Actor Menus” on page 76), then press [DEL].

About Library Palette Categories

Poser’s new library allows you to quickly select categories and
the items contained within them.

If you are seeking more information related to

installed third party Poser content, please look in
the “ReadMe” Folder located in the Poser Pro 2012
installed “runtime” folder. This folder is in the content
location that you selected when installing Poser Pro
2012. There are not ReadMe’s for every specific piece of Category icons help you choose a Library category.
content, but there are some that may help get you more
familiar with how pieces of content were designed to be
• You can also drill down through the Category menu to
used together, special features of a piece of content or in
select an item. First, click the Category icon to select the
depth details on how to use it. The P.I.C.K Content for
main category for your content. Then click the Category
example has a PDF file in the ReadMe/CP Partners/
button (shown in the following figure) to drill down in the
MindVision-GDS folder which has in depth details on
menus until you find the item you want to choose. In the
how to use it to its fullest potential
following figure, the menu drills down from Hair > Poser

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Content > People > Alyson to list all of the available hair The default categories are broken down by Poser file type:
objects in that folder. Figures, Poses, Faces, Hair, Hand poses, Props, Lights,
Cameras, Materials and Scene. Please refer to “Poser File
Types” on page 769 for a brief discussion of Poser file types
and how they relate to using Poser. When you switch between
categories, the Library remembers which item was selected the
last time you used a specific category.
You can navigate through the Content pane as follows:

• When you reach a content folder that contains items, you

can navigate through the contents in the folder using your
arrow keys. Click to activate a selection in the Content pane,
then use the Left and Right arrow keys to collapse or expand
folders, and the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate
through the folder contents.

• Press the Refresh button to refresh the contents. This is

useful after you install content while Poser is running.

• The Library popup menu displays nested menus, but you

Category menus allow you to select a category folder.
can also click on a folder or category to switch to it, and then
highlight an item to load it.
The Library palette categories are described in further detail
below in “About Library Palette Categories” on page 135.
Please refer to “Loading and Managing Items using the Library The Figures Category
Icons” on page 132 for information on working with Library
palette content. Figures are poseable content items that use an extension
of CR2 or CRZ. The Figures category houses your poseable

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Poser figures. This category contains many figures to work Poser includes two versions of both M/F human
with, including various types of males and females, children, skeletons. These skeletons are found in the
skeletons, mannequins, stick figures, and animals. Morph values Additional Figures/Skeletons content folder. The
can be saved with figures if you choose the option to do so while human skeletons named Ryan and Alyson are designed
saving them. Newer Poser figures feature fully articulated hands to conform inside the Ryan or Alyson figures to create
and feet with movable fingers and toes. medical illustration effects. These conforming skeletons
will follow the conformed figures’ poses and positions. A
There are two main types of clothing used in semi transparent version of each character’s texture is
Poser: conforming clothing (discussed here), and found in the Materials in the Library, so setting up a
dynamic clothing, which are treated as and found in the skeleton inside a figure is easy to achieve using these
Props library. You’ll find more information about pre-configured material collections. The fully articulated
dynamic clothing in “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on M/F skeletons are accurate versions of the human
page 518. skeleton with each bone posable. These are not designed
to conform inside the human figures, but instead work
best on their own.

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matters. For example, using low polygon figures instead of high

polygon figures in the distance of a large scene can conserve on
your computer resources.

Replacing Figures
If you want to replace a figure or light in your scene with one
from the Library palette:
1. Select the figure you wish to replace and click the Change
Figure (single check mark) button.

2. If you are replacing a figure, the Change Figure dialog

appears with the following options:

ƒƒ Keep modified geometries: Check this option if you

have modified the geometry of the figure with morphs
and want to pass the modifications on to the figure
that is replacing it. Props and magnets attached to the
figure, and other changes such as groups changed or
added and normals reversed, will be applied to the
figure after replacement.
The Figures category stores poseable figures, such as humans and ƒƒ Keep attached props: Check this option if you have
animals. attached props to the figure and want to attach them to
the figure that is replacing it.
Some models are available in high- and low- resolution versions.
ƒƒ Keep attached deformers: Check this option if you
Use high-resolution models for realism, and low-resolution
want the new object to use any deformers (magnets or
models (these have very low polygon counts) when performance
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wave deformers) that you have added to the object that

is being replaced.

ƒƒ Keep attached figures: When checked, any figures

that are attached to the original figure will remain
in the scene and will be attached to the new figure.
For example, if you have Alyson wearing conforming
clothing, and then you replace Alyson with Alisha, then
Alisha will wear the same clothing. When this option
is not checked, the clothing worn by the original figure
will be removed from the scene when the replacement
figure appears.

ƒƒ Keep current proportions: To have the new

figure retain the old figure’s proportions, check the Change Figure options.
Keep current proportions checkbox. Leaving this
checkbox blank allows the new figure to retain its own
3. After you make your selections, click OK to add the figure.
proportions.

Adding Conforming Clothing: Automatic Conforming

The simplest way of clothing figures is with conforming

clothing. Conforming clothing is poseable, just like a human or
animal figure. This type of clothing is typically designed for a
specific figure (for example, clothing designed for Alyson will
not fit or conform exactly to the G2 figures). However, when
conforming clothing is “attached” (or conformed) to the figure,
it automatically bends and poses along with the character that
wears the clothing.

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Options in the Properties dialog allow you to • When found in the Props library (as is common for Poser 7
choose whether or not you want to include and later, and G2 Figure clothing prepared by Smith Micro),
morphs and/or scaling when conforming your clothing conforming clothing will use a PP2 or PPZ extension.
to a figure. For further information, see “Figure
You can drag and drop conforming clothing onto a selected
Properties” on page 190.
figure and the clothing will automatically inherit the pose of the
figure. To automatically conform clothing to your figure, follow
Due to fundamental changes to Alyson 2 and these steps:
Ryan 2 figures, conforming clothing created for
the original Alyson and Ryan figures will not
automatically conform. For best results, clothing
originally created for Alyson and Ryan can be converted
using Wardrobe Wizard (included with this copy of
Poser) to fit the new Alyson 2 and Ryan 2 figure
variations. See “Chapter 27: Wardrobe Wizard” on page
537 for detailed information about using the
Wardrobe Wizard.

Conforming clothing is rigged like a figure, including the same

joint parameters. Some conforming clothing includes morphs
that correspond with the morphs in the figure.
You will find conforming clothing in either the Figure library or
the Props library.

• When found in the Figures library (as is typical for older

clothing, or conforming clothing created by third-party
Conforming clothing automatically “fits” to the character that it is
content creators), conforming clothing will use a CR2 or
designed for.
CRZ extension.
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1. Click to select the figure in your scene that you wish to 4. When added to the scene, conforming clothing appears
clothe. This makes it the active figure in your scene. in the Select Figure menu pull-down menu (described
in “Select Figure/Current Actor Menus” on page 76)
2. Locate a conforming clothing item in the desired Figures or . Verify that the clothing item that you want to conform is
Props category. Clothing is often named for the figure that currently selected.
it is designed to fit (for example, Alyson Pants).
5. Choose Figure > Conform To. The Conform To dialog
3. Drag the clothing from the library and drop it onto the appears, listing all of the figures in your scene.
figure that you selected in Step 1. If your figure is posed, you
should see the clothing conform to the pose of the figure.

Adding Conforming Clothing: Manual Conforming

You can use the Figure > Conform To command to manually

conform clothing to any figure in your scene. The process is as
follows: The Conform To dialog allows you to select the character that will
wear the clothing.
1. Select the figure you wish to clothe.

2. Select a conforming clothing item from the desired Figures

or Props category. Clothing is often named for the figure
that it is designed to fit (for example, Alyson Pants).

3. If your clothing is in the Figures category, click the Create

New Figure button at the bottom of the Library palette. If
the item is in the Props category, click the Apply Library
Preset button. The clothing appears to the scene in its
default position and pose. Alternatively, you can drag and
drop from the Library to the Document window.

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Some tight-fitting conforming clothing may not You can also use conforming clothing without a
completely cover the base figure’s skin, figure. Conforming clothing is treated like any
particularly when the figure is animated. You might other Poser figure and can be added to the Poser
notice the base figure poking through areas of the workspace and posed/animated just like any other
conforming clothing. There are two ways to correct this Poser figure.
problem. The first method is to hide the body part of the
figure that is poking through by setting the body part as
invisible (see “Body Part Actor Properties” on page
The Poses Category
192). The second method of correction is to use the
Morph Brush to raise the clothing over the hole, or lower The Poses Library palette category houses poses (*.pz2), which
the body part underneath the clothing (see “Creating actually fit into several different categories.
Morphs with the Morphing Tool” on page 578).
Figure Poses
6. Select the figure you wish to conform the clothing to in the
Poses were originally designed as pre-defined poses (standing,
dialog that appears. Click OK when finished. The clothing
sitting, working, and so on) that you could apply to your
conforms to the figure.
currently selected figure. Pose files store pose information
7. Apply a pose to the figure, and the conformed clothing for an entire figure, including its hands (see below for more
should automatically snap to the new position. information). They contain joint positions for each of the figure’s
joints (such as Left Elbow bend 45 degrees).
If the clothing item that you added does not
appear in the Select Figure menu, check inside
the Current Actor > Props menu, because you may
have added a dynamic clothing item instead. For further
information on using Dynamic clothing, see “Chapter
26: The Cloth Room” on page 518.

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When adding a pose to a figure, facial

expressions are not applied, even if they are
included in the Pose file. This preserves any work you
have done to your face prior to applying the pose. To
apply facial expressions, choose items from the Face
category in your library. If the pose contains morph
settings they will override the values on the figure to
which they are applied.

Use presets in the Pose category to pose your characters.

To add a pose to a figure:

1. Select the figure (not its clothing) to apply the pose to.

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2. Open the Poses category and highlight the pose that you
want to apply to the figure.

3. Choose one of the following options:

ƒƒ Click the Apply Original Pose (single checkmark)

button to apply the pose to the selected figure when the
pose was created specifically for that figure.

ƒƒ Click the Apply Universal Pose (double checkmark)

button to apply the pose to the selected figure as a
Universal pose.

ƒƒ Drag and drop the pose from the Library to the figure.
A tooltip displays the name of the character as your
mouse hovers over it. Release the mouse when the
tooltip displays the correct character name.
After posing, the clothing also poses with the character.

Some of the Poses included in the Library are

Universal Poses, meaning they will be
compatible with any human Poser figure. If you check
the Apply Universal Poses option in the General
Preferences dialog > Library tab, you can save any pose
to your library as a Universal pose.

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Poses that are set-up for figures with standard Other Pose Types
rigging may not apply correctly when uses with
figures provided with Poser 7 and later. Though not as common as figure and MAT poses, you will also
find a mixture of other types of pose files in the Pose Room. Like
MAT poses, these are generally created by third-party content
Poses that were created in Poser 6 or earlier
creators. Other uses for Pose files include:
versions applied specifically to a particular
figure. For example, a pose you may have created for • Many Smith Micro characters (including Ryan and Alyson)
the James figure may not work correctly when applied include Specialty poses that zero a figure, add deformers,
to the Kate figure due to the different joint setups turn IK off of the legs and arms, and lock or unlock the toes.
between the two figures. However, you can apply a Third-party content may or may not include similar poses.
legacy pose to the figure for which it was designed, and
then save it to the Library, which will convert the pose to
a Universal Pose for use with other figures.

Material (or MAT) Poses

Material collections, discussed in “The Materials Category”

on page 155, are the preferred method for saving complete
materials for a figure or prop to the Materials library. Third-
party content creators sometimes use Material Poses (or MAT
files for short), as an alternative to MC6 material collection files.
MAT Poses are typically found in the Poses library and are not
created or tested by Smith Micro Software. If you need help with
MAT files, please refer to the file creator (if you purchased or
obtained a MAT file using the Content room, for example) or
to one of the many online resources, some of which are listed in
“Third-Party Forums” on page 12.
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• MOR poses, which apply character morphs and settings to

a figure.

• INJ and REM poses, which inject or remove injected

morphs into or from a figure.
When you are not certain what a pose type is used for, check
the Readme file (which usually accompanies the third-party
product), or contact the individual that created the product.

Adding Poses with Animation Layers

If you are adding a Pose set containing Animation Layers to your

scene, a dialog will appear asking whether or not you wish to
Add new layers to your scene, or Merge all the layers in the Pose
set into a single layer, which you can select from a pop-up menu.
The dialog also provides you with options for how to handle
duplication of layer names when adding new layers to the scene.
For more information on Animation Layers, see “Layers Tab” on
page 455.

Specialty poses perform specific functions that help with posing and
fitting clothing.

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each of the face dials available for your current figure, or if you
use the Random Face poses in the Library, except that they apply
preset values at once, saving time.
Poser Face directories contain full facial expressions (Angry,
Disgust, Fear, and so on). You can also dial these individually,
by facial region (eyes, lips, cheeks, and so on). To do so, click on
the head to find the full set of facial morphs. Any combination of
these head/face morph targets will be stored in the Face category
when you add a new entry.
Facial expressions are often designed for a particular figure,
since each figure can have different facial parameters available.
For example, an expression file created for the Poser 6 Male
figure (James) may not work on Ryan, because Ryan has far
more available facial parameters.

Additional options for poses that have animation layers. Ryan and Alyson’s Face directories contain full
facial expressions. You can also dial the
expressions manually in the Morphs section of the

The Faces Category Parameters palette when you select Ryan or Alyson. To
dial these individually, by facial region such as eyes,
The Face Library palette category houses facial expression files lips, or other feature, click the head to find the full set of
(*.fc2), which can be applied to your currently selected figure. morphs. You can save any combination of these head/
face morph targets when you save a new face to the
Face files contain parameter settings that activate facial morph
Library’s Face category.
targets (see “Chapter 28: Modifying Figures & Props” on
page 562 for information about morph targets) to create the
To add a facial expression:
expression. These files are the same as if you manually adjusted

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1. Select the figure to apply the expression to.

2. Locate the desired facial expression in the Face library.

3. Double-click the selected facial expression, or click

the Apply Library Preset button, or drag the selected
expression from the library to the character. The facial
expression on your figure changes.

Expressions for your characters are found in the Face category.

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The Hair Category Adding Hair to a Figure

The Hair Library palette category houses hair (*.hr2) files, which Conforming hair is added to your figure using the same method
can be applied to your currently selected figure. Hair created for as conforming clothing, discussed in “Adding Conforming
one figure may or may not fit or work with other figures. Clothing: Manual Conforming” on page 141.

There are three different types of hair used in Poser: To add either strand-based or prop-based hair to a figure:
1. Select the figure to which you wish to add hair.
• Conforming hair, which is commonly found in the Figures
library (usually when created by third-party vendors) or 2. Select your desired hair using the Library palette.
in the Hair library (usually when created by Smith Micro).
This type of hair is added and conformed to your figure 3. Click the Apply Library Preset icon or drag the hair from
as instructed in “Adding Conforming Clothing: Manual the library to your scene. The hair is added to the figure.
Conforming” on page 141.
If your figure already has prop-based hair,
• Prop hair, which is a modeled and textured OBJ file found
adding new hair replaces the old. You can either
in the Hair category, using an HR2 extension.
add or replace selected conforming hair, depending on
whether you choose the single checkmark or double
• Strand-based (or dynamic) hair, which is created in the Hair
checkmark (which adds another conforming hair
room and typically found in the Hair category, using an HR2
figure).
extension.

Strand-based hair created in the Hair room

cannot be saved to the Library palette unless it is
saved with underlying geometry such as a figure or
skull cap.

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precisely fit the figure’s head (especially if it was created for

another figure as is the case in this example). To do this, use the
Current Actor pull-down menu to select the hair, then use the
hair’s Trans parameter dials as necessary in the Parameters
palette. To translate conforming hair, you usually use the
Translate dials in the Head actor of the head.

You can use the YTrans parameter dial to adjust the height of the
hair.

The Hair library stores many different types of hair for your The Hands Category
characters.
This Library palette category houses hand (*.hd2) files, which
can be applied to your currently selected figure. Hand files are
While prop-based hair usually orients itself to the angle and
subsets of Pose files that only contain positioning information
rotation of the head, you may need to reposition the hair to
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for the hand and its children (fingers). Hand poses contain both
finger positions and wrist positions.

Not all figures hands are created using the same

number of joints. Ryan and Alyson contain an
additional joint at the knuckle and older hand poses
may not work correctly on their hands. Additionally,
Hand poses saved using Ryan or Alyson may not apply
to older content correctly.

If you apply a pose file to a figure then apply a hand, only the
hand positions will change. If, however, you apply a hand file to
a figure followed by a pose, the pose application will override the
positions specified by the hand file.

The Hands category stores poses that affect the hands and fingers.

To add a hand pose to a figure:

1. Click the figure to which you want to apply the hand pose.
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2. Select the Hands category in the Poser Library, and select

the hand pose that you want to apply.

3. Click the Apply Library Preset button at the bottom of the

Library palette, or drag the hand pose from the library to the
character to which you want to apply the pose. A dialog asks
if you want to apply the pose to the figure’s right hand or left
hand. Click either button to apply the pose.

The Props Category

This Library palette category houses props (*.pp2), which are
loosely defined as static or poseable objects that are not figures.
Items such as swords, balls, canes, furniture, walls, some types
of clothing (such as dynamic) and other non-conforming items
fall into this category. You will also find conforming clothing
items in the Props library.

For more information about Dynamic Clothing,

see “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on page
518.

The Props library includes many elements for scene building.

Adding Props

To add a prop to your scene:

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1. Open the scene to which you want to add the prop.

2. If you want to replace a prop that is already in your scene

with another prop from the library, select the prop in your
scene that you want to replace.

3. Choose the Props category from the Library palette.

4. From the Library palette, select the prop you want to add to
the scene.

5. Click the Apply Library Preset (single checkmark) button.

6. By default the prop appears in the center of the scene in

its default position. You can use the Translate dials in the
Parameters palette to reposition the prop to the correct spot
in your workspace. A prop added to a scene.

If you wish to have the prop move with another

scene item (such as a tennis racket moving in
concert with the figure’s hand), you need to specify a
parent for the racket. Please refer to “Changing a
Parent” on page 227 for directions on setting a parent
for an object.

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The Light Category The Camera Category

This Library palette category houses lights (*.lt2), which This Library palette category houses cameras (*.cm2), which
includes the number, color, position, and other lighting includes all Poser cameras, their positions, and other attributes.
attributes. Please refer to “Chapter 12: Lighting” on page 256 Please refer to “Chapter 11: Cameras” on page 237 for
for a description of Poser lights. information about Poser cameras.

The Camera category stores different settings to position cameras

Several lighting presets can be found in the Lights category. in your scene.
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The Materials Category However, Smith Micro Software does support the MAT files
included in your Poser installation.
Poser’s Material library provides an easy way to apply preset
materials to the items in your scene. You can navigate through
the items in your library, and then drag and drop compatible
materials from the Library to the objects in your scene. As you
drag your material into the scene, a tooltip displays the name
of the actor in your scene. Release the mouse when the tooltip
displays the correct actor name.
When saving materials to the library, Poser offers two methods
for storing material definitions for an entire figure in a single file.
Both of these methods can save considerable time, since they
can apply colors and maps to an entire figure simply by loading
them from the Library palette instead of having to add them one
by one.
This Library palette category houses materials (*.mt5), which
include all Poser materials and any associated shader trees
created or loaded into the Material room. Materials and material
collections can be dragged from the Library and dropped onto an
object in your scene.
The Material Collection (MC6/MCZ) file format was designed as
a fully integrated replacement for MAT pose files. Additionally,
Poser includes a built-in compatibility feature, which enables
you to simply change the extension of your MAT files to MC6 Use the Materials category to apply different textures and
or MCZ, and Poser will recognize them as Material Collections. materials to the items in your scene.

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Adding Materials to the Library Palette Adding Material Collections to the Library Palette

Poser offers the option of saving either single materials, or Poser also allows you to save some or all of the materials for a
grouped material collections from a single figure, to the Library single figure together in a Material Collection, in addition to
palette. saving single materials individually. Simply select the Material
Collection option in the Add to Library dialog, as described
To save single material to the Library palette:
below, and choose which materials you would like to include
1. Open the Material Room. in the collection. Like MAT files, Material Collections provide
the convenience of grouping materials in a single file, and also
2. In the Library palette, select the desired Category/
offer the added benefit of seamless integration into your Poser
Subcategory that will store the new material.
workflow. Please refer to “Chapter 14: The Material Room” on
page 291 for information about the Material room.
3. Move the mouse into the Preview window, where it turns
into an Eyedropper tool. Use the eyedropper to “pick up” the To save Material Collection to the Library palette:
material that you want to save. The material settings appear
1. Open the Material Room and select your desired category/
in the Simple or Advanced view in the Material room.
subcategory.
4. Click the Save to Library icon (+) at the bottom of the
2. Move the mouse into the Preview window, where it turns
Library palette.
into an Eyedropper tool. Use the eyedropper to “pick up”
5. In the New Material Set dialog, select the Single Material one of the materials in the object that uses the material
radio button. collection that you want to save. The single material that you
clicked appears in Simple or Advanced view in the Material
6. Enter a name for the Material and click OK. A square room.
showing the single material appears in the currently selected
Material library category/subcategory. 3. Click the Add to Library icon (+) at the bottom of the
Library palette.

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4. In the New Material Set dialog, select the Material Adding Scenes from the Library
Collection radio button, and click the Select Materials
button to open the Select Materials dialog. You can use the Scene category in the library to open a scene,
or to merge content from an existing scene into your current
5. Choose which materials you would like to include in your project. Follow these steps:
collection from the list presented in the Select Materials
1. Open the Library and select the Scene category.
dialog, and click OK. Select All and Select None buttons
are also provided to add or clear all materials in the 2. Create or navigate to the folder that stores the scene you
selection set. want to use.

6. Enter a name for the Material Collection and click OK. A 3. Choose one of the following:
small thumbnail of the object with your material settings
appears in the currently selected Material library category/ ƒƒ Click the Load New Scene (single checkmark) button
subcategory. to replace the contents of the current scene with the
scene contents in the library. This is the same as using
the File > Open command. You will be prompted to
The Scene Category save any unsaved changes in the existing project before
its contents are replaced.
The Scene category allows you to load or save complete scenes.
This is especially useful when you want to work with objects ƒƒ Click the Import Scene (double checkmark) button
that are inter-related to each other, or which use dependent to add the contents of the scene in the Library to
parameters to interact with each other. It also allows you to your current scene. This is the same as choosing the
load complex scenes or a complete set design -- including lights, File > Import > Poser Document/Prop command.
cameras, and props in the background -- with a single click. Everything from the imported scene will be added;
however if a light in the existing scene is named the
same as a light in the imported scene, it will be replaced
with the light from the imported scene.

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Saving Scenes to the Library

Saving the scene into the library allows you to easily find and
reuse projects that you have previously created, and also makes
it easier to share complete project settings with others.
To save a scene to the library, proceed as follows:
1. Open the Library and select the Scene category.

2. Create or navigate to the folder that will store the new scene.

3. Click the Add to Library icon (+) at the bottom of the

Library palette.

4. In the New Set dialog, enter a name for the new scene.

5. Click OK. A small thumbnail of the scene appears in the

currently selected Scene library category/subcategory.

The Scene category allows you to use or save complete scenes into
the Library.

Maintaining Your Library Palette

You can maintain your Library palette by adding and removing
items to and from the Library palette, as described below.

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Creating Subfolders
You can create new subfolders in the library to store your
content. Follow these steps:
1. Use the Show Library menu to select <All > libraries, or
the library to which you want to add the folder.

2. Click the category icon that applies to the subfolder you

want to create. For example, if you are using the new folder
to store a Prop, select the Prop category.

3. Highlight the folder beneath which you want the new folder
to appear.

4. Click the Create New Folder icon located at the bottom of

the Library palette. You are prompted to enter a name for
the new folder.

5. Enter a new folder name and choose OK. The folder appears
in the Library palette.

Creating a new Library subfolder.

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Adding Items to the Library

The following section provides some notes on saving content in
general.
Saving an item to the Library palette adds the appropriate
item to the currently selected category/subfolder. The actual
file location of your saved item will display along the bottom
of the Library palette when you select the item by clicking on
its preview image once it has been added to the Library. In
addition, when you save content to the Library, a basic set of
metadata is saved along with the object. This metadata appears
in the Library’s Extended Details panel when it is displayed.
For more information about the Extended Details panel and
Library buttons help you maintain and use your library.
metadata, see “Display Options” on page 125.
To add an item to the Library palette:
3. Complete the dialog that follows (see following subtopics for
1. Select your desired category/subcategory. information on category-specific dialogs).

2. Click the Save to Library icon (+) at the bottom of the 4. Enter a name for the new Library palette item and click
Library palette. OK. You may be prompted to select a subset of actors for
inclusion in the saved item, depending on the item type
being saved (poses, expressions, props, lights, cameras or
material collections). Please refer to the following sub-topic
for information on selecting actors.

5. Depending on the Library palette category being saved to,

you may be asked if you wish to save morph channels (such
as facial expressions, muscle bulges, etc.). Saving morph
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channels will preserve all adjustments you might have made This option appears when saving poses, but you
to any morph target parameters. You may also be asked need to take care when saving morph channels
whether you wish to save Body transformations; this option and body transformations with poses that you will
will preserve any modifications to parameters on the “Body” distribute to others. If your pose is designed as a regular
actor. pose that reposes the figure (for example, from standing
to sitting), in most cases you do not want to include
body transformations or morphs that will affect the
settings of the figure that is in another user’s scene. On
the other hand, if your pose is meant to set morph
targets for a custom figure, you want to include morph
channels in the pose set.

6. Poses and Faces can save animated data (such as an

animated pose like swinging a golf club). To select only the
current frame, select Single Frame. To save more than
When saving content, you may be prompted for additional one frame of animation, select Multiple Frames and enter
information to be saved. your desired starting and ending frame numbers. If you are
adding an animated pose that includes animation layers, the
Select Layers button will be enabled. Clicking this button
opens the Select Layers dialog, which allows you to specify
which layer(s) you wish to save with the pose. Click OK
when you have finished making your selections.

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Adding Actors to a Library Palette Entry

When you save Poses and Faces to the library, a Select Subset
button appears in the New Set dialog, allowing you to specify
which actors to include in the library file. This allows you to
create poses that affect only a part of the figure (for example, a
pose that only affects the arms and hands, rather than the entire
body of a figure).
If you opt to select a subset of actors within your scene for saving
to the Library palette, the Hierarchy Selection dialog appears,
allowing you to specify the actors you wish to include in your
Poses can be saved as still poses (a single frame), or as animated
new Library palette entry.
poses (multiple frames).

Your new item will be added to the Library palette and will be
accessible whenever Poser is running. Poser also automatically
generates an editable .png format preview image based on
Camera position. You can make a better preview image by
positioning the camera to focus on the item you’re saving.

To add dynamic cloth to the Library palette, add

it as you would any other prop. For strand-
based hair objects, you must either save a Poser scene
file (PZ3) with your hair object in it or grow hair on a
prop and save that prop to the Library palette.

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To include an actor in your new Library palette entry, check the

box to the left of your desired actor. Clearing an actor’s checkbox
excludes it from the Library palette entry. Excluding an actor
that is a parent of one or more actors excludes the children
actors as well.

Adding Items to the Library Palette (Manual

Method)
You can also add items to the Library palette by creating folders
and subfolders in the Poser hierarchy and adding your items
directly to those folders. Please refer to “Appendix B: Poser File
Structure” on page 768 for more information about the Poser
file structure.

This is an advanced feature that should only be

undertaken by advanced Poser users who are
familiar with creating custom content. Manually adding
Library items could result in misplacing files, which
could cause these Library items to be invisible and/or
You can include or exclude specific body parts from saved poses.
unusable. Smith Micro Software cannot provide
technical support for people who manually create
The list of actors appears hierarchically, just as it does in the
content folders. If you purchased content and are unable
Hierarchy Editor window (see “About Groups” on page 621).
to get it to appear in the Library or if it has other errors,
You can expand collapsed hierarchies by clicking the + sign next
please contact the content creator.
to a collapsed branch, and can collapse expanded branches by
clicking the - sign next to an expanded branch.

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Adding Items to the Library Palette (Poser

Download Manager)
Poser’s Download Manager can detect and install Poser content
downloaded using the Content room. Please refer to “Chapter
8: The Content Room” on page 170 for more information
about the Content room.

Deleting Items from the Library Palette

To delete an item from the Library palette, select it by clicking
its preview image, then click the Delete from Library icon (-) at
the bottom of the palette (see below for an image of the Library
The Library icons.
icons).

Deletions are permanent! Be sure you really

want to delete the selected item. If you have not
saved your content elsewhere (such as archiving the
source files), the deleted content will be permanently
lost. You cannot undo content deletions.

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Dragging and Dropping Library

Content
You can use drag and drop to add or work with library content,
with the same functionality that is found in your standard
operating system drag and drop. For example, when using the
external (AIR) library, you can drag and drop items between
library folders, or drag a CR2 file from the library and drop it
into an opened text editor to make changes to the file.

Searching the Library

The new Search tab in the library allows you to perform a
keyword search in your local content libraries. You can perform
the search in all or selected categories.

You can search the library for specific search terms.

To perform a Library search, follow these steps:

1. Switch to the Search tab in the Library.

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2. Enter a keyword (such as Ryan) or a series of keywords 5. Click the Search button. Poser performs a search for the
(such as Ryan pants) in the Search For field. content that you specified, and search results appear in the
Content pane.
3. From the Look In section, click the Local Library radio
button. 6. To scroll forward or backward to view previous or later
searches, you can use the arrow keys to the right and left of
4. Check or uncheck options as follows: the Search button.

ƒƒ To perform a search throughout all Library categories,

check the All Categories option.

ƒƒ To perform a search in specific categories in your

Library, uncheck the All Categories option and then
check or uncheck Figures, Pose, Face, Hair, Hands,
Props, Light, Camera, or Materials as needed to find
the content you are looking for.

You can navigate forward and backward through search results.

Poser stores all search strings in a file named

SearchState.xml file, which is located in your
Poser installation folder. Windows Vista users can find
this file in the Users \ (username) \ AppData \ Roaming
\ Poser \ 9.0 directory. These search terms are used in
conjunction with the Prev Search and Next Search
When searching, you can include or exclude specific categories. buttons shown in the previous figure. You can edit this
file to remove unwanted keywords from the search
results.

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Searching for New Content

The Search tab in the library also allows you to perform
a keyword search in Content Paradise, Renderosity, and
RuntimeDNA for new content to add to your libraries. You can
perform the search in all or selected categories.

A working Internet connection is required for the The Search pane also allows you to find content on Content
Content Paradise search and preview features to Paradise.
function correctly.

5. Click the Search button. Poser performs a search for the

To perform a search on Content Paradise, Renderosity, or content that you specified, and search results appear in the
Runtime DNA, follow these steps: Content pane.
1. Switch to the Search tab in the Library.

2. Enter a keyword (such as pants) or a series of keywords

(such as Alyson pants) in the Search For field.

3. From the Look In section, click the radio button beside the
name of the content provider site that you want to search
(Content Paradise, Renderosity, or Runtime DNA).

4. Use the Category, Seller, Software, or Show Me buttons

to narrow your search to selected categories, if desired.
The categories you choose here are specific to the content
provider site that you choose to search.

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ƒƒ Single-click a thumbnail in the results. Details for the

selected item appear in the Extended Details area. If
you want to purchase the item, you can click the Add to
Cart link in the Extended Details area to add the item to
the shopping cart on the selected site.

Results from your Content Paradise, Renderosity, or Runtime DNA

search are displayed in the Search pane.

6. Perform either of the following steps on a search result:

You can add a selected search result to your shopping cart.

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7. Double-click a thumbnail in the results. The product page for your new folder and click OK. The new folder appears in
opens in the Content tab within Poser Pro. If you want to the Favorites tab and your item appears within it.
purchase the item, you can click the Add to Cart button to
add the item to your shopping cart. Fore more information
about the Content tab, see “Chapter 8: The Content Room”
on page 170.

8. You can perform additional content searches or add other

search results into your cart. After your shopping session
is complete you can proceed to checkout to purchase your
selections.

Favorites Tab
The Favorites tab allows you to quickly add your favorite content
to library folders that you create yourself.
To add an item to the Favorites tab:
Add selected search results to your Favorites library folder.
1. Highlight the library item that you want to add to favorites.

2. Click the Add to Favorites button at the bottom of the

Library palette. An Add to Favorites menu appears above
the selected item.

3. From the menu, select an existing Favorites category, or

choose <<New Folder > > to create a new Favorites folder.
When the New Library Name dialog appears, enter a name

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Chapter 8: The Content

Room
Welcome to Content Paradise! Poser’s Content room accesses
Content Paradise, which is your gateway to leading marketplaces
that provide both free and for-sale Poser content. Need a Poser
figure, prop, texture, or something else? Content Paradise has
you covered. And, Poser’s Download Manager can auto-install
most downloaded content and add it to the Library palette. No
more manually placing files in folders!
Clicking the Content room tab at the top of the Poser workspace
opens the Content room.

The Content Room.

Aside from the Download Manager, the Content room accesses

the online Content Paradise Web server. Poser for Windows
seamlessly displays Web pages in the Poser workspace. Poser
for Macintosh automatically opens a new browser window
connected to Content Paradise. Content Paradise features and
interface are subject to change. Because of this, the discussion
in this reference manual is limited to discussing the Download
Manager.

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Content Paradise includes comprehensive online help, which Installing Poser” on page 14 for information about
is accessible from anywhere in the interface by clicking the Libraries and the Library palette.
Help links. Please be sure to read all of the applicable Terms
of Service, including the Privacy Policy. Smith Micro Software • Install: Clicking the Install button installs the downloaded
reserves the right to alter these policies at any time without prior content to the path specified in the Install Path field.
notice.
• Cancel: Clicking the Cancel button cancels the installation
process. Downloaded content will remain uninstalled in the
Downloading and Installing Content location to which it was originally downloaded.
If the file being installed already exists, a dialog pops up asking if
After you purchase your content and check out of the you want to overwrite the existing file. Click No to abort, or Yes
marketplace(s), you will be able to download it to your computer. to proceed with overwriting the old file.
A progress meter keeps you informed of your download’s status.
Follow the onscreen instructions to begin the download. Once A confirmation dialog appears once installation is complete.
the data transfer is complete, you can begin the installation Click OK to acknowledge successful installation of your
process. Macintosh users can simply unpack the downloaded downloaded content.
files, and install them according to your needs. Windows users If Poser cannot recognize the content or cannot install content
can use the auto-install option, as described below. (such as an executable file), the Copy to Folder dialog appears,
The Install Options dialog appears for each downloaded file with the following options:
once data transfer is complete, with the following options:
• Copy Path: When you click Copy, the downloaded content
• Install Path: When you click Install, the content will install will be copied to the folder specified in the Copy Path field.
to the folder specified in the Install Path field. By default, To change the folder to which content is copied, enter your
the Poser Downloads Library folder is specified. To change desired path in the Copy Path field, or click the folder icon
the folder to which content is installed, enter your desired to browse to your desired location.
path in the Install Path field, or click the folder icon to
browse to your desired location. Please see “Chapter 2:

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• Copy: Clicking the Copy button copies downloaded content

to the path specified in the Copy Path field. You will then
need to manually install the content yourself.

• Cancel: Clicking the Cancel button cancels the copy

process. Downloaded content will remain uninstalled in the
location to which it was originally downloaded.
In addition to the Content Paradise website, the Content room
also contains two buttons:

• The Reset Content Paradise button returns you to the

Content Paradise homepage.

• The Install From Zip Archive button opens the Install

Options dialog, which is described above.

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Chapter 9: Posing Posing and Camera Views

Figures Newer Poser figures (Version 3 and later) allow you to pose faces
and hands (expressions, gestures, etc.). Poser includes Face and
Hand Cameras (see “Chapter 11: Cameras” on page 237) that
This chapter explains how to pose figures and the tools you’ll use zoom into these areas for close-up work.
while doing so. Posing is the process of bending, twisting, and While posing, you can switch cameras to view your work
pulling a figure into new and fantastic positions. You can even from many different angles and can even select up to four
create movies by changing poses over time. simultaneous camera views in the Document window (see
“Chapter 5: The Document Window” on page 70). It is
recommended that you select the Posing camera while working,
General Posing Principles thus saving the Main and Auxiliary cameras for your final shots,
A pose has two aspects: how the body parts move relative to particularly if rendering animations.
the rest of the body (such as raising or lowering an arm, your
shoulder, upper arm, forearm, hand, and fingers are moving The Pose Library
relative to the rest of your body) and the figure’s position relative
to the Poser workspace (such as walking around a room). Poser’s You can add poses you create to the Pose Library, as described
Editing tools (“The Editing Tools” on page 182) allow you in “Maintaining Your Library Palette” on page 158, or you can
to move body parts, figures, and props by simply clicking and apply still or animated poses from the library to your currently
dragging. It doesn’t get any easier! selected figure as described in “The Poses Category” on page
When posing in Poser, you’re working in all three dimensions. 142.
Your only limitations are specific motion limits placed on joints
to keep poses realistic. Enabling limits prevents, for example, a Translation
figure’s knees from bending backward or the head from twisting
360 degrees. However, you can disable limits and put your Translation moves multiple body parts by pulling them in a
figures into any position you can imagine. chain. To visualize this, imagine a person lying down with their

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arms out to their sides. If you were to take hold of the hand and Inverse Kinematics (IK)
lift it, at first only the affected arm would move. Keep moving
higher, you’d lift the shoulders, chest, hips, and eventually the Poser’s Inverse Kinematics (IK) features help you achieve
whole person off the ground. Poser’s Editing tools work this realistic poses and add natural-looking motion to your
way. Drag any part and connected parts follow. Parts move, animations. IK effects are most apparent when using the Editing
bend, and twist as you would expect them to. tools.
To demonstrate how IK works, try this:
Create a scene and load the default character (in this case, Andy
is still configured as the default). Make sure that IK is on (it is
on by default). Use the Translate tool or the YTran parameter
dial to translate the hip upward on the Y Axis so that the feet
move up off the floor. Then move one of the feet to the side with
the Translate tool. You’ll see an outline appear of where the
foot once was. That is the IK goal. The foot will move into that
position wherever possible.

When you pull one body part, connected parts follow.

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Enabling IK on a pose created with IK disabled

may alter your pose.

Enabling/Disabling IK

Inverse Kinematics can add realism to your scenes. You can

toggle Inverse kinematics (IK) on and off for the following limbs:

• Left Leg

• Right Leg

• Left Arm

• Right Arm
To toggle IK on or off for a limb, select Figure > Use Inverse
With IK enabled, the feet move to the position of their IK goals Kinematics > limb, where limb is one of the four limbs. A
whenever possible. checkbox next to a limb indicates that IK is active for that limb,
and vice versa.
The purpose of IK is to make it easier to pose or animate the
arms and legs of a figure. For example, when IK is on, you can
translate the hip, and the legs bend to accommodate the new
hip position without changing the positions of the feet. Arms
behave similarly: Place a figure’s hands against an imaginary
wall and move the hip forward. The arms bend while the hands
remain fixed in position. For more information on IK, see
“Understanding IK” on page 176.

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It follows that Inverse Kinematics studies the same problem

from the other end: The extremity moves, and IK determines
how the objects joined to it must respond in order to support the
new placement. If you raise your hand straight out to the side,
your hand, arm, and shoulder must move to accommodate your
hand’s new position. Or if someone was to grab your hand and
push, your arm would bend while your body remains still.
Poser supports IK for the arms and legs. With IK enabled, you
can translate the hands and feet and achieve appropriate arm
and leg positions automatically. IK creates targets to indicate the
end of the chain. When the hands or feet move, the target is set
to its new position. Moving any other body part keeps the target
You can enable or disable IK for the legs and hands. in its original position relative to the rest of the body. Once the
target is reached, the end of the chain is fixed and the other
parts must bend to accommodate the hand or foot position. For
Understanding IK example, a foot reaches its target and the knee bends.
To work effectively with IK, you need to keep the following
Kinematics is the study of motion velocity, rotation, and things in mind:
position. In terms of structures such as arms and legs,
kinematics is used to calculate how actions taken at a structure’s • Enable (turn on) IK when you are working with the Editing
root determine the position and rotation of the other end. For tools.
example, hold your arm straight and rotate your shoulder joint.
Kinematics calculates the change in position of your arm, hand, • The Rotate, Translate, and Twist tools may not behave
and fingers. If you know the angle by which you rotated your as you might expect for some body parts. For example,
shoulder, you can calculate your arm’s new position. you cannot easily rotate or translate a thigh or shin when
IK is enabled for that leg because the foot’s position takes
precedence. This behavior corresponds to real life: When

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you stand, your feet and legs support your body, meaning
that you cannot arbitrarily move or rotate them. This
consideration applies to both the Editing tools and the
parameter dials.

• You cannot use IK and the Chain Break tool (see “Chain
Break” on page 186) on the same limb.

Limiting Motion
Selecting Figure > Use Limits toggles parameter limits on and
off. Please refer to “Editing Parameter Dials” on page 198 for
information about setting limits for parameter dials. The figures
The Use Limits option keeps body parts within preset range limits.
included with your copy of Poser have realistic limits applied
to them, meaning that you can’t, for example, bend a knee
backward. Limits are disabled when this option is toggled off. The Use Limits option keeps body parts from moving beyond
natural ranges of motion. The figures that come with Poser have
realistic limits that were set when the figures were rigged. Third-
party content may or may not have realistic joint limits. If you
have questions about a particular piece of content, please contact
the content’s creator or the marketplace where you purchased
the content. “Natural” is a subjective definition. The limits for
Poser figures are a rough guideline that may or may not look
right to you. You can customize maximum and minimum limits
using the methods described in “Editing Parameter Dials” on
page 198.

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Select Figure > Use Limits to toggle limits on and off. A can also use the parameter dials on the Parameters palette to
checkmark next to this option indicates that limits are being precisely move parts. Most poses are created using the Editing
enforced, and vice versa. tools to get the rough position followed by the parameter dials
for fine adjustments.

Posing Body Parts

Like their real-world counterparts, Poser figures are made of
Selecting Body Parts
body parts connected by joints. Posing a figure is as simple as Before you begin posing figures, you need to know how to select
moving body parts to create a new position or pose. Body parts the body part Actor(s) you wish to move in order to create your
are independent, and each considered an actor in its own right. still or animated pose. You can select body parts using the
This concept holds true no matter what the figure looks like Editing tools, the Current Actor pull-down menu, or by clicking
(snake, 2-legged, 8-legged, etc.). There are some special posing the desired part in the Document window. Each of a figure’s
cases: body parts is a poseable element.

• Hands (see “Posing Hands” on page 205)

• Faces (see “Posing Faces” on page 202)

• Eyes (see “Posing Eyes” on page 205)

• Animals (see “Posing Animals” on page 207)

Posing a Figure
The easiest way to pose a figure is to use the Editing tools as
described in “The Editing Tools” on page 182. The part will
move based on the part selected, your currently selected Editing
tool, your camera angle, and whether or not IK is enabled. You
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Using the Editing Tools

To select a body part using the Editing tools, click your desired
tool then click the body part you wish to pose. The currently
selected body part is highlighted in the Document window and
labeled in the Select Figure and Current Actor menus in the
top left corner of the Document window.

The selected body part is outlined when selected.

If you right-click (Windows) or Apple key-click

(Mac) within the Document window, a pop-up
context menu brings up a menu listing all the body parts
positioned under your mouse cursor. You can select your
desired body part directly from this list, without having
to interrupt your workflow or change your camera
view. This process also makes it easier to select a specific
actor in areas where many objects overlap.
Click a body part with an editing tool to select it.

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Using the Parameters/Properties Palette

You can also select body parts using the selection menu that
appears at the top left corner of the Parameters/Properties
palette. Click the arrow at the top-left corner of the palette to
display the menu. Here you can select any of the following:

• Any body part for the currently selected figure.

• The Body Actor of the currently selected figure.

• Any props connected to the currently selected figure (such

as hair, jewelry, articles that are parented to it, and so on).

• Any of the cameras in the scene.

• Any of the lights in the scene.

A selection menu appears at the top of the Parameters/Properties
palette.

Using the Current Actor Pull-down Menu

To select a body part Actor using the pull-down menus:

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Select Figure and Current Actor menus.

Drill through submenus to select your item.

1. Select the desired figure using the Select Figure pull-down

menu.

2. Select your desired body part using the Current Actor Item
pull-down menu.

This method can be preferable if your scene has several figures

and/or detailed body parts (such as poseable fingers and toes).

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If there are too many actors or scene elements As described in “Setting Up Your Workspace” on page 40,
displayed in the Current Actor pull-down menu, you can locate the Editing tools wherever you like on your Poser
you can increase the Hierarchical Threshold value in the screen and can display or hide the title. The tools will auto-wrap
Interface tab of the Preferences dialog. See “Interface to fit the allotted width or height of the palette. Tool tips are
Preferences” on page 32. displayed at the top of the palette that reveal the name of the tool
when you hover your mouse over it.
The Editing tools let you move body parts in many different
The Editing Tools ways. A tool’s effect can vary depending on whether or not
Inverse Kinematics (IK) is enabled. Please refer to “Inverse
The Editing tools appear as follows on your Poser workspace: Kinematics (IK)” on page 174 for information about IK.
Editing tools can pose an individual body part or a complete
figure.

The Color, Grouping, View Magnifier,

Morphing, and Direct Manipulation tools serve
other purposes than posing and are discussed later in
this chapter.

The Editing tools.

The Editing tools work on an entire figure, or on a body part
Actor on a figure.
The tools presented in the above image are
available within the Pose Room. The availability • To pose a body part, select it and drag.
of individual Editing tools will vary in different Poser
rooms. Additional Editing tools available in different
• To pose the entire figure, use one of the following methods:
rooms will be discussed in the relevant chapters of this ƒƒ Click and drag on the desired Editing tool and the
manual. entire figure will move according to the tool that has
been selected.

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ƒƒ Select your desired Editing tool, then select the Figure your Poser scene from multiple cameras at once, as described in
Ring surrounding your desired figure and drag. The “Changing Cameras within a Pane” on page 89.
Figure Ring is highlighted when selected, indicating
From left to right, the Editing tools are:
that you are working on the entire figure at once.

• To move an entire figure, you can: Rotate

ƒƒ Click and drag an Editing tool.
The Rotate tool bends a body part at its joint. Rotation works
ƒƒ Select and drag the Figure Ring. in three dimensions, allowing you to make a lot of progress very
quickly. To rotate a body part, select the body part you wish to
ƒƒ Select Body using the Select Actor pull-down menu.
rotate and drag perpendicular to the part to cause the rotation
ƒƒ Select the figure’s hip and move it (with IK disabled). to rotate up and down (relative to your point of view). Dragging
parallel to the part rotates it in and out, again relative to your
When using an Editing tool in the Document window, your
point of view.
cursor changes to a visual representation of the selected tool.
This helps you keep track of how you’re moving the selected To rotate the entire figure, select it. Dragging the mouse up/
figure or element. down and left/right functions as a trackball and rotates the
figure on its own axes based on your camera location. You can
When using an Editing tool with a figure prop, you don’t need to
also adjust an item’s rotation using the parameter dials, as
click and drag with the cursor positioned over the affected item;
discussed in “Parameters Palette” on page 194.
you can click and drag anywhere in the Document window.
Also, be aware that your camera view affects how your figure or
element appears. Depending on the pose you are creating, you
may want to switch to a different camera. For example, if you
are moving an arm in front of a figure, a side view will give you
a good view of the arm’s position relative to the figure’s front,
and so on. You can change Camera views as described in “Select
Figure/Current Actor Menus” on page 76, and can even view
Rotate tool.
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Twist how you drag. The translation may occur on the figure’s X, Y,
and or Z axes depending on the position of the camera relative
The Twist tool rotates a figure/part/prop along its longest to the figure. You can translate body parts or figures, and can
axis (length). You can twist an entire figure by selecting it and also adjust an item’s translation using the parameter dials, as
dragging. Most of the body’s joints don’t allow much twisting. discussed in “Parameters Palette” on page 194.
For example, your forearm can twist almost 180 degrees while
your wrist can hardly twist at all. The twist axis of the head,
neck, and torso is along the spine. For the forearm, the axis lies
along the arm’s length. Twisting an entire figure rotates it about
its own axis. If the figure is standing, it spins around. If lying
down, it rolls over. You can also adjust an item’s twist using the
parameter dials, as discussed in “Parameters Palette” on page
194.
Translate/Pull tool.

Translate In/Out
The Translate In/Out tool moves the selected figure/part/prop
along the Camera’s Z axis (in and out). This translation may take
place along the figure’s X, Y, and/or Z axes. Dragging down pulls
Twist tool. the item towards you, and vice versa. Moving an item towards
you makes that items seem larger, and vice versa. You can
also adjust an item’s translation using the parameter dials, as
Translate/Pull discussed in “Parameters Palette” on page 194.

The Translate/Pull tool moves the selected figure/part/prop

along the camera’s view (vertically... X and Y axes) depending
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Translate In/Out tool. Scale tool.

To scale an entire figure, select the desired figure using the

Scale Select Figure pull-down menu in the Document window or
by clicking its Figure Ring. A figure’s size is relevant only in
The Scale tool allows you to scale the selected figure/part/prop relation to other figures and props within your scene. To pose a
along the camera’s X and Y axes. The item’s affected axes will single figure, scaling is not necessary: You can simply zoom the
vary depending on the camera’s position relative to that item. camera. If you are working with two or more figures and want
Dragging in towards the element reduces the scale, and dragging to give one the appearance of being in the distance, it’s best to
away from the element increases the scale. To scale in two simply move the selected figure to the background using the
dimensions, drag laterally. Dragging vertically scales in the third Translate tool (see above). You can also adjust an item’s scale
dimension. The axes affected depend on your currently selected using the parameter dials, as discussed in “Parameters Palette”
camera position. You can also press and hold Shift while using on page 194.
this tool to scale evenly in all three dimensions. Make a mistake?
No problem. Select Edit > Undo, or press [COMMAND]/
[CTRL]+[Z]. You can animate scale using the parameter dials as
Taper
described in “Parameters Palette” on page 194.
The Taper tool allows you to taper the selected figure/part/prop
along the Camera’s X and Y axes. The item’s affected axes will
vary depending on the Camera’s position relative to that item.

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This only affects the end of the selected actor that is most distant
from the center of the body. Dragging to the right increases the
amount of taper, and dragging to the left decreases the taper,
“flaring” the selected actor. You can also adjust an item’s taper
using the parameter dials, as discussed in “Parameters Palette”
on page 194.

Chain Break tool.

Using chain breaks on different body parts can create interesting

effects. For example, to prevent the chest from moving, apply
a chain break to it. You can then translate the hand freely
without moving the chest: only the hand, forearm, upper arm,
Taper tool.
and shoulder will move. You must have IK disabled on the
desired limb(s) in order for this to work. Please refer to “Inverse
Kinematics (IK)” on page 174 for information about Inverse
Chain Break Kinematics.

The Chain Break tool ends the chain of parts affected by the To add a chain break, select the Chain Break tool and click
Translate tools. where you want the chain broken. A Chain Break icon appears
wherever you insert a break. You can insert as many breaks in
your scene as needed. To remove a chain break, click the desired
icon.

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Color
The Color tool allows you to change a material group’s surface
(diffuse) color. Please refer to “Root Nodes” on page 320 for
information about setting colors and other material values.

Color tool.

Grouping
The Grouping tool opens the Group Editor palette, which is
discussed in “The Group Editor” on page 614.

Using the Chain Break tool.

View Magnifier
The View Magnifier tool allows you to zoom in and out to and
All figures have chain breaks at their hips. You from your desired areas of the Document window without
cannot remove these breaks. altering the position of your currently selected camera. This can
be of great help when working with scenes.

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Create, which are accessed and controlled via the Morph Editor.
The Combine mode allows you to sculpt any surface on your
figure using morph targets. The Create mode allows you to
manipulate the vertices on your model’s mesh to create new
morph targets. See “Chapter 28: Modifying Figures & Props”
on page 562 for more information about morph targets and
the Morph Editor palette.

View Magnifier tool.

To use the View Magnifier tool, select it:

• Click anywhere in the Document window or current view

pane to zoom in on the selected area. Repeated clicking will
continue zooming in one step per click.
Morphing tool.
• To zoom in on a specific region in the Document window,
click and drag a rectangle around the area you wish to
magnify. Your view will zoom in on the closest point that
Direct Manipulation
encompasses your selected region.
The Direct Manipulation tool allows you to directly adjust an
• To zoom out, press [COMMAND]/[CTRL] while clicking in
element’s Translate, Scale, and Rotation parameters: You can
the Document window.
also use this tool to adjust falloff zones when setting up joint
parameters for a poseable figure.
Morphing Tool
The Morphing Tool opens the Morph Editor palette. The
Morphing Tool has two operational modes: Combine and
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Direct Manipulation tool.

To adjust an element, first select the Direct Manipulation tool,

then select your desired element:
Clicking and dragging one of the shaded boxes above the
selected element increase or decreases the element’s X, Y, or
Z scale. This is the same as adjusting the xScale, yScale, and
zScale parameters, respectively. The Universal Manipulator tool makes posing easier.

You can also click and drag the colored circles to rotate the
selected element along its axes. Poser calculates the rotation
by using object coordinates for optimum control. Dragging the
red circle rotates about the element’s X axis. The green circle
rotates about the element’s Y axis, and the blue circle rotates
about the element’s Z axis. The cursor changes to indicate which
transformation will occur. For example, move the cursor over
the circles, the cursor changes to a rotation icon, and so forth.
Elements rotate about their origins.

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Clicking near the selected element’s origin translates the element

as if you were using the Translate tool. Clicking away from the
origin and axes/circles allows you to rotate the element as if you
were using the Rotate tool.

The Parameters/Properties Palette

Poser offers a combined Properties/Parameters palette that lets
you quickly switch between a selected element’s properties and
parameter dials.
For clarity, each tab on this combined palette is referred to
as a separate palette, either the Properties palette or the
Parameters palette, as appropriate. To switch between the
two, click your desired tab. You can also access an object’s
Properties palette by double-clicking the desired object. Once The Properties palette allows you to set options for a selected item.
you do this, clicking the Parameters tab opens the same object’s
Parameters palette. You can also access both palettes by
selecting Window > Parameter Dials. Figure Properties
Figures have the following properties:
Properties
• Name: The Name field displays the figure or actor name.
The Properties palette contains the properties available for the Enter a new name in this field if you desire.
currently selected scene element. Properties for lights, cameras,
props, etc. are listed in their respective sections. This section • Visible: Checking the Visible checkbox makes the figure
describes the properties available to figures and body parts. visible and vice versa. Invisible objects are not included in

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any render calculations, and do not appear in the rendered Engine” on page 390 for more information about
scene. displacement bounds.

You can animate visibility by clicking the • Include Morphs when conforming: When this option is
Animation Toggle (key icon) next to the Visible checked, the conforming article will automatically adjust
checkbox. When animation is enabled, the icon appears to fit morphs that are set in the character to which it is
green. When disabled, it appears clear. conformed. Note, however, that the applicable morphs
must be included in the conforming article in order for this
to occur. In other words, if the character has a “Big Belly”
• Visible in Raytracing: Checking the Visible in Raytracing
morph that is set, the conforming clothing must also have a
checkbox makes the figure visible in raytraced reflections,
“Big Belly” morph in order for automatic morph conforming
such as if the figure is in front of a mirror. Clearing this
to work properly.
checkbox makes the figure not appear in reflections. This
option is used when raytracing. • Include scales when conforming: When this option is
checked, the conforming article will automatically adjust to
• Light Emitter: When checked, allows the object to be
fit any scaling changes that are set in the character to which
included in indirect lighting calculations so that light will
it is conformed. In other words, if you have scaled the thighs
bounce off the object. When unchecked, indirect lighting
and shins of your character to 90%, the thighs and shins of
calculations are skipped for the object.
the conforming clothing will automatically adjust to fit that
• Visible in Camera: When checked, the object is visible scaling.
in the camera and render. When unchecked, the object
The accuracy of auto-scaling when conforming
does not render. Used in conjunction with Light Emitter,
is dependent upon proper configuration of
described previously, to create light-casting objects.
content. If auto-scaling does not appear to be working
• Displacement Bounds: The Displacement Bounds properly for third party-content, check the
property determines the figure’s displacement boundary. documentation furnished with the content, or contact
Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render the content developer.

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• Match endpoints when conforming: In legacy content,

endpoints might not match between conforming clothing
and the figure to which the clothing conforms. For example,
factors such as incorrect joint origin settings or extremely
tight parameter limits can cause clothing to behave
unexpectedly. When this option is checked, you can force
the matching of endpoints for conforming figures on an
as-needed basis.

• Follow origins when conforming: If you are conforming

a piece of clothing to a character that has animated origins
(discussed in “Animatable Origins” on page 474) check
this option to have the conforming item follow the animated
origins. When enabled, Poser will compute the deltas of the
current origin to follow the animated origins of the target
figure.

Body Part Actor Properties

Body part Actors have the following properties:

Body actor properties.

• Internal Name: The Internal Name field displays the body

part’s internal (hidden) name, which Poser uses to track that
part. You cannot edit a body part’s internal name within
Poser.

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• Name: The Name field displays the body part’s name. Enter bounce off the object. When unchecked, indirect lighting
a new name in this field if you desire. calculations are skipped for the object.

• Visible: Checking the Visible checkbox makes the body • Casts Shadows: Checking the Casts Shadows checkbox
part visible and vice versa. Invisible objects are not included forces the selected body part to cast a shadow, which will be
in any render calculations, and do not appear in the visible in your scene. Clearing this box means the selected
rendered scene. See “Figure Properties” on page 190 for body part casts no shadow.
information on animating the Visible property.
• Collision Detection: Checking the Collision Detection
• Visible in Raytracing: Checking the Visible in Raytracing checkbox enables collision detection for the currently
checkbox makes the body part visible in raytraced selected body part.
reflections, such as if the figure is in front of a mirror.
Clearing this checkbox makes the figure not appear in • Apply Collision Setting to Children: Clicking the Apply
reflections. This option is used when raytracing. Collision Setting to Children button applies the currently
selected body part’s collision detection setting to that part’s
• Bend: Checking the Bend checkbox enables bending for the children parts (if any).
selected body part and vice versa. Bends are discussed in
“Bend Body Parts” on page 112. Remember that selecting • Load Morph Target: Clicking the Load Morph Target
Display > Bend Body Parts bends all body parts and this button displays the Load Morph Target dialog, allowing
property only affects the currently selected body part. you to load a custom morph target for the selected body
part (which is then editable using the Morphing Tool as
• Visible in Camera: When checked, the object is visible described in “Creating Morphs with the Morphing Tool”
in the camera and render. When unchecked, the object on page 578). Please refer to “Chapter 28: Modifying
does not render. Used in conjunction with Light Emitter, Figures & Props” on page 562 for more information about
described previously, to create light-casting objects. loading morph targets.

• Light Emitter: When checked, allows the object to be • Displacement Bounds: The Displacement Bounds
included in indirect lighting calculations so that light will property determines the body part’s displacement
boundary. Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly
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Render Engine” on page 390 for more information about • Display Origin: Checking the Display Origin checkbox
displacement bounds. displays the prop’s origin. Please refer to “The Prop Origin”
on page 222 for more information about prop origins
• Shading Rate: The Shading Rate allows you to specify the
desired shading rate for the currently selected body part. • Animatable Origin: When checked, allows you to animate
Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render the actor’s origin as the actor is translated, rotated, or
Engine” on page 390 for more information about shading scaled. This allows you to optimally position the joint origin
rates. if the shape of the actor changes drastically by scaling or
morphing.
• Smooth Polygons: Checking the Smooth Polygons
checkbox causes Poser to smooth the body part’s polygons
at render time to eliminate or reduce a “faceted” appearance Parameters Palette
caused by flat polygons. This option can cause sharp corners
to appear round. If the affected body part has sharp edges The Parameters palette contains all of the parameters for the
that you wish to preserve while applying polygon smoothing currently selected scene element:
to other angles, you should specify those sharp edges using
smoothing groups or the crease angle threshold, as polygon
smoothing will not override these settings. See “Smoothing
Geometry” on page 408 for more information on
specifying hard versus smooth edges.

• Crease Angle: The Crease Angle setting establishes a

threshold up to which creases between adjoining polygons
will be smoothed. Polygons with crease angles over this
threshold will not be smoothed, and will be rendered as
hard edges. See “Smoothing Geometry” on page 408 for
more information about using the Crease Angle setting to
apply smooth shading.

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• (2) Parameters Palette Options Menu

• (3) Parameter Dial Groups

• (4) Parameter Dials

• (5) Parameter Dial Menu

• (6) Master Parameter Indicator

• (7) Dependent Parameter, showing Natural and Driven

parameter values

• (8) If a dot appears to the left of a parameter dial name, it

means that the dial is set to something other than its default
value.

Current Actor Menu

The Parameters palette’s Current Actor pull-down menu
(1) functions the same as the Current Actor pull-down at
the bottom left of the Document window. Please refer to
“Select Figure/Current Actor Menus” on page 76 for more
The Parameters Palette. information about the Current Actor menu.

The following topics discuss the Parameters palette in detail:

• (1) Current Actor Menu

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Parameters Palette Options Menu group), double-clicking the group name in the Parameters
palette opens a field allowing you to specify a new name.
The Parameters palette options menu (2) contains the following
options: • Delete Selected Groups: Selecting Delete Selected
Group deletes the currently selected group. Parameter dials
in deleted groups are moved to the next highest group or
subgroup, as appropriate.

• Display as ordered list: The Display as ordered list

option toggles displaying parameter dials in groups or in an
ungrouped list. A check mark means groups and subgroups
are not displayed, and vice versa.

• Memorize: Selecting Memorize memorizes the current

parameter dial settings as default. Please refer to
Parameters Palette Options menu. “Memorize” on page 69 for more information on
memorizing parameter dials.
• Create New Master Parameter: Creates a new parameter
• Restore: Selecting Restore restores the most recently
dial that can be set up to drive one or more dependent
memorized defaults. Please refer to “Restore” on page 68
parameter dials. For further information on dependent
for more information about restoring saved defaults.
parameters, see “Using Dependent Parameters” on page
598. • Delete Object: Selecting Delete Object deletes the current
object.
• Create New Group: Selecting Create New Group creates
a new subgroup under the currently selected group. The
Create New Group dialog appears prompting you for a
name. Enter your desired name in the field. To rename an
existing group (or if you make a mistake when creating the
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Parameter Dial Groups Parameter Dials

Poser offers parameter dial grouping (3), which organizes The parameter dials (4) in the Parameters palette let you pose
parameters into easy to navigate categories. a figure and adjust other attributes for figures, props, lights,
camera, etc. using precise numerical increments. Each body
Different figures may have different parameter part and most other elements in the scene have their own set of
dial groups. parameter dials. When an entire figure is selected, the displayed
parameters affect the entire figure. To use a parameter dial, you
Parameter dial groups have the following functionality: can either click and drag it to the right to increase the selected
value or left to decrease it. You can also click the displayed
• Clicking the + sign next to a collapsed group/subgroup numeric value and manually enter your desired value using the
expands that group/subgroup. text box that appears.

• Clicking the – sign next to an expanded group/subgroup To restore a parameter dial’s default (or last memorized)
collapses that group/subgroup. setting, press and hold [OPT]/[ALT] while clicking the desired
parameter dial. To change a parameter dial’s default value, set
• Double-clicking a group name allows you to rename that the dial to your desired value and either select Edit > Memorize
group. > element, as described in “Memorize” on page 69, or use the
Parameter Palette menu as described in “Parameters Palette
• You can drag and drop groups to change their hierarchical
Options Menu” on page 196.
relationship to each other. For example, a group could
become a subgroup under another group, and vice versa. Each parameter dial has its own Parameter Dial menu (5),
which is accessible by clicking the arrow to the right of your
• You can drag and drop parameter dials to different locations desired parameter dial. The Parameter Dial menu has the
within the same group or across groups and subgroups to following options:
organize them as you see fit.
• Reset: Selecting Reset resets the parameter dial to its
Parameter dial groups and subgroups are saved default or last-memorized value.
in your Poser scene files.
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• Settings: Selecting Settings opens the Edit Parameter Dial that dial. For more information about master parameters, see
dialog, described in the following topic. “Using Dependent Parameters” on page 598.

• Graph: Selecting Graph opens the Graph palette for the

selected element. Please refer to “Using Graphs” on page Dependent Parameter Dials
444 for more information about the Graph palette.
When a parameter is configured as a dependent parameter, two
• Recalculate Dynamics: If you have a dynamic object values will be displayed to the right of the parameter dial. These
selected (strand-based hair or dynamic cloth), selecting the dials are referred to as the natural and driven parameters, and
Recalculate Dynamics option recalculates the dynamics are explained in detail in “Using Dependent Parameters” on
for that object. Please refer to “Step Four: Setting Hair page 598.
Dynamics” on page 511 and to “Step 4: Cloth Dynamics
Controls” on page 530 for information about strand-based
Editing Parameter Dials
hair and cloth dynamics, respectively.
You can edit parameter dials by double-clicking your selected
• Split Morph: When enabled, selecting Split Morph
parameter dial to open an Edit Parameter Dial dialog, which
splits the currently selected morph into left and right
allows you to set the following limits:
sides, allowing you to apply the selected morph target
asymmetrically. You can use this, for example, to introduce
irregularities into a figure’s head, enhancing realism because
no person’s head is perfectly symmetrical.

Master Parameter Indicator

The Master Parameter indicator appears when the designated
parameter dial is used to drive settings of other parameter dials.
Click the Parameter Dial menu arrow to open the Dependent
Parameter editing tool and the list of parameters controlled by
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or below 0 (neutral). If you are adjusting a scale parameter,

the number will be a percentage with 100 being normal size.

• Name: You can rename the parameter by entering a new

name in the Name field.

• Sensitivity: The Sensitivity value modifies the parameter

dial’s sensitivity to clicking and dragging. A lower number
decreases the sensitivity and vice versa.

• Graph: Clicking the Graph button opens the Graph palette

for the selected element. Please refer to “Using Graphs” on
page 444 for more information about the Graph palette.

• Force Limits: Check this option to keep the selected dial

within the minimum and maximum limit settings.

Each parameter dial has options that you can edit. Click OK when you have finished making changes.

• Value: The Value number sets the current parameter dial Universal/Figure Parameters
value.
This topic discusses both universal parameter dials and those
• Min/Max Limit: The Min Limit and Max Limit values define used for figures. Parameters for cameras, lights, and other
the minimum and maximum limits for the parameter, elements are discussed in their respective sections.
respectively. The numbers can stand for different types of
values depending on the parameter you are editing. If it is a
joint parameter, the value will be expressed in degrees above

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Scale Parameters • XYZScale: The xScale, yScale, and zScale parameter

dials enlarge or shrink the selected body part/prop along
Scale parameters are found in the Transform group of the the selected axis only. This allows you to squeeze or stretch
Parameters palette. Their functions are as follows: items. This is the same as using the Scale tool. Normal scale
is 100%.

Posing Parameters
Posing parameters appear in the Transform group of the
Parameters palette, and appear in yellow text. The following
parameters are available for posing: Note that the options you
see for each joint vary, depending on the rotation order of the
joint: Each joint will have three options, one each for X, Y, and
Z rotation.

• Twist: The Twist parameter dial rotates a body part along

Scale Parameters. its own axis. For example, using twist on the head and neck
turns the head. This is the same as using the Twist tool,
described in “Twist” on page 184.
• Taper: The Taper parameter dial tapers the selected body
part/prop. This function is the same as using the Taper tool, • Bend: The Bend parameter dial rotates a body part on its
described in “Taper” on page 185. major axis. Most body parts bend forward and back, except
for the shoulder and hands, which bend up and down.
• Scale: The Scale parameter dial enlarges or shrinks the
selected body part/prop in all three axes equally. This is the • Side-to-Side: The Side-to-Side parameter dial rotates a
same as using the Scale tool, described in “Scale” on page body part perpendicular to its major axis. The thigh has lots
185. Normal scale is 100%. of side-to-side motion, while the knee has very little.

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• Turn: The Turn parameter dial only appears for the feet
in some characters, instead of the Twist parameter. This
parameter turns the feet inward or outward.

• Front-Back: The Front-Back parameter dial is used with

shoulders and collars to rotate them forward or back,
perpendicular to their major axis.

Body Parameter Dials

The following parameter dials are available for entire figures.
Remember to select the correct figure when working with
multiple figures in a scene:

Body Parameters.

• XYZRotate: The xRotate, yRotate, and zRotate

parameter dials rotate a figure around the X, Y, or Z axis as
appropriate.

• XYZTran: the xTran, yTran, and zTran parameter dials

move a figure along the indicated axis.

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The XYZTran and other positioning dials reflect

the currently selected unit of measure, which is
available in the General Preferences dialog. For
example, if a dial is set to 12 inches and you change units
to feet, the dial will now read 1 foot.

Posing Faces
Poser’s human figures and many third-party figures have fully
articulated faces, meaning you can position facial muscles such
as mouth, eyebrows, cheeks, and eyes to create different facial
expressions using the Parameter dials and/or the Morphing
Tool (described in “Creating Morphs with the Morphing Tool”
on page 578).

Facial expressions work for Alyson and Ryan

and their lo-res versions, even though the
warning dialog will appear when applying face
expressions to the lo-res figures.
Faces can be enhanced with Expression morphs.

Different Poser and third-party figures will have

different body morphs. Smith Micro Software
cannot provide support for third-party figures. Please
contact the vendor where you obtained your third-party
content for technical support.
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Some older Poser figures do not have poseable Poser figures contain an array of facial morphs and parameters
faces. that allow you to create an endless variety of faces and
expressions. The list of face parameters varies by figure, and
the all parameters are self-explanatory. To view the available
When you select a head, a series of face-specific
face parameters, select the desired figure’s head and open the
parameter dials appears in the Parameters palette,
Parameters palette.
each dial controlling a different aspect of the face. When
using face parameter dials, think of it as manipulating In addition to posing faces, you can also modify facial structure
facial muscles to achieve the final results. as well as Ethnicity, Age and Gender parameters via the Face
Shaping tool in the Face room. See “The Face Shaping Tool” on
The Face camera uses the selected figure’s face as its center of page 496 for more information on the Face Shaping tool.
rotation, allowing you to preview your face poses up close.
Alyson and Ryan figures include two levels of
facial Ethnicity morphs. You will find face
Face Parameters shaping morphs in the Parameters palette, and
Ethnicity, Age and Gender controls in the Face room
Face parameters normally operate in the range of 0 to 1, with 0
being fully off and 1 being fully on. Negative values (<0) produce
inverted poses, and poses greater than +/- 1 give exaggerated
poses. For example, a negative Frown parameter setting
Faces & Phonemes
produces a slight smile. Face parameters are morph targets that A phoneme is a linguistic term for the positions of the tongue,
can be used in concert to create expressions. lips, and teeth as they make sounds. Producing certain sounds
requires the mouth and tongue to be in certain positions.
Please refer to “Chapter 28: Modifying Figures
Stringing phonemes together is what produces speech.
& Props” on page 562 for information on
morph targets and how they work inside Poser. Poser allows you to create the appearance of phonemes (called
visemes when observed) to accurately simulate speech, a useful
feature when adding sound to your scenes (such as a speech).
You simulate speech by using different phonemes and keyframes
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to sync your figure’s mouth movements to an imported sound

(see “Sound” on page 467). Poser’s Talk Designer can
automatically generate a lipsync animation for you based upon
settings that you configure in the Talk Designer palette. For
more information about the Talk Designer, see “Using the Talk
Designer” on page 469.

Phoneme morphs work with the Talk Designer.

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Posing Eyes Posing Hands

To pose eyes, select them using either the Editing tools or the Many Poser figures have fully articulated hands. When you move
Current Actor pop-up menu and position them by clicking and a finger, the appropriate knuckle(s) bend. You can pose hands
dragging, or by using the parameter dials. for both these figures and older Poser figures without articulated
hand joints by applying hand poses from the Library palette.
Alyson and Ryan also have additional morph dials for the eyes,
which can vary the shape of the iris and pupil, or which move the The Left Hand and Right Hand cameras use the hand as their
eyes up, down, right, or left. centers of rotation, making it easier to create precise hand poses.
Use the Editing tools to pose hands as you would any other
body part. Please refer to “The Editing Tools” on page 182 for
information on using the Editing tools. You can also apply preset
hand poses to any Poser figure using the Hands category in the
Library palette, just as you would any other pose.
When you select the main portion of a hand (labeled Left Hand
and Right Hand in the Item Select menu) on some Poser
figures, you may also see a special set of hand parameter dials in
the Parameters palette. These dials are as follows:

• Grasp: The Grasp parameter dial controls how tightly the

hand/fist is clenched.

• Thumb: The Thumb parameter dial moves the thumb.

Higher values move the thumb in towards the hand, and
vice versa.

Eye morphs size or position the Eyeball, Iris, Cornea, and Pupil.
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• Spread: The Spread parameter dial controls the amount of Alyson and Ryan also include advanced controls
hand spread. Higher values spread the hand out, and vice in the feet, that bend the toes in a more realistic
versa. manner. Select the Right Toe or Left Toe actor, and
expand the Toe Controls section in the Parameters
In addition, Alyson and Ryan include several additional
Palette to find four dials: BigToeCurl, BigToeSpread,
controls that provide extremely fine control over hand poses.
ToesCurl, and ToesSpread.
These additional options, coupled with the extra joints in their
hands, provide fine enough control to pose your hands holding
chopsticks or other eating utensils: These additional dials are
found in the Hand Controls section in the Parameters palette Using the Hand Model
when you choose the hand actor for the Alyson or Ryan:
The Figures > Poser Content > Additional Figures subfolder
• ThumbBend: Bends all sections of the thumb at the same includes disembodied hands that use the new joints found
time. Alyson and Ryan. These hands include extra joints that allow
you to create hand poses that bend in a more realistic manner.
• IndexBend: Bends all sections of the index finger at the Use the Left Hand or Right Hand in this subfolder to create
same time. hand poses that are compatible with Alyson and Ryan. Then save
the poses to the Hand library for future use.
• MiddleBend: Bends all sections of the middle finger at the
same time.
Using Preset Hands
• RingBend: Bends all sections of the ring finger at the same
time. When you’re done posing a hand, you can save it to the Hands
category in the Library. Hand poses are a subset of a figure pose,
• PinkyBend: Bends all sections of the pinky at the same meaning that figure poses include the hands but hands don’t
time. include figures.

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3. Double-click the pose you want to use. A dialog appears

asking if you wish to apply the preset to the left or right
hand. Make your selection and click OK.

Posing Animals
You can pose animals using the same techniques used to pose
humans. Animals have their own set of IK settings, bend zones,
and limits. On the Horse model, for example, moving the hip
Use Hand poses to pose a character’s hand and fingers. down toward the ground does not make the animal sit, unlike
a human figure. Editing tools, parameter dials, menus, etc. all
work the same with animals as they do with humans. Technically
The Hands library folder includes various
speaking, animals and human figures are identical, and Poser
subcategories. When selecting preset hand poses
makes no distinction between them.
for your figure(s), pay attention to the subcategory from
which you choose them, as You can only apply specific Animals do not work with the Walk Designer,
hands to the corresponding figures. For example, you which is primarily designed for two-legged
can only apply Poser 2 Fig. Hands to Poser 2 figures. (bipedal) figures. However, animals can work with the
Talk Designer if the animal includes morphs that
To use a preset hand pose: support it.
1. Click a figure to select it.

2. Open the Library palette, then open the Hands category

and your desired subcategory.

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Posing Animal Heads

Several animal models have fully articulated heads. For example,
you can pose the dog’s mouth and ears. Use the parameter dials
just as you would for a human figure. The available parameter
dials for a given animal’s head will vary depending on the
animal.

Pose Dots
You can save up to nine pose configurations using the Memory
dots (described in “Memory Dots” on page 54). Each
Memory dot retains all of your selected figure’s pose. This
feature is specific to your current scene, meaning that Pose dots
cannot be transferred to different scenes. To save pose settings
Animal figures are poseable as well, but do not work with the Walk and have them accessible in any Poser scene, you need to add
Designer. pose sets to the Library palette.

The stock animal figures shipping with Poser use

the same limb names as humans, that is, front
legs and paws are labeled Shoulder, Arm, Hand, etc.
This means that animal figures will not work in the
Walk Designer, which was created for use with two-
legged figures. To animate an animal walking or
running, you need to keyframe its strides manually.

Pose Dots.
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Saving Poses in the Library way to protect your work once you’ve perfected a portion of your
figure.
All parameters are saved along with body part positions when To unlock a locked actor, select it and Object > Lock Actor. A
you save a pose to the Library palette. To save a pose to the checkbox appears next to this menu item when the selected actor
Library palette: is locked, and reselecting this option clears the checkbox and
1. Open the Library palette. unlocks the actor.

2. Select the Pose category and your desired subcategory.

Point At
3. Follow the directions in “Adding Items to the Library” on
page 160. You can aim body parts, cameras, props, lights, etc. at other
scene elements using the Point At command. This works in
numerous situations, such as having a figure’s eyes track a

Other Posing and Figure Aids moving object, keeping a camera focused on the action, etc. This
is different than parenting in that no hierarchical relationship
The Object menu allows you to manipulate objects within your is created. One object simply points at another. By contrast,
scene. parented objects retain their exact position and orientation
relative to their parent actors.
To point an actor at another actor:
Lock Actor
1. Select the element you want to aim using the Select Item
Selecting Object > Lock Actor locks the currently selected pop-up menu.
element (body part, prop, etc.). To lock your desired actor, select
it, then select Object > Lock Actor. The currently selected 2. Select Object > Point At to open a dialog box listing the
actor will be locked, meaning that it will not move relative to its actors in the scene.
parent. For example, if the elbow is bent 45 degrees relative to
the upper arm, it will hold that position. Locking actors is a great

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To disable pointing for an element:

1. Select the element.

2. Select Object > Point At.

3. Select None in the dialog that appears and click OK.

Figure Height
Poser provides several figure heights, which you can adjust by
selecting Figure > Figure Height and selecting one of the eight
heights available.
Note that these settings may not work with al figures. You
will get the best results when using these options with legacy
figures, such as figures made for Poser 4 and earlier versions.
Choosing an object to point toward.
Figure heights are intended for figures that have very basic
construction.
Select the object to aim at and click OK. The selected element
points at the object and a Point At parameter dial appears Figure heights are measured in “heads”, meaning the ratio of the
in that element’s Parameters palette. Selecting 1 points the head height to the overall body height:
element directly at its selected target, and 0 points the element
• Baby: 4 heads (each head is approximately 6 inches tall)
away from the target.
• Toddler: 5 heads (each head is approximately 6.5 inches
When selecting only a single item from the Object
tall)
Parent hierarchy window, you can simply
double-click on that item to make your selection and • Child: 6 heads (each head is approximately 7 inches tall)
close the window.
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• Juvenile: 7 heads (each head is approximately 7.5 inches > Conform To conform to the male figure. Basic, Advanced,
tall) Shiny, and Ultimate material collection files are found in the
Materials > Poser Content > People > Ryan > (figurename) >
• Adolescent: 7.5 heads (each head is approximately 9 inches Genitals subfolders.
tall)
Many female figures do not have modeled
• Ideal Adult: 8 heads (each head is approximately 9 inches genitalia, relying instead on texture/bump/
tall) transparency maps to create the appearance of
genitalia. This option only works for figures that have
• Fashion Model: 8.5 heads (each head is approximately 9
modeled genitalia that is set up to take advantage of this
inches tall)
feature. To remove genitals on a female character that
• Heroic Model: 9 heads (each head is approximately 9 does not have modeled genitalia, you will need to modify
inches tall) the texture map. The Judy and Jessi models contain
modeled genitalia, which are controllable via this
You can create interesting effects by applying different height function.
settings to different figures.

Different figures use different mechanisms for

Genitalia dealing with genitalia, so not all figures will be
affected by the Figure > Genitalia menu option. Some
Some male and female nude models are anatomically correct.
newer figures, such as the G2 male figures and Ryan,
Selecting Figure > Genitalia toggles displaying genitals on or
contain genitalia that is set up as a separate conforming
off.
figure.
The Figures library includes a Poser Content > People > Ryan
> Genitals subfolder that contains props for all four male figures
(Diego, Marcus, Ryan, and Tomo). There are versions for the
LowRes versions of these figures as well. Add the proper library
item to the male figure in your scene, and then choose Figure

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Auto Balance
The Auto Balance feature is a valuable tool for helping create
realistic poses. When enabled, Poser calculates a figure’s
mathematical “weight” and maintains it. In the following
example, there is more weight in the figure’s hip or center
portion than in the torso. As you pose a figure, Auto Balance
adjusts body parts to maintain the original weight distribution,
resulting in more natural-looking poses without having to
use several position adjustments. To further affect the weight
distribution and compensation calculations, you can reposition
the Center of Mass Control Object (red outlined ball) at the
base of the figure. This control object is adjustable along the X
and Z axes in the ground plane. Moving the Center of Mass
Control Object also adjusts the Center of Mass Indicator,
which appears as a shaded sphere in the XZ (ground) plane
Using Auto Balancing.
under the figure. This Indicator shows the position above which
the current center of mass is located, as calculated from the body
part weights and the position of the Control Object. When using Auto Balance, use small subtle motions to achieve
the best results. Large motions may create drastic results. If
this occurs, restore the figure as described in “Restore” on
page 68. You may also want to select Figure > Use Limits
while working with the Auto Balance feature, to help maintain
realistic body positioning.
Selecting Figure > Auto Balance toggles Auto Balance on and
off for the selected figure. When enabled, the Center of Mass
controls will be visible at the figure’s base. A check mark appears

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next to this option in the menu when it’s enabled. Reselecting Drop to Floor
this option clears the check mark and disables Auto Balance for
the selected figure. You can place a figure in any position, such as in the middle of a
flying leap. You can leave your figure in the air, or you can lower
it to the ground depending on your needs. Selecting Figure >
Lock Figure Drop to Floor brings the lowest part of the selected figure or
prop into contact with the workspace floor. To display the floor,
Selecting Figure > Lock Figure locks the figure in its current
refer to “Ground Plane” on page 115.
position. You cannot pose or move a locked figure. This is a great
way of protecting your work in complex scenes where you have
finished posing a figure and don’t want it to move accidentally. Symmetry
A check mark appears next to this option when the currently
selected figure is locked. Reselecting this option removes the The Symmetry command allows you to copy pose characteristics
check mark and unlocks the figure. from one side of the body to another, which can save you time
when creating scenes in the Pose room or when building custom
figures using the Setup room. Pose an arm and/or leg, and
Lock Hand Parts use this command to instantly apply the same position to the
other side. You can also swap entire poses from side to side and
Selecting Figure > Lock Hand Parts locks the selected hand in
straighten the currently selected figure’s torso.
position, protecting it against accidental position changes while
you pose the rest of your figure. To use this option:
1. Select the hand to lock.

2. Select Figure > Lock Hand Parts. The hand is now locked.
This command is not available for all Poser figures.

Please refer to “Posing Hands” on page 205 for information on

posing hands.

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• Left Arm to Right Arm: Selecting Left Arm to Right Arm

positions the right arm bones in the same position as the
left arm.

• Right Arm to Left Arm: Selecting Right Arm to Left Arm

positions the left arm bones in the same position as the right
arm.

• Swap Right and Left Arms: Selecting Swap Right and

Left Arms swaps the positions of the bones on the right and
left arms of the figure.

• Left Leg to Right Leg: Selecting Left Leg to Right Leg

Start pose (left); Right to Left (center); Swap Right and Left (right). positions the right leg bones in the same position as the left
leg.
Selecting Figure > Symmetry opens the Symmetry menu,
which contains the following options for your currently selected • Right Leg to Left Leg: Selecting Right Leg to Left Leg
figure: positions the left leg bones in the same position as the right
leg.
• Left to Right: Selecting Left to Right applies the position of
the bones on the left side of the figure to the right side. • Swap Right and Left Legs: Selecting Swap Right and Left
Legs swaps the positions of the bones on the right and left
• Right to Left: Selecting Right to Left applies the position of legs of the figure.
the bones on the right side of the figure to the left side.
• Straighten Torso: Selecting Straighten Torso straightens
• Swap Right and Left: Selecting Swap Right and Left the torso area (Hip, Abdomen, Chest).
swaps the positions of the bones on the right and left sides
When you select a Symmetry function, a dialog box appears
of the figure.
asking if you wish to copy the joint zone setup as well. Click Yes

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to apply the symmetry to the bone structure, or No to avoid a figure is getting in your way. You can also hide a figure by
copying the joint setup. selecting the figure to hide by selecting Body using the Select
Element pull-down menu and clearing the Visible checkbox
Symmetry also copies element settings (morph in the Properties palette as described in “Properties” on page
targets, deformers, parameters, etc.) from one 190.
side to the other. For example, if you scale the Left Hand
to 200% and apply Left to Right symmetry, the other Collision detection settings do not apply to
hand will scale as well. Do not use this command if you hidden objects.
want to use asymmetrical settings.

Show All Figures

Delete Figure
Selecting Figure > Show All Figures makes all hidden figures
Selecting Figure > Delete Figure deletes the currently selected in your scene visible. You can also make hidden figures visible
figure. A confirmation dialog appears. Click OK to proceed with by selecting them and checking the Visible checkbox in the
the deletion or Cancel to abort. Windows users can also delete a Properties palette. If one or more body parts are set to invisible,
figure by selecting it and pressing [DEL]. these will remain invisible when the selected figure is shown.
If your figure is wearing conforming clothing or has other
attached figures, you can check the Delete attached figures
option to delete them in addition to the figure that you are
deleting.

Hide Figure
Selecting Figure > Hide Figure hides the currently selected
figure if you have more than one figure in your scene. This is
helpful when you work with complex scenes, especially where
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Chapter 10: Working with Poser’s replaceable geometry feature (see “Replacing a Body
Part with a Prop” on page 225) lets you replace body parts

Props with props, making the prop actually part of the figure. You
can also parent a prop to a body part or another prop or scene
element, such as a briefcase in a hand. Please refer to “Poser
Poser lets you add props to your scene. Props are three- File Types” on page 769 for information about hierarchies in
dimensional objects that your figures can interact with or that general, and to “About Groups” on page 621 for information
simply add interest to your scene. Props can be accessories to on creating hierarchies within Poser. Props also add general
add to your figure’s character such as a wig, a moustache, a pair interest and meaning to your scenes, such as a mushroom for a
of sunglasses, a cigar, or a briefcase. Or, your figure could base frog to perch on.
its pose on a prop, such as leaning on a cane, climbing a ladder,
or tossing a ball. This chapter covers hair, conforming (figure-
based) clothing, and miscellaneous props not fitting into these
categories. Poser treats conforming clothing items like figures,
however we will treat conforming clothing as props in this
chapter for the sake of discussion.

About Props
You can manipulate props just as you would any other element,
which is why you see the term body part/prop used throughout
this manual. You can change a prop’s color, shape, deformation,
material, and maps (if it has UV coordinates – refer to “About
Props add interest to your scene.
Maps & Templates” on page 278). Props can even cast
shadows.
You can select props from the Props category in the Library
palette, the Content room, or import props in a variety of
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popular 3D formats. You can also create your own props in your By default, strand-based hair requires
favorite 3D modeling application (provided that application significant computing resources, so you should
exports to one or more formats supported by Poser’s Import be careful not to overload your system. Please see the
function). detailed information about the Hair room for more
information.
Props function like other scene elements, meaning you can use
the Editing tools and parameter dials and can specify properties
in the Properties palette. You can also create groups using the
Group Editor palette (see “The Group Editor” on page 614). Prop-based Hair
Prop-based hair is a special kind of prop that automatically
Hair attaches itself to a figure’s head. You can choose from a number
of styles in the Library palette (see “The Hair Category” on page
Poser’s Hair room (see “Chapter 25: The Hair Room” on page 149). Once assigned, hair moves with the figure’s head. Some
502) allows you to create real strand-based hair, or to use newer hair models that come with Poser are morphable, as are
prop-based hair, when designing your figures. We’ll discuss both many third-party hair props. It is common to use Transparency
forms of hair in this section. Maps to improve the look of prop-based hair.

Strand-Based Hair
Poser’s Hair room adds dynamic strand-based hair to your scene
elements for ultimate realism. You can create as much or as little
hair anywhere you like on any object in your scene and can even
use it to add fur, lichens, grass, and many other effects. Please
refer to “Chapter 25: The Hair Room” on page 502 for more
information about strand-based hair and the Hair room.

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To use the conforming hair model:

1. Add the James figure from the Figures > Poser Content >
People > James category of the Library palette.

2. Select and add the Messy Hair model from the Hair >
Poser Content > People > James Hair category in the
Library palette.

3. Set the head as the parent for the hair as described in

“Changing a Parent” on page 227.

Clothing
Poser’s Cloth room (see “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on
page 518) adds a whole new dimension to adding realistic
Prop-based hair automatically attaches to a figure’s head, and is clothing to your figures and cloth objects to your scenes. You
geometry-based. can even add realistic motion to clothes that will react as the
character moves (such as a skirt on a walking woman) and can
To add hair to a figure from the Library palette, please refer be windblown using wind force fields (described in “Wind Force
to “Adding Hair to a Figure” on page 149. Hair includes Fields” on page 569). Of course, Poser supports prop-based
parameter dials in the Parameters palette (see “Prop clothing and ships with both dynamic and conforming (figure-
Parameters” on page 224), allowing you to specify its scale and based) clothing.
position. Some hair also includes morph target parameter dials
that allow you to, for example, swing a ponytail as a character
walks. The Library palette also contains a pose-able hair model,
which contains elements just like a figure. You can edit and pose
these elements just as you would any Poser figure.
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Dynamic Clothing
Please refer to “Adding Dynamic Clothing” on page 519 for
information about adding dynamic cloth to a figure or scene.

Conforming Clothing
In addition to cloth objects, Poser includes libraries of figure-
based clothing that you can use on nude figures, which are
located in the Figures category of the Library palette and
includes shirts, pants, shoes, dresses, skirts, etc. Conforming
clothing attaches to a figure and automatically moves with the
figure’s poses. See “Adding Conforming Clothing: Automatic
Conforming” on page 139 and “Adding Conforming Clothing:
Manual Conforming” on page 141 for more information on
using automatic and manual conforming methods to attach Clothing before conforming.
clothing to your figures.

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The Props Library

You can add props from the Library palette’s Props category as
described in “Adding Hair to a Figure” on page 149.

Using 3D Objects as Props

You can import 3D objects created in other 3D applications
to use as props. Poser’s Import functionality is described in
“Importing Files” on page 701.
Poser places props in the workspace with your specified origin
point. If you do not specify an origin point, the prop will appear
in the center of the workspace. If you import a prop and can’t
see it, the prop may be too large and/or your currently selected
camera may be zoomed in too close to see it. Try zooming out
Clothing after conforming. and/or switching cameras. You will probably have to scale and
translate props to get them where you want them in your scene,
using either the Editing tools or the prop’s Parameter dials.

Adding & Importing Props

There are several ways to bring props into Poser. Props can be
Moving, Resizing, and Deforming
added to the document window from the Props library, or you Props
can also import props from other 3D applications.
You can move, resize, and deform props using the Editing tools,
the Properties palette, and/or the Parameters palette.

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Deleting Props
To delete a prop, select the prop you wish to delete and either
select Object > Delete Object or press [DEL].

Creating New Props

You can use the Grouping tool to select specific polygons on
a figure or prop, as discussed in “The Group Editor” on page
614. This feature allows you to create new props. For example,
this graphic shows an example of a face mask created to fit the
figure by selecting polygons in the figure’s face and creating a
prop, which was then exported to a 3D modeling application for
finalizing.

The Group Editor can be helpful in creating a prop (such as a mask)

from a figure.

To create a prop:
1. Select the prop or body part you want to base the prop on.

2. Select the Grouping tool to open the Group Editor palette.

3. Select polygons for a new group and create and name the
prop.

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4. The new prop is now listed in the Current Actor pull-down

Prop Properties
menu and can be moved, shaped, and edited like any other
prop. Props have the following properties:

You can save your new prop to the Library palette as described
in “Adding Items to the Library” on page 160.

Creating Prop Parameters

You can use morph targets to create new parameters for your
props. Please refer to “Chapter 28: Modifying Figures & Props”
on page 562 for more information about morph targets.

The Prop Origin

A prop’s origin appears in the Document window as 3D
crosshairs. This is the center of that prop’s rotation and scale.
When you rotate a prop, it rotates about its origin. It grows or
shrinks from the origin point when scaled. You can display a
prop’s origin by selecting the desired prop and checking the
Display Origin checkbox in the Properties palette.
You can move a prop’s origin using the originXYZ parameter Prop properties.
dials. Moving the origin alters the prop’s rotation and scale
points. When adjusting the origin parameters, remember that
you are making these adjustments based on the prop’s original
origin location, not its current position.

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• Internal Name: The Internal Name field displays the prop’s • Light Emitter: When checked, allows the object to be
internal (hidden) name, which Poser uses to track that part. included in indirect lighting calculations so that light will
You cannot edit a prop’s internal name within Poser. bounce off the object. When unchecked, indirect lighting
calculations are skipped for the object.
• Name: The Name field displays the prop name. Enter a new
name in this field if you desire. • Collision detection: Checking the Collision Detection
checkbox enables collision detection for the currently
• Visible: Checking the Visible checkbox makes the prop selected prop. Please refer to “Collisions” on page 73 for
visible and vice versa. Invisible props are not included more information about collision detection.
in any render calculations, and do not appear in the
rendered scene. See “Figure Properties” on page 190 for • Apply Collision Setting to Children: Clicking the Apply
information on animating the Visible property. Collision Setting to Children button applies the currently
selected prop’s collision detection setting to that part’s
• Visible in Raytracing: Checking the Visible in Raytracing children parts (if any).
checkbox makes the prop visible in raytraced reflections,
such as if the figure is in front of a mirror. Clearing this • Load Morph Target: Clicking the Load Morph Target
checkbox makes the figure not appear in reflections. button displays the Load Morph Target dialog, allowing
you to load a custom morph target for the selected prop
• Casts Shadows: Checking the Casts Shadows checkbox (which is then editable using the Morphing Tool). Please
forces the selected prop to cast a shadow, which will be refer to “Chapter 28: Modifying Figures & Props” on page
visible in your scene. Clearing this box means the selected 562 for more information about loading morph targets.
body part casts no shadow.
• Set Parent: Clicking the Set Parent button allows you to
• Visible in Camera: When checked, the object is visible make the prop a child of another element in your scene.
in the camera and render. When unchecked, the object Please refer to “Changing a Parent” on page 227 for
does not render. Used in conjunction with Light Emitter, information on setting prop parents.
described next, to create light-casting objects.
• Displacement Bounds: The Displacement Bounds
property determines the prop’s displacement boundary.
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Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render • Display Origin: Checking the Display Origin checkbox
Engine” on page 390 for more information about displays the prop’s origin. Please refer to “The Prop Origin”
displacement bounds. on page 222 for more information about prop origins.

• Shading Rate: The Shading Rate allows you to specify • Animatable Origin: When checked, allows you to animate
the desired shading rate for the currently selected prop. the prop origin as its actor is translated, rotated, or scaled.
Lowering the shading rate improves your render quality but This allows you to optimally position the prop origin if its
consumes computer resources. Please refer to “Chapter 19: shape changes drastically by scaling or morphing.
Using The FireFly Render Engine” on page 390 for more
information about shading rates. You can animate the prop origin. When used in
combination with dependent parameters, this
• Smooth Polygons: Checking the Smooth Polygons can result in more realistic joint bends. See “Animatable
checkbox causes Poser to smooth the prop’s polygons at Origins” on page 474.
render time to eliminate or reduce a “faceted” appearance
caused by flat polygons. This option can cause sharp corners
to appear round. If the affected prop has sharp angles, you
should experiment with disabling this option for optimum
Prop Parameters
results.
Props have the following parameters:
• Crease Angle: The Crease Angle setting establishes a
• Scale: The Scale parameter dial increases or decreases the
threshold up to which creases between adjoining polygons
size of the prop in all axes.
will be smoothed. Polygons with crease angles over this
threshold will not be smoothed, and will be rendered as • XYZScale: The xScale, yScale, and zScale parameter dials
hard edges. See “Smoothing Geometry” on page 408 for increase or decrease the size of the prop in the selected axis.
more information about using the Crease Angle setting to
apply smooth shading. • XYZRotate: The xRotate, yRotate, and zRotate parameter
dials rotate the prop around the selected axis.

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• XYZTran: The xTran, yTran, and zTran parameter dials was created by importing a model of a mask, then replacing the
move the prop along the selected axis. figure’s head with that mask.

You should replace body parts with props before

posing figures to make positioning and aligning
easier.

Prop parameters.

Replacing a Body Part with a Prop

A mask prop replaces the figure’s head.
Poser lets you replace a body part with a prop, such as a hook
on a pirate’s hand or a mask for a man’s head. This example
To replace a body part with a prop:
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1. Add or import the desired prop. Props turned into body parts retain their current
positions relative to the figure that they had
2. Position and deform the prop as desired using the Editing prior to being converted. Be sure to place props in their
tools, deformers, and/or parameter dials. Be sure that the desired locations before turning them into body parts.
prop’s position overlaps the body a little (in most cases) to
avoid a “break” where the body meets the prop. You might
also want to make the body part being replaced invisible
using the Properties palette as described in “Properties” on
Changing Figures with Replaced Geometry
page 190. If you try to change a figure that has a prop for a body part using
the Change function in the Library palette, a warning will
3. Select Object > Replace Body Part with Prop to open the
appear asking if you want to keep the replaced geometry on the
Replace Part dialog.
new figure replacing the old.
4. Choose the prop to swap using the Prop pull-down menu
• To keep the props that have replaced body parts, check
and click OK. The prop assumes the name of the body part
the Keep modified geometries button. To keep the props
being replaced.
attached to their parents on the new figure, check the Keeps
If the replaced body part doesn’t look right, try disabling props attached to figure checkbox. Click OK when ready.
bending by selecting the replaced body part and clearing the
• To undo a geometry change and restore a figure’s default
Bend checkbox in the Properties palette. You can also use the
geometry, simply reload the original figure from the Library
Joint Editor palette to make adjustments. This is an advanced
palette.
feature and should be used with care. Please refer to “Chapter
31: Working with Joints, Weights, and Skinning” on page 651
for information on using the Joint Editor palette. The prop Set Figure Parent
retains its material groups (see the “Chapter 13: The Basics of
Materials” on page 276), meaning you can apply shaders to it You can attach props to body parts, body parts to each other,
as you can with any other material groups in your scene. figures to props, figures to figures, cameras to body parts- the
list goes on and on. Setting a parent creates a hierarchical

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relationship, as described in “Poser File Types” on page 769.

You can parent entire figures to various other scene elements. To
set a parent for a figure:
1. Select the figure you wish to parent (make the child of
another object).

2. Select Figure > Set Figure Parent to open the Object

Parent dialog.

3. Select the desired parent object and click OK. To parent

props, camera, etc., select Object > Change Parent as
described in “Changing a Parent” on page 227.

Choosing a parent for an object.

Changing a Parent
You can attach props to body parts, body parts to each other,
figures to props, figures to figures, cameras to body parts, etc.
Setting a parent creates a hierarchical relationship, as described
in “Poser File Types” on page 769. You can even control
whether parented props bend along with their parent body part.
Some items like sunglasses, etc. should not bend. However,
other items such as elbow pads on a roller blader should bend
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with the parent. You should change parent props before posing 2. If necessary, use the Editing tools, deformers, and/or
your figures, since it may be harder to align props with figures parameter dials to position and shape the object. Ensure
once the figures have been posed (such as a sword in a warrior’s the correct positioning using either a detailed preview style
hand). (such as Lit Wireframe), zooming in close, or a test render.
You can also enable Collision Detection to prevent the
Here’s an example of a ball parented to a figure’s right hand.
selected object from penetrating its parent object, or vice
versa. Please refer to “Collisions” on page 73 for more
information about the Collision Detection feature.

3. Select Object > Change Parent (or click the Set Parent
button in the Properties palette) to open the Object Parent
dialog.

A ball follows a figure’s hand when it is parented to the hand.

You could also parent a chair to a figure’s hip and make the chair
inherit the figure’s bend.
Your parenting choices are virtually unlimited. For example,
how about parenting a camera to a figure’s head? This could
create some interesting effects.
To set a parent for an element:
1. Select the object you wish to parent (make the child of
another object).

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When selecting only a single item from the Object

Parent hierarchy window, you can simply
double-click on that item to make your selection and
close the window.

In the preceding examples, we parented the ball to the figure’s

right hand and the chair to the figure’s hip. To set parents for an
entire figure, select Figure > Set Figure Parent as described in
“Set Figure Parent” on page 226.

Grouping Objects
A grouping object is a container that can act as a parent to two or
more objects. A grouping object allows you to perform the same
action to more than one object at a time. For example, when
You choose the parent object in the Object Parent dialog. several objects are assigned to the same grouping object as a
parent, you will be able to move or rotate the grouping object to
4. Select the desired parent object (the object to which the do the same to all of its children; or you could turn off visibility
currently selected object will be attached). for all of the children of the grouping object.
To demonstrate how grouping works:
5. If you want the prop to bend like its parent, check the
Inherit bends of parent checkbox. 1. Create a new project.

6. Click OK. 2. Add a few primitives (a box, a ball, and a bowl are shown
here).

3. Also add a Square Groundplane HR from the Props >

Primitives category.
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4. With the Square Groundplane selected go into the the scene. It will appear at the zero position in the scene (on the
Material Room and click the Add Reflection Wacro. The floor, at the origin point of the scene). It appears as a cube in
ground plane will turn into a reflective surface. wireframe display mode, and will not be rendered in your scene.

5. Change the colors of the props to add more variety to the

scene.

A grouping object at the origin point of the scene.

There are several ways that you can attach children to the
Grouping object:

Four primitive objects in a scene. • Select an object in your scene that you want to attach to the
Grouping object. Choose Object > Change Parent, and use
Now, you can create the grouping. Choose Object > Create the Change Parent dialog to select the Grouping Object in
Grouping. A container named Grouping n (where n represents the hierarchy.
a numerical value automatically assigned by Poser) appears in
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• Right-click in the Document window on the object you

want to attach. A context menu appears, and included is a
Change Parent to command. Expand the menu and select
Groupings > Grouping n (with n being the number of the
grouping you want to attach).

• Open the Hierarchy Editor, and select the item you want
to attach to the grouping object. Drag and drop it on the
grouping object so that it becomes its child.
Use any of the above methods to attach the box and the ball.
Leave the bowl and ground plane as they are (do not assign the
Grouping object to them as the parent). Notice now, that when
you move the grouping around, the box and ball will move, but
the bowl and ground plane stay put.

Parent with the Object > Change Parent command (top) or with the
Document window context menu (bottom).

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When a Grouping object is invisible, the

Hierarchy Window will display the visibility icon
slightly differently for its children. A blue outline will
appear around the visibility icons for children of a
grouping object, indicating that they have inherited the
Invisible setting from the grouping object.

You can also toggle the Visible in Raytracing property of a

Grouping object. Let’s say that you have several objects on a
reflective surface. If Visible in Raytracing is turned on for the
grouping object, reflections will be calculated and rendered for
the child object. If Visible in Raytracing is turned off for the
object, reflections will not be calculated. This can help speed up
rendering, but there may also be times when you intentionally
want some objects to be reflected and others not.

The Box and Ball move with the Grouping object. The bowl and
ground (not attached) stay put.

A Grouping object allows you to do more than translate or rotate

objects together.
For example, you can toggle the Visibility of a grouping object to
show or hide all of its children at once.

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Using Grouping Objects with Figures

When you create a grouping that includes a body part on a

figure, the order that you select items can affect how the figure
relates to the grouping object:

• If you start by adding a figure to your scene (such as Andy,

or Alyson or Ryan), and then use the Object > Create
Grouping command, the grouping object will appear in
the scene. Next, you select one of the body parts on the
character (such as the right forearm) and right-click to
choose Change Figure (figure name) parent to from the
context menu that appears. The grouping object becomes a
parent of the entire figure, and not just the selected body
part.

• If you create your group first (for example, you assign a

grouping object as a parent to a table, chair, and dishes on
the table) and then you assign the figure’s hand as a parent
to the grouping object, you can still have some freedom over
the hand.

Using Constraint Channels

Constraint channels allow you to animate one object based
on the position of another object. To explain, visualize a scene
Grouping object Visibility off (top); Visible in Raytracing off
where a football is being tossed to a football player, and then
(bottom).
he catches it and runs with it. If you create this type of scene
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in Poser, you can use a constraint channel to help with this

animation. The figure’s hand can be a target for the football. You
animate the pass of the football, and when the football gets close
to the catcher you can set the value of the Constraint object to 1
so that the ball moves with the figure’s hand.

You can delete the Constraint channel and the

Constraint object will still appear in the scene
and act as a grouping object, as described in “Grouping
Objects” on page 229.

Here is a simple example to illustrate how this works. Create

a simple scene that has three primitive props, such as a box, a
bowl, and a ball (or similar).
With one of the props selected (the box in this example), choose Choose a Constraint target from the Add Constraint dialog.
Object > Add Constraint. The Add Constraint dialog appears
and prompts you to select a constraint target. You can then After you click OK, you will see that the box moves to the same
select the ball as the target. position held by the ball, so that they are now in the same space.
A Constraint dial appears in the Parameters Palette, and is set to
1. When you move this dial back toward the 0 value, you will see
the box move back toward its original position.

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ball. The amount of movement between the two objects is

determined by the value set by the Constraint parameter dial..

The box moves to the same space as the ball when the Constraint
dial is set to 1.

A wireframe box appears at the origin of the ball (the target),

but may be hidden within the target object. This wireframe
box is a container that will not render in your scene, but it
assists in animation. The Hierarchy Editor will show this box
as Constraint Grouping n (where n is a numerical value
automatically assigned in Poser) and it will appear as a child to
the ball.
Now, to see how a constraint channel works, move the
Constraint parameter dial back toward 1, so that the box moves
closer to the ball. Then move the ball (not the Constraint object) When an object has two constraint targets, set each to a value
with the editing tools. You will notice that the box follows the between 0 and 1 for both to have effect.

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You can add more than one constraint object. For example, you
can select the box and assign the bowl as a second constrain
target. An additional Constraint dial appears in the Parameters
window (and also in the Hierarchy window). When an object has
two Constraint targets, it works as follows:

• If both Constraint 1 and Constraint 2 for the box are set to 1,

the box will be positioned according to Constraint 2.

• If Constraint 1 is set to 0, and Constraint 2 is set to 1, the box

will be positioned according to Constraint 2.

• If Constraint 1 is set to 1, and Constraint 2 is set to 0, the box

will be positioned according to Constraint 1.

• If both Constraint 1 and Constraint 2 are set to values other

than 0 or 1, the box will be positioned in relation to both.

When an object has two constraint targets, set each to a value

between 0 and 1 for both to have effect.

Delete Object
Selecting Object > Delete Object deletes the currently selected
prop. A confirmation dialog appears. Click OK to delete the prop,
Cancel to abort.
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Chapter 11: Cameras and/or set up final shots for still or animated output. Remember
that every view you see of your scene inside the Document
window is done using one or more cameras. You can move
This section describes how Poser’s cameras work. As indicated cameras in any direction, however positioning them can be a
previously, cameras aim at the Poser workspace from different time-consuming process. Having multiple cameras allows you to
vantage points. Switching cameras allows you to view your scene use preset camera positions to quickly navigate your scene, while
from up to four of these vantage points at once. the ability to position cameras allows you to create custom still
or moving shots for use either while working on your scene or
during rendering.
Camera View The Camera controls appear as follows in the Poser workspace.
Selecting Display > Camera View allows you to select one of the
cameras available in your scene.

Show Camera Names

Selecting Display > Show Camera Names displays the name
of the currently selected camera in the top left corner of the
Document window’s scene preview area. Clicking this option
again disables this feature.

The Camera Controls

The Camera controls allow you to quickly select and position
cameras. Used in conjunction with the available Document Camera Controls.
window layouts, they allow you to quickly navigate your scene

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In addition, the Mini Camera controls appear on the top of the

The Main, Auxiliary, and Posing
Document window, allowing you to navigate your scene without
having to have the full Camera controls visible (such as when Cameras
you are using the Material room).
The Main, Auxiliary, and Posing cameras are revolving
cameras, which means they rotate about the center of the Poser
workspace. By default, figures and props are placed at the center
of the workspace. Moving figures/props does not alter these
Mini Camera Controls. camera’s positions. The Auxiliary camera provides a secondary
camera for your use, such as when you are deciding which shot
The Animation On/Off control allows you to enable or disable to render and want to explore possibilities without affecting your
automatic keyframe generation when you move or change previous camera positioning/animation work
rotation of a camera. The Flyaround camera view provides an The Posing camera is similar to the Main and Auxiliary
animated view of your scene as a camera rotates around it while Cameras except that it rotates about the currently selected
pointed at the center origin. figure, not the workspace. If you select another figure, the
The Mini Camera controls consist of (from left to right) the Posing camera moves to that figure/prop.
Frame Selected and Orbit Selected buttons, and the Trackball,
Move XY, and Move XZ controls. These function identically
to their counterparts in the main Camera controls and are
therefore detailed in this chapter.
The available 3D cameras are: Main, Auxiliary, Posing, Face,
Left Hand, Right Hand, and Dolly. The available orthographic
(2D) cameras are: Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Front, and Back.
When you render stills or animations, the rendering takes place
using the currently selected camera. Please refer to “Part 4: Main, Auxiliary, and Posing cameras as displayed in the Camera
Rendering” on page 378 for more information on rendering. Controls.
Each camera is discussed above.
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The Face Camera Left and Right Hand Cameras

The Face camera provides a close-up of the currently selected Like the Face camera, you can zoom in on the left or right
figure’s face, allowing you to precisely adjust facial expressions hand of the currently selected figure to fine-tune gestures and
and see your results in detail. This camera rotates around the other hand positions. Hand cameras also focus on the currently
currently selected figure’s face and moves if you select another selected figure. If the figure is an animal, the Hand cameras will
figure. This camera also works with animal figures. To switch to focus on the feet/paws/claws as appropriate. To switch to a hand
the Face camera, select your desired figure and click the Face camera, click the Left hand or Right Hand icon as appropriate.
Camera control.

Left and Right Hand cameras as shown in the Camera Controls.

The Face camera displayed in the Camera Controls.

For the hand cameras to work properly, be sure
your figures’ hands are all named “Left Hand”
For the Face camera to work properly, be sure
and “Right Hand”. This is not an issue for figures that
your figures’ heads are all named “Head”. This is
were included with Poser but could be an issue for third-
not an issue for figures that were included with Poser
party content and custom figures you create yourself.
but could be an issue for third-party content and custom
figures you create yourself.

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The Dolly Camera

The Dolly camera rotates about its own center independently
of scene contents, meaning it can move around and between
elements in the scene. If you want to emulate a motion picture
camera, the Dolly camera is your best choice.

Orthographic Cameras
The Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Front, and Back cameras are
orthographic cameras, meaning that they product orthographic
projections. Orthographic projections makes objects appear flat Orthographic cameras as shown in the Camera controls.
(2D), without the perspective of 3D views. Orthographic cameras
cannot be rotated, since they are permanently aligned to the
X, Y, and Z axes in the Poser workspace. Because of this, they
make excellent references for viewing your scene. Please refer to
Shadow Light Cameras
“About 3D Space” on page 778 for a general discussion about Shadow light cameras are very useful for aiming lights and
3D views. creating their shadows. Each light in your scene has one
Shadow Light camera. Each shadow camera shares both XYZ
location and aim direction with its assigned light. Poser uses
these cameras to calculate shadows cast by the objects in each
light’s path. Positioning these cameras and/or adjusting their
parameters/properties can affect how shadows appear in your
rendered scenes. You can select these cameras using the Select
Actor pull-down menu. Shadow cameras have a reduced set of

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properties/parameters (see “Camera Properties & Parameters”

on page 246 for more information).

If you see poor depth map shadows in a portrait

shot, or if you see warping or flickering shadows
in animation, you can tweak the shadow cams to adjust
the field of view to the parts of the scene that really
matter.

Shadow Light cameras displayed in the Select Actor pulldown

menu.

Changing Cameras
To change a camera, use any of the following methods:

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• Right-click the camera label in any Document window

pane and choose one of the options in the Camera View
submenu.

• Click the Face, Left Hand, or Right Hand icon in the

Camera controls (see “The Camera Controls” on page
237).

• Click the Select Camera control in the Camera controls

(see “Select Camera Control” on page 242).

• Select Display > Camera View using the Menu Bar, then
selecting your desired camera in the Cameras pull-down
menu.

Select Camera Control The Select Camera control.

Clicking and dragging the cursor over the Select Camera Just above the main Select Camera control are three shortcut
control cycles through the available camera views and changes buttons for specific cameras. You can replace an existing camera
the Document window or currently active view pane to the shortcut with your currently selected camera by pressing [OPT]/
newly selected camera. [ALT] while clicking one of the Select Camera shortcut buttons.
A shortcut for your currently selected camera will replace the
previously existing camera shortcut.

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Flyaround View Positioning Cameras

The Flyaround view places the currently selected camera on In addition to selecting cameras, the Camera controls allow you
a virtual track above and away from the center of the Poser to position your currently selected camera using one or more of
workspace and orbits around your scene, displaying all elements the following controls. If you have more than one camera active
within view. This is an excellent way to quickly see how your (multiple Document window view panes), these controls will
scene looks in 3D space. Once activated, this view remains only affect the currently selected camera.
active until toggled off. To toggle Flyaround on and off, click
the control or make the selection using the Cameras pull-down
menu.
Camera Plane Controls
The Camera Plane controls constrain camera motion to specific
3D planes (axes), helping you move the camera with precision:

• Move YZ: The Move YZ control constrains camera motions

to the up/down (Y) and front/back (Z) axes.

• Move XY: The Move XY control constrains camera motions

to the side/side (X) and up/down (Y) axes.

• Move XZ: The Move XZ control constrains camera motions

to the side/side (X) and front/back (Z) axes.

The Flyaround Camera control.

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Camera Plane controls.

The Rotation Trackball.

Rotation Trackball
Scale Control
The Rotation trackball tilts and spins the currently selected
The Scale Camera control works like a zoom lens. Click the
camera about all three axes. The Main, Auxiliary, Posing, and
control and drag right to zoom towards the camera’s aim point
Dolly cameras rotate about the center of the Poser workspace.
(workspace, figure, or actor, depending on the camera). Clicking
The Posing camera rotates around the currently selected figure.
and dragging left zooms out, and vice versa.
The Face and Hand cameras rotate about the respective actors
(body parts) of the selected figure. You can also use the Rotation
trackball by pressing [OPT]/[ALT] and dragging the cursor
around the workspace using the Document window.
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Focal Length Control Frame and Orbit Selected Control

The Focal Length control increases or decreases the selected Use the Frame Selected control to fit the camera view around
camera’s focal length. Clicking the control and dragging right the selected actor. When the Orbit Selected button is enabled,
increases the focal length, while clicking and dragging to the left the camera will orbit around the selected object. When the Orbit
reduces the focal length. You can also adjust the camera’s Focal Selected button is disabled, the camera will orbit normally.
Length parameter in the Parameters palette.

Roll Control
The Roll Camera control banks the camera to the left or right,
tilting your view of the Poser workspace. Click the control and
drag left or right to tilt the camera in the indicated direction.

Frame Selected and Orbit Selected camera controls.

Scale, Roll, and Focal Length camera controls.

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Creating Cameras Camera Properties

You can create new revolving or dolly cameras using the Object Cameras have the following properties, available in the
> Create Camera menu option. Properties palette.

You can specify the type of camera you wish to create by

selecting either Revolving or Dolly from the Create Camera
sub-menu. A revolving camera rotates about the center of the
Poser workspace, regardless of the position of objects within the
scene. A dolly camera rotates about its own center, and can move
around and between elements in the scene.

Camera Properties & Parameters

When you select a camera, its properties and parameters will
appear in the Properties and Parameters palettes, respectively.
Camera Properties.
To access a camera’s properties and parameters in the
appropriate palette when you do not currently have a camera
selected, you can: • Name: The Name field displays the camera name. Enter a
new name in this field if you desire.
• Click your desired camera object if it is visible in the
Document window. • Visible: Checking the Visible checkbox makes the camera
visible in the Document window, and vice versa. Invisible
• Use the Current Actor pull-down menu. objects are not included in any render calculations, and do
not appear in the rendered scene. See “Figure Properties”
on page 190 or information on animating the Visible
property. When cameras are visible, you can right-click to

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display a context menu as described in “Cameras Context • Remember changes for Undo: Checking the Remember
Menu” on page 85. changes for Undo checkbox specifies that any camera
changes will be included in the Undo/Redo cache.
• Animating: Check the Animating box to have the selected Unchecking this checkbox means that the Undo feature will
camera’s movements recorded as keyframes in your not apply to camera changes.
animation, or clear it to disable this feature. With this
feature disabled, you can still move the camera but its
movements will not be recorded as keyframes in your Camera Parameters
animation. Camera animation allows camera movements
Like all parameter dials, clicking and dragging a dial to the
to appear as part of rendered movies, allowing for such
right increases its value, and clicking and dragging to the left
techniques as follow shots, flyaround views, etc. Please refer
decreases its value. You can also click your desired parameter’s
to “Chapter 22: Animating with Poser” on page 433
numeric value to open a text field allowing you to directly type
for more information on creating animations. To enable/
your desired value.
disable camera animation, open the Properties palette.

• When a camera is animated, your view of your scene

changes over time, which can add realism and interest to
your animation. Watch a movie and notice how often the
camera moves. You can animate Poser cameras just like
any other 3D object using keyframes and tween frames.
Different cameras will animate differently, since they have
differing centers of motion.

You can only use one camera per animation; you

cannot switch cameras in mid animation. To do
this, create separate clips then edit them together using
video editing software.

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Other Parameters
The Other Parameters section contains a variety of parameters
to control the behavior of the selected camera. These parameters
are as follows:

• Focal: The Focal parameter dial sets the camera’s focal

length. Smaller numbers give wider angles and will add
more stretching and distortion as they decrease. Larger
numbers give results like telephoto lenses, and result in less
distorted but flatter images.

• Perspective: The Perspective parameter shifts the current

camera’s perspective without changing the camera’s
location. This can give the illusion that the camera is farther
or nearer to objects in your scene. The Perspective setting is
hidden, because it is interconnected with the Focal setting.
If you adjust the Perspective dial, you will see a change in
the Focal setting.

• Depth of Field: Widening the lens aperture of the camera

allows you to achieve a Depth of Field effect. The farther
away items are from the focal plane, the more blurred they
will appear. Depth of Field can be individually configured
for each camera.
Camera Parameters. ƒƒ Focus Distance: The focus distance dial controls the
crosshair so that you can position the focus. Place the
crosshair at the distance at which objects appear most
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in focus. In Poser, focal distance for each camera is

determined by a control object located within the scene.
You can animate the control object like any other figure
in Poser, by using keyframes to specify its change in
position; Poser will interpolate the movement between
keyframes for you. (For more information about
animating using keyframes, please refer to “Chapter
22: Animating with Poser” on page 433.) Enter your
desired value in the camera’s Focus Distance field.

The Focus Distance control, with Alyson as the point of focus, and
its render.

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values of 1.0, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, 32, etc.
Each change either doubles or halves the amount of
light transmitted by the lens to the film plane. Basically,
f-stop is calculated from the focal length of the camera
lens divided by the diameter of the bundle of light rays
entering the lens and passing through the aperture
in the iris diaphragm. On a physical camera, this
represents the lens focal length (see next bullet) divided
by the f-stop value to determine the actual aperture
size. The F-Stop setting affects the depth of field in
Poser, just as it would in a real camera lens. Smaller
F-stops increase depth of field and narrow the point of
focus. Focus on the subject, and then enter the desired
value in the F-Stop field.
The following images illustrate the Depth of Field effect.

The Focus Distance control, with the car as the point of focus, and
its render.

ƒƒ F-Stop: The F-Stop number represents a lens aperture Without depth of field (left); With depth of field (right).
size. The larger the number, the smaller the aperture
opening. Each number is multiplied by a factor of
approximately 1.4 as the scale rises, giving standard
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Poser allows you to enable or disable Depth of between the closed and open positions. For example, setting
Field for individual renders. In order for depth of a beginning time of 0.0 and an ending time of 0.5 means the
field to render, you must enable the Depth of Field shutter would be open for the first half of a frame.
option in the Render Settings dialog. Please refer to
“Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render Engine” on page The Shutter Open and Shutter Close settings only
390 for details on how to do this using the FireFly result in a visible effect when 3D Motion Blur is
Renderer. activated in the Render Settings dialog. As the amount
of time between Shutter Open and Shutter Close
increases, the motion blur effect increases.
If the results of your Depth of Field settings are
too grainy in the blurred areas, try raising the
number of Pixel Samples. Doing so will result in a • Hither: The Hither parameter controls the distance of the
smoother effect, but increased render times. clipping plane. Objects (or portions thereof) closer to the
camera than the hither distance will not appear in your view
pane.
• Shutter Open: The Shutter Open value represents the
shutter opening time in fractions of a frame, where 0.0 is • Yon: The Yon parameter sets the farther range of the
the beginning of the frame and 1.0 is the end of the frame. clipping plane. Objects (or portions thereof) farther from
Unlike a real camera shutter, this one opens and closes the camera than the yon distance will not appear in your
instantly with zero elapsed time. Regular camera shutters, view plane. The Yon parameter is only applicable with
while extremely fast, require a small time interval to travel OpenGL hardware rendering.
between the closed and open positions.

• Shutter Close: The Shutter Close value represents the Transform Parameters
shutter closing time in fractions of a frame, where 0.0 is
the beginning of the frame and 1.0 is the end of the frame. When a camera is selected, you can use the parameter dials
Unlike a real camera shutter, this one opens and closes on the Parameters palette to precisely adjust that camera’s
instantly with zero elapsed time. Regular camera shutters, position. The Dolly, Posing, Face, and Hand cameras have
while extremely fast, require a small time interval to travel the standard 3D Pitch, Yaw, and Roll parameters, while the
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Main and Auxiliary cameras have xOrbit, yOrbit, and zOrbit • xScale: The xScale parameter changes the camera’s
parameters. These parameters are measured in degrees. horizontal scale.

XYZ Dolly • yScale: The yScale parameter changes the camera’s

vertical scale.
The Dolly parameter dials move the selected camera along the
desired axis without altering its orientation, just like a movie • zScale: The zScale parameter changes the camera’s depth
camera on a dolly cart, as shown below. scale.

• DollyX: The DollyX parameter moves the camera laterally. • Scale: The Scale parameter dial changes the selected
Increasing this value moves the camera to the right. camera’s scale equally along all three axes and functions in
the same manner as the Scale camera control. If you have
• DollyY: The DollyY parameter moves the camera vertically. already selected unequal scales using the individual axis
Increasing this value moves the camera up. controls, the Scale dial/control preserves your previously
selected ratios.
• DollyZ: the DollyZ parameter moves the camera in and out.
Increasing this value moves the camera in and out. XYZ Orbit
XYZ Scale The Orbit parameters orbit the selected camera around the
indicated Poser workspace axis. It helps to think of the selected
As mentioned above, camera scale functions like a zoom lens.
axis as the center of a wheel with the camera being at the edge.
The Scale control zooms the camera equally in all three axes.
The camera maintains its distance from the axis and remains
Using the parameter dials, however, you can scale in any amount
pointing in the same direction relative to its starting point.
using any combination of axes to create distorted effects. While
Setting positive degrees of rotation in the Orbit parameter
this might give the same appearance as distorting the figures/
dials orbits the selected camera in a counterclockwise direction
props in your scene, scaling cameras only affects the selected
around the selected axis, and vice versa.
camera; items in your scene are not affected. Decreasing scale
values zooms in along the selected axis, and vice versa. • xOrbit: The xOrbit parameter orbits the selected camera
using the Poser workspace’s X axis as the center of rotation.
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• yOrbit: The yOrbit parameter orbits the selected camera • Pitch: The Pitch parameter rotates the selected camera
using the Poser workspace’s Y axis as the center of rotation. about its own X axis (up/down). A positive number pitches
the camera up (the scene appears to pitch down), and vice
• zOrbit: The zOrbit parameter orbits the selected camera versa.
using the Poser workspace’s Z axis as the center of rotation.
• Roll: the Roll parameter rotates the selected camera about
Pitch, Roll, Yaw its own Z axis (tip left/tip right). A positive number rolls the
camera to the left (the scene appears to rotate to the right),
These parameters rotate the Dolly, Posing, Face, and Hand
and vice versa.
cameras about their own axes. To illustrate this, let’s use the
example of a small plane with its X, Y, and Z axes labeled. • Yaw: The Yaw parameter rotates the selected camera about
its own Y axis (rotate left/rotate right). A positive number
yaws the camera to the left (scene appears to yaw to the
right), and vice versa.

Pointing & Locking Cameras

As with any other object in your scene, you can use the
Hierarchy Editor (see “About Groups” on page 621) to keep
cameras pointed at certain other objects.

Pointing Cameras at Scene Objects

To point your camera at another scene object:
Pitch (Up or Down); Roll (Tilt); Yaw (Turn).
1. Select your desired camera using the Current Actor pop-up.

2. Select Object > Point At to open the Choose Actor dialog.

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3. Choose your desired scene object in the list of actors (the Memorizing and Restoring Cameras
camera can point at anything) and click OK.
You can use the Edit > Memorize > Camera command to
The camera will point at the selected object and a Point At memorize the settings of the current camera. If you later want
parameter dial will appear in the Parameters palette for that to return to that camera, choose the Edit > Restore > Camera
camera. Setting this parameter to 1 locks the camera on target, command to restore the settings back to the camera that you
and 0 completely disables pointing. Intermediate values memorized.
cause the camera to lag behind the object it’s pointing at. This
parameter allows you to create interesting effects when creating
animations. Camera Dots
You can save up to nine camera configurations using the
Disabling Camera Pointing Memory dots (described in “Memory Dots” on page 54).
Each Memory dot retains the settings for all cameras in your
To disable camera pointing:
scene. All Memory dots are saved with the application, so your
1. Select your desired camera using the Current Actor pop-up. saved camera configurations will be accessible in any Poser
document loaded. You can also save camera settings to the
2. Select Object > Point At to open the Choose Actor dialog. Library palette as described below, which would allow you to use
your Memory dots for other settings.
3. Choose None in the list of actors (the camera can point at
anything) and click OK.
Saving Camera Sets
Locking Cameras The Cameras category in the Library palette allows you to save
camera positions and access them using a few mouse clicks.
Once you have positioned a camera to your liking, you can lock Camera positions are saved relative to the Poser workspace,
it to prevent it from being moved. To lock a camera, select it as not figures or other scene items. Saving camera sets saves
described above, then select Object > Lock Actor. Selecting this all cameras; you cannot save one camera. As with any other
option again toggles locking off.
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Library palette category, you can add subcategories to the

Cameras categories. Please refer to “Chapter 2: Installing
Poser” on page 14 for a description of the Library palette,
and to “Maintaining Your Library Palette” on page 158 for
information on adding items to it.

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Chapter 12: Lighting

Lights add color to your scene, reveal cues in forms, enhance
muscle contours, set moods, cast shadows, etc. Good lighting is a
key element of getting your scene to look right when you render
it. Lights work in renderings and in the Lit Wireframe and
Flat Shaded preview modes (refer to “Chapter 6: The Display
Controls and Menu” on page 103 for information about
display styles). You can use as many lights as you need in your
scene, with the only limitation being your system’s resources.
Poser improves the OpenGL preview of lights in your scenes. It
automatically selects the eight brightest lights to display in the
realtime OpenGL preview. You can also manually select which
eight lights to preview in the Light Properties palette (see “Light
Properties” on page 265). Light Controls.

Lights can also help you create effects. For example, you could
Each light has customizable characteristics, such as rotation and
add a reflection map to an element in your scene, causing it to
revolution positions, color, and intensity (brightness). You can
direct light back at the source. Please refer to “Using the Group
turn lights on or off, adjust how the brightness diminishes as you
Editor” on page 614 or an explanation of material groups and
reach the edge of a light’s range (the falloff), and specify whether
to “Part 3: Materials” on page 275 for information on creating
or not a light casts a shadow. You can also animate lights to
material shaders for your scene elements.
create effects such as lightning or flickering streetlights. As with
The Light controls appear as follows. any other Poser object, you can parent lights to scene elements
to have the light move as the source element moves. By default,
Poser scenes include three infinite lights.

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When you add, remove, move, or adjust lights, the Document

window, Light controls, and the selected light’s parameter dials
automatically adjust to show the light’s new position/properties,
allowing you to preview your changes in real time.

When you right-click on one of the lights in your

scene, a context menu provides several different
commands that allow you to perform several different
functions. The commands shown in the light context
menu are described in “Lights Context Menu” on page
83.

Infinite Lights shine parallel, and equally on all items in your scene.

Light Types
Poser allows you to create four types of lights: infinite, point, Point Lights
spot and image based.
Point lights are similar to a light bulb, in that they emit light
from a single source point outward in 360 degrees. These lights
Infinite Lights are ideal for times when you want an omnidirectional light
source that can interact with objects and cast shadows in ways
Infinite lights are comparable to the sun or moon shining on the
that an infinite light cannot. For performance reasons depth
Earth. Rays from infinite lights are parallel as they enter your
mapped shadows are not supported for point lights; point light
Poser workspace. If you have multiple figures and/or props in
shadows must be calculated using raytracing.
your scene, infinite lights shine on each item equally. You cannot
place any scene element beyond an infinite light’s range, and no
figure/prop can be lit differently than another.

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Spotlights Poser has the ability to apply the full

functionality of its procedural shading system to
Spotlights cast light in a specific direction, throwing light along an image map used as an image based light. See “Part 3:
a cone-shaped path to create a classic stage spot effect. These Materials” on page 275 for more information about
lights are useful for illuminating specific objects or for creating the image node manipulations available using the
lighting effects. Spotlights can increase rendering times. shading system in the Material room.

Diffuse Image Based Lights (IBL)

Selecting Lights
Diffuse Image Based Lighting (Diffuse IBL) takes a light probe,
which is ideally a 360 degree light distribution map captured You can select lights as follows:
in a single map, and illuminates the scene using that map. In
Poser, only the diffuse component of the light is defined by the • Clicking one of the Lights in the Light Position indicator.
light probe. As this technique is based on complete light data
• Using the Current Actor pop-up menu.
for a given space, the lighting results are very realistic. In order
to get realistic shadows when using an image based light, we
recommend using Ambient Occlusion (see “Light Properties” Creating Lights
on page 265). You must activate raytracing in the Render
Settings dialog in order to render Ambient Occlusion effects. To create a light, click the Create Light icon in the Light
To attach a light probe to the image based light, press the controls, or click on Create Light in the Light Options pop-
Advanced Material Properties button on the Properties up menu. Your new light will appear in the Light Position
palette (see “Light Properties” on page 265). Once in the indicator.
Material room, you have the option of attaching simply a light
probe image map, or a shader tree of any complexity, to the color
channel of your Diffuse IBL.

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The Create Light icon.

By default, Poser creates spotlights. To create a different type of

light, select Object > Create Light, and select the type of light
you wish to create from the pop-up menu that appears.
To change a light to another light type, select the new light and
click the Light Properties icon (see below for information about Creating a light with the Object menu commands.
light properties). You can also right-click the Create Light icon
(in the box above) to access the light type menu.
If you select the Diffuse IBL light type on the Properties tab, you
will then need to go to the Material room, select that light as the
current actor, and apply an image map to use as the lightprobe.
In the Simple tab, you can simply select an image map via the
Texture Manager. In the Advanced tab, you would attach an
image node or a complete shader tree to the color channel.

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Adjusting Light Intensity You can set a light’s intensity to a negative value,
thereby creating a “non-light” that will actually
You can set a light’s intensity using the Brightness control like darken the affected area(s) of your scene. You can use
a dimmer switch. Click and drag the brightness indicator to the this feature to create interesting effects.
left to dim the selected light, or to the right to brighten it.
You can also set the light’s intensity using the parameter dials in
the Parameters palette. Light Color
Light colors contribute to your scene’s overall appearance and
mood. Unlike paints, light colors multiply instead of mixing
and adding to one another. For example, a red figure with blue
lighting would appear black, not purple. If you don’t want a light
to affect the color of items in your scene, set that light’s color to
white or gray. Because of this relationship between scene items
and lights, you might want to set your scene items’ colors before
setting lighting colors. Note that with image based lighting, you
should generally use a white color, so as not to interfere with the
light colors already contained within the image map.
Slide the Light Intensity slider to adjust the brightness of a light.
To change a light’s color, click the Color icon in the Light
controls to open a standard Color Picker dialog. Make your
For image based lighting, you must adjust the light intensity in selection, and your selected light will change to its new color.
the Advanced tab of the Material room. Take care when making
these adjustments, so that your results will approximate the Two icons appear in the upper-right corner of the Light Color
realism of the lighting conditions in the image map you have picker. The first icon opens the Material Editor, where you can
selected. add advanced material properties to the light. The other icon
opens your standard system color picker.

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You can also set a light’s color using the parameter dials in the
Aiming Lights
Parameters palette. For image based lighting, you can use the
Advanced tab of the Material room to plug any image node into Spotlights and infinite lights are directional light sources,
the color channel of that light. Doing so will allow you to see the and therefore can be aimed with relation to your scene. You
effects of the image based light on any surface in the Material should finish posing your figures and positioning your props
room, which will give you an exact idea of how those surfaces before aiming your lights. Doing this in reverse will cause your
will be shaded in the final render. scene elements’ appearances to change as you move them. For
example, rotating a figure 180 degrees causes illumination
falling on its front to fall on its back. You may need to re-aim
your lights to continue working. Some traditional artists place a
bright light above and to the left of a figure. Using a strong single
light source lets you see shading on distant and oblique surfaces,
contributing to the scene’s depth and curvature. You may want
to read books on lighting, including using lights in photographic
studios, to give you ideas on using lights to enhance your Poser
scenes.
If you import a background image or movie, you should set your
Changing the color of a light. lights to mimic the lighting in the background. For example, if
your background image shows a strong light coming from the
figure’s right, don’t light the figure from the left. This will help
Delete Light preserve consistency between your scene and the background
and help integrate both elements together. Ideally, when
Select the light you wish to delete and click the Delete Light working with backgrounds, you should have the background
icon in the Light controls, or click on Delete Light in the Light look like part of your scene. If your scene is a room using an
Options pop-up menu. image of a brightly lit background visible through the windows,
you should have most of your lighting streaming in through the

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windows to blend the room and its contents with the outside Using the Light Position Control
world and lend realism to your scene.
The globe in the center of the Light Position indicator
You can aim lights using any of the following methods:
represents your Poser scene in 3D space, and the light dots
• Using the Light Position control (see below). represent the positions of each of the lights within your scene.
These dots can be moved in two ways with respect to the globe:
• Moving a light’s indicator in the Document window (see Rotation and Revolution. Rotation keeps the light in the same
below). physical position relative to the scene, but adjusts its direction
around its own local axis. Revolution moves the light around the
• Using the Editing tools (Rotate and Twist for infinite lights, globe to a new position relative to the scene, while keeping the
and Rotate, Twist, Translate/Pull and Translate In/Out light pointed at its parent, as shown in the figures below. You
for spotlights. Please refer to “The Editing Tools” on page can select which positioning method you wish to use by clicking
182 for information on using the Editing tools). either Rotate or Revolve in the Light Options pop-up menu.
The check mark indicates which option is currently selected.
• Using the selected light’s parameter dials in the Parameters
Then click and drag your selected light dot(s) to change their
palette.
position and/or direction. Revolving these dots to different
• Using the Object > Point At (“Point At” on page 209) or positions around the globe adjusts the lighting angle, as shown
Object > Set Parent (“Changing a Parent” on page 227) below.
menus.

• Using the desired light’s Shadow camera, as described in

“Shadow Light Cameras” on page 240.
As discussed above, infinite lights always shine into the scene.
Aiming an infinite light sets the location from which the light
shines (such as setting the sun’s position in the sky). When
aiming spotlights, you’re setting both the angle at which the light
shines and the light’s position in 3D space.
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different angles. Additionally, you can adjust a light’s position

by clicking and dragging the light indicator in the actual scene.
The Light controls will reflect any changes you make to the light
indicator’s position. Note that image based lights have no light
indicators, as they surround your entire scene.

Infinite Light Indicators

An infinite light’s indicator appears as a ring surrounding the
currently selected figure/prop. This ring serves as the equatorial
line of an invisible globe with the light shining down on your
scene from the point on the equator indicated by the arrows, as
shown here.
Adjusting light positions.

Clicking anywhere in the Light Position control

selects the nearest light.

Using Light Indicators

Infinite Light Indicators.
When you select a light, Poser displays a light indicator
describing your selected light’s position in the Document Then viewed from oblique angles, the circle appears as an ellipse,
window. In some cases, viewing the indicator from a different helping show if the light is in front of or behind the figure. The
angle can help you visualize your light’s position. You can light is not actually on the edge of the indicator. The indicator
switch Camera views and/or zoom to view light indicators from simply represents a larger globe encompassing the entire Poser
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workspace. You can click and drag a light indicator to reposition space and the direction the light is pointing, as shown in this
the selected light. image.

Point Light Indicators

A point light’s indicator appears as a small outlined circle,
depicting the light’s position in 3D space (remember, you can
position point and spotlights in 3D space, unlike infinite lights),
as shown here.

Spotlight Indicators.

Clicking and dragging a spotlight’s indicator moves the light

around the scene.

You may want to use orthographic views (Left,

Right, Top, Bottom, Front, or Back) to move
Spotlight indicators, since doing so constrains the
Point Light Indicators. spotlight’s motion to two dimensions (YZ if using the
Left or Right views, XZ if using the Top or Bottom views,
As point lights emit light equally in all directions, there is no and XY if using the Front or Back views). Using
direction indicator as with a spotlight. perspective views can move your spotlight in oblique
directions, causing unexpected lighting effects.

Spotlight Indicators
A spotlight’s indicator appears as the outline of a spotlight in
your Poser workspace depicting both the light’s position in 3D
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Light Properties Depending on the light type that you select, you can control
some or all of the following light properties:
Light properties help you fine-tune your lighting effects. To
• Include in OpenGL Preview: By default, Poser displays
access a light’s properties, select the light and either click the
the eight brightest lights. Users can optionally choose which
Light Properties icon in the Light controls or select Object
eight to display. By providing real time previews of eight
> Properties. You can also access light properties in the
user-selectable lights, posing and lighting is faster and
Properties palette.
yields better results. Use this option to select each light you
want to illuminate the scene preview. Mip Map support has
been enabled for enhanced performance when previewing
large textures. Together, these real-time preview engine
enhancements let the user view larger textures and offer
more complete scene previewing when setting up lights
If your scene has more than eight lights, you can check or
uncheck this option to include or exclude the current light
from the preview display.

• Visible: Checking the Visible checkbox makes the light

visible in the Document window, and vice versa. Invisible
objects are not included in any render calculations, and do
not appear in the rendered scene. See “Figure Properties”
on page 190 for information on animating the Visible
property.

• Animating: Checking the Animating checkbox allows you to

animate the light just as you would any other Poser object.
Animated lights can also have different settings in various
Light Properties. keyframes. For example, you could create a red spotlight on

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your figure’s left side that orbits overhead and turns blue. displacement maps, we recommend you select this
When you rendered this animation, you would see your option rather than raytracing, for greater accuracy.
figure’s color changing and shadows moving with the light. Enabling this option activates both the following dials:
You cannot animate lights that are turned off (see above).
ƒƒ Shadow Blur Radius: All shadows have a blurry
• On/Off: Checking the On box turns the light on, just like region around their edges. The Shadow Blur Radius
flicking its switch. Clearing the checkbox turns the light off. parameter specifies the radius of this blurry region. By
As a shortcut, you can also press Opt/Alt while clicking a default, this dial is set to a low value. Raising the blur
light in the Light controls to toggle the selected light on or radius increases the soft shadow edge effect.
off. ƒƒ Shadow Samples: The Shadow Samples parameter
controls the smoothness of shadows. The default value
• Spot/Infinite/Point/Diffuse Image (IBL): Check the
is equivalent to earlier Poser versions that used a fixed
appropriate radio button (Spot, Infinite, Point or Diffuse
quality. Lower shadow sample settings render faster
Image (IBL)) to make your selection. Spot, infinite, point
but may produce grainier shadows with a random
and image based lights are discussed above.
dither. Higher shadow samples reduce the graininess
• Shadows: Checking the Shadows checkbox enables you to that can sometimes be seen in soft raytraced shadows.
choose one of the following two options: As a general rule, the larger your Shadow Blur Radius
setting is, the more you will need to increase the
ƒƒ Raytrace Shadows: Selecting Raytrace Shadows Shadow Samples to get a smooth result.
enables raytracing of shadows. Traditionally, raytracing
results in clear, hard-edged shadows. However, Poser ƒƒ Shadow Min Bias: The Shadow Min Bias parameter
offers a method for softening the shadow edges, thus specifies how far to shift samples towards the light
adding more realism to your raytraced shadows. You source to prevent self-shadowing of objects.
can control this effect using the Shadow Blur Radius
• Preview Shadow Map Size: Sets the amount of detail in the
dial (see below).
shadows that are displayed by the preview render. Default
ƒƒ Depth Map Shadows: Selecting Depth Map Shadows is 512. Higher values will make the shadow preview more
enables depth-based shadow mapping. If you are using

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detailed and accurate but will increase usage of system

resources.

• Ambient Occlusion: Checking the Ambient Occlusion

checkbox enables Ambient Occlusion for the selected
light. Ambient occlusion adds realism to your scene by
approximating the way light and shadows act in real life. It
helps bring out details in creases and corners. This option
provides the advantage of calculating Ambient Occlusion
effects on all surfaces within the scene, without having
to attach an Ambient Occlusion node to every material.
Scene Ambient Occlusion options.
Enabling this option activates the following controls:

ƒƒ Strength: The Ambient Occlusion Strength dial

• Atmosphere Strength: The Atmosphere Strength dial
specifies the degree to which Ambient Occlusion effects
and field allow you to specify the strength of atmospheric
will darken the occluded surfaces within the scene.
(volumetric) effects. This attribute is used in conjunction
ƒƒ Scene AO Options: The Scene Ambient Occlusion with the Root Atmosphere node, which is described in
Options button provides access to the global set of “Root Atmosphere Node” on page 326.
Ambient Occlusion parameters. These parameters are
described in the Ambient Occlusion node section under
“Raytrace Nodes” on page 352.

Atmosphere Strength control.

• Set Parent: Clicking the Set Parent button allows you to

make the light a child of another element in your scene.
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• Color: Clicking the Color button opens the Poser Color

Picker, allowing you to set the light’s color.

• Advanced Material Properties: Clicking the Advanced

Material Properties button will automatically take you
to the Material room, with the current light active in the
Shader window’s Advanced tab. Please refer to “Advanced
Shader View” on page 303 for more information about the
Advanced tab of the Shader window, and to “Root Light
Node” on page 325 for more information about the root
Light node attributes.

• Attenuation: (Enabled for Spot lights or Point lights only):

This setting controls how bright or dark a spot light or point Constant Attenuation.
light gets based on the distance away from the light source.
Options for spot and point lights are:

ƒƒ Constant: Behaves the same as Poser 7 and earlier

lights. This setting is predictable and controllable. The
Start Distance and End Distance parameters are very
useful for setting how close or far the light reaches.

Constant Attenuation with Tone Mapping.

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ƒƒ Inverse Linear: Use this option for lights that are

more physically correct. Objects that are close to the
light source are infinitely brighter (not exponentially,
but linearly). In other words, of Object B is twice the
distance from the light as Object A, then Object B
receives half as much light as Object A. This option
allows some artistic freedom without being as touchy as
Inverse Square (described next).

Inverse Linear Attenuation with Tone Mapping.

Inverse Linear Attenuation.

Inverse Linear Attenuation with Tone Mapping, Adjusted.

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ƒƒ Inverse Square: This option provides physically

correct lighting that is more dramatic, and harsher than
Inverse Linear. The light brightens exponentially as you
get closer to the light source. If Object B is twice the
distance from the light as Object A, it receives 1/4 the
amount of light.

Inverse Square Attenuation with Tone Mapping.

Inverse Square Attenuation.

Inverse Linear Attenuation with Tone Mapping, Adjusted.

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• Evaluate in Light: When checked, includes Ambient

Occlusion in render calculations relating to indirect lighting.

Light Parameters
Be sure to select the light you wish to work with before using the
parameter dials to avoid accidentally changing settings for the
wrong light. Once you’ve adjusted a light the way you want it,
you can use the Lock Actor command (see “Lock Actor” on page
209) to prevent accidental changes. Lights have the following
parameters, available in the Parameters palette:

Light Parameters.

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Angle Start/End (Spotlight Only) Spotlights cast shadows based on the spotlight’s angular range,
meaning that tighter spotlights produce cleaner shadows. By
The Angle Start and Angle End values allow you to specify how contrast, infinite lights adjust the view to fill the screen with
a spotlight’s light “falls off” as you approach the edge of the cone all objects that cast shadows. Because of this, if you render a
of light projected by the spotlight. The Angle Start parameter close-up of a scene with many figures and/or props (especially
specifies the amount of light (in percent) present at the start of widely spaced items), the shadow map will not contain much
the cone of light projected by the spotlight, and the Angle End information.
parameter specifies the percentage of intensity present at the
cone’s end. Each light has a shadow camera, available using
the Current Actor pull-down menu. Advanced
users can aim these cameras as desired. Each light’s
Distance Start/End (Spotlight Only) shadow map contains shadow information for the scene
as viewed through that light’s shadow camera.
As you know, light fades with distance from its source. The
Distance Start and Distance End parameters specify the
The shadow-related parameter dials are:
distance from the light source (in grid units) where the
spotlight’s intensity begins to drop (fall off), and the distance • Shadow: Use the Shadow parameter dial to specify the
in grid units when the spotlight is no longer casting light, selected light’s shadow strength. A setting of 0 disables cast
respectively. shadows for the selected light, while a setting of 100% casts
a dark shadow. You can animate shadow strength over time.
Shadow • Map Size: The Map Size parameter dial sets the size of
Poser lights can cast shadows, if you enable this option using the the selected light’s shadow map in pixels (shadow maps
selected light’s Cast Shadow property in the Properties palette are square). Poser uses image maps to apply shadows to
as described above. Shadows add depth, realism, and dramatic objects in the scene, and applies these shadows during
effects to your still or animated scenes. To change the cast of a rendering. Larger map sizes increase the accuracy and detail
light’s shadow, move the light. of shadow maps, but at a cost in memory and render time.
For example, each 1024x1024 map requires about 4MB of
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space, while a 2048x2048 map requires 16MB. You cannot Red, Green, Blue
animate the shadow map’s size.
The Red, Green, and Blue dials specify the amount of each of
the three primary colors to add to a light’s final color. A value
XYZ Rotation of 1 means that the selected color is fully added, and 0 means
that color is not included at all. Using these three primary
Adjusting these dials adjusts the direction in which the light is
colors to create a final color is called RGB lighting (Red, Green,
pointing. For example, think of the sun’s path across the sky
Blue). Each of the three colors can have 256 values ranging
throughout the day and how it appears farther north or south
from 0 to 255. This gives us 256 red, 256 green, and 256 blue
with the changing of seasons. When the xRotate and yRotate
shades to work with, or 256^3 (16,777,216) total possible colors.
dials are set to 0 degrees, the light aims at the Poser workspace
Parameter dial values correspond to RGB values as follows:
from the front. ZRotate is only significant when the xRotate and
yRotate settings are not 0,0 or 180, 180. In all cases, the figure
• Parameter dial 0 = RGB color value 0 for the selected color.
is in the default position.
• Parameter dial 1 = RGB color value 255 for the selected
• xRotate: The xRotate parameter rotates the selected light
color.
about the X axis.

• yRotate: The yRotate parameter rotates the selected light Intensity

about the Y axis.
You can control your light’s intensity using the Brightness
• zRotate: The zRotate parameter rotates the selected light control or the Intensity parameter dial. A setting of 0% means
about the Z axis. the light is fully off, and a setting of 100% means the light is
completely on (at full brightness/intensity).
Scale
The Scale parameter dial allows you to scale a light’s indicator.
This does not affect the light itself.

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XYZ Translation (Spotlight Only) Animating Lights

The Translation dials allow you to specify a spotlight’s Lights can be animated like other Poser objects using keyframes
precise location in 3D space by specifying grid coordinates. As and tween frames. Please see “Chapter 22: Animating with
previously described, spotlights emit light from their location Poser” on page 433 for information about animating within
in 3D space, meaning that objects “behind” the light are not Poser.
illuminated.

Saving & Loading Light Sets

You can save light sets to the Library, allowing you to reuse them
in later scenes. Light sets have the file extension *.LT2 and are
saved to the Lights Library. Please refer to “Maintaining Your
Library Palette” on page 158 for information about adding
items to the Library palette.

Memorizing and Restoring Lights

You can use the Edit > Memorize > Lights command to
memorize the settings of the lights in your scene. If you later
want to return to those light settings, choose the Edit > Restore
> Lights command to restore the settings back to those that you
memorized. If you delete lights after you memorize light settings,
the deleted light(s) will not be restored.

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Part 3: Materials

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Chapter 13: The Basics

of Materials
Each figure/prop has its own unique material list containing
individual materials within that list. You can see this for yourself
by creating a Poser scene with two or more figures/props and
opening the Material room.

Two figures in a scene.

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This sample scene has two figures (Alyson Casual and Ryan As you can see, the two figures in this image each have different
Casual). The Material room therefore displays the following materials lists. Each object in a Poser scene has its own list
selections: of materials, which is different for each object. These lists of
materials behave like a multi/sub-object material list/table.

Why Multi/Sub-object Materials?

The purpose of having more than one material per figure (multi/
sub-object materials) is to provide each polygon with a different
or shared material property with other polygons. This gives you
control over material properties down to the polygon level.
A side benefit is that multi/sub-object materials also allow
great flexibility. For example, if you have a scene with multiple
figures, each figure can have its own skin and clothing colors.
Selecting one figure or prop displays only the materials assigned
to just that figure/prop, which organizes your materials and
prevents possible confusion. Also, if you save a figure or prop to
the Library palette, its materials will be saved as well, thereby
preserving your work.

Color
Color is easy. By applying a color to an object or material group,
you are essentially dumping a bucket full of paint on that
Materials found in Alyson and Ryan Casual. object or group. Color goes a long way toward establishing the
final look of your object but it doesn’t tell the whole story. For
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example, painting an apple red is obvious, but the simple red Depending on the area being mapped and the mapping method
color does not contain the other colors and shades, nor does it used, the map may or may not resemble the actual surfaces it
portray the apple’s small imperfections and other features. Thus, represents. This effect is called distortion and is most easily
a material that simply uses color ends up looking plastic. seen on world maps created using the Mercator projection. We
could spend a lot of time on this, but the important things to
remember are that:
About Maps & Templates
• Maps are 2D representations of 3D surfaces.
Look at your own skin. Notice the differing colors, hairs, veins,
moles, and other features. Look at any object. Is it smooth or • Each coordinate (location) on the 3D surface corresponds to
rough? Opaque or transparent? If transparent, does it have the a location on the map.
same transparency all over or in portions? Is it matte or glossy?
Is it reflective? What sort of texture or pattern does it have? • The map may or may not resemble the 3D surface.
Now look at the objects around you. They all have different Here is a sample map template for a Poser figure:
material properties. How can you capture these properties
in your 3D objects? One answer is mapping. Each object in
your Poser scene can have its own maps, which are used for
specifying various attributes. Maps provide an efficient way to
add advanced effects to your objects. For example, if you had
to model every wrinkle, mole, eyelash, hair, or other feature,
your object’s polygon count (number of polygons) would quickly
become prohibitive. In fact, most of the 3D figures and other
objects you see in feature films have relatively low polygon
counts and make extensive use of mapping.
As you know, most maps are two-dimensional representations
of 3D surfaces. Each point on the Earth’s surface that lies within
the map’s area of coverage corresponds to a point on the map.

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the lines” without ill effect, since only color falling within the
lines actually appears on the figure.
Maps used for figures normally use the UV coordinate system
where the upper left corner corresponds to 0,0 and the bottom
right corner to 1,1. Thus, the exact center of the map would be at
0.5,0.5. For any given object, you start with the blank template
shown above and modify it depending on the type of map you
are creating.

Alyson 2 and Ryan 2 (furnished with Poser 9 and

Poser Pro 2012) use the same templates and
texture maps as Alyson and Ryan (furnished with Poser
8 and Poser Pro 2010).

Texture Map
All map types (bump, transparency, etc.) are 2D representations
of 3D objects, and texture maps are no exception. Texture maps
are the primary way of making 3D objects look real. Texture
A texture template. maps make skin on your Poser figure look real, add realistic
grain to wood, etc. The following example shows a texture map
The grid-like lines on the map correspond to the polygons on the for one of the Poser figures:
figure mesh object itself. Blank areas do not correspond to any
part of the figure and are ignored. Thus, you can “color outside

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Bump Maps
A bump map is used to simulate roughness on a surface. Bump
maps are grayscale images where dark gray/black signifies lower
areas and bright white/light gray areas signify higher areas.
They work by shifting the object’s normals to give the illusion of
depth. On a human figure, a bump map allows you to simulate
wrinkles and other imperfections/textures.

A texture map.

You can use shader elements such as color to get an effect

without using texture maps, but you won’t be able to precisely
place features where you want them (such as painted fingernails
on the ends of the fingers).

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Transparency Maps
A transparency map is like a bump map in that it is a grayscale
image. Transparency maps regulate the amount of opacity
in a given location. The darker the color is, the greater the
transparency, and vice versa. Here’s a sample transparency map
for eyelashes.

A bump map.

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rough smears. The transparency map above allows only those

portions of the texture map corresponding to the lighter areas
to show through. The combined effect is eyelashes that stick out
from the eyes. Where there are no eyelashes, you can see the skin
beneath them. This is a great example of how combining maps
can create very realistic effects.

Reflection Map
Reflection maps are also grayscale. As the name implies, they
are used to differentiate areas of varying reflectivity. The use of
reflection maps allows you to, for example, create a patterned
mirror where the patterns have a higher or lower amount of
reflection.

Displacement Map
Displacement maps are very similar to bump maps but with a
key difference: Instead of simply shifting normals, displacement
maps actually move (displace) an object’s geometry. Thus,
A transparency map.
displacements provide more “real” depth than bump maps.
Displacement occurs at render time, meaning that objects will
Look at the bump map, above. The lighter colored areas around look smooth until rendered.
the eyelashes indicate that they should have height, that is, they
should stand out from the figure itself. The texture map (see
“Texture Map” later in this chapter) specifies the lashes’ color as

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Procedural Shaders This section covers creating maps. Please refer to

“Part 3: Materials” on page 275 for
Poser’s FireFly rendering engine supports the use of procedural information about applying maps to shaders.
shaders (or shaders for short). Shaders consist of a root
node that can be modified by adding additional nodes that
modify one or more of the root node’s values. A node’s output Creating Texture Templates
can modify one or more nodes, and you can use more than one
node to influence another. You can include all of the maps we’ve If you use the figures and props that came with Poser (or if you
discussed above when building shaders. You can also create buy figures from most third-party vendors), they probably come
realistic materials that don’t require any maps at all, or you can with one or more ready-made texture maps and one or more
have other nodes modifying any maps you decide to use. Thus, blank templates. If you need to create a new texture template,
shaders are a second method of creating materials that may you’ll need to follow a process that is roughly similar to the
or may not integrate maps. Please refer to “Chapter 14: The following:
Material Room” on page 291 for information about Poser’s
1. Create your mesh object in your preferred 3D modeling
Material room.
application.

2. Export the mesh in a format supported by Poser (see

Creating Character Textures “Importing 3D Objects” on page 703 for a list of
supported formats).
Creating your own textures for figures and/or props requires a
solid grasp of the concepts explained in “Appendix C: 3D Basics” 3. If your 3D modeling application supports exporting your
on page 778 and knowledge of one or more 2D graphics tools mesh object with UV mapping data, be sure to do this,
such as Adobe Photoshop. The process of creating textures is as this will probably create your template for you. Please
very similar if not identical for many 3D applications. While it’s refer to your 3D modeling application documentation for
impossible to cover the entire process in this manual, we can information.
give you enough information to understand the basics and begin
creating your own maps. 4. If your exported object does not have UV information, you’ll
need to use an application such as UV Mapper (http://
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www.uvmapper.com) to create the UV information and Poser supports texture resolutions up to 8192 x
a blank template that can be used for any sort of map 8192 pixels. For optimum performance in 3D
(texture, bump, transparency, reflection, displacement, software and gaming engines, try to create your texture
etc.). If you use a third-party application to create texture maps at standard resolutions that are a power of 2.
templates, please refer to that application’s documentation Standard sizes are 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, and 8192.
for information on using that application. Also, should you
require technical support, please contact the application’s
Poser’s Material room can create complete
creator or vendor. Smith Micro cannot provide support for
materials without needing any image maps. To
third-party applications.
obtain precise results, however (such as a tattoo in a
specific location), you will need to include image maps
in your shaders for texture, bump, transparency, etc.
Creating and Using Texture Maps Image maps are added to nodes using the Material
This subsection contains a brief tutorial on creating texture room. Also, the Face room can create custom head
maps. textures for the Poser figures from images or even from
scratch!
If you’ve seen some computer-animated movies lately, you were
probably astounded by the realism of the characters; this high
A texture map looks like a skinned 3D model spread out onto
level of believability was achieved using high-quality 3D models
a flat surface. Imagine peeling an orange and flattening the
and image maps. The fact is, image maps can make or break a
peelings on a table- that’s a texture map. When creating a
model’s believability. What may surprise you is that Poser can
texture, remember that it will ultimately be wrapped around
generate equally realistic results for you. We are going to give
your object and that you’ll need to pay special attention to the
you some pointers on how you can do this yourself using Poser
edges, which will be seams when the texture is rendered.
and a 2D graphics application such as Adobe Photoshop. The
primary topic for this tutorial is texture maps, however the
same principles apply to all types of image maps. Please refer to
“About Maps & Templates” on page 278 for information about
the various types of image maps.

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software package such as Adobe Photoshop. Like a coloring

book, items not placed properly within the grid lines render
askew, and anything bleeding over the edge of the grid does
not appear at all when rendered. This is one time where you
definitely want to stay between the lines! The texture maps for
the figures and props that are included with Poser are located on
the content CD. Because realistic human textures are the hardest
to achieve, we decided to describe creating one for this section.
The same principles apply to any texture you are creating, be it a
brick wall, animal fur, a plant- any figure or prop for which you
want to use texture mapping.
The brief explanation that follows is courtesy of Ms. Syyd Raven,
who created the textures used by several default Poser figures:

“Save often and under different filenames to preserve

each step of your work.

Maps of 1500-3000 pixels provide an ideal realism/

performance balance. Some third-party textures can
be 4000 pixels or more, however these can slow Poser
down because they require additional computing
A texture map is painted over a template. resources.”

The figure used for these renders requires two maps, one for
Texture makers use a UV map (template) to place the texture’s
his head, and one for his body. Different Poser figures may use
major pieces. A UV map provides grid-like lines that correspond
one or two texture maps, depending on the figure. The following
to the object’s geometry, provides a coloring book approach
sections address each map separately, and the same principles
to making textures, and only requires a good graphics editing
apply to figures that only use one map.
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As discussed above, creating maps is an ƒƒ Test various morph targets on the face to verify that the
advanced process that can require one or more texture remains in alignment.
third-party tools. Smith Micro cannot provide support
or additional information on creating texture maps
beyond the technical aspects that directly involve Poser.
The material presented in this section is for
informational purposes only.

The Head Map

• Photos used for the basis of your texture should roughly

match the final texture map size.

• Work on one side at a time.

• Set the photograph’s opacity to approximately 50% so you

can use the underlying template to align it; scale, rotate, and
clone individual facial features to perfectly fit the map.

• With your image editor running, launch Poser and apply the
head texture to the figure:

ƒƒ Set the figure’s material color to white and highlights to

black in the material editor.

ƒƒ Render the model with white lighting, no shadow, and

antialiasing enabled to test texture alignment.
If the texture does not align properly on the template, it will also
not align properly on the model.
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• Make changes in your image editing software and test • Photograph a tongue and apply it directly to the map.
render in Poser as many times as you need. Pay attention to the deep grooved center line; this adds
credibility to the texture when the model’s mouth is open.
• Once you are satisfied with your map, mirror the completed
side by copying and pasting into a new layer and flipping the • The inner mouth looks reminiscent of a rib cage
new section. surrounding lungs.

• After mirroring the texture, you may notice a line down • Lachrymal glands (tear ducts) have wetness and roundness.
the center. Remove this line by cloning an area with a
matching color, cutting and pasting small photo pieces • Take close-up photos of eyes.
from the original source image, using the blend tool, or any
• Have the model hold their eyes wide open to show the
combination of these methods.
whites and roundness of the iris.
• Change and add various details (lines, moles, etc.). No face
• Make the veins thin and not overly red to avoid bloodshot-
is perfectly symmetrical!
looking eyes.
• Continue expanding the skin to a bit beyond the template
The Body Map
edge.
The body’s fine details (hair, moles, etc.) require larger maps to
• While testing, rotate the head to see the ear and side of the
avoid blurring and pixilation. Many third-party body maps are
neck; you will need to pay close attention to these areas to
double the size of the corresponding head map.
ensure that there are no seams.

• Cut out and place individual teeth, giving the front six
(top) and eight (bottom) the most detail. Realistic teeth are
somewhat gray/yellow, not white.

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• Lay out the entire body first, without worrying about

matching edges to get major portions in place, then finesse
the edges with ever-increasing detail.

• Male maps require more detail than females because of

body hair.

• Photograph small areas, treating arms as 4-sided objects;

concentrate on elbow creases.

• Male necks can include beards or stubble, which can be

problematic due to different resolutions between the head
and body textures.

• Nipples can be tricky due to low resolution and may require

fine-tuning, especially on female maps due to breast
morphs.

• Hands are also important; get close-ups of both sides.

• Take care to include hand veins on the final texture as well

as creases that match the model’s geometry.
A body texture map.
• Use the same map for the left and right hand, then add
asymmetrical features. Repeat this for the feet.
• It’s difficult to use complete photos for textures since they
will not align correctly. Size and rotate working images or • Cut individual fingernails and toenails from your
photos using separate layers. photographs and fit them into the template.

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• Make sure you test all your work-in-progress in Poser. Poser allows you to adjust the bump maps’ height, so it’s a good
idea to design them with very high contrast (or the most bump).
• When the body is complete, correct the head and body color Most graphics packages have automatic contrast controls; this
to make them the same shade/hue. Writing down your color is a great way to quickly get the widest range of bump for your
values can be a big help. maps. If needed, you can decrease the bump height within Poser
before render time.
Creating and Using Bump, Reflection, and White areas of the bump map are high, and black areas are
Transparency Maps low. In order for your texture to make a plausible map, you will
have to invert it before you can use it. If you forget to do this, it
To be fully realistic, many textures also need transparency may take you a while to figure out why your test renders look a
and bump maps. For example, the eyelash area template bit odd. A good example of this would be whiskers pushing in
needs to be white where you want the object or eyelash visible. instead of outward.
Consequently, you will start with a black background and draw
in white where you want the eyelashes to appear when rendered. Bump maps simply disturb an object’s normals.
A graphics tablet works well for this, since eyelashes require a If you apply a bump map to a sphere, the surface
natural curved line that tapers to a point, which can be hard to will seem rough while the edges remain smooth. Poser’s
achieve with a mouse. If you don’t own a graphics tablet, you Material room contains a displacement channel,
can begin with a very large map and reduce it to the proper size allowing you to use bump maps to actually alter the
later. The larger map will make it easier to draw the lines with geometry. For example, applying a displacement map to
accuracy. a sphere would make the edges appear rough.

Bump maps add further realism to skin pores, scars, or moles.

Once you’ve adjusted the contrast and desaturated your texture,
For photorealistic skin, it’s imperative to deal with major
you can start modifying it to suit your particular needs. Go
landmarks (moles, birthmarks, etc.) using a bump map. The
ahead, give it a shot: You might be pleasantly surprised with
quickest way to create bump maps is to copy the finished texture,
your results!
desaturate it (that is, remove all the color leaving only the
black and white components), and invert it. Then convert it to
grayscale. This reduces the file’s size and memory requirements.
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Putting It All Together

The following image demonstrates the results you can achieve by
combining the various types of maps.

A completely textured figure.

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Chapter 14: The Material

Room
Poser’s Material room is a very powerful tool for creating and
editing procedural shaders for the content in your scene. The
Material room is designed from the ground up to provide the
ultimate in power, flexibility, and ease of use by artists and
animators. You don’t need to be a programmer! The Material
room gives you ultimate control over the appearance of your
Poser scenes.
The Material room allows you to describe the material properties
of your objects’ surfaces by giving you full control over every
aspect of shading a surface, from the surface color to complex
lighting interactions.
In this chapter we will explore the Material room’s basic building The Material Room.
blocks. For a more detailed look at working with shaders
and nodes in the Material room, please refer to “Chapter 15: The number of palettes and options that you see
Working with Nodes” on page 310 and “Chapter 16: Material in each room depends upon your screen
Room Nodes” on page 320. resolution. At higher resolutions, the default work
Access the Material room by clicking the Material room tab at spaces display more palettes, while at lower resolutions
the top of the Poser workspace. The Material room appears as you see fewer palettes:
follows.
The Material room offers two options for working with surface
materials: the Simple and Advanced view tabs. By default,

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the Simple view of the Material Room is displayed when you • Current Material List (5): The Current Materials list
first start up Poser. This allows new users to get familiar with displays all of the material groups in the currently selected
editing Materials before diving into the Advanced settings of the figure/prop. Poser organizes materials by figure/prop,
Material Room. The Simple tab is actually a less complex front- thereby avoiding confusion when assigning materials and
end for the Advanced tab, and allows users to apply and modify allowing you to, for example, assign different eye or skin
materials by means of a few basic controls. For more advanced colors to each figure. This method of handling materials is
users, the Advanced tab offers a powerful tool for defining referred to as multi/sub-object materials and is discussed
material properties using shaders and nodes. in more detail in “Chapter 13: The Basics of Materials” on
page 276.
Poser’s Material room contains the following items at 1280 x
960 resolution. Less items will appear at lower resolutions, and
• Material Room Help (6): The (?) icon at the top right of the
more options will appear at higher resolutions.
Shader window opens the Material room Help document.
This HTML document contains information about using
• Eyedropper Tool (1): The Eyedropper tool appears with
nodes and shaders to define surface material attributes.
the Editing tools. Enabling it and clicking an object in
your scene opens that object’s shader tree for editing in the
• Options pop-up menu (7): The Options pop-up menu is
Shader window.
available from the Advanced tab of the Shader window,
allows you to add, cut, copy, paste, select, and deselect
• Document Window (2): Please refer to “Chapter 5: The
nodes. For convenience, this can be also accessed by right-
Document Window” on page 70 for information about
clicking within the Advanced tab.
the Document window.
• Shader Window (8): The Shader window contains two
• Light Controls (3): Please refer to “Chapter 12: Lighting”
tabs, for Simple or Advanced Material definition techniques.
on page 256 for information about the Light controls.
The Simple tab allows you to easily modify various
• Object List (4): The Object List functions similarly to the attributes of your selected material, including Diffuse Color,
Current Actor menu and has the following options: Props Highlight, Ambient, Reflection, Bump and Transparency.
(includes strand-based hair and dynamic cloth), Lights, The Advanced tab is where you build shaders, which
Figures, and Background. consist of a root node and as many connected nodes as

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you want. Nodes can modify other nodes or the root node. retrieval at any time until you close your Poser document.
Please refer to “Chapter 15: Working with Nodes” on page See “Memory Dots” on page 54.
310 and “Chapter 16: Material Room Nodes” on page
320 for more information about working with shaders and
nodes. Navigating the Shader Window
• Wacro Drawer (9): The Wacro Drawer allows you to select The question mark at the top right corner of the Shader window
from ten predefined shortcuts that cover various material opens the Material Room Workflow help page. This document
setup tasks. For more information about the Wacro Drawer, provides information on creating and connecting shader nodes,
please refer to the description of the Advanced Shader frequently used nodes, and advanced material attributes.
View later in this chapter.

• Parameters/Properties Palette (10): Please refer to Simple Shader View

“The Parameters/Properties Palette” on page 190 for
information about the Parameters/Properties palette. The Simple tab of the Shader window provides you with easy
to use controls for adjusting various material attributes. Each of
• Animation Controls (11): Please refer to “Using the these attributes, and how they can be modified, are discussed in
Animation Controls” on page 436 for information about detail below.
the Animation controls.

• Document Display Styles (12): Allows you to select one

of several different display styles for the elements in your
scene. See “Chapter 6: The Display Controls and Menu” on
page 103 for more information about the various display
styles.

• Pose, UI and Camera Dots (13): Allows you to store figure

poses, user interface settings, and camera settings for

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The Texture Manager.

Note that when accessing the Texture Manager from the Simple
tab, you have the ability to select both images and movies. In
the Advanced tab, the image and movie nodes are separate,
so the Texture Manager enables you to select one or the other
depending on which node you are using. Click the OK button
to load the image map. A preview of your selected map should
appear in the appropriate texture preview slot of the Simple tab.
Elements of the Simple material view.
When you select an image from the Texture Manager, you can
also select one of two options for Gamma correction:
For all attributes in the Simple tab, clicking in the Texture
Preview Slot will bring up the Texture Manager dialog. Here • Use Gamma value from Render Settings: This is the
you can preview and select a previously used image map from default option. By default, the texture map will use the
the pop-up list, or browse for a new map. global gamma correction settings as defined in the Render
Settings dialog.

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• Custom Gamma Value: Choose this option if you want

to override the global gamma correction setttings for this
texture. Then enter the gamma correction setting in the
Custom Gamma Value field.
The Map Strength dial adjusts the degree to which that image
map affects the surface material. Note that the Map Strength
dial directly controls the texture strength parameter on the
image map nodes, which can be seen on the Advanced tab.
For more information about using and creating various types of
image maps, please refer to “About Maps & Templates” on page
Caution symbols appear when advanced settings are applied.
278.
The image map pop-up list in the Texture Manager provides a
historical list of path names for previously used image maps and
movies. This list facilitates quick image selection; it does not
Diffuse Color
indicate that these files are currently loaded into memory. The Diffuse color is the primary surface color of the current
A Caution symbol (exclamation point in a triangle) will appear figure or prop. If there is no texture map applied to the figure,
at any point when the surface attributes you are working with the Diffuse color will be the figure’s only color (not considering
are too complex to be edited in the Simple tab. For example, this the effect of any colored lights). In a high quality rendering,
would be the case if a procedural shader node were attached to when a texture map is loaded the Diffuse color tints the texture
the diffuse color input. Whenever the Caution symbol appears, map. If you don’t want the texture map to be affected by the
it is an indication that you need to use the Advanced tab for Diffuse color, leave the Diffuse color set to white (the default
full access to this attribute’s configuration parameters. Click the color).
Caution symbol to switch to the Advanced tab.

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The color picker.

If you choose to have highlights on a textured surface, you

might want to consider using the same map for Highlights as
for Diffuse. When you have a texture map applied to the Diffuse
component, pressing the Apply texture to highlight button will
also apply the same texture map to the Highlight component. If
A diffuse color map applied to a material.
you have a different texture map already loaded for the Highlight
component, checking this box will override it and apply the
texture map from the Diffuse component.
To change the Diffuse color, click on the Color Slot at the top of
the Diffuse component area. This will bring up the Poser Color
Picker, where you can select your desired color. If you wish to Highlights
access the system Color Picker, simply click on the RGB bar at
the top right corner of the Poser Color Picker. The Highlight component corresponds to the Specular root
nodes on the Advanced tab, and controls the object’s highlight.
Highlights are bright areas appearing where the light is reflected
directly toward the camera. You can select a highlight color,
apply a texture map, and adjust the texture map strength,
as described above. In daylight and under most room lights,
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highlights are white. To complement the lighting environment Ambient

you’ve set, select a color similar to your main light.
In Poser, you can set the Ambient color for each figure or object
individually. An object’s Ambient color is the color it emits
equally in all directions. It simulates an ambient (overall room)
lighting contribution. Unlike the other color properties, it acts
without taking into account any light positions or colors. In
other words, even if all other lights are turned off, the material
will continue to emit the Ambient color. Thus, using an Ambient
color on a surface can reduce the effect of shadows on that
surface.

Highlight settings.

The Highlight Size dial allows you to determine the size and
intensity of your material’s specular highlights. Smooth surfaces
have sharper specular highlights, whereas rougher materials
should have softer highlights. On the dial, higher values result in
larger, softer highlights for a duller, more matte effect, and lower
values result in smaller, sharper highlights for a shiny, more
polished effect.
Ambient settings.

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The Ambient color mixes with the other lighting properties. Too
much ambience flattens the detail of an object, because it looks
the same regardless of how the surface interacts with lights in
the scene. If you want to turn ambient light down or off, set
the Ambient color to gray or black. If you want more intense
ambient light, set the Ambient color to white or a bright color.
Loading an image map into the Ambient component will cause
that image to function in the same way as an Ambient color.
The Ambient color selection, texture map selection, and Map
Strength control all function as described above.

Reflection
Reflection makes a figure or object direct light back at its source,
giving it a reflective appearance. Poser offers two methods for
applying Reflection to your scene. The first is to use a Reflection Reflection settings.
map, which is a 2D texture applied to a virtual sphere that
surrounds your Poser workspace. The texture is then reflected
Reflective Color is a tint that is added only when a Reflection
from the workspace and onto your object. This method is best
map is applied. Use the Reflection Color option to create
for scenes requiring subtle reflections, as it renders much
dramatic effects in your renderings. To make a highly reflective
quicker than raytracing, but results in somewhat less accurate
object appear more vivid, use a variation of the object’s color.
reflection calculations. The other method is to use Raytraced
If the object’s color is particularly bright, you may want to use
Reflection, which is calculated using the raytracing rendering
a darker tint of the same color. For an unusual tint, use a color
technique. This method is ideal for scenes containing objects
that is distinctly different from the object’s color. The Map
with highly reflective qualities, such as chrome or mirrors, as
Strength dial adjusts the Texture Strength parameter on the
raytracing yields extremely accurate reflections. However, using
Reflection map node on the Advanced tab, and determines to
this method will increase your render times.
what degree the Reflection map will affect the material.
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The Multiply with Lights / Object color checkboxes directly

control the Reflection Lite Mult and Reflection Kd Mult
checkboxes on the Advanced tab. For more information about
these options, see “Root Material (PoserSurface) Node” on page
320.

Bump
A Bump map is a special image, wrapped around the object,
that works with the scene lighting to give the appearance of 3D
texture on an otherwise smooth object. Bump maps can be used
on individual objects or parts of a figure to emulate any manner
of textures, from wrinkles and pores in skin, to raised patterns in
clothing or props, to cracks and bumps in stone.

Bump settings.

You can load Bump maps using the texture preview slot and
the Texture Manager, and adjust the Bump map strength with
the Map Strength dial, as described above. The Amount dial
specifies the amount of Bump, in units specified in the General
Preferences dialog. Higher values yield more Bump effect,
or rougher surfaces, while lower values yield less Bump and
smoother surfaces. The Amount dial corresponds directly to the
Bump attribute on the Advanced tab.

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Note that Bump maps simply disturb an object’s normals. Thus, Transparency
if you apply a Bump map to a sphere, the surface will seem rough
while the edges remain smooth. Poser’s Material room contains Transparency allows light to pass through a figure or object,
a Displacement channel, which allows you to use Bump maps to so you can see through it. The higher a transparency value,
actually alter the geometry of the surface. For example, applying the more of the surrounding environment is visible through
a Displacement map to a sphere would make the edges appear the object’s surface. If no light is reflected on an object, 100%
rough, as well as the surface. The Displacement checkbox Transparency and Edge settings make it invisible.
in the Bump attribute enables the Displacement attribute
on the Advanced tab, replacing the Bump effect with actual
Displacement. With Displacement enabled, the Amount dial
specifies the amount of Displacement rather than the amount of
Bump.

In Poser Pro 2012, strength of bump and

displacement maps is expressed in real world
units (whichever unit is set under Edit >General
Preferences). Please note that with the default unit of
Feet very small values already yield a strong bump or
displacement effect.

For more advanced users, adding a Normal Map

can add yet more realistic surface details.
Transparency settings.

When a Transparency map is applied to an object, its

texture interferes with the transparency of the object. For
example, a checkerboard map results in an object that is
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alternately transparent and solid. You can thus use textures as Normal and Gradient Bump Maps
Transparency maps.
A normal map is an image, wrapped around the object that
The Transparency, Edge, and Falloff dials work together to
works with the scene lighting to give the appearance of 3D
determine how an object’s transparency behaves.
texture on an otherwise smooth object. Normal maps can be
The Transparency dial affects the transparency of the part of used on individual objects or parts of a figure to emulate any
the object facing the camera, particularly toward the center manner of textures, from wrinkles and pores in skin, to raised
of the object. Higher Transparency values yield greater patterns in clothing or props, to cracks and bumps in stone.
transparency.
Note that normal maps simply replace an object’s normals. Thus,
The Edge dial affects the transparency of the object’s edges if you apply a normal map to a sphere, the surface will seem
specifically. A high Edge value makes the object very transparent rough while the edges remain smooth. Poser’s Material room
on its edges. For most renderings, you’ll want to use a contains a Displacement channel, which allows you to use
Transparency value that is higher than the Edge value. displacement maps to actually alter the geometry of the surface.
The Falloff dial determines the rate at which the transparency For example, applying a displacement map to a sphere would
becomes more opaque as you approach the edges of an object. make the edges appear rough, as well as the surface.
For a real world example, look at a transparent object such as a To load a Normal Map, from the Material Room > Material
drinking glass. The edges of the glass are less transparent than Palette, Advanced tab, connect the Image Node containing
the rest of the surface. This is where the transparency of the glass a normal map to the Gradient Bump channel on the Poser
“falls off”. In Poser, you can vary this falloff behavior. A smaller Surface Node. The channel value controls how much influence
value renders a sharper edge appearance, while a larger value the normal map has on the surface. Higher values yield more
renders a more gradual falloff. If the Transparency and Edge effect, or rougher surfaces, while lower values yield less effect
values are the same, there is no falloff in the rendering. and smoother surfaces.

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You can use Gamma Correction to adjust the Poser 4 and previous versions used our
amount of surface influence from the texture. For proprietary gradient (.BUM) file format for
more information about assigning gamma correction to mapping bumps. Poser Pro 2012 supports .BUM file
an image source, see “Gamma Correction Per Texture” usage as follows: First, in the Material room, create an
on page 419. IMAGE MAP node and load your .BUM file into that
node. Then, connect the image map node with the BUM
Next, select the type of normal map from the Gradient_Mode file to the root node’s GRADIENT BUMP attribute.
pull-down menu according to how the normal map was exported
from the application it was created in. Select from the following
options.

• Normal Map (Tangent space): Tangent space normal maps

have a mostly blue appearance. The normals in a tangent
space map are always considered “up” even if it is not true
in world space.

• Normal Map (Object space): Object space normal maps

are rainbow-colored in appearance. The normals are
pointing in their actual directions.
Gradient bump maps.
• Gradient Bump—Legacy option for Poser gradient bump
maps.

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An object without, and with, a normal map applied.

Advanced Shader View

The Advanced tab of the Shader window is where you build
shaders by working with nodes. Please refer to “Chapter 15:
Working with Nodes” on page 310 and “Chapter 16: Material
Room Nodes” on page 320 for more information about shader The Advanced shader view.
nodes and how they function within Poser.
The Shader window’s Advanced tab contains the following
elements:

• Object menu (1): The Object menu functions similarly

to the Current Actor menu and has the following options:
Props (includes strand-based hair and dynamic cloth),
Lights, Figures, and Background.

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• Material menu (2): The Material pull-down menu lists all of • Nodes (7): Additional nodes also appear in the Shader
the materials available for the currently selected actor. Poser window.
uses Multi/Sub-object materials, which means you will only
see the materials assigned to the currently selected figure/
prop in this menu. Please refer to “Chapter 13: The Basics Shaders
of Materials” on page 276 for information about Multi/
A shader is a combination of nodes working together to create
Sub-object materials.
the final desired color, pattern, and texture -- in short, the look
• Options Menu (3): Clicking the arrow on the right side of for your 3D objects. Every shader consists of a root node with
the Shader menu opens the Options menu for the Material a different number of attributes depending on the type of root
room. You can also open this menu by right-clicking in any node (Background, Material/Hair, Light or Atmosphere) being
blank area within the Shader window or by clicking any used. Each of these attributes can have one or more linked nodes
node input (see “Chapter 15: Working with Nodes” on page that dynamically controls that attribute’s value or color. You can
310 and “Chapter 16: Material Room Nodes” on page either create materials from scratch or load a pre-made material.
320). Saving a material saves that materials’ shader tree, and loading
a material also loads its shader tree. Also, if you load a pre-
• Title Bar (4): You can reposition the Shader window using made material, you can modify it at will to create a whole new
its title bar. look. Please refer to “Root Nodes” on page 320 for a detailed
description of the root nodes.
• Wacro Drawer (5): The Wacro Drawer allows you to select
from ten predefined shortcuts that cover various material
setup tasks. See the “Wacros” section below for specific
information on these shortcuts.

• Root Node (6): The root node for the currently selected
object or material group appears on the left side of the
Shader window.

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room. Wacros all act upon the root node for the selected object
or material. For more information on the various attributes on
the root nodes, please see “Root Nodes” on page 320.
Poser also supports user defined Wacros, which you can write
using Python scripting, and then place in the Runtime\Python\
poserScripts\Wacros\UserDefined folder within your Poser
installation folder. Your Wacros will then appear in the User
Defined pop-up menu. Please see “Part 8: PoserPython” on
page 757 for more information about writing Python scripts
for Poser.

Using nodes to build a shader.

Wacros
Wacros are easy-to-use scripts designed to complete specific
tasks within the Material room. The Wacro Drawer comes with
ten predefined Wacros, each of which accomplishes a basic
material setup task or process--often with the click of a single
button. You can save time by using Wacros for some of the more Material Wacros.
common tasks you might wish to undertake in the Material
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The following Wacros are included with your Poser installation: ƒƒ A Refract raytrace node will be attached to the input
of the Refraction_Color attribute on the root Material
• Add Reflection: Before clicking the Add Reflection Wacro node. The Refract node specifies the refraction color
button, make sure you have selected a material to which you when raytracing. See “Raytrace Nodes” on page 352
want to add reflective attributes. When you click the Add for more information on the Refract node’s attributes.
Reflection button, Poser will attach the following nodes:
ƒƒ A BG Color node will be attached to the input of the
ƒƒ A Reflect raytrace node will be attached to the input Background attribute on the Refract node.
of the Reflection_Color attribute on the root Material
node. The Reflect node specifies the reflection color ƒƒ Set the Refraction_Value attribute on the root Material
when raytracing. See “Raytrace Nodes” on page 352 node to between zero and one, in order to see the
for more information on the Reflect node’s attributes. refraction effect in your rendered image.

ƒƒ A BG Color node will be attached to the input of the Refraction requires raytracing, so be sure to
Background attribute on the Reflect node. have raytracing selected when you render in
order to see the refraction effect. We also recommend
• Add Refraction: Before clicking the Add Refraction setting the number of raytrace bounces to at least two
Wacro button, select a material to which you want to add (or higher if you have reflective surfaces behind the
refraction. Refraction causes light to bend as it passes transparent materials).
from one transparent medium (material) to another; the
degree to which this occurs depends on the material’s
refractive index. Note that refraction only affects • Add Skin Subsurface Scattering: Clicking the Add
transparent materials, so the material you select must be Skin Subsurface Scattering Wacro button will apply a
made transparent for refraction to be visible. Click the Add Subsurface Skin node to the selected material. The node
Refraction button. If you have selected a material that is will be attached to the Alternate Diffuse input of the root
opaque, a dialog will appear asking whether you wish to material node, and the Alternate Diffuse color will be set to
make the material transparent and add refraction. Click Yes white.
on this dialog to proceed. Poser will then add the following
nodes:
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• Set Up Shadow Catcher: Clicking the Set Up Shadow ƒƒ If you clicked Yes on the initial dialog, a Glossy specular
Catcher button will enable the ShadowCatchOnly option on node will be attached to the input on the Alternate_
the Poser Surface node of the selected material. This Wacro Specular attribute of the root Material node. See
will turn the selected material into a shadow catcher, “Glossy” on page 337 for more information on the
which means that it will become transparent except for Glossy node’s attributes.
areas that are shaded by another object, which will show
only the shadow. One example of how you might use this • Create Atmosphere: In order to view the effects of the
Wacro is if you created a scene showing a figure on the Create Atmosphere Wacro, you need to have something in
stairs prop, and you wanted to hide the stairs in order to the background of your scene, such as a background plane
composite the figure onto a photograph of actual stairs. For or additional figures or props. Then, select Atmosphere
more information about the ShadowCatchOnly attribute, from the Object menu at the top of the Shader window.
and shadow catchers, see “Root Material (PoserSurface) Clicking the Create Atmosphere button opens the Choose
Node” on page 320. an Atmosphere dialog. Select the type of atmosphere you
wish to create, from the following options: Fog, Smoke,
• Set Up Toon Render: The Set Up Toon Render Wacro SmokeyRoom, Depth_Cue. Then click OK. Poser will add
will configure your material to appear cartoon-like when the appropriate nodes to create the atmosphere you have
rendered. Clicking the button opens a dialog asking whether selected. If you wish to know more about any of the specific
you want to have specular highlights on your toon surfaces. nodes added, see “Chapter 16: Material Room Nodes”
Click either No or Yes on this dialog to proceed. Poser will on page 320. Render your scene to view the atmosphere
then attach the following nodes: effects.

ƒƒ A Toon diffuse node will be attached to the input on the • Set Up Light Style: The Set Up Light Style Wacro allows
Alternate_Diffuse attribute of the root Material node. you to specify the style of light you wish to apply to a
See “Toon” on page 341 for more information about particular light. First, select the light you wish to configure
the Toon node’s attributes. from the Object menu at the top of the Shader window.
ƒƒ Two additional links will be created from the output on Then click the Set Up Light Style button. The Select a
the material’s Image_Map node, to the inputs on the light style dialog will appear, asking you to select a light
LightColor and DarkColor attributes on the Toon node. style from the following options: diffuse only, specular
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only, white only. When you have made your selection, click using this Wacro. Clicking the IBL button will open the
OK. You will see a message confirming that the light(s) you Texture Manager, which asks you to select a texture for the
had selected have been set to the light style you specified. Image_Map node.
Depending on the light style you selected, you will see the
following effects: • Poser allows you to connect shader trees of any level of
complexity to your Image Based Light; the IBL Wacro,
ƒƒ If you selected diffuse only, the Diffuse attribute on the however, is set up to use a single light probe image as an
root Light node will be set to white, and the Specular image map. Light probes are panoramic images that can
attribute will be set to black. record light levels from a 360 degree perspective, and are
ƒƒ If you selected specular only, the Specular attribute on typically created by taking a high-dynamic range image
the root Light node will be set to white, and the Diffuse of a mirrored sphere. Once you have selected your light
attribute will be set to black. probe image in the Texture Manager, click OK. Poser will
attach an Image_Map node using your light probe to the
ƒƒ If you selected white only, the Color, Diffuse and input of the Color attribute on the root Light node. For
Specular attributes on the root Light node will all be set more information on the Image_Map node’s attributes, see
to white. “Image Map” on page 368. For information about Image
Based Lighting and light probes, see “Diffuse Image Based
• Set Up Ambient Occlusion: Clicking the Set Up Ambient
Lights (IBL)” on page 258.
Occlusion button will create an Ambient_Occlusion
raytrace node, the output of which is attached to the inputs To maximize your Image Based Lighting effects,
of the Diffuse_Value and Specular_Value attributes on the we recommend using Ambient Occlusion. See
root Material node. See “Ambient Occlusion” on page 353 “Light Properties” on page 265 for information on
for more information on the Ambient_Occlusion node’s activating Ambient Occlusion for the selected light.
attributes.

• IBL (Image Based Lighting): The IBL Wacro can only act • Remove Detached Nodes: Clicking the Remove
upon lights, so make sure you have selected a light from Detached Nodes button will clear away any nodes on
the Object menu at the top of the Shader window, before the currently selected material group whose outputs are

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not attached to at least one other node. This Wacro is

particularly useful for cleaning up complex shader trees,
where the sheer number of nodes may make it difficult to
see whether there are any detached nodes present in the
Shader window.

If you press the Shift key while choosing Remove

Detached Nodes, detached nodes will be
removed from all sub-materials in the figure with a
single click.

Even if one or more nodes are attached to inputs

on a given node, if that node’s output is not
attached to another node, it will be removed by the
Remove Detached Nodes Wacro.

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Chapter 15: Working with

Nodes
This chapter describes how to perform various operations
with nodes in the Shader window of the Material room. For a
description of the Material room itself, please refer to “Chapter
14: The Material Room” on page 291.

About Nodes
A node is the basic building block used to construct simple or
complex procedural shaders (also called shaders). All nodes have
the following elements except where noted:
Elements of a node.

• Output (1): After accepting and processing any inputs plus

its own values, the end result is passed to the output for
connection to another node’s input. Root nodes do not have
this function.

• Node Name (2): This is the name of the node. A number

will appear when you have two or more of the same node
in your shader, for example Clouds_2, Clouds_3, and so
forth.

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• Show/Hide Values Button (3): Clicking the Values button

The Material Room Options Menu
toggles displaying the node values (6) on and off.
You can access the Options menu in one of four ways:
• Show/Hide Preview Button (4): Clicking the Preview
button toggles displaying the node preview (9) on and off. • Clicking the Options menu arrow at the top right corner of
Enabling previews gives you a great idea of how each step in the Shader window.
your shader tree is contributing to the overall look, however
this can increase required computing resources. • Clicking either mouse button on a node’s input. In this case,
the Options menu will only have the New node option
• Node Values (5): This area shows the values that you can available and may (depending on the input) have quick
specify for the particular node. access options for appropriate nodes to connect to the
selected input.
• Value Input (6): You can either input values directly in a
node or connect one or more nodes to an input to modify • Clicking either mouse button on a node’s output.
the selected value.
• Right-clicking any blank area in the Shader window.
• Animation Toggle (7): Clicking the Animation control
The Options menu, which varies depending on how it was
toggles animation on and off for the selected value.
accessed, has the following options:
• Preview (8): This displays a preview of the node’s output.

If you are running OpenGL hardware

acceleration, you may be able to view the results
of your procedural shaders in the Document window’s
Preview tab, to give you a better sense of how your
rendered scene will appear. For more information
previewing procedural shaders, please see “Preview
Tab” on page 385.

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• Cut: Selecting Cut places a copy of the selected node(s) into

the Clipboard and deletes the originals from the Shader
window along with any existing links between the cut nodes
and others. This preserves any links that exist between the
copied nodes.

• Copy: Use the Shift key to select multiple nodes and/or the
full rote node to copy into the clipboard. Selecting Copy
places a copy of the selected node(s) into the Clipboard
without removing the originals from the Shader window
without altering their relationships with other nodes. This
preserves any links that exist between the copied nodes but
does not copy links between the copied nodes and other
nodes. In conjunction with the Paste command (see below),
this is a great way to propagate your shader trees (or any
portions you like) from shader to shader, thereby allowing
Node options.
you to save time by leveraging previous work.

• Disconnect: Selecting Disconnect disconnects the current • Paste: Selecting Paste places a copy of the node(s) stored
link between the affected node’s input and all shader(s) in the Clipboard into the Shader window.
contributing to that input. This option will appear when you
• Delete: Selecting Delete selected nodes deletes all
click a node input with one or more links.
selected node(s). Any links to or from deleted nodes are
• New node: Selecting New node creates a new node. Please also lost, meaning you will need to reestablish broken
refer to the following section for more information about connections. Please refer to “Linking Nodes” on page 315
creating nodes. for information on linking/de-linking nodes.

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• Apply selected: Selecting Apply to all... applies all selected

nodes to all materials groups in the current object. This
overrides existing connections in affected material groups
but does not delete any nodes.

• Select All: Selecting Select All selects all nodes in your

shader, including the root node.

• Invert Selection: Selecting Invert Selection selects all

unselected nodes and deselects all selected nodes. In
essence, this function reverses your selection.

Material Room Node Connections

The Advanced view of the Material room uses a plug system
to connect nodes together. Node inputs typically appear on
Node inputs and outputs.
the right side of a node’s palette, and the node output typically
appears in the upper-left corner of the node palette.
You can link nodes to other nodes, thereby controlling one
node’s input with another node’s output. This interaction
between nodes is at the heart of the Material room’s
functionality and provides nearly infinite flexibility. Node
interaction works by plugging values or colors from one node
into another. Although only one node’s output can be connected
to another node’s input at the same time, there is no theoretical
limit to how deep these interactions can go. Available memory
and CPU speed will play a role in setting practical limits.

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Creating Nodes
Creating additional nodes is the first step to creating your own
shader tree (remember that all shaders have at least a root
node).
To create a node, use one of the following methods:

• To create a new node anywhere in the advanced Material

view, right click in the material view and choose New Node
> Category > Subcategory > Node. Then connect the new
node to the locations you desire.

Several nodes can be chained together to create realistic materials.

Selecting Nodes
To select a node, simply click any blank area within the desired
node. To select multiple nodes, press and hold Shift while
making your selections.

Creating a new material node.

• To create an instance of the node that is currently selected

in the Shader window, open the Options menu and select
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New Node > Category > Subcategory > Node. Connect Linking Nodes
the new node as desired.
After creating a node, you may need to link it to an input on
another node. This is accomplished in one of three ways:

• Direct Link: Click the output of the node you wish to link
and drag the cursor over the node or shader input you wish
to link to. Release the mouse button to complete the link.

Node options menu.

• To create a new node that is automatically connected to

a node input, click the desired node input to display the
Options menu. Alternatively, you can drag from a node’s
input to an open area in the view will pop up the new node
menu. Your new node will appear with its output already Attaching a new node to the root node.
linked to your current node’s input. If you access the
Options menu in any other manner (see above), the new
node will not be linked. • Moving Existing Links: To move a link from one node to
another, click the input you want to unlink and drag the

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cursor off the node. Place the cursor over the input node you
wish to link and release the mouse button.

Adding a new node to a root node input.

You can link a node to as many other nodes as you wish and each
node input can be linked to as many input nodes as you wish.

De-Linking Nodes
Relinking nodes.
To break the link between two nodes, click the input you want to
unlink and select Disconnect in the Options menu.
• Clicking and dragging: Click the input you wish to connect
a new node to and drag. A node connection will appear.
When you release the mouse button, the Options menu will Expanding/Collapsing Nodes
appear, allowing you to create a new node whose output is
pre-connected to your selected input. You can expand and collapse a node’s values and/or preview
separately, as described in the previous section.

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Moving Nodes
You can move and arrange nodes to suit your particular work
style. A node’s position has no effect on the shader’s function or
appearance. To move a node or nodes:
1. Select the node(s) you want to move as described above.

2. Hold the mouse button down and drag the node(s) to the
desired position. Release the mouse button to complete the
Manually entering node values.
move.

Some node values are pull-down menus. Use these as you would
Entering Node Values any other pull-down menu.

To enter a value for a node, click the desired value to open a

small window with a value field and a parameter dial. Here,
you can enter a numeric value in the field and/or move the
parameter dial using the mouse. You can also link one or more
nodes to the desired value (see below), which will make the
appropriate adjustments.

Node options can be displayed in a pull-down menu.

Also, clicking a color within a node opens a standard Color

Picker, which you can use to quickly select your desired color.

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Colors are selected through the Color Picker.

Deleting Nodes
To delete a node, select the node you wish to delete and either
press [DEL] or select Node > Delete.

Turn the Animation Toggle on (green) to animate a material.

Animating Nodes
You can animate node attributes by clicking the Animation • Animated: Selecting the Animation option toggles
Toggle (key icon) for the attribute you wish to animate. When animation for the current attribute on or off. A check mark
animation is enabled, the icon appears green. When disabled, it appears next to this menu item when animation is enabled,
appears clear. Clicking the Animation Toggle opens a pull-down and vice-versa.
menu with the following options:
• Info: Each animated attribute has one or more Info options
depending on the attribute. For example, a numerical node
will have one Info option for its numeric value, while a
color node will have three Info options (one each for red,

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green, and blue). Selecting one of these options allows you

to set the current value, maximum and minimum limits,
name, and sensitivity. This dialog is exactly the same as the
Edit Parameter Dial dialog, which is discussed in “Editing
Parameter Dials” on page 198.

• Graph: For each Info option that appears above, you will
see a Graph option. Selecting a Graph option opens the
Graph palette for the selected channel. Please refer to
“Using Graphs” on page 444 for more information about
the Graph palette.
Once animation is enabled, you can animate the attribute’s value
using any combination of the following methods:

• Keyframes: Move to a frame and set a value, then move to a

different frame and set a new value.

• Graph Palette: Use the Graph palette to animate the node.

• Other nodes: Connect other nodes to control how the

attribute changes over time.
Please refer to “Chapter 22: Animating with Poser” on page
433 for more information about animating within Poser.

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Chapter 16: Material Shader window, or by selecting Window > Room Help if the
help pages are not already displayed in the Material room).

Room Nodes Root Material (PoserSurface) Node

Poser includes the following nodes, which, combined and The root Material node and root Hair nodes contain all of the
linked to root nodes, can create virtually any shader you can attributes required to create a complete shader for almost every
imagine. Nodes are divided into several groups: Math, Lighting, material group in your scene (figures, props, hair). They both
Variables, 3D Textures, and 2D Textures. Each group and its have the following attributes:
shaders is discussed in the following sections:

Root Nodes
As previously mentioned, all shaders include a root node, which
can be modified using added nodes that modify the root node.
Thus, the root node is itself a complete shader. The Material
room has four root nodes: Material, Background, Light, and
Atmosphere. Let’s examine these nodes further.

Root Node Help

Some node attributes have a question mark (?) icon next to
them. Clicking this icon opens help for that channel. This help
is also available by navigating the Material room help window
(available by clicking on the (?) icon at the top right of the

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• Diffuse Color: The Diffuse_Color attribute is the surface

color that is multiplied through any light striking the object.

• Diffuse Value: The Diffuse_Value attribute defines the

strength of the diffuse color, where 1=100%.

• Specular Color: The Specular_Color attribute defines the

color of the object’s highlight.

• Specular Value: The Specular_Value attribute defines the

strength of the specular color, where 1=100%.

• Highlight Size: The Highlight_Size attribute defines the

quantity of micro-facets on the object surface. Micro-facets
are tiny imperfections that are invisible to the human eye,
yet effect the way light is reflected off the surface. Very
smooth surfaces (such as glass) have very few imperfections
and produce a very sharp specular highlight. Surfaces such
as paper have extremely high numbers of imperfections in
their surface and thus produce subtler specular highlights.

• Ambient Color: The Ambient_Color attribute defines

the color that a surface has when it receives no light. This
can be used to simulate overall ambient light or to create
self-illuminating surfaces. Note that the ambient color of a
surface will also bounce off other surfaces when rendering
with indirect light enabled.
Poser Surface Node.

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• Ambient Value: The Ambient_Value attribute defines the • Refraction Color: The Refraction_Color attribute defines
strength of the ambient color, where 1=100%. the color of light refracted by the current object.

• Transparency: The Transparency attribute defines the • Refraction Value: The Refraction_Value attribute defines
object’s opacity, where 1=fully transparent. the strength of the refraction color, where 1=100%.

• Transparency Edge: The Transparency_Edge attribute • Bump: The Bump attribute defines the amount of bump
defines the object’s transparency at its edges. For example, a in the material. See “Bump Maps” on page 280 for
glass appears opaque at its edges. information about bump.

• Transparency Falloff: The Transparency_Falloff attribute • Displacement: The Displacement attribute defines the
defines how the transparency changes as it moves towards amount of displacement in the material. See “Displacement
the object edge. Smaller values create a sharper edge and Map” on page 282 for information about displacement.
vice versa.
• Alternate Diffuse: The AlternateDiffuse attribute provides
• Translucence Color: The Translucence_Color attribute is an alternate input for diffuse lighting. Use this channel
the color of light passing through the object. for strand-based hair and anytime you wish to use custom
diffuse lighting.
• Translucence Value: The Translucence_Value attribute
defines the strength of the translucent color, where 1=100%. • Alternate Specular: The AlternateSpecular attribute
provides an alternate input for specular lighting. Use this
• Reflection Color: The Reflection_Color attribute allows channel for strand-based hair and anytime you wish to use
you to specify a reflective color. This is a good input for custom specular lighting.
connecting other nodes to control reflections.
• Reflection Lite Mult: Checking the ReflectionLiteMult
• Reflection Value: The Reflection_Value attribute defines checkbox multiplies the total color through the amount
the strength of the reflective color, where 1=100%. of diffuse lighting hitting each point on the surface. This
automatically darkens reflections in areas not seen by lights.
On by default.
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• Reflection Kd Mult: Checking the ReflectionKdMult • ShadowCatchOnly: Checking the ShadowCatchOnly

checkbox automatically tints the reflection color by the checkbox allows transparent surfaces to catch shadows,
surface’s diffuse color value. Off by default. as opposed to letting the shadows appear on the opaque
surface behind them. In other words, this option will treat
• Gradient Bump: Previous versions of Poser used a transparent surfaces as opaque, only in terms of their
proprietary file format for bump maps (*.BUM). If you want interaction with shadows. A prime use of this feature would
to use these older file types in Poser, connect an image map be if you wish to render only a figure and its shadow; you
node to the Gradient_Bump attribute and load your desired could set up the floor as a transparent surface by using the
*.BUM file into that node (see “Image Map” on page 368 ShadowCatchOnly feature to show your figure’s shadow on
for information on loading images). You cannot use *.BUM the transparent floor, and render (without the background).
files with the FireFly renderer. The Gradient Mode option The floor will be invisible except for the shadow laying on it,
also allows you to select one of two types of normal maps. so the only things in your rendered scene will be the figure
and its shadow.
• Gradient Mode:

ƒƒ Gradient Bump: Choose this option to use with a • ToonID: By default, selecting the Toon Outline option
grayscale bump map image. causes an outline to appear around each separate material
on the figure or object. Depending on how the figure is
ƒƒ Normal Map (Tangent space): Tangent space normal setup, this may lead to too many outlines. In such a case,
maps have a mostly blue appearance. The normals in a you can adjust the Toon ID assignment on the root node
tangent space map are always considered “up” even if it of the material, to reduce the number of outlines drawn.
is not true in world space. Assigning the same ID to multiple materials means that the
ƒƒ Normal Map (Object space): Object space normal render engine will not draw separating outlines between
maps are rainbow-colored in appearance. The normals those materials.
are pointing in their actual directions.
• Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward
For more information about normal maps, see checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the
“Normal and Gradient Bump Maps” on page camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Light
301. for indirect lighting (IDL) is also cast in the direction of
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the normals. Use this option to avoid shading artifacts on

double-sided polygons.

• Custom Outputs: Use the Custom_Output_1, Custom_

Output_2 and Custom_Output_3 connectors to define
material properties that you want to output to Photoshop
layers. If there is no connection to these inputs in the
Poser Surface node, the output to a layered PSD file will be
Diffuse only, Specular only, and Shadow only, respectively
for Custom Output 1, 2, and 3. For more information, see Root Background Node.
“Rendering Layered PSD Files” on page 420.

You must have a hair object selected in order to • Color: The Color attribute allows you to choose the
see its root node. background’s base color.

• Diffuse Color: The Diffuse_Color attribute is the surface

color that is multiplied through any light striking the object.
Root Background Node
• Specular Color: The Specular_Color attribute defines the
The root Background node contains all of the attributes color of the object’s highlight.
required to create a complete shader for your scene’s
background and has the following attributes: • Highlight Size: The Highlight_Size attribute defines the
size of the highlight.

• Bump: The Bump attribute defines the amount of bump in

the material.

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The final render will always display whatever is • Color: The Color attribute allows you to choose the light’s
attached to the Color channel of the Root base color.
Background node. However, if you wish the same image
or color to appear in the preview render, you must also • Intensity: The Intensity attribute defines the light’s
attach it to the BG Picture or BG Movie node. brightness.

• Angle Start: The AngleStart attribute defines the start of

the light cone (in degrees) for spotlights.
Root Light Node
• Angle End: The AngleEnd attribute defines the end of the
A root Light node appears whenever you have a light selected. light cone (in degrees) for spotlights.
Each light in your scene has its own root Light node, which has
the following attributes: • Angle Expo: The AngleExpo attribute controls how the
light fades towards the edge of the light cone (falloff).

• Diffuse: The Diffuse attribute allows you to create lights

that use only a diffuse component to light the scene.

• Specular: The Specular attribute allows you to create lights

that use only a specular component to light the scene. You
can create specular only lights by setting the color in the
specular channel to black. You can also create a negative
light source (a light source that darkens or negates certain
colors in the areas of the scene lit by this light) by setting
the Specular value to zero (i.e., black) and setting the light’s
Intensity to -1. Then the Color and Diffuse channels can be
Root Light Node.
adjusted to reduce certain aspects of light.

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• Image Resolution: The Image Resolution attribute

specifies the width and height of the light probe to be
sampled. You can attach a light probe of any size, and then
adjust the resolution to suit your needs. Note that higher
resolutions require more processing time, whereas with
extremely low resolutions you will lose image quality. 256 is
a reasonable default resolution for most light probe images.

• IBL Contrast: The IBL Contrast attribute allows you to

modify the level of contrast in the incoming light probe
image. The default value of 3 for this attribute is intended
for use with Low Dynamic Range (LDR) images. For High
Dynamic Range (HDR) images, the best IBL Contrast
Root Atmosphere Node.
setting would be 1.

You must have a light selected in order to see its

• DepthCue_On: Checking the DepthCue_On checkbox
root node.
enables depth cueing, which varies all surface material
colors from their original lit colors to the specified depth cue
color (see below). This gives an effect similar to enabling the
Root Atmosphere Node Depth Cueing option in the Document window as described
in “Depth Cueing” on page 92.
The Root Atmosphere node contains all of the attributes
required to create realistic atmospheric effects such as fog, haze, • Volume_On: Checking the Volume_On checkbox enables
etc. in your scenes. volumetric effects. You can enable depth cueing and/or
volumetric effects individually.

• DepthCue_Color: The DepthCue_Color attribute specifies

the color to use when applying the depth cueing.
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• DepthCue_StartDist: The DepthCue_StartDist attribute • Volume_Noise: The Volume_Noise attribute adds a

specifies the distance from the current camera at which the random factor added to the sample that can help balance
depth cueing effect begins. This distance is not necessarily out the effect of larger step sizes (see previous attribute).
displayed in Poser distance units.
You can connect nodes to the color and density attributes for
more complex effects.
• DepthCue_EndDist: The DepthCue_EndDist attribute
specifies the distance from the current camera at which the
depth cueing effect ends. This distance is not necessarily
displayed in Poser distance units.

• Volume_Color: The Volume_Color attribute specifies the

color of the volumetric effect. This color is multiplied with
the color of the lights in your scene. To use the lights’ colors
for the volume, set this color to white.

• Volume_Density: The Volume_Density attribute controls

the strength of the volumetric effect. This effect is multiplied Without volumetric rendering (no fog) on left; With volumetric
by each light’s Atmosphere Strength attribute. If this rendering (with fog) on right.
attribute is set to 1.0, the selected light will cast atmospheric
effects equal to this attribute and so forth. Please refer to
“Light Properties” on page 265.

• Volume_StepSize: The Volume_StepSize attribute

specifies the distance between rendering samples taken
through the volume. Lowering this value increases the
quality and requires increased render time.

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Bright infinite lights can wash out volumetric

effects unless you use a very low density.
Volumetric effects are most successfully used with both
spotlights and carefully controlled density numbers.
Also, Volumetric lighting effects only appear over a
rendered object. They do not appear over an empty
background, even when a background shader is in
place. You need at least one object in on screen in order
for volumetric lighting effects to be visible.

Math Nodes
These are the math nodes included with Poser. You will find
them in the New Node > Math submenu. Unless specified
otherwise, the list of attributes for each node is listed from top Blender Node.
to bottom.

• Input 1: The Input_1 attribute defines the first blend color.

Blender Clicking this attribute opens the standard Color Picker.

The Blender node blends two colors using a value attribute as an • Input 2: The Input_2 attribute defines the second blend
alpha mask. It has the following attributes: color. Clicking this attribute opens the standard Color
Picker.

• Blending: The Blending attribute is used to determine the

amount of blending. Valid values are from 0 (Input 1 color
only) to 1 (Input 2 color only).
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Fresnel Blend Edge Blend

The Fresnel Blend node has the following attributes: The Edge Blend node blends color nodes based on surface and
camera angles. It has the following attributes:

Fresnel Blend Node.

Edge Blend Node.

• Outer Color: The Outer Color attribute defines the color of

surfaces facing away from the camera. Clicking it opens the • Inner Color: The Inner Color attribute defines the color of
standard Color Picker. surfaces facing towards the camera. Clicking it opens the
standard Color Picker.
• Inner Color: The Inner Color attribute defines the color of
surfaces facing towards the camera. Clicking it opens the • Outer Color: The Outer Color attribute defines the color of
standard Color Picker. surfaces facing away from the camera. Clicking it opens the
standard Color Picker.
• Index of Refraction: The index of refraction of the material.
Light hitting the surface will be reflected or transmitted • Attenuation: The Attenuation attribute defines the power
dependent on the incident angle based on the index of curve used for transitioning between the inner and outer
refraction. colors.

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Component Math Functions

The Component node is useful for extracting the red, green, The Math Functions node is useful for mathematically merging
or blue components from an input color. It has the following values, nodes, and other parameters and can be used to create
attributes: patterns. It has the following attributes:

Component Node. Math Functions Node.

• Component: The Component attribute specifies the color • Math Argument: This pull-down menu defines the math
to extract. 0=red, 1=green, and 2=blue. function to be used. Your options are:

• Color: The Color attribute provides an input for another ƒƒ Add: Selecting Add returns Value 1 plus Value 2.
node, whose output will be processed according to the
ƒƒ Subtract: Selecting Subtract returns Value 1 minus
Component attribute setting.
Value 2.
• Point: The Point attribute provides an input for a point ƒƒ Multiply: Selecting Multiply returns Value 1 times
node whose output will be processed according to the Value 2.
Component attribute setting.
ƒƒ Divide: Selecting Divide returns Value 1 divided by
Value 2.

ƒƒ Sine: Selecting Sin returns the sine of Value 1. Value 2

is ignored.
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ƒƒ Cosine: Selecting Cos returns the cosine of Value 1. ƒƒ Maximum: Selecting Max returns Value 1 if Value 1 is
Value 2 is ignored. greater than Value 2, otherwise Value 2 is returned.

ƒƒ Tangent: Selecting Tan returns the tangent of Value 1. ƒƒ Clamp: Selecting Clamp returns Value 1 unless
Value 2 is ignored. Value 1 is less than 0 or greater than 1. If Value 1<0,
0 is returned. If Value 1 > 1, 1 is returned. Value 2 is
ƒƒ Square Root: Selecting Sqrt returns the square root of
ignored.
Value 1. Value 2 is ignored.
ƒƒ Ceiling: Selecting Ceil returns Value 1 rounded up to
ƒƒ Power: Selecting Pow returns the Value 1 to the Value
the next whole number. Value 2 is ignored.
2 power (such as 33).
ƒƒ Floor: Selecting Floor returns Value 1 rounded down
ƒƒ Exponential: Selecting Exp returns e to the exponent
to the last whole number. Value 2 is ignored.
Value 1, Value 2 is ignored (such as eV1).
ƒƒ Round: Selecting Round returns Value 1 rounded to
ƒƒ Logarithm: Selecting Log returns the natural log of
the nearest whole number. Value 2 is ignored.
Value 1, Value 2 is ignored.
ƒƒ Step: Selecting Step returns 1 if Value 1 is less than
ƒƒ Modulus: Selecting Mod returns the modulus
Value 2, and 0 if Value 1 is greater than or equal to
(remainder) of Value 1 divided by Value 2.
Value 2.
ƒƒ Absolute: Selecting Abs returns the absolute value of
ƒƒ Smooth Step: Selecting Smoothstep returns Value 1
Value 1. Value 2 is ignored.
bicubically smoothed. Value 2 is ignored.
ƒƒ Sign: Selecting Sign returns –1 if Value 1 is less than
ƒƒ Bias: Selecting Bias adjusts the bias of Value 1 by
zero, and 1 if Value 1 is greater than or equal to zero.
Value 2.
Value 2 is ignored.
ƒƒ Gain: Selecting Gain adjusts the gain of Value 1 by
ƒƒ Minimum: Selecting Min returns Value 1 if Value 1 is
Value 2.
less than Value 2, otherwise Value 2 is returned.
• Value 1: The Value_1 value defines the first value in the
math equation.
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• Value 2: The Value_2 value defines the second value in the User Defined
math equation.
The User Defined node allows you to define a custom color. The
Color Mode (bottom) attribute is a pull-down menu allowing
Color Math you to specify your desired color model. You can choose RGB,
HSV, or HSL modes and enter the appropriate attributes in the
The Color Math node performs the selected mathematical
three fields above, as follows:
operation with two colors. It has the following attributes:

Color Math node.

User Defined node.

• Math Argument: Please refer to the previous node

• Red: This attribute allows you to specify the first value: Red
explanation, above, for a list of math arguments available in
(RGB) or Hue (HSV or HSL).
this pull-down menu.
• Green: This attribute allows you to specify the second value:
• Value 1: The Value_1 attribute defines the first color value
Green (RGB) or Saturation (HSV or HSL).
in the math equation.
• Blue: This attribute allows you to specify the third value:
• Value 2: The Value_2 attribute defines the second color
Blue (RGB) or Value (HSV) or Lightness (HSL).
value in the math equation.
• Color Mode: This attribute allows you to specify the color
mode that applies to the Red, Green, and Blue setting.

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Choices are RGB (Red, Green, Blue), HSV (Hue, Saturation,

Value) or HSL (Hue, Saturation, Lightness.

Simple Color
The Simple Color node allows you to access a color picker to
select a color. Clicking the color (Color attribute) opens the
Poser Color Picker. To use your operating system’s Color Picker,
press [OPT]/[ALT] while clicking the color or click the red-green- Color Ramp node.
blue button in the top right of the Poser Color Picker.

• Color 1 through Color 4: The Color_1 through Color_4

attributes allow you to input colors for the color spline.
Clicking them opens the standard Color Picker.

Simple Color node. • Input: The Input attribute is the grayscale value to lookup
into the color spline. This is where you should plug in your
grayscale images.

Color Ramp
HSV
The Color Ramp node takes four colors and creates a spline
color map (gradient) with them. You can feed grayscale output The HSV node allows you to adjust the Hue, Saturation, and/or
from other nodes (turbulence, wood, etc.) into this node to Value of the Color input.
create interesting still or animated effects using the grayscale
values as lookups into the color spline, providing a colorized
version of the original grayscale image. It has the following
attributes:

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Gamma
The Gamma node allows you to incorporate Gamma settings
into the currently selected material. The Gamma node provides
the following settings:

HSV Node.

• Color: Allows you to specify the color source that you want
to adjust.
Gamma Node.
• Hue: This attribute allows you to adjust the Hue of the Color
input. A setting of 1 represents no adjustment. Increase or
decrease the setting to offset the original hue. • Color: Allows you to specify a solid color, or to input other
nodes as a source of color.
• Saturation: This attribute allows you to adjust the
Saturation of the Color input. A setting of 1 represents no • Inverse: Used as a shortcut that applies the specified
adjustment. Increase or decrease the setting to offset the gamma value in reverse. For example, if Gamma value is set
original saturation. to 2.2, checking the Inverse option will result in a Gamma
setting of 1/2.2 (or .4545).
• Value: This attribute allows you to adjust the Value of
the Color input. A setting of 1 represents no adjustment. • Use Custom Gamma: Check this option to pass the custom
Increase or decrease the setting to offset the original value. gamma settings to the node that is connected to the output.

• Gamma: Sets the desired gamma value.

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Lighting Nodes
These are the light nodes included with the Material room.
Unless specified otherwise, the list of attributes for each node is
listed from top to bottom. The Light menu item has several sub-
menus, each containing one or more nodes.

Specular Nodes
Specular nodes provide different models for calculating
highlights on objects.
Anisotropic node.
Anisotropic

The Anisotropic node allows you to create irregularly shaped • Specular Color: The Specular_Color is the color of any
highlights. It has the following attributes: highlight that appears on the object surface. Highlights
lend the illusion of shininess. For example, a piece of wood
displays no highlight, while a piece of polished metal has
one or more distinct highlights. This color is generally the
same as that of the direct lighting falling on the affected
surface but does not have to be.

• Specular Value: The Specular_Value is the amount of

influence the specular color has on the shader. A higher
value will create larger, more distinct highlights and vice
versa.

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• U Highlight Size: The U_Highlight_Size attribute is the

highlight’s size in the U direction.

• V Highlight Size: The V_Highlight_Size attribute is the

highlight’s size in the V direction.

• Xdir_X: The Xdir_X attribute controls the size of the

specular reflection relative to the X-axis.
Phong node.
• Xdir Y: The Xdir_Y attribute controls the size of the
specular reflection relative to the Y-axis.
• Specular Color: The Specular_Color is the color of any
• Xdir_Z: The Xdir_Z attribute controls the size of the highlight that appears on the object surface. Highlights
specular reflection relative to the Z-axis. lend the illusion of shininess. For example, a piece of wood
displays no highlight, while a piece of polished metal has
• Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward
one or more distinct highlights. This color is generally the
checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the
same as that of the direct lighting falling on the affected
camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this
surface but does not have to be.
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons.
• Specular Value: The Specular_Value is the amount of
Phong
influence the specular color has on the shader. A higher
The Phong node defines a model for calculating highlights. It value will create larger, more distinct highlights and vice
has the following attributes: versa.

• Size: The Size attribute specifies the size of the highlight.

• Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward

checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the

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camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this • Roughness: The Roughness attribute defines the size of
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons. highlights.

Glossy • Sharpness: The Sharpness attribute defines the sharpness

of the highlight’s edge.
The Glossy node defines a model for calculating highlights. It
has the following attributes: • Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward
checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the
camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons.

Blinn

The Blinn node defines a model for calculating highlights. It has

the following attributes:

Glossy node.

• Specular Color: The Specular_Color is the color of any

highlight that appears on the object surface. Highlights
lend the illusion of shininess. For example, a piece of wood
displays no highlight, while a piece of polished metal has
one or more distinct highlights. This color is generally the
same as that of the direct lighting falling on the affected Blinn node.
surface but does not have to be.

• Ks: The Ks attribute defines the strength of the specular • Specular Color: The Specular_Color is the color of any
color, where 1=100%. highlight that appears on the object surface. Highlights

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lend the illusion of shininess. For example, a piece of wood

displays no highlight, while a piece of polished metal has
one or more distinct highlights. This color is generally the
same as that of the direct lighting falling on the affected
surface but does not have to be.

• Eccentricity: The Blinn formula models the microfacets

(microscopic imperfections) of the surface as ellipsoids of
revolution. The Eccentricity attribute controls the size and Specular node.
variation of the imperfections. Use 0 for very shiny surfaces
and 1 for very diffuse surfaces.
• Specular Color:: The Specular_Color is the color of any
• Specular Roll Off: The SpecularRollOff attribute controls highlight that appears on the object surface. Highlights
the highlight’s sharpness. lend the illusion of shininess. For example, a piece of wood
displays no highlight, while a piece of polished metal has
• Reflectivity: The Reflectivity attribute controls the amount one or more distinct highlights. This color is generally the
of light reflected back to the eye. same as that of the direct lighting falling on the affected
surface but does not have to be.
• Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward
checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the • Specular Value: The Specular_Value is the amount of
camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this influence the specular color has on the shader. A higher
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons. value will create larger, more distinct highlights and vice
versa.
Specular
• Roughness: The Roughness attribute defines the size of
The Specular node defines a model for calculating highlights. It highlights.
has the same attributes as the Phong node, which is discussed
below. • Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward
checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the
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camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this Diffuse Nodes
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons.

ks Microfacet Clay

The Clay node applies a clay-like lighting model to the selected

The KS-Microfacet node is a node that is a physically-based
material. It has the following attributes:
specular node that uses specularity calculations similar to those
used in the Subsurface Skin and Scatter nodes.
The settings are as follows:

Clay node.

ks-Microfacet node.
• Color: The Color attribute specifies the clay color. Clicking
the color opens a Color Picker.
• Roughness: The Roughness attribute defines the size of
highlights. Lower values create smaller, sharper highlights. • Kd: The Kd attribute specifies the strength of the color,
Higher values create larger, more diffused highlights. where 1=100%.

• Ks: The Ks attribute controls the specular light strength, • Roughness: The Roughness attribute defines the size of
where 1=100%. highlights.

Diffuse

The Diffuse node allows you to use the standard diffuse lighting
model. It has the following attributes:

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Diffuse node.

• Diffuse_Color: The Diffuse_Color attribute specifies the

diffuse color.

• Diffuse_Value: The Diffuse_Value attribute defines the

strength of the diffuse color, where 1=100%.

• Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward

Probe Light node.
checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the
camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons. • Exposure: The Exposure attribute specifies the brightness,
or exposure level, of the irradiance map.
ProbeLight
• Saturation: The Saturation attribute specifies the degree of
The ProbeLight node takes an irradiance environment map, color saturation within the irradiance map.
which is a 360 degree light distribution contained within a single
image map, and applies it to your material. It has the following • SurfaceColor: The SurfaceColor attribute allows you
attributes, as well as nine coefficients: to select a color tint by which the irradiance map will be
multiplied. For more realistic results, you should multiply
with white.

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If your intention is to create an image based • Ink Color: The InkColor attribute specifies the ink color.
light, you can do so by simply adding a diffuse
image Based light to your scene in the lighting controls. • Spread: The Spread attribute defines the sharpness/
See “Chapter 12: Lighting” on page 256 for more softness of edges between colors.
information about adding and configuring lights.
• Line Width: the LineWidth attribute specifies the width of
the ink color.
Toon
• Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward
The Toon node gives your material a cartoon-like look. It has the checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the
following attributes: camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons.

Special Nodes

Skin

The Skin node allows you to create realistic skin. It has the
following attributes:

Toon node.

• Light Color: The LightColor attribute specifies the light

color.

• Dark Color: The DarkColor attribute specifies the dark

color.

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• Kd: The Kd attribute controls the diffuse light strength,

where 1=100%.

• Ks: The Ks attribute controls the specular light strength,

where 1=100%.

• Thickness: The Thickness attribute controls the thickness

of the top, translucent skin layer.

• ETA: The ETA attribute controls the density of the top,

translucent skin layer.
Skin node.
Subsurface Skin

• Skin Color: The SkinColor attribute selects the skin’s base The Subsurface Skin node offers more realistic skin effects
color. Clicking this attribute opens a standard Color Picker. than the Skin node. It adds subsurface scattering effects that
give the skin more luminescence and sheen. This node has the
• Sheen Color: The SheenColor attribute is the color of following settings:
any highlight that appears on the object surface. Highlights
lend the illusion of shininess. For example, a piece of wood
displays no highlight, while a piece of polished metal has
one or more distinct highlights. This color is generally the
same as that of the direct lighting falling on the affected
surface but does not have to be.

• Ka: The Ka attribute controls the ambient light strength,

where 1=100%.
Subsurface Skin node.

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• Color: Determines the base color for the material. The plugged into the diffuse color and the specular color. Diffuse
Subsurface Skin effect is added to this color. By default it color is set to white, and specular color is set to black with a
is set to white. You can choose another color, or attach an value of zero.
image map or another node to the input.
Render settings for the scene are also standard. However,
in order to use the Subsurface Skin node, the Subsurface
• Texture Detail: Represents the ratio of the use of the texture
Scattering option must be turned on in the Render Settings
for post-scatter versus pre-scatter. The range is from 0-1.0.
dialog.
A value of 1 will apply 100% of texture at post-scatter,
yielding more texture details. A value 0 uses none of texture
at post-scatter, applying all of that texture for pre-scatter
calculations, and yields very low texture detail. A value of .5
is a reasonable point to start experimenting.

• Specularity: When set to 1, this setting approximates the

physical specular behavior of human skin. Increase or
decrease the setting for your desired effect.

• Highlight Size: Determines the size of the highlight, similar

to the way that Highlight Size works in the Root node.

• MaxError: This setting is a quality-speed tradeoff. When set

to a low value, you will get higher precision in the subsurface
scattering, but rendering will be more slow. When set to a
higher value, you will get better rendering speeds, but less
precision in the subsurface scattering.
To demonstrate the Subsurface Skin node we start with a
simple scene: a figure and two directional lights with raytraced
shadows. The head texture is very simple, just an image map Render settings dialog with Subsurface Scattering turned on.

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Go to the Material room and select the Head material. Right- When you render the new material, Poser will first render a
click in an empty area in the Advanced material view and choose prepass to calculate light all over the surface (including the back
New Node > Lighting > Special > Subsurface Skin. side). During the second pass, it calculates the scattering.
Plug the output of the image map into the Color input of the new The following figure shows a comparison before and after
node. Then, plug the output of the new node into the Alternate subsurface scattering is added on a character.
Diffuse input of the PoserSurface root node. Finally, set the
Diffuse Value setting in the root node to 0, so that Poser only Subsurface scattering only works on objects that
uses the Alt Diffuse setting. are in direct view of the camera. Objects in
reflected surfaces will not be calculated with proper
Subsurface Scattering.

A figure without subsurface skin (left); with subsurface skin (right).

Material Settings for the Subsurface Skin node.

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Velvet • Ka: The Ka attribute controls the ambient light strength,

where 1=100%.
The Velvet node allows you to create the appearance of realistic
velvety fabric. It has the following attributes: • Kd: The Kd attribute controls the diffuse light strength,
where 1=100%.

• Ks: The Ks attribute controls the specular light strength,

where 1=100%.

• Roughness: The Roughness attribute controls the

thickness of the velvet.

• Edginess: This attribute controls the horizon scatter of the

velvet.

• Normals_Forward: Checking the Normals_Forward

Velvet node. checkbox will flip the surface normal to point towards the
camera (or towards the ray in case of raytracing). Use this
option to avoid shading artifacts on double-sided polygons.
• Velvet Color: The Velvet_Color attribute selects the color.
Clicking this attribute opens a standard Color Picker. Hair

• Velvet Sheen: The Velvet_Sheen attribute is the color of The Hair node allows you to color your characters’ or props’ hair.
any highlight that appears on the object surface. Highlights It has the following attributes:
lend the illusion of shininess. For example, a piece of wood
displays no highlight, while a piece of polished metal has
one or more distinct highlights. This color is generally the
same as that of the direct lighting falling on the affected
surface but does not have to be.
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• Root Softness: The Root_Softness attribute controls the

root’s transparency, which helps hair blend into the scalp.

To create realistic hair shaders, connect this

node to the root node’s Alternate Diffuse
attribute.

• Opaque in Shadow: Check this option to create solid

shadows beneath hair strands. This allows you to create hair
Hair node. that looks more full without having to increase the number
of hairs on the head (thereby requiring less computer
resources).
• Root Color: The Root_Color attribute selects the color for
the root of the hair. Clicking this attribute opens a standard Scatter
Color Picker.
The Scatter node offers another way to render scattering effects
• Tip Color: The Tip_Color attribute selects the color for the in various objects, including skin. A number of presets that use
tip of the hair. Clicking this attribute opens a standard Color real-world material properties are included in this node.
Picker. The Scatter node offers the following settings:

• Specular Color:: The Specular_Color attribute selects

the hair’s highlight color. Clicking this attribute opens a
standard Color Picker.

• Highlight Size: Allows you to determine the size and

intensity of the highlights in the hair.

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• Use Material Color: Check this option if you want to use

color from the Material property.

• Texture Detail: Represents the ratio of the use of the texture

for post-scatter versus pre-scatter. The range is from 0-1.0.
A value of 1 will apply 100% of texture at post-scatter,
yielding more texture details. A value 0 uses none of texture
at post-scatter, applying all of that texture for pre-scatter
calculations, and yields very low texture detail. A value of .5
is a reasonable point to start experimenting.
Scatter node.
• Scale: Each of the Scatter materials are based on physical
measurements. The Scale setting decreases or increases the
• Material: The Material selector includes several presets that
physical scale to adjust appropriately for your geometry in
emulate the scatter effects of real-world materials.
the event that it is smaller or larger than it would be in real
life.

• MaxError: This setting is a quality-speed tradeoff. When set

to a low value, you will get higher precision in the subsurface
scattering, but rendering will be more slow. When set to a
higher value, you will get better rendering speeds, but less
precision in the subsurface scattering.

• Color: Determines the base color for the material. The

Scatter effect is added to this color. By default it is set to
white. You can choose another color or add an image map or
other node to the input.

Material options.
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Use the same scene that you started with in “Subsurface Skin”
on page 342. If you completed that exercise, disconnect the
Subsurface Skin node from the Alternate Diffuse input of the
PoserSurface node, and then right-click the Subsurface Skin
node and choose Delete Node.
Next, right-click in an empty area in the Advanced Material
view. Choose New Node > Lighting > Special > Scatter. A new
scatter node is added to the Advanced material view. Plug the
output into the Alternate Diffuse input of the PoserSurface
node. Set the Diffuse Value in the PoserSurface node to 0 to
turn the texture influence off.
You will notice when you render the Scatter node that the object
takes on the color of the selected material. The color of the
real-world materials is built in to the preset. In other words, if
Apple preset (left); Skin 1 preset (right).
you choose the Apple material there will be a green tone to the
Scatter effect. If you choose Skin1 or Skin2, the object will have
natural skin tones, and so on. Examples of Apple and Skin 1 are Because colors are built into the Scatter presets, you will need
shown in the following figure. to take that into account when you use skin textures that have
built-in color (as most do.) There is a way that you can work
around this.

• First, right-click in an empty area of the Advanced Material

view and add a Color Math node (New Node > Math >
Color_Math).

• Click the Value 2 color chip in the Color Math node, and
then use the eyedropper to select the base skin color from

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the Image Map texture preview. This is the color that will be the texture preview in the Color Math node to view the
removed after passing through the Color Math node. result. You should see a preview with the base flesh color
removed, and leaving other areas such as brows, eye
makeup, and shadows to pass through to the Scatter node.

• Connect the output of the Color Math node into the Color
input of the Scatter node.

• Connect the output of the Scatter node into the Alternate

Diffuse input of the PoserSurface node. When completed,
it should look like the following figure:

Select the base color for Value 2 from the image texture map.

• Set the Math Argument of the Color Math node to Divide.

• Connect the output from the Image Map node into the
Value1 connector of the Color Math node. You can display

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Now when you render your head, you will see the scattering
effects and skin tone from the Scatter node combined with the
additional detail that was in the texture you used.

Skin 1 Preset with added color from the Image Map and Color Math
Final Color Math connections. nodes.

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Custom Scatter more translucent effect. Note that regardless of the settings
in the preferences, this parameter’s units are always in
This node exposes subsurface scattering with the raw parameters millimeters, due to the small size of typical values.
available to the user, as opposed to the measured presets in the
plain Scatter node. • IOR (Index of Refraction): The index of refraction of
the material. Light hitting the surface will be reflected or
transmitted dependent on the incident angle based on the
index of refraction. Range is 0.0001 – 3.4.

• Pre-Scatter Texture: The incoming light on the surface will

be modulated by this color before it scatters in the material.

• Pre-Scatter Ambient: The amount of self-illumination of

the material. This is being applied before scattering, so the
illumination generated here will be scattered around in the
material.
Custom Scatter node.
• Max Error: Same parameter as in the other two subsurface
The Custom Scatter node has the following attributes: scattering nodes, this one is a speed vs quality tradeoff
parameter. Lower values equal a more precise calculation at
• Surface Color: The overall color of the surface. Applied the expense of render time, higher values render faster but
post-scattering, so textures applied to this input will remain may show artifacts. Range is 0.0 – 1.0.
sharp.
FastScatter
• Scatter Color: The color of the light that gets scattered in
the material. The FastScatter node offers an easy application of subsurface
scattering (SSS) effects. The results of the FastScatter
• Mean Free Path: The mean distance that light travels calculation approximate true Subsurface Scattering.
in the surface before it scatters. Larger values result in a
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Reflect

The Reflect node specifies the reflection color when raytracing.

It has the following attributes:

Fast Scatter node.

Subsurface scattering simulates the interaction

of light with translucent materials, whereby the
Reflect node.
light interacts to some degree with the material below
the surface level. The FastScatter node is a legacy node
that was introduced prior to the implementation of true • Background: The Background attribute selects the
Subsurface Scattering. This node should be phased out background color to be used for raytracing. Clicking this
by content developers and replaced with one of the true attribute opens a standard Color Picker.
Subsurface Scattering nodes: “Subsurface Skin” on page
342 or “Scatter” on page 346. • Quality: The Quality attribute controls how many rays
are spawned by hitting a surface. Increasing this value
increases the realism of reflections but consumes computing
Raytrace Nodes resources.

To use the raytracing nodes, you must have raytracing enabled • Softness: The Softness attribute controls the randomness
in the Render Settings dialog, as described in “Chapter 18: The of the directions of reflected rays.
Render Settings Dialog” on page 384.
• RayBias: The RayBias attribute helps to prevent false
shadows and other artifacts that may occur as a result

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of using raytracing techniques in conjunction with • Index of Refraction: The Index of Refraction attribute
displacement maps. RayBias offsets the starting point of controls how much light bends when passing through the
the rays above the geometry of the surface, so as to avoid object.
the displacement geometry in the raytracing calculation. Be
aware that if your RayBias setting is too high, your shadows • Quality: The Quality attribute controls how many rays
will migrate in the scene. are spawned by hitting a surface. Increasing this value
increases the realism of reflections but consumes computing
Refract resources.

The Refract node specifies the refraction color when raytracing. • Softness: The Softness attribute controls how sharp or
It has the following attributes: smooth refracted light appears after passing through an
object.

• RayBias: The RayBias attribute helps to prevent false

shadows and other artifacts that may occur as a result
of using raytracing techniques in conjunction with
displacement maps. RayBias offsets the starting point of
the rays above the geometry of the surface, so as to avoid
the displacement geometry in the raytracing calculation. Be
aware that if your RayBias setting is too high, your shadows
Refract node. will migrate in the scene.

Ambient Occlusion
• Background: The Background attribute selects the
background color to be used for raytracing. Clicking this The Ambient Occlusion node uses raytracing to calculate the
attribute opens a standard Color Picker. degree to which other objects within a scene mask (or occlude)
the ambient light of a surface at a given point. Surfaces with
greater occlusion ratios will be rendered as darker than surfaces
with little or no occlusion. This node has the following attributes:
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aware that if your RayBias setting is too high, your shadows

will migrate in the scene.

• Strength: The Strength attribute controls the degree

to which the Ambient Occlusion node will darken the
occluded surfaces within the scene.

• Evaluate in IDL: Check this option if you want Poser to

consider ambient occlusion settings during an indirect
Ambient Occlusion node. lighting pass.

• Samples: The Samples attribute determines the number

of rays projected. Too few samples will result in a grainy
appearance in the darker areas of the scene. Higher sample
rates yield higher quality darkened areas, but take longer to
render.

• MaxDist: The MaxDist attribute allows you to control the

maximum distance that the rays will travel through the
scene, thus limiting the amount of data collected. Without Ambient Occlusion (left); With Ambient Occlusion/depth
mapped shadows (right).
• RayBias: The RayBias attribute helps to prevent false
shadows and other artifacts that may occur as a result
of using raytracing techniques in conjunction with Gather
displacement maps. RayBias offsets the starting point of
The Gather node uses raytracing to collect color and light
the rays above the geometry of the surface, so as to avoid
information from the surfaces within a specific area, which when
the displacement geometry in the raytracing calculation. Be
combined with an infinite light source adds a realistic “outdoor”

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lighting effect. This effect also adds some color bleeding to the calculation. Be aware that if your RayBias setting is too
rendered scene. The Gather sampling area, or cone, is defined by high, your shadows will migrate in the scene.
the following attributes:
• Angle: The Angle attribute sets the angle of the cone in
which the Gather rays will be projected. A wider angle will
result in a greater area and hence more data. More data will
give you more realistic results, but longer render times.

Gather node.

• Samples: The Samples attribute determines the number

of Gather rays projected. Higher sample rates yield more
realistic results, but take longer to render.

• MaxDist: The MaxDist attribute allows you to control the Without Gather/no color bleeding (left); With Gather/color
maximum distance that the Gather rays will travel through bleeding (right).
the scene, thus limiting the amount of data collected.

• RayBias: The RayBias attribute helps to prevent false Fresnel

shadows and other artifacts that may occur as a result
The Fresnel node is used for surfaces that are both refractive
of using raytracing techniques in conjunction with
and reflective (also known as dielectrics). Such surfaces tend
displacement maps. RayBias offsets the starting point
to reflect more when the observer to surface angle is high, and
of the Gather rays above the geometry of the surface, so
refract more when the observer to surface angle is low. Most
as to avoid the displacement geometry in the raytracing
surfaces that are transparent (refractive) are also reflective.

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• Softness: The Softness attribute controls how sharp or

smooth refracted light appears after passing through an
object.

Environment Map Nodes

Sphere Map
Fresnel node.
The Sphere Map node is a lighting node for performing
spherical reflections. Attach this node to a materials’ reflection
To use the Fresnel node with a surface node, plug it into the
input (or as a raytrace reflection mode’s color attribute) to create
surface node’s refraction_color channel. Set the Diffuse
spherical reflections. This node has the following attributes:
values low, and Transparency to 0. The Fresnel node has the
following attributes:

• Background: The Background attribute selects the

background color to be used for raytracing. Clicking this
attribute opens a standard Color Picker.
Sphere map node.
• Index of Refraction: The Index of Refraction attribute
controls how much light bends when passing through the
object. • Color: The Color attribute specifies the map’s color.
Clicking the color opens a Color Picker.
• Quality: The Quality attribute controls how many rays
are spawned by hitting a surface. Increasing this value • Rotation: The Rotation attribute specifies the maps,
increases the realism of reflections but consumes computing rotation along the X, Y, and Z values.
resources.

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Variable Nodes
These are the value nodes included with Poser. Unless specified
otherwise, the list of attributes for each node is listed from top
to bottom.

N
The N node returns the normal at the specified point. It has the
following attributes:

Visualizes direction of surface normal.

P
The P node defines a point in space. It has the following
N Node.
attributes:

• X: The X attribute is the normal vector’s X component.

• Y: The Y attribute is the normal vector’s Y component.

• Z: The Z attribute is the normal vector’s Z component.

P Node.

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• X: The X attribute is the point’s X location. dV

• Y: The Y attribute is the point’s Y location. The dV node defines the rate of change of surface parameters
as pertains to the current pixel’s location in T space. The ‘d’
• Z: The Z attribute is the point’s Z location.
indicates a derivative of the ‘V’ parameter.

Frame Number dPdv

The Frame Number node returns the current frame number. It
The dPdv node represents a varying point surface shader
has no user-definable attributes.
variable. It is a vector perpendicular to the surface normal in the
‘V’ direction. Specifically, it indicates the derivative of the surface
U Texture Coordinate position along ‘V’. It has no user-definable attributes.

The U node returns the S coordinate in texture space of the pixel

currently being rendered. It has no user-definable attributes. dPdu
The dPdu node represents a varying point surface shader
V Texture Coordinate variable. It is a vector perpendicular to the surface normal in
the ‘U’ direction. Specifically, it indicates the derivative of the
The V node returns the T coordinate in texture space of the pixel surface position along ‘U’. It has no user-definable attributes.
currently being rendered. It has no user-definable attributes.

dNdv
dU
The dNdv node represents the derivative of the surface normal
The dU node defines the rate of change of surface parameters in the ‘V’ direction. In other words, it defines the rate of change
as pertains to the current pixel’s location in S space. The ‘d’ of the surface normal along ‘V’.
indicates a derivative of the ‘U’ parameter.

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dNdu
The dNdu node represents the derivative of the surface normal
in the ‘U’ direction. In other words, it defines the rate of change
of the surface normal along ‘U’.

3D Texture Nodes
These are the color nodes included with the Material room.
Unless specified otherwise, the list of attributes for each node is
listed from top to bottom. Fractal Sum node.

Fractal Sum • X Scale: The scale of the property along the X (horizontal)
axis
The Fractal Sum node is a fractal function that returns values
between –1 and 1. It has the following attributes: • Y Scale: The scale of the property along the Y (vertical) axis.

• Z Scale: The scale of the property along the Z (depth) axis.

• Octaves: The Octaves attribute defines the number of

iterations for the fractal function. Higher values produce
more detailed fractals but may increase render time.

• Bottom: The Bottom attribute controls the bottom color

level or floor.

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• Bias: The Bias attribute specifies how far to shift samples • Signed: Checking the Signed checkbox returns values in
towards the light source to prevent self-shadowing of the range –1 to 1. If unchecked, values less than 0 will be
objects. returned unsigned, e.g. –25 will be returned as 25.

• Gain: The Gain attribute controls the balance between light • Fractal Increment: The Fractal_Increment attribute
and dark colors. controls noise. Lower values result in a smoother noise
gradient.

fBm • Frequency Gap: The Frequency_Gap attribute controls

fractal size. Higher values product larger fractals.
The FBM node is a multi-fractal function. It has the following
attributes: • Octaves: The Octaves attribute defines the number of
iterations for the fractal function. Higher values produce
more detailed fractals but may increase render time.

• X Scale: The scale of the property along the X (horizontal)

axis

• Y Scale: The scale of the property along the Y (vertical) axis.

• Z Scale: The scale of the property along the Z (depth) axis.

• Bottom: The Bottom attribute controls the bottom color

level or floor.

• Bias: The Bias attribute specifies how far to shift samples

towards the light source to prevent self-shadowing of
fBm node. objects.

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• Gain: The Gain attribute controls the balance between light • Y Scale: The scale of the property along the Y (vertical) axis.
and dark colors.
• Z Scale: The scale of the property along the Z (depth) axis.
• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to
select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved • Octaves: The Octaves attribute defines the number of
enhanced noise definitions. iterations for the fractal function. Higher values produce
more detailed fractals but may increase render time.

Turbulence • Bottom: The Bottom attribute controls the bottom color

level or floor.
The Turbulence node is an unsigned fractal function. It has the
following attributes: • Bias: The Bias attribute specifies how far to shift samples
towards the light source to prevent self-shadowing of
objects.

• Gain: The Gain attribute controls the balance between light

and dark colors.

• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to

select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
enhanced noise definitions.

Noise
Turbulence node.
The Noise node adds random “static” or “snow” effects. It has
the following attributes:
• X Scale: The scale of the property along the X (horizontal)
axis

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Cellular
The Cellular node is used to create mosaic or cubic tiles. It has
the following attributes:

Noise node.

• X Index: The x_index attribute defines the position on the

X axis from which to draw a noise sample.

• Y Index: The y_index attribute defines the position on the Y

axis from which to draw a noise sample.

• Z Index: The z_index attribute defines the position on the Z

axis from which to draw a noise sample.

• Min: The Min attribute controls the minimum amount of

Cellular node.
noise.

• Max: The Max attribute controls the maximum amount of • Color1: The Color1 attribute specifies the cell color.
noise.
• Intensity1: The Intensity1 attribute determines the degree
of dominance between the cells and the cusps.

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• Color2: The Color2 attribute specifies the color of the ƒƒ Mode 3: This option creates a spider-web effect. The
borders between the cells. Color1 attribute defines the color of the web strands.
Set the Intensity1 value relatively high to maximize this
• Intensity2: The Intensity2 attribute determines the degree effect.
of dominance between the cells and the cusps.
ƒƒ Mode 4: This option is similar to that of Mode 3, but it
• ScaleX: The ScaleX attribute controls the size of the tiles includes an additional dimension.
along the x axis.
ƒƒ Mode 5: This option creates a quilt-style cell pattern
• ScaleY: The ScaleY attribute controls the size of the tiles when the RandomColor attribute is enabled.
along the y axis.
• Jitter: The Jitter attribute controls the irregularity of the
• ScaleZ: The ScaleZ attribute controls the size of the tiles cell sizes.
along the z axis.
• Turbulence: The Turbulence attribute controls the
• RandomColor: Enabling the RandomColor attribute irregularity of the cell boundaries.
specifies that the color of each cell will be randomly
• GlobalCoordinates: When the GlobalCoordinates
determined.
attribute is enabled, the object will use the global
• CellMode: The CellMode attribute determines the type and coordinates.
shape of the cells. It has the following options:
• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to
ƒƒ Mode 1: This option creates 3D tiles. You can increase select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
the Intensity1 value to make the tiles more prominent. enhanced noise definitions.

ƒƒ Mode 2: This option emphasizes the cracks between

the cells. Set the Intensity1 value relatively high to Clouds
maximize this effect.
The Clouds node simulates cloud patterns. It has the following
attributes:
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• Bottom: The Bottom attribute controls the bottom color

level or floor.

• Bias: The Bias attribute specifies how far to shift samples

towards the light source to prevent self-shadowing of
objects.

• Gain: The Gain attribute controls the balance between light

and dark colors.

• Global Coordinates: Use the Global_Coordinates pull-

down menu to select ON or OFF. When on, the texture is
computes using world space instead of object space and vice
Clouds node. versa. If this option is on while the object is moving in any
way, the texture will appear to “slide” through the object
when rendered.
• Sky Color: The Sky_Color attribute defines the areas
behind the clouds. Clicking it opens the standard Color • Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to
Picker. select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
enhanced noise definitions.
• Cloud Color: The Cloud_Color attribute defines the
clouds. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.
Spots
• Scale: The Scale attribute defines the size of the clouds.
The Spots node consists of a 3D texture composed of random
• Complexity: The Complexity attribute defines the spots. It has the following attributes:
complexity of the cloud patterns.

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• Global Coordinates: Use the Global_Coordinates pull-

down menu to select ON or OFF. When on, the texture is
computes using world space instead of object space and vice
versa. If this option is on while the object is moving in any
way, the texture will appear to “slide” through the object
when rendered.

• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to

select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
enhanced noise definitions.

Spots node.
Marble
• Base Color: The Base_Color attribute defines the base The Marble node is a 3D simulation of marble or other stone
color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker. patterns. It has the following attributes:

• Spot Color: The Spot_Color attribute defines the spot

color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.

• Spot Size: The Spot_Size attribute defines the size of the

spots.

• Softness: The Softness attribute determines the transition

from the spot to the base color.

• Threshold: The Threshold attribute defines the lean

Marble node.
towards the base or spot color. Values close to 0 favor the
base color while values closer to 1 favor the spot color.

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• Base Color: The Base_Color attribute defines the base

color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.

• Veins: The Veins attribute defines the vein color. Clicking it

opens the standard Color Picker.

• Scale: The Scale attribute defines the size of the veins.

• Turbulence: The Turbulence attribute defines the low-

frequency randomness of the brick pattern.

• Global Coordinates: Use the Global_Coordinates pull-

Granite node.
down menu to select ON or OFF. When on, the texture is
computes using world space instead of object space and vice
versa. If this option is on while the object is moving in any • Base Color: The Base_Color attribute defines the base
way, the texture will appear to “slide” through the object color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.
when rendered.
• Spot Color: The Spot_Color attribute defines the spot
• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.
select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
enhanced noise definitions. • Scale: The Scale attribute defines the size of the speckles
(spots).

Granite • Shades: The Shades attribute defines the number of

shades used for the texture between and including the base
The Granite node is a 3D simulation of speckled granite and spot colors.
textures. It has the following attributes:

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• Balance: The Balance attribute defines the lean towards

the base or spot color. Values close to 0 favor the spot color
while values closer to 1 favor the base color.

• Global Coordinates: Use the Global_Coordinates pull-

down menu to select ON or OFF. When on, the texture is
computes using world space instead of object space and vice
versa. If this option is on while the object is moving in any
way, the texture will appear to “slide” through the object
when rendered.
Wood node.
• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to
select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
• Light Wood: The Light_Wood attribute defines the base
enhanced noise definitions.
wood color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.

Wood • Dark Wood: The Dark_Wood attribute defines the wood

grain color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.
The Wood node provides a 3D texture that simulates wood
patterns. It has the following attributes: • Scale: The Scale attribute determines the size of the wood
grain.

• Turbulence: The Turbulence attribute determines the

amount of randomness of the wood grain.

• Global Coordinates: Use the Global_Coordinates pull-

down menu to select ON or OFF. When on, the texture is
computes using world space instead of object space and vice
versa. If this option is on while the object is moving in any

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way, the texture will appear to “slide” through the object

2D Texture Nodes
when rendered.
These are the color nodes included with the Material room.
• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to
Unless specified otherwise, the list of attributes for each node is
select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
listed from top to bottom.
enhanced noise definitions.

Wave2D
Wave3D
The Wave2D node implements a two-dimensional sin / cos
The Wave3D node implements a three-dimensional sin / cos
trigonometric function, resulting in a two-dimensional wave
trigonometric function, resulting in a three-dimensional wave
effect.
effect.

Wave 2D node.
Wave 3D node.

Image Map
The Image Map node allows you to specify an image to use as
a map (texture, reflection, transparency, bump, displacement,
etc.). You can use any image as a map. However, if you want

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to use a map designed for the particular figure/prop, you must

use an image that has been set up to work that way. Please refer
to “About Maps & Templates” on page 278 for a general
discussion about maps, and to “Creating Character Textures” on
page 283 for a brief description on creating maps. This node
has the following attributes:

Poser supports texture resolutions up to 8192 x

8192 pixels. Note, however, that high resolution
textures consume a greater amount of system resources.

Image map node.

• Image Source: Displays the currently loaded image.

Clicking the Image Source attribute opens the Texture
Manager dialog. To load an image map, either select the
path from the drop-down list or click the Browse button to
open a standard Open dialog and select the image you wish
to load. A preview of your selected image should appear
in the preview window. You can also select to use a global
gamma value as set in the Render Settings dialog, or enter a

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specific gamma value that is unique to the selected texture. one of two attributes used to define the world space size of
Click OK to implement your changes or Cancel to abort. the texture map being projected onto the surface.

• U Offset: The U_Offset attribute defines the U position of

the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes
used to define the position of the upper left corner of the
projection “screen” in grid units.

• V Offset: The V_Offset attribute defines the V position of

the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes
used to define the position of the upper left corner of the
projection “screen” in grid units.
Choosing a texture map.

• Texture Coordinates: The Texture_Coordinates pull-

• Auto_Fit: Check this option to automatically fit the texture down menu offers the following choices:
map to the currently selected material without tiling.
ƒƒ UV: The UV option behaves like rubber wallpaper that
can stretch over the object surface; the image file is
• U Scale: The U_Scale attribute sets the U scale factor to
made to correspond with set positions on the object’s
apply to the texture map when using UV or VU mapping.
surface, making any distortion caused by the stretching
When using a projection map method (see below), this is
seem more natural. This is the most versatile mapping
one of two attributes used to define the world space size of
method.
the texture map being projected onto the surface.
ƒƒ VU: The VU option is identical to UV mapping, except
• V Scale: The V_Scale attribute sets the V scale factor to that the image map is rotated 90 degrees.
apply to the texture map when using UV or VU mapping.
When using a projection map method (see below), this is ƒƒ XY: The XY option works like a slide projector in that
the “screen” being projected onto is the XY plane whose
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size and position are determined using the U_Scale, Color Picker. Global_Coordinates button forces projected
V_Scale, U_Offset, and V_Offset parameters. Any maps to use global instead of local coordinates.
surface not oriented with the selected viewing plane will
distort the texture at render time. • Mirror U: Enabling the Mirror_U option can help hide the
seams between texture cells when tiling textures.
ƒƒ XZ: Same as above but uses the XZ plane.
• Mirror V: Enabling the Mirror_V option can help hide the
ƒƒ ZY: Same as above but uses the ZY plane.
seams between texture cells when tiling textures.
• Image Mapped: The Image_Mapped pull-down menu
• Texture Strength: The Texture_Strength attribute defines
offers the following choices:
the strength of the texture map, where 1=100%.
ƒƒ None: The background color will be used for all areas of
the object not covered by the texture map. • Filtering: The Filtering attribute allows you to select one
of three options for texture filtering on the selected image
ƒƒ Alpha: The background color will be used for all areas
map. These options are: None--no texture filtering; Fast--
of the object not covered by the texture map. The
high-speed texture filtering; Quality--high-quality texture
background color will also be blended with the texture
filtering; Crisp--provides more aliasing for increased
map based on the alpha channel of the texture map.
crispness.
ƒƒ Clamped: The edge pixels of the texture map are
repeated to cover any area of the object that the texture
map does not cover.
Brick
ƒƒ Tile: The texture map will be tiled to ensure total The Brick node simulates brick or stone wall patterns. It has the
coverage. Tiling is controlled using the Mirror U and following attributes:
Mirror V attributes, below.

• Background: The Background attribute specifies the

background color. Clicking this attribute opens a standard

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• Mortar Width: The Mortar_Width attribute determines the

spacing between bricks.

• Turbulence: The Turbulence attribute defines the low

frequency randomness of the brick pattern.

• Softness: The Softness attribute defines how softly the

brick blends into the mortar.

• Noise: The Noise attribute defines the high frequency

randomness of the brick pattern.

• U Offset: The U_Offset attribute defines the U position of

the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes
Brick node. used to define the position of the upper left corner of the
projection “screen” in grid units.

• Brick Color: The Brick_Color attribute defines the brick • V Offset: The V_Offset attribute defines the V position of
color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker. the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes
• Mortar Color: The Mortar_Color attribute defines the used to define the position of the upper left corner of the
mortar color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker. projection “screen” in grid units.

• Brick Width: The Brick_Width attribute determines the • Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to
horizontal scale of the bricks. select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved
enhanced noise definitions.
• Brick Height: The Brick_Height attribute determines the
vertical scale of the bricks.

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Tile • Tile Shape 1: The Tile_Shape_1 pull-down menu defines

the shape of the first tile. Your options are:
The Tile node is a 2D texture that simulates tile patterns. It has
ƒƒ Rectangle: Selecting Rectangular will make the tiles
the following attributes:
rectangular.

ƒƒ Ellipsoid: Selecting Ellipsoid will make the tiles

elliptical.

• Tile 2: This attribute defines the second tile color. Clicking it

opens the standard Color Picker.

• Tile Shape 2: The Tile_Shape_2 pull-down menu defines

the shape of the second tile. This menu has the same options
as the Tile 1 Shape menu, described above.

• Mortar Color: The Mortar_Color attribute defines the

mortar color. Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.

• Tile Width: The Tile_Width attribute defines the tile’s

width.

• Tile Height: The Tile_Height attribute defines the tile’s

Tile node. height in.

• Mortar Thickness: The Mortar_Thickness attribute

• Tile 1: The Tile_1 attribute defines the first tile color. determines the spacing between bricks.
Clicking it opens the standard Color Picker.
• Turbulence: Defines the low-frequency randomness of the
brick pattern.

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• Softness: The Softness attribute defines how softly the

brick blends into the mortar.

• Noise: The Noise attribute defines the high-frequency

randomness of the brick pattern.

• U Offset: The U_Offset attribute defines the U position of

the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes
used to define the position of the upper left corner of the
projection “screen” in grid units.

• V Offset: The V_Offset attribute defines the V position of Weave node.

the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes
used to define the position of the upper left corner of the • Color 1: The Color_1 attribute defines the first woven color.
projection “screen” in grid units. Clicking this attribute opens the standard Color Picker.

• Noise_Type: The Noise_Type attribute allows you to • Color 2: The Color_2 attribute defines the second woven
select between the Original Perlin type and the Improved color. Clicking this attribute opens the standard Color
enhanced noise definitions. Picker.

• Base Color: The Base_Color attribute defines the

Weave underlying color behind the woven pattern. Clicking this
attribute opens the standard Color Picker.
The Weave node creates woven textile effects. It has the
following attributes: • U Scale: The U_Scale attribute defines the size of the
weave in the U direction.

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• V Scale: The V_Scale attribute defines the size of the weave

in the V direction.

• Height: The Height attribute defines the height of the

woven pattern.

• Bias: The Bias attribute adjusts the weave’s bias.

• Gain: The Gain attribute adjusts the weave’s gain.

Movie
The Movie node allows you to add animations to materials.
Supported formats are AVI, MPG, and WMV. This node has the
following attributes:

Movie node.

• Video Source: The Video_Source attribute specifies the

path containing the selected animation.

• U_Scale: The U_Scale attribute defines the size of the

animation in the U direction.

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• V_Scale: The V_Scale attribute defines the size of the size and position are determined using the U_Scale,
animation in the V direction. V_Scale, U_Offset, and V_Offset parameters. Any
surface not oriented with the selected viewing plane will
• U Offset: The U_Offset attribute defines the U position of distort the texture at render time.
the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes ƒƒ XZ: Same as above but uses the XZ plane.
used to define the position of the upper left corner of the ƒƒ ZY: Same as above but uses the ZY plane.
projection “screen” in grid units.
• Image Mapped: The Image_Mapped pull-down menu
• V Offset: The V_Offset attribute defines the V position of offers the following choices:
the first texture tile in UV space. When using a projection
map method (see below), this is one of two attributes ƒƒ None: The background color will be used for all areas of
used to define the position of the upper left corner of the the object not covered by the texture map.
projection “screen” in grid units. ƒƒ Alpha: The background color will be used for all areas
of the object not covered by the texture map. The
• Texture Coordinates: The Texture_Coordinates pull-
background color will also be blended with the texture
down menu offers the following choices:
map based on the alpha channel of the texture map.
ƒƒ UV: The UV option behaves like rubber wallpaper that
ƒƒ Clamped: The edge pixels of the texture map are
can stretch over the object surface; the PICT file is
repeated to cover any area of the object not which the
made to correspond with set positions on the object’s
texture map does not cover.
surface, making any distortion caused by the stretching
seem more natural. This is the most versatile mapping ƒƒ Tile: The texture map will be tiled to ensure total
method. coverage. Tiling is controlled using the Mirror U and
Mirror V attributes, below.
ƒƒ VU: The VU option is identical to UV mapping, except
that the image map is rotated 90 degrees. • Background: The Background attribute specifies the
ƒƒ XY: The XY option works like a slide projector in that background color.
the “screen” being projected onto is the XY plane whose
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• Global Coordinates: Checking the Global_Coordinates

button forces projected maps to use global instead of local
coordinates.

• Mirror U: Enabling the Mirror_U option can help hide the

seams between texture cells when tiling textures.

• Mirror V: Enabling the Mirror_V option can help hide the

seams between texture cells when tiling textures.

• Texture Strength: The Texture_Strength attribute defines

the strength of the animated texture map, where 1=100%.

• Frame Number: The Frame Number attribute functions

primarily as an input for other nodes (such as math and
variable nodes), and allows you to retime the animation
controlled by this node.

• Loop Movie: Checking the Loop Movie checkbox loops the

animation.

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Part 4: Rendering

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Chapter 17: The Render Render in Background

Menu Render and work at the same time! Using Poser Pro’s
background rendering capabilities you have the ability to render
large, complex still frame scenes while you work. With the
The Render pull-down menu (in the top Poser menu bar) is FireFly render engine you can continue to work on your current
where you render still images of your scene and access Poser’s scene while sending another project to render.
render settings.
To Render in the background, from the Main Menu select
Render > Render in Background.
Render Alternatively from the Render Settings dialog, and from the
FireFly Tab, you can also click on the Send Render To button
Selecting Render > Render renders your current scene using and chose Background on the menu, to render the current state
the currently selected renderer and that renderer’s current of the scene in the background.
settings. Please refer to “Part 4: Rendering” on page 378 for
more information about the FireFly render engine and adjusting
render settings.

Area Render
Selecting Render > Area Render enables the Area Render
feature, which allows you to select a specific region of the current
image to render, thereby saving processing time. Please see
“Area Render” on page 87 for a complete description of this Rendering in a background process.
feature’s functionality.

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After the Background Rendering has initialized, the Progress

Bar on the Document Window will show your Background
Rendering progress as you continue to work.

Cancel Render button.

Poser Pro’s Background Rendering capabilities allow graphic Render in Queue

artists to render and work at the same time.
This command sends rendering jobs to the Queue Manager. For
Clicking on the Preview Tab will allow you to continue to modify more information, see “Sending Jobs to the Queue Manager” on
your current project while it’s rendering. page 413 for further information.

If you find you need to cancel the Background Rendering in

progress, just click on the Cancel button in the upper right Sketch Style Render
corner of the document window.
Selecting Render > Sketch Style Render renders your scene
using the current Sketch Designer settings. Please see “Chapter
20: The Sketch Designer” on page 426 for information on
working with the Sketch Designer. Once you’ve set your options,
you can use this menu command for rendering at any time while
working in your scene.

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Antialias Document “Chapter 18: The Render Settings Dialog” on page 384 for
more information about specifying render settings.
Selecting Render > Antialias Document smooths rough
edges in your Document window view for preview purposes.
Antialiasing is a process of oversampling image data to smooth Motion Blur Document
object edges and avoid a jagged appearance along them. The
As you probably know, fast-moving objects appear blurry. The
following images show a test render both without (left) and with
blur is caused by the fact that our eyes cannot “refresh” quickly
(right) antialiasing enabled.
enough to see that the object is no longer in its previous location.
The 2D Motion Blur feature lets you give your animations the
illusion of motion, adding a whole new dynamic and level of
realism to your renderings.
Please see “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render Engine” on
page 390 for information about using the 3D Motion Blur
feature. You can also blur a single frame for test purposes by
selecting Render > MotionBlur Document.

Normal preview (left); Anti-aliased (right).

You can specify whether or not to apply antialiasing during

renders when specifying render settings. Please refer to

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Render Dimensions
Selecting Render > Render Dimensions brings up the
Render Dimensions dialog, which contains settings that allow
you to specify the dimensions of your render tab. See “Render
Dimensions” on page 72 for more information on the
Render Dimensions dialog settings.

Materials
Selecting Render > Materials opens the Material room. Please
refer to “Chapter 14: The Material Room” on page 291 for
information about the Material room.

Using motion blur. Reload Textures

Selecting Render > Reload Textures will reload into memory
all textures for the current scene preview display. This allows
Render Settings you to easily update any changes you may have made in other
applications to the currently loaded textures.
Selecting Render > Render Settings opens the Render
Settings dialog. Please refer to “Chapter 18: The Render
Settings Dialog” on page 384 for information about the Reuse Shadow Maps
Render Settings dialog.
If you do not make changes to lights or object positions between
renders, there is no need to recalculate the shadow maps for

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your scene, as they will not have changed. Selecting Render

> Reuse Shadow Maps allows you to save the shadow map
computations from your previous render and reuse them,
thereby saving time with each subsequent render.

Clear Shadow Maps

Selecting Render > Clear Shadow Maps will cause Poser to
recalculate the shadow maps for your scene during the next
render. Use this option if you have made changes to lights or
object positions, as such changes will affect the shadows in your
scene.

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Chapter 18: The Render Note that the Render Settings and Movie Settings dialogs
appear as tabs within a single dialog, thereby making it easy for

Settings Dialog you to toggle between them.

To open the Render Settings dialog, select Render > Render Render Engines
Settings. This window appears as follows.
Poser allows you to render still and animated scenes using three
separate render engines. You can select which tool you wish
to use by clicking on the relevant tab in the Render Settings
dialog. The available Poser renderers are:

• FireFly rendering engine: This rendering engine supports

the use of procedural shaders, contains many controls that
let you control exactly how you want your rendered images/
movies to appear, and has the capability of generating truly
breathtaking results. Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The
FireFly Render Engine” on page 390 for information on
using the FireFly renderer.

• Sketch Renderer: The Sketch Renderer simulates a

variety of fine art techniques, to render your scene as a
drawing or painting. This tab also provides access to the
Sketch Designer, discussed in “Chapter 20: The Sketch
Designer” on page 426.

The Render Settings dialog.

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• Preview: If you want to render quality high-resolution

wireframe or silhouette (or any other display style) views of
your scene, please choose the Preview rendering engine.
You can also select the Preview tab to configure your scene
preview window options.

Sketch Tab
The Sketch Tab provides thumbnail previews of ten standard
Sketch preset styles. Simply click on the appropriate thumbnail
to select the desired preset, and then click the Render Now
button to render your image using those preset values.
Alternately, you can use the Sketch Preset pop-up menu to
select from a list of standard presets and any custom presets you
may have saved using the Sketch Designer. To easily access the
Sketch Designer for fine tuning your sketch settings or creating
new presets, simply click on the Sketch Designer button. Please
see “Chapter 20: The Sketch Designer” on page 426 more
The Sketch Renderer.
information about using the Sketch Designer render engine,
please see .

Preview Tab
This tab allows you to customize the Scene Preview display in the
Document window, using the following settings: The settings in
this tab apply to the document preview, and the use of Preview
for actual output.
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The settings are discussed in the following sections. Display Engine Settings
Select the appropriate radio button to use Poser’s built-in SreeD
software rendering, or OpenGL hardware rendering, for image
previews. These settings apply to the document preview, and
the use of Preview for actual output. Please refer to “OpenGL
Hardware Acceleration” on page 74 for more information
about the OpenGL hardware rendering option for Poser.

When using OpenGL for rendering, there are

two additional options for offscreen handling.
The default is Scene Window. When rendering a final
output with the Preview renderer, if you encounter
blank areas where other windows were overlapping the
scene window, you should switch to PBuffer.

All options on the Render Settings Preview tab

except for Offscreen Handling are stored in the
document. Please set a Preferred Scene on General
The Preview Render tab. Preferences Document tab if you want your settings to
persist between sessions.

All options on the Render Settings Preview tab

except for Offscreen Handling are now stored in
the document. Please set a Preferred Scene on General
Preferences Document tab if you want your settings to
persist between sessions.

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Procedural Shader Preview ƒƒ Optimize Simple Materials: Enable shader

optimization by checking the checkbox. When shader
When using OpenGL hardware rendering, you can choose to see optimization is enabled, shaders will not be generated
the effects of the procedural shaders you are using in your actual for simple materials. Optimization is enabled by
Scene Preview display, provided your system will support it. default.
Once you select OpenGL, Poser will automatically check whether ƒƒ Enable Hardware Shadows: Uncheck this option
or not your system will support the calculation of real-time to disable enhanced realtime shadows when using
procedural shader effects. Poser will then provide a message hardware shading. The Depth Bias setting is
within the Preview tab, stating whether or not your system will dependent on the scene, the light placement, and
support this feature. If you are not using OpenGL, Poser will the camera hither and yon settings. You want to find
provide a message that the status of this feature is undefined for the smallest value that works well for your scene and
your system; simply switch to OpenGL to have Poser confirm the hardware. An offset of 4 is generally a good starting
support status. point for NVidia cards, and an offset of 1 is a good
starting point for ATI cards.
Procedural shader preview is available for
scenes using up to eight light sources. The crisper your shadows are (that is, the larger
your shadow map sizes are), and the more your
light shines on a surface, the lower your hardware
• Enable Hardware Shading: You can enable procedural
shadow Depth Bias setting should be.
shader previews by clicking the checkbox. This feature is
enabled (checked) by default.
The performance of the procedural shader preview feature will
When Hardware Shading is enabled, the be dependent upon your system’s hardware. Complex scenes
preview renderer will only display five lights, with a large number of shaders may slow preview performance;
due to complexities of depth map shadows, AO, and if you are working with a large number of shaders, you may wish
normal mapping. When Hardware Shading is turned to disable this feature.
off, you can preview up to eight lights.

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The procedural shader preview feature does not • Remove Backfacing Polys: Polygons facing away from
support bump or displacement maps. the camera will not be rendered when this option is checked.
Additionally, certain nodes are not supported, such as
some raytracing effects, and some of the Variable nodes. • Check the Antialias rendered image option to smooth out
rough “stairstep” edges that might appear in diagonal or
curved-shaped areas of high contrast.
• Enable Hardware AO:
Click the OK button to apply your settings.
ƒƒ AO Strength: Controls the extent at which the space
ambient occlusion effect is applied.
Transparency Display
Scene Style Options You can set the Transparency Display to the actual
transparency, or a specified limit, by clicking the appropriate
You can also specify various Style Options for your scene radio button.
preview display, by entering your desired values in the
Selecting the Actual button will make any fully transparent
appropriate fields. These options include the following:
surfaces invisible in your scene preview.
• Silhouette Outline Width: The Silhouette Outline Width
• If you wish to have some indication of where those items
option allows you to specify the width of the lines used in
are in your scene preview, you can specify a limit to the
the Outline display style.
transparency by selecting the Limit to button, and entering
• Wireframe Line Edge: The Wireframe Line Edge option a maximum transparency percentage value. In the final
allows you to specify the width of the lines used in the render, transparent items are always rendered using the
Wireframe display style. actual transparency settings.

• Toon Edge Line Width: The Toon Edge Line Width option • Objects with multi-layered transparency, such as hair,
allows you to specify the width of the Toon Outline display can sometimes appear to have inverted polygons in areas
option, as enabled via the FireFly render settings. where the layers overlap. Check the Enhance multi-layer
transparency option to improve the display of multi-
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layered transparent objects. The preview display runs slower speed. Small Web animations might need lower quality
when this option is enabled. rendering while a piece of fine art might require very high
settings.

Texture Display Resolution • Still and animated renders use the currently selected
camera. Be sure to select the proper camera before
Adjust the Preview Texture Resolution slider to your liking.
rendering, particularly if camera motion is part of your
Lower settings provide less detail in your scene preview, but save
animation.
on system resources. Higher settings provide more realism, but
may result in slower performance while building your scene in • By default, Poser renders using the Texture Shaded display
preview mode. style.

• Use the draft and production rendering options to save time

Movie Settings while working and produce highly realistic results.

You can access the Movie Settings window by toggling Use prop-based hair and figure-based clothing instead of strand-
the Movie Settings tab next to the Render Settings tab. based hair and dynamic cloth where you do not need dynamic
Please refer to “Keyframe Controls” on page 438 for more effects. This will conserve computing resources.
information on movie settings.

Tips & Tricks

This chapter contains a few tips and tricks for improving still
and animated renders:

• Experiment with low render settings and gradually increase

them until you get the results you want. This will render
your scene using the optimal balance between quality and

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Chapter 19: Using The ƒƒ You can use LDR images with Image Based Lighting
(IBL). LDR light probes are relatively easy to create,

FireFly Render Engine using a mirrored ball to capture the light information
in a given environment. However, the amount of
information captured is much less than with an HDR
This chapter describes the FireFly technology features and image, and therefore the quality of the light probe
render settings: is lower. For more information about Image Based
Lighting and light probes, see “Diffuse Image Based
The FireFly renderer includes a wealth of powerful features, all
Lights (IBL)” on page 258.
of which help to create beautiful, realistic renders in little time.
Those aspects of FireFly that are configurable are described in • Occlusion Culling: FireFly ignores invisible scene elements
the following section. The following features enhance FireFly’s while rendering, in order to improve render performance.
performance and results: Occlusion culling determines which scene elements have
visible impacts on the scene, and which may be culled
• High Dynamic Range (HDR) Image Support for IBL:
(ignored). FireFly runs occlusion culling calculations for
Poser supports both High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Low
both the object and shadow render passes, to determine
Dynamic Range
whether each scene element (a) is visible within the scene,
• HDR images are comparable to analog photo film, with and (b) casts any visible shadows. Occlusion culling cannot
regards to the amount of information stored in the image. be used in conjunction with raytracing, as raytracing
HDR light probes have a significantly higher amount of calculations include all scene elements, visible or not.
information, but are much harder to produce.
A scene element’s visibility or invisibility with regards
to occlusion culling is not the same as the Visibility
There are a number of different ways to create
setting the Properties palette for that element. When
HDR images. Several tutorials appear on the
unchecked, the Visibility property setting actually
Internet for using Photoshop CS2 or later to create
hides an object within the scene, so that the object
HDRI images. Some of them appear at http://www.
is not included in any render calculations regardless
photoshopgurus.com or http://www.photoshopcafe.
of its placement within the scene. Occlusion culling
com, for example.
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calculations apply to items that are set to be visible

within the scene, but are obscured from the camera’s
perspective by other scene elements.

• Texture Filtering: Texture filtering improves the

appearance of surfaces rendered using 2D image maps,
giving you better quality images, and avoiding aliasing and
other artifacts. Tiled texture loading uses texture filtering
to reduce the time required for processing. Texture filtering
can be configured for individual textures on the Image Map
node in the Material room (see “Image Map” on page 368
for more information).

Without Texture Filtering (top); With Texture Filtering (bottom).

• Tiled Texture Loading: Upon your first FireFly render

Poser generates temporary files on the hard disk from the
textures within the scene, and then selectively accesses them
during render time. Poser also creates a cache in memory
that contains the most recently used texture tiles. Tiled
texture loading makes use of other features, such as texture
filtering to reduce processing time. Depending upon your
system’s resources, you may wish to increase the memory
cache size to offset the amount of disk access required for

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tiled texture loading, as this feature may use a lot of hard memory allotment given to a single process. Rendering in
disk space (potentially more than 1 GB). For information a separate process means that the render engine alone has
about increasing the memory cache size, see “Render access to that same maximum memory allotment, which can
Preferences” on page 36. yield significant performance advantages for highly complex
scenes, depending upon the memory configuration of your
• Multi-threaded Rendering: The Multi-threaded Rendering specific system. In addition, rendering in a separate process
feature takes advantage of the increased processing power of provides greater stability due to the compartmentalization
the multi-processor or multi-core computer systems that are of tasks, as well as allowing your system to manage memory
now available. Using this feature, you can configure FireFly more efficiently. However, rendering in a separate process
to render any number of separate threads simultaneously, does require more resource overhead for setting up the
which results in reduced render times for most renders. render. Therefore, if you are running primarily area
The number of threads can be specified in the General renders or simple small renders, we recommend that you
Preferences dialog (see “Render Preferences” on page do not use this feature as the setup overhead will negate
36 for more information). the performance benefits. However, for large complex
renders, rendering in a separate process will definitely yield
We recommend rendering your scene with as
significant benefits. You can enable or disable this feature in
many threads (CPU cores) as your system
the General Preferences dialog (see “Render Preferences”
possesses. This is the default preference after installing
on page 36 for more information).
Poser. If you are unsatisfied with the resulting
performance, or if the render fails to complete, then
reduce the number of threads and/or maximum bucket Firefly Tab: Quality Settings
size.
The FireFly tab offers you a choice between specifying your
render settings automatically or manually. Check the Auto
• Rendering in a Separate Process: By default, Poser
Settings or Manual Settings radio button to display the
runs the application and the FireFly render engine within
appropriate render setting controls. Note that the Auto and
a single process on the CPU. This means that both the
Manual settings are stored independently, so making changes to
application and the render engine share the maximum
one will not affect the state of the other. The Auto settings are
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useful when you first start using Poser’s FireFly render settings,
because they allow you to quickly setup and render your scenes.

Manual Settings.

Auto Settings.
Auto Settings: Draft vs Final Quality
The Auto Settings option contains a Render Quality slider, that
ranges from Draft Quality (faster render times) to Final Quality
(slower render times). Moving this slider will automatically
adjust the values of the specific render settings, as shown on the
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graphs below the slider. The values of the render settings (Min
shading rate, Pixel samples, Raytrace bounces, and Irradiance
caching) are depicted using a gradual shaded bar, with lighter
color representing smaller values and darker representing larger
values. Render settings such as Cast Shadows and Raytracing
are either enabled for the render or not, so those settings are
depicted using a solid color bar indicating the point at which
they become enabled.
At the Draft Render Quality, the rendering settings will
provide faster renders at lower quality. Use this option while
creating your scene to get an idea what it will look like once it’s
completed. At the Final Render Quality, the render settings yield
high-quality renders, but with increased render times. Use this
option for your final output. There are also options below, above,
and between Draft and Final quality which will increase or
decrease rendering time depending on your selection.
Increase or decrease render quality with the Render Quality slider.
For a description of the settings that are found in the Auto
Settings view, refer to “Manual Settings” on page 395.

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Manual Settings example, if a figure in your scene is set to not cast shadows,
then it will cast no shadows even if Cast Shadows is turned
on for all other objects in the scene. However, if the Cast
Shadows checkbox is not enabled, no shadows will be
rendered regardless of individual object settings. Enabling
this option adds realism to your renders but can affect
render time.

• Subsurface Scattering: Enables subsurface scattering in

the render engine. Materials that use subsurface scattering
will not render properly if this option is disabled. For
more information on some materials that use subsurface
scattering properties, see “Subsurface Skin” on page 342,
“Scatter” on page 346, and “ks Microfacet” on page 339.

• Raytracing: This option is set automatically in Auto

Settings. Checking the Raytracing box enables raytracing,
and vice versa. Enabling raytracing greatly enhances
Manual settings. renderings, especially for curved surfaces, shadows,
reflections, and refraction. However, it also greatly increases
• Acquire From Auto: Clicking the Acquire From Auto rendering times. Raytracing projects rays from the camera
button applies the current Automatic Quality Settings to the through every pixel visible in the render window, also
individual Manual Quality Settings parameters. called the View pane. Each pixel is then set to the color
value returned by the ray projected through it, based on
• Cast Shadows: This option is set automatically in Auto the ray’s point of intersection with an object in the scene.
Settings. Checking the Cast Shadows checkbox causes If the ray fails to intersect any objects, the pixel will be set
the rendering engine to calculate shadows when rendering. to the background color. To determine whether the point
Individual settings will override this general setting. For of intersection is in shadow, a secondary ray is projected
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from the intersection point towards each light source. If the

shadow rays intersect an object, the original intersection
point lies in the shadow of that object. For reflections,
when the ray intersects a reflective surface, a new ray
is traced starting from the point of intersection and the
color returned by that ray is incorporated into the color of
the original intersection. This process is called recursive
raytracing because reflected rays can spawn more reflected
rays as long as they keep intersecting reflective objects. The
images below show an example of raytracing. You can set
the number of reflections (bounces) using the Raytrace
bounces option (see below). One raytrace bounce (left); three raytrace bounces (right).

• Raytrace Bounces: This option is set automatically in

Auto Settings. When raytracing is enabled, the Raytrace • Irradiance Caching: This option is set automatically in
bounces option specifies how many “bounces” or Auto Settings. Irradiance Caching is used to accelerate
recursions the renderer will use when raytracing. You Ambient Occlusion, Gather and Indirect Light effects.
should select the number of raytrace bounces based on the This is done by reusing and interpolating values instead of
number of reflective or refractive surfaces that will interact expensively calculating them separately for every shading
in your scene. Higher numbers can add realism if the scene point. This process speeds up calculations by tracing
requires complex raytracing calculations. However, as less rays. The irradiance caching quality can be adjusted
higher numbers require longer render times, in a simple using the Irradiance caching slider. A lower setting means
scenario increasing the number of raytrace bounces will just lower quality: FireFly will use more estimations, resulting
waste computation time. in shorter processing times but less accuracy. A higher
setting equals higher quality: FireFly will run more new
When using Indirect Lighting with transparent calculations, resulting in longer processing times but
surfaces, set the Raytrace Bounces setting to at increased accuracy (see “Indirect Light” on page 399).
least 2 for proper IDL calculations.
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If the quality of your render is unsatisfactory refine your renders but will greatly affect render times. 3x3
with irradiance caching on, you can disable it to is considered a good default.
calculate indirect lighting with a “brute force” method.
To disable, uncheck the box that appears to the left of the • Minimum Shading Rate: This option is set automatically
Irradiance Caching slider. in Auto Settings. The Minimum Shading Rate value
determines the level to which object polygons will be
subdivided (or diced) into micro-polygons. For example, a
• Indirect Light: Only enabled when Raytracing is enabled. shading rate of 1 means that polygons will be divided into
See “Indirect Light” on page 399. micro-polygons that each occupy approximately one pixel
of the rendered image, and a value of 4 means that each
When using Indirect Lighting with transparent
micro-polygon will cover approximately 4 pixels of the
surfaces, set the Raytrace Bounces setting to at
rendered image. Values less than one (such as 0.2) cause
least 2 for proper IDL calculations.
each micro-polygon to be less than a pixel in size. Micro-
polygons within a given polygon are as identical in size,
• Indirect Light Quality: See “Indirect Light” on page 399. shape, and area as possible. At render time, the renderer
will subdivide each polygon, sample each micro-polygon,
• Pixel Samples: This option is set automatically in Auto and assign the micro-polygons’ average color to the pixel
Settings. Select the XY pixel sample rate by moving the being rendered. Enter your desired sampling rate in the
Pixel Samples slider. Alternatively, you can click the dots Minimum Shading Rate field, or adjust the slider to the
at either side of the slider to increment (right) or decrement desired value. Decreasing this value can refine your renders
(left) the sample size. Pixel sampling rates determine how but increases render time. You can set this value on a per-
many pixels are sampled when calculating antialiasing for object basis using the desired object’s Properties palette.
a single pixel. For example, a setting of 3 creates a 3-pixel Setting this value in the Render Settings dialog applies it to
by 3-pixel grid with the pixel being sampled in the center. the entire scene, and overrides all per-object settings that
At render time, the renderer would examine the 3x3 area are lower than this global value. If an object has a higher
when determining the color and other values to assign to the shading rate, Poser will use the object’s shading rate when
pixel currently being rendered. Expanding this number can rendering that object.

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Smaller sized buckets require less RAM, but will take longer
to render.

• Minimum Displacement Bounds: This feature is enabled

only when Use Displacement Maps is checked in the
Rendering Options window. The Minimum Displacement
Bounds value is measured in Poser units (as specified
in the General Preferences dialog), and determines the
amount of displacement the render engine anticipates.
Displacement mapping is a rendering technique that
adds realistic bumps and indentations to surfaces. This is
normally preferable to modeling deformations directly,
High minimum shading rate (left), loss of detail; Low minimum
since you can alter the displacement map (template used
shading rate (right), full detail visible.
for calculating displacement) rather than editing the object.
Further, adding such detail directly to an object could
• Maximum Bucket Size: The bucket is the area being exponentially increase its polygon count and therefore
rendered at any one time. Enter your desired value in the greatly affect render time. When setting the Minimum
Maximum Bucket Size field. For example, entering a value Displacement Bounds, keep in mind that it is possible
of 10 creates a rendering bucket that is no greater than for displacement deformations to exceed the render
10-pixels by 10-pixels in size. At render time, the renderer bucket boundaries. In other words, even though the actual
will render one such bucket area at once. Increasing the geometry of a given object may be entirely contained within
bucket size increases the area being rendered at once the current render bucket, the object still may cross into
but requires greater system resources. Use caution when adjacent buckets through the displacement of its surface.
enlarging the bucket beyond its default size, and monitor If a particular displacement exceeds the boundaries of
your system resources. Note that Poser will automatically the currently rendered bucket at any point, you will see a
detect when the specified bucket size will consume excessive hole or patch crack at the affected location. To avoid this
resources, and in such cases will override the specified problem, the render engine takes into account a volume
bucket size and subdivide the buckets into smaller sizes. exceeding the actual geometry when determining whether
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or not an object is contained within a specific bucket. This

volume is specified by the displacement bounds. Smaller
bounds result in fewer objects within the current bucket and
therefore faster rendering, but increase the risk of geometry
cracks along the bucket boundaries. Larger bounds will
prevent cracks but will increase render time. The above
diagram illustrates this concept. In this case, the top of
the pyramid exceeds the bucket bounds and will therefore
be cut off, leaving a patch crack. Poser will automatically
determine the displacement bounds value, by evaluating
the shader trees defining the materials. If the shader tree is Displacement bounds limit the amount of displacement used in a
particularly complex, Poser might not be able to compute render.
an appropriate value. In such a case, you should specify a
higher value in the Minimum Displacement Bounds field.
This will become the minimum value Poser is allowed to use
for the displacement bounds when rendering. Indirect Light
Poser’s indirect light feature provides increased realism by
adding light that naturally bounces off of objects to illuminate
other surrounding objects. To use indirect light, create a scene
that contains objects from which light will bounce onto your
figure(s). For example, you can scale one or more primitive
cubes to use as walls behind or near your figure. Point a
directional light at the walls and the figure, and the light will
bounce off the walls to illuminate the figure near it.

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Due to the number of interpolations and current location to the locations previously calculated and the
calculations required for this feature, the distance to other nearby objects.
practical use of indirect light in animation will be
dependent on the number of elements in your scene and
the quality settings set in your renderer.

Bounced light from IDL creates more realistic renders.

Related Settings in the Render Settings dialog include:

Indirect lighting bounces light from surrounding objects.
• Indirect light: Check this option to add indirect light for
Irradiance caching is used to calculate rays for locations more realistic lighting
where they can easily be determined. In-between locations are
interpolated. The render engine determines whether to calculate • Irradiance Caching: Determines the ratio of shading points
or interpolate the rays based on the distance and direction of the where indirect light will be calculated by raytracing vs. those
that will be interpolated.

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• Low values result in shorter render times, with more • Watch the Prepass: During the IDL prepass, you’ll see red
interpolation. dots appear in the areas where indirect light is calculated.
The Irradiance Caching setting controls how sparse or
ƒƒ High values achieve more precise results at the expense
dense the calculations are. If the dots are too sparse, set
of increased render times.
the Irradiance Caching slightly higher and render again.
ƒƒ Indirect Light Quality: Indirect Light Quality Conversely, if the dots are too dense you can reduce the
determines the number of rays used to calculate the Irradiance Cache setting.
indirect light. Higher values mean higher quality at the
expense of longer render times. • Smearing: If you see smearing in your scene, it probably
means there is not enough detail being picked up in the
The renderer will perform one pass as it samples the light rays.
indirect light. Increase the irradiance cache setting to reduce
The prepass displays red dots in the places where indirect light
the smearing.
is calculated explicitly. Following the prepass, the final render is
completed using the indirect light calculated in the prepass. • Splotchiness: Splotchiness occurs when there are too
many samples taken. If you find that the dots are too dense
during the IDL prepass, it may result in splotchiness. Turn
IDL Tips and Tricks
down the Irradiance Caching setting, and increase the IDL
Quality setting.
• Scene Considerations: Indirect Light is designed to
simulate real-world lighting where light bounces from one • Watch the number of lights: You won’t need as many
object to another in your scene. It works best when the lights in your scene when using IDL. Start with one or two
main objects in your scene are surrounded by some type lights, using the first one to light your main subject, and
of environment such as a box, an environment sphere, or a a second light at about 15% intensity to offset shadows if
room built with the PICK props which you will find in the they are too dark. Also position your lights appropriately as
Props library. Try to use props and materials that simulate a they relate to the source of the light (such as sunlight in day
real-world scene when you build a scene that uses IDL. scenes, moonlight or artificial light in night scenes, or light
through windows or from lamps in interior scenes).

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• Shadows: For more realistic shadows, use Ray Traced • Animation Considerations: When rendering out an
shadows. For your main light, start with a Blur Radius of animation while using IDL, make sure that multi-threaded
around 10, Shadow Samples of around 40, and falloff set rendering is not being used (set Number of Threads to 1 in
to constant. Also use a Shadow Min Bias setting that is the Render tab of the General Preferences dialog). If you
appropriate for your display units setting. For example, if leave the setting at 2 or higher, your renders will come out
your display units are in inches (as set in the Interface tab jittery, as the shadows and lighting will not line up from
of the General Preferences dialog), set the Shadow Min Bias frame to frame.
to .1 inch. Adjust these settings as appropriate for your scene
To create a transparent object with an
• Normals: Indirect light is always calculated in the direction interesting glow, change the Transparency,
of the normals. You will want to check the Normals Forward Transparency Edge, and Transparency Falloff settings
option (usually checked by default) in the Poser Surface root to .8 and mix with higher Ambient values and IDL
material node. This option is discussed in “Root Material features.
(PoserSurface) Node” on page 320.

• Watch for Ambient glow: There are times when you desire
ambient glow from materials that are designed to be self-
illuminating (LED’s, computer screens, candle light, an
illuminated ceiling, and so on). There may be other times
when content uses colors or values in the Ambient channel
that cast undesirable light when IDL is enabled. This is
particularly noticeable in skin textures and can leave the
character looking “flat.”To check for objectionable ambient
glow, keep IDL enabled but turn all lights off. Then render
your scene. If you see light being cast from undesired places,
you’ll need to adjust the ambience of the offending materials
in the Material room. After you have fixed the objectionable
materials, turn your lights back on and re-render.
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FireFly Options Settings • Render Over: These options specify the background to
be used when rendering images or movies. Check the
appropriate radio button for the option you wish to select.

ƒƒ Background Color: Selecting Background Color

renders the image/movie over the Document window’s
background color. Please refer to “Colors” on page
94 for information about changing Document
window colors.

ƒƒ Black: Selecting Black renders the image/movie over a

plain black background.

ƒƒ Background Picture: Selecting Background Picture

renders the image/movie over the background image
in your scene. Please refer to “Importing Background
Pictures” on page 702 for information on importing
background pictures.

ƒƒ Current Background Shader: Selecting Current BG

Shader renders the image/movie over the specified
background shader. Please refer to “Root Background
Node” on page 324 for information about using
background shaders.

Firefly Options. • Shadow Only: Checking the Shadow Only checkbox will
cause only the shadows from your scene to be rendered;
everything else in the scene will be completely white. This
feature is most useful for production rendering, as it allows
you to render just the shadows, thereby allowing you to edit
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them independently from the rest of the scene. You can then
take the shadow only render into an image editing program,
and composite it with the unshadowed scene. This setting
overrides all other render settings.

• Smooth Polygons: Checking the Smooth Polygons

checkbox enables polygon smoothing, and vice versa.
When enabled, the FireFly rendering engine uses polygon
subdivision to smooth hard corners on objects. If your scene
contains hard edges that you don’t wish to have smoothed,
you should define those hard edges either by specifying
smoothing groups or by setting a crease angle threshold Without Polygon Smoothing (left); With Polygon Smoothing
to determine which polygons are affected. Please see (right).
“Smoothing Geometry” on page 408 for more information
about smoothing groups and setting the crease angle • Remove Backfacing Polys: Check the Remove
threshold. This option can be disabled for specific objects as Backfacing Polys option to turn off rendering of all
needed, in the object’s Properties palette. polygons that do not face the camera. This option saves
rendering time, but can effect realism when using
raytracing. The polygons that are rendered depend upon the
angle and position of the camera and objects in your scene.

• Use Displacement Maps: Checking the Use Displacement

Maps checkbox enables (checked) or disables (cleared)
using displacement maps in your rendered output. Please
see “About Maps & Templates” on page 278 for a
description of maps in general, the “Displacement Map”
on page 282 for a description of displacement maps,
and “Chapter 14: The Material Room” on page 291 for
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information about the Material room (maps are added to your animations the illusion of motion, adding a whole new
nodes that are part of shaders). dynamic and level of realism to your renderings. Checking
the 3D motion blur checkbox enables motion blurring for
your scene when rendering. When this option is enabled,
adjusting the shutter open and close times affects the
amount of blurring. Please refer to “Camera Parameters” on
page 247 for more information about the Shutter Open
and Shutter Close parameters.

• Toon Outline: The Toon Outline option uses post-

processing during the rendering process to draw an outline
around the edges of cartoon images. You can select from
nine outline brush styles. We recommend applying a Toon
Without Displacement (left); With Displacement (right).
shader node to your images, and then complementing that
shading with the Toon Outline option. Check the Toon
• Depth of Field: Widening the lens aperture of the camera Outline checkbox to enable this feature.
allows you to achieve a Depth of Field effect. The farther
away items are from the focal plane, the more blurred they
will appear. The Depth of Field checkbox allows you to
enable or disable this effect when rendering your scene.
Please refer to “Camera Parameters” on page 247 for
information on configuring Depth of Field settings.

• 3D Motion Blur: As you probably know, when you shoot a

photo of a fast moving object, it appears blurry. The amount
of blur is directly related to the length of time that the
camera’s shutter remains open while taking the shot. In a
similar manner, Poser’s Motion Blur feature lets you give
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the dots on either slide of the slider to increment (right) or

decrement (left) the value.

• Post Filter Type: A post filter operates on an image and

modifies its appearance by applying a specific weighting
algorithm to the supersamples taken for each pixel. The
specific algorithm used for determining relative sample
weights depends upon which filter you select using the Post
filter type pull-down menu. Your options are as follows:

ƒƒ Box: A Box filter gives equal weight to all samples

within a sampling region with a diameter equal to the
pixel filter size.

Toon Outline.

• Post Filter Size: The post filter supersamples pixels, that

is, samples the colors at various points inside a pixel to
arrive at the final pixel color. This is done in order to reduce
or eliminate various forms of aliasing (jagged edges) that
can occur under different circumstances. The final pixel
color is a weighted average of the supersample. Increasing
this value increases the area used for supersampling, but
affects rendering time and resources. You can adjust this Box filtering example.
value by moving the Post Filter Size slider or by clicking

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ƒƒ Gaussian: A Gaussian filter gives a variably

decreasing amount of weight to all samples within
a radius equal to half the pixel filter size, with the
maximum reduction in weight occurring farthest from
the center of the sampling region.

Sinc filtering example.

• Tone Mapping: This feature is useful for scenes with a

high dynamic range. Tone Mapping provides more control
for brightness, saturation, and post-render processing to
produce better images. It helps control overly bright areas in
an image to produce better, less blown out final renderings
with deeper contrast, helping to bring the brightest areas
back into a reproducible range. It helps preserve as much
information from a high dynamic range source as possible
Gaussian filtering example.
in an LDR image or display. Two modes of tone mapping
are available.
ƒƒ Sinc: A Sinc filter uses a decreasing sine wave
ƒƒ Exponential: Works like film. The more you expose
calculation to assign weight to samples within a radius
film, the less sensitive it gets. This is a post rendering
roughly half the pixel filter size. The sine wave effect is
filter that uses an exponential curve to gently approach
similar to ripples radiating from the center point, where
white. The brighter it gets, the less sensitive gets.
samples will be given weight according to their relative
positions with regards to the “crests” and “troughs” of ƒƒ HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) exponential: Treats
the ripples. V exponentially, none on H, S. Brightness doesn’t
desaturate or overbrighten color. It not physically

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accurate, but may be easier to control in scenes where

Saving and Loading Presets
you want to get brights into a normal range without
going to white. . Although FireFly settings are not saved with your Poser scene,
you can save and load FireFly Presets (including both Auto and
• Exposure: Editable when either Exponential or HSV Tone
Manual Quality settings, as well as FireFly Options settings).
Mapping are selected. This setting is the exponent used in
Simply click on the appropriate Preset button along the bottom
Exponential calculations.
of the FireFly tab for the function you wish to perform. The Load
Preset and Delete Preset buttons will display pop-up menus
• HDRI optimized output: Check this option to generate an
listing the presets that shipped with your copy of Poser, as well
image that is HDRI compatible. For further information,
as any additional presets you may have saved. Note that if you
see “High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) Export” on page
make changes to a loaded preset, your changes will not be saved
708.
unless you use the Save Preset button to record them. The Save
• Gamma Correction: See “Gamma Correction and Linear Preset button will allow you to save the current FireFly render
Rendering” on page 418 for more information. settings with a name of your own choosing. The Restore Defaults
button will restore all FireFly render settings to their default
• Auxiliary Render Data: Allows you to choose properties for locations.
output to individual PSD layers. For further information,
see “Rendering Layered PSD Files” on page 420.
Once you have finished entering your desired settings, click
Smoothing Geometry
OK to store them. Render settings are saved when you save Poser provides some additional features that make geometry
your scene. Clicking Cancel closes the Render Settings dialog look smoother during render time, witout having to add
without storing your changes. additional geometry. The smooth shading feature affects an
To render your scene as a still image, select Render > Render or object’s shading without changing the geometry of its edges.
click the Render Now button in the Render Settings dialog. Smooth shading will render creased edges between polygons
as rounded, continuous surfaces rather than as hard edges. In
To render animations, please refer to “Keyframe Controls” on
this way, smooth shading allows you to achieve a consistently
page 438 for more information.

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smooth shading effect, without having to alter the geometry by degrees. Polygon creases with angles greater than 70 degrees will
subdividing polygons to minimize the creases. not be smoothed.
By default, if there are no smoothing groups specified, smooth You can specify the Crease Angle threshold in the Properties
shading will be applied to all figures and objects within a scene, palette for each individual actor within a figure or object. By
according to the Crease Angle specification in the Properties default, Crease Angle is set to 80 degrees for all actors.
palette for each given current actor. Additionally, you can
customize smooth shading in one of two ways, as described in
the following sections.
Geometry smoothing is affected by the following settings, as
described in the sections that follow:

• Crease angles, as set in an actor’s Properties palette or

globally in the Document tab of the General Preferences
dialog.

• Smoothing groups, definable in the Group Editor.

• The Smooth Polygons option in the Firefly Render

Settings dialog.

Crease Angle
You can set crease angles for an element in the Properties dialog.
Crease angle represents the angle between the normals of
adjoining polygons. The Crease Angle property establishes a
threshold up to which smooth shading will be applied. In other To change the crease angle globally, select Edit > General
words, if the crease angle threshold is set to 70, smooth shading Preferences, and click on the Document tab.
will be applied to all polygon creases with angles smaller than 70
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Different crease angle settings: 10 degrees (left) and 80 degrees

(right).

Smoothing Groups
Global scene crease angles can be set in the General Preferences
dialog. You can use the Group Editor palette to establish smoothing
groups, which define the specific polygons to which smooth
The following images provide examples of a sphere with crease shading should be applied. This approach is useful in that it
angles set at 10 degrees and 80 degrees, respectively. allows you to customize smooth shading at the polygon level,
and gives you the ability to have hard edges intermixed with
smooth creases. Smoothing group settings will override the
crease angle setting for those specific polygons.
Select the Grouping tool from the Editing Tools palette, which
will bring up the Group Editor palette. You can either assign all
polygons in one or more of your figure’s existing object groups

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to smoothing groups, or you can create specific new smoothing Once you have your groups established, simply click on the
groups, which will enable you to customize smooth shading at Assign Smoothing ID button to designate the currently selected
the polygon level. Please refer to “The Group Editor” on page group as a smoothing group. At render time, polygon creases
614 for more information about creating new groups. between all adjoining polygons within the same smoothing
group will be smoothed. Polygon creases between adjoining
polygons in different smoothing groups will not be smoothed,
and will therefore be rendered as hard edges. Thus you should
take care as to which Smoothing ID you assign to each specific
polygon group.

Different polygon groups can be assigned the

same Smoothing ID, which will ensure smooth
shading across the geometric breaks between groups. To
do this, simply create a smoothing ID for the initial
group, and then select that same ID from the pop-up list
when assigning Smoothing ID’s to the other groups.

Poser will recognize and support existing smoothing groups

in imported geometry. Thus, if you import figures or objects
from another 3D application, Poser will apply smooth shading
according to the imported smoothing group definitions, in the
same manner as if the smoothing groups had been assigned
within Poser.

Assign Smoothing IDs in the Group Editor.

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Smooth Polygons Note that the render time polygon smoothing will not override
hard edges specified by either the crease angle or smoothing
In the render settings, smooth polygons activates polygon groups. Thus, you can specify hard edges definitively using either
subdivision to smooth hard edges at render time. If your image of those methods, and still apply render time polygon smoothing
contains visible rough edges because your polygon mesh is to all other edges.
sparse, then the render time polygon smoothing can render
The following figure illustrates the render time polygon
those edges smooth. See “FireFly Options Settings” on page
smoothing effect. On the left is a sphere with a crease angle set to
403 for more information about applying this option.
80 degrees, with no polygon smoothing. On the right is the same
sphere with polygon smoothing enabled.

Spheres shown without (left) and with (right) polygon smoothing.

Network Render Queue

Enable or disable Smooth Polygons settings in the Render Settings
Rendering large and complex scenes (jobs) can take a long time
dialog.
to process and monopolize your computer system. The Queue

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Manager distributes jobs between one or several nodes in a job list. Sending a job to the Queue launches the Queue Manager
Network Render Queue. When you use the Queue Manager for if it is not already running.
remote tasks, the Network Render Queue will distribute jobs
based on the systems that are available. You can send single-
frame or multiple-frame jobs to the Queue Manager.

Sending Jobs to the Queue Manager

Once the Queue Manager is running on your system and/or on
another network node, you can send jobs to render in the Queue.
Poser Pro will launch the Queue Manager if it is not already
running on your system. However, in order process a job in the
The Render in Queue command creates a render job.
Network Render Queue, the Queue Manager must be running on
the remote system(s).
The first time you send a job to the Queue Manager you will be
Using the Render Queue for a Multi-Frame Job
prompted to locate the Poser Pro application using the standard
To send a multi-frame job to the render queue, from the Main
File Chooser. Navigate to where the Poser Pro application is
Menu, select Animation > Make Movie. In the Movie Settings
installed, select Poser Pro and click OK.
dialog select Image Files from the Format pull-down menu.
The Movie Settings will become the job properties, including:
Using the Render Queue for a Single-Frame job
Options, Resolution, Time Span and Increment. (For more
To send a single-frame job to the Render Queue, from the Main information on Movie Settings refer to “Movie Settings” on page
Menu, select Render > Render In Queue. The current frame 389).
with the current FireFly Render Engine settings will become the
rendered job. Name the job, select a file format from the pull-
down menu, and specify the output location. Click Save. This
will submit the job to the Queue Manager and add the job to the

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the job to the job list. Sending a job to the Queue launches the
Queue Manager if it is not already running.

The Movie Settings tab in the Render dialog.

Rendering to the Render Queue.

Once the movie settings have been defined they

Once you have submitted a job to the Queue, you can begin
cannot be changed, and the job will retain those
editing, start another project in Poser Pro, or start working in
properties when sent to the Render Queue.
another application.

Next, switch to the Render Settings tab. Click on Send Render

To and select Render Queue. Name the job, select a file format
from the pull-down menu, and specify the output location. Click
Save. This will submit the job to the Queue Manager and add

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Using the Queue Manager • Send Jobs to Network: Enabling or disabling Queue >
Send Jobs to Network, specifies whether or not the Queue
The Queue Manager has three sections: The Queue Menu, the Manager will distribute jobs to other systems.
Job List and the Selected Job Panel.
• Accept Jobs from Network: Enabling or disabling Queue
Queue Menu > Accept Jobs from Network, specifies whether or not the
Queue Manager will process tasks from other systems. Local
The Queue Menu allows you to configure how jobs are jobs will always have priority.
distributed for processing.
• Show Log Panel: Enabling Show Log Panel lets you see
a detailed log of the jobs being processed. The Log can be
useful for troubleshooting and tracking how other machines
are being utilized.

Job List

The Job List shows a job’s properties including Document,

Output File, Start Time, Completed Time, Status, Frame,
The Render Queue menu. Start, End, Increment, Host and Order. On the Selected Job
Panel sort the jobs by clicking on any of the property headers.
• Suspended: Selecting Queue > Suspended, suspends the This will not change the job order.
operation of all jobs.

• Process Jobs Locally: Enabling or disabling Queue >

Process Jobs Locally, specifies whether or not the Queue
Manager will use your local system to render your jobs.

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• Start: Derived from the movie settings dialog (see “Movie

Settings” on page 389).

• End: Derived from the movie settings dialog (see “Movie

Settings” on page 389)

• Increment: Derived from the movie settings dialog (see

“Movie Settings” on page 389).)
The Render Queue Job List.
• Host: Indicates the node this job came from.

• Document: The name of the document in Poser Pro. Selected Job Panel
• Output File: The job name when submitted to the Queue. Select a job to access the following options.

• Start Time: The time the job was received by the Queue
Manager.

• Completed Time: The time the job was completed.

• Status:

ƒƒ Running: The job is currently being processed. The Selected Job panel.
ƒƒ Waiting: The job is waiting to be processed.

ƒƒ Suspended: The job is on hold. • Output Path: Displays the output location of a selected job.

ƒƒ Done: The job is processed and is shown on the job list • Go To Folder: Find the output location of your job anytime
for reference. by highlighting the job and clicking on the Go To Folder.
This will bring you to the output location.
• Frame: Indicates the frame that is currently being rendered.
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• Order: Once a job is sent to the Queue Manager the job will • If you are unable to resolve a network communication issue,
appear on the job list. You can change the order of the jobs contact your Network Administrator.
by selecting <<Lower or Raise > > .

• Actions: Select a job from the Job List to change its status 64-Bit Render Engine
using the following actions:
Poser Pro ships with 2 versions of its FireFly render engine:
ƒƒ Cancel: Click Cancel to abort a job (Running, Waiting A 32-Bit and a 64-Bit version. Traditionally computers utilize
or Suspended). a 32-Bit Operating System, which can only address a limited
ƒƒ Delete: Click Delete to remove a completed job from amount of memory. However, there is an increasing amount of
the Job List (Done). computers that are equipped with a 64-Bit Operating System.
If your computer has a 64-Bit Operating System, Poser Pro will
ƒƒ Suspend: Click Suspend to put a running or waiting
use its 64-Bit FireFly Render Engine to access as much memory
job on hold.
as possible.
ƒƒ Resume: Click Resume to continue processing a To utilize the 64-Bit FireFly Render Engine, you must select
suspended job. Render in Background (Mac OSX, Windows) or launch the
If you are experiencing difficulty with the Network Render 64-bit version of Poser Pro 2012 (Windows only).
Queue, verify the following:

• All network cables are plugged in and the network is Hardware Requirements for 64-Bit Render
functioning properly. Engine
• Remote systems in the Network Render Queue are up and • G5 PPC CPU
the Queue Manager application is installed and running.
• Intel Core 2 Duo CPU or better
• Your personal firewall is allowing communication between
Poser Pro and the Queue Manager, locally and remotely. • AMD Athlon 64 CPU or better

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Poser Pro supports the following 64-Bit operating systems: set the gamma value. When you are opening a document from
a previous version of Poser, you will need to enable the gamma
• Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” correction if you want to perform linear rendering.

• Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” Gamma settings are propagated to the Preview
Renderer when hardware shading is enabled.
• Windows XP x64
There is no separate gamma configuration option for
• Windows Vista 64 the Preview renderer; instead, they are taken from the
Firefly render settings, Texture Manager, and gamma
• Windows 7 64 nodes in the Advanced Material Room.

Poser Pro will automatically select the appropriate Render

HDRI files will be read and written in a linear fashion with a
Engine for your system. If you are using a 32-Bit system and
Gamma value of 1.0, ignoring whatever gamma value might be
render in Firefly, Poser Pro will use the 32-Bit Render Engine.
specified in that location.
If you are using a 64-Bit system and render in FireFly, it will
use the 64-Bit Render Engine. This allows the Render Engine to To enable Gamma Correction, choose Render > Render
access more memory thereby better utilizing available memory. Settings, select the FireFly Tab and then check the Gamma
Correction Box from the Options Panel. The default gamma
value is 2.2 for most image formats. You have the option to
Gamma Correction and Linear specify a custom gamma value in the text field. The text field is
Rendering only accessible only when the Gamma Correction Box is enabled.

By configuring the gamma correction you can specify the gamma

that has been applied to textures, and the gamma that will be
applied to exported images. This allows you to perform linear
rendering for improved luminance accuracy.
When you create a new scene, the default setting for Linear
Rendering is 2.2. You must use the FireFly Render Engine to
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Gamma correction for individual textures can be set in the Texture

Manager.

Local gamma correction is important if you know that not all

Set the Gamma Correction value in the Render Options window. your incoming data has the same gamma value applied and you
know you need to adjust the value for certain textures. Gamma
correction on the Texture Manager allows correction per texture.

Gamma Correction Per Texture

Poser Pro’s Gamma correction on the Texture Manager allows
you to specify gamma values per texture, giving you the ability to
exclude certain textures from scene-wide gamma correction for
maximum flexibility when dealing with displacement or normal
maps.

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Most all applications read and write file. When you open your image in Photoshop you will see the
displacement maps linearly, even if the format full render as the Background layer. Each additional data option
used might specify a different gamma value. When you that you checked will appear on its own individual Photoshop
display a displacement map, it might look slightly layer.
different from the effect it will end up having on the
The Render Options section of the Render Settings window
geometry, therefore we recommend that you adjust the
includes an Auxiliary Render Data drop down menu that allows
Gamma Value to 1.0 for Displacement Mapping, as well
you to select from the following options:
as for Normal Maps. Also use 1.0 for Transparency, or
whenever a grayscale map is used to drive an effect.

For information on how to access the Texture

Manager please refer to “Chapter 17: The
Render Menu” on page 379.

Once you are in the Texture Manager you can specify a custom
gamma value in the text field for the selected texture.

Rendering Layered PSD Files

Poser features additional options in the Render Settings
dialog that allow you to specify additional information that
can be output to a layered PSD file for further compositing
in Photoshop. After you create your scene in Poser, you open
the Render Settings dialog and check or uncheck the auxiliary
render data options that you want to include in the Photoshop
file. Then, you render your image and save it as a Photoshop PSD

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When you open your PSD in Photoshop, the complete rendered

image appears in a layer named Background. Depending on
the other options that you check in the Auxiliary Render Data
dropdown, you may see additional layers as described below.

Background layer in Photoshop.

• Normal: The world space normal of the frontmost surface,

encoded as RGB values with x=red, y=green, z=blue.
Normal layers are identified by the letter N in Photoshop.

Check or uncheck layers to be output to PSD files in the Render

Options window.

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• ZDepth: The distance of the frontmost surface from the

camera, encoded as grayscale. ZDepth layers are identified
by the letter Z in Photoshop.

Normal layer in Photoshop.

• Toon ID: The toon ID of the frontmost surface, where each ZDepth layer in Photoshop.
ID gets its own RGB color. Toon ID layers are identified by
the letters ID in Photoshop.
• Position: The world space position of the frontmost surface,
encoded as RGB values with x=red, y=green, z=blue.
Position layers are identified by the letter P in Photoshop.

Toon ID layer in Photoshop.

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The remaining three options correspond to three inputs on the

bottom of the Poser Surface Node as shown below.

Position layer in Photoshop.

• Texture Coordinates: The UV coordinates of the frontmost

surface, with u = red and v = green. Texture Coordinate
layers are identified by the letters UV in Photoshop.

Custom Output connectors on the Poser Surface Node.

Texture Coordinates layer in Photoshop.
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The render will export the nodes that are plugged into these layer when you check this option. If there are no materials
inputs on the Poser Surface Node. If nothing is attached to the with connections to Custom_output_2, checking this option
Poser surface node on these inputs, the output to PSD is as will create a layer that contains Specular only.
follows:

• Custom1: If your scene contains any materials that have

connections to the Custom_output_1 connector on the
PoserSurface Node, they can be rendered to a Photoshop
layer when you check this option. If there are no materials
with connections to Custom_output_1, checking this option
will create a layer that contains Diffuse only.

Custom 2 layer in Photoshop showing custom adjustments to the

two characters in the scene.

• Custom3: If your scene contains any materials that have

connections to the Custom_output_3 connector on the
PoserSurface Node, they can be rendered to a Photoshop
layer when you check this option. If there are no materials
Custom 1 layer in Photoshop with grainy grayscale effect for with connections to Custom_output_3, checking this option
custom input. will create a layer that contains Shadow only as shown
below.

• Custom2: If your scene contains any materials that have

connections to the Custom_output_2 connector on the
PoserSurface Node, they can be rendered to a Photoshop
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Custom 3 layer in Photoshop. Various layers combined in Photoshop.

After rendering the desired layers, you can bring the saved PSD
file into Photoshop, where you will be able to use blend styles
in the Layers palette to composite the layers together to create
interesting effects.

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Chapter 20: The Sketch You can save Sketch Designer renders and reload them later
for further work. The Sketch Designer also lets you create

Designer amazing animations that look like hand-drawn movies. For best
results, try rendering scenes using plenty of detail (hair, clothing,
etc.) and dramatic lighting.
Poser’s Sketch Designer renders scenes as sketch-like drawings To access the Sketch Designer, select Window > Sketch
using black-and-white or colored brush strokes that you can Designer. Alternately, you can access the Sketch Designer
tailor to your liking. Simulate pen, pencil, pastel, charcoal, and via the Sketch tab in the Render Settings dialog, which also
even watercolors and paintings without ever having to pick up a contains other render and movie settings.
pencil or brush!

Sketch Elements
The Sketch Designer recognizes three distinct divisions within
your scene:

• Objects: Checking the Objects radio button allows you to

determine the sketch style for objects and figures in your
scene.

• Background: Checking the Background radio button

allows you to determine the sketch style for your scene’s
background.

• Edges: Checking the Edges radio button allows you to

determine the sketch style for the edges of objects and
The Sketch Designer. figures in your scene.

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Presets • Auto Density: Checking the Auto Density checkbox causes

stroke density to reach an automatic density based on the
You can use the Presets pop-up window above the preview tab current scene, ignoring the Density slider setting (see
to select one of the available preset sketch styles. You can also below). When disabled, the density is calculated based on
use the sliders and other options to create an almost infinite the Density slider setting.
variety of styles.
• Colored Strokes: Checking the Colored Strokes checkbox
The Presets pop-up also allows you to create and remove sketch causes sketches to be rendered in color. When disabled,
presets. To create a preset, adjust the sketch style to your desired sketches are rendered in black and white.
settings, then select Presets > Create Preset. Enter a name
for your preset and click OK. Your new preset will appear in the
Presets menu. Brushes
To delete a preset, select the preset you wish to delete using the
The Sketch Designer includes several predefined brushes,
Presets menu, then select Presets > Delete Preset.
available using the Brushes pull-down menu. For maximum
The Delete Preset option allows you to remove
effect, try using these brushes with both the Min Width and Max
the sketch presets included with Poser. Once
Width sliders set to higher values.
deleted, you must reinstall Poser to restore your factory
default sketch presets.
Sketch Parameters
The Sketch Designer includes the following parameters,
Checkboxes controllable using sliders. Moving a slider to the right increases
the selected value, and vice versa. These parameters customize
The Sketch Designer has three checkboxes: many characteristics of the sketched lines. Your sketch redraws
each time you adjust a value, allowing you to see the results of
• Over Black: Checking the Over Black checkbox renders your changes.
your scene over a black background with white strokes.
When disabled, the background is white with black strokes.
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• Density: The Density slider controls the density of lines in • Line Random: The Line Random slider controls line
the sketch. randomizations. Higher settings result in more randomly
shaped lines.
• Line Length: The Line Length slider defines the length of
strokes. • Color Random: The Color Random slider controls color
randomizations. Higher settings result in more random
• Min Width: The Min Width slider defines the width of the colorization.
edge of each stroke, which affects the brightness of the
original image. • Opacity: The Opacity slider determines the clarity of lines.
Lower values create more transparent strokes.
• Max Width: The Max Width slider defines the width of the
center of each stroke, which affects the brightness of the • Cross Hatch: The Cross Hatch slider controls the
original image. frequency of cross-hatching in the strokes.

• Lo Brightness: The Lo Brightness slider determines the • Total Angle: The Total Angle slider determines the total
band of tone. A low setting only draws lines in the darkest amount of angle change that a stroke can have before it
parts of your scene. If the Over Black option is disabled, stops drawing. Higher values darken the image. Lower this
setting this control to 0 produces the best results. value when you have lower Density settings.

• Hi Brightness: The Hi Brightness slider determines the • Color Cutoff: The Color Cutoff slider determines the
band of tone. A lower setting only draws lines in the darkest threshold of color changes allowed for a stroke. Use this
parts of your scene. If the Over Black option is enabled, slider in conjunction with Total Angle.
setting this control to 1 produces the best results.
• Light 1, 2, and 3: The Light 1, Light 2, and Light 3 sliders
• Stroke Head: The Stroke Head slider determines the determine the extent to which the first three lights in your
amount of taper at the stroke’s head. scene contribute to the direction of strokes. Higher values
make the strokes go in the direction of the selected light(s).
• Stroke Tail: The Stroke Tail slider determines the amount
of taper at the stroke’s tail.

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• BG Direction: The BG Direction slider defines the direction

of the background strokes.

• Auto Spacing: The Auto Spacing slider controls the

amount of space between strokes if the Auto Density option
is enabled.

• Color Blend: The Color Blend slider determines how much

color in the Document window will be blended into the
sketch.

Rendering Sketches
After setting up your sketch, you can render it to the Document
window. This is useful if you want to export a movie rendered
using the Sketch Designer renderer. To render to the Document
window, select Render > Sketch Style Render.

Exporting Painter Scripts

Clicking the Export Painter Script button in the lower left
corner of the Sketch Designer exports the current Sketch
Designer settings to Corel Painter. This has been tested to work
with Painter 6 and previous versions, and is not supported for
later versions though it may work with them.

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Part 5: Animating

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Chapter 21: The Retime Animation

Animation Menu Selecting Animation > Retime Animation allows you to
adjust the timing of your animations. Please refer to “Retiming
Keyframes” on page 453 for more information.
The Animation pull-down menu lets you control various aspects
of your Poser animations.
Resample Key Frames
Make Movie Selecting Animation > Resample Key Frames opens the
Resample Keys window, which allows you to increase or
Setting Animation > Make Movie opens the Make movie decrease the number of keyframes in your animation: Please
window. Please refer to “Keyframe Controls” on page 438 for refer to “Resampling Key Frames” on page 454.
more information on rendering animations in Poser.

Loop Interpolation
Recalculate Dynamics
If your animation contains looping cycles (such as a walk) that
Choose one of the options in the Animation > Recalculate do not match evenly (causing jerky motions between the end of
submenu to recalculate all cloth dynamics, all hair dynamics, one loop and the start of the next), toggling Animation > Loop
or all cloth and hair dynamics. For more information about Interpolation on can smooth out your animation.
dynamic cloth and hair, see “Chapter 25: The Hair Room” on
page 502 and “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on page 518.
Quaternion Interpolation
Quaternion interpolation is a mathematical formula that can
smooth rough animations. If your animation remains jerky
after editing keyframes and all other efforts at smoothing it out,

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selecting Animation > Quaternion Interpolation can possibly

help. This option should be toggled on as a last resort.

Skip Frames
Selecting Animation > Skip Frames toggles skipping frames on
and off. This option can help speed playback.

Mute Sound
Selecting Animation > Mute Sound toggles sound muting
during animation playback. A check mark appears when muting
is enabled, and vice versa.

Clear Sound
Selecting Animation > Clear Sound deletes the sound
previously imported into your Poser scene.

Play Movie File

Selecting Animation > Play Movie File allows you to open a
movie file for playback within Poser. A standard Open dialog
appears, allowing you to browse to your desired movie file.

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Chapter 22: Animating Animation Overview

with Poser At its simplest, the animation process is as follows:
1. Decide how many frames you want in your animation. One
way to do this is to decide how long your animation will be
Poser allows you to animate figures and props, giving life to your
in seconds, then multiply that by the your desired number of
scenes. You can use your work in multimedia projects, on the
frames per second (frame rate).
Web, and in videos by exporting rendered results to Windows
AVI, Macintosh QuickTime, or Flash movie format. AVI movies 2. Create a starting pose.
are rendered in 32-bit color, which by default includes an alpha
channel (mask) for each frame. This can aid in compositing the 3. Select your next keyframe.
animation with other movie footage. QuickTime movies can also
contain an Alpha channel if set to render at millions of colors. 4. Create a new pose.

Once rendered, exported animations can be opened and edited 5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until your animation is complete.
in post-production tools such as Adobe Premiere and Adobe
After Effects, where you can edit sequences and add special Poser uses a technique called keyframe animation to simulate
effects. While you can create long animations, we recommend motion based on a series of still poses. You set up a series of
creating a series of shorter animations and piecing your scenes poses at different points in time. These are the keyframes. Poser
together using an editing application. Real movies follow this fills in the gaps, interpolating between keyframes to create the
guideline as well: Each time a camera angle changes, you’re illusion of motion. This keeps you from having to move your
seeing a new take of a scene or a different scene altogether. figure each time you want to create a motion, such as is done
This includes cases such as conversations, where the camera in stop-frame animation, where each frame is individually
is switching back and forth between the participants. Poser positioned (many “Claymation” movies use stop-frame
includes many powerful tools designed to help you create animation).
stunningly realistic animations. Animation is easy to learn but
hard to master. Start with short simple movies and work up as
your skills improve. The results may surprise you!
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What You Can Animate • Lights and Cameras: Change color and position of lights
and zoom, pan, or bank cameras over time.
What can you animate using Poser? Just about everything! Here
are some examples: • Deformers: You can animate magnets, waves, morph
targets, and parameters. Please refer to “Using Deformers”
• Figures (humans, animals, clothing, etc.): If you can on page 563 for more information about deformers.
imagine a motion, you can create it using Poser! Please
refer to “Chapter 9: Posing Figures” on page 173 for • Force Fields: You can animate Force Fields to create
information about posing human figures, and to “Posing realistic wind effects for strand-based hair and dynamic
Animals” on page 207 for some information about posing cloth. Please refer to “Wind Force Fields” on page 569 for
animals. more information about force fields.

• Hands: Gestures and small motions add incredible • Materials: You can animate material shaders as described in
realism to videos. Many amateur animators ignore hands “Part 3: Materials” on page 275.
when animating, which subtly detracts from your scene’s
• Walk Paths: You can create paths that your figures walk
realism. Please refer to “Posing Hands” on page 205 for
along, as described in “Creating a Walk Path” on page
information about posing hands.
465.
• Faces: Animating faces can add emotion and power to your
• Background: You can animate the background using the
scene and can also mimic speech. Please refer to “Posing
Material room. Please refer to “Part 3: Materials” on page
Faces” on page 202 for more information about posing
275 for more information about the Material room.
faces.
• Movie nodes: You can play movies on any object using
• Props: You can animate props by moving them about the
movie nodes in the Material room.
Poser workspace, parenting them to other actors, etc. Please
refer to “About Props” on page 216 for more information By default, your animation moves over the Document window’s
about props. background. You can have still or animated backgrounds in your
scenes. Please refer to “Importing Background Pictures” on

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page 702 and to “Importing Movies” on page 701 for more If not displayed, choose Window > Animation
information about backgrounds in Poser scenes. Controls to show the Animation Controls. They
will dock or float depending on how you last used them.

Inverse Kinematics
• Animation Palette: The Animation palette contains the
You can use IK or not in your animations, however it is a global advanced editing features, with which you can create more
setting. If enabled on a figure’s limbs, it’s on for the duration of complex animations. Among other things, you can edit
your animation, and vice versa. You can turn it on or off while keyframes, animation layers and individual actors, and
you work, but the final state is what will “stick” in your final create Animation Sets. Access the Animation palette by
animation. Toggling IK on and off can affect your animation; it’s selecting Window > Animation Palette. Please refer to
best to pick an option before starting to animate and stay with “Using the Animation Palette” on page 440 for more
it to avoid having unexpected changes occur in your animation. information about the Animation palette.
Please refer to “Inverse Kinematics (IK)” on page 174 for
more information about Inverse Kinematics. • Graph: Each actor in your scene has a Graph for each of its
possible motions, allowing you to exercise minute control
over your animations. Access the Graph for any parameter
Animation Tools by using the desired parameter dial’s menu as described in
“Parameters Palette” on page 194. Please refer to “Using
Poser has five animation tools:
Graphs” on page 444 for more information about the
• Animation controls: The simple, single channel Animation Graph.
controls allow you to create quick click-and-drag animations
• Walk Designer: Creating realistic walking movements is
as well as preview your work. Access the Animation
a very time consuming animation task to get right. Poser’s
controls by clicking the handle at the bottom of your Poser
Walk Designer takes the effort out of this process and lets
workspace. See “Using the Animation Controls” on page
you quickly create realistic walks (for human figures only).
436 for more information.
Access the Walk Designer by selecting Window > Walk

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Designer. Please refer to “Using the Walk Designer” on

page 460 for more information about the Walk Designer.

• Talk Designer: Speech is one of the most important

aspects of many animations; due to the complexity of the
human face, it is also one of the most challenging things to
animate realistically. Poser’s Talk Designer animates facial
expressions, eye and head movements to create realistic lip
sync animations based upon speech sound files that you
import. Access the Talk Designer by selecting Window > Animation Controls.
Talk Designer. Please refer to “Using the Talk Designer” on
page 469 for more information about the Talk Designer.

Timeline/Frame Indicator
Using the Animation Controls
The center portion of the Animation controls displays the
The Animation controls are dockable and floatable. This Timeline, which represents the total time of your animation in
palette contains the tools most commonly used when creating Poser. This timeline contains a pointer (Scrubber) representing
animations. They allow you to add and edit keyframes and the location of the current frame relative to the entire animation,
preview your animation. If the Animation controls do not appear which is visible in the Document window. The Scrubber is very
on your screen, choose Window > Animation Controls and commonly used to quickly find specific points within animations.
place them where you find it most convenient (generally the top Click and drag the Scrubber to quickly navigate your animation.
or bottom of your document window is the common location). Just above the Scrubber is the Frame Indicator, which
The Animation controls appear as follows, and consists of the indicates both the total number of frames in your animation
controls described in the following sections: and your current position within that timeline, with the left field
indicating position and the right indicating animation length.
For example, if the two numbers read 60 and 120, that means

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that you are viewing the 60th frame of an animation that is 120 2. Move the scrubber to the point in time/frame number you
frames long. wish to edit.
You can jump to a specific frame by clicking the left number
3. Raise the arm using the Editing tools.
field and entering the frame number you wish to jump to. You
can also add or remove frames by clicking the right number field 4. Move the scrubber to a later point in time/frame number.
and entering the number of frames you wish in your animation.
Entering a larger number lengthens your animation and vice 5. Lower the arm, again using the Editing tools.
versa. Shortening animations will cut the excess frames from the
end. For example, if you reduce an animation from 120 to 90 6. Continue creating keyframes until the motion sequence is
frames, you will lose the final 30 frames. complete.

Camera animation must be enabled for the

Recording Keyframes currently selected camera In order to
automatically record keyframes. If animation is
Poser records changes made to figures, props, materials, etc. as
disabled, you can add keyframes manually (see
keyframes. Create keyframes by moving the scrubber to a new
following subsection).
point on the timeline and making your desired change(s) to
your scene. Recorded keyframes store new body part positions,
new prop positions, material settings, etc. for each figure and
prop within your scene. You can only record one set of position Play Controls
parameter settings for any given keyframe. For example, if you
The Play controls appear on the left side of the Animation
select a frame and move a figure’s arm up then change your
controls and allow you to preview your animation using VCR-
mind and move the arm down again, the downward position is
like controls. From left to right, the Play controls are as follows:
what will be “remembered” and what will affect your animation.
To make a figure’s arm wave up and down:
1. Select a starting pose.

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• Step Backward: Clicking the Step Backward button

moves back to the previous frame (i.e., the frame before the
current one).

• Step Forward: Clicking the Step Forward button moves

forward one frame (i.e., the frame after the current one).

• Loop: Checking the Loop radio button causes your

animation to repeat itself continuously when playing until
you click the Stop button.

• Animation previews run in the Document window. Be

The Play Controls. sure to select the appropriate tracking mode (see “Tracking
Mode” on page 91).
• First Frame: Clicking the First Frame button moves to the
first frame in your animation. Keyframe Controls
• End Frame: Clicking the End Frame button moves to the In most cases, Poser’s automatic animation engine records
last frame in your animation. keyframes as you create animations. Sometimes, however,
you’ll want to manually add keyframes, such as when camera
• Stop: Clicking the Stop button stops animation playback at
animation is disabled. It is important for you to track the status
the current frame.
of camera animation, as you could create a series of keyframes
• Play/Pause: Clicking the Play button plays your animation without realizing that the animation is off. As mentioned
at normal speed, including background movies and sounds above, if camera animation is disabled, you must manually add
(if any). While your animation is playing, this button keyframes in order to record them. You may also need to fine-
becomes the Pause button. Clicking it freezes the animation tune animations, which may necessitate recording additional
at the current frame. keyframes. For example, you could position the figure’s left
foot at Frames 10 and 20, with Poser calculating its position for
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the tween frames. If you wanted to refine this, you could add a • Add Key Frames: Clicking the Add Key Frames button
keyframe at Frame 15. adds a keyframe at the current frame number. For example,
if you have existing keyframes at Frames 15 and 30, you
The Keyframe controls allow you to quickly and easily add,
could drag the Scrubber to Frame 22 and insert a keyframe
preview, and remove keyframes within your animation. From
by clicking the Add Key Frames button. You can also
left to right, the Keyframe controls are:
insert a keyframe by moving to any frame in your animation
and making a change in your scene. This change will
automatically be recorded as a new keyframe.

• Remove Key Frames: Clicking the Remove Key Frames

button removes the currently selected keyframe. For
example, if your character’s arm is over his head in Frame
1, down at Frame 15 and out to the side in Frame 30 and
you remove the keyframe in Frame 15, the figure’s arm will
move out to the side position specified in Frame 30 without
dropping to the figure’s side. To delete a keyframe, use the
The Keyframe Controls. Next Keyframe or Previous Keyframe buttons to locate
your desired keyframe, then click the Remove Keyframe
button.
• Previous Keyframe: The Previous Keyframe button
returns to the previous keyframe. • Skip Frames: Check this radio button to skip frames during
playback. This helps conserve system resources while
• Next Keyframe: The Next Keyframe button advances to
previewing your animation before you render it.
the next keyframe.

• Edit Keyframes: Clicking the Edit Keyframes button

opens the Animation Palette, discussed next.

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Using the Animation Palette

The Animation palette contains three tabs: the Keyframes
tab, the Layers tab, and the Animation Sets tab. Each of these
tabs will be described in detail in the following sections. To
display the Animation palette, you can either select Window
> Animation Palette, or click the Display Animation Palette
button in the Animation controls as described above. To close
the palette, either select Window > Animation Palette again, or
click the small box in the upper left corner.
The upper section of the Animation palette contains several
controls that appear on all three tabs. These are as follows:

Common Controls
Several controls and options are common to all of the tabs in the
Animation Palette. These options are discussed below.

The Animation Palette.

Current Layer

The Current Layer pop-up menu appears at the very top of the
Animation palette. This menu allows you to select a specific
animation layer within the current animation. Please refer

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to “Layers Tab” on page 455 for more information about You can also set the output frame rate using the
animation layers. Movie Settings window ( “Keyframe Controls”
on page 438). This setting is independent from your
Frame Rate scene frame rate, as specified in the Animation palette
(see above). Additionally, you can generate a quick
The frame rate specifies the number of frames played per
preview render by specifying the Every N-th Frame
second. To change the scene frame rate, you can either click the
setting in the Movie Settings window. Again, this
current frame rate and enter your desired number in the text box
setting is for output purposes only, and is independent
that appears or click the arrow to the left of the current frame
of your scene frame rate.
rate and make your selection from the Frame Rate pull-down
menu. Choices are 12, 15, 18, 24, 25, 30, 50, and 60 frames per
second. Some common frame rate settings are: Time

• NTSC: 30 The Time control displays the amount of time in your animation
between the first frame and the currently selected frame. Time
• PAL: 25 is displayed in SMTPE format (Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frame).
You can jump to a specific point in time by entering your desired
• Film: 24
numbers in the fields. For example, if you jump to 1 minute in
an animation using 24 frames per second, you’ll arrive at Frame
• Flash: 12 (recommended) or 15
1440 (24 frames/sec times 60 seconds).
For Poser integration into other apps, the user Frame
will need to determine the frame rate to match
that of the hosting software. The default frame rate in
The Frame Indicator is identical to its counterpart in the
Poser is 30 fps, but other applications might use 24 fps.
Animation controls. You can jump to a specified frame and
Users will need to create a file with the same framerate.
add or remove frames from your animation as described in
This needs to be handled specially for each app.
“Timeline/Frame Indicator” on page 436.

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Play Controls

The Play controls are identical to their counterparts in the

Animation controls. See “Play Controls” on page 437 for more
information.

Play Range

By default, the entire animation plays when previewing

animations using the Play controls. You can, however, opt to Animation Palette options menu.
view only a portion of your animation during preview. This
feature is useful if you have a long animation and only want to
• Display Frames: Selecting the Display Frames option
focus on small portions at a time. The Play Range indicator
toggles the Timeline columns to display using animation
appears at the bottom of all three tabs on the Animation palette.
frames.
To adjust the play range, drag the beginning and/or end point to
your desired starting and ending frames, respectively. • Display Time Code: Selecting the Display Time
Code option toggles the Timeline columns to display,
representing your animation’s running time.
Animation Palette Options Menu
• Loop Interpolation: Selecting the Loop Interpolation
Clicking the Options arrow at the top right of the Animation option toggles loop interpolation on and off. Please refer to
Palette opens the Animation palette Options menu, which “Loop Interpolation” on page 431 for more information.
contains the following options:
• Quaternion Interpolation: Selecting the Quaternion
Interpolation option toggles quaternion interpolation on
and off. Please refer to “Quaternion Interpolation” on page
431 for more information.

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Keyframes View When you first display this tab, it shows any keyframes you
previously created using the Animation controls, for the
The Keyframes view is where you edit the keyframes in your currently selected animation layer. Please refer to “Layers
animation. It shows the layout of the keyframes and allows you Tab” on page 455 for more information about animation
to set and move between them. You can also play animations layers. If you wish to see the keyframes contained within a
directly from this palette. The Keyframes tab appears as follows: different animation layer, select the name of the new layer from
the Current Layer pop-up menu. In addition to the controls
described above, the Keyframes tab contains the following
elements:

Keyframe Controls
The Keyframe controls are almost identical to their counterparts
in the Animation controls. The main difference is that the
keyframe controls in the Keyframes palette feature a button that
allows you to open the Graph palette.

The Keyframes view of the Animation Palette.

Keyframe Controls.
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• Previous Keyframe: The Previous Keyframe button your desired keyframe, then click the Remove Keyframe
returns to the previous keyframe. button.

• Next Keyframe: The Next Keyframe button advances to • Skip Frames: Check this radio button to skip frames during
the next keyframe. playback. This helps conserve system resources while
previewing your animation before you render it.
• Show Graph Display: Clicking the Show Graph Display
button opens the Graph, discussed in “Using Graphs” on
page 444. Using Graphs
• Add Key Frames: Clicking the Add Key Frames button When you double-click a keyframe, the Graph palette for that
adds a keyframe at the current frame number. For example, keyframe appears. An element’s Graph palette allows you to
if you have existing keyframes at Frames 15 and 30, you perform precise edits on keyframes and modify the interpolation
could drag the Scrubber to Frame 22 and insert a keyframe methods used in your animation. The Graph palette contains the
by clicking the Add Key Frames button. You can also following functions:
insert a keyframe by moving to any frame in your animation
and making a change in your scene. This change will
automatically be recorded as a new keyframe.

• Remove Key Frames: Clicking the Remove Key Frames

button removes the currently selected keyframe. For
example, if your character’s arm is over his head in Frame
1, down at Frame 15 and out to the side in Frame 30 and
you remove the keyframe in Frame 15, the figure’s arm will
move out to the side position specified in Frame 30 without
dropping to the figure’s side. To delete a keyframe, use the
Next Keyframe or Previous Keyframe buttons to locate

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The following subsections describe the Graph’s functionality in

further detail.

About the Graph Palette

The Graph Work Area consists of two axes and a graph. The
horizontal axis represents time in frame numbers. The vertical
axis’ values change depending on the selected attribute. If you
choose a position attribute such as xTrans, the values represent
positions in 3D space (Cartesian coordinates). If you select an
editing property such as Bend, the axis represents degrees. A
morph parameter’s values are measured in percentages.
The Graph itself shows the actual change in the attribute over
The Graph Palette.
the course of your animation. Its shape indicates the type of
interpolation being used. You can also use the Graph palette for
synchronizing sound to motion, as described in “Syncing Sound
• Animatable Properties: The Animation Properties & Motion” on page 468.
pull-down menu allows you to select all of the animatable
properties for the currently selected element. Selecting Interpolation Types

• Interpolation Methods: See “Selecting Interpolation The Graph contains controls allowing you to specify
Types” on page 445. interpolation methods, which can be specified on both the
element and frame range levels. The Interpolation controls
• Keyframe Controls: See “Keyframe Controls” on page appear as follows:
443.

• Work Area: See below.

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Editing the Graph

You can edit the graph to achieve varying degrees of

interpolation. For example, to decrease the amount of Spline
interpolation, straighten the curve. You can set the curve’s shape
Interpolation Controls. using preset interpolation methods or by dragging the curve’s
points to obtain your desired shape. You can also apply different
To choose an interpolation method, select the elements and interpolation methods to different parts of the graph using the
frame range to modify, then click your desired Interpolation Break Spline function.
button. The Animation palette uses color codes to depict varying Be aware that changing the graph’s shape affects the selected
interpolation methods. element’s motion. To edit the graph, use the Animation
Properties pull-down menu or select Graph from the
• Spline: Green
Parameters palette (see “Using Graphs” on page 444) to
Splines can sometimes go beyond and exceed the select the attribute to be edited. Next, drag any point on the
maximum keyframed values depending on the graph in the direction you want to move the curve. The curve
slope created by tightly-spaced keyframes. Adding will reshape itself based on your chosen interpolation method(s).
additional keyframes can constrain the slope into more Use the scrollbar to view parts of the graph that are not currently
pleasing levels. being displayed.
To change the type of interpolation applied to a portion of the
graph, click and drag to select the frames you wish to change.
• Linear: Red
Your selected area will become highlighted. Next, click one of the
• Constant: Grayed out Interpolation buttons at the bottom of the palette. This can add
keyframes to your animation.
• Break Spline: A hash mark appears where Break Spline
Vertical lines on the graph denote keyframes. You can move
has been applied.
these points to change when keyframes occur, and can also add

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keyframes by clicking the point on the line where you want to • To add a keyframe, drag the Current Frame indicator
insert the keyframe. to your desired location and click the Add Key Frames
button.
The Current Frame indicator is a visual reminder of the frame
you’re currently working on. To select a keyframe, click the Next
• To delete a keyframe, move the Current Frame indicator
Keyframe or Previous Keyframe button, as appropriate, click
to the desired keyframe and click the Delete Key Frames
a keyframe indicator, or drag the Current Frame indicator to
button.
the frame you wish to edit. Click and drag a rectangle to select a
range of frames. • To cut, copy, and paste, use the editing hotkeys
([COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[X], [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[C],
and [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[V], respectively) or choose the
appropriate command from the Edit menu.

• To close the Graph palette, click the small box in the upper
left corner.

Using the Graph With the Animation Palette

If you open the Animation palette, you can access the Graph
palette for the currently selected scene element by clicking the
Keyframes displayed in the Graph. Display Graph Palette button, or by double-clicking a keyframe
in the Animation palette. With both palettes open, you have the
You can also perform the following functions using the Graph: following options:

• To move keyframes, select the keyframe(s) you want to • Double-clicking any element in the Animation palette’s
move, and drag forward or backward in the timeline to a Element list switches the current Graph palette to the
new location. selected element.

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• Pressing Opt/Alt while double-clicking any element in the Poser supports four types of interpolation, which allows you to
Animation palette’s Element list opens a new Graph palette make subtle changes to your animations. Interpolation settings
for the selected element while not affecting any other open apply to a range of frames, meaning that you can use different
Graph palettes. You can use this function to open as many interpolation methods at different intervals in your animation.
Graph palettes as you like at one time, which can greatly The Interpolation controls allow you to specify the interpolation
speed up your animation work. You can even open more method.
than one Graph palette for each element, allowing you to
(for example) adjust the Right Forearm’s Twist and Bend at
once to achieve smooth realistic movement.

When you have more than one Graph palette

open at once, changing elements by double-
clicking them will only change the most recently opened
Interpolation Controls.
Graph palette. All other Graph palettes will retain their
current settings. If you need to change more than one
graph palette, close out all unneeded palettes, then re- From left to right, the buttons are:
open them by selecting your currently needed elements.
• Spline: Places tween poses and settings on a curve. Motion
begins at one keyframe, accelerates to full velocity, and
gradually slows down as it approaches the next keyframe.
Interpolation Controls For example, if the first keyframe has an arm by a figure’s
side and the second one has it raised, the arm will begin
The process of filling in the blanks between keyframes (the area
moving slowly, accelerate to a constant velocity, and slow
known as tween frames) is called interpolation, and the frames
as it reaches the second keyframe. This is not to say that the
between keyframes are called tweens. Interpolation determines
movement will be fast; actual speed of motion depends on
how intermediate poses are created. Please refer to “About
the amount of change between keyframes and the number
Poser Files” on page 768 for a general discussion about
of tween frames. In our above example, having the second
interpolation.
keyframe 5 frames from the first would make a very rapid

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motion, while having 100 frames would make a very slow • Constant: This has no intermediate poses. If you set a
motion. The key thing to remember is that this type of series of poses with different keyframes, the first pose will
animation resembles a smooth curve and is normally the be maintained until the second keyframe, at which point
most realistic. it will instantly change to the second pose, which will be
maintained until the third keyframe, and so on.

Spline Interpolation.
Constant Interpolation.

• Linear: Takes the two keyframes and divides the motion

between them equally with no acceleration or deceleration • Break Spline: Stops interpolation at the selected point
of the moving items. In the above example, the arm would so you can begin a new interpolation style. This is useful
move at a constant velocity from keyframe to keyframe. If for blending different interpolation styles. For example, a
you created a third keyframe with the arm back down, the bouncing ball moves in a smooth arc until it hits the floor, at
change direction at the second keyframe would be abrupt. which point it undergoes an abrupt change in direction and
speed. This is one scenario where changing interpolation
styles can aid your animating work.

Linear Interpolation.

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Element or All Elements radio button, as appropriate, to make

your selection.

Selecting elements to change.

Breaking interpolation.

Elements List/Timeline
Skip Frames The Elements List displays a list of all elements in your scene.
The Timeline Area displays your animation frames and all of
Clicking the Skip Frames radio button enabling this option the keyframes stored for each body part/prop/material/etc.
drops frames when previewing your animation, speeding up Keyframes appear in red, with tween (interpolated) frames
playback. Click the button again to toggle its functionality off. appearing in different colors according to their interpolation
type (see “About Poser Files” on page 768). You can expand
and collapse element listings by clicking the triangles next to
Loop
elements in the list. Each element can be further expanded to
Clicking the Loop radio button causes your animation to repeat display its properties and parameters that can be animated. For
itself continuously when playing until you click the Stop button. example, you can view the Scale and Transition elements for a
Click the button again to toggle its functionality off. figure’s forearm. The following image displays a portion of the
Elements List for a scene.

This Element/All Elements

This option selects whether changes made using the Keyframes
tab (interpolation type, keyframe changes, etc.) apply to the
entire scene or just to the selected element. Click the This
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Editing Keyframes on the Timeline

You can use the Timeline to select, add, edit, or delete
keyframes. The Timeline appears as a grid that displays
keyframes for each element in your scene. Columns indicate
time, with each column corresponding to a single animation
frame or point in time (See “Elements List/Timeline” on page
The Element List.
450). The Ruler at the top of this area indicates whether
the columns indicate frames or points in time. Each row
To select an element, click it in the Element List. This selects corresponds to an element in your scene. As described above,
the desired element in the same manner as clicking it in the the Timeline presents information using color codes. Use the
Document window, using the Current Actor menu or selecting horizontal and/or vertical scrollbars to navigate the Timeline if
it using any of the other available selection methods. Poser necessary.
highlights the currently selected element in the Elements List as
well as that element’s row in the Timeline. Use the vertical scroll
bar on the right of the Elements List and expand and collapse Selecting Keyframes
branches to view all of the elements in your scene. Collapsing
branches saves space in the display. By default, Poser selects the first frame in your animation
(Frame 1) when you open the Animation palette. You can select
When you collapse an entire figure in the any frame by clicking in or above its column. You can also enter
Elements List, the keyframes displayed will only a number in the Frame field. When you select a keyframe, Poser
be those pertaining to that figure’s location in the Poser displays the current element’s row and time column, creating an
workspace. You’ll need to expand the Elements List to intersection.
show posing/parameter changes.
Selecting a different keyframe moves the intersection to the
newly selected point. To select a keyframe, click any one of the
Double-clicking an element in the list, or selecting an element light green squares on the Timeline grid.
and clicking the Show Graph button, opens the Graph for the
selected item. Please see “Using Graphs” on page 444.
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3. Click the Add Keyframes button.

Removing Individual Keyframes

Removing keyframes can modify how your animation appears.

You can clear a keyframe for a specific element or your
entire scene by selecting This Element or All Elements, as
appropriate. Removing a keyframe does not delete the frame,
but removes the saved information. To remove a keyframe:
Selecting Keyframes.
1. Select This Element or All Elements, as appropriate.

2. Select the frame or point in time where you wish to remove

Adding & Removing Keyframes the keyframe.

Adding keyframes stores a specific pose and/or saves a Poser- 3. Click the Delete Keyframes button.
created interpolation (tween) frame. You can add keyframes
for the entire scene or the selected element by checking either Removing Multiple Keyframes
the This Element or All Elements radio button as described
in “This Element/All Elements” on page 450. When This To remove an entire range of keyframes, click and drag over the
Element is selected, keyframes are only recorded for your keyframes you wish to delete in the Timeline and press [DEL].
currently selected element. When All Elements is selected, To remove multiple specific keyframes, press and hold Shift
keyframes are recorded for every element in your scene. To add while selecting individual keyframes, then press [DEL].
a keyframe:
1. Select This Element or All Elements, as appropriate. Moving Keyframes
2. Select the frame or point in time where you wish to add the While creating animations, you may decide to have one or more
keyframe. keyframes occur earlier or later than your present settings.

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You may also want to apply the settings in some keyframes to Retiming Keyframes
others. Poser allows you to move both individual and multiple
keyframes. To do this, click the keyframe you wish to move and Selecting Animation > Retime Animation opens the Retime
drag the colored cell horizontally to its new location. To move Keys dialog, which allows you to adjust keyframe timing in your
multiple keyframes, select them and drag your selection to its animation.
new location on the timeline.

Copying Keyframes
You can copy keyframes, figure parts, and parameters appearing
in the Element List. By doing this, you can (for example) have
several Poser figures marching in perfect step. Although Poser
does not limit how you copy and paste keyframes, you should
avoid mixing data (such as copying Scale parameter settings to
a Rotation parameter). You can also obtain unexpected results The Retime Animation dialog.
by copying movements from one side of a body to another. If you
do copy parameters from side to side, you will need to make the By specifying source and destination frame ranges, you can
affected parameters negative on the side you copied to. change the amount of time a motion or motions take to occur.
This command does not destroy any keyframes, meaning that
Choose Edit > Copy or press [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[C] to copy
you can use it to repeat motions by copying them from one time
frames to your clipboard. When you reach your destination,
to another. Selecting a motion in one area and selecting a non-
select Edit > Paste or press [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[V].
overlapping destination re-maps the motion to another time
Alternatively, you can click the desired keyframe then press and without deleting the original motion.
hold Opt/Alt while dragging the keyframe to its new location.
To retime keyframes:
You can move multiple keyframes by selecting them and Opt/
Alt+dragging your selection to its new location. 1. Open the Retime Keys dialog box.

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2. Enter the start and end frames for the section of animation
you want to retime in the Source Frames fields.

3. Enter the range of frames to retime the animation to in

the Destination Frames fields. If the destination range is
longer than the source range, the animation is expanded or
slows down, and vice versa.

4. Click OK when finished.

When using this command, all existing

keyframes in the Destination Range are deleted.

Resampling Key Frames

Selecting Animation > Resample Key Frames opens the The Resample Keys dialog.
Resample Keys window, which allows you to increase or
decrease the number of keyframes in your animation. • Modify: Check the appropriate radio button to sample
This window has the following options: keyframes for the Current Element (prop, body part, etc.),
Current Figure (entire figure), or Everything (entire
scene).

• Resample Method: You have two options for resampling

keyframes:

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ƒƒ Analyze Curvature: Causes Poser to examine the

amount of curvature (change over time) in your
animation and automatically assign new keyframes.

ƒƒ Make key frame every X frames: Check this radio

button and enter a value in the Frames field to create
a keyframe every X frames, where X is the value you
entered in the field.

• Frame Range: If you want to resample key frames in a

specific portion of your animation, enter the start frame and
end frame in the Frame Range fields.

Layers Tab
Animation layers, also known as non-linear animation, provide
you with the ability to separate different parts of an animation Layers tab in the Animation Palette.
into independent pieces, which can be individually edited,
moved, or even hidden, with respect to the entire animation. At If you switch from the Layers tab to the
render time, the various layers are composited together into a Keyframes tab, you will see any keyframes that
single animation, according to your specifications. The Layers exist in the currently selected animation layer. If you
tab on the Animation palette contains the controls that allow wish to see keyframes from another layer, use the
you to create, configure, move and delete animation layers. Current Layer pop-up menu at the top of the Animation
palette to select any existing layers, without having to
return to the Layers tab.

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Base Layer • Delete: Click the Delete button to delete the currently
selected animation layer. This feature is disabled when the
When you first begin to create an animation, only one layer will Base layer is selected.
exist; this is known as the Base layer. The Base layer is always
present, and if you wish, you can create your entire animation • Current Layer Only: Click the Current Layer Only radio
just in this single layer. The frame count of the Base layer is button to temporarily exclude all other animation layers
equivalent to the length of the entire animation. The Start frame from the playback. Doing so allows you to isolate the specific
of the Base layer is always Frame 1, and the End frame is the last animation contained within the current layer, which can be
frame in the entire animation. Thus, changing the End frame of helpful in scenes with multiple layers.
the Base layer changes the length of your animation, which will
affect any other layers whose End frames coincide with the End
frame of the Base layer.

You cannot change any properties of a Base

Layer other than the End frame.
Current Layer Only option.

Creating, Deleting & Previewing Animation

Layers Animation Layer Controls
The lower portion of the Layers tab contains additional controls
In addition to the shared controls common to all three tabs on
that allow you to configure a selected layer, and the Timeline
the Animation palette (see “Using the Animation Palette” on
Area, which displays the various layers in editable segments,
page 440 for a description of these controls), the upper section
allowing you to see the hierarchy of the layers as well as where
of the Layers tab also contains three buttons:
each layer is placed in the timeline of the entire animation. The
• New: Click the New button to create a new animation layer. Layer controls are as follows:

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• Start/End Frame: The Start frame and End frame controls

allow you to specify the Start and End frames for the
selected layer. While the Base layer always equals the length
of the entire animation, other layers can be of any length
up to the entire animation length, and can start and end
at any point within the duration of the animation. You can
change the Start and End frames by clicking on the frame
number and typing a new value into the field. Alternately,
you can click on the layer segment in the Timeline Area and
drag it to a new position; the segment length will remain
constant, but the Start and End frames will change. Clicking
and dragging on either the beginning or the end of the layer
segment will change the Start or End frame respectively,
without moving the position of the segment within the
animation timeline. The length of the layer segment will
adjust to accommodate the new Start or End frame number.
Layer Controls.
• Blend In/Out Frames: The Blend In/Out feature allows
you to gradually blend an animation layer into, or out of,
• Layer Name: Once you have created a new layer, you can
the full animation. This feature could be used, for example,
change its default name to anything you want. Simply select
to create the effect of wind gradually picking up or fading
the layer in the Timeline display, and type the new name in
away. The Blend in frames and Blend out frames settings
the text field.
allow to you specify over how many frames the linear blend
• Include in Playback: Check or uncheck this option to will occur. The Blend In/Out frame count is indicated on
include or exclude the selected clip when you preview your the layer segment display as an additional shaded segment
animation. attached to either the beginning or end of the layer segment.

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If the animation contained within a specific layer the animation. Using the above example, the twenty
is a gradual movement, then the Blend feature degrees of Twist from Layer1 would be added to the
may not be effective, particularly if the Blend In/Out ten degrees from Layer2, resulting in a greater effect of
frame counts are set too low. thirty degrees of Twist. However, if Layer1 had included
a twist of negative twenty degrees, while Layer2 had
included a twist of positive ten degrees, then the Add
• Composite Method: While compositing the full animation,
option would result in a final twist effect of negative ten
Poser begins with the Base layer, and works upwards
degrees.
through the layer hierarchy incorporating each layer one
by one. The Composite method setting allows you to • Move Up/Down: If you select the Replace composite
specify the manner in which the individual layers will be method, the specific order of the layers within the layer
composited. The two options for compositing animation hierarchy will be very important, as parameter settings in
layers are Replace and Add. higher layers replace those in lower layers (see above for
ƒƒ Replace: This is the default composite method for additional explanation). You can change the order of layers
animation layers. Selecting Replace means that any within the hierarchy by clicking the Move up or Move
action on a given parameter for a specific actor will down button to move the selected layer either up or down
replace any actions on the same parameter, on all layers one level. Clicking the button a second time will repeat the
below the selected layer. For example, let’s suppose that action.
Layer1 is below Layer2 in the animation layer hierarchy.
Let’s also suppose that in Layer1 James’ chest is twisted
twenty degrees to the left, but in Layer2 his chest is
Animation Sets Tab
twisted only ten degrees to the left. With the Replace
Animation sets allow you to store a series of animation clips
option, the Layer2 setting will replace the setting from
that are frequently used in combination. For example, you could
Layer1.
animate a figure raising its arm above its head and save the
ƒƒ Add: Selecting Add means that the values for all limb’s movements to a named animation set.
rotation and translation parameters will be added
to one another as Poser composites each layer into
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Creating & Editing Animation Sets

To work with animation sets, open the Animation palette by
selecting Window > Animation Palette. Click the Animation
Sets tab to open the Animation Sets palette, as shown.
The Frame Rate, Time control, Frame Indicator, Play controls,
and Skip Frames button all function as described in previous
sections of this chapter.

Creating an Animation Set.

• To create a new animation set, click the New button and

name your new set. Doing so will populate the Animation
Sets tab with additional editing controls.

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• To delete an animation set, select the set from the pop-up the animation set to the library. Repeat for additional sets
menu to the right of the Attributes button, and click the you want to save.
Delete button.

• To add selected items and/or frames to your animation set, Setting Animation Set Attributes
click and drag to make your selection and click the + button.
The Attributes button is for use with Python scripts. You can
You can select any combination of items/frames. The start
add any arbitrarily named attribute with an associated value.
and end frames will be made identical for all items in the
Using Python scripts, you can use these attributes any way you
animation set.
wish. For example, you could create a Python script that causes
• To remove selected item(s) and/or frame(s), make your a figure to blink their eyes repeatedly. For more information
selection and click the – button. on using Python scripts with Poser, please refer to “Part 8:
PoserPython” on page 757, or to the PoserPython Methods
Manual that accompanied your Poser installation.

Applying Animation Sets to Figures

Several buttons allow you to add, remove, and set attributes for
your animation set items and frames. You can also apply animation sets to figures. For example, if you
create an animation set of an arm being raised, applying that set
• To save an animation set, you will need to save the pose to your current figure will cause its arm to raise in the exact way
to the Library. To save an animation set pose, first open specified by the animation set. This feature can help you save
the Pose library. Click the Save to Library button at the time by allowing you to reuse complex animations over and over.
bottom of the Library palette to display the New Set dialog.
Next, click the Select Subset button at the bottom of the
dialog to open the Select Objects dialog. Click the Select
Using the Walk Designer
from Animation Set button to display a list of the available Of the wide range of human motions, walking is among the
animation sets. Choose one of the sets, and click OK to save hardest to simulate with any degree of accuracy. Walking looks

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simple: just place one foot in front of the other. In reality, Creating the Walk
however, it is an incredibly complex motion involving a variety
of muscles in the legs, torso, arms– practically the entire body. To open the Walk Designer, select the figure you’d like to
Thus, creating an accurate walk simulation entails a great deal animate in the Poser scene, then choose the Window > Walk
of precision posing. Poser’s Walk Designer allows you to bypass Designer menu command.
most of this and create a realistic walk using just a few simple
Unless you want your figure to walk in place (without a walk
steps.
path), create a walk as follows:
1. Create a walk path (your figure will follow this path when
walking)

2. Create a walk using the Walk Designer.

The Walk Designer has two sections. The upper set of controls
creates the walk’s larger motions, while the lower set lets you set
up the walk’s secondary motions. To preview a walk, click the
Walk button at any time while using the Walk Designer. The
preview will loop indefinitely and the button will change to Stop.

Views
As you can see in the previous graphic, the Walk Designer
The Walk Designer. includes a real-time preview of the walk being created. As you
change the parameters, the walk changes to reflect your updates.
You can specify the angle from which to preview your walk by
checking the appropriate radio button underneath the Preview
tab:

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• (default): Checking the radio button looks at the figure on Try loading the same figure you’re working on.
an angle. For example, if creating a walk for the Don
figure, load him into the Walk Designer for best results.
• Side: Checking the Side radio button looks at the figure’s
side.

• Front: Checking the Front radio button looks at the figure’s Blend & Tweak Styles
front.
Once you’ve loaded your figure type, you can begin designing
• Top: Checking the Top radio button looks down from the your walk. By default, the sliders are all in the middle of their
top. ranges. This combination applies a workable default walk.
Dragging a slide to the right increases its value and effect, and
The Walk Designer reflects your current Poser vice versa. To create a walk:
workspace’s foreground, background, and
1. Drag the Blend sliders to create the large motions. Use
shadow colors, as well as tracking mode.
the preview to view all of the available settings. Try using
combinations of several settings, and remember that small
changes can produce dramatic results.
Figure Types
2. Adjust the Tweak sliders to fine-tune the walk.
This step is optional, however it can address potential issues
such as irregular or jerky motions in generated walks. To load 3. When your walk looks the way you want it to, click the Done
a figure type, click the Load button in the Walk Designer and button to open the Apply Walk dialog (see below).
use the standard Open dialog to locate your desired character
(*.CR2) file. Please see “Appendix B: Poser File Structure” Clicking the Defaults button restores all sliders to
on page 768 for more information about Poser file types, their default positions.
including CR2 files.

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Loading & Saving Walks

You can load and save walk files using the Walk Designer. This
is not the same as saving animated poses to the Library palette.
To save a walk, create it, then click the Save button to open
a standard dialog box allowing you to specify the name and
location for the saved walk. Select your desired path, enter a
name for the saved walk, and click OK.
To load a walk, click the Load button to open a standard Open
dialog, allowing you to specify a path and filename for the walk
file to load.

For greatest realism, load walks created using

the same figure type.

Applying Walks
Once you’ve created your walk, you need to apply it to the
figure’s walk path (see “Creating a Walk Path” on page 465
for instructions on creating walk paths). The Walk Apply dialog
The Apply Walk dialog.
allows you to specify various options for applying your newly
created walk. If you want your figure to walk in place, you can
use this dialog without having a walk path. • Figure: If your scene has more than one figure in it, the
You have the following options when applying walks: Figure pull-down menu allows you to select the figure to
apply the walk to.

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• Walk in Place/Follow Path: Clicking the Walk in Place into and out of the walk at the beginning and end of the
radio button causes the selected figure to walk in place walk cycle, respectively. When enabled, Poser interpolates
without going anywhere. You can use this option to create between the figure’s pose at the start of the walk and the
a walk without a walk path. Alternately, if you wish your settings you specified in the Walk Designer, and vice
figure to follow a walk path, click the Follow Path radio versa at the end of the cycle. For example, you can use this
button. feature to quickly set up a runner by posing the figure in the
crouched starting position, designing a run, and specifying a
• Path: If your scene has more than one walk path, you can realistic transition time. When you play your animation, the
use the Path pull-down menu to specify the walk path to runner will come off the starting blocks and begin the run.
use. Checking one or both boxes enables the specified option(s).
Once enabled, enter the number of frames to be used for the
• Align Head to: Checking the Align Head to box lets you
transition. Longer time periods (more frames) allow more
control how the figure’s head acts as it moves along the walk
realistic movements and vice versa.
path. One Step Ahead keeps the head aligned with the
body and produces the most head movements. End of Path • Start Frame: Enter the frame in your animation where the
keeps the figure’s head looking at the end of the walk path walk will begin in the Start Frame field.
no matter where it leads. Next Sharp Turn aligns the head
to the turns in the walk path, the head only moving when • End Frame: Enter the frame in your animation where the
the path curves. walk will end in the End Frame field. Poser suggests a value
that is expected to yield a natural walk speed. The more
• Always Complete Last Step: Checking the Always frames allocated, the more time a figure will take to walk
complete last step box forces the walk animation to along the specified path.
complete within the allotted time. This is useful if the walk
ends in mid-stride at the end. • Create Keyframes in: The Create Keyframes in setting
allows you to select either a new or existing animation layer
• Transition From/To Pose at Start/End Frames: The for your walk keyframes. Animation layers allow you to
Transition from pose at start and Transition from pose organize your animations, save and reuse specific aspects of
at end options allow your figure to smoothly transition a larger animation.

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We recommend that you create the keyframes in a of your scene and walk path, but you can work using any camera
new animation layer; click the “New animation layer” you like. The following image shows a default walk path.
radio button to select this option. Alternately, you can
choose to use an existing animation layer by clicking
the “Layer” radio button, and selecting the name of the
layer from the pop-up menu. If you do not wish to use
animation layers, you can simply write all keyframes to
the Base Layer. For more information about animation
layers, please see “Layers Tab” on page 455.

Creating a Walk Path

Creating a walking figure is a two-step process. The first step
entails creating a walk path for your selected figure that defines
where s/he is going to walk. The figure can walk in place or along Default walk path.
a path.
Walk paths are designed to work with the Walk Designer (see Walk paths must be created on the ground plane.
“Using the Walk Designer” on page 460). While the Walk
Designer specifies how your figure walks, a walk path specifies
where. The path is a curve drawn in the Document window that Shaping Curves
sets the figure’s course as it moves about the Poser workspace.
Create the path, design the walk, and the figure walks along the The curve’s position is defined using control points. Click and
path from start to end, stopping at the end. drag control points to shape your path any way you like.
To create a walk path, Select Figure > Create Walk Path. A
default path appears in the Poser workspace. We recommend
shifting to the Top camera and zooming out to get the best view

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Drag a control point to reshape the curve. You can add or remove points on the walk path.

You can position the beginning and end of the walk path by To delete control points, press and hold Opt/Alt while clicking
dragging the end control points. You can also reposition the the point you wish to remove.
entire walk path by selecting the ring that appears when your Once you have completed your walk path, use the Walk
cursor is near the walk path, which functions like the Figure Designer to design a walk for your figure. Please refer to “Using
Ring discussed in “Selecting Body Parts” on page 178. the Walk Designer” on page 460 for more information about
the Walk Designer.
Adding and Removing Control Points
To add control points, simply click anywhere along the line. Your
new control points appear. Adding control points can add detail
and/or lengthen your walk path.

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Sound
Poser allows you to import sounds, which play when your
animation plays. This is a great way for you to add soundtracks,
speech, etc. to your animations. To import a sound clip, select
File > Import > Sound and use the standard Open dialog that
appears to locate your desired sound file. If you wish to import
a speech sound clip for use with the Talk Designer, select File >
Import > Lip Sync Audio (see below for information on the Talk
Designer). Imported sounds attach to your animations at the
first frame and play whenever the animation is played. Also, you
can only import one sound file. If your animation calls for more
than one sound, edit your desired sounds together in an audio
A reshaped walk path.
editing application and create a new sound file for importing
into Poser.
Because of the nature of the spline used for walk
paths, it is impossible to create a hard right-
angle turn. These and other abrupt direction changes
Importing Sound
can result in unnatural-looking walks.
Selecting either File > Import > LipSync Audio or File > Import
> Sound allows you to import WAV sound clips that you can
Once you have created a walk using the Walk use as a soundtrack for your animation. Imported speech or
Designer, you can delete the walk path. The sounds are added to the beginning of your animation and play
figure will still behave as though the walk path was every time you play your animation. Upon selecting this option,
present. a standard Open dialog appears, allowing you to select the
filename and location of the sound file you wish to import. If you
selected the LipSync Audio option, the Talk Designer will open
with your specified audio file selected. Please refer to “Syncing
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Sound & Motion” on page 468 for information on working To specify start and end frames for the sound, drag arrows on
with imported sounds. either side of the sound bar.

Importing sounds files will add keyframes based

on the current frame rate selected. For example Syncing Sound & Motion
a two second long sound file will expand the default
The Graph palette displays a graphic representation of the
animation to 60 frames if a frame rate of 30 frames per
sound file called a waveform, which lets you see where changes
second has been selected for the animation
in sound occur. You can use this information to position
keyframes in your animation. Simulate speech by matching
peaks in the waveform with changes in mouth position, as shown
Editing Sound above. To display waveforms in the Graph palette, open it as
described in “Using Graphs” on page 444 and click the Toggle
Sound duration appears in the Sound Range bar at the bottom
Sound Display button to toggle waveform display on and off.
of the Animation Palette. You can clip imported sounds by
shortening the sound bar. However, if sound playback begins
at any frame other than 1, the beginning of the sound will be
clipped.

A sound appears as a waveform in the Graph palette.

The sound range is displayed at the bottom of the Animation

Palette.
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Using the Talk Designer

Poser’s Talk Designer automates the task of animating facial
features for speech. The Talk Designer synchronizes morph
targets, Emotional Tweak controls, and powerful eye and head
motion modelling algorithms with your sound file, making it
much easier to animate realistic facial expressions for speech.
The Talk Designer is configured using the Talk Designer
palette. Choose Window > Talk Designer to open the palette.
Select File > Import > Lip Sync Audio to import a sound file,
as described above. At the end of the import process, the Talk
Designer palette will automatically open with your imported
audio file selected.

The Talk Designer.

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Select Window > Talk Designer to open the Talk Designer to select another option from the Language menu, you
palette at any time. must have text entered in the Supplemental Text field.
After entering your text, you will have the option to select
English, French, German, or Japanese.
Configuring the Talk Designer
• Viseme map file: A viseme map file provides information
The Talk Designer palette settings are described in the following
about which phonemes (speech sounds) are matched to
sections. When you have configured the Talk Designer to your
which specific visemes, or facial expressions. These viseme
satisfaction, click the Apply button at the bottom of the palette
map files are directly linked to the morph target setup of
to generate a lipsync animation based upon the settings you
the individual figure. If you are working with any of the
specified.
newer figures included with Poser, you can simply use the
default viseme map file for the figure. If you wish to use a
Input Files
figure from a previous version of Poser, please make sure
that a viseme map is provided in the associated pop-up
• Sound file: Clicking the “...” button next to the Sound file
menu. If you use a figure from a third-party source that was
setting allows you to browse to the location of the sound file
created with a different morph target setup, you will need
you wish to use for your lipsync animation. Poser supports
to provide the viseme map file that accompanies the figure.
WAV file, as well as AIFF files on the Macintosh.
We recommend that you place the viseme map file into the
• Supplemental text: For better accuracy, we recommend \Runtime\LipSync\ folder that accompanies your Poser
that you include the text of the spoken words in the installation. Doing so will add the file to the pop-up menu in
Supplemental text field. Text entries in this field will be the Talk Designer palette. Alternately, you can click the “...”
required if you need to specify an alternative language. You button to browse to the location of the viseme map file, if
can click the “...” button to browse to a text document, or you wish to keep it in another location.
click on the “+” button to open a text box and enter the text
directly.

• Language: If you add supplemental text, use the Language

pull-down menu to specify the language used. In order
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If you are unsure whether or not your custom If the End Frame number specified in the Talk
figure was created following the morph target Designer is greater than the End Frame for the
standards for included Poser figures, you can try your entire scene animation (as specified on the Base Layer),
animation using the default viseme map file. Smith then additional frames will be appended to the scene to
Micro cannot support third-party figures. If you are accommodate the difference.
dissatisfied with the results, you will need to contact the
content creator.
• Create Keyframes in: The Create Keyframes in setting
allows you to select either a new or existing animation layer
Configuration for your lipsync animation keyframes. Animation layers
allow you to organize your animations, save and reuse
• Figure: Specify which figure in the scene you wish to use for specific aspects of a larger animation.
the lipsync animation, by selecting the name of the figure
We recommend that you create the keyframes in a
from the pop-up menu.
new animation layer; click the “New animation layer”
• Start frame: Specify the Start Frame number for the actual radio button to select this option. You will be asked
lipsync animation. By default, the Start Frame setting is set to name the new layer. Alternately, you can choose to
to the Start Frame of the entire scene animation (frame 1). use an existing animation layer by clicking the “Layer”
radio button, and selecting the name of the layer from
• End frame: Specify the End Frame number for the actual the pop-up menu. If you do not wish to use animation
lipsync animation. By default, the End Frame setting is set layers, you can simply write all keyframes to the Base
to the End Frame of the entire scene animation (generally Layer. For more information about animation layers,
frame 30, unless you have specified a different scene End please see “Layers Tab” on page 455.
Frame). Once you load a sound file, the End Frame setting
will default to match the length of the sound file. • Enunciation: The Enunciation slider allows you to
configure the degree to which the Talk Designer will adjust
a figure’s visemes, or facial morphs, in response to changes
in the audio file’s perceived energy. Poser automatically

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adjusts visemes to correlate to the energy of the selected • Create head motion: People naturally move their heads
sound file. However, you can use the Enunciation slider during speech, which means that adding head motion to
to raise or lower the degree of reaction, to counteract or your animation can yield more realistic results. Check the
supplement the automatic viseme adjustment. Move the Create head motion checkbox to have Poser add head
slider to the right to increase enunciation, or to the left to motion to your lipsync animation for you.
decrease.
Emotional Tweaks
Head Motions
The Talk Designer includes six Emotional Tweaks, which are
morph targets that can be used in conjunction with speech.
• Eye Blink Rate: The Talk Designer can add intermittent
These morph targets are based upon facial expressions
eye blinks that have been modeled on studies of actual
associated with the following emotions:
human blink rates, in order to animate blinks realistically
in relation to the animation of speech. The Eye Blink Rate
• Anger
slider allows you to specify an average blink rate, measured
in blinks per minute (BPM). To change the average blink • Disgust
rate, simply click and drag the slider, or click on the
numerical value in the textbox and enter a number directly. • Fear
The default value is 12.5 BPM. A setting of zero (0 BPM)
disables the automatic blink feature, which means that with • Joy
this setting you must animate all eye blinks manually.
• Sadness
• Create eye motion: When people speak, their eyes
• Surprise
generally look in different directions with relation to their
subject matter and surroundings. Adding eye movements Each of these Emotional Tweaks is adjusted by a slider, which
can result in a more realistic animation. Check the Create ranges between -100% and 100%. The values within this range
eye motion checkbox to have Poser add eye movements to represent the degree to which each particular emotion will
your lipsync animation. manifest in the facial expressions of the figure during the lipsync
animation. Feel free to mix and match the Emotional Tweaks
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slider values to suit your specific needs. To adjust the values, you In some cases, figures can float above the surface
can either move the sliders to the right or left, or you can click on of the floor after you import BVH data. Choose
the numerical value to the right of the slider and enter a number the Scripts > Utility > dropFigToFloorAllFrames
directly. command for a useful Python utility that drops the
figure to the floor across all keyframes.

Importing BVH Motion Capture Files

Selecting File > Import > BVH Motion allows you to import Advanced Animation Techniques
motion-capture files in the popular BVH format. A standard
Import dialog appears, allowing you to select your desired path This section is where we stop talking about technical details for
and filename. a moment and focus on a few artistic considerations. Editing
animations is pretty easy work in and of itself. Getting your
To determine the correct axis or scale for the BVH files consult animation to look just the way you want it and adding realism
the developer’s readme or documentation. Developers such as are the hard parts. A jerky movement can turn smooth and
Biovision or House of Moves will provide this information. Or, flowing or an unrealistic motion can become realistic if you keep
you can specify whether a figure’s arms are aligned in the X or a few simple techniques in mind.
Z axis during import. The align axis is determined at the time
of recording. Choose the correct axis so your figure will move
correctly. Begin by selecting the body. Import the BVH file and Keyframes and Timing
select the Z-Axis arm alignment and Scale Automatically
options. Some actors may not be recognized, but the BVH file How should you space keyframes? Begin by considering time
will still load. If you make a mistake, return to Frame 1 and and frame rate. Space keyframes so that the motion looks
re-import the file. Imported BVH keyframes are applied to natural at the selected frame rate. For example, if you have a
the currently selected figure and can be edited like any other motion that requires 4/5 of a second, you’ll need 24 frames
keyframe (see “Editing Keyframes on the Timeline” on page at 30fps, 20 frames at 24fps, 9 frames at 12fps, etc. The basic
451). formula is frame rate (in frames per second) times motion
duration in seconds = number of frames required.

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Creating Realistic Motion palette, or change interpolation types to create motions. You can
adjust splines or change interpolation types in the Graph palette.
Now that you’ve gotten the number of frames required for
By working this way, you can create any kind of action and can
a motion down, what’s next? Break down the motion into
make that animation look as realistic as possible.
component parts. For example, look at a baseball player
swinging a bat. At first glance, it may look like the arms are
moving. Upon closer inspection, however, you see that the Animatable Origins
entire body is in motion. Some movements, like the arms and
legs, are more pronounced that others. So, begin with the large The Animatable Origin option appears in the Properties palette
movements then go back and work on the finer adjustments. when a prop is selected, or when a body part on a poseable figure
Using our baseball player example, you could start with two is selected.
keyframes: One at the beginning of the swing, the other at the
end.
Previewing this animation with only two keyframes would
probably give you a pretty good result, however the details are
where your animations will shine.
Now that the major motions are roughed in, let’s add some
detail. For example, add the hip swings, shoulder tilts, etc. The
subtle details may not be overly noticeable, but your viewers will
pick up their presence or absence though they may not be able
to tell you what’s wrong with your animation if these elements
are not present. Poser’s Animation palette and graph (described
in the previous sections) are ideal for this fine-tuning. Smooth
transitions don’t occur in all movements. For example, when a
bat strikes a fast-moving baseball, there is an immediate change
in direction. This is an animation where linear interpolation
might be better suited. You can adjust splines in the Graph The Animatable Origin option.
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When checked, the Animatable Origin option allows you to Because the width and shape of the shoulders has changed so
animate the actor’s origin as the actor is translated, rotated, or much from the original figure, the upper arm no longer rotates
scaled. This allows you to optimally position the joint origin with proper respect to the new shape and size of the shoulder.
if the shape of the actor changes drastically by scaling or When the “Alien Andy” morph is dialed in and the arm is raised
morphing. up, the arm rotates through the shoulder.
Consider the example shown in the following figures, which was
prepared by Nerd3D. In this example, the default Andy figure
has been morphed into an alien shape.

When the upper arm on the morphed character is rotated, its joint
.center is no longer appropriate for the morphed body shape.

A drastically morphed character.

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When using animatable origins, you will get

much better bending if you first merge your
spherical and capsule zones into weight maps first, as
outlined in “Adding a Weight Map” on page 680. At a
minimum, convert the body parts where the mesh is
most affected by the morph (the shoulders, forearms,
head and neck in the case of this alien morph). Affected
actors will also allow you to create joints that bend more
naturally in respect to the joints around them.

After you convert your body parts into weight maps, use the
Properties palette to set the Animatable Origin option on for
each origin you need to change. You’ll also want to make sure
that the Display Origin option is checked so that you can see and
position the origin. When viewed in Outline display mode, you
can easily see which origin points need to be adjusted when the
morph is dialed in. Original joint centers as they appear in relation to the morph.

The Dependency Editor, discussed in “Using Dependent

Parameters” on page 598, allows you to link the morph with
the new positions of the joint centers. For example, after the
“Alien Andy” morph is dialed in, you would open the Dependent
Parameters editor and click Start Teaching to record the new
positions of the joint centers that you want to change. Any
changes you make to the joint positions are changed in the
Dependent Parameters editor as shown in the following figure.

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Continue as such until all of your joints are adjusted. They will
all be recorded in the Dependent Parameters editor. After you
have them all set up, click Stop Teaching again. After all of your
joints are positioned you will see the morphed character pose
much more naturally, and the way it is supposed to.

The Dependent Parameters editor will track positions of the Origin

X, Y, and Z dials after “Start Teaching” is pressed.

After you adjust the X, Y, and Z origin of the current joint, click
Stop Teaching. Select the next joint you want to edit, and Start
The new positions of the joints.
Teaching again.

DO NOT use Figure > Symmetry to copy the new

joint positions to the other side of the body.
Doing so will copy the positions of all joints into the
Dependent Parameters editor.

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Long/Complex Animations
If you are trying to make a long movie or one that incorporates
changing cameras, you should create small clips and edit them
together in a video editing application such as Adobe Premiere.

Saving Animations to the Library

You can save animations to the Library palette as still (single-
frame) or animated (multiple frame) poses for use with other
figures/props. See “Adding Items to the Library” on page 160
for more information on saving still or animated poses to the
Library.

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Chapter 23: Rendering To use the Movie Settings window:

1. Select your desired movie format using the Format pull-
Animations down menu. Your available options are:

ƒƒ Image Files: This option creates an Image Sequence,

Your can access the Movie Settings window by selecting which is a series of still images, one for each frame
Animation > Make Movie. This window can also be accessed in your animation. For maximum value results and
via the Render Settings dialog. The Movie Settings window optimal quality, we recommend using the Image Files
appears as follows. option to render your final movie, and then using a
compositing tool for editing and post-production work.

ƒƒ AVI (Windows)/QuickTime (Macintosh): These are

the default Windows/Macintosh movie formats. We
recommend that you use these formats only for preview
purposes while still working on your animation, as they
provide the fastest possible access to rendered results.
See “AVI Options” on page 481 and “QuickTime
Options” on page 482 for more information.

ƒƒ Flash: Adobe Flash is a popular format for animations

posted on Web sites. If you have selected Flash format,
click the Options button for settings specific to that
format. The Flash movie options will be discussed in
detail later in this chapter. See “Flash Options” on page
484 for more information.
2. Select which renderer you wish to use for your animation
The Movie Settings dialog. using the Renderer pull-down menu. Your options are the
FireFly, Sketch or Preview render engines. See “Chapter
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19: Using The FireFly Render Engine” on page 390 The production frame is determined by the
for more information about the FireFly renderer, and aspect ratio resulting from the output width and
“Chapter 20: The Sketch Designer” on page 426 for height. You can set the production frame to be visible in
more information about the Sketch Designer renderer. The the Document window’s scene preview area, by selecting
Preview renderer provides a quick draft-quality render of Display > Production Frame from the menu bar.
your movie.
5. Specify your Time Span settings:
3. Under the Options section, you can enable the following
options for AVI/Quicktime and image files, by checking the ƒƒ Range: Enter the start and end frame numbers for the
appropriate checkboxes: portion of your animation that you wish to render in the
Start and End boxes. This feature is useful if you wish
ƒƒ Antialias: Antialiasing is available with the Preview to save a subset of the total animation. For example, if
render engine, to improve the quality of images in draft you create a 60-frame animation, you could opt to save
preview renders. a 15-frame movie beginning 35 frames into the total
ƒƒ 2D Motion Blur: This option provides realistic 2D animation.
motion blurring effects to images and animations ƒƒ Increment: Click the appropriate Increment radio
rendered with the FireFly or Preview render engines. button to specify how many frames to render in your
Use the Blur Amount value to customize the results of movie output. Your choices are as follows:
this effect.
All Frames: Clicking the All Frames button will render
4. Specify your desired export Resolution Scale. The Quick-
all frames in the specified range, as defined by the
Scale pop-up menu offers quick access to four different
movie’s frame rate.
render scale options: Full Size, Half Size, Quarter Size,
and Preview Size. Note that this feature is not intended Frame Rate: Click the Frame Rate (number of frames
to replace the Frame Size value, but rather is a tool for per second) radio button to use the movie’s current
facilitating quick render previews, as the smaller scale output frame rate (as opposed to the actual frame
render sizes require less time to calculate. rate of the Poser keyframe data) or specify your own.
Enter the desired frame rate in the box, if you wish to
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specify a frame rate other than the rate defined for the
document (for example, lower frame rates are generally
recommended for Flash output). Higher numbers give
smoother animations but require longer rendering
times and take up more room on your hard drive.
Please refer to “Frame Rate” on page 441 for a listing
of common frame rates.

Every Nth Frame: Clicking this radio button allows

you to render fewer frames, for fast preview purposes.
For example, rendering every 2nd frame takes half the
Video Compression dialog.
time as rendering every frame, and so on. Specify your
desired “N” value in the box.
6. Click the Make Movie button to open the Save Movie • Compressor: Select which Codec you wish to use from
dialog box, which allows you to browse for your desired the Codec pop-up menu. Note that certain Codecs offer
folder, then click the Save button to save your new additional configuration settings. Click on the Configure
animation to the selected folder. Animation renders can take button, if enabled for your selected Codec, to set up your
some time depending on your scene, animation settings, desired configuration.
and computer, so please be patient.
Certain Codecs may require a specific image
aspect ratio in order to function properly.

AVI Options Depending on which Codec you select, the following settings
When you choose to render your animation as an AVI, the Video may also be available:
Compression dialog includes the following settings:
• Compression Quality: Adjust the Compression Quality
slider to your desired level, from 1-100. Higher quality

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compression will take longer to generate and require more

system resources to compute.

• Key Frame every X Frames: This setting specifies how

often the codec will set up a keyframe in the resulting movie
file. This is not to be confused with the keyframe frequency
in your actual Poser animation.

• Data Rate: You can choose to specify a maximum rate of

data processing in KB per second.

QuickTime Options
When you choose Quicktime format and click the Options
button, the Compression Settings dialog opens. This dialog
includes the following settings for 32-bit Macintosh systems:

Certain Codecs may require a specific image

aspect ratio in order to function properly.

The Compression Settings dialog (32-bit Macintosh systems).

• Compression Type: Select which Codec you wish to use

from the Compression Type pop-up menu. Note that
certain Codecs offer additional configuration settings, as
mentioned below. Available choices are Animation, Apple
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Intermediate Codec, Apple Pixlet Video, DV-PAL, DV/

DVCPPRO-NTSC, DVCPRO-PAL, DVCPRO50-NTSC,
DVCPRO50-PAL, H.264, JPEG 2000, MPEG-4 Video,
None, Photo-JPEG, and PNG.

Certain Codecs may require a specific image

aspect ratio in order to function properly.
Depending on the codec you select, the selections will
vary.

For information on Motion, Encoding Mode, and

Compression settings, refer to QuickTime
documentation at http://images.apple.com/quicktime/
pdf/QuickTime7_User_Guide.pdf. The Save dialog (64-bit Macintosh systems).

When running Poser on a 64-bit Mac, the choice set for

• Format: Select which Codec you wish to use from the
Quicktime movies is a more contemporary selection set than
Compression Type pop-up menu. Note that certain Codecs
previous versions of Quicktime.
offer additional configuration settings, as mentioned below.
Available choices are H.264 (saves as .mp4), Apple Pixlet
(saves as .mov), MPEG-4 (saves as .mp4), and DVC Pal, or
DVC NTSC (which save as .dv).

Certain Codecs may require a specific image

aspect ratio in order to function properly.
Depending on the codec you select, the selections will
vary.

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• Quality: Choose the level of quality that you desire. Choices

are Maximum, High, Normal, Low, and Minimum.

Flash Options
Clicking the Flash Options button opens the Flash Settings
dialog. You have the following options when exporting Adobe
Flash movies:

The Flash Export dialog.

• Overlap Colors: Checking the Overlap Colors checkbox

causes Adobe Flash to take the color that is used the most

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and create a silhouette of the entire object (such as a figure • Auto Quantization: Check the appropriate radio button
or prop). The next color is placed on top of the first, and so to select if you want the quantization to occur across All
on, with each layer of color containing the layers above it. Frames or at a Specified Frame.
Selecting this option makes for larger files, but will increase
ƒƒ All Frames: This option can be useful in situations
the quality of the final file. Deselecting this option causes
when you want color quantization to be applied to each
blocks of different colors to appear next to each other with
frame; for example, if you are animating materials.
no overlapping, which could cause the animated object to
appear broken or discontinuous. ƒƒ Specified Frame: If you selected Specified Frame,
enter the frame number where the quantization should
• Draw Outer Lines: Checking the Draw Outer Lines occur in the Specified Frame field.
checkbox draws a border around the entire silhouette.
ƒƒ Custom Quantization: You can select custom colors
• Draw Inner Lines: Checking the Draw Inner Lines by clicking within the color preview windows to bring
checkbox draws lines around each color layer. up the Poser Color Picker. The number of custom color
preview windows will be determined by the Number
• Line Width: Enter the desired line width (in pixels) in the of Colors setting (see above). Mousing over any of the
Line Width box. preview windows will display the RGB color values for
that color at the top right of the Custom Color display
• Number of colors: Enter the desired number of colors
window. Click on the AutoGenerate Colors button to
in the Number of colors box. Note that adding colors
restore the default custom color values.
will increase the file size and download time for people
viewing this file via the Web. Four colors are good for most For optimal results when exporting to Flash
situations, though the maximum possible is 253. format, use the scene preview Cartoon display
style when preparing your scene.
• Color Quantization: Quantization is the process of
selecting the specified number of colors that best represent
your Poser figure. You can select either Auto or Custom
quantization of colors. In either case, your color choices will
be saved with the project file.
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Part 6:
Customizing
Content

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Chapter 24: The Face • Apollo Maximus

Room
• Miki, Miki 2, and Miki 3

• Poser 6 Figures: James and Jessi

Adding realistic custom faces and creating a personalized head • Poser 5 Figures: Don and Judy
can be an extremely complex undertaking, but Poser’s powerful
The Face Room is shown below, with all palettes and options
Face room greatly simplifies the process. In just a few minutes,
docked. If you need to show the Face Room windows, choose
you can make your figure look like you, one of your friends, or
Window > Room Tools > Face, and select Face Preview,
anyone! With a few steps, you can reshape a figure’s face using a
Photo Lineup, Texture Preview, Face Texture Tool, Face
collection of dials that drive sculpting morphs, or import facial
Shaping Tool as desired. These windows are described in the
photographs to match the face in the images.
sections that follow.
By default, an HTML Help window opens when
you enter the face room. This window contains
additional tips and tricks for obtaining optimal results.
If you do not see this window, please select Window >
Room Help.

The Face room creates heads for use with the following figures
(listed from newest to oldest):

• Ryan, Alyson, and their ethnic variations, including lo res

versions

• Poser 7 Figures: SimonG2 and Sydney G2

• Other G2 Figures: JamesG2, Jessi G2, Kelvin G2, Koji G2

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• Photo Lineup (1): The Photo Lineup area is where

you load images and align them using a variety of tools.
Activating the Apply Shape checkbox generates geometry
matching your photos. The texture map and the geometry
based on the photos gets generated on the fly.

• Face Texture Tool (2): The Face Texture Tool area lets you
apply a multitude of ethnic and other settings to modify the
current head texture map.

• Face Preview window (3): The Face Preview window

displays a preview of your 3D head with textures. This
window features Mini Camera controls in its upper right
corner. You can also use the Face Shaping Tool (see “The
Face Shaping Tool” on page 496) to sculpt the face to your
exact specifications.
The Face Room.
• Random Face button (4): Clicking the Random Face
button creates a completely random face. This will erase
The number of palettes and options that you see any prior work you’ve done in the Face room and should
in each room depends upon your screen be used with care. The Random Face feature is a great way
resolution. At higher resolutions, the default work to create realistic-looking characters by clicking a single
spaces display more palettes, while at lower resolutions button. Click it as many times as you like until you get the
you see fewer palettes. look you want!

The Face room contains the following interface elements in • Reset Face Room button (5): Clicking the Reset Face
addition to some of the standard elements. room button restores the default head shape and texture.

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This will erase all of your prior Face room work. Use this • Using the Texture Variation area to create custom texture
option with care. maps quickly and easily.

• Texture Preview window (6): The Texture Preview • Using the Random Face feature.
window lets you see your head texture map as you edit it
The Face room allows you to do any or all of these things when
and also allows you to load and save textures for further
creating heads. We’ll discuss the other functionality in the
work.
subsequent sections. For now, let’s walk through using images to
create a custom head.
• Action buttons (7): The Action buttons are where you
apply customized head geometries to your figures, spawn
If you want to reset the Face room to its default
morph targets, or import head texture maps.
state, click the Reset Face room button. This
erases all loaded images, deletes geometry changes, and
• Face Shaping Tool palette (8): The Face Shaping Tool
loses any texture modifications you might have made.
window is where you control the Face Shaping tool, which
Use this option with care!
is the equivalent of the Morphing Tool (see “Creating
Morphs with the Morphing Tool” on page 578) for the
Face room. You can modify heads by using the parameter
dials and/or the tool in this room. Using Images to Create Heads
Each of these areas is discussed below in this chapter.
Creating custom 3D heads from existing images/photographs
As mentioned above, there are several methods for creating (digital or scanned) requires the following steps:
custom heads.
1. Load the images.
• Using two images to shape the geometry and create a
2. Align the images (if needed).
texture map.
3. Align the geometry to the images.
• Using the Face Shaping tool to sculpt the head as you
desire.
4. Apply the new shape to your figure.

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Apply the images you used to create the head as a texture map, • Front image: The front image should be a straight-on
then apply the geometry shape and texture to the head. front view with the subject directly facing the camera and
with the camera level with the subject’s face. The picture
Once you’ve completed these steps, you can proceed to use the
should be close enough to capture plenty of detail. Lighting
Face Shaping tool and/or the Texture Variation functionality.
should also be adjusted to capture the most detail. Overly
If you do not want to use your own images, feel free to skip
bright lighting will give the image a washed-out appearance,
ahead and explore the other head creation/customization
while overly dark lighting will not show off enough detail.
methods.
The person’s mouth should be closed and the overall facial
expression should be neutral for best results.
Step 1: Images
• Side image: The side image should be a direct side view
Creating a personalized head that matches a real person involves with the subject facing 90 degrees from the camera and
using two pictures to create a texture map. Let’s load some with the camera level with the subject’s face. The remaining
images and build a personalized head! guidelines for the front image apply to the side image as
well. Ideally, the front and side views should be taken from
Please follow these simple guidelines for optimum results:
the same distance.
The above images are great examples of ideal images. You can
use less than ideal or even mismatched images, however you
may get some unpredictable results. Each image has its own
alignment tools that can help position it optimally (see next
step). Of course, you can always experiment and have fun if you
want to!
The Face room supports most common image formats.

Select an evenly lit front and profile picture for best results.

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You must import existing images. Poser does not

have the functionality to create images. Images
can be photographs, line drawings, paintings, etc. The
Face room accepts most common image formats.
Textures generated from these images are sized at
512x512 pixels by default.

Step 2: The LineUp

Begin by clicking the Load icon (see below) for the front or
side image in the Photo Lineup area and locate the image you
want to use. For each image, Poser will ask you to locate several
points on the face. This will help it align and match the default
3D head to the images, which you can then fine tune. To locate
the specified facial point on your own photo, click its location as
The Photo Lineup area.
shown in the example face.
For the front image, you’ll be asked to locate the outside corner For the side image, you’ll need to locate the top of the right
of the figure’s right eye and left corner of the lips, as shown earlobe and the front of the chin in the same manner as you did
below. for the front image.

The side image uses the subject’s right side. If

your side image is of the subject’s left side, you
can click the Flip icon to reverse the image.

Once loaded, the images appear in the workspace and the 3D

head and texture map appear.
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• Load: Clicking the Load icon opens a standard OS dialog

allowing you to browse for and select your desired front
image. Once you load an image, you’ll be prompted to locate
various facial features. This helps Poser custom-fit the 3D
head to the images, as described above.

• Delete: Clicking the Delete icon deletes the currently loaded

image.

• Zoom: Clicking and dragging the Zoom icon allows you to

zoom in or out of the current image, allowing you to more
precisely position and shape the head geometry. Clicking the
Zoom icon and dragging to the right or up zooms in, while
dragging to the left or down zooms out. This tool simply
shifts your point of view; it does not affect the images or
the geometry. You cannot zoom out beyond your image’s
Tools in the Photo Lineup area. original size.

• Pan: Clicking and dragging the Pan tool moves the image
Loading the images and locating the requested areas allows
in the same direction as your mouse movement. This is
Poser to do a good job of approximating the location and shape
particularly useful if you need to zoom in to a particular
of the head geometry. You may, however, wish to go in and
area. You can individually pan the front and side images up,
perform some manual adjustments of the geometry’s location
down, left, or right. The front image will pan in the X and Y
relative to the image.
axes (side-side and up-down) and the side image will pan in
To do this, each of the two images in the Photo Lineup area has the Y and Z axes (up-down and front-back). This tool simply
the following tools: shifts your point of view; it does not affect the images or the
geometry.

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• Rotate Geometry: Improper rotation may cause • Pan Geometry: Clicking and dragging the Pan Geometry
unsatisfactory photo lineup results. Ideally, the head should tool and dragging the mouse pans the geometry. This
not be rotated relative to the camera. However, many feature is useful if your loaded image(s) are not perfectly
photos show the head slightly rotated about the X axis (up aligned with the geometry. The front image will pan in the X
and down), the Y axis (looking left to right), or the Z axis and Y axes (side-side and up-down) and the side image will
(tilting left to right). The Face room automatically detects pan in the Y and Z axes (up-down and front-back). This tool
and compensates for some rotation (about the Z axis in the pans the geometry without altering the image or your point
front view and about the X axis in the side view), but you of view.
may still need to perform additional manual adjustments for
Poser does a good job at calculating how to shape the head
best results.
based on the images, however you’ll probably need to fine-tune
ƒƒ To rotate about the X axis (front view), click and drag the head for best results. The head appears superimposed on
the mouse horizontally while pressing Shift. the images with red lines showing the facial features and green
control points. In this case, the head is a bit off-center as can be
ƒƒ To rotate about the Y axis (front view), click and drag
seen by both the superimpositions and the texture map. How do
the mouse horizontally while pressing Opt/Alt.
you fix this? Easy: Perform a little virtual surgery.
ƒƒ To rotate about the Z axis (front view), click and drag
the mouse horizontally without pressing any keys.
Step 3: Cyber Face Lifts
ƒƒ To rotate about the X axis (side view), click and drag the
mouse horizontally without pressing any keys. Looking at your loaded images, you will see the red outlines of
a head superimposed on the images. Each major facial feature
• Scale Geometry: Clicking and dragging the Scale (eyes, nose, mouth, chin, etc.) has one or more control points,
Geometry tool scales the geometry to align it to the image. which appear as green dots. All you need to do is move the
This feature is useful if your loaded image(s) are larger or control points until they match the underlying image. Do this
smaller than the geometry outline. You can pan up, down, by placing the mouse pointer over the control point you wish to
left, and/or right. This tool scales the geometry without move. The cursor will change, at which point you can drag the
altering the image or your point of view. selected control point up, down, left, or right. For example, you’d
move the middle nose point until it’s just under the bridge of the
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nose and the two side points until they’re at the corners of the
nostrils, and so on. As you move the control points, you’ll see the
head beginning to conform more and more to the figure. You will
also see lines indicating how each control point has moved from
its original position. If you wish to undo a control point move,
simply use the [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[Z] command to return
the control point to its previous position.
You can also move the entire head using the Rotate Geometry,
Scale Geometry, and Pan Geometry tools, which are described
above. These tools move the head outline and alter the head
geometry to match. To move your image without altering the
head geometry, use the Pan Image tool, also described above.
This will cause the image to slide over the geometry.
If you make a mistake while moving the control points, you can
press [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[Z] or select Edit > Undo to undo
your most recent change. Results after adjusting the photo lineup points.

Please refer to the Face room HTML Help

You can use the Zoom tool to move in closer to
window for additional tips & tricks. By default,
your images for even more precise control over
this window appears when you enter the face room. If it
the results.
does not appear, select Window > Room Help to open
the window.

Here’s an example after adjustments. Step 4: Applying the Geometry/Texture

The texture map is created in real time as you work. Enable the
Apply Shape checkbox to apply your images to create a custom

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head, which will appear in the Face Sculpting window. The • Create new textures from scratch by modifying the default
head geometry is dynamically updated as long as Apply Shape texture.
is active.
• Modify textures created by loading images as discussed
Enabling the Apply Shape checkbox will erase above.
any work you may have done with the Face
Shaping tool. If you want to use a combination of • Edit loaded texture maps (see below).
images and shaping, be sure to work with the images
Be sure to load/create your texture before using
before using the Face Shaping tool. This also occurs
the Texture Variation area, as doing so
with textures; loading images will undo any work you
afterward will lose your changes.
have done in the Texture Variation area (see below).

The Texture Variation area uses parameter dials that function

similarly to the dials in the Parameters palette, whose
Creating Custom Textures functionality is described in “Parameters Palette” on page 194.
You can use the Parameter Dial menu to access dial settings,
The Face room includes the Texture Variation area, which reset a dial, or open the selected dial’s Graph (discussed in
allows you to create custom head textures from scratch or “Using Graphs” on page 444). You cannot, however, memorize
modify existing textures. The Face Room generates a new texture Texture Variation dials. The available Texture Variation dials
and blends between the imported texture and the original Poser are:
figure’s texture and attempts to color match the new texture to
the base figure if selected by the user. It also allows the user to • Facial Color: The Facial Color dials modify the color of
select the imported Face Room photo resolutions for the new several facial regions and include Beard dark/light, Eye
texture. . sockets light/dark, Eyebrows lower light/dark, and
To access the Texture Variation area, click the Texture Eyebrows upper light/dark.
Variation tab in area 2 of the Face room. This area allows you
• Ethnicity/Age & Gender: The Ethnicity/Age/Gender dials
to:
generate ethnic, age, and gender traits and include less/

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more African, less/more European, less/more Southeast of clicking and dragging morph targets and/or adjusting Face
Asian, less/more East Indian, Younger/Older, and Male/ Shaping parameter dials in the Face Shaping Tool palette.
Female.

• To modify your texture or the default texture, simply adjust

the dials. Your work will appear in real time in both the
Face Sculpting and Texture Preview windows.

Textures created in the Face room are scaled to

512x512 pixels. If you used higher resolution for
photo matching and want to keep the higher resolution,
choose Yes in the dialog that appears after pressing
Apply to Figure. To use larger texture maps, you can
also import a custom texture, then modify it.

The Face Shaping Tool

The Face Shaping Tool allows you to visually sculpt your
custom head by selecting and moving vertices. The Face room
contains a wide array of custom vertex editing parameters
for the Poser head that allow you to create virtually any face
imaginable. By default, the Face Shaping Tool is active
whenever your cursor is within the Face Sculpting window. The Face Shaping Tool.
Just as with the Morphing tool (see “Creating Morphs with the
Morphing Tool” on page 578), you can use any combination To use the Face Shaping Tool:

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1. Click the portion of the face you wish to adjust and drag the You can use the [COMMAND]/[CTRL]+[Z] command to undo
mouse. This selects the vertex nearest the spot where you a specific parameter change made with the Face Shaping Tool.
clicked and moves it in the direction you drag the mouse. Or, if you want to reset all morph targets to their default values
You can use the Mini Camera controls in the upper right (0), you can click the Clear Morphs button. Also, if you want
corner of the Face Sculpting window to position the head to clear all pins, simply click the Clear Pin Points button. Both
exactly where you want it at any time before, during, or after buttons are located in the Face Shaping Tool palette along with
sculpting. Vertices are moved relative to your viewing angle. other functionality (see below).
For example, if you are looking at the face head-on, clicking
and dragging will move the morph up, down, left, and right.
If you are looking at the top of the head, dragging will move
The Face Shaping Tool Palette
vertices left, right, forward, and backward.
The Face Shaping Tool adjusts the parameters available in the
Face Shaping Tool palette, which uses parameter dials that
2. The Face Shaping Tool can manipulate all selected
function similarly to the dials in the Parameters palette. You
parameters in the Face Shaping Tool palette. Checking
can use the Parameter Dial menu to access dial settings, reset
the checkbox next to a parameter dial includes the specified
a dial, or open the selected dial’s Graph (discussed in “Using
vertex parameter when using the tool, and clearing it means
Graphs” on page 444) You cannot, however, memorize Face
the tool will not affect the specified vertex parameter. Even
Shaping Tool dials.
if a parameter is enabled, it may or may not be affected by
your use of the tool. For example, selecting a vertex in the
This is different than creating facial expressions
forehead may affect the eyebrows but may not affect the
since you are actually modifying head geometry
mouth. Select your desired parameter(s), then click and
instead of simply applying morphs to create a facial
drag any vertex on the head.
expression.

3. Once you have a portion of the head the way you want it,
you can click the Pin button to freeze the selected vertex When sculpting a head, you can use the Face Shaping Tool, the
from further manipulation. Pinned vertices may move as dials in the Face Shaping Tool palette, or any combination you
you keep adjusting other portions of the body part, however wish. The available Face Shaping Tool parameter dials are:
they will retain their current settings.
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• Facial Morphs: The Facial Morphs dial groups includes ƒƒ Jaw: The Jaw dials are Retracted/Jutting:, Wide/Thin,
the following sub-groups and dials. Jaw-Neck Slope High/Low, and Concave/Convex.

ƒƒ Brow Ridge: The Brow Ridge dials are High/Low, ƒƒ Mouth: The Mouth dials are Drawn/Pursed, Happy/
Inner Up/Down, Outer Up/Down, and Forward Axis Sad, High/Low, Protruding/Retracted, Tilt Up/Down,
Twist. Underbite/Overbite, Mouth-Chin Distance Short/
Long, Corners Transverse Shift, and Twist and Shift.
ƒƒ Cheekbones: The Cheekbones dials are High/Low,
Shallow/Pronounced, Thin/Wide, and Protrusion ƒƒ Lips: The Lips dials are Deflated/Inflated, Large/
Asymmetry. Small, and Puckered/Retracted.

ƒƒ Cheeks: The Cheeks dials are Concave/Convex, and ƒƒ Nose: The Nose dials are Coronal Shear, Transverse
Round/Gaunt. Shift, Up/Down, Flat/Pointed, Short/Long, Tilt Up/
Down, Tip Transverse Shift, Transverse Shift, and
ƒƒ Chin: The Chin dials are Forward/Back, Pronounced/
Vertical Axis Twist.
Recessed, Retracted/Jutting, Shallow/Deep, Small/
Large, Short/Tall, Thin/Wide, Chin Axis Twist, ƒƒ Nose Bridge: The Nose Bridge dials are Shallow/
Forward Axis Shift, and Transverse Shift. Deep, Short/Long, and Transverse Shift.

ƒƒ Eyes: The Eyes dials are Up/Down, Small/Large, Tilt ƒƒ Nose Sellion: The Nose Sellion dials are Up/Down,
Inward/Outward, Together/Apart, Height Disparity, Shallow/Deep, Thin/Wide, and Transverse Shift.
and Transverse Shift.
ƒƒ Nose Region: The Nose Region dials are Concave/
ƒƒ Face: The Face dials are: Brow/Nose/Chin Ratio, Convex and Frontal Axes Twist.
Forehead/Sellion/Nose Ratio, Light/Heavy, Round/
ƒƒ Temples: The Temples dial is Thin/Wide.
Gaunt, Thin/Wide, Coronal Bend, Coronal Shear,
and Vertical Axis Twist. ƒƒ Ears: The Ears dials are Up/Down, Back/Front, Short/
Long, Thin/Wide, Vertical Shear, and Forward Axis
ƒƒ Forehead: The Forehead dials are: Small/Large,
Shear.
Short/Tall, Tilt Forward/Back, and Forward Axis
Twist.

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• Ethnicity, Age, and Gender: The Ethnicity/Age/Gender • A value of –1 corresponds to the default head. For example,
dials generate ethnic, age, and gender traits and include if you created a long nose with the other tools, a value of
less/more African, less/more European, less/more 1 creates a very long nose, –1 is the default nose, and –3
Southeast Asian, less/more East Indian, Younger/Older, creates a very short nose.
and Male/Female.
Caricature values near –1 will work for overall
• Standard Figures > Poser 5: The Standard Figures > de-exaggeration, however other tools (Face
Poser 5 dials generate the appearance of one or more of the Shaping, Random Face, etc.) will have little effect due to
standard Poser 5 figures and include Don, Judy, Will, and the Caricature dial’s meta effect.
Penny.
To create/modify your head, simply adjust the dials or use the
tool directly on the head. Your work will appear in real time in Use Morphs
the Face Shaping Tool window.
The Face rooms’s morph database contains both symmetric and
asymmetric targets. The Use Morphs radio buttons allow you to
Caricatures select between the following options:

The Caricature dial allows you to exaggerate or de-exaggerate • Both: This option makes all morph targets in the database
the head and facial features. It has a meta effect, meaning it available for interactive face sculpting. When you click on a
impacts the results of the other sculpting tools. Increasing the point on the face, Poser will select morphs from either the
value increases the exaggeration, and vice versa, as follows: symmetric or asymmetric morph target sets, depending on
what morphs are available at that location and what will
• The default value is 0. yield the best results.

• Values > 0 apply exaggeration to the head, and values<0 but • Symmetry: This option makes only the symmetric morph
greater than –1 apply de-exaggeration. target set available.

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• Asymmetry: This option makes only the asymmetric morph Yes if the texture if for the male, or No if the texture is for the
target set available. Adding slight asymmetry to the face can female or child figures.
often improve the realism of a computer generated face, as
no human face is perfectly symmetric.
Applying Custom Heads/Textures
Loading/Saving/Previewing Textures Once you’ve finished making changes to the head and/or texture,
you may perform the following actions:
The Face room loads the default Poser texture, which is visible
in the Texture Preview window. The Texture Preview window • Apply to Figure: Clicking the Apply to Figure button
shows real-time previews of your head’s texture beginning applies the head in the Face room to the currently selected
with the default and through any changes you make by loading figure in your scene. Face-room compatible figures are listed
images and/or customizing textures. You can also load and save at the beginning of this chapter.
textures to your hard drive for later use. To load a texture, click
• Apply Shape Only: Clicking the Apply Shape Only dial
the Load Texture icon on the left side of the Texture Preview
applies the head shape to the currently selected figure
window, which opens a Load Head Texture window that allows
without applying the texture map.
you to browse for the file you wish to load. You can modify
loaded textures. • Apply Texture Only: Clicking the Apply Texture Only
To save the texture being displayed in the Texture Preview dial applies the head texture to the currently selected figure
window, click the Save Texture icon on the right side of the without applying the head shape.
Texture Preview window, which opens a standard Save As
dialog (see “Saving a Scene” on page 65 for information • Spawn Morph Target: Clicking the Spawn Morph Target
about the Save As dialog). button allows you to save the head as a morph target. Please
refer to “Spawning Morph Targets” on page 594 for more
The Poser male figures use different texture coordinates than the information about spawning morph targets.
female and child figures. When loading and saving textures, you
are prompted to select if the texture is for the male figure. Select • Import Figure Head Texture: Clicking the Import Figure
Head Texture button imports the currently selected
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figure’s head texture, which you can then modify by

creating textures as described above. Imported textures
retain their original sizes. For example, if you import a
1000x1000 texture, all changes you make to it in the Face
room will retain the imported size. This is a great way to
create textures that are larger than the Face room’s default
512x512 size.

If you apply one or more heads to a scene with

no figure, the applied head(s) will become props.
If your scene has multiple figures, the head will be
applied to the currently selected figure visible in the
Select Figure menu.

To remove a custom texture after applying it to

your figure, go into the material room and select
the faceroomskin material. You can then replace the
applied texture map with one of your own, remove the
image map, etc. as desired.

Saving Faces
To save faces from the Face room, you must save PZ3 files
containing the applied head. You can also spawn morph targets.

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Chapter 25: The Hair

Room
Poser’s Hair room allows you to create dynamic strand-based
3D hair for your figures or props. You can add hair wherever
you like on any object in your scene and can add shaders in the
Material room (see “Chapter 14: The Material Room” on page
291) to give your hair almost any appearance from bleach
blond to moss, lichens, grass, etc. (a shader tree is created for
each hair group and is accessible in the Material room). You
can even apply Force Fields (see “Wind Force Fields” on page
569) to create realistic wind effects for your animations!

Hair contains many polygons that require hefty

The Hair Room.
computing resources.

In addition to some standard tools, the Hair room has the

The Hair room appears as follows at 1280 x 960 resolution.
following interface elements:
The number of palettes and options that you see
• Hair Growth Groups Controls (1): The Hair Growth
in each room depends upon your screen
Groups controls allow you to create, edit, and delete hair
resolution. At higher resolutions, the default work
growth groups.
spaces display more palettes, while at lower resolutions
you see fewer palettes:
• Growth Controls (2): The Growth Controls allow you to
specify how hair grows on growth groups.

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• Styling Controls (3): As the name implies, the Styling The first step in creating strand-based hair is to define
Controls allow you to control the appearance of hair. one or more group of polygons as a hair group. A hair
group is a cluster of polygons that has been defined as
• Dynamics Controls (4): The Dynamics Controls allow an area on which hair will grow. A prop or skullcap
you to control how your hair behaves during animations. can contain more than one hair group. For example,
The following subsections will walk you through creating strand- you can create multiple growth groups on a skull cap or
based hair. hair prop to create a part in the hair; or small sections
of a conforming hair prop, or a smart hair prop can be
You can find skull-cap props in the Hair > Poser detailed with wisps of hair.
Content > People > Alyson > Hair Props and
Hair > Poser Content > People > Ryan > Hair Props
Please refer to the “Using the Group Editor” on
categories within the Library palette.
page 614 for a general discussion about
groups.

Step One: Defining Hair Groups

Skullcap props for Ryan and Alyson and other figures have hair
props pre-created. You can use the grouping tool to spawn props
for this purpose too.

If you want to be able to use the hair you are

creating for other figures, please refer to
“Adding Strand-Based Hair to the Library Palette” on
page 516 for more information before proceeding.

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3. Click the Edit Growth Group button to enable the

Grouping tool and open the Group Editor palette. Be
sure that you have the correct hair group selected before
selecting polygons for the group. Please refer to “The Group
Editor” on page 614 for information about using the
grouping tools.

4. Select the polygons you wish to include in the hair group

you are creating.

You can create as many growth groups as you like, such as head
hair, moustaches, beards, chest, back, etc.

Hair Growth Group settings.

To do this:
1. Select the object you wish to grow hair on.

2. Click the New Growth Group button in Area 1 of the

Hair room to create a new group called Hair_1 by default.
Subsequent hair groups are numbered sequentially (Hair_2,
etc.). You can rename groups by entering a new name in the
New Growth Group Name box that appears. Click OK to
proceed or Cancel to abort.

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As the name implies, guide hairs influence how nearby hairs

will grow. To do this, click the Grow Guide Hairs button. The
currently selected hair group will sprout guide hairs.

Assigning polygons to a hair group.

Be sure that you have the correct hair group Growing hair on a Hair Group.
selected in the Group Editor palette before
selecting polygons for the group!
Guide hairs both shape the hair group and increase performance
by allowing you to toggle displaying the fully populated hair
group on and off (see below). Either before or after growing
Step Two: Growing Hair the guide hairs, you can apply some general parameters to
determine the overall hair shape. These are:
Once you’ve created a hair growth group, the next step is to grow
the guide hairs.
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are exactly the same length while a value of 1 adds a great

deal of variation.

• Pull Back: Most hair on peoples’ heads tends to be combed

or pulled back along the scalp. The Pull Back parameter
controls the extent to which guide hairs are pulled pack.
Increasing this value pulls the guide hairs farther back and
flattens them along the scalp. Negative values push the hair
forward and away from the scalp.

• Pull Down: Just as most hair is pulled back, it can hang

down thanks to styling, gravity, or both factors. The Pull
Down parameter determines the extent to which this
occurs. Increasing this value pulls the hair down and flattens
it along the head and vice versa. Negative values create anti-
gravity hair.
Hair Growth Controls.
• Once you’ve completed this step, your hair will be in place
and will have its rough shape.
• Hair Length: The Hair Length parameter determines the
overall length of the guide hairs and subsequent populated Don’t confuse the Pull Back and Pull Down
hairs. Increasing this parameter lengthens the hair and vice parameters as replacing gravity or other
versa. dynamics that you can set after styling the hair. These
parameters merely set the hair’s starting positions.
• Length Variance: Real hair tends to vary somewhat in
length. The Length Variance parameter allows you to
control how much the hair length will vary in the currently
selected hair group. A value of 0 means that all guide hairs

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Step Three: Styling Hair

Now that you’ve grown the guide hairs and set some basic
parameters for how the hair will look, your next step is to style
the hair the way you want it. You can do this by setting the
included styling parameters and/or by using the Hair Edit tool.
You can use the Hair Edit tool at any time after growing hair,
although we recommend that you complete the previous step.
Please see the following subsection for information on using the
Hair Edit tool.

You can toggle the Show Populated function on

and off while you work to check your results as
you go.

The hair styling parameters are as follows:

Styling Controls.

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• Show Populated: Checking the Show Populated checkbox • Root Width: The Root Width parameter controls the
displays both the guide hairs and the population hairs. hairs’ widths (diameters) at their roots. Hair usually thins
This will show you exactly how the hair will look, but does somewhat as it progresses from root to tip, so this number
increase display refresh time. The status of this box will not will typically be larger than the Tip Width parameter, above.
affect population of hair in the final render. Hair will always
appear populated in a FireFly render. • Clumpiness: The Clumpiness parameter determines the
hairs’ tendency to form dreadlock-like bunches.
• Hair Density: The Hair Density parameter controls the
total number of hairs in the group. The number of hairs are • Kink Strength: The Kink Strength parameter is the
displayed next to the dial’s label. Increasing this number measure of how wavy/curly hair is. Increasing this value
makes the hair fuller and more lush. The ability to Control increase the hairs’ waviness, and vice versa.
the total number of hairs is a powerful feature since it allows
• Kink Scale: The Kink Scale parameter determines the size
you to create custom effects, however the total number of
of hair waves/curls. Increasing this value increase the hairs’
hairs can impact rendering and redraw times. Experiment
waviness, and vice versa.
with this number to get optimum coverage without adding
too many hairs. • Kink Delay: The Kink Delay parameter specifies the
distance from the root at which the hair begins to curl/wave.
As a matter of trivia, there are roughly 100-150
Increasing this value increase the distance from the root,
hairs in eyelashes per lid, roughly 500-1,000
and vice versa.
hairs on each brow, and roughly 100,000 to 150,000
hairs on the head.. • Verts Per Hair: The Verts per hair parameter controls how
many vertex points are in each strand of hair. Increasing
• Tip Width: The Tip Width parameter controls the hairs’ this value results in smoother, more flowing hair but
widths (diameters) at their tips. Hair usually thins increases the system resources needed to render/redraw
somewhat as it progresses from root to tip, so this number your scene.
will typically be less than the Root Width parameter, below.

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• Style Hairs: Clicking the Style Hairs button selects the

Hair Select tool and opens the Hair Style Tool palette (see
below).

Using the Hair Edit Tool/Palette

The Hair Select tool is only available in the Hair room. It allows
you to directly edit guide hairs and create a nearly infinite
variety of hair styles (parts, tails, etc.). You can access it by either
selecting it in the Editing tools or by clicking the Hair Select
button as described above. The Hair Style Tool palette appears
as follows:

Hair Styling tools.

You have the following controls available for directly

manipulating guide hairs:

• Add Hairs to Selection (1): Select the Select Hairs tool,

then click and drag a rectangle around the guide hairs you
wish to select for further styling. Unselected guide hairs
are not affected by the Hair Edit tools. Selected hairs are all
affected equally. Selecting more guide hairs can be faster,

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however you can select as few as one hair for precise control Hair growth is based on the parent object’s
over the style. polygon count. If you wish to add detailed hair
groups to a low-poly prop or to a portion of a figure
with a low poly count, you can spawn a prop of the area
you wish to grow hair on, subdivide that prop in your
favorite 3d modeling application, then re-import the
prop and apply it where needed. This is the same idea as
skullcaps except that you are not limited to heads.

• Translate Hairs (2): The Translate Hairs tool moves

the selected hair vertically around or laterally around
the camera’s X and Y axes depending how you drag. The
translation may occur on the hair’s X, Y, and or Z-axes
depending on the position of the camera relative to the hair.

• Curl Hairs (3): The Curl Hairs tool bends a guide hair. Hair
rotation works in three dimensions, allowing you to make a
You can style selected hairs in the hair group. lot of progress very quickly. Dragging perpendicular to the
hair rotates it up and down (relative to your point of view).
Dragging parallel to the hair rotates it in and out, again
For finer control over which hairs are selected,
relative to your point of view.
try switching cameras or using the Magnifier
tool to zoom in close. • Scale Hairs (4): The Scale Hairs tool allows you to scale
the selected hair along the camera’s X and Y axes. The hair’s
affected axes will vary depending on the camera’s position
relative to that item. Dragging in towards the root reduces
the scale, and dragging away from the root increases the

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scale. Dragging laterally scales hair in two dimensions, and how you use the hair editing tools (for example, you could
dragging vertically scales hair in the third dimension. The use the Hair Translate tool to lengthen some guide hairs to
axes affected depend on your currently selected camera create a ponytail.
position. You can also press and hold Shift while using
this tool to scale the selected hair(s) evenly in all three • Falloff: The Falloff slider controls the portion of the hair
dimensions. affected by the styling. Moving the slider to the left causes
the tools to only act near the tip of the hair. Moving the
• Remove Hairs from Selection (5): Select the Deselect slider to the right causes the styling tools to affect more of
Hairs tool, or simply hold down the [CTRL] key, then click the hair’s length. With the slider all the way to the right, the
and drag a rectangle around the guide hairs you wish to entire hair is affected from root to tip.
deselect from further styling. The Hair Edit tools do not
affect unselected guide hairs. • Lengthen: Moving the Lengthen dial to the right lengthens
the selected guide hairs and vice versa.
• Translate In/Out (6): The Translate Hairs In-Out tool
moves the selected hair(s) along the Camera’s Z axis (in and • Clear Selection: Clicking the Clear Selection button
out). This translation may take place along the hair’s X, Y, deselects all selected guide hairs.
and/or Z axes. Dragging down pulls the hair towards you, To exit this tool, either click the Close box on the palette’s upper
and vice versa. right-hand corner or select another Editing tool.

• Twist (7): The Twist Hairs tool rotates selected hair(s) along The Hair Edit tools do not affect figures or props
their own axis. in your scene, and the Document Editing tools do
In addition to the editing tools, the palette has the following not affect hair.
controls:

• Constrain Length: Checking the Constrain Length

checkbox forces all selected guide hairs to retain their
Step Four: Setting Hair Dynamics
current lengths no matter how you use the hair editing tools.
You’ve got your hair grown and styled. Now let’s add some
Clearing this box allows the length to vary depending on
dynamics to control how the hair will behave during animations.
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• Do Collisions: Checking the Do Collisions box enables

collision detection for the current hair group, which will
prevent hairs from penetrating other objects in the scene
(for example, long hair will not penetrate a figure’s head). In
order to ensure proper collision detection, make sure that all
body parts with which you want the hair to collide have the
Collision Detection checkbox set on the Properties palette.

• Gravity: The Gravity parameter controls the strength of

gravitational force acting on the hair.

• Spring Strength: The Spring Strength parameter

determines the hair’s springiness. Increasing this value
increases the springiness. A rubber band is a good example
of an object with a high amount of springiness.

• Air Damping: The Air Damping parameter specifies the

hair’s air resistance that occurs whenever the hair is moving
through the air. Short hair has a lower resistance than long
hair. Set this parameter with care as excessive values could
cause the hair to behave unpredictably.

• Spring Damping: The Spring Damping parameter controls

the hair’s elasticity.

Dynamics Controls. • Bend Resistance: The Bend Resistance parameter

controls the hair’s resistance to bending or folding upon
itself.

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• Position Force: The Position Force parameter is a force

that pulls the hair vertices towards their choreographed
position. Increasing this value decreases hair dynamics, and
vice versa.

• Root Stiffness: The Root Stiffness parameter determines

how stiff the hair is at its root.

• Root Stiffness Falloff: The Root Stiffness Falloff

parameter controls how quickly the hair’s root stiffness
decreases from root to tip.

• Calculate Dynamics: Clicking the Calculate Dynamics

button applies the current dynamic settings to the selected
hair group. The number of frames in the keyframed
animation determines the calculation length. Populated
hairs do not display during calculation.

Hair Properties & Parameters

To access a hair object’s parameters and properties, you must
first select the desired hair object. Strand-based hair has the
following properties and parameters:

Hair Group Properties.

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Hair Properties • Displacement Bounds: The Displacement Bounds

property determines the hair object’s displacement
boundary. Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly
• Name: The Name field displays the hair object’s name.
Render Engine” on page 390 for more information about
Enter a new name in this field if you desire.
displacement bounds.
• Visible: Checking the Visible checkbox makes the hair
• Recalculate Dynamics: The Recalculate Dynamics
object visible and vice versa. Invisible objects are not
option recalculates the dynamics for the current hair object.
included in any render calculations, and do not appear in
the rendered scene. See “Figure Properties” on page 190
• Shading Rate: The Shading Rate allows you to specify the
for information on animating the Visible property.
desired shading rate for the currently selected hair object.
Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render
• Visible in Raytracing: Checking the Visible in Raytracing
Engine” on page 390 for more information about shading
checkbox makes the hair object visible in raytraced
rates.
reflections, such as if the figure is in front of a mirror.
Clearing this checkbox makes the figure not appear in
reflections. Hair Parameters
• Bend: Checking the Bend checkbox enables bending for the Strand-based hair has the following parameters:
selected hair object and vice versa. Bends are discussed in
“Bend Body Parts” on page 112. Remember that selecting
Display > Bend Body Parts bends all scene objects and
this property only affects the currently selected body part.

• Casts Shadows: Checking the Casts Shadows checkbox

forces the selected prop to cast a shadow, which will be
visible in your scene. Clearing this box means the selected
hair object casts no shadow.

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• Dynamics: The Dynamics parameter sets the amount

by which the previously specified dynamics will be played
during animations. A setting of 1 means the dynamics will
play exactly as specified, a value of 2 means the dynamics
will behave as though all values were set to 200% of their
current settings, and so forth. Numbers below 1 reduce
the amount by which dynamics are applied, and negative
numbers apply the dynamics in reverse.

• XYZRotate: The xRotate, yRotate, and zRotate parameter

dials rotate the hair object around the selected axis.

• Scale: Increases or decreases the size of the hair object in

all axes.

• XYZScale: The xScale, yScale, and zScale parameter dials

increase or decrease the size of the hair object in the selected
axis.

• XYZTran: The xTran, yTran, and zTran parameter dials

move the hair object along the selected axis.

Hair Colors and Materials

Hair Group Parameters. Each strand-based hair object in your scene has its own shader
tree, which is accessible in the Material room, allowing you
to color your hair and add interesting effects. Please refer to
“Chapter 14: The Material Room” on page 291 for more
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information about the Material room. As with any other object, on that prop, and save the hair and prop to the Library
you can select strand-based hair by clicking it in the Document palette.
window, using the Current Actor menu, etc.
• The Library palette includes skullcaps designed to fit the
Don, Judy, James and Jessi figures. These skullcaps are
Adding Strand-Based Hair to the available in the Hair category under their respective figures.

Library Palette To use a skullcap, add it to your scene, create and style
hair, then save the skullcap with your new hair style back to
Strand-based prop hair differs from geometry-based prop the Library palette for use on other figures. Add skullcaps
hair because it needs underlying geometry in order to “grow.” to figures just as you would prop-based hair. This is the
Strand-based hair grows in strands, much like real hair, rather preferred method for saving strand-based hair.
than being made from textured polygons like geometry-based
Skullcaps are also useful because they have a
hair. You can’t add strand-based hair to figures/props in the
higher polygon count than the underlying head,
same manner as prop-based hair. As a result, you can’t save
giving you more detailed control over hair surfaces. You
strand-based hair to the Library palette unless it is growing from
can spawn props from any figure or prop, subdivide
underlying geometry.
them in your favorite 3D modeling application, then
There are three ways to save strand-based hair for later use: apply them anywhere you like to obtain more detailed
results.
• Saving a PZ3 file with the hair object in it (you can do a
merge function later, as explained in “Importing Poser
To save strand-based hair to the Library palette:
Documents or Props” on page 703).
1. Select a hair group and open the Hair > Strand-Based Hair
• Saving a prop/body part with a hair object on it. In this category in the Library palette.
case, simply add the prop with the hair to your scene. For
example, you could use the Group Editor to select polygons 2. Click the Add to Library button.
on a character’s head and create a skullcap prop, grow hair
3. You will be prompted to select your desired hair subset(s).

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4. Clicking the Select Subset button in the Set Name dialog

opens a hierarchical display allowing you to select the hair
groups that you want to save. Be sure to save the parent
object!

Strand-based hair is created on a per-object

basis for each scene.

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Chapter 26: The Cloth

Room
Poser’s Cloth room allows you to create realistic cloth that
behaves like real fabric. Want to add custom clothing to a figure?
Create a tablecloth? How about a flying carpet? Poser offers
powerful tools that help you create dynamic cloth that responds
realistically when animated. You can even apply a Force Field
for realistic wind effects!

Using the Cloth Room

The Cloth room appears as follows.
The Cloth Room.

The number of palettes and options that you see

in each room depends upon your screen
resolution. At higher resolutions, the default work
spaces display more palettes, while at lower resolutions
you see fewer palettes.

In addition to standard UI elements, the Cloth room contains

the following UI elements:

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• Cloth Simulations (1): The Cloth Simulation area allows can use dynamic cloth to create the following types of items in
you to create, delete, and set up cloth simulators. your Poser scene:

• Cloth (2): The Cloth area allows you to convert objects • A tablecloth that drapes over a table
to and from dynamic cloth objects and to set up collision
detection for your cloth. • A slip cover over furniture

• Cloth Groups (3): The Cloth Groups area is where you set • A flowing skirt that moves as a figure walks
up dynamic, choreographed, constrained, and decorated Dynamic cloth objects require increased computing resources
cloth groups. beyond those of conforming clothing. Items such as socks,
bikinis, or tights don’t need to be dynamic since in real life these
• Dynamics Controls (4): The Dynamics Controls group
types of clothing tend to be close-fitting with little to no room
sets up dynamic parameters.
for independent motion. You should generally use conforming
clothing for these situations because it requires fewer computing
The cloth room help contains additional
resources.
information about importing props for use as
cloth.

Adding Dynamic Clothing

Conforming vs. Dynamic Cloth Dynamic clothing offers the most powerful means of clothing
figures, allowing for realistic cloth draping and wrinkles.
As mentioned in “The Figures Category” on page 136, Additionally, it is very easy to create clothing props for use as
conforming clothing is a Poser figure, while dynamic cloth dynamic clothing. Dynamic cloth retains its dynamics when
consists of props with dynamic and other behaviors applied to saved to the Library palette, but you will need to create a new
simulate cloth. Poser supports both types of cloth. simulation whenever you add saved cloth objects. To add
dynamic cloth to your current figure:
Dynamic cloth adds incredible realism to your scenes by causing
cloth objects to move as they would in real life. For example, you 1. Select the item from the Library palette and add it to your
scene, then switch to the Cloth room.
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2. Create a new simulation group, and select Body as your in your scene, however each simulator requires system resources
desired collision object. (RAM/CPU cycles) and increases rendering time.

3. Recalculate the simulation.

Using Dynamic Clothing without a

Figure
Dynamic cloth retains its dynamics when saved to the Library
palette, but you will need to create a new simulation whenever
you add saved cloth objects. To add dynamic cloth without a
figure:
1. Select the item from the Library palette and add it to your
Cloth Simulations options.
scene, then switch to the Cloth room.

2. Create a new simulation group, and select your desired

collision object(s), if any. Creating the Simulation
3. Recalculate the simulation. To create a simulator, click the New Simulation button in the
Cloth Simulation area of the screen to open the Simulator
Settings dialog.
Step 1: Create/Set Up a Cloth
Simulator
The first step in creating dynamic cloth is creating and setting up
a cloth simulator. You may have as many simulators as you wish
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your desired frame numbers in the Start Frame and End

Frame fields, respectively. Increasing the number of frames
that a simulator is active requires greater amounts of
system resources. During the frames prior to the start of a
simulation, the cloth object will remain in its starting state.
After the simulation ends, the cloth object will remain in its
ending state for the rest of your animation. Additionally,
the Steps per frame parameter dial controls the number
of calculation steps per frame in order to smooth the cloth
simulation. Increasing this value improves the simulation
results but requires additional computing resources.

• Additional Cloth Collision Options: These checkboxes

allow you to toggle the following additional collision
detection options on and off. By default, collisions are
calculated using cloth vertices against object polygons.
Creating the Simulation.
ƒƒ Object Vertex against cloth polygon: Checking
The Simulator Settings dialog box has the following options: the Object Vertex against cloth polygon checkbox
performs additional collision calculations using object
• Simulation Name: Enter your desired name for the new vertices and cloth polygons, which helps eliminate tears
simulator in the Simulation Name field. By default, or holes that may occur when an object collides with the
simulators are numbered in the order they are created, e.g. cloth. Enabling this option slows the simulation.
Sim_1, Sim_2, etc.
ƒƒ Object Polygon against cloth polygon: Checking
• Simulation Range: You can either set the simulator to the Object Polygon against cloth polygon checkbox
run throughout your entire animation or pick a set of performs additional collision calculations using
frames during which the simulator is active by entering object polygons and cloth polygons, which helps
eliminate tears or holes that may occur when an object
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collides with the cloth. Enabling this option slows the • Simulation Settings: Clicking the Simulation Settings
simulation. button reopens the Simulation Settings window, allowing
you to alter your cloth simulator settings.
ƒƒ Cloth self-collision: Checking the Cloth self collision
checkbox allows a cloth to detect its own polygons Think of a cloth simulator as an envelope
during simulation, preventing (for example) a cape or supplying basic behavioral properties. You can
a flag from passing through itself. Enabling this option have multiple cloth objects in each simulation and/or
slows the simulation. multiple simulations in each Poser scene. Each cloth
object, however, can only belong to one simulation at a
• Cloth Draping: The Cloth Draping options are:
time. Increasing the number of simulations in a scene
ƒƒ Drape Frame: The Drape Frame value allows you to can add complexity and interest, but also requires
set the number of frames per object to settle the cloth. increased computing resources.

ƒƒ Calculate Drape: Clicking the Calculate Drape button

calculates the cloth object’s draping behavior and The arrow at the top right of the Cloth Simulation area
caches the simulation. When calculating the simulation, displays the currently selected simulator. Clicking this arrow
cached drape settlings are added before beginning cloth opens a pull-down menu allowing you to select any of the cloth
simulations, meaning that the settled cloth drape is at simulators in your scene for modification.
frame 1 before the simulation begins.
When you have finished setting up the simulator options, click Step 2: Cloth Controls
OK to accept your choices and create the simulator or Cancel to
exit without creating the simulator. Now that you’ve created a simulator, your next step is to add
cloth objects. Do this using the Cloth controls (area 2 of your
The Cloth Simulation area has two other buttons:
screen).
• Delete Simulation: Simulation results are cached in a file
during simulation computation, which Poser automatically
loads to save time and resources. Clicking the Delete
Simulation button deletes the cache contents.
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Choosing an object to clothify.

Cloth Objects settings.

To turn a dynamic cloth object back into a normal prop, select
it and click the Unclothify button. The prop will return to its
pre-clothified shape, however it will retain its vertex groups
Clothifying Objects and dynamic parameters, meaning you won’t have to start from
To turn an object into a dynamic cloth object, select it and click scratch if you re-clothify the object later.
the Clothify button to open the Clothify window, which displays You can also create static props and morph targets from cloth
a list of objects eligible to be turned into dynamic cloth. Use the objects as described in “Creating Props and Morph Targets” on
Object to clothify pull-down menu to select your desired object, page 534.
and click the Clothify button to make the cloth object, or Cancel
to abort.
Specifying Collision Objects
Once the simulator is created and you’ve specified the basic
parameters and created dynamic cloth, the next part of the
simulator creation process is defining the objects that will
use collision detection (collision objects) with the cloth. Each
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collision object will behave in accordance with the specified each object listing in the window, then click the OK button
collision behaviors when contacting the cloth. Non collision to accept your choices or Cancel to abort. Added objects
objects will not use collision detection with the cloth object. To appear in the Current Collision Object pull-down menu in
set up collision objects, click the Collide Against button to open the Cloth Collision Objects window. You can set collision
the Cloth Collision Objects window. options for each collision object by selecting it using the
pull-down menu and specifying the desired settings.

Choosing collision objects.

The Cloth Collision Objects window has the following options:

Select the object to clothify in the Select Objects dialog.
• Add/Remove Collision Objects: Clicking the Add/
Remove button opens the Select Objects window, which
displays a hierarchical list of all the objects in your scene, • Collision Offset: The Collision Offset parameter
including body parts on figures. By default, all scene objects determines the distance between a cloth object and a
are selected (selected objects are checked). Add and remove collision object at which the collision detection calculations
collision objects by checking/clearing the checkboxes next to
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begin. Increasing this value can help avoid accidental Collision Friction checkbox (see below) to use the collision
collisions, especially during animations, because Poser object’s value or the simulation’s value.
requires a little time to calculate actual collisions. Increasing
this value too high can consume extra computing resources. • Dynamic Friction: The Dynamic Friction parameter
Experimentation will quickly yield the proper value for each sets the coefficient of friction for the collision object when
simulation. Please see “Collision Offset & Depth” on page the object is in motion. Moving a piece of cloth across a
526 for more information. surface causes friction. Silk moving over a steel surface has
low resistance, while cotton moving over skin or coarse
• Collision Depth: The Collision Depth parameter specifies sandpaper over rough wood has high resistance. You can
how close the cloth object must be to a collision object in use the Collision Friction checkbox (see below) to use the
order for a collision to take place. Increasing this value collision object’s value or the simulation’s value.
increases the distance at which the cloth and collision object
will collide. This is useful when creating clothing, because • Figure Collision Options: The Figure Collision Options
the cloth will be kept away from the figure. Increasing this allow you to specify how the current cloth object will behave
distance makes the cloth appear more static but avoids when it drapes across/collides with a figure. Most clothes
having body parts penetrate the cloth (such as a leg poking dressed on a figure are modeled in such a way so that they
through a skirt). Experimentation will quickly yield the will fit on the target figure when the figure is in default pose.
proper value for each simulation. Please see “Collision However, most simulations including figures and dresses
Offset & Depth” on page 526 for more information. will not use figure’s default pose at the start of simulation.
In order for the simulation to work correctly, we need to
• Static Friction: The Static Friction parameter sets the simulate the cloth draping process: given certain frames, the
coefficient of friction for the collision object. This is similar underlying figure will interpolate from default pose to the
to the Dynamic Friction parameter except that this is the start pose, and the draping simulation ensures the cloth fits
force required to get a stationary cloth in contact with a the figure at the start frame.
solid to start moving. For example, nylon over smooth
ƒƒ Start Draping From Zero Pose: Checking the Start
plastic will have a very low amount of static friction while
draping from zero pose checkbox is used when
denim over wood will have a high amount. You can use the
creating cloth to be used as clothing on a figure. For

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example, you can convert conforming clothing into pull-down menu allowing you to select any of the cloth objects in
dynamic cloth objects and drape them over a figure your scene for modification.
beginning from that figure’s default pose. This is useful
when applying dynamic cloth to a posed figure.
Collision Offset & Depth
ƒƒ Ignore Head Collisions: Checking the Ignore head
collisions checkbox causes the collision detection not The Collision depth and Collision offset dials are limited to
to apply when the cloth collides with a figure’s head. minimum 0.1cm and maximum 10cm.
This is useful for cloth that will not normally touch the
head, such as shirts, pants, etc. Before adjusting these settings, be sure to enable
the Object vertex against cloth polygon and
ƒƒ Ignore Hand Collisions: Checking the Ignore hand Object polygon against cloth polygon options in the
collisions checkbox causes the collision detection not Simulator Settings dialog.
to apply when the cloth collides with a figure’s hands.

ƒƒ Ignore Feet Collisions: Checking the Ignore feet A real piece of cloth has two sides (inside & outside) and
collisions checkbox causes the collision detection not thickness. A cloth mesh is composed of polygons, which
to apply when the cloth collides with a figure’s feet. mathematically have zero thickness. The Collision Depth and
Collision Offset dials emulate thickness by “extruding” the cloth
Adding collision objects increases the computing inwards by the amount of Collision depth units and outward by
resources required to calculate cloth behavior the amount of Collision offset units. Thus, the cloth now has
and dynamics. Thus, you should specify the minimum a “thickness” of collision offset + collision depth. Any specified
number of collision objects possible. collision object intersecting this volume will be treated as a
collision.
When you have finished setting up the collision objects, click
OK to accept your choices or Cancel to exit without setting up
collision objects.
The arrow at the top right of the Cloth area displays the
currently selected cloth object. Clicking this arrow opens a
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Step 3: Cloth Groups

Objects being converted to cloth must have single-sided,
connected (welded) polygons without caps. Once you’ve created
a cloth simulator and cloth object, the next step is to create cloth
groups (groups of vertices) within each object, thus subdividing
the cloth object into regions (in the same manner as, for
example, dividing a body part into different material groups).
The exception is decorative objects such as buttons, belt buckles,
etc., which should be separate (non-welded) objects. Cloth
groups use vertices instead of polygons, meaning that the Group
Editor palette operates in vertex mode in the Cloth room (as
opposed to polygons). You can convert polygon groups to vertex
groups in the Cloth room by clicking the Add Group button
to open a pop-up list of existing groups. Group names with the
suffix [P] are polygon groups. Selecting polygon groups includes
all vertices of the affected polygons.

Cloth Group objects.

There are four types of groups available for cloth objects:

• Dynamic: By default, cloth objects are created with one

dynamic group (_default_) comprising the entire object.
Dynamic cloth groups are simulated using the Dynamics

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Controls (see following step), which determine how the at the waist and reduces simulation time. If the belt contains
cloth moves, folds or drapes as it responds to gravity, wind complex geometry, the simulation will slow down.
force and how an underlying figure/prop moves. Examples
of moving figures and props include a ball underneath a • Decorations: Each cloth object can have two decorations
carpet, or a figure underneath clothing. You can create groups (one “soft” and one “rigid”. These groups are
multiple dynamic groups for each clothing object, and automatically created with empty contents when you
each dynamic group can have different dynamics settings. clothify an object. The decoration groups animate, moving
You cannot directly animate dynamic groups with regular as underlying cloth moves while staying over the underlying
keyframing. body. Good candidates for decoration vertices include tiny
or thin polygons such as pockets, belt loops, buttons, a knot
• Choreographed: Each cloth object can have one in a tie, etc. These are usually items sitting on another cloth
choreographed group. An empty choreographed group group and have only passive movement, either following
is automatically created when you clothify an object. underlying body movement or other parts of the cloth.
Choreographed vertices can follow keyframed movement or Because of their small size and/or irregularity, these can
be excluded from the cloth simulation. cause issues if not placed into this group. The decorations
group favors accessories that are geometrically separated
• Constrained: Each cloth object can have one constrained from the cloth mesh object. There are two reasons for this:
group. An empty constrained group is automatically created
when you clothify an object. Constrained vertices “stick” to ƒƒ If the decorations group shares vertices with the cloth
corresponding polygon faces of the underlying figure and mesh, the decorations vertices will not be simulated.
are useful for cloth areas that have to follow the movement This causes the simulator to treat these areas as
of the underlying body part. They can be used to prevent boundaries, resulting in increased movement of these
straps on a dress from slipping down the shoulders, or to areas compared to neighboring regions of the cloth.
create a skirt’s belt that follows the waist’s movements. ƒƒ Welding accessories to the cloth mesh often creates a
If you do not place these vertices in a constrained group, complex mesh where one edge is shared by more than
gravity can cause the cloth to fall until the skirt hits the body two polygons.
or the ground. Constraining the belt vertices keeps the belt
The two types of decoration groups are:

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ƒƒ Soft: Objects in the soft decorated group move with the

underlying cloth and can flex as the cloth flexes. A good
example would be a belt loop.

ƒƒ Rigid: Objects in the rigid decorated group move with

the underlying cloth but do not bend or flex. Good
examples of rigid decoration objects are buttons or the
knot in a tie.
If you want the current cloth object to consist of a single dynamic
group, you’re done. Continue on to Step 4 (below) to set your
Assigning a name to a Dynamic Group.
dynamics. If, however, you want to create multiple groups, you
can do so using the following buttons:
Since each cloth object can only have one
• New Dynamic Group: Clicking the New Dynamic Group choreographed, constrained, and/or one each
button opens the New Dynamic Vertex Group Name soft & hard decorated groups, you can only assign
box. Enter your desired name for the new dynamic group names to dynamic groups.
and click OK to proceed or Cancel to abort. By default,
your entire cloth object consists of a dynamic group called
_default_. Any vertices that are not part of other dynamic, • Delete Dynamic Group: Clicking the Delete Dynamic
constrained, choreographed, or decorated groups when Group button deletes the currently selected dynamic group.
you’re done creating/editing groups will remain in the
• Edit Dynamic Group: Clicking the Edit Dynamic Group
_default_ group.
button opens the Group Editor palette, which allows you to
add or remove vertices from the currently selected group.
Please refer to “The Group Editor” on page 614 for
information on using the Group Editor palette.

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• Edit Choreographed Group: Clicking the Edit on page 614 for information on using the Group Editor
Choreographed Group button opens the Group Editor palette.
palette, which allows you to add or remove vertices
Keep the following in mind when working with cloth groups:
from the currently selected choreographed group
(_choreographed_). Please refer to “The Group Editor” • Adding vertices to the current group removes them from
on page 614 for information on using the Group Editor other groups.
palette.
• Removing vertices from the default group adds them to the
• Edit Constrained Group: Clicking the Edit Constrained choreographed group.
Group button opens the Group Editor palette, which allows
you to add or remove vertices from the currently selected • Removing vertices from any group adds them to the default
constrained group (_constrained_). Please refer to “The group.
Group Editor” on page 614 for information on using the
The arrow at the top right of the Cloth area displays the
Group Editor palette.
currently selected cloth group within the currently selected cloth
object. Clicking this arrow opens a pull-down menu allowing you
• Edit Soft Decorative Group: Clicking the Edit Soft
to select any of the cloth groups in the current cloth object for
Decorative Group button opens the Group Editor palette,
modification. To work on a different cloth object, use the pull-
which allows you to add or remove vertices from the
down menu available in the Cloth area (Step 2).
currently selected soft decoration group (_softDecorated_).
Please refer to “The Group Editor” on page 614 for
information on using the Group Editor palette.
Step 4: Cloth Dynamics Controls
• Edit Rigid Decorative Group: Clicking the Edit Rigid
Once you’ve created and edited cloth groups, the next step is to
Decorative Group button opens the Group Editor
define dynamic properties for each of the dynamic groups in the
palette, which allows you to add or remove vertices
currently selected cloth object. Dynamic properties control how
from the currently selected rigid decoration group
the dynamic groups will move and behave when the dynamics
(_rigidDecorated_). Please refer to “The Group Editor”
are calculated. The Cloth Dynamics Controls have the
following buttons:
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• Calculate Simulation: Clicking the Calculate Simulation

button takes into account all of the simulation, object,
group, and dynamics settings included in the current
simulation and calculates the behavior of all of the cloth
objects in the simulation for all of the specified frames.
Please see above for information on specifying cloth
simulation frame ranges.

If a clothified object contains morphs that are

dialed in at frame 1, there may be occasions
when the morphs are doubled after the cloth simulation
is calculated. One way around this issue is to set the
morph back to zero in a later frame (such as frame 2 or
3) before the simulation is calculated.

• Play Simulation: Clicking the Play simulation button plays

the currently selected simulation, allowing you to see how
the cloth behaves over time. If you don’t like the current
behavior, you can alter any of the Cloth room settings and
try again.

• Clear Simulation: Clicking the Clear Simulation button

empties all stored data in the current simulation (such
as altering collision settings, adding/removing objects,
The Group Editor is used in Vertex mode with Cloth Groups. editing groups, changing dynamics control settings, etc.),
allowing you to specify new dynamics, thus modifying how
the cloth object behaves. If you clear the simulation and

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play the animation, what you are seeing is simply keyframe

animation with no simulation being calculated.
The Cloth room includes the following dynamics controls:

Dynamics Controls.

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• Fold Resistance: The Fold Resistance parameter specifies values can make the cloth look like it is moving in syrup,
the resistance to out-of-plane bending (folding). Increasing and extremely low values can cause the cloth to behave
this value lessens the cloth’s ability to bend. Soft fabrics like irregularly. A value of 0.01 is suitable for more uses.
silk fold very easily, so a low value (1.0) is appropriate. By
contrast, hard leather tends not to fold, so a higher value • Cloth Density: The Cloth Density parameter specifies the
would be appropriate. mass-per-unit area density of the cloth in grams per square
centimeter. If you take a 1cm x 1cm piece of cloth and weigh
• Shear Resistance: The Shear Resistance parameter it, the weight in grams is what this parameter should be set
controls the cloth’s resistance to in-plane shearing, or to. For example, silk is very light while leather is very heavy
side-to-side bending. A low shearing resistance allows the by comparison.
cloth triangles (caused, for example, when the corner of
a rectangular piece of cloth is draped over a surface) to • Cloth Self Friction: The Cloth Self Friction parameter
collapse in on themselves, so a value of 50.0 or thereabouts sets the coefficient of friction between one part of the cloth
is appropriate. Wool has a low shear resistance while leather and another, or how easily the cloth moves over itself.
has a very high amount. Higher values prevent the cloth from sliding over itself. For
example, rayon has a very low amount of self-friction while
• Stretch Resistance: The Stretch Resistance parameter denim has a fairly high amount.
specifies the cloth’s resistance to in-plane bending
(stretching). Most cloth is highly resistant to stretching, with • Static Friction: The Static Friction parameter sets the
some exceptions like spandex, which is more elastic. The amount of friction between the cloth and solid objects.
default of 50.0 gives a fairly high resistance to stretching This is similar to the Dynamic Friction parameter except
suitable for cotton-type materials. A lower value might be that this is the force required to get a stationary cloth in
suitable for stretchy materials such as Lycra. contact with a solid to start moving. For example, nylon over
smooth plastic will have a very low amount of static friction
• Stretch Damping: The Stretch Damping parameter while denim over wood will have a high amount.
controls the internal energy loss caused by the motion of
the cloth fibers against each other. Higher damping causes • Dynamic Friction: The Dynamic Friction parameter sets
the cloth to lose its motion more quickly. Excessively high the coefficient of friction between the cloth and solid objects

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when the cloth is in motion. Moving a piece of cloth across

Cloth Parameters & Properties
a surface causes friction. Silk moving over a steel surface
has low resistance, while cotton moving over skin or coarse To access a cloth object’s parameters and properties, you must
sandpaper over rough wood has high resistance. first select the desired cloth object.

• Air Damping: The Air Damping parameter specifies the • Dynamic cloth objects have the same properties as props.
cloth’s air resistance that occurs whenever the cloth is Please refer to “Prop Properties” on page 222 for
moving through the air. Tightly woven cloth has a higher information about prop properties.
resistance than loosely woven fabric. Set this parameter
with care as excessive values could cause the cloth to behave • Dynamic cloth has the same parameters as strand-based
unpredictably. hair objects. Please refer to “Hair Parameters” on page
514 for information about hair object parameters.
• Collision Friction: Checking the Collision Friction
checkbox ignores the cloth object’s Static Friction and
Dynamic Friction parameters, instead using those same Creating Props and Morph Targets
parameters belonging to the collision objects themselves.
Clearing this checkbox applies the cloth dynamic settings. You can convert cloth objects into static props or morph targets
for use in scenes where a cloth-like look is desired without the
• Reset: Clicking the Reset button resets all cloth dynamics need for a dynamic cloth object. For example, you could create a
controls. tablecloth using dynamic cloth and a table prop then convert the
dynamic cloth object into a static prop for use in future scenes.
The label at the top right of the Cloth Dynamics Controls area
If you did this, you would only need to include table legs where
displays the currently selected cloth object. To change the object,
visible between the floor and the edge of the cloth, thereby giving
use the pull-down menu in the Cloth area (Step 2).
you full realism while reducing your scene’s polygon count.
As another example, you could drape a sheet over a figure to
create a ghost. Then you could convert the draped sheet to a
static prop and use the Setup room to turn it into a poseable
ghost.
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To create a prop from your dynamic clothing object: You can also export clothified props just like you would any
other scene object. Exported cloth objects become static mesh
1. Clothify an object as described above.
objects in your chosen export format. To do this, follow steps 1 &
2. Use the Animation controls to move to your desired frame 2 above, then export the object as described in “Exporting Files”
(the cloth shape changes with each frame as the simulation on page 707.
plays).

3. Use the Grouping tool to spawn a new prop. Please refer to Adding Dynamic Cloth to the Library
“The Group Editor” on page 614 for information on using Palette
the Grouping tool and the Group Editor palette.
Adding dynamic cloth to the Library palette is a special case that
Creating a prop in this method preserves the shape of the merits its own topic. To add dynamic cloth:
original cloth object at the time you created the prop but
removes all transformation (position, rotation, and scale). For 1. If not done yet, load your desired figure and be sure to
example, if you stretch a square into a rectangle, the new prop disable Inverse Kinematics (see “Inverse Kinematics (IK)”
will appear as a square deformed by the cloth simulation. In on page 174). Next, open the Joint Editor palette (see
this case, reapplying the transformations applied to the original “Chapter 31: Working with Joints, Weights, and Skinning”
clothified object restores the original appearance to the static on page 651) and click the Zero Figure button.
prop.
2. If not loaded yet, load or import your desired cloth object
To create a morph target, follow steps 1 & 2 above, then spawn and ensure it fits the figure without obvious intersections. If
a morph target as you would for any other prop/body part as importing a static prop, convert it into dynamic cloth using
described in “Spawning Morph Targets” on page 594. You the Cloth room as described in this chapter.
can then apply the morph target to a prop.
3. Select the cloth, then open its Properties palette and click
Morph targets created in this manner work in the Set Parent button (or select Object > Change Parent)
exactly the same manner as other morph targets,
meaning that all dynamic motion is lost. 4. The Choose Parent window appears. Select Hip, being sure
not to check the Inherit bends of parent checkbox.
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5. Open the Library palette to the Props category and select

your desired subcategory as described above. Save the cloth
object.

6. You will be prompted to save the object as a smart prop.

Click Yes.

If your cloth object is not tied to a figure (such as

a tablecloth), simply save it as a prop.

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Chapter 27: Wardrobe

Wizard
Wardrobe Wizard is a utility that enables Poser clothing models
originally created for one Poser figure to be worn by another.
A very large number of figures are supported, and support for
many past and current Poser/Smith Micro figures are built into
Poser.

For a full complete list of figures that are

supported by Wardrobe Wizard, see http://
www.philc.net/store_WW_Extra_Figs.php.

Before you use Wardrobe Wizard to convert clothing, you

Wardrobe Wizard options in the Python Palette.
may want to consider spending a few minutes reading these
instructions. Doing so may explain many questions that you
might encounter if you dive in before understanding what each The commands in this palette are as follows:
feature does.
• Convert: Brings up the Plug in Graphical User Interface
(GUI), which is explained in “Converting Clothing” on page
Using the Wardrobe Wizard 538.

Choose Scripts > PhilC > Wardrobe Wizard Menu then open • Analyze Full Body Morphs: Before you can add compatible
the Python window to view the Wardrobe Wizard button menu Full Body Morphs to the clothing you must first allow
shown below. Wardrobe Wizard to analyze the figure. This only needs to
be done once, (unless you subsequently change the morphs

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in the figure). Requires the figure to be selected in the scene. • Load: Load a character into the scene using a standard
This process is described in “Analyzing Full Body Morphs” Windows or Mac file selection dialog rather than using the
on page 544. Poser library.

• Smooth: Allows smoothing operations to be undertaken on • Help: Brings up the Wardrobe Wizard help file.
the clothing.
• Version: Displays Wardrobe Wizard version, figure support
• Inflate/Deflate: Allows the clothing to be inflated or and system information.
deflated.
• Back: Reloads the default Python script buttons.
WW Smooth, WW Smooth More, and WW
Inflate full body morphs are automatically
included in each clothing conversion. If the Add Material Converting Clothing
Dials option is selected, further refinement is provided
You do not need to have any clothing or figures in your Poser
by being able to smooth and inflate by material. See
scene in order to convert clothing. Simply click the Convert
“Choosing Additional Converting Options” on page
button from the main Wardrobe Wizard palette to open the
542 for more details. The Smooth and Inflate menu
Wardrobe Wizard dialog shown in the following figure.
buttons allow you to perform these tasks on any figure,
independently of the conversion process.

• Utilities: Access more utilities, as discussed in “Wardrobe

Wizard Utilities” on page 547.

• Zero Figure: Zero Pose the figure. This is a convenience

utility. Neither the figure nor the clothing needs to be within
the scene when performing a conversion.

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Choosing the Original Clothing

Using the Original Clothing section of the GUI select the
clothing that you wish to convert. This may be either a single
item or an number of items. They can be Poser clothing figures,
props or OBJ files, either in their compressed or uncompressed
format.

Choosing the original clothing.

Note that clothing figure files should contain only

one item of clothing. If you have a multi item
CR2 file then load it into Poser and save each item back
to the library. You can then batch convert the set. If you
have made multiple selections please note that any
conversion option selected will be applied to the whole
batch. Therefore do not convert pant suits within a
batch containing skirts since each requires different
Converting clothing with the Wardrobe Wizard. settings.

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Please note that gloves are not supported by Selecting the Figures to Convert From and
Wardrobe Wizard.
To
Use the Convert From scrollable list to select the figure that the
Selecting the Target Library original clothing was made for. All the figures that you have the
support files for will be listed here.
Use the Save Result to This Library selector to choose the
Use the Convert To scrollable list to select the figure(s) that you
Target Folder into which you wish the converted clothing to be
wish the clothing to be converted to. All the figures that you have
saved. For example if you wish the clothing to be saved to the
the support files for will be listed here.
Poser library you would select your Poser library installation
folder The names of your available figures will be
If you want to save your converted clothing to a remote Poser visible in the Convert to and Convert from lists.
library you would select the folder above that library’s Runtime These are the “out of the box” versions of those figures. If
folder. you have these figures and receive a message that you
do not have a supported figure, it may mean that the
Clothing will be saved to a character specific folder.
figure was customized by a third-party vendor.
• The OBJ file will be saved to the Runtime: Geometries: Sometimes when customizing a figure Poser or the user
WardrobeWizard: Figure Name folder. In this way you can will alter the name of the OBJ file that the figure
easily reorganize your library if required. references. For example this can occur if the Poser Face
room is used. The solution is to either use the out of the
You can move the figure CR2 and PNG files box figure or edit your custom figure to reference the
without worrying about editing the path to the original OBJ file.
OBJ file.

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Click the Extra Figure Support button at the

bottom of the Wardrobe Wizard window to
obtain the most recent information on where to obtain
add-ons that provide Wardrobe Wizard support for
third-party Poser figures.

Choosing the figure to convert clothing from and to.

Choosing the clothing type.

Choosing the Clothing Type • Pants, Pant Suites, Shirts, Etc:- Choose this category
for Pants, Jackets, or any clothing above the hips. Most
Select the type of clothing that best describes the clothing being anything that does not fit any of the other categories listed
converted. below will fit this category.

• Loose Skirts, Skirt Suites, Long Robes, Etc:- Choose this

category for any skirt that tends to fall away from the hips.
This also includes robes. This is probably going to be your
preferred skirt option, including short skirts.

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• Tight Skirts: Use this option for any skirt that tends to
closely follow the line of the legs. You may want to use this
option if the legs of the figure you are converting to are
significantly spread apart.

• Short Hair: Choose this option for hair that does not extend
past the neck.

For long hair use Pants, Pant Suites, Shirts,

Etc.

• Shoes that DO fit at Zero Pose: Use this option for any
shoe, boot, thigh boot that fits the figure when both the
figure and footwear are at their unconformed zero pose.

• Shoes that DO NOT Fit at Zero Pose: Choose this option

for any shoe, boot, thigh boot that does not fit the figure Choosing additional conversion options.
when both the figure and footwear are at their unconformed
zero pose. Please note that the more the shoe does not • High Resolution: Choose from High (checked) or Normal
fit, the poorer the quality of the conversion will be. See (unchecked) resolution. Normal resolution will convert
“Footwear” on page 558 for more details. faster but at the expense of definition.

• Flared: Select this option for flared pants or flared sleeves.

Choosing Additional Converting Options
• Close Fit: Only deselect this option if you are converting
The Options section of the Wardrobe Wizard window contains
particularly baggy clothing.
several other options that you can check or uncheck for clothing
conversion. These options are as follows:

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• Force Reanalysis: When an item of clothing is first • Regroup All: Forces a more aggressive regrouping
converted Wardrobe Wizard undertakes an analyses of it. algorithm, particularly in the torso. Use if the standard
The resulting data file is stored for future use. This greatly regroup option does not give satisfactory results.
speeds up the time of any future conversion. However if for
example you converted as a “Loose Skirt” and wish to see • Fix Pokethrough: Any cloth that intersects the figure will
if perhaps selecting “Tight Skirt” may be better you would be repositioned so that it remains above the skins surface.
need to select the “Force Reanalyses” check box to ensure Use with care. This tool is also included in the Wardrobe
that Wardrobe Wizard redid the analyses with the new Wizard Python Script buttons which may be a better time
settings. to use it since the converted figure will have been saved to
the library at that point. However you will probably find
• Keep Existing Morphs: Wardrobe Wizard has the ability that adjusting the newly created WW_Looseness morph
to retain any Full Body Morphs contained in the existing in the clothing’s BODY will give better results and be more
clothing. By selecting this check box you will subsequently controllable. FixPokeThru works with clothing intersecting
be presented with a pop up list of all the available existing the figure. It is not designed to work with clothing
morphs and be able to select the ones that you wish to keep. intersecting clothing.

• Add Full Body Morphs: Wardrobe Wizard has the ability to • As Prop: Delivers the converted clothing as a Poser Prop
add Full Body Morphs to the clothing to match the Convert rather than a conforming figure. You would use this if you
To figure. For this you will first have to have Wardrobe wish to use the converted clothing as dynamic clothing in
Wizard analyze the figure. Also accessed via this checkbox the Poser Cloth room.
option are the large number of very powerful clothing
adjustment morphs. Please see the details in the “Full Body • Add Material Dials: Provides the option to allow Wardrobe
Morph” section above. Wizard to create a set of full body morphs that result in
smoothing or inflation by selected material. Very powerful,
• Regroup: Generally leave this option selected. Only turn very useful, very easy to use. By way of a bonus if you
it off if there is some reason to not have Wardrobe Wizard select this option you get an extra “Shrink to fit dial”. If you
regroup the model. Possibly some custom process that you haven’t read these instructions you will probable not realize
wish to undertake. that it is there.

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• Copy Weightmaps: Provides the option to copy weight

Analyzing Full Body Morphs
maps from the convert to figure into the converted clothing.
Wardrobe Wizard will convert and save the clothing as Wardrobe Wizard has the ability to automatically create full
normal then load the clothing and figure into the scene to body morphs in the clothing to match those contained in the
facilitate the weight map copying process. Since the figure figure that you wish to convert to. In this way if you have a figure
will probably be located in a remote library the user will be that has been customized using full body morphs you can use
prompted to browse for its file. Upon completion the user Wardrobe Wizard to build compatible morphs into the clothing.
will have the option to save the weight mapped clothing to a Before this can happen you will first need to have Wardrobe
figure folder of their choice. Wizard analyze that figure. If you have the Plug in GUI open as
Once you have made your selections click the Convert button. shown above click the “Cancel” button then proceed as below.
Depending on your selections you may get supplementary pop 1. With the desired figure selected in the Poser scene, click the
up windows asking you to select such things as which morphs Analyze Full Body Morphs button.
to keep etc. The progress will be displayed in the Poser Python
output window.

Finding Your Converted Clothing

Upon completion open Poser and navigate to the designated
library. Your converted figures will be in folders bearing the
suffix “WW” followed by the name of the figure that they were
converted to. The name of the clothing will be the same as the
name of the original item, as will the thumbnail if one was
available for the original.

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Analyzing Full Body Morphs. Select the full body morphs that you want to analyze.

2. A dialog opens, and prompts you to select the morphs that ƒƒ Scroll through the list and check the options that you
you want to include in your clothing. want to add into your clothing.

ƒƒ If you want to include all of the figure’s morphs in your

clothing, click the Select All button.

ƒƒ Click Select None to deselect all of the selections you

have made.

ƒƒ Click Invert Selection to switch the selected morphs to

unselected, and vice versa.

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ƒƒ Click Cancel to exit the dialog without analyzing your You only need to do this once for each figure that
selections. you wish to have Full Body Morphs added for.
The data is stored as a MOR file for future use. You
3. Click OK to apply your selections. Wardrobe Wizard
would only need to reanalyze the figure if you add/
displays another dialog with a summary of the morphs that
change the morphs in the figure. See additional tools
you selected.
below for dealing with characters with non-standard
4. Click OK again to perform the conversion. Wardrobe body morphs etc.
Wizard displays the progress as the morphs are being
analyzed. When the process is complete, the dialog displays
Done! at the end. Refining the Full Body Morphs in Your
Clothing
In addition to the Full Body Morphs that you have transferred
from your figure to the clothing, Wardrobe Wizard also includes
a large number of very powerful yet simple to use clothing
adjustment Full Body Morphs. You will find these dials in the
BODY section of your converted clothing, and listed under the
heading WW Adjustment Morphs.
A number of other WW Adjustment morphs may be included
when you make your selection from the pop up morph list
during the conversion process. It is strongly suggested that
you try them out. They provide a great deal of versatility in the
converted clothing. To access these powerful morphs simply
select the “Add Body Morphs” (plug-in:- “Add FBM’s”) and “Add
Material Dials” checkboxes.
Wardrobe Wizard displays a dialog when the analysis is complete.

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The following morphs are built into the clothing automatically Clicking the Utilities button in the main Wardrobe Wizard
by Wardrobe Wizard: script palette brings access to a number of utilities subdivided
by function. These utilities are not key to converting clothing but
• Smooth: This will provide a dial in the clothing’s BODY to are included as additional features that may prove useful.
enable small wrinkles to be ironed out.
The various utilities that are available appear in the menu shown
• Smooth More: Similar to WW Smooth but applies to the below. These utilities are described in the sections that follow.
edges of the clothing.

• Inflate: Easily adjust how tight/loose the clothing fits the

figure. If you find a small area of the underlying figure
poking through turn the WW Looseness dial a little. It
is suggested that you initially try this rather than the
“Pokethru” option.

• Shift: Translate the BODY or body parts. Use “Save Changes

to Geometry” to make the adjustment permanent.

• Cleavage: This adjust the area of the clothing in between

and below the breasts. It was noticed that when clothing
made for a well endowed figure was converted to a figure of
more petite proportions there would be some clothing “left
over” that tended to sag. (Much the same as in real life). The
WW Cleavage dial allows you to easily take in the slack. Other Wardrobe Wizard Utilities.

• Under Breast Smooth: Sometimes required to provide

additional smoothing to loose fitting ladies shirts.

• Wardrobe Wizard Utilities

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Figure Utilities We recommend that you turn IK off before using

the Zero Figure option.

• IK Off: Select a figure and click this button to turn Inverse

Kinematics off.

• IK On: Select a figure and click this button to turn Inverse

Kinematics on. IK is applied to hands and feet with this
option.

• Transparency Off: Turns transparency off. Only works in

older versions of Poser.

• Transparency On: Turns transparency on. Only works in

older versions of Poser.

• Weld Figure: Click this button to create a welded copy of

the selected figure. The copy appears in the Select Actor
Wardrobe Wizard Figure Utilities.
menu and is named new.

Figure Utilities Menu 1 • More...: Click to display Figure Utilities Menu 2.

• Back: Goes back to the previous menu.

• Load Figure: Opens a dialog that allows you to navigate to
a character library folder on your hard drive, and select a
character file.

• Zero Figure: Select a figure and then click this button to set
all joint rotations to zero, and scales to 100%.

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Figure Utilities Menu 2 found in your Poser installation folder as Runtime \Python
\poserScripts \PhilC \Wardrobe Wizard P8 \Scale.py.

• Remove Scaling: Removes scaling settings from the figure

that you click.

• Remove Magnets: Removes magnets from the figure that

you click.

• Copy Joint Parameters: With two (or more) figures in the

scene, allows you to copy joint parameters from one figure
and apply them to another.

• Back: Goes back to the previous menu.

Morphs Utilities

Figure Utilities (part 2). Morph Utilities Menu 1

Clicking the Utilities > Morph buttons brings up these buttons.

• Copy Scaling: Copies scaling parameters into the
clipboard.

• Apply Scaling: Applies copied settings to the currently

selected figure.

• Save Scaling: After you copy scaling settings to the

clipboard, saves the scripts to your hard drive. The script is

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‘Analyze full body morphs’ button, which creates a morph

analysis for every clothing dial. It is intended to be used with
figures such as V4, V41 and Apollo etc each of which contain
some fancy string pulling in their figure CR2 files that result
in non-standard Full Body Morph dials that Wardrobe
Wizard can not recognize.

• Dials to Single Morph: This will convert all current

character settings to a single Full Body Morph dial on
the character. This is a powerful feature that will take the
existing dials and magnets on the figure, and turn it into a
single Full Body Morph dial on the BODY of the figure. Let’s
say you have a character that is based on V3 morphs, and
requires 15 morphs to be injected and set. This button will
let you turn them all into a single ‘new’ morph, that doesn’t
require the dials to be set, or even injected, any more.
Wardrobe Wizard Morph utilities.
• Dials to Multiple Morphs: This will convert all dials on
the current character to multiple normal morphs on the
• Create MOR from Figure: This will analyze the current
character. This is similar to ‘Dials to Single Morph’ above,
character settings and create a morph analysis files (MOR
but creates multiple morphs, one per dial. The new morphs
file.) This eases converting clothing from custom figures
don’t require the old dials to be set, or even injected, any
that are ‘dialed’ from existing morphs; turns it into a 1-click
more.
conversion.
• Actor Morphs to Figure: This will transfer selected actor
• Create MORs from Dials: This will analyze all the dials of
morphs to the body. This is useful to bring up hair morphs
the current character and create multiple morph analysis
or chest morphs etc to the BODY level, where Wardrobe
files (MOR files.) This is the same thing as the existing
Wizard can analyze them.

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• Figs to Morphs: Provides a method of creating a full body • Back: Goes back to the previous menu.
morph from a morphed version of the figure. The steps are:
Morph Utilities Menu 2
ƒƒ Load the base figure and use the zero figure button.

ƒƒ Load the reshaped figure. (See Save Changes to

Geometry below)

ƒƒ With the base figure selected click the Figs to morphs

button. This will use the reshaped figure as a morph
target and build a full body morph into the base figure.

ƒƒ Delete the reshaped figure.

ƒƒ Save the base figure to the library.

• Save Changes to Geometry: “Fixes” the figure’s geometry

to whatever is currently displayed in the scene. When the
figure is saved back to the library this new geometry is
saved as a new OBJ file. It is very possible that the joint
parameters will not work well. Its purpose is to:

ƒƒ Provide a figure to be used as a morph target in “Figs to Morph Utilties (part 2).
morphs” above.

ƒƒ Enable clothing that does not fit the figure at zero pose • Set All Morphs: Sets all the morphs present in the figure
to be made to fit and hence produce a good conversion. to a value of 1.000 Intended as a quick way of setting all
See the “anything else” shoe example below. morphs recently created in a blank figure using magnets
in preparation for using the Poser menu Figure/Create full
• Zero All Morphs: Sets all morph dial values to zero. body morph. Anything else and it just has novelty value.

• More...: Displays Morph Utilities Menu 2, described next. • Zero All Scaling: Just what the button says.
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• Back: Goes back to the previous menu. a texture map, the texture opens in the default program that
your system uses for editing bitmaps (such as Photoshop or
another image editor).
Texture Utilities
• Apply Texture to All Mats: Click this button to display a
menu of texture maps that are applied to the current figure.
When you then select one of the texture maps, it is applied
to all materials in the current figure.

This option is not undoable, and is not

recommended for content that uses multiple
texture maps (such as figures that use separate head,
body, teeth, and eyelash texture maps).

• Copy Texture to Prop: Allows you to copy material settings

from one prop to another. They must both have the same
material names.

• Transparency Off: Sets transparency to 0%.

Wardrobe Wizard Texture Utilities. • Transparency On: Sets transparency to 100%.

• Transparency Half: Sets transparency to 50%.

• Set All to White: Click this button to change all Diffuse
Color settings to white. Links to texture maps remain • Remove All Textures: Removes textures from the item that
connected to the root node. you click.

• Edit Texture: Click this option to display a menu of texture • Back: Goes back to the previous menu.
maps that apply to the current figure. When you then select
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Prop Utilities • Import Multiple Props: Allows you to import multiple

props (for example, the individual props saved with the
Figure to Multiple Props script mentioned above.

• Back: Goes back to the previous menu.

Lights Utilities

Wardrobe Wizard Prop Utilities.

• Figure to Single Prop: Converts the figure that you click

into a single prop.

• Figure to Multiple Props: Converts the figure that you click

into multiple props, and saves them to the Runtime \Python Wardrobe Wizard Light Utilities.
\poserScripts \PhilC \Wardrobe Wizard p8 \temp folder.
• Intensity: Provides several different options for increasing
or decreasing the Red, Green, Blue, or all channels of a light.
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• Swap: Flips the orientation of the lights so that right lights ‘formulas.txt.’ Each line is a single formula consisting of the
are moved to the left side, and left lights are moved to the name, the direction to apply the adjustment in, the adjustment
right side of the scene. amount, and a set of numbers that control how the formula is
applied.
• Shadows Off: Turns shadows off on all lights.
That set of numbers is most similar to a ‘convolution kernel.’
• Shadows On: Turns shadows on for all lights. Examples:

• Delete All: Deletes all lights in the scene. • 0 0 Don’t apply any adjustment.

• Back: Goes back to the previous menu. • 1 1 All verts top to bottom get the adjustment equally.

• 1 0 Top half of the actor gets 100% of the adjustment,

Shape Utilities bottom half gets no adjustment.
Clicking on the Utilities > Shape buttons brings up the Shape
• 1 0 0 Top THIRD of the actor gets 100% of the adjustment,
buttons. They allow you to change the shape of the geometry.
bottom half gets no adjustment.
Once you have the shape you like save the figure to the library to
make the shape permanent. • 0 0 1 Top two thirds gets no adjustment, bottom third gets
The tools are primarily used to fine tune the shape of skirts but all the adjustment.
may be used on other body parts also. The ‘number’ of numbers on the line control how many sections
to divide the actor into. Two numbers divides the actor into
These utilities do not create a morph you
2 parts top to bottom, 3 numbers divides it into 3 parts, 10
actually change the geometry that gets saved to
numbers divides it into 10 parts, etc.
the OBJ file.
The ‘value’ of the adjustment is the relative weight to give it.
Now for those who really want to “get into it”, here is an Example:
explanation of how these buttons work and how they can be pear xz .1 0 1 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
customized. The list of formulas is in the data folder under
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This says: • Menu 1: Includes Undo, Flare, FlareFront, Taper,

TaperFront, InflateThighX, InflateThighZ, and Inflate.
• Move in the xz direction only, which doesn’t affect the Choose More to proceed to the second menu, and Back to
length. .1 is the amount to move. return to the previous menu.

• There are 15 numbers following, that means divide the skirt • Menu 2: Includes Undo, InflateXZ, InflateX, InflateZ, Pear,
up into 15 sections. Hilo, Puff1, and Puff2. Choose More to proceed to the third
menu, and Back to return to the first menu.
• The highest number is a 3 - that means all entries with 3
get 100% of the adjustment, entries of 2 gets 2/3 of the • Menu 3: Includes Undo, Puff3, Puff4, and Back (which
adjustment, entries of 1 gets 1/3 of the adjustment, entries returns to Menu 2).
of 0 get none of the adjustment.

• The first number is a zero - that means the top 1/15 gets no Shift Utilities
adjustment.
These buttons move the geometry in Poser’s memory as opposed
• The second number is a one - that means the next section to translating the model in 3D space. Redundant in Wardrobe
gets 1/3 of the adjustment. Wizard but retained here “just in case”.

• The second number is a two - that means the next section

down gets 2/3 of the adjustment.

• The following numbers are all 3’s - that means the

remainder of the actor gets 100% of the adjustment.
There are three Shape Utility menus, with various shapes named
as follows. We suggest experimenting with these shapes to learn
how you can combine them to achieve the shapes you need:

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• Shift Backward: Shifts selected geometry backward.

• Back: Goes back to the previous menu.

Magnets Utilities

Wardrobe Wizard Shift utilities.

• Shift Right: Shifts selected geometry to the right.

• Shift Left: Shifts selected geometry to the left.

Wardrobe Wizard Magnet utilities.
• Shift Up: Shifts selected geometry upward.

• Shift Down: Shifts selected geometry downward. • Hide All Magnets: Hides all magnets in the scene.

• Shift Forward: Shifts selected geometry forward. • Show All Magnets: Shows all magnets in the scene.

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• Delete All Magnets: Deletes all magnets in the scene. More Utilities
• Hide Actor Magnets: Hides all magnets on the currently
selected actor.

• Show Actor Magnets: Shows all magnets on the currently

selected actor.

• Delete Actor Magnets: Deletes all magnets on the currently

selected actor.

• Add Magnet: Adds a magnet to the scene.

• Back: Goes back to the previous menu.

Additional Wardrobe Wizard utilities.

• Fix Pokethrough: If a section of clothing is intersecting the

figure this button will move it to just above the surface of the
skin. Use with care since some clothing models intentionally
have polygons that intersect the skin. You may be better
served by adjusting the “WW Inflate“ full body morph that
automatically gets included in each clothing conversion.
FixPokethru works with clothing intersecting the figure. It is
not designed to work with clothing intersecting clothing
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• Check For Updates: Opens your browser to a web page

that provides information on obtaining the most recent
updates for Wardrobe Wizard.

• Make Art: Provides a tongue in cheek solution to the often

asked question of how Poser may be used to create art.

• Back: Goes back to the previous menu.

Footwear

Shoes Converting flat footwear.

Original footwear correctly aligns to and covers the original

figure when both the figure and the footwear are at the zero pose. Hi Heels
This is achieved without the need to conform the footwear to the
figure. The original footwear only fits the figure providing that some
bending or morphing of the figure or footwear is undertaken.
The over riding factor is that the footwear fits the figure, not the
And/or the feet must be set invisible.
style of the heel.
The majority of Poser high heel styled shoes fall into this
category.

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2. U
se the Wardrobe Wizard Poser Python buttons Utilities >
Morphs > Save Changes to Geometry.

3. S
ave the shoes back to the Poser figure library with a new
name so as to not over write the originals.

4. C
onvert using the newly created Footwear using the “Shoe”
type but if that does not work try the Hi Heel type.

Converting footwear with heels.

Other Types of Shoes

Models that have to be “shoe horned” into fitting the zero posed
figure.
Note that some high heeled shoes are correctly modeled to fit
the figure when at the zero pose. These then take up their high Converting other types of shoes.
heel shape when the foot is bent. For these use the “Shoe” type of
conversion. Try Shoe type first.
The above two methods are going to cover the majority of shoes Common Questions (and Answers)
but for those that fall through the cracks try this.
Q: Where can I get additional support for Wardrobe Wizard?
1. By hook or by crook get the shoe to fit the zero posed figure.
A: We suggest the following:

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• For online information, video tutorials, etc. see http://www. A: Use the Poser Morphing Tool to fine tune as required. This
philc.net/WardrobeWizard.php. is a very useful tool that will allow you to smooth, push or pull
small areas as required. Suggest setting the Magnitude to a
• To ask questions in the Wardrobe Wizard forum go to very low value to allow fine control. For information about the
http://www.philc.net/forum/ (requires creating a free user Morphing tool, see “Creating Morphs with the Morphing Tool”
account). on page 578.
Q: Wardrobe Wizard starts to analyze the clothing but then
says that it can not find the OBJ file.
A: Wardrobe Wizard can find paths in the CR2 file when the
“figureResFile” is given in either of these two these formats:-
Relative Path
Runtime:Geometries:Folder:SubFolder:filename.obj
Runtime:libraries:character:Folder:SubFolder:filename.
obj

Absolute Path
C:\Documents and Settings:Administrator:My
Documents:My Poser Files:Runtime:Geometries:Folder:SubFol
der:filename.obj

Open the CR2 file in a text editor to find the figureResFile line. It
is usually within the first ten lines of the file.
Either will work but if the path is relative check to ensure that
the CR2 file is within that same Runtime. If the path is absolute
check that the file is actually where it is supposed to be.
Q: The conversion went well, but there is one small section
that needs some extra adjustment. Using the Wardrobe
Wizard smoothing or inflation morphs affects too great an
area.
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Part 7: Content
Creation Tools

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Chapter 28: Modifying Poser includes a wide variety of tools for figure/prop shaping.
Here are some tips, tricks, and important things to keep in mind

Figures & Props when editing figures and/or props:

• All Poser figures come with morph targets and full body
This chapter explains how to create completely custom looks for morphs, allowing you to reshape one or more body parts.
your figures and props. For example, human bodies come in all You can find more information about creating morphs in
shapes and sizes. You can modify proportions using various tools “Creating Morphs with the Morphing Tool” on page 578
to achieve interesting effects. and “Creating Morphs in Other Applications” on page
592.

• You can use the Grouping tool (see “The Group Editor”
on page 614 to create cloth, hair, or other groups. You
can also deform polygon groups as mentioned in “Using
Deformers with Grouped Objects” on page 578. The
Grouping tool is located in the Editing tools display.

• The Scale and Taper tools (see “Scale” on page 185 and
“Taper” on page 185, respectively) can change a body or
element’s shape. The Scale and Taper tools are located in
the Editing tools display.

• Deformers (magnets, force fields, and waves) can also alter

shapes.

• You can replace body parts with props (see “Replacing a

A figure’s head reshaped by a magnet.
Body Part with a Prop” on page 225).

• You can save your work to the Library palette.

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• You can modify entire figures or individual body parts. For

Using Deformers
example, enlarging the abdomen can create a beer belly.
Widening the head broadens the face. Shaping figures is Poser’s deformers (magnets, force fields, waves, morphs) shape
easiest when the figure is in its default pose where you can body parts, props, and figures into new and interesting forms.
clearly see the results of each of your actions. You can stretch a nose, make a belly bounce with a walk, make
hair and clothing blow in the wind, and create almost any body
• You may want to hide the other figures and props in your
shape you can imagine. You can animate deformer settings and
scene for an uncluttered view.
positions, allowing you to create (for example) gusting winds
(force field), bulging muscles (morph targets), etc. The Wave,
• As you finish shaping and posing each body part, you can
Force Field, and Magnet deformers can also create custom
lock it as described in “Lock Actor” on page 209. And,
morph targets.
once you’ve posed your figure, you can guard against
accidental changes by locking the entire figure as described
Deformers can be linked to joint rotations or
in “Lock Figure” on page 213.
other parameters using the Dependent
Parameters Editor. Refer to “Using Dependent
• Symmetry can be a huge time saver, allowing you to pose
Parameters” on page 598 for more information..
half your figure and apply the pose to the other side. Please
refer to “Symmetry” on page 213 for information about
using Symmetry. Also, try using cutting and pasting to apply
poses across multiple figures. Magnets
• If your computer can support it, we recommend enabling Magnets distort objects by stretching them. You can use the
Full Tracking mode (see “Tracking Mode” on page 91) Rotate, Twist, Translate, and Scale tools on magnets. Please
so you can view your work in real time. This does require see “The Editing Tools” on page 182 for information on using
extra computing resources, which can affect performance the Editing tools. Here’s an example of a sphere deformed by a
depending on your computer’s specifications and the magnet:
complexity of your scene.

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When the magnet is translated and scaled, the head is reshaped Parts of a magnet.
accordingly.
The three parts are:

• Magnet Object: The Magnet Object defines the behavior of

Creating Magnet Deformers the actual magnet.
To create a magnet, select the object you wish to deform then • Magnet Base: The Magnet Base defines the zero point of
select Object > Create Magnet. This creates three Magnet the area to be deformed. Moving the Magnet Base moves the
objects, which together comprise the deformer. Magnet Object as well.

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• Magnet Zone: The Magnet Zone defines the area being Magnet Deformer Properties
deformed. You can move and shape the Magnet Zone to suit
your needs. Magnet Objects, Magnet Bases, and Magnet Zones have
properties that you can edit using the Properties palette.
Magnets work by deforming the area within the Magnet Zone
along the axis defined by the Magnet Base and Magnet Object Magnet Object Properties
in an amount dependent on the distance between the Magnet
Object and the Magnet Base. Magnet Objects have the following properties:

Using Editing Tools with Magnet Objects

To use Editing tools on a Magnet Object, select the magnet in

the Current Actor pull-down menu, then select your desired
Editing tool.

• Rotate: The Rotate tool rotates the Magnet Object around

its three axes.
Magnet properties.
• Twist: The Twist tool rotates the Magnet Object along its
own axis.
• Name: The Name property allows you to rename the
• Translate/Pull: The Translate/Pull tool moves the Magnet Magnet Object by entering your desired name in this field.
Object horizontally or vertically.
• Visible: The Visible checkbox toggles visibility on and off.
• Translate In/Out: The Translate In/Out tool moves the Checking the box makes the object visible, and vice versa.
Magnet Object in or out from the center of the Poser Invisible objects are not included in any render calculations,
workspace. and do not appear in the rendered scene. See “Figure
Properties” on page 190 for information on animating the
• Scale: The Scale tool increases or decreases the size of the
Visible property.
Magnet Object.
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• Add element to deform: Checking the Add element to • Scale: The Scale parameter dial increases or decreases the
deform button opens a hierarchy list, allowing you to select size of the Magnet Object in all axes.
added elements to be deformed by the Magnet. This only
works if the selected element(s) are within the Magnet Zone. • XYZScale: The xScale, yScale, and zScale parameter dials
increase or decrease the size of the Magnet Object in the
Magnet Object Parameters selected axis.

Magnet Objects have the following parameter dials in the • XYZRotate: The xRotate, yRotate, and zRotate parameter
Parameters palette: dials rotate the Magnet Object around the selected axis.

• XYZTran: The xTran, yTran, and zTran parameter dials

move the Magnet Object along the selected axis.

Magnet Base Properties

Magnet Bases have the following properties:

Magnet parameters. Magnet Base properties.

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• Name: The Name property allows you to rename the • Load Morph Target: Clicking the Load Morph Target
Magnet Base by entering your desired name in this field. button displays the Load Morph Target dialog, allowing
you to load a custom morph target for the selected force
• Visible: The Visible checkbox toggles visibility on and off. field (which is then editable using the Morphing Tool as
Checking the box makes the object visible, and vice versa. described in “Creating Morphs with the Morphing Tool” on
Invisible objects are not included in any render calculations, page 578).
and do not appear in the rendered scene. See “Figure
Properties” on page 190 for information on animating the Magnet Zone Properties
Visible property.
Magnet Zones have the following properties:
• Display Origin: The Display Origin checkbox displays the
Magnet Base’s axes. This is useful because translations, Setting the Magnet Zone’s display style to
rotations, etc. occur based on the Magnet Base’s axes, not Wireframe can help make it more visible in your
the Poser workspace’s. See the “Chapter 29: Figure and Document window.
Prop Editors” on page 614 for a discussion about local vs.
global coordinates.

• Casts Shadows: Checking the Casts Shadows checkbox

forces the selected body part to cast a shadow, which will be
visible in your scene. Clearing this box means the selected
body part casts no shadow.

• Set Parent: Clicking the Set Parent button allows you to

make the Magnet Base a child of another element in your
scene. Please refer to “Poser File Types” on page 769 for a
description of hierarchical relationships and to “Changing a
Parent” on page 227 for information on setting parents.
Magnet Zone properties.

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• Name: The Name property allows you to rename the Magnet Zone Falloff Graph
Magnet Zone by entering your desired name in this field.
Selecting Edit Falloff Graph in the Magnet Zone Properties
• Visible: The Visibility checkbox toggles visibility on and off. palette opens the Magnet Zone Falloff window.
Checking the box makes the object visible, and vice versa.
The left side of this graph depicts the center of the Magnet Zone,
• Group: Checking the Group checkbox enables grouping, and the right side is its edge. By default, a smooth curve appears,
allowing you to deform a grouped portion of the selected meaning that the magnet’s influence gradually tapers off towards
element(s). You can create groups to deform, and groups the edges of its zone. By adjusting this curve, you can alter the
can consist of portions of one or more body parts, props, falloff properties.
etc. Please see “The Group Editor” on page 614 for
information on using the Grouping tool. A group is selected
when a checkbox appears next to the group listing.

• Set Parent: Clicking the Set Parent button allows you to

make the Magnet Zone a child of another element in your
scene. Please refer to “Poser File Types” on page 769 for
a description of hierarchical relationships and to “Changing
a Parent” on page 227 for information on setting parents.

• Edit Falloff Graph: Clicking the Edit Falloff Graph button

allows you to edit the Magnet Zone’s Falloff graph, which
determines where the deforming area ends or falls off.
Please see “Magnet Zone Falloff Graph” on page 568 for
information on using this graph.

The effects of a magnet zone can be shaped with a graph.

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To move control points click and drag them up and down. Wind Force Fields
Raising a control point increases the magnet zone’s influence
at the location. To add control points, click any spot along the Selecting Object > Create Wind Force creates a wind force field
curve. You cannot remove added control points. that ads realistic wind to your scenes. Force fields affect strand-
based hair and dynamic cloth.

A Wind Force Field.

A reshaped graph for the magnet zone.

You can position force fields using the Editing tools just as you
Locking Magnets would any other prop.

You can lock magnets to prevent accidental changes. Please refer Force Field Properties
to “Lock Actor” on page 209.
Force fields have the following properties, available in the
Properties palette:

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• Internal Name: The Internal Name field displays the force

field’s internal (hidden) name, which Poser uses to track
that part. You cannot edit a force field’s internal name
within Poser.

• Name: The Name field displays the force field name. Enter
a new name in this field if you desire.

• Visible: Checking the Visible checkbox makes the force

field visible and vice versa. Invisible objects are not included
in any render calculations, and do not appear in the
rendered scene. See “Figure Properties” on page 190 for
information on animating the Visible property.

• Visible in Raytracing: Checking the Visible in Raytracing

checkbox makes the force field visible in raytraced
reflections, such as if the figure is in front of a mirror.
Clearing this checkbox makes the force field not appear in
reflections.

• Casts Shadows: Checking the Casts Shadows checkbox

forces the selected force field to cast a shadow, which will be
visible in your scene. Clearing this box means the selected
force field casts no shadow.

• Display Origin: Checking the Display Origin checkbox

Forcefield Properties. display’s the force field’s origin. Please refer to “The Prop
Origin” on page 222 for more information about force
field origins.
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• Light Emitter: When checked, allows the object to be on page 578 for more information about loading morph
included in indirect lighting calculations so that light will targets.
bounce off the object. When unchecked, indirect lighting
calculations are skipped for the object. This allows you to • Set Parent: Clicking the Set Parent button allows you
create objects such as illuminated light domes, which can to make the force field a child of another element in your
have high ambient values that will cast light, but that can scene. Please refer to “Poser File Types” on page 769 for a
also be turned off and not rendered. description of hierarchical relationships and to “Changing a
Parent” on page 227 for information on setting force field
• Visible in Camera: When checked, the object is visible parents.
in the camera and render. When unchecked, the object
does not render. Used in conjunction with Light Emitter, • Displacement Bounds: The Displacement Bounds
described previously, to create light-casting objects. property determines the force field’s displacement
boundary. Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly
• Collision detection: Checking the Collision Detection Render Engine” on page 390 for more information about
checkbox enables collision detection for the currently displacement bounds.
selected force field. Please refer to “Collisions” on page
73 for more information about collision detection. • Shading Rate: The Shading Rate allows you to specify the
desired shading rate for the currently selected force field.
• Apply Collision Setting to Children: Clicking the Apply Please refer to “Chapter 19: Using The FireFly Render
Collision Setting to Children button applies the currently Engine” on page 390 for more information about shading
selected force field’s collision detection setting to that part’s rates.
children parts (if any).
Force Field Parameters
• Load Morph Target: Clicking the Load Morph Target
button displays the Load Morph Target dialog, allowing Force fields have the following parameters, available in the
you to load a custom morph target for the selected force Parameters palette:
field, which is then editable using the Morphing Tool.
Please refer to “Creating Morphs with the Morphing Tool”

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• XYZScale: The xScale, yScale, and zScale parameter dials

increase or decrease the size of the force field in the selected
axis. This is only available for the force field.

• XYZRotate: The xRotate, yRotate, and zRotate parameter

dials rotate the force field around the selected axis.

• XYZTran: The xTran, yTran, and zTran parameter dials

move the force field along the selected axis.

• Amplitude: The Amplitude parameter controls the strength

of the force field. Increasing this value increases the wind
speed, and vice versa.

• Spread Angle: The Spread Angle parameter specifies the

force field’s angle of effecting degrees.

• Range: The Range parameter specifies the force field’s

range of effect in the currently selected units (feet,
millimeters, etc.).

Forcefield Parameters. • Turbulence: The Turbulence parameter controls the

amount of irregularity in the force field’s wind stream and
can be used to simulate gusts.
• Scale: Increases or decreases the size of the force field in
all axes.

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Wave Deformers
Wave deformers distort objects by creating wave paths. You
can use the Rotate, Twist, Translate, and Scale tools on wave
deformers. Please see “The Editing Tools” on page 182 for
information on using the Editing tools. Here’s an example of a
sphere deformed by a wave.

Parts of a Wave deformer.

• Wave Object: The Wave Object defines the behavior of the

actual wave.

• Wave Zone: The Wave Zone defines the area being

A wave deformer applied to a forearm. deformed. You can move and shape the Wave Zone to suit
your needs.
Creating Wave Deformers Using Editing Tools with Wave Deformers
To create a wave, select the object you wish to deform then select To use Editing tools on a Wave Object, select the wave in
Object > Create Wave. This creates two Wave objects, which the Current Actor pull-down menu, then select your desired
together comprise the deformer. The two parts are: Editing tool.
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• Rotate: The Rotate tool rotates the Wave Object/Zone

around its three axes.

• Twist: The Twist tool rotates the Wave Object/Zone along

its own axis.

• Translate/Pull: The Translate/Pull tool moves the Wave

Object/Zone horizontally or vertically. This does not affect
the Radial wave.

• Translate In/Out: The Translate In/Out tool moves the

Wave Object/Zone in or out from the center of the Poser
workspace.
Wave Deformer properties.
• Scale: The Scale tool increases or decreases the size of the
Wave Object. • Name: The Name field allows you to rename the Wave
Object by entering your desired name in this field.
Wave Object Properties
• Visible: The Visible checkbox toggles visibility on and off.
Wave Objects and Zones have properties that you Checking the box makes the object visible, and vice versa.
can edit using the Properties palette. Invisible objects are not included in any render calculations,
and do not appear in the rendered scene. See “Figure
Wave Objects have the following properties:
Properties” on page 190 for information on animating the
Visible property.

• Radial Wave: Checking the Radial Wave radio button

causes the wave to spread from its origin like ripples in a
pond.

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• Directional Wave: Checking the Directional Wave radio

button causes the wave to spread in a linear fashion. The
following two properties control the direction.

• Deformer Aligned: Checking the Deformer Aligned radio

button cause waves to propagate along the direction of the
Wave Object.

• Object Normals: Checking the Object Normals radio

button cause waves to propagate along the affected object’s
normals.

• Add element to deform: Clicking the Add element to

Wave Zone properties.
deform button opens a hierarchy list, allowing you to select
added elements to be deformed by the wave. This only
works if the selected element(s) are within the Wave Zone. • Name: The Name field allows you to rename the Wave Zone
by entering your desired name in this field.
Wave Zone Properties
• Visible: The Visible checkbox toggles visibility on and off.
Wave Zones have the following properties: Checking the box makes the object visible, and vice versa.
Invisible objects are not included in any render calculations,
and do not appear in the rendered scene. See “Figure
Properties” on page 190 for information on animating
the Visible property.

• Group: Clicking the Group button allows you to deform a

grouped portion of the selected element(s). You can create
groups to deform, and groups can consist of portions

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of one or more body parts, props, etc. Please see “The

Group Editor” on page 614 for information on using the
Grouping tool. A group is selected when a checkbox appears
next to the group listing.

• Edit Falloff Graph: Clicking the Edit Falloff Graph button

allows you to edit the Wave Zone’s Falloff Graph, which
determines where the deforming area ends or falls off.
Please see the following topic for information on using this
graph.

• Set Parent: Checking the Set Parent button allows you

to set a parent object for the Wave Zone. Please refer to
“Changing a Parent” on page 227 for information about Wave Zone falloff graph.
parenting objects.

Setting the Wave Zone’s Display Style to Wave Deformer Parameters

Wireframe can help make it more visible in your
Document Window. Wave deformers can use the following parameter dials in the
Parameters palette:

Wave Zone Falloff Graph

Clicking the Edit Falloff Graph button in the Wave Zone

Properties opens the Wave Zone Falloff window, which appears
and functions in the same manner as the Magnet Falloff Graph
depicted in “Magnet Zone Falloff Graph” on page 568.

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First, there are certain parameter dials that are only available for
waves:

• Phase: The Phase parameter dial defines the position

of the wave in infinite time. Use this parameter when
animating waves.

• Amplitude: The Amplitude parameter dial defines the

wave’s height.

• Wavelength: The Wavelength parameter dial defines the

distance between wave crests (frequency).

• Stretch: The Stretch parameter dial controls the sharpness

of each wave.

• Amp Noise: The Amp Noise parameter dial defines the

randomness or noise of the wave’s amplitude.

• Freq Noise: The Freq Noise parameter dial defines the

randomness or noise of the wave pattern’s frequency.

• Sinusoidal: The Sinusoidal parameter dial defines the size

of the sine wave pattern.

• Square: The Square parameter dial defines the shape of the

wave pattern. Increasing this value creates square-shaped
Wave Deformer parameters. waves.

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• Triangular: The Triangular parameter dial defines the

Using Deformers with Grouped
shape of the wave pattern. Increasing this value creates
triangle-shaped waves. Objects
• Turbulence: The Turbulence parameter dial defines the You can create custom groups using the Group Editor palette
roughness of a wave pattern. Increasing this value creates as described in “The Group Editor” on page 614 and apply
jagged, turbulent waves, and vice versa. deformers to these groups. Groups can contain parts of one or
more body parts/props. You can select these groups by name
• Offset: The Offset parameter dial defines if the wave’s using the Properties palette for selected magnets or waves. To
pattern is above, on, or below the wave’s origin. Increasing apply a deformer to a group:
this value brings the wave pattern above the origin. This
Select the body part/prop containing the group.
is helpful if, for example, you want to keep clothing from
deforming the underlying figure. 1. Create the deformer as described above.

The following common parameters also apply to Wave objects: 2. Select the deformer’s Zone and access that zone’s properties
as described above. Check the Group checkbox, then select
• Scale: Increases or decreases the size of the Wave Object in
one or more groups from the pop-up that appears. A group
all axes.
is selected when a checkbox appears next to it.
• XYZScale: The xScale, yScale, and zScale parameter
This procedure deforms on the grouped sections of body parts/
dials increase or decrease the size of the Wave Zone in the
props.
selected axis. This is only available for the Wave Zone.

XYZRotate: The xRotate, yRotate, and zRotate parameter

•
dials rotate the Wave Object around the selected axis.
Creating Morphs with the Morphing
Tool
• XYZTran: The xTran, yTran, and zTran parameter dials
move the Wave Object along the selected axis. Morph targets are custom parameters added to body parts
or props that allow you to reshape the affected part(s). Poser

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includes some built-in morph targets with the stock figures, and example, if you create a morph called Bulging Bicep for the
you can create your own. Morph targets allow you to easily resize upper arm, you’ll see the Bulging Bicep parameter dial in the
and reshape items and are fully animatable. Parameters palette when you’ve loaded the morph target and
selected the upper arm.
Clicking on the Morphing Tool in the Editing Tools display
opens the Morph Editor palette. The Morphing Tool has two
operational modes: Combine and Create, which are covered
in the sections that follow. Click on the appropriate tab in the
Morph Editor to switch between these two modes.

Faces reshaped with the Morphing Tool.

While morph targets appear as parameter dials in the

Parameters palette, they are actually custom geometry
containing the deformation, which you then apply using
parameter dials. Does this seem confusing? It’s actually pretty
The Morphing Tool in the Editing Tools palette.
simple once you get the hang of it. Let’s explore this functionality
a little further.
You can create your own morph targets using Poser and/or
another application. This manual primarily covers creating
The Combine Tab
morph targets in Poser, but we will discuss using third-
The Combine tab on the Morph Editor allows you to visually
party applications in general terms. Within Poser, you use a
sculpt your figures’ morph targets by clicking on a body part
combination of deformers and existing morph channels (such
such as the head, then dragging the mouse to change the shape
as the Surprised parameter) to create morph targets. Each
of that body part. The changes that you see are all based on the
morph target gets its own Parameter dial whenever the affected
morphs that are already present in the body part. You can do this
element(s) are selected and the morph target is loaded. For
with any scene object that has morph targets.
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To use the Combine tab:

1. Select the body part you wish to sculpt, then select the
Morphing Tool. The Morph Editor palette appears. The
Combine tab displays all of the morph targets available for
the selected body part:

2. The list of morph targets is hierarchical and displays

branches containing the available morph targets. Clicking
the – icon next to an expanded branch collapses that branch,
and clicking the + icon next to a collapsed branch expands
that branch. You can also use the scroll bars to navigate
the list. The Morph Editor will allow you to manipulate all
selected morph targets. A green dot next to a morph target
includes the specified morph target when using the tool,
and a Lock icon means the specified morph target will not
be affected by the tool. Even if a morph target is enabled,
it may or may not be affected by your use of the tool. For
example, selecting a vertex in the forehead may affect the
eyebrows but will not affect the mouth. Select your desired
morph target(s), then click and drag any vertex on the
selected body part.

The Morphing Tool Combine tab.

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The Morph Editor palette has the following functions:

A face before and after using the Morphing Tool.

3. Once you have a portion of the body part the way you want
it, you can click the Pin button then click one or more
vertices to pin them, preventing further manipulation as you
work on other areas of the object. Pinned vertices appear as
red dots on the current object and may move as you keep
adjusting other portions of the body part (depending on
how many morph targets affect the pinned vertex), however
they will retain their current settings. Also, pins are retained
if you stop using the Morphing Tool and resume using it
later. To stop pinning vertices, click the Morphing button
(see below). You may notice some trembling if you adjust Elements found in the Morphing Tool Combine tab.
morphs that affect pinned vertices.

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• Morphing: Clicking the Morphing button re-enables the Mathematically, each morph target defines a
Morphing Tool. Click this button after pinning vertices to displacement vector (v) on each object vertex,
resume adjusting morphs. and its exaggeration value defines a multiplier (w).
Thus, a morph target’s net effect is p + wv, where p is
• Pin: Clicking the Pin button disables the Morphing Tool the original vertex position. If w=1, we add v+p. W can
and allows you to pin one or more vertices as discussed be any value. The larger w is, the more exaggeration
above. this morph target’s effect has. The Exaggeration Min
and Exaggeration Max values globally define the limits
• Clear Morphs: Clicking the Clear Morphs button resets all
for w across all morph target weights when the
morphs. Use this option with care as it will undo all of your
Morphing Tool operates.
changes, even if you exit and resume using the Morphing
Tool.
• Lock All: Clicking the Lock All button locks all morph
• Clear Pins: Clicking the Clear Pins button removes all pins targets, which disables morph-based shape changes. This
previously applied to the current object. is handy when you’re satisfied with your overall shape and
only want to fine-tune a few specific morphs. In that case,
• Exaggeration min/max: Exaggeration refers to the degree
you could use this option then unlock only those morphs
to which a morph target’s value will affect the vertices.
you want to adjust.
The Exaggeration Min and Exaggeration Max values
limit the extent of a morph target’s possible effect when • Unlock All: Clicking the Unlock All button unlocks all
the Morphing Tool is operating. No morph target can be morph targets, allowing you to modify them.
modified beyond these limits (see “Editing Parameter
Dials” on page 198 for more information about parameter To move in the Z axis, press and hold
dial limits). Increasing these limits therefore increases the [COMMAND]/[CTRL] while dragging.
exaggeration effects of all morph targets. For a technical
description of Exaggeration Min/Max, see the following
note.

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The Create Tab.

The Create tab of the Morph Editor allows you to select and
modify the mesh vertices to create new morph targets on a single
body part or across joint seams to adjacent body parts. As with
the Combine tab, you can apply the Create tab functionality to
any scene object that has a mesh.
Deformations made to the mesh while using the Create tab can
apply to the currently selected actor or to the entire figure. A
parameter dial will appear only on body parts that are affected
by the morph brush.

In addition to creating morph targets for

individual actors, Poser also allows you to create
Full-Body Morphs (FBMs). For more information about
Full-Body Morphs, see “Creating Full-Body Morphs” on
page 595.

Morphing Tool Create Tab.

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To use the Create tab: ƒƒ To work on an existing morph, expand the Body Parts
submenu to choose one of the body parts that uses that
1. Switch to the Create tab in the Morphing Tool if necessary.
morph (such as Waist), the morph category (such as
2. To create a custom morph, click the Custom_Morph text at Morph or JCM), and then select the morph that you
the top of the Morphing Tool palette to display the menu. want to edit (such as Pregnant).

ƒƒ To create a new morph, select New. You will be

prompted to assign a name for the new morph.

Choose New from the Custom Morph menu to create a new original
morph.

If you do not assign a name or choose an existing

morph before you begin painting, any changes
that you make will be assigned the generic morph name
of Custom Morph. You will need to use the Save a Copy To modify an existing morph, expand the Body Parts menu to select
As button at the bottom of the Morphing Tool to save the the morph you want to modify.
morph under a new name.

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3. After you name your new morph or select an existing ƒƒ Push: Selecting Push will enable you to push the
morph, the name of the morph will appear at the top of the vertices in the impact region inward from the original
Create tab. Set the value of the morph to 1 to begin editing. surface of the mesh, to create a concavity such as a
dimple or a dent.

ƒƒ Pull: Selecting Pull will enable you to pull the vertices

in the impact region outward from the original surface
of the mesh. This task is very useful for cleaning up
any inappropriate intersections between the figure and
either conforming or dynamic clothing; you can select a
Set the value of the morph to 1 while you are editing.
region of the cloth, and simply pull it out past the point
of intersection with the figure.

4. Click the radio button for the action you wish to use to ƒƒ Flatten: Takes all of the affected points and averages
modify the vertices: Push, Pull, Flatten, Smooth or the plane that best fits through all those points. It then
Restore. pushes all of the points to match that plane.

The following image shows an irregularly shaped object

in three stages: The top image shows the object before
it is flattened with the morph tool. The middle image
shows the object after a couple of areas have been
flattened with the Morph tool. The brush shape used no
falloff (the last brush option) and was set to a large size.
The third image shows the object after changing the
Morph brush to Smooth, and then passed through the
rough areas in the center.
Vertex modification options in the Create tab.

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ƒƒ Smooth: With the Smooth option you can gradually

reduce the amount of variation in the surface mesh, to
create a smoother surface. This is particularly useful for
surfaces with high frequency variations. Keep in mind
that this option generally reduces definition.

ƒƒ Restore: The Restore option gradually reverts your

recent changes back towards the original unmorphed
geometry state. This feature can be extremely useful in
fine-tuning your modifications, as it allows you to back
up recent changes by gradual degrees.

Restore is not the same as Undo. If you make a

change, and then select Edit > Undo, your entire
change will be erased, and the mesh will revert to the
state it was in before you made the change. By using
Restore, you can revert the effects of your change
gradually, thus allowing you to edit your modification
without losing it completely.

5. Select the mode in which you wish to work: Relative to

Surface or Screen.

ƒƒ Surface: When in Surface mode, all modifications you

make to the mesh will be made along the direction of
the surface normal. This is the default mode, as you are
An irregularly shaped object (top); after flattening (middle) and
likely to want to sculpt in relation to the surface normal
then smoothed (bottom)..
direction for most purposes.

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ƒƒ Screen: Screen mode allows you to deform the mesh most brush style has zero falloff, so that all vertices within
in any direction you wish. This option is useful for the region are impacted equally.
situations when you may wish to sculpt the mesh in
a transverse or vertical direction. Please note that
the direction of the modification in Screen mode is
determined by the current view of the figure as relative
to the screen. For example, if you wish to deform the
mesh towards the camera, you should rotate the figure
ninety degrees, then make your modification by moving
your mouse to the side.
6. Select your desired brush style from the five circular brush
style icons. Poser’s morph target creation feature uses
a brush paradigm, which allows for varying degrees of
precision when applying your modifications to the mesh.
The left most brush style impacts only the closest single
vertex to your mouse pointer, thus allowing for a great deal
of precise control. The remaining brush styles all affect a
region of the mesh. These regional brush styles have varying Adjusting the size of the Morph Brush.
degrees of falloff; the modification will affect vertices within
the impacted region to differing degrees, as determined by
the falloff. For example, the second brush style from the left Enabling the Display Brush option in the lower
has a large falloff region, which means that while vertices portion of the Create tab will display a visual
at the center of the region will be strongly impacted by your preview of the impact region. This preview is color
modifications, the impact will decrease gradually over most coded to show the falloff effect: red indicates the area
of the other vertices within the impact region. The falloff most strongly affected, yellow indicates less effect, and
area decreases with the next two brush styles, and the right- areas shown in green are the least affected within the
impact region.

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7. Adjust the Radius dial to increase or decrease the size of 9. By default, the Morphing Tool allows you to morph across
the impact region. If you have enabled the Display Brush multiple body parts. If you want to make changes to a single
option, the visual preview will adjust automatically to body part, check the Group option (shown in the following
indicate the current impact region radius. figure) and select a group from the popup menu.

8. You may want to adjust the Magnitude dial to specify how

much effect the Morphing Tool will have within the impact
region. A high Magnitude setting will allow you to make
large-scale dramatic changes, for faster workflow. A low
Magnitude setting will allow you to make more precise,
focused changes.

You can limit changes to one body part in the Morphing Tool.

Radius and Magnitude settings control the size and strength of the
Morph Brush. The Group option allows you to specify which specific
polygons the Morphing Tool will affect. When you
enable the Group option, the Group pop-up menu will
We recommend that you start with a relatively display a list of all polygon groups that exist for the
low Magnitude setting to allow you to become currently selected actor. You can select a group from
accustomed to the Morphing Tool, and then gradually this list to limit the effect of the Morphing Tool to
increase the Magnitude as needed. polygons contained in that group. You can also create
a group for your specific purposes using the Group

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Editor (see “Chapter 28: Modifying Figures & Props” the degree of the deformation, while the effect of the
on page 562 for more information about the Group modification applies to the original impact region only.
Editor).
11. Once you have configured the Morphing Tool to your
10. Enable or disable the following options to suit your specific needs via the Create tab, click and drag directly on
requirements: the current actor to deform the mesh.

ƒƒ Average normals: Maintains more detail of the 12. When you have completed your modifications, click the
underlying surface when Relative to Surface is Save Copy As button to propagate your work to a new
selected. It averages the normals of all the effected morph target.
vertices, instead of moving each affected vertex along its
own normal. 13. The Create tab also contains the following Display options:

ƒƒ Accumulate: When Accumulate is enabled (checked),

your change will continue to accumulate so long as
you continue a single click-and-drag movement. This
option allows you to make a greater degree of change
with a single motion, but with less precision. When
the Accumulate option is disabled (unchecked),
Display options in the Create tab.
each modification requires a separate click-and-drag
operation. Use this setting for greater control over your
modifications. ƒƒ Display Mesh: The Display Mesh option will
superimpose a visualization of the mesh over whatever
ƒƒ Stroke: When the Stroke option is enabled (checked), display style you have currently selected. (See “Chapter
the Morphing Tool will implement your modifications 6: The Display Controls and Menu” on page 103
along the trajectory of your mouse movement. This for more information on the various display styles.)
allows you to “paint” deformations onto the surface This option can be very helpful in that it allows you
of the mesh as you move your mouse across it. When to see how your deformations affect the surrounding
Stroke is disabled, your mouse movements will adjust polygons.
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ƒƒ Display Brush: The Display Brush option displays ƒƒ Work With Current Morphs: When enabled, the Work
a visual preview of the region you will be impacting With Current Morphs option allows you to visualize
with your deformation. This preview uses different the current adjusted state of all other morph targets
colors to indicate the degree to which each area of the while you deform the mesh. This option is useful for
impact region will be affected by your selected action. creating a morph target that acts on top of another
Specifically, red indicates the area most strongly morph target.
affected, yellow indicates that an area is less strongly
affected, and green areas are the least affected within This setting is useful for understanding how your
the impact region. The Display Brush option is new morph target will interact with other
enabled by default. If you have elected to work on a existing morph targets.
single group rather than the entire figure, the brush will
display only when it is over the group that is selected When disabled, the Work With Current Morphs
for editing. option allows you to temporarily hide the effects of all
other morph targets while working within the Create
tab. Using this option allows you to work on the mesh
geometry in its neutral state, without losing the settings
of your other morph targets. If you leave the Create tab,
those morph targets will automatically revert to their
specified states.
You can use the following functions to save or reset your morph
targets:

The Morph Brush appears as multicolored vertices that represent

strongest and weakest areas.

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• Zero Morph: The Zero Morph button will reset the surface
mesh to its undeformed state. Zero Morph will also clear
any morphing tool changes (stored in the Custom Morph
channel) that will generate at each body part and the
figure level. If the Zero Morph button has been pushed, the
channel will still exist but the morph data is removed.

This Custom Morph channel is used as a

Additional Morphing Tool functions. receptacle for morphing edits with the morphing
tool. Save a Copy As is the best way to preserve that
Custom Morph data for Full Body or individual body
• Mirror: The Mirror button at the bottom of the Create tab
part morphs.
brings up a pop-up menu offering six options of different
axes and directions for creating symmetrical changes on
the currently selected object, for example “-x to x” or “z to The Zero Morph button only applies to the effects
-z”. Note that these axes refer to the local coordinate system of your new morph target; all other morph
of the currently selected object only, and are not related to target states will remain unchanged. Be sure to save a
the world space coordinates of your Poser scene. Selecting copy of your modifications before clicking the Zero
one of these options will mirror morph target changes from Morph button if you do not wish to lose your changes.
one half of the currently selected object to another half of
the same object, as defined by the axis and direction you
• Save a Copy As: Whenever you enter the Create tab, any
selected from the menu.
modifications you make will automatically be placed into
a “Custom Morph” morph target unless you follow steps
If the mesh topology of the actor across which
2 and 3 to create a new morph name or select an existing
you are attempting to mirror is not symmetrical,
morph. The Save a Copy As button will allow you to save
the mirror feature may not be able to successfully
the current state of the Custom Morph target to a new,
translate your morph target changes.
separate morph target. You can use Save a Copy As to save
incremental modifications as you work with the mesh, or to
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propagate your final modifications to the figure for future

Creating Morphs in Other
use.
Applications
• Full Body Morphs created using the Save a Copy As
and the Custom Morph functions are traditional Delta
Add morphs with values that change linearly with the Creating Custom Morph Targets
a master parameter value. You can edit them using the
dependent parameters editor, as mentioned in “Using You can create morph targets using your favorite 3D modeling
Dependent Parameters” on page 598. The Save a Copy application so long as that application can import and export
As morph saves a channel to each body part, and also adds Wavefront OBJ (*.OBJ) files. To do this:
a parameter dial to the Body that drives all of the individual 1. Export the body part for which you wish to create the morph
body part channels. target as explained in “Exporting Files” on page 707.

The Custom Morph target is cumulative, in that 2. Import the body part into your favorite 3D modeling
any modifications you make will be made on top application.
of the previous state of the morph target. Therefore, if
you do not save your changes to a separate morph 3. Edit the geometry, being careful to only move vertices. Do
target using the Save a Copy As button, they will not add or remove vertices, or your morph target will not
become incorporated into any figure changes, and you work.
may have difficulty recovering that previous state.
4. Export the edited geometry from the 3D modeling
application in the Wavefront OBJ (*.OBJ) format.

5. Load the morph target.

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Adding Custom Morph Targets

• Selecting Object > Load Morph Target allows you to load a

morph target for your currently selected element.
You can add morph targets that you created using a third-party
application and apply them to your figures and props. You can
also add third-party morphs obtained from online sources such
as Poser’s Content room, which links you to several leading
Poser content marketplaces. Please refer to “Chapter 8: The Loading a Morph Target.
Content Room” on page 170 for more information on Poser’s
Content room. 3. Enter the complete path and filename to your desired
To add a custom morph target: morph or use the Locate button to open a standard Browse
dialog allowing you to locate the correct file. Your selected
1. Select the body part/prop to which you want to apply the
file must be in OBJ format, contain the same number of
morph and open its properties in the Properties palette.
vertices as the original body part/prop, and must only
contain the body part/prop being morphed.
2. Click Load Morph Target to open the Load Morph Target
dialog.
4. Enter a name for the added file, then click OK to exit back to
the Parameters palette. A new parameter dial appears with
the name of the newly added morph.

In order for morph targets to work properly, they must have

the same vertex order as the geometry mesh to which they are
applied. Some applications have difficulty preserving the vertex
order when editing or writing out morph targets. If you find that
your imported morph targets behave unexpectedly, you may
wish to check the Attempt Vertex Order Correction checkbox
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when loading them. This checkbox is located on the Load Morph target, and a dial with your specified name will appear in the
Target dialog, which can be accessed by selecting Object > Load object’s Parameters palette.
Morph Target, or clicking the Load Morph Target button on the
Shape an element using any combination of deformers you like
Properties palette. Please note that significant changes to vertex
to get the results you want. Shaping multiple elements on a body
order are not possible with automatic correction.
part includes all changes in the shape in the morph target.
1. Select the body part/prop’s properties in the Properties
Combining Morphs in Poser palette, then select Spawn Morph Target. A dialog appears
asking you to name your new target.
Poser provides a number of different ways that you can combine
body morphs to create unique characters. For example, you can 2. Enter your desired name and click OK. A parameter
use the Object > Spawn Morph Target command to create a dial appears in the Parameters palette with the name of
parameter dial for body parts and props that have been modified your new morph target. At this point, you can delete all
with deformers. The Figure > Create Full Body Morph deformers used to create the morph.
command allows you to create a single master dial in the Body to
drive morphs in several different body parts. Additionally, you
can use Dependent Parameters to create master parameter dials
that, in turn, create more realistic interactions between body
parts and rotations.

Spawning Morph Targets

In addition to the Create tab on the Morph Editor palette,
Assigning a name to a custom morph.
you can also create morph targets in Poser directly from the
Properties palette. Selecting Object > Spawn Morph Target
Numbers greater than 0 apply the morph to the selected
creates a morph target from deformed objects (body parts,
element(s), and vice versa. A value of 1 means the morph target
props) in your scene. You will be asked to name your new morph
is fully applied, a value of -1 means the morph is completely
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inverted, and numbers greater than +/-1 create exaggerated 1. Create morph targets for as many body parts as you wish.
effects. Using the Bulging Bicep example, a value of 1 applies Refer to this section for assistance if needed.
the bulge fully, a value of -1 applies a full concavity (the reverse
of the original morph), and so on. 2. Morph each body part using the new Parameter dials as
discussed in “Parameters Palette” on page 194. Set them
to the values you want to appear in the full-body morph. For
Creating Full-Body Morphs example, setting the Bulging Bicep value to 0.5 means that
the full body morph, when set to 1, will morph that part of
You can save multiple body parts and then save the entire pose
the figure as if you had applied the original morph with a
as a full-figure morph target, also known as a Full-Body Morph
value of 0.5.
(FBM). The new morph target encompasses all of the parameters
for that pose, meaning that everything morphs at the same time. 3. Select the entire figure, then select Figure > Create Full
Body Morph. Enter a name for your new morph in the Set
Only morph channels combine into a full-body
Name dialog that appears.
morph. Deformers are not automatically turned
into morph targets for full-figure morphs, nor are When you select the figure’s body again, a parameter dial with
scales, rotations, and translations. your new morph target will appear. This morph functions just
like any other morph: Numbers greater than 0 apply the morph
When you create a full body morph in Poser 9.03
to the selected element(s), and vice versa. A value of 1 means
or later, the master parameter dial in the BODY
the morph target is fully applied, a value of -1 means the morph
will be set to a value of 1, and the dependent parameter
is completely inverted, and numbers grater than +/-1 create
dials in each individual body actor will be set to 0, which
exaggerated effects. Using the Bulging Bicep example, a value
is more in line with how full body morphs are typically
of 1 applies the bulge fully, a value of -1 applies a full concavity
set up manually.
(the reverse of the original morph), and so forth.

To create a full-body morph target:

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Loading Full Body Morphs Body actors are not translated or rotated in any way. When
you choose the File > Export > Wavefront OBJ command,
You can use a third-party application to create a full body morph export the entire figure (do not omit any body parts). When
for a Poser figure, and then use the Figure > Load Full Body the Export Options dialog appears, verify that As Morph
Morph command to apply the complete morph to your figure. Target (No World Transformations) and Include Existing
The Load Full Body Morph command will then split the morphs Groups in Polygon Groups options are checked as shown
across each individual body part and create a parameter dial in in the following figure.
the Body actor to control all of the individual body part morphs.

In order for the Load Full Body Morph command

to work properly, the OBJ file must be grouped
the same as the original figure. If the morphed figure
does not contain groups, you will only see a parameter
dial in the Body actor, and you will not see any change
occur when you adjust the dial.

You can create your full body morph in a third-party application

in one of two ways: Export options for geometry files.

• You can import the unmodified OBJ file (usually found in When creating your morph in your third-party application,
the Geometries folder) into your modeling application. This make sure that you do not add or remove vertices or otherwise
is generally the preferred method, because you can then be change the geometry in any way. You can only modify the shape
assured that your OBJ file is not translated or modified in of the original figure. When you export your geometry from your
any way before you create your morph. modeling application, you must also make sure that the grouping
information is maintained.
• Alternatively, you can load a figure into Poser from the
library. Before you export the figure, turn off Inverse To load the modified body shape into Poser, follow these steps:
Kinematics and zero the figure, making sure that the hip and
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1. Load the original figure from the library into your scene, 5. Choose OK to complete the process. You should see morph
and select it to make it active. dials in the body and under each individual body part.

2. Choose Figure > Load Full Body Morph. The Load Morph 6. Test the morph by adjusting the dial in the Body section of
Target dialog appears. the Parameters palette.

• If the morph does not work, it may mean that the OBJ
you imported did not contain groups. Check to see if a dial
appears in any of the individual body parts. If they are
absent, your OBJ file did not contain groups. Consult the
documentation for your modeling program to determine
how to export the groups with your OBJ file.

• If the morph works but it makes the figure “explode”, repeat

the process. This time, check the Attempt Vertex Order
Correction option in the Load Morph Target dialog. This
might resolve the problem.
Loading a Morph Target.

Deleting Full and Partial Body Morphs

3. Click the button to the right of the Geometry file section to
locate the morphed OBJ file that you exported from your You can delete full or partial body morphs in the Parameters
modeling application. palette.

4. Enter a name for your morph in the Label field. This is the Poser 9 or Poser Pro 2012, SR3 or later, is
name that will be assigned to the parameter dials in the required to delete full or partial body morphs as
Body and individual body actors in the Parameters window. described below.

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Find the parameter dial for the morph you want to delete. You
can delete a morph by selecting a parameter from the BODY
actor, or from any other body part actor.
Click the arrow that appears at the right side of the parameter
dial to display the morph context menu, and choose Delete (if
the BODY actor is selected) or Delete Morph (if a body part
actor is selected).

By default, all body actors that contain the morph are selected by
default. Uncheck any actors where you want the morph to remain.

Click the arrow to the right of the morph you want to delete, then
choose Delete (or Delete Morph) from the menu. Using Dependent Parameters
The Select Objects dialog will open. A checkmark will appear You can change any existing parameter dial or create new
beside each body part from which the morph will be deleted. master parameter dials that can be used to control any number
By default, all body parts in which the selected morph appears of dependent (or slave) parameters. This powerful feature lets
are checked. Uncheck any parts where you want the morph to you link morphs, deformers, transformations, bulge parameters,
remain. Poser will ask you to confirm the deletion before the full or just about any element in the scene to create complex
body morph is removed. interactions that are all driven by a master parameter.

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We’ll examine how Ryan and Alyson use dependent parameters forearm, you’ll notice the following features in the Parameters
to control how several magnet deformers shape the forearm and palette (shown in the following figure):
bicep when you bend the forearm on Alyson.
• A Master Parameter icon appears beside any parameter that
Ryan and Alyson include several magnet deformers that help
serves as a Master Parameter. Click on this button to open
joints bend more realistically. The dependent parameters feature
the Dependent Parameters editor. This serves the same
is used to link these deformers to various joints in the figure.
function as choosing the Edit Dependencies command from
There are some magnet deformers that cause Alyson’s forearm the Parameters Option Menu (as described next).
and bicep to bulge when you bend her forearm. In previous
versions of Poser, you had to edit the figure’s CR2 file in a • When two values appear beside a parameter dial, one above
text or CR2 editor to create a link between the forearm’s bend the other, they indicate the following:
rotation and the deformers (magnets or morphs) in the forearm ƒƒ The lower number is the natural value, which is the
and bicep. The dependent parameters feature permits the value as set by the parameter dial itself.
user to create these links without having to hand edit text in
the CR2 file. In addition, it permits the user to create a curved ƒƒ The upper number is the driven value, which is the
link that can have varying driven values at any value of the sum of the natural value setting plus any values set by
master parameter. Conversely, the old hand-editing method its master parameter.
only created linear links between the master and dependant
parameters.

You can see all of the magnet deformers used in

Alyson if you choose Display > Deformers >
Show All. You can choose Display > Deformers > Hide
All to turn them back off after you’ve examined them.

In this example, we start by loading Alyson into an empty scene

and selecting the Top camera view. When you select Alyson’s left

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To open the Dependent Parameters window, choose Edit

Dependencies for the parameter you want to edit.

The Dependent Parameters window displays the following

settings and options:
Dependent Parameter values and icons.
• Master Parameter: Lists the name of the Master Parameter
Select Alyson’s Left Forearm, and click the Option Menu arrow dial that will control the dependent parameters.
at the right of the Bend parameter to display the menu shown in
the following figure. Choose Edit Dependencies from the menu • Start Teaching: Click this button to “record” the changes
that appears. This opens the Dependent Parameters window. that you want to link to the currently selected dial and value.

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• Value slider and number: Drag the slider left or right to parameters are editable in the Dependent Parameters
increase or decrease the value. You can also click the value editor. When you add additional keys to a Delta master
field and enter a number. parameter, it remains a Delta master parameter.

• Dependent Parameters: Provides a list of the other

parameters in the figure that will be affected when you
adjust the Master Parameter dial. For example, when you
dial the Bend morph to -90 you want a change to occur in
the Left Shoulder body part.

• Remove Selected: To remove dependent parameters, click

to highlight one or more of the entries in the Dependent
Parameters list, then click the Remove Selected button.

• Type: There are two types of Master Parameter dials:

ƒƒ Keyed: This master parameter type is the only type of

dial that you can create in the Dependent Parameter
palette. You can create linear links or curved links that
have varying driven values at any value of the master
parameter. Delta Add dependent parameters.

ƒƒ Delta Add: If you see this type listed, it means that

the relationship between the master parameter dial When you look at the Bend parameter in Alyson’s left forearm,
and its dependent parameters were created externally you’ll notice that there are a number of deformers linked to the
(most often by content developers that created the parameter dial.
relationships while editing the figure’s CR2 character
file). A Delta Add type is also created when you use
the Morphing Tool across body parts. Delta Add

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Showing deformers for a figure.

Keyed dependent parameters.

These deformers cause Alyson’s forearm and bicep to bulge

The Dependent Parameter Editor Graph
when you bend the forearm. If the deformers are displayed The Graph in the Dependent Parameters window allows you to
(Display > Deformers > Show All) you can observe how adjust how the parameter responds between keys. At a minimum
they respond when you adjust the Bend parameter on the left you need two keys. But you can modify keys in the graph display
forearm. You can adjust the dial in the Parameters palette, or in as follows:
the Dependent Parameters window.
• Click on the graph display between two value keys and drag
up or down to add a third value key.

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• Drag the Master Parameter’s value in the graph by clicking 2. Click the Parameters Palette Options menu, and choose
on the vertical line and moving it forward or backward. Create New Master Parameter.

• Click on any value key and drag it up or down to increase/

decrease it’s value.

• Click and drag in an open space of the graph to select

multiple keys. You can move this selection to include other
keys. Key navigation is controlled via the pop-up to the right
of the graph.

Creating Master Parameters

You can create a new Master Parameter dial from the Creating a new Master Parameter dial.
Parameters option menu in the Parameters Palette. Master
and Dependent Parameters aren’t restricted for use in figures. 3. The Dependent Parameters Editor opens and displays a
For example, you can create a Brightness master parameter default name of Master(x), where (x) is a number. If it is
on the main light in your scene, and use it to raise or lower the the first Master Parameter that you are creating, it will be
brightness in all of the lights in your scene at the same time. named Master 1.
Using Poser’s default three-light setup as an example, you would
4. You need to add two keys for each dependent parameter
create a master parameter for Light 2 (the front off-white light)
that you want to add. Since Light 2 is selected, we will
as the Master Parameter, as follows:
adjust the brightness on that light first. First, click the Start
1. Select the actor that will serve as the master parameter. In Teaching button.
this case, we want to add a new Master Parameter to Poser’s
default Light 2. 5. In the Dependent Parameters palette, set the Parameter dial
to 1.000. This is the value we will use as the “Bright” setting
for the Master 1 Parameter dial.
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6. Now you adjust the brightness on all three lights in your 8. Click the Next Key button in the Dependent Parameters
scene. It doesn’t matter which order you complete them in, palette to create a key for the other end of the Master 1
but since we have Light 2 selected already we’ll do that one parameter dial.
first. Set the Intensity for Light 2 to 200% (or double the
normal brightness). 9. In the Dependent Parameters palette, set the Master 1
parameter to -1.00 (negative value). This is the setting that
7. Repeat Step 6 for Lights 1 and Lights 3, selecting them from we will use to turn the lights off.
the Actor Selector in the Parameters Palette. As you make
these settings, you’ll notice entries are automatically added 10. In the Properties palette, set the intensity of your current
to the Dependent Parameters palette. light to 0% (off). Then do the same for the other two lights.

After the first key is created, click the Next Key button.
Set the intensities for the lights to 0%.
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With all of your settings configured, click the Stop Teaching

button in the Parameters Palette. You can also close the
Dependent Parameters palette, if desired.

Test the new parameter dial to make sure it works as you expect.
Click the Stop Teaching button when you complete the actions you
want to perform.

To test the new master parameter dial, select Light 2 in the Editing Master Parameters
Parameters Palette, and adjust the Master 1 parameter dial. All
The Dependent Parameters feature can be used to create or
three lights should be off when the dial is set to -1, on at their
enhance Full Body Morphs. In this section, we’ll describe how
normal strength at 0, and at double brightness at 1.
you can use the dependent parameters feature to enhance the
Pregnant full body morph.

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Create a new Poser scene and add Alyson to your scene. Select As mentioned earlier in “Using Dependent Parameters” on page
her Body, and expand the FBM morph section. Scroll down, if 598, there are two numerical values listed to the right of each
necessary, until you see the Pregnant morph. Click the Master morph dial:
Parameter icon to open the Dependent Parameter editor.
• The natural value (lower) designates the value that is
currently set for the morph dial in the Parameters palette.
In the example shown, the dial in the Parameters palette is
set at 0%.

• The driven value (upper) designates the value as controlled

by the master parameter. In this case, we are looking at a
Master Parameter dial (Pregnant), so its Driven value in the
Parameters palette is the same as that set in the Dependent
Parameters window.

A master parameter icon.

You’ll notice that a number of dependent parameters already

appear in the Dependent Parameters editor. If you highlight one
of the Dependent Parameters, the selected parameter appears
in the Parameters palette. For example, when you select the
rButtock: Pregnant entry in the Dependent Parameters list, the
settings for the rButtock body part appear in the Parameters
palette.
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command to create a master parameter dial in the figure’s Body

part.
While the older method of creating Full Body Morphs is still
available, the Dependent Parameters feature provides you with
even more power. For example, you can link additional partial
body morphs or full body morphs to the Pregnant dial so that
there are even more changes to the shape of Alyson’s pregnant
body. To demonstrate, we are going to make the Pregnant
morph even more natural looking, by adding additional changes
to the breasts and hips. The Dependent Parameters feature
makes this a very simple process.
Since Alyson is already in your scene, select Body as the current
body part. Scroll down until you see the Pregnant full body
morph, and dial in or enter a setting of 1 in the Dependent
Parameters window.
Morphs affected by dependent parameters have two values:
natural and driven.

The Dependent Parameters list displays a list of the morphs that

are adjusted by the Pregnant morph. The above figure shows
that the Pregnant morph dial in Alyson’s Body actor controls the
Pregnant morph in the hip, waist, abdomen, chest, left buttock,
and right buttock. If you are already familiar with previous
versions of Poser, you might recognize this type of morph
relationship as a “Full Body Morph.” In earlier versions of Poser,
you would have used the Figure > Create Full Body Morph

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category. Then you can use the dials or enter values numerically.
The following list shows the values that we set. Yours don’t have
to be exactly the same, feel free to experiment with other settings
if you desire:

• Breast Diameter: 1.072

• Breast Droop: 1

• Breasts Large: 1.216

• Breasts Natural: 1

• Areola Size: .548

• Nipples: .248

The Pregnant morph is set on several body parts. Click Start

Teaching to further enhance the shape.

In the Dependent Parameters window, click the Start

Teaching button. This instructs Poser to create a link between
the Master Parameter and the values that you select until you tell
Poser to stop teaching the joint parameters.
Now, we’ll adjust some of the breast settings to make them
look more like those of a pregnant woman. With Alyson’s Body
actor selected in the Parameters window, scroll down in the
Parameters palette and expand the morphs under the Breasts

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Breast morphs are adjusted for a fuller appearance.

Other Full Body Morphs add additional shape to the Pregnant
Notice now that the shape of the breasts looks more natural and morph.
realistic. Now we’ll add a couple of other Full Body Morphs to
the mix. We’ll add a touch of the Pear Figure and Rubenesque Now return to the Dependent Parameters window, and click
to adjust the overall body shape just a bit. Scroll back up to the Stop Teaching. The settings that you dialed in while teaching
Full Body morphs section in the Parameters Palette, and adjust the joint should all appear in the Dependent Parameters list.
the following values: When you adjust the dial in the Dependent Parameters window,
you should see the differences in the Pregnant morph respond
• PearFigure: .199 accordingly. Before you close the Dependent Parameters
window, set the value to zero.
• Rubenesque: .199
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reflect the settings that are inherited by the links that you
created with the master parameter.

Set the value of the Master Parameter dial to zero before you close
the window.

Now, go back to the Pregnant full body morph in the Parameters When you adjust the Pregnant morph dial, the dependent
window. Adjust the value up and down to see how the new parameters adjust with it.
morph responds to the changes in the dial settings. Your
new Pregnant morph should respond exactly as it did in the The following figure shows the original Pregnant morph on the
Dependent Parameters window. Notice how you also see the left, and the new improved version on the right. As you can see,
values of the PearFigure and Rubenesque dials change when you the enhancements have made the morph look more natural.
adjust the Pregnant morph. The values in the second column

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dial for the Pear Figure morph is increased to .8. The driven
value, which was previously set to .163 by the Pregnant morph,
increases by your .8 setting as well, and the resulting shape of
the figure changes accordingly.

The original and modified Pregnant morph.

Before we move on to the next topic, there is one more thing

to examine. The previous shot of the Parameters palette shows
what happens to the PearFigure and Rubenesque morphs when
you dial in the enhanced Pregnant morph. You’ll see that when You can still adjust the Natural value of a dependent parameter
the Pregnant master parameter dial is set to .820, it drives the without affecting the Driven value.
PearFigure and Rubenesque morphs to .163. But what happens
if we want the woman to be more pear-shaped? To summarize, Dependent Parameters can be used to create
The solution is simple enough. You can adjust the natural value master parameter dials that drive other parameters in a figure:
(the lower value) of the Pear Figure morph just as you can with morph dials, magnets, light settings, material settings, rotations,
any morph dial that is not affected by a master parameter. The and more. As you experiment with this feature you’ll realize how
following figure shows what happens when the natural value powerful and flexible it is.
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Managing Morphed Figures morph targets. You can then reuse that figure in other scenes.
Additionally, you can easily redistribute the morph targets
independently of the specific figure, thereby affording you
Saving Morph Targets options for greater flexibility and efficiency.

You can save morphed figures to the Library palette. Saved It is the responsibility of the user to comply with
figures retain their custom parameter dials, meaning you can use the Smith Micro Software, Inc. End User License
them the next time you load that figure. To save a figure to the Agreement, as well as any third party License
Library palette, please refer to “Adding Items to the Library” on Agreements, before distributing Poser content. PMD
page 160. morph data can be redistributed as long as they include
morph delta information, and not geometry
Poser saves morph targets to an external binary file format information.
(.pmd), which contains only the morph targets for a particular
figure or scene. This format allows for faster loading and greater
flexibility, as the targets are no longer enmeshed with the rest of Distribution of PMD morph data found in third-
the data in the .pz3 scene file. This storage method also requires party content is subject to usage restrictions as
less disk space, as all instances of the same figure reference the outlined by the third-party content developers.
same .pmd file for morph target data. If you change the morph
targets of one or more figures created from the Library and then When you open and resave a Poser scene file (.pz3) from a
save your scene, the morph target modifications will be saved in previous version, Poser will create a new external .pmd file
a single new .pmd file accompanying the scene file. containing the morph targets for that scene. If you wish to save
morph targets for the figures in that scene independently, simply
If you wish to save the modified morph targets for any one
add those figures to the Library as described above, and then
figure independently, you must select the Use External Binary
replace them in your scene. Poser will generate individual .pmd
Morph Targets option in the General Preferences palette (see
files for each of the figures.
“Setting Application Preferences” on page 31), and then add
the modified figure back into the Library as a new figure. A new
.pmd file will be created for that figure, containing the modified

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Deleting Morph Targets

You can use the Hierarchy Editor palette to delete morphs,
as explained in “Working with Hierarchy Branches” on page
630.

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Chapter 29: Figure and • Creating material groups in the Material room. Please refer
to “Chapter 14: The Material Room” on page 291 for

Prop Editors information about the Material room.

• Creating hair groups in the Hair room. Please refer

to “Chapter 25: The Hair Room” on page 502 for
information about the Hair room.
The Group Editor
• Creating cloth groups in the Cloth room. Please refer
Selecting the Grouping tool from the Editing tools display opens to “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on page 518 for
the Group Editor palette. The Group Editor lets you select and information about the Cloth room.
group individual polygons.
• Creating body parts in the Setup room. Please refer to
The Group Editor is very powerful and can “Chapter 24: The Face Room” on page 487 for more
permanently alter your figures if you overwrite information about the Setup room.
changed figures into the Library. Be sure you
understand how the grouping tool works before editing • Creating props. You can also create new props and deform
critical content. It’s wise to practice on a simple object or and morph selected portions of an element. For example,
prop to grasp the concepts first. you could use the Group Editor to select polygons around a
character’s eyes, nose, and forehead, and use those selected
polygons to create a mask prop. See “Creating/Editing
It helps to use Smooth Lined preview mode when
Groups” on page 620 for information on how to select
using the Group Editor as polygons and vertices
polygons in the Group Editor.
are clearly displayed.

The Group Editor is useful for various tasks within Poser such Using the Group Editor
as:
To create/edit a group, select the Grouping tool, which opens
the Group Editor palette.
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• Select button (1): Click the Select button to enable polygon

selection, and then click within the current object to add
polygons/vertices to the current group.

• Deselect button (2): Click the Deselect button to enable

polygon deselection, and then click within the current object
to remove polygons/vertices from the current group.

• Previous and Next buttons (3): Clicking the Previous

The Group Editor in the Editing Tools palette. (<<) and Next ( > > ) buttons cycles through the currently
existing groups. Alternatively, you can use the pull-down
When this option is selected, all figures and objects in the Poser menu between these buttons to jump directly to the desired
workspace turn gray. The Group Editor palette has the following group. These buttons are primarily used in the Hair and
sections and functions: Cloth rooms.

• Current Group pull-down menu (4): Use the Current

Group pull-down menu to jump directly to your desired
group. This menu is primarily used in the Hair and Cloth
rooms.

• New Group button (5): Clicking the New Group button

creates a new group with the currently selected polygons.
Enter a name for the group in the dialog box that appears.
This function is disabled in the Hair and Cloth rooms.

• Delete Group button (6): Clicking the Delete Group

The top section of the Group Editor.
button deletes the currently selected group.

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• Add Material button (12): Clicking the Add Material

button creates a new material group consisting of the
currently selected polygon(s).

The Modify Selection section of the Group Editor.

• Add All button (7): Clicking the Add All button places all
polygons comprising the current object into the currently Display options in the Group Editor.
selected group.
• Hide Other Objects box (13): Checking the Hide Other
• Add Group button (8): Clicking the Add Group button
Objects checkbox hides all objects in your scene other than
adds all the polygons or vertices from the group you select
the currently selected object, which can help if you have a
in the Add Group dialog to the current (currently selected)
complex scene and only want to see the object being worked
group.
on.
• Remove All button (9): Clicking the Remove All button
• Show Multigrouped Faces box (14): Checking the Show
removes all polygons from the currently selected group.
multigrouped faces checkbox displays all polygons that
• Remove Group button (10): Clicking the Remove Group are assigned to more than one group. This can occur if you
button removes the polygons or vertices from the selected grouped your geometry in the 3D modeling application
subgroup to the current (currently selected) group. and accidentally assigned some polygons to more than one
group.
• Invert button (11): Clicking the Invert button inverts the
current selection, that is, selects all deselected polygons and • Show Nongrouped Faces box (15): Checking the Show
vice versa. nongrouped faces box displays all polygons that do not
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belong to a group. If you leave the Setup room with one • Create Prop button (16): Clicking the Create Prop button
or more polygons that are not attached to a bone, they will creates a new prop from the selected group or polygons.
be maintained on a prop attached to the figure and will be Enter a name for your new prop in the dialog that appears.
available for grouping again when you return to the Setup
room. • Spawn Props button (17): Clicking the Spawn Prop
button creates props for all groups that have been created.
The above commands are necessary for creating Two examples of this might be to create a suit of form-fitting
a figure using the geometry and bone structure. armor or the basis for clothing props.
The following commands are useful and can be
performed in the Setup room; however, they are not • Assign Material button (18): Clicking the Assign Material
necessary for figure creation. They may, however, be button creates a new material class for the selected
necessary for rendering and finishing scenes using the polygon(s). A dialog box will appear asking you to name
newly created figure. the new material class. A material class is a parameter that
determines the polygons to which a material is applied.
For example, if you are creating a figure with gloves on,
you could select the polygons of both gloves as a material
class. Later, you could use the Material command to assign
a material, texture, bump maps, etc. to the gloves. You can
think of material classes as groups that define areas where
materials are applied.

• Assign Smoothing ID button (19): Clicking the Assign

Smoothing ID button allows you to delineate smoothing
Geometry Functions in the Group Editor. groups for the application of smooth shading across
adjoining polygon edges. A dialog will appear asking you to
assign a new or existing Smoothing ID to the current group.
Enter a new ID in the field provided. For more information

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about smoothing groups, see “Smoothing Geometry” on • In polygon mode, you can add/remove your currently
page 408. selected polygon(s) to the current polygon group. While in
this mode, you can only create/edit/delete polygon groups.
• Create Perspective UVs button (20): Clicking the Create Polygon groups are accessible from the Group Editor
Perspective UVs button maps texture coordinates for palette using certain commands, such as Add Group.
a group. An example of using this command might be to Polygon groups will appear in the popup menu (#4 in the
map an imported background image of a face to a Poser following image).
group corresponding to the figure’s face. The face’s texture
coordinates would map to the image.

• Reverse Group Normals button (21): Clicking the

Reverse Group Normals button reverses the normals of
the selected group. This allows you to turn environment-
type objects or other imports inside out for interactive
rendering as desired.

• Auto Group button (22): See “The Auto Group Command”

on page 619 below.
The top section of the Group Editor.
• Weld Group button (23): See “The Weld Group Command”
on page 620 below.
• In vertex mode, you can add/remove your currently selected
vertex/vertices to the current vertex group. Likewise, in
Polygon & Vertex Modes vertex mode, you can only create/edit/delete vertex groups.
The Grouping tool operates in polygon or vertex mode, Poser uses vertex groups for dynamic cloth objects in the
depending upon which room you are in when you use the Group Cloth room and for styling hair in the Hair room. For cloth,
Editor: using vertices allows you to select the edges of a cloth object
(such one side of a sheet hanging from a clothesline and

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blowing in the wind). This effect cannot be achieved using If you use the Auto Group feature before you
polygon grouping. have created, positioned, and named the bone
structure, it can result in unpredictable groups that will
Poser automatically selects the correct mode depending on
then require extensive time-consuming repair. The
which room you are currently in. For example, in the Pose
correct bone structure used by the Alyson and Ryan
room, the Grouping tool only operates in polygon mode; in the
figures is shown in “Poser Figures Hierarchy” on page
Cloth room, it operates in vertex mode.
627. Other Poser figures use similar hierarchies, but
may have less control in mouth, hand, and feet parts.
The Auto Group Command
The Auto Group feature is designed for one-time use when you
When you are creating groups for a newly imported geometry first create a figure. You can use it as often as you wish; however,
(Setup room), you can save time and effort by clicking the Auto it completely regroups every polygon in the geometry or
Group button near the bottom of the Group Editor palette. This figure, which will cause the figure to lose all pre-existing group
option is particularly useful when you are creating custom Poser assignments that match bone names. If you must use the Auto
figures in the Setup room. If you choose to use the Auto Group Group feature again after creating your figure, do it with care.
feature, be sure to do so after creating, positioning, and naming
the bone structure! This is because the Auto Group feature The Auto Group feature causes Poser to take a “best guess”
places polygons into groups based on their location in 3D space when grouping polygons and bones. You may find that you
relative to the available bones. This can cause very unpredictable need to fine-tune the automatically created groups by manually
and disorganized results if the bone structure has not been selecting polygons and moving them to different groups. Do this
properly created, positioned, and named. by selecting the target group and then selecting the polygon(s)
you wish to move to the target group.

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The Grouping tool automatically removes Poser creates a new break in the geometry at the new group
polygons from other named groups (including boundary; however, the old break at the old group boundary
NO_BONE) and adds them to the selected target group still exists. This can cause your figure’s neck to appear broken or
in order to avoid having polygons assigned to more discontinuous as you pose and render it. To solve this problem,
than one group at a time. Group Editor palette you would:
commands do not share this functionality.
1. Select the Grouping tool.

2. Select the neck group.

The Weld Group Command
3. Click the Weld Group button.
The Weld Group feature can be useful if, for example, you need
to make alterations to your groups after you leave the Setup The Weld Group function alters and combines
room or if you import a prop with groups that you want to the vertices on either side of the break so as to
change. In the Setup room, once your figure is created, Poser create a smooth bridge across the gap. A good way to
breaks the single geometry into pieces corresponding to the think of this is to imagine sealing a crack. The filler
groups you created. If you reassign polygons to different groups, compound joins the two surfaces, but does minutely
the original breaks remain, which can cause your figure to alter the surface topography where the crack used to be.
appear broken or disconnected at the point where the old group The Weld Group function works this way as well,
boundaries lie. modifying the geometry slightly in order to eliminate
the break. This should be unnoticeable in most cases.
The best way to illustrate this is by using an example. Say you
create a figure with, among others, groups for the head and neck.
After leaving the Setup room, Poser breaks the single geometry
into pieces whose edges correspond to the group boundaries Creating/Editing Groups
you created. This is necessary in order to allow the figure to
bend. Later, you decide to move the neck higher into the head by To create a group, select the Grouping tool. You can then click
reassigning some of the polygons in the head group to the neck individual polygons or click and drag to select multiple polygons.
group. You can do this easily using the Grouping tool. If you accidentally select one or more wrong polygons, you

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can deselect them by using the Deselect tool (see above) or different group, either by accident or by design. If this happens,
pressing [CTRL] while clicking or dragging. If you are in the the Grouping tool will remove the subject polygons from their
Setup room, polygons that have been removed from a group will previous group and assign them to the new group in order to
automatically be added to a group called NO_BONE so that you ensure that no polygons belong to more than one group at a
can see which polygons are unassigned and correct the problems time.
before leaving the Setup room.
The Group Editor palette commands do not
To select polygons that are currently out of view, you can use the
share this functionality.
Wireframe display style, the camera trackball to change the view
of your figure, and/or multiple viewpanes to bring the desired
When you are creating groups for figures (Setup room), it is
polygons into view.
important to remember that joint bending only occurs between
Path names in Poser-related library files and an object and its parent. The bends do not progress to other
scripts use a colon to separate the folders in the children or above the parent in the hierarchy. Keep this in mind
path (ie: Runtime:Libraries:character:myfolder:mypro as you create your groups, and later when you fine-tune your
duct.cr2). Using a colon in figure or group names will joints.
cause potential problems when parsing PoserPython
The Group Editor palette appears whenever the
scripts, as anything after the colon is ignored. Use of a
Grouping tool is selected.
colon in an actor name (such as tail:1 or tail:9) is
discouraged. Instead, name the item something like
tail01 or tail09.
About Groups
While working with the Grouping tool, pressing
This section describes how Poser differentiates between body
[OPT]/[ALT] allows you to quickly access the
part groups, material groups, and other group types on a figure
camera trackball.
or prop. This explanation is specific to Poser, however it will
provide you with the background information you need in order
While you are selecting polygons, it is possible that you will to understand groups in general.
select some polygons that have previously been assigned to a
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The following examples use the Alyson Casual figure (available

in the Poser Pro 2012 Content palette’s Figures category).
Add this figure to your scene by dragging from the Library to
the document window, or by clicking the Change Figure or
Create New Figure button at the bottom of the Library palette,
as described in “Loading and Managing Items using the Library
Icons” on page 132. When you display the figure in Outline
display mode and hover your mouse over the various body parts,
you’ll see an outline of the group underneath the mouse. We
have color-coded the groups for clarity in the following figure.

Please remember that each figure/prop is

different, having different body parts, materials,
hair, and cloth groups. Further, the groups themselves
may be arranged in different orders. However, the
concepts explained here are the same for each figure/
prop.
A figure is made up of poseable body parts, called groups.
Poser figures consist of named body parts that can be selected
and articulated (or posed). Props normally consist of a single The example displays several body parts: head, left eyeball,
part that cannot be articulated, although poseable props do exist. right eyeball, neck, chest, left collar, right collar., left shoulder,
The following graphic depicts an example of Poser body parts: right shoulder, and abdomen Each of these body parts can be
articulated (posed).
Each body part (or group) consists of one or more polygons.
As hinted above, there are several different types of polygon
groups: body part groups, material groups, hair groups, and

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cloth groups for example. A polygon can belong to more than

one type of group (such as a body part group and a material
group, or a cloth group and a material group). A polygon can
only be in one group of each type at a time. Thus, the following
group combinations are possible:

• One body part may have one material assigned to it. For
example, the neck will probably have the “skin” material.

• Two or more body parts may use the same material. For
example, the fingers may all use the “skin” material.

• One body part may use more than one material. For
example, each eyeball may have separate materials for the
eyeball, iris, and pupil.

• In addition to the above, a polygon may be part of a hair

group and/or a cloth group.
Polygons in the figure are assigned to groups for posing.

Since body parts and materials are the most obvious forms
of grouping, let’s use them to illustrate grouping as a whole
since the same concepts apply to hair and cloth groups as well.
The graphic displays the material assignments for the above-
displayed body parts.
You can see that the head, neck, and portions of the chest use the
skin material. The chest and collars use the shirt material. The

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eyes use eyeball, pupil, and iris materials. The head uses several specify which material should be applied to that polygon.
materials including skin, lips, and eyebrows. For example, the skin material may have ID 1, the shirt
ID 2, etc. Each polygon in a figure/prop includes the ID
number of the material assigned to that polygon. Changing
a material itself will affect the appearance of all polygons
that have the corresponding material ID. For example, if
one made the skin green, then all polygons with the “skin”
material ID would turn green regardless of the body part.
The following table depicts a partial list of the relationships
between body parts and materials in the Alyson Casual figure:

Body Part Assigned Material(s)

Head Head, Nostrils, Lips, EyeSockets,

Lacrimals, InnerMouth, TearLine,
EyelashesBottom, EyelashesTop, Teeth,
Gums, Tongue

Eyeballs (left and EyeballLeft, IrisLeft, PupilLeft, CorneaLeft,

right) EyeballRight, IrisRight, PupilRight,
Material assignments for various body parts. CorneaRight

The important things to remember are: Neck Body

• Poser groups polygons by body part, material, hair, and Collars (left and right) Body, Shirt

cloth, and these groups are independent of each other.

Chest Body, Shirt

• Each material in a figure/prop gets assigned a unique

numbered ID, and that ID is in turn used by a polygon to
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Again, the only relationship between the body parts, materials,

hair, and cloth is that defined by the figure’s creator. Poser does
not mandate any such relationship.
Now that we have differentiated between body part and material
groups and mentioned hair and cloth, let’s describe hair and
cloth groups in more detail:

Hair Groups

Hair groups are groups of polygons that can also belong to any
body part, prop, and material group. Polygons that are part
of hair groups can have real 3D hair grown on them. Please
refer to “Chapter 25: The Hair Room” on page 502 for more
information about the Hair room.

Hair groups are special grouping assignments that can grow

strand-based hair.

Cloth Groups

Poser’s Cloth room allows you to create realistic cloth that you
can use for almost any purpose in your scene. Cloth groups are
actually vertex groups, meaning that they are groups of vertices
instead of polygons, however this makes little difference in the
overall discussion. Vertices belonging to a cloth group cannot
belong to a body part group.

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Here is an example of a figure wearing dynamic cloth, which

The Hierarchy Editor
consists of props with named groups. See how the cloth
realistically drapes and moves as the figure moves. The Hierarchy Editor shows every parent/child relationship and
Please refer to “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on page 518 for every scene element and their various parameters, from lights
more information about the Cloth room. and cameras to morphs and deformers. You can also view the IK
chain settings and external names of each item. The Hierarchy
Editor also displays buttons that allow you to configure standard
hierarchy, rotation order, IK chains, and new figure.
A scene’s hierarchy describes the parent-child relationships of all
objects in your scenes.

Please refer to “Poser File Types” on page

769 for more information about hierarchies in
general.

Body parts or props that are physically located at a

seam are generally contained in either a parent or child
object. The scene’s hierarchy also defines data like joint
rotation orders and IK relationships.

A Poser document’s hierarchy contains:

Cloth groups are used in dynamic clothing, which moves
• The complete list of all objects in the scene’s universe,
realistically when animated.
including figures, props, body parts, lights, and cameras.

• Hierarchical connections (parent/child relationships)

between scene objects.
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• Parameters, including rotation, translation, morph targets, or less groups, but the basic arrangement of the bones will be
and Point At (see “Point At” on page 209). similar to that shown below:
hip
• IK chains. waist
abdomen
chest
neck
Poser Figures Hierarchy lEye
rEye
TopTeeth
In order to make a figure bendable, it needs to be attached to BttmTeeth
a skeleton that moves the polygons in the geometry. In order Tongue1
Tongue2
to attach the polygons (or “skin”) to the bones, the polygons Tongue3
in the geometry must be named the same as the bones in the Tongue4
Tongue5
underlying skeleton. Tongue6
lCollar
To utilize as many of Poser’s posing and morphing capabilities lBreast
as possible, there are specific naming conventions that should lShldr
lForeArm
be followed. Most human Poser figures follow a hierarchical lHand
structure that uses the hip actor as its root. Internal body part lThumb1
groups must always begin with a lower-case letter, with right and lThumb2
lThumb3
left body parts always beginning with a lower-case r (for right) or lIndex0
l (for left) to work with Poser’s Symmetry commands properly. lIndex1
lIndex2
The internal group names that are used by the Alyson and Ryan lIndex3
lMid0
figures are shown below in their correct hierarchical structure. lMid1
Alyson and Ryan have additional groups (shown in bold italics) lMid2
lMid3
which control the top and bottom teeth, several levels for the lRing0
tongue, and an extra joint for each of the fingers and toes to lRing1
lRing2
allow for better bending. Other Poser figures may have more lRing3
lPinky0
lPinky1

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lPinky2 lPinkyToe2
lPinky3 rButtock
rCollar rThigh
rBreast rShin
rShldr rFoot
rForeArm rToe
rHand rBigToe1
rThumb1 rBigToe2
rThumb2 rIndexToe1
rThumb3 rIndexToe2
rIndex0 rMidToe1
rIndex1 rMidToe2
rIndex2 rRingToe1
rIndex3 rRingToe2
rMid0 rPinkyToe1
rMid1 rPinkyToe2
rMid2
rMid3
rRing0
rRing1
Using the Hierarchy Editor
rRing2
rRing3 To display the Hierarchy Editor palette, select Window >
rPinky0
rPinky1
Hierarchy Editor.
rPinky2
rPinky3
lButtock
lThigh
lShin
lFoot
lToe
lBigToe1
lBigToe2
lIndexToe1
lIndexToe2
lMidToe1
lMidToe2
lRingToe1
lRingToe2
lPinkyToe1

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• Select scene elements. Selecting an element in the

Hierarchy Editor palette selects that item in the Document
window, Current Actor pull-down, and Graph palette.

• Access object properties. Double-clicking an object listing in

the Hierarchy Editor palette opens the Properties palette
for the selected item.

• Quickly hide or view scene elements.

• Rename or delete elements and parameters such as morph

targets or Point At parameters. Use caution, as this is a very
powerful and very permanent change.

• Set up or change parent-child relationships for props.

• Set up Inverse Kinematics (IK) chains.

• Change rotation orders for props or body parts.

• Create new figures. The addition of the graphical Setup

room (see “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on page 518)
eliminates the need to use the Hierarchy Editor palette to
The Hierarchy Editor. create figures.

The Hierarchy Editor palette allows you to: • Expand or contract the hierarchy list to view parents and
children or parents only.

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Filtering the Display • Show Lights: Checking the Show Lights checkbox displays
all lights in the current Poser document.
You can filter what appears in the Hierarchy Editor palette by
selecting your desired display options at the top of the palette. • Show Groupings: Checking the Show Groupings
Checking a box enables the selected option, and clearing it checkbox displays all of the constraint grouping and object
disables that option. The options are as follows: grouping objects in the current Poser document, along with
objects that are children of them.
• Show Figures: Checking the Show Figures checkbox
displays all figures in the current Poser document.
Working with Hierarchy Branches
• Show Cameras: Checking the Show Cameras checkbox
You can perform the following basic actions using the hierarchy
displays all cameras in the current Poser document.
listing:
• Show Parameters: Checking the Show Parameters
• To expand a hierarchy branch, click the right-pointing arrow
checkbox displays all object parameters in the current Poser
next to the branch you wish to expand.
document.
• To collapse a hierarchy branch, click the downward-pointing
• Show All Parameters: Checking the Show All Parameters
arrow next to the branch you wish to collapse.
checkbox displays all parameters in the current Poser
document.
• To select an object, click its listing.
• Show Props: Checking the Show Props checkbox displays
• To make an object visible or invisible, click the eye next
all props in the current Poser document.
to the desired icon. The eye appears bright white when an
object is visible and gray when invisible.
• Show Deformers: Checking the Show Deformers
checkbox displays all magnets, waves, morph targets, and
• To view the Properties palette for an object, double-click
force fields in the current Poser document (scene).
the selected object’s listing.

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• To delete a figure, prop, or light from your scene, select the Joint Editor palette). You can also reorder light, camera, and
item to delete then press [DEL]. You cannot delete body prop Point At parameters.
parts, cameras, or the ground plane.
Be careful when changing rotation orders as this
• To rename an object, click on its listing once to select it, might cause unexpected behavior.
and then a second time to open a text box. (Do not simply
double-click on the listing, as this will open the Properties
palette for that object.) Enter the object’s new name in the Establishing Hierarchal Relationships
text box.
This does the same thing as the Set Parent menu command (see
“Changing a Parent” on page 227). To establish a hierarchical
relationship using the Hierarchy Editor:
1. Load your desired prop(s) into the scene.

2. Open the Hierarchy Editor palette and find the prop.

3. Drag the child object on top of the root (parent) object. A

green box highlights the target when the child object is on
top of it.
Elements of the Hierarchy Editor.
4. Drop the object onto the highlighted object.

Reordering Scene Elements

You can reorder scene elements including props and deformers.
Reordering deformers can be useful, especially when you have
a long hierarchy listing. You can also reorder morph targets and
parameters such as rotation orders (this is the same as using the
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1. Select the child figure.

2. Drag the child figure onto the desired parent.

3. Drop the child.

You can also set up hierarchies between figures outside the

Hierarchy Editor palette as follows:
1. Use the pop-up to select the child figure.

2. Select Figure > Set Figure Parent (see “Set Figure Parent”
on page 226) to open the Set Parent dialog.

3. Select the parent body/body part in the dialog and click OK.

Dragging and Dropping to parent an object.

Applying the Standard Hierarchy
If a figure’s geometry was created using standard body group
To reorder a child at the same hierarchical level: names for human/biped figures, you can use the Hierarchy
1. Click the child object and drag to its new location. A white Editor to automatically apply the Poser Standard Hierarchy to
line appears just below the target location, indicating where your figure, establishing parent-child relationships. Poser can
the object will be placed once dropped. apply the Standard Hierarchy to full or partial figures. Refer to
“Chapter 29: Figure and Prop Editors” on page 614 for more
2. Drop the object. information about groups and hierarchies and how to edit them.

You can also create hierarchies spanning figures (such as a To apply the Poser Standard Hierarchy to a figure:
woman on horseback): 1. Choose Window > Hierarchy Editor.

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2. Select the Universe. 3. Plan each element in the IK chain from root to goal. For
example, the IK chain for the right arm has the right hand
3. Click the Apply Standard Hierarchy button. as the goal.

4. From the hierarchy list, click and drag body part listings
onto the new blank IK chain. They will be added to the IK
chain in the order you drag them from root to goal. Proceed
to add parts to the chain in the order of root to goal.

The Apply Standard Hierarchy button.

The Apply Standard Hierarchy button is not

available unless the universe is selected.

Creating IK Chains
To create an IK chain:
1. Scroll to the bottom of the hierarchy list using the scroll bar
and click the IK Chains entry to enable the Create IK Chain
button.

2. Enter a name for the chain you are creating in the dialog
box that pops up and click OK. A blank IK chain appears in
the list.

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Using IK
To enable IK for your figure, select Figure > Use Inverse
Kinematics and select the chain you wish to enable. You will
see the chains you created as well as the standard Poser chains
(if you added chains to a standard Poser figure). A check mark
appears next to each enabled IK chain. To disable IK, select
Figure > Use Inverse Kinematics and select the chain you wish
to disable. You can also open the Hierarchy Editor and check
and uncheck the boxes next to each IK chain in the list to enable
and disable IK.

Creating an IK chain.

Be careful when creating IK chains as you could

cause your figure to move in unexpected ways
when the new IK chain is added.

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Chapter 30: The Setup

Room
The Setup room is one of Poser’s most powerful features. It
allows you to modify existing props or figures, or even create
your own for use with Poser.
The Setup room allows you to fully rig new figures by creating
and setting up joints, hierarchy groups and IK chains. It allows
you to create these elements in a graphical environment, rather
than having to manually edit a configuration file in a text-based
environment.
When the Setup room opens, it displays many of the controls
that you will need to create poseable figures. Depending on
the size of your workspace, you may see the Camera controls, The Setup Room.
Joint Editor, Editing tools, Parameters/Properties palette, or
Hierarchy Editor in this room. Of particular importance is the
The Setup room is an extremely powerful tool
Bone Tool, which allows you to graphically create a skeleton for
that can permanently modify your figures,
your figures.
including those originally included with Poser. Always
The number of palettes and options that you see save your figures to the Library palette to prevent
in each room depends upon your screen inadvertently damaging one of your existing figures and
resolution. At higher resolutions, the default work to enable you to return to a previous figure setup if you
spaces display more palettes, while at lower resolutions choose to. This will also help you keep your figures
you see fewer palettes. organized and easy to find.

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Avoid losing your work! Be sure to save your • Using hierarchy files combined with an external model
work frequently and possibly to different files in
case you run into problems. Figure creators wishing to create Poser figures
using the text-based method should refer to the
“Appendix D: Creating and Converting Hierarchy Files”
on page 792, which covers the text-based figure
Creating Figures for Poser creation method in detail.

Figures do not have to be anthropomorphic (human-shaped). A

figure’s mere appearance has no effect on how it functions within • Using the hierarchy palette (discussed in “About Groups”
Poser. In reality, there are two things that determine how you on page 621) to combine props together to form a figure.
can move and animate a figure:
• Importing a geometry and using the Setup room as
• The figure’s underlying skeleton (called a bone structure), discussed in this chapter.
which determines the hierarchy and location of joints.

• The manner in which the figure’s polygons (the rough About the Setup Room
equivalent of skin and muscles) are grouped or attached to
the bones. The actual process of creating a poseable figure involves a
greater number of detailed steps, each of which is discussed
Prior to the release of the Pro Pack add-in for Poser 4, figure
in this chapter. Briefly, the Setup room figure creation/
creators pre-grouped OBJ models into specifically-named body
modification process is as follows:
parts, and then used a text-based method to convert them into
poseable figures. While Poser still supports this method of figure 1. Use props that are included with Poser, or create the
creation, the graphical Setup room can eliminate 90% of your geometry for your new figure in your favorite 3D modeling
figure creation time. This room allows you to create/modify application.
Poser figures in a completely graphical environment.
2. Import your geometry as a prop using the File > Import
There are three ways to make figures for Poser: command. Once the geometry is complete, enter the Setup
room.
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3. Create and/or modify your figure’s bone structure or

The Setup Room Interface
skeleton. Like a real skeleton, your figure’s skeleton is the
underlying framework that determines where bends occur. The Setup room interface is designed to be similar to the Pose
You can import a skeleton from a similar figure or create room interface and functionality, with a few minor changes:
your figure’s skeleton from scratch.
• You cannot pose the figure you are creating while in the
4. Position the skeleton and joints to match your figure. This Setup room. Instead, the figure’s bone structure (if any)
step is critical to ensure that your figure bends as accurately appears in the Document window, allowing you to position
as possible. and adjust each bone.

5. “Put meat on the bones” by grouping the various portions of • While in the Setup room, loading a figure from the
your figure and assigning bones to those groups. Library palette loads the selected figure’s bone system and
applies it to the current object. Geometry is altered when
6. Fine-tune the figure’s joints, and then exit the Setup room
switching between the Pose and Setup rooms. While in
to test your new figure and complete the figure creation/
the Pose room, each body part is treated as a separate
modification process.
geometry object. While in the Setup room, all of the body
parts are combined into a single object for easier grouping
7. Assign IK chains using the Hierarchy Editor, set favored IK
and welding operations. Clicking the Create New Figure
angles and joint limits, and memorize this information.
button in the Library palette loads the selected figure’s bone
8. Readjust your figure’s joints if necessary, and then save your structure for modification and use on the figure you are
new figure to the Library palette. creating or modifying. You can also double-click the figure
to load its bones.
Exiting the Setup room during the figure The following sections explain the figure setup process in detail.
creation process may cause you to lose some
recent changes. A warning will appear if exiting the
Setup room will cause data loss.

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Setting Up an Original Figure Step 2: Loading and/or Creating Bone

Structures
Step 1: Importing/Arranging Geometries This section describes what bone structures are, what they do,
and how to create/modify a bone structure for your imported
Begin the figure creation process by inserting the prop(s) you geometry or figure.
wish to assemble into a figure. Do this by adding props to your
scene using the Library palette and/or by importing geometry About Bone Structures
objects (static mesh objects or props). If using more than one
prop, be sure to arrange your props in their final positions before Each Poser figure includes hierarchy and joint information that
beginning the figure conversion process. together determine how the figure behaves when posed. The
Setup room expresses this information as a bone structure or
Please refer to “Importing Files” on page 701 skeleton that is tailored to each figure. Skeletons are a critical
for information on importing geometries into part of your figures because they define where and how the
Poser. figure bends, just as your own bones define how and where
you bend. Skeletons provide the following information for each
figure:
In order to be rigged, you need to create your
geometry properly and assign each body to a • Defining the figure’s hierarchy: The skeleton defines the
unique Material Group; otherwise the geometry won’t parent/child relationships in your figure. Please refer to
be treated as a separate body part. Group names for the “Poser File Types” on page 769 for information about
Alyson and Ryan figures are listed in “Poser Figures hierarchies within Poser.
Hierarchy” on page 627.
• Locating joints: Just as with your own skeleton, your figure
will only bend at joints, which are the places where bone
ends meet.

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• Limiting figure movement: By now, you are keenly aware

that each joint in your body has a limited range of motion
under normal circumstances. For example, your elbow only
bends in one direction and cannot flex beyond straightening
your arm out, your wrist can move in any direction within
a narrow cone, and so forth. You can define limits for each
of your figure’s joints. These limits can prevent you from
creating unnatural looking poses, one part of the figure
crossing through another part, etc.

• Figure resolution: The more bones your figure’s skeleton

has, the greater degree of flexibility (resolution) it will Bone structures of a simple hand and a more complex human hand.
have. For example, the Andy figure allows you to bend the
shoulder, elbow, and wrist, but not the palm or fingers. By Bones appear as light gray pyramids with the
contrast, the Ryan figure lets you adjust the precise position bases pointing towards their parents and the
of each finger. tips pointing towards the children. Selected bones
appear red.
• This image shows Andy’s left hand and underlying bone
structure on the left, and Ryan’s left hand and bone
structure on the right. Note that Andy has only one bone to About Creating a Bone System
define his entire hand, while Ryan has a far more realistic
bone structure complete with palm and fully articulated There are two basic scenarios for creating or editing a bone
finger joints. system:

• Modifying an existing figure: If you have a figure loaded

when you enter the Setup room, the current figure’s normal
bone system will automatically be loaded, and the separate

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body parts will be combined into a single object for easier geometry shown below does not require a high-resolution
manipulation while in the Setup room. bone structure, since it does not have fingers or other detailed
features. If you are creating an animal figure, you should
• Creating a new figure: You enter the Setup room with probably load an animal figure’s bone structure. The basic idea is
a geometry (prop) selected. You can then load a bone to minimize the amount of work you have to do.
structure from an existing figure by selecting the desired
figure in the Library palette and clicking the Change
Figure button. Or, you can use the Bone tool to create a
fully customized bone system. You can also combine these
methods by loading a bone structure and using the Bone
tool to make modifications. The Bone tool appears in the
Setup room workspace with the other Editing tools.

The Bone Tool.

The following sections discuss selecting a bone system for your Selecting an appropriate bone structure.
geometry and using the Bone tool.

Selecting the Proper Structure

The quickest way to define a bone structure for your new figure
is to load the bone structure of a figure that resembles your
current object as closely as possible. For example, the simple
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In the above graphic, the positions of the bones

match the corresponding portions of the
geometry. If the skeleton does not match the figure, you
can position the bones as discussed in “Positioning the
Bones” on page 642.

Inserting & Deleting Bones

The Bone tool lets you create bones, either within a bone
structure or from scratch. To create a bone, click at the point
where you want the bone to begin (base) and drag to where you
want the end (tip). You can fine-tune the bone’s position and
parameters later, so you do not need to worry too much about
being perfect.

Adding bones to a figure.

New bones are created as children of the most recently selected

or created bone. You can select a previously created bone (or any
bone in the skeleton) and add new child bones by single-clicking
the bone you wish to use as a parent and then clicking and
dragging to create a new bone as described above.. The graphic
shows a new bone inserted between the hip (parent) and thigh
(child).
Bones can be selected as follows:

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• In the Hierarchy or by clicking on the bone with the Bone

tool selected

• Via the Actor selector in either the Properties palette or the

Setup room Preview tab
To delete a bone, simply select it and press [DEL].

Positioning the Bones

Now that your bone structure is built to match your geometry,

the next step is to align the bones with the geometry. Unless you
have already built a bone structure for a figure and have simply
tweaked the geometry slightly, the chances are that the default When bones are not positioned correctly, body parts can appear
bone positions will not line up with the geometry, as shown distorted.
in the graphic on the right. The figure on the left illustrates
the effects of having a bone structure that is not positioned You can position bones using any of three methods:
according to the geometry, while the figure on the right
demonstrates proper figure behavior. • Select one of the available Editing tools (Rotate, Twist,
Translate/Pull, Translate In/Out, or Scale) and position the
bones using the mouse.

• Use the Joint Editor palette to precisely position joints.

• Use the Symmetry control (see “Symmetry” on page 213)

to position the bones on the opposite side of the figure.
You will probably use a combination of all three methods as
you work to position the bones on your geometry. The following
sections discuss each of the three methods in detail.
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Positioning Bones With the Mouse

You can position bones with the mouse in one of two ways:

• Selecting the desired Editing tool followed by clicking in

the middle of a bone uses the selected tool to modify the
position of both the selected bone, all of its children, and
all joint settings for both the current bone and all children
(including falloff zones). Please refer to “Creating and Using
Falloff Zones” on page 664 for an explanation of falloff
zones. This Selecting, clicking and dragging into position is
the preferred method.

• Clicking near the beginning or end of a selected bone allows

you to translate just the selected endpoint regardless of the
selected Editing tool. The mouse pointer changes to a bull’s
eye when you select a bone and place the pointer near the Adjusting bone placement.
beginning or end of the selected bone, as shown.
When editing bone endpoints, joint settings such as falloff
zones are not adjusted. This method is good for making minor
adjustments once the bones have been placed near their final
positions. After you have properly aligned the skeleton to the
geometry, you can adjust the falloff zones further. Please refer
to “Creating and Using Falloff Zones” on page 664 for an
explanation of the various types of falloff zones.

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When positioning bones using the mouse, you The Symmetry functions involving arms, legs,
should use one of the orthographic cameras and the torso only work when the bones in those
(Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Front, Back) to ensure that regions have been named and grouped so as to belong to
you are only positioning them in one plane at a time. the selected areas of the geometry. If you have loaded an
Alternatively, you can use the Document window’s existing bone structure for use with your current
multiple pane view to position the bones in 3D space. geometry, the bones will already be named for you.

When you select a symmetry function, a dialog box appears

Positioning Bones With the Joint Editor Palette
asking if you wish to copy the joint zone setup as well. Click Yes
to apply the symmetry to the bone structure.
• In addition to (or instead of) using the mouse to position
bones, you can use the Joint Editor palette by selecting the
bone you wish to edit. Please refer to “Chapter 31: Working Step 3: Naming the Bones
with Joints, Weights, and Skinning” on page 651 for
complete information on using the Joint Editor palette. The Properties palette allows you to modify the following
settings:
Positioning Bones Using Symmetry
• Internal Name: You can modify a bone’s internal name
Assuming your imported geometry is symmetrical, you can while in the Setup room by entering your desired name in
drastically reduce the amount of time it takes for you to position the Internal Name field. Poser uses internal names to find a
bones by positioning only those bones on half of the geometry group of polygons with a matching name. It is best to begin
and then using the Symmetry tool to automatically position the with an existing bone structure when creating figures so that
rest of the bones. Please refer to “Symmetry” on page 213 for you can start the process with a set of bones that already
information on using the Symmetry tool. have standard internal names. You can, of course, create
figures using custom internal and group names; however,
this makes the process more difficult since you need to track
the internal names and the portions of the skeleton and
geometry they correspond to.

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This is a critical point. The only way to link a important that you take great care during this step to ensure that
bone to a group of polygons is to have them your new figure will be able to bend and, just as importantly,
share the same exact internal name. The only place to bend correctly.
modify internal names within Poser is in the Setup
Your geometry consists of many polygons that together form its
room, and then, only in the Properties palette.
overall shape. At this point, Poser knows the skeleton, including
its joints, parents, and children. It knows that moving one bone
If you want your figure to support many of will affect its children and may affect the parent, and it knows
Poser’s features, you should respect the bone/ how each joint should behave. However, Poser does not yet
body part internal naming conventions precisely. Group know which polygons need to move for any given movement
names for the Alyson and Ryan figures are listed in of the skeleton. To enable your geometry to bend, you must
“Poser Figures Hierarchy” on page 627. combine logical subsets of the polygons that make up your
geometry and group each subset with the appropriate bone.

• Name: The Name field is where you input your desired Where you need to be careful is in being sure that the correct
external name, which you use for your own reference. polygons are assigned to the correct bones, that is, the right arm
You can use any name you wish. This can be helpful if, for should move when you move the right shoulder bone, and so
example, you are working in different languages. forth. It is possible to assign any polygon to any bone. You could
have polygons in the leg region grouped with a bone in the neck,
Any other displayed options do not affect bones for example. You could even have random polygons scattered
and should be ignored. around the geometry grouped with any bone in the skeleton.
While you may wish to do this for experimental or artistic
purposes, this manual will assume that you are trying to create a
Step 4: Attaching Bones to Geometry Parts realistic figure from the geometry and skeleton.
Now that the skeleton is complete, it is appropriate to think of
This is the part of the Setup room figure creation process where each bone as a body part. For each such body part, an identically
you associate (group) bones with portions of the geometry, named group of polygons on the geometry must exist. Each of
giving your geometry the ability to bend and move. It is the joints will cause the grouped polygons to bend where parent

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and child groups touch. Poser knows which polygons to bend by modeling application or with other utilities. You can, however,
matching the internal name of the bone being moved with the use Poser’s Group Editor to create and assign groups to the
internal name of a group of polygons. polygons in your model. The Group Editor allows you to select
polygons manually and then assign them to groups. If your
If you are adjusting an existing figure in the figure does not already have groups assigned, you can also use
Setup room, the necessary body groups will the Auto Group feature to automatically generate groups based
already exist and may already be properly set up. on the bone structure of the skeleton. For further information,
refer to “The Group Editor” on page 614 for information about
To create groups, select the Grouping tool, which opens the using the Grouping tool and the Group Editor palette.
Group Editor palette. The Grouping tool can select polygons to
create a group. Then you can use the Assign Material button to
assign a name for the body part for the selected polygons. Step 5: Assigning Rotation Orders

Requirements With your bones positioned and your groups created, you’re
almost finished. Your once-static geometry has come alive! You
As discussed in “Importing 3D Objects” on page 703, your can perform this step when you are first creating and defining
imported geometry cannot have overlapping or duplicated joints; however, it appears here in the figure creation process
polygons and, if you have created groups when you built the so that you can leave the Setup room to see how changes to the
geometry, the polygons in the geometry cannot belong to more rotation order affect your figure’s motion and appearance.
than one group at a time. If your figure uses a standard T-position pose, and also is
The Setup room allows you to create figures from a single grouped similarly to the standard Poser figures, you can use
geometry consisting of ungrouped polygons. This is the the Hierarchy Editor to assign standard rotation orders to the
recommended method. joints in your figure. This can save time in setting up the joint
rotations. You can learn more about configuring rotation orders
Grouping manually in “Setting Joint Orders” on page 674.

There are a number of different ways that you can assign groups To apply standard rotation to a figure:
to your figures. For example, some assign groups in their

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1. Choose Window > Hierarchy Editor to display the ensures that one side of your figure will behave exactly like the
Hierarchy Editor. other part.

2. Select the Universe.

Step 7: Testing Your Figure
3. Click the Apply Std Rotation Order button to apply the
standard rotation settings. This is the moment you have been working towards. At this
point, return to the Pose room and put your new figure through
its paces. You can use multiple view panes and the Camera
Step 6: Fine-Tuning Joints controls to see your figure from all angles to ensure that it is
performing as expected. If you need to make any adjustments,
At this point, you may want to go back and fine-tune some you can always return to the Setup room to further refine your
or all of your joints so as to make your figure behave exactly figure. Congratulations: Your once-static geometry prop is now a
as you want it to. Do this using the Bone tool and/or Joint moveable Poser figure!
Editor palette as discussed in “Chapter 31: Working with
Joints, Weights, and Skinning” on page 651. Use spherical
or capsule-shaped falloff zones, or weight painting, to add more Step 8: Assigning IK Chains
realism to the appearance of the joints as they rotate, bend, and
In order for you to be able to use IK on your new figure, you
twist.
need to create at least one inverse kinematics chain using the
Remember that joint bending only occurs between an object Hierarchy Editor, as discussed in “About Groups” on page
and its parent. The bends do not progress to other children or 621.
above the parent in the hierarchy. Be sure to keep this in mind
as you tweak the joints. Also, if you have body parts which are You created the parent/child hierarchies in your
symmetrical left to right, and are named using the convention figure when you created and edited the bone
of starting with “r” for right-side body parts and “l” for left-side structure. The Hierarchy Editor will perform all of its
body parts, you can automatically copy joint zones by using one functions on your new figure.
of the symmetry commands as discussed in “Symmetry” on page
213. This can save time and effort when tweaking joints, and
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Step 9: Inverse Kinematics naturally. If they do not, add small amounts of rotation into the
joint to correct the unnatural bending.
If you wish to add IK capabilities to your figure, you need to add
With IK off, return the hip to zero and the chest to zero. Preserve
IK chains as discussed in “Creating IK Chains” on page 633.
the rotations on the limbs. Make sure that they are symmetric
from one side to the other. Then memorize figure to store the
Step 10: Setting & Memorizing Favored IK rotations.

Angles To set favored IK angles:

1. Disable the affected IK chain(s).
Poser’s inverse kinematics works based on the current rotations
of a body part. Proper IK angles must be preset in the figure
2. Position each body part in the chain by slightly bending it in
in order for IK to work predictably. The original joint rotation
the direction it would bend under IK by a few degrees.
values help the IK logic know which way to bend some of the
joints and will affect how the IK works as the figure moves. 3. Save the angles by memorizing the body parts or the entire
Setting and memorizing favored IK angles is therefore figure by selecting Edit > Memorize > Element or Edit >
important. Memorize > Figure, respectively.
Before memorizing the default positions for all of the body
4. Enable the affected IK chain(s).
parts, you should bend the parts used in IK chains so that they
favor their natural bending directions. For example, a standing Please refer to “Inverse Kinematics (IK)” on page 174 for
person’s thighs bend slightly forward and out from vertical, and more information about Poser’s Inverse Kinematics features.
her or his shins bend slightly back and in.
These positions can be tested by lowering the hip joint in the Y
(up/down) direction while IK is turned on for the legs. While
Step 11: Setting Joint Limits
doing this, the knees should bend smoothly, and not buckle or In the “real world”, each of your body’s joints has limits on its
swing widely to either side. motion. For example, you cannot extend your arm at the elbow
Then, to test the arms, enable IK on the arms and move the beyond the point where your arm is straight. Further, it is not
chest side to side (X trans). The arms and shoulders should bend possible for one of your body parts to “collide” or intrude on
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another part. You cannot simply put your hand through your additional adjustments, and do anything you need to do in order
chest. to consider the project complete.
Poser allows you to set limits for each joint to mimic these
You can also add morphs or use deformers that
natural limits and help prevent you from creating unnatural
smooth areas like knee and elbow bends and link
poses. Additionally, you can create limits on the amount that a
these morphs or deformers to the arm/leg bends as
body part can be scaled and tapered, and you may have other
dependent parameters. For more information, see
options available depending on the body part in question.
“Using Dependent Parameters” on page 598.

It’s good practice to set limits per parameter for

your figures. The user can then choose to use or
ignore your limits using the Figure pull-down menu by Step 13: Memorizing and Saving Your New
toggling the Use Limits command on or off. Figure
You have hopefully been saving your figure throughout the
To set limits for a body part, simply select the desired
creation process. Now that it is complete, be sure to memorize
body part, then double-click any of the parameter dials
the figure by selecting Edit > Memorize > Figure. Also, be sure
in the Parameters palette to open an Edit Parameter
to save your figure in the Library palette. You can save your
dialog box, where you can set limits for the selected
figure in an existing subcategory or create your own.
parameter. Please refer to “Editing Parameter Dials” on
page 198 for information on setting parameter limits.
Deleting Interim Figures
If you have saved draft figures as recommended during the figure
Step 12: Finalizing Your New Figure creation process, you may want to delete these draft figures to
At this point, you have created and fine-tuned a new Poser avoid wasting hard drive space. To delete an item, select it in the
figure. From a technical standpoint, the figure creation process is Library palette and click the Delete from Library icon (-) at the
complete. If you wish, you can add materials and textures, make bottom of the palette.

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Troubleshooting
When creating a new figure from an existing figure, there may
be existing parameters that no longer function properly with the
new geometry. For instance, morph targets that used to work on
the old figure may do nothing if you change the geometry. You
can delete these channels in the Hierarchy Editor by checking
the Show Parameters box, selecting the parameters to delete,
and pressing [DEL].

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Chapter 31: Working weight-mapped methods, Poser offers a three-fold solution that
allows you to use traditional falloff zones, weight maps, or a

with Joints, Weights, and combination of both. You get the best of both worlds!

Skinning

What are Joints?

A joint is location on a figure where two body parts meet at a
point where they bend, twist, rotate, or bulge: for example, a
human knee or an elbow is a joint. In Poser, these realistic figure
movements are controlled by joint settings. These joint settings
are applied through various options in the Joint Editor.
Poser’s traditional joint system utilizes the following:

• Spherical falloff zones that use inner and outer spheres of

influence to determine which vertices move when a joint is
rotated, and the amount of movement the vertices move.

• Capsule-shaped falloff zones that work similarly to spherical A joint shown in the Joint Editor.
zones, but which allow more flexibility in defining the
shapes of the inner and outer zones of influence.
In addition to the traditional falloff zones, weight-mapped
bending controls offer increased flexibility in how vertices
respond to movement. By providing both traditional and
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Using the Joint Editor Parts of the Joint Editor

Poser makes a figure “poseable” through the use of transformers The Joint Editor displays the various components of the selected
and transformation zones that control the way a figure bends joint. For example, if you have the right shin selected, the Joint
and twists. These transformers and their zones skew, rotate, Editor will display the settings related to the knee (the point at
stretch, or scale polygons that fall within a transformation zone which the right shin begins).
to produce the desired motion. The Joint Editor displays the following options and controls,
You can use the Joint Editor to manipulate joints and blend depending on the joint that you have selected:
transformers directly, thereby modifying how a joint or bone
works. The Joint Editor is used to accomplish the following:

• Fine-tune the blending of existing figures to suit your needs.

• Create new types of effects in how the polygons in the

current part respond to transformations.

• Customize joints and transformers when creating your own

figures (such as using the Setup room, described in “Chapter
24: The Face Room” on page 487).
To open the palette, select Window > Joint Editor. This palette
can be used in the Pose Room and in the Setup Room. When
used in the Pose room, the Joint Editor allows you to adjust the
currently selected joint. When used in the Setup room, the Joint
Editor allows you to adjust the currently selected bone.

The Joint Editor.

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• Affected Actors menu: Use this menu to select additional ƒƒ Verts: Shows or hides the display of colored dots that
body parts that you want to be affected by the parameter give you a visual indication of how the vertices and
that you are editing. For more information about affected polygons will be affected when you adjust the joint
actors, see “Adding Affected Actors” on page 676. settings.

• Attribute selector: Use the Attribute selection menu to ƒƒ Shaded: Enables shaded display mode for sphere
display and edit the settings for a specific attribute. For or capsule zones of influence. Inner mat spheres or
example, when you have the right shin selected, you can use capsules are shaded green, and outer mat spheres or
the menu to choose one of the following attributes: Center, capsules are shaded red.
Twist, Side-Side, or Bend. In addition, there will be a couple
of additional settings that relate to the body part that is
immediately below the current part (its child). In the case of
the right shin, the child attributes would relate to the right
foot. In most cases, the attributes for the “child” part are left
alone when editing the current joint.

• Parameter dial and value: When you choose an attribute

that has a Parameters dial associated with it, a dial will
appear in the Joint Editor. You can use this dial to adjust
the parameter through its minimum and maximum values
to test how the current joint settings affect the mesh.

• Display Options. Allows you to show or hide various

display options for the selected transform:

ƒƒ Deformer: When checked, will display the deformers (if

any) that are associated with the selected joint.

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• Joint Angles setting: This section displays or edits the

inclusion and exclusion angles, which determines which
vertices and polygons are included or excluded in the
current transform. Further information can be found in
“Setting Joint Angles” on page 673.

• Bulge Settings: Allows you to add additional settings

that specify how polygons bulge and flex while the joint is
moved. See “Editing Bulge Settings” on page 674.

• Joint Orders: Allows you to set the order of the X, Y, and

Z axes, and the types of rotation that they relate to. See
“Setting Joint Orders” on page 674.

• Scale Zones: Click this button to create weight maps that

smooth out the transitions between joints when the joints
are scaled along a single axis. For more information, see
“Smoothing Scale Zones” on page 689.

• Zero Rotations button: As you are working with all of the

A chest joint with verts and shaded display. joints in your figure, you may have one or more rotations
(bend, twist, side to side, and so on) set to values other than
• Falloff Zones: There are three types of falloff zones: zero. Click this button to return all of the joint rotations
Spherical Zone, Capsule Zone, and Weight Map. Each back to their zero values, which returns the figure to its
of these will be described in “Creating and Using Falloff normal “default” position.
Zones” on page 664.

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Deformer Indicators

Depending on the type of attribute selected you will see a

different type of indicators for the joint. The following figure
shows the types of indicators that appear when Center, Twist,
Side-Side, Bend, and neighboring joint indicators are selected.
You can use the handles on these indicators to visually adjust
the joint attributes, or you can use numerical fields in the Joint
Editor to change them. Each of these attributes will be discussed
in “Copying Joints from Another Figure” on page 657.

The Joint Editor: Weight Painting Controls.

How Joints are Displayed

When the Joint Editor is opened, there are several indicators
that appear when a body part is selected. These indicators help Joint Attribute Indicators.
you control how the joint works and responds when you pose the
figure. Each of these indicators are described below.
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Joint Strength Indicators are highlighted with yellow dots will stretch or squash or
skew to make the transition as smooth as possible.
The Joint Editor allows you to control joints and blend zones.
Blend zones define how the area that transitions from one joint
to another react when they bend, twist, or rotate. As you work
in the Joint Editor, you will notice that the selected body part
is covered with different colored dots. The color of these dots
represent where a joint parameter or falloff zone has the most
amount of effect.
In the figure shown below, a figure’s right shin is selected as the
current body part, and the Bend parameter is the parameter that
is being edited. The joint is placed at the right knee. Notice the
multi-colored dots which show how the joint affects the selected
body part:

• Bright green dots appear where the joint or zone has the
greatest effect. In other words, when you bend the right
shin, the entire area that is covered with green dots will be The strength of a joint is represented with green, yellow, and red
affected by the bend. dots.

• Red dots appear where little or no effect occurs. In other

words, when you bend the right shin, the right thigh (which Editing Joint Parameters
is above the shin) will not be affected.
To edit a joint’s parameters:
• Yellow dots appear where there is a blend between the
moving part (the shin) and the stationary part (the thigh). In 1. Select the desired joint in the Pose Room.
other words, when the right shin is bent, the polygons that
2. Choose Window > Joint Editor to open the Joint Editor.

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3. Use the Selection menu to choose the attribute that you 7. Set the Joint Order as described in “Setting Joint Orders”
want to edit. Each joint will have several parameters and on page 674.
will include some of the following: Center, Twist, Bend,
Side to Side, Front to Back, or Up and Down. These 8. When you are finished setting all of the joints, you can use
attributes are further described in “Copying Joints from the Zero Figure button to return the character to its default
Another Figure” on page 657. position, and then save the figure to your library.

4. Use the Falloff Zones section to add additional deformers

that can affect the selected attribute. If no deformers exist, Copying Joints from Another Figure
click the Add button to add one or more. You can add one of
three types of transformers: Spherical, Capsule, or Weight If you are creating a character that has similar size and
Map. These will be described further in “Creating and Using proportion to another figure, you can copy joint settings from
Falloff Zones” on page 664. one figure to another. In most cases, this is only necessary when
you are developing an original figure, and have made changes in
5. The section beneath the Falloff Zones section shows the rigging of one version of the model (a low resolution version,
numerical values for the currently selected joint attribute. for example) and want to apply the same changes to another
You can either change these values manually, or by making version of the model (a high resolution version).
adjustments to the deformers in the document window.
1. Load two figures into the scene :
For example, if you are displaying the Twist attribute, you
can enter values for Twist Start and Twist End in the Joint
ƒƒ The source figure (ie: the figure you want to copy
Editor, or you can click and drag the ends of the Twist
joints from) , such as a low-resolution human character.
indicator in the document window to make adjustments
visually. ƒƒ The target figure (the figure that you want to copy
joints to, such as a high-resolution version of the same
6. If the joint attribute allows, optionally enter Bulge Settings human character.
that make the selected body part bulge more realistically
2. Select the target figure.
when the parameter is adjusted. These are discussed in
“Editing Bulge Settings” on page 674.

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3. Choose Figure > Copy Joint Zones From. The Copy Joint Hold your arm out with the palm up, bend it at the elbow, and
Zones dialog appears. notice that the center of the rotation is about halfway between
your inner and outer elbow. Notice how your skin contracts
4. Choose the figure from which you want to copy the zones above the center of rotation and expands beneath it. Imagine if
(the source figure), and then click OK. The joint zone the center of rotation was in a different location and how that
settings will be applied to the target figure. would affect the appearance of your arm as you bend it. Move
some other joints and imagine the changes that might occur
if you shifted those centers. The Center attribute controls this
Joint Attribute Types aspect of joint motion.

Each joint in a figure’s bone structure has some or all of the

following attributes. The attributes available for each joint
depend on the currently selected joint. You can think of the Joint
Editor palette as working with body parts or bones, since the end
result is the same. For the sake of discussion, it is appropriate to
think of the Joint Editor palette as acting on body parts when in
the Pose room and bones within the Setup room.
This section explains how to adjust each available joint
parameter. Note that not all parameters will be applicable to
every joint. Only those parameters applicable to the selected
joint will appear in the joint editor.

Center
The Center attribute sets the center of rotation for the selected Center attribute and settings.
bone. It is available for all bones, body parts, and props.

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The following options are available when adjusting the Center End Points
joint parameter:
If a joint has a single child joint, the endpoint will always be the
• Center Point: The Center Point attribute defines the XYZ origin of the child. If there are multiple children (as in a hand)
position of the joint (center of the body part). 0,0,0 is the endpoint can be set manually. This feature is used for some
located in the center of the bone structure on the floor. of the interaction tools, such as the Rotate tool for orientation
from the origin. If there is no child joint (as with the head,
• End Point: The End Point attribute is discussed in “End
typically) the endpoint is also editable.
Points”, which follows.

• Orientation: The Orientation attribute defines the XYZ

rotation of the joint and its axis. Click and drag the dials
to set a value. Pressing and holding [OPT]/[ALT] while
clicking a dial resets its value to 0.

• Align: Clicking the Align button aligns the joint with its
underlying body part or group, and will automatically adjust
the values in the Orientation fields (above). This option can
be useful once you have created groups and attached the
bones to the geometry. Prior to that point in the process,
however, there is nothing to align the joint to.

• Joint Order: See “Setting Joint Orders” on page 674.

• Zero Figure: See “Parts of the Joint Editor” on page 652. End Point attributes.

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Twist
The Twist attribute changes the location of the twist deformer
for the selected bone.

There is no Twist attribute for the hip bone or its

equivalent, since the hip is the parent for the
entire figure and twisting the hip twists the entire figure
in unison.

When IK is enabled, child bones rotate when the parent is

twisted. Twisting the hip normally moves the entire body since
the hip is usually the parent for the entire figure, meaning that
the hip does not have this parameter.
Hold your arm out with the palm down, and twist it so your
palm is facing up. Notice how most of your arm does not change, Twist attribute and indicators.
except for a region in your upper arm where the skin and
muscles twist as you move. Imagine if the twisting began and/
or ended in a different location. The Twist attribute controls this
aspect of joint motion.
The Twist parameter has the following settings and options:
By default, the Twist axis runs lengthwise down the center of
each body part. For example, the arm twist axis is X, while • Display Options: See “Parts of the Joint Editor” on page
legs twist along the Y axis. When this parameter is selected, 652.
a line with two handles appears on the figure. The red handle
• Falloff Zones: See “Creating and Using Falloff Zones” on
represents the starting point of the twist transformation area,
page 664.
and the green handle represents the end. Dragging these handles
increases or decreases the Twist area.
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• Twist Start and Twist End: Define the beginning and Side-Side, Bend, Front-Back, and Up-Down
ending points of a bone’s twist area. Enter your desired
values in the appropriate boxes, or drag the red handle of The joint settings for Side-Side, Bend, Front-Back, and Up-
the indicator to adjust the Start value, and the green handle Down are very similar. The main difference between them is the
of the indicator to adjust the End value. axis on which they rotate:

You can make twist areas larger than the • The Bend attribute controls the angles of the Bend
selected bone, which can make a twisting motion transformers, and defines how bulges are created. To
appear more natural. In many cases, the bone’s parent illustrate this, bend and flex various joints (such as your
should be included in the twist zone. elbow or knee). You’ll notice limits of your flexibility, and
how the skin and muscles bulge as you move. The Bend
attribute lets you control how this occurs in your figure.
You can use the Editing tools to adjust the Twist
parameter. This parameter exists in three • The Side-Side, Front-Back, and Up-Down attributes
dimensions, meaning you can rotate the figure to see the control the angles of their respective transformers and also
joint from any angle. You may, however, want to leave define how bulges are created. These attributes are suited
the figure in its default position and use the for omnidirectional joints such as your wrists, shoulders,
orthographic cameras (Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, hips, ankles, etc. The various parameters are shown in the
Back) to constrain movement to two axes, possibly following table.
avoiding much confusion.

• Joint Order: See “Setting Joint Orders” on page 674.

• Zero Figure: See “Parts of the Joint Editor” on page 652.

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Attribute Body Part(s)

Bend All but Hip, Collars, and Shoulders
Side-Side Head, Neck, Chest, Abdomen, Waist, L &
R Buttocks, L & R Thigh, L & R Shin, L & R
Foot, L & R Toe, Toe1 parts, Toe2 parts, L &
R Forearm, L & R Hand, L & R Thumb2, L &
R finger parts (other than thumb)
Front-Back L & R Collar, L & R Shoulder
Up-Down L & R Collar, L & R Shoulder

Bend attribute settings.

The following settings appear in the Joint Editor for Bend,

Side-Side, Front-Back, and Up-Down parameters. Each of
these three parameters is functionally identical when editing
these joint attributes in the Joint Editor palette. The settings
in the Joint Editor allow you to change their angles and
transformers. Poser can also create bulges that emulate muscle
movement.

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• Display Options: See “Parts of the Joint Editor” on page • Bulge Settings: See “Editing Bulge Settings” on page
652. 674.

• Falloff Zones: See “Creating and Using Falloff Zones” on • Joint Order: See “Setting Joint Orders” on page 674.
page 664.
• Zero Figure: See “Parts of the Joint Editor” on page 652.
• Joint Angles: Defines the polygons that are included or
excluded from the Bend parameter. You can either use the
Inclusion and Exclusion handles to adjust these values
Scaling
visually, or enter values in the Joint Angles fields. The area
Each body part has parameters allowing you to scale the parent
between the two red handles define the polygons that are
and child body parts. These settings are similar to the Twist
excluded and will remain stationery. The area between
parameters and follow the Twist axis of the child or parent body
the green handles defines the polygons that will move
part. For example, Ryan’s Right Collar body part has scaling
completely. The area in between a green handle and a red
controls for the chest (parent) along the Y axis and the Right
handle will “deform.” For more information, see “Setting
Shoulder (child) along the X axis.
Joint Angles” on page 673.
The High End/Start and Low Start/End parameters define a
You can use the Editing tools to adjust the Bend, blending area. For example, when scaling the head, you may
Side-Side, Front-Back, and Up-Down also want to scale the top of the neck to achieve a smooth fit.
parameters. These parameters exist in three dimensions, When setting these parameters, only one setting (high or low)
meaning you can rotate the figure to see the joint from is relevant. The unused parameter pair gets automatically set
any angle. You may, however, want to leave the figure to some unrealistic number (such as 99,000 or 100,000), thus
in its default position and use the orthographic cameras indicating that it is not relevant to the area you’re working on.
(Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, Back) to constrain Do not edit these out-of-limit settings.
movement to two axes, possibly avoiding much
Each blending zone’s end is represented in red, with its
confusion.
beginning in green. Effects can be either uniform or can use
spherical falloff zones, discussed below.

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use falloff zones on a joint. When a joint property can utilize

Falloff Zones, the Joint Editor displays a Falloff Zones area that
appears as shown in the following figure.

Scaling attributes.

Creating and Using Falloff Zones

Falloff Zone settings.
Falloff Zones are Poser’s fundamental method of creating
smooth bending figures by blending between two bones or body There are three types of falloff zones: Spherical, Capsule, and
parts. You can use falloff zones on any type of rotation (such as Weight Map (the latter being editable only in Poser Pro 2012),
Bend, Side-Side, Front-Back, or Up-Down). A Falloff Zone described in the sections that follow. Multiple Falloff Zones can
section appears in the Joint Editor where it is appropriate to be combined, regardless of type. You can blend multiple falloff

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zones together in a single joint. The type of blending can be set

as Multiply, Add, or Replace in the Joint Editor. You can learn
more about blending in “Blending Multiple Falloff Zones” on
page 669.

Spherical Falloff Zones

When you use a spherical falloff zone, two spheres, a green inner
sphere and a red outer sphere, represent the falloff zones.
The green sphere defines the area that is 100% affected by the
transformation (motion), and the red sphere defines the limit
of the transformer’s effect. The area between the spheres is the
blending area, and the transformer’s effect gradually decreases
from 100% at the boundary of the inner sphere to 0% at the
boundary of the outer sphere.
In the figure shown below, the zones of the innerMat and
outerMat spheres have been colored in for demonstration
purposes. When vertices are displayed you can see how the Spherical falloff zones (verts turned off for clarity).
positioning of the spheres affect the strength of the deformations
in various areas. You can edit spherical falloff zones just as you would any bone or
body part using the Editing tools.

• Click the green sphere to edit the affected area. The

Parameters/Properties palette displays its properties as the
innerMatSphere, where you can make adjustments to its
size, position and rotation.

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• Click the red sphere to edit the unaffected area. The values to change the rotation along the y, x, or z axis
Parameters/Properties palette displays its properties as the (respectively).
outerMatSphere, and you can make adjustments to its size,
position and rotation. • Scale: Use the Scale setting to uniformly adjust the scale
along the x, y, and z axes. To change an axis as needed to
create an ellipse, adjust the xScale, yScale, or zScale setting
appropriately.

• Translation: To move the sphere, adjust the xTran, yTran,

or zTran setting appropriately.

You can also use the Direct Manipulation Tool to

adjust the rotation, scale, or translation of the
falloff zone. For more information about this tool, see
“Direct Manipulation” on page 188.

Capsule Falloff Zones

Capsule falloff zones provide a great deal more flexibility in
Spherical Falloff Zone parameters in the Parameters Palette. controlling the shape of the zones of influence. The green
and red capsules work similarly to the spherical falloff zones
The following properties can be edited for the inner and outer mentioned in the previous section. The green capsule defines
MatSpheres of a spherical falloff zone: the area that is 100% affected by the transformation, and the red
capsule defines the limit of the transformation’s effect. The area
• Rotation: To change the rotation of the inner or in between the capsules defines the blending area.
outerMatSphere, change the yRotate, xRotate, or zRotate

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• Click the red capsule to edit the unaffected area. The

Parameters/Properties palette displays its properties as
the outerMatCapsule.

Capsule Falloff Zone with Verts turned on.

If you choose to create a capsule zone, there are six unique

parameters in the Parameters Palette to change the shape and
size of capsules and how they affect the current joint. You will
also see the Translate, Rotate, and Scale parameters which work
similar to those described for the Spherical falloff zones.

• Click the green capsule to edit the affected area. The

Parameters/Properties palette displays its properties as
innerMatCapsule and outerMatCapsule parameters.
the innerMatCapsule.

With the inner or outer MatCapsule selected, you will see the
following parameters in the Parameters palette:
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• Right Length: Sets the length of the right half of the

cylinder portion of the capsule.

• Right Radius: Sets the radius of the right end of the

cylinder portion of the capsule.

• Right Cap: Sets the length of the cap at the right end of the
capsule. Increases or decreases the distance from the Right
Length.

• Left Length: Sets the length of the left half of the cylinder
A diagram of a capsule falloff zone.
portion of the capsule.

• Left Radius: Sets the radius of the left end of the cylinder
portion of the capsule. Working with Falloff Zones
• Left Cap: Sets the length of the cap at the left end of the The sections that follow describe other ways that you can work
capsule. Increases or decreases the distance from the Left with falloff zones.
Length.
You learned how to create a weight map in the section “If you
The following diagram shows the parts of the capsule: are going to be rigging a character from scratch, the easiest
workflow is to rig it first the “old fashioned” way … by using
spherical and capsule falloff zones as described in the previous
sections in this chapter. After you get that done, you can
collapse the falloff zones down into weight maps.” on page
679. If you want to create a spherical or capsule falloff zone,
the steps are similar. Follow these steps:
1. Select the joint that you want to work on.

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2. Open the Joint Editor, and select the appropriate rotation 5. Repeat steps 1-4 to add additional falloff zones if desired.
(Side-Side, Front-Back, Up-Down, or other).
Blending Multiple Falloff Zones
3. In the Falloff Zones section, click the + (plus) sign to create
a new falloff zone. Choose one of the following options: In addition to offering three types of falloff zones, you can also
use more than one falloff zone for a joint. The Joint Editor
ƒƒ Add Sphere Zone: Choose this option to create a provides a drop-down menu that lists the falloff zones that have
spherical falloff zone. been created for each joint. You can add one or more spherical,
ƒƒ Add Capsule Zone: Choose this option to create a capsule, or weight map falloff zones to any joint.
capsule-shaped falloff zone. For an example of using multiple falloff zones, open the Library
and select the Figure category. From the People folder, add
Alyson or Ryan (version 1) into your scene. In the Joint Editor,
select the Side-Side property of the right or left Buttock. Click
the Down arrow to display the list of zones for the currently
selected joint. When you expand the list of falloff zones, you’ll
see several as shown below.

Adding a Falloff zone.

4. Use the Editing Tools or the parameter dials to adjust

the scale, rotation, and translation of the inner and outer
MatSpheres (see “Spherical Falloff Zones” on page 665)
or MatCapsules (see “Capsule Falloff Zones” on page
666).

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To change the blending method for a falloff zone, follow these

steps:
1. Select the joint that you want to modify.

2. Expand the Falloff Zones selection menu, and select the

sphere or capsule falloff zone that you want to change.

3. Select Multiply, Add, or Replace from the blend mode

selection menu.

Blending falloff zones. Choosing a blending type.

The CR2 will display a list of zones that affect Deleting a Falloff Zone
each joint. Figures that use multiple falloff zones
or capsule zones will not be compatible with older To delete a falloff zone, follow these steps:
versions of Poser. To create a figure that is backwards 1. Select the joint that you want to modify.
compatible with earlier versions of Poser, use only a
single Spherical Zone on the joints that use falloff zones. 2. Expand the Falloff Zones selection menu, and select the
falloff zone that you want to delete.

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3. Click the Delete button in the Falloff Zones area of the Joint 2. Expand the Falloff Zones selection menu, and select the
Editor and choose Delete Current Zone from the menu desired falloff zone.
that appears.
3. Check the Active checkbox to enable the falloff zone, or
uncheck to disable it.

Deleting a falloff zone.

Enabling or Disabling a Falloff Zone

When a joint rotation uses multiple falloff zones, you can enable
or disable the influence of a specific falloff zone to determine
how that particular falloff zone affects the joint rotation. This
can help you make adjustments to the areas that are affected by
the selected falloff zone.
To enable or disable a falloff zone:
Falloff zone enabled (top) and disabled (bottom).
1. Select the joint that you want to examine, and rotate the
joint as necessary to determine the effects of the falloff
zones.

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Changing Falloff Zone Display Mode

The default display mode for spherical and capsule falloff zones
is Outline mode. However, you can display falloff zones in any
available mode. To change how a falloff zone is displayed:
1. Select the falloff zone that you want to change.

2. Select Display > Element Style.

3. Select your desired display mode. For example, Wireframe

mode allows you to see the spheres’ areas of effect while
still being able to see the underlying bones/geometry.
Wireframe modes are recommended, as solid shaded
modes will make it difficult to pick underlying Fall Zone
geometries.

The following figure shows a capsule zone displayed in its default

display mode (top), and with the innerMat capsule changed to
Wireframe display style (bottom).

An innerMat Capsule shown in default (top) and Wireframe display

style (bottom).

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Setting Joint Angles that form an angle. In the Joint Editor, the Dynamic B and
Dynamic C angles determine the inclusion angle.
If you move any part of your body (for example bending your
• By contrast, the exclusion angle defines those polygons
elbow), you will note that the skin on your upper and lower arms
not affected by moving the current joint. Notice that your
remains still except for the region near your elbow. Around your
upper arm does not move if you simply bend your elbow.
elbow, skin stretches or contracts depending on its location and
The exclusion angle appears as two red lines that form an
the direction of motion. Slightly removed from the actual motion
angle. In the Joint Editor, the Static A and Static D values
area, your skin and muscles move to adjust to the motion and
determine the exclusion angle.
preserve a smooth transition. The area between the inclusion
and exclusion angles is called the blend zone, where Poser
stretches, bends, and shrinks polygons to achieve a smooth
transition between figure elements. This is the same as when
you flex your leg and the skin in the area of your hip contracts or
stretches as needed to accommodate the move.
Poser accomplishes similar movement transitions with inclusion
and exclusion angles. The Bend, Side-Side, Front-Back,
and Up-Down parameters allow you to define the inclusion
and exclusion angles for the selected joint. The Inclusion and
Exclusion angles control which polygons move as a result of a
joint bending and how the body parts on either side of the joint Joint inclusion and exclusion angle settings..
blend to accommodate the move.
The above graphic shows the exclusion angle above the knee ,
• The inclusion angle defines which polygons are affected by
the inclusion angle below, and the blend area in the vicinity of
moving the selected joint. Using the previous example of
the joint itself. To edit inclusion and exclusion angles:
bending your arm at the elbow, your entire arm below your
elbow moves. The inclusion angle appears as two green lines 1. Move the cursor to an end point of the inclusion or
exclusion angles until the cursor changes to a target symbol.

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2. Drag the angle. It is recommended that you use Full You can use Poser’s weight painting features to
Tracking mode to view the effects of your changes as you make bulges more realistic. See “Painting Bulge
drag. You can also enter your desired values in the text Maps” on page 688.
boxes.

You can use the Editing tools to adjust this

parameter. This parameter exists in three
dimensions, meaning you can rotate the figure to see the
joint from any angle. You may, however, want to leave
the figure in its default position and use the
orthographic cameras (Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front,
Back) to constrain movement to two axes, possibly
avoiding much confusion.
Applying bulges.

Editing Bulge Settings Setting Joint Orders

Checking the Apply Bulge checkbox causes the polygons to
The Joint Editor palette includes the Joint Order pull-down
flex and bulge as the joint moves, emulating the muscle bulging
menu that defines the joint’s axes of rotation. The joint order is
when real bodies move. If the box is checked, the polygons in
expressed as three letters corresponding to the X, Y, and Z axes.
the blend zone will be stretched or pinched to create bulges or
wrinkles. Left and Right refers to the skeleton’s right and left.
Using the Front camera position, the X axis runs
The positive dials control how much bulging out will occur when
from left to right, the Y axis runs from bottom to
the joint moves, and the negative dials control the amount of
top, and the Z axis runs from the back to the front. This
wrinkling and pinching.
is called a right-handed coordinate system.

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It is important to determine the best rotation order for each

joint. This is an important part of getting your figure to move
exactly how you want it to. When you create new bones with
the bone tool, Poser takes its best guess at determining the best
rotation order for the bone.
You can select rotation orders by bringing up the Joint Editor
palette and selecting the desired order from the Joint Order
pull-down menu.

Setting joint rotation order.

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If you change joint order, you will probably This may seem a little confusing at first. A good
need to readjust the joint zones on the currently way to visualize the correct rotation order is to
selected bone. picture the figure facing directly towards the front of the
Poser workspace. For each possible motion of a given
Each joint consists of three separate joint primitives, one twist joint imagine a line running through the center of the
and two joints. You determine the joint rotation order as follows: joint. For example, the shin twists along a line running
straight up and down and rotates along a line running
• The twist primitive is always placed first in the joint order. from left to right. The vertical line corresponds to the Y
axis, and the left-to-right line corresponds to the X axis.
• Because of ordered rotation problems, it is then best to place It is now easy to determine the proper joint order of YZX
the rotation axis through which the joint is most likely to based on this visualization and the requirements
move last in the order. outlined above.

• The remaining rotation axis is placed in the middle.

You can also use curve bends instead of the normal twist/joint/
For an example, consider the shin of a figure: joint bends. When you set up a joint using curves, the joint will
have one twist and one curve primitive. The curve primitive will
• A shin is vertical and twists about the Y-axis. This Y axis is
automatically bend the body part as if that part were part of a
placed first in the rotation order for the shin.
curved chain of objects. This feature is very handy for body parts
• When the shin bends, it is most likely to bend around the such as tails or antennae.
X-axis. This axis is placed last in the rotation order.

• The remaining axis is the Z axis, which is placed in the Adding Affected Actors
middle. Thus, the best rotation joint order for the shin is
By default, a falloff zone only affects the body part that it is
YZX.
directly associated with. You can add additional body parts
or objects in your scene with the Affected Actors button that
appears at the upper right corner of the Joint Editor. For
example, affected actors can be very useful when applied to a
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character that has wings that would affect the shoulder, but also
the chest and the abdomen.
Affected actors allow bends to occur beyond the range of the
current body part. For example, if you have the character’s right
shoulder selected, you could click the Affected Actors button
and add the right forearm to the parts that are affected by the
currently selected zones or weight map.

If a joint’s falloff cones or spherical/capsule

falloff zones enclose vertices of a figure that is
not a part of the current actor or its parent, you should
set that part as an affected actor before you use Merge
Zones to Weight Map to convert the falloff regions to a
new weight map. This will apply appropriate weighting
to all of the affected vertices and will match the influence
of the falloff regions involved.

When you modify an existing weight map, and

you add one or more actors for the current joint
to affect via Affected Actors, any new vertices added to
the weight map must be weighted manually.

To add additional parts, click the Affected Actors button to

open the Select Objects dialog. Check any additional body parts Adding Affected Actors.
or objects that you want to be affected by the falloff zone.

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After you add a body part as an affected actor, you’ll want to for the shoulder. The hand and fingers rotate as they normally
modify the falloff zones so that they also include the vertices in would, because they are not set up as affected actors to the
the affected actor. To illustrate why, observe in the following shoulder:
figure how the falloff zones originally look for the right shoulder:

The right forearm is added as an affected actor to the shoulder, but

Original falloff zones for the shoulder.
falloff zones have not yet been adjusted.

In the following figure, the right forearm has been added as an

The falloff zones for the right shoulder are then adjusted to
affected actor to the right shoulder. When the shoulder is bent,
encompass all of the vertices in the right forearm, as shown
you see that the vertices in the right forearm are not affected.
below. Make sure that the zones are adjusted in all camera views.
This is because they are not yet included in the falloff zone

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saves time for figure creators by allowing them to rig only one
side and then duplicate the zone settings to the opposite side.
To save your Joint Editor palette settings, you must either save
your scene or save the affected figure to the Library palette.
Please refer to “Saving a Scene” on page 65 for information
on saving Poser scenes, and to “Chapter 7: The Poser Library”
on page 119 for information on working with the Library
palette.

Weight Maps
Weight maps are a new addition to Poser Pro 2012. Weight maps
allow you to paint varying strengths on vertices to control how
they respond to a joint rotation. You can either create an entirely
new weight map, or combine existing deformers into a new
weight map that completely replaces the spherical or capsule
falloff zones.
Adjust the falloff zones of the selected actor (the right shoulder) to
add the vertices of the affected actor (the right forearm). When you choose to merge existing falloff zones
into a Weight Map, existing falloff zones will
remain, but will be ineffective unless or until the

Copying and Saving Joint Settings blending mode of the weight map is changed from
Replace to Add or Multiply.

To copy joint settings from one side of your figure to the other,
use symmetry as described in “Symmetry” on page 213. This If you are going to be rigging a character from scratch, the
easiest workflow is to rig it first the “old fashioned” way … by

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using spherical and capsule falloff zones as described in the

previous sections in this chapter. After you get that done, you
can collapse the falloff zones down into weight maps.
The recommended workflow is as follows:

• Set up your spherical and capsule falloff zones in the joint,

and test them to make sure they move the joint as expected.
See “Creating and Using Falloff Zones” on page 664.

• Add affected actors in areas where the rotation of a joint

could extend to more than one body part, and adjust the
falloff zones to include the affected actors. See “Adding
Affected Actors” on page 676.

• Collapse the falloff zones into a weight map. See “Adding a

Weight Map” on page 680.
A shoulder joint showing its falloff zones.
• Refine the weight map further with weight map painting.
See “Painting Weights” on page 684.
Adding a Weight Map
After you finish setting up the spherical or capsule falloff zones,
you can collapse them down into a Weight Map for the selected
joint. When you click the Add button, you will see two options
for Weight Maps:

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already appear for the selected body part. It will work

similarly to any other falloff zone.

• Merge Zones to Weight Map: Choose this option to merge

existing falloff zones, including joint angles, into a new
weight map. This is probably the most useful way to begin
with your weight map. You will see a new weight map in the
Zones list, but the original falloff zones will still appear in
the list as well. The blend type for the weight map will be set
to Replace.

You don’t have to have spherical or capsule

falloff zones to create a weight map. You can just
create one by selecting a body part, and then choosing
Merge Zones to Weight Map. This will create a new
weight map based on the existing inclusion and
exclusion angles set for the body part. Then you can
begin painting the weight map as needed.

There are two options for creating weight maps.

• Add Weight Map: Choose this option to add a new weight

map in addition to any existing falloff zones that may

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Falloff zones are processed in the order in which

they appear in the Falloff Zones list. Therefore, if
you have a Spherical falloff zone at the top, a Capsule
Zone second, and a Weight Map third, the Capsule zone
will override the effect of the Spherical zone. Then the
Weight Map, if set to Replace, will combine the effect of
both the Spherical and Capsule weight maps, making
the first two falloff zones ineffective. In addition the
weight map will also replace the Joint Angle settings,
making them ineffective as well. The joint angles will
still be visible as a visual guide only.

In practice, you can configure a weight map to

work with existing falloff zones by setting the
blend mode to Add or Replace. However, there is no
advantage to doing so. Falloff zones that have been
collapsed down into weight maps work equally as well
as the falloff zones that were initially used to create
Merging existing zones into a weight map.
them.

If the previous falloff zones utilized bulge

settings, they will still be active and you will still
be able to adjust them in the Joint Editor.

In the Joint Editor, click the Add button, and choose Merge
Zones to Weight Map. The weight map will be set to Replace,

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which will make the spherical and capsule falloff zones have to. For example, you might learn that in some views the
ineffective. center point of the joint is not set correctly, or the inclusion and
exclusion angles aren’t working as well as they should and you
need to make an adjustment.
When you delete a weight map that was created from existing
falloff zones, the original zones will work as they were originally
designed to work. You can go back and adjust the falloff zones as
needed, and then create a new weight map that incorporates the
new changes.

Activating and Deactivating Weight Maps

The weight map is always active, unless you manually deactivate
it. If you want to see how the weight map differs from the falloff
zones from which it was created, just uncheck the Active option
in the joint editor. The example shown below shows how a
weight map smooths the vertices around the ankle when the foot
is bent downward.

Merging existing zones into a weight map.

Deleting Weight Maps

If you don’t like the way that the joint is bending after you create
a weight map, you can go back and delete the weight maps if you
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After you create a Weight Map, the Weight Painting tool is

enabled in the Joint Editor.
When weight painting, consider the following general workflow:

• Make sure that the Active option is checked before you

start painting. With this option off, the brushes will have no
effect.

• Start with a smoothing brush, and start with a magnitude

setting of 1 for larger areas, and lower the setting for smaller
areas. Smooth the vertices in the joint, but be careful not to
oversmooth.

• Watch your brush size. Use lower settings for tight areas,
such as those between toes or fingers.
You can Activate or Deactivate a weight map to observe how it
affects a rotated joint. • After you smooth out the vertices, choose the Add or
Subtract mode. Add will increase the weighted effect on
the vertices, while Subtract will decrease the weighted
Painting Weights effect. Darker colors (darker purple) are the least weighted
vertices, and solid green are most weighted. Colors in
After you collapse your weight maps down, you can start to between have varied weights.
paint. Click the Paint palette icon in the Joint Editor to display To paint weights:
the painting controls. As you paint, the changes reflect changes
to the actual edge flow and surface normals in the model, and 1. Click the paintbrush icon to enable the painting tools. The
not relative to the screen. Joint Editor shows the brush controls.

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ƒƒ The first brush is a hard brush with a very small radius,

suitable for working with targeted vertices.

ƒƒ The other brushes provide varying levels of hardness

around the edges. The default brush has a softer edge
which provides the most effect in the center and then
gradually falls off to little or no effect on the outer
edges. The last brush has no falloff at all, and applies
strength evenly across the width of the brush. There are
five brushes in the section.

The fourth brush will give you the best results, as

it has a very slight feathering to the edge. If you
use brushes that are more feathered you may throw off
the weight balance.

3. A wireframe preview of the brush appears in the Document

window. You can toggle this preview on or off by checking or
unchecking the Display Brush option in the Joint Editor.

ƒƒ The inner ring of the preview shows the area that will
have the most effect.

ƒƒ The outer ring of the preview shows the overall width of

the brush. You can use the Radius setting in the Joint
Paintbrush tools. Editor to increase or decrease the brush width.
4. Adjust the Magnitude setting in the Joint Editor to increase
2. Select a brush type from the available choices. or decrease the strength of the brush. Decrease the setting

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to produce less of a change while you paint, and increase the

setting to produce more of a change.

When you have the paintbrush set to Add or

Subtract mode, pay attention to the Magnitude
setting of the brush. Setting this too high (such as 1) will
affect the vertices more than you want them to. It is
recommended that you start with a low magnitude
(around .007). Then slowly go back and forth over the
areas you want to change.

5. Use the Parameter dial in the Joint Editor palette to pose

the body part in something other than the default position
(at or near one of the limits is a good place to start).

Pose your body part while you paint across vertices to add, remove,
or smooth the amount of effect on the vertices.

6. Choose a method for painting. As you paint, observe how

the changes affect the body part in that pose. The shape of
the mesh will respond to the brush as you make changes:

ƒƒ Add will increase the effect of the polygons you paint,

moving the painted vertices more toward the “green”
(fully effected) color. This adds more effect to the areas
painted.

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ƒƒ Remove will decrease the effect of the polygons you

paint, moving the painted vertices more toward the red
(little to no effect) color. This removes the effect from
the areas painted

ƒƒ Smooth will blend the sharp contrasts between

polygons that are affected least against those affected
the most.

ƒƒ Weight: The Weight brush allows you to paint weight

vertices while targeting a specific weight value. Click the
Eyedropper to select a vertex. The weight of that vertex
will appear in the text field and will be used as a target.
When you paint with the Add brush, it will increase Vertices move as you paint them.
the weight values that are below the target setting until
the target threshold is met. When you paint with the 7. As you are painting, use the Parameter dial to test various
Subtract brush, it will decrease weight values that are positions of the joint to make sure that the weight painting
above the setting until the target threshold is met. produces desirable results. Continue to adjust the weights
until you are satisfied with the results as the joint is
The Smooth mode is extremely helpful. You can exercised through its limits.
work at higher magnitudes, and it is beneficial to
begin your weight painting with a smoothing brush to 8. If you want to limit your weight painting to one group, check
smooth out the mesh. the Group option below the Radius and Magnitude sliders.
Then select the group that you want to paint from the drop-
down menu.

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You can confine weight painting to a selected group.

9. Click the Paintbrush icon to turn weight painting off. You

will return to the normal Joint Editor palette. Bulge map weight painting controls.

As you work with a joint, you may need to switch between the
Painting Bulge Maps weight map on the joint, and the weight map on its bulges.
You’ll notice that there are also paint palette icons near the right
• If your weight painting gets to a point where the joint weight
and left bulges. For certain body parts, you’ll have to paint both
map starts to look unnatural, try adding or removing from
to get the correct feel for how bulges affect the joints.
the bulge weight map. Then, if the bulge weight map starts
to look unnatural, return to the joint weight map. Switch
back and forth between them until the joint looks natural
when it is rotated.

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• When working on bulge weights, the brush affects the to check the scale zones on each scaling axis (X, Y, and Z as they
weight map a little bit differently. A setting of .01 on a bulge apply) for each adjacent body part.
map has a similar effect to a setting of .001 on a weight
For example, let’s say you have an adult male figure (here James,
map. Use a setting of .01 on a bulge map for a nice, smooth
a G2 legacy figure, is being used as an example). You want to
workflow.
change him into a dwarf character. which means that you’ll want
to substantially change the proportions of his thighs and shins.
• Bulge settings must be set to a value other than 0 in order to
use a bulge map. For any bulges that you want to use (Right Users of legacy figures know that body parts can only be scaled
Neg, Right Pos, Left Pos, or Left Neg), set to a value less “so far” before they begin to crumble where they join adjacent
than or greater than 0. The Right Neg and Right Pos share body parts. For an example, compare this figure’s “normal”
the same map, and the Left Neg and Left Pos share the same thigh (his left thigh) to the right thigh, which is scaled to 65%.
map. You’ll notice that the thigh is bunching in the locations where it
joins the hip and the shin.
• Be sure to rotate the dial to its positive and negative
positions, and check the bulge weights in both. For example, To improve scalability, Poser Pro 2012 SR3 has introduced a
if you use a bulge on the right collar when the Up/Down dial Scale Zones button in the joint editor. This button allows you to
is at a positive setting, make sure that the joint still looks set scaling zones that improves performance when characters
realistic when the dial is at a negative value. and conforming clothing are scaled. You can then add weight
maps to the blending areas to smooth the transitions when a
body part is scaled.
Smoothing Scale Zones
Scale zones should be part of your character or conforming
clothing development. The Scale Zones button, located in the
lower portion of the Joint Editor Window, helps content creators
improve the appearance of joint transitions when a body part
is scaled along one or more axes. For proper operation when
scaling weight mapped figures along a single axis, it is necessary

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name an adjacent body part plus an underscore. These are the

joint parameters that relate to the Scale Zones feature.

Joint seams can bunch together when a body part is scaled along a
single axis.

Joint seams can bunch together when a body part is scaled along a The Scale Zones button at the bottom of the joint editor allows
single axis. you to add or remove scaling zones to the currently selected body
part. At a minimum, adjacent body parts should be selected. But
Using the same legacy figure as an example, the right thigh has if it is possible that the scaling can “spill over” into other body
been scaled along the Y axis. When you open the Joint Editor, parts, you can add them as scaling zones as well.
you’ll see the normal center and rotation parameters (Twist,
To assign the scaling zones, click the Scale Zones button. The
Side-Side, and Bend). But you’ll also notice scaling zones for the
Select Objects dialog prompts you to choose body parts that will
adjacent body parts ... one named rShin_ScaleY and another
scale blend with the currently selected actor (the right thigh, in
named hip_scaleY. The names of these scaling zones might vary
this case). Check any parts that you want to assign, making sure
from figure to figure, but they will always be preceded by the
that the adjacent actors (the hip and shin) are included.

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After you scale the part, open the menu in the Joint Editor to
select the first scaling zone that you want to work on. In the
following figure, the rShin_scaleY joint parameter is selected.

Click the Scale Zones button to select body parts to blend when the
current part is scaled.
Click the Scale Zones button to select body parts to blend when the
current part is scaled.
To smooth a scaling zone, scale the body part (the right thigh in
this example) to the desired scale. Try to anticipate the maximun
When you select the scale zone, you may see No Zones in the
range that you would like the scaling to work. For example, it’s
Falloff Zones area (which will be the case when you are weight
unlikely that you will want to scale a thigh to any less than 65%
mapping a new or legacy figure that has not previously been
as shown in our example.
weight mapped). If a weight map does not exist, you’ll need to
create one for the scale zone. Simply use the menu in the Falloff

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Zones area of the Editor to choose Add Weight Map. Then make
sure that the mode of the new weight map is set to Replace.

Scale zone maps have to be created for each body

part that is connected to the currently selected
actor. For example, if you have the right thigh of a figure
selected, you’ll need to create scale zone maps for the hip
and the shin. Of you have a chest selected, you’ll need to
create scale zone maps for the right and left collar, and
for waist or abdomen (depending on the group name
that is adjacent to the chest).

When you copy weight maps from a character to

conforming clothing, the scale zones should
already be set up for you, but you will need to check the
scale zones of each body part in the clothing to make
sure they work as expected. Before you edit the scale Add a weight map to the scale zone if needed.
zone weight maps on conforming clothing, select the
BODY actor of the conforming clothing, and make sure
that Include Scales when Conforming is checked in the
Properties palette. Sometimes the easiest way to start a
scale zone weight map is to collapse existing zones
(spherical and capsule zones, if they exist) into a weight
map and then start to smooth them with the weight
painting tools.

Make sure the weight map is set to Replace.

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With the appropriate scale zone weight map selected, you can As you smooth out the current body part, you might notice that
begin to use the Weight Painting tools to smooth out the scale there are areas near the adjacent body part that you can’t get
zone. The process is similar to that mentioned in “Painting as smooth as you like. This is probably because it falls in an
Weights” on page 684. area that is affected by both body parts. For example, as you
work toward the top of the thigh, you might see that you can’t
smooth it out all the way. In that case, you’ll want to check
the smoothing zones in the hip, and make sure that you have
the correct smoothing zone selected (rThigh_ScaleY). Add a
Replace weight map to it if necessary, and then use the weight
painting tools to smooth out that area.

You will need to cross over to the adjacent body

part and work on its corresponding scale zone.
Select that part and verify that it has a corresponding
weight map before you paint it. When you paint close to
the seam lines, be careful not to overblend because it
might create a ridge at the seam. Go back and forth
between the two areas until you get an acceptable blend.

Use the weight painting tools to improve the appearance of the

smooth zone (here, in progress)

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an underscore and a scale zone name (example: rThigh_

ScaleY, or rThigh_smooY)

• If there are existing sphere or capsule zones associated

with the scale zone, collapse them into a weight map set to
Replace. If no zone exists, create a new weight map set to
Replace.

• Go back and forth between the currently selected body parts

and the adjacent body parts when you smooth out the scale
zone weight maps. Take care not to oversmooth, as it can
create a crease at the joint.

Weight Painting Tips

• There may be times when you need to pull one vertice at a

Adjacent body parts may also affect a scale zone. Here, the scale time. For this, set the radius of the brush very very small.
zone for the hip also affects the right thigh and should be smoothed.
• There are times that the area between an inclusion and an
exclusion angle is very narrow when a joint is rotated to
To summarize:
its maximum limit. It is very difficult to get into that area
• Scale zones should be checked for each body part in the with the weight painting tool to smooth it out. The trick is
figure that you are rigging. to widen the distance between the inclusion and exclusion
angle so that the body part “plateaus.” Then you can use the
• To determine the scale zones that you need to adjust, click Weight Painting tool to shape the body part appropriately.
to select a body part, and then look for joints that begin with
the name of the currently selected body part, followed by

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are working on, and then click the Frame Selected control to
frame the camera around the selected body part. Then turn
Orbit Selected so that the camera will orbit around that part.

Transferring Zones and Weight Maps

to Clothing
In previous versions of Poser, content developers used
information from the CR2 of an existing figure as a start point
for their clothing. If an existing character has only spherical or
falloff zones this method can still be used.
However, when weight maps are used to determine how a joint
bends (either solely, or in addition to falloff zones), the weight
map information is baked into the figure’s geometry. Weight
maps are based off of vertices and index arrays that usually will
Adjust inclusion angles when weight painting a joint in its not have a geometry counterpart in the clothing.
maximum limits.
The Setup Room allows you to apply the rigging of a character to
a grouped or ungrouped clothing OBJ. In the process, it will also
• Another thing that will help as you use the weight painting transfer any spherical or capsule falloff zones. It will also analyze
tools is to select your camera, and then go into the the vertices and index arrays in the character, and use that
Parameters palette. Set the Hither setting to 0. This will information to generate similar weight maps for the clothing
allow you to zoom in as close as you have to without making geometry.
the object “disappear” in the camera view.
The steps to do this are fairly simple:
• The Frame Selected and Orbit Selected controls will also be
helpful when weight painting. Click to select the joint you
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1. Choose File > Import > Wavefront OBJ. Select the clothing
object that you want to rig. This object can be pre-grouped
in your modeling application, or it can be ungrouped.

2. The Import Options dialog appears. In most cases, clothing

is modeled around a character that is in its default position,
and exported at or converted to the proper scale for Poser. If
this is the case, you should uncheck all of the import options
as shown below. Then press OK to continue.

Uncheck all options in the Import Options dialog if your model is

scaled and positioned properly.

3. A dialog prompts you to locate the OBJ file that you want to
import. After you select the object, click Open. The OBJ file
will appear in your scene.

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for which your clothing was designed. In the case of the

example shown here, the Figures > Poser Pro 2012
Content > People > Alyson folder is selected, since the suit
is made for Alyson.

6. Drag and drop the thumbnail for the original figure from the
Library to the OBJ file in the Setup Room. A dialog asks you
if you want to automatically group the setup geometry based
on the groups of the new skeleton.

ƒƒ Choose No if your clothing geometry has already been

grouped.

ƒƒ Choose Yes if your clothing geometry does not already

have groups, or if you want to regroup the object. Poser
will create the groups for you automatically.
7. The skeleton is applied to the OBJ in the Setup room. You
can then open the Group Editor to examine the groups in
the OBJ and edit as necessary.

While examining the groups in the Setup Room,

An imported clothing OBJ.
you may notice one or more groups that have all
polygons assigned to them. For example, when you
4. With the object selected as the current item, click the Setup
apply the Alyson skeleton to a clothing object, two
room tab to enter the Setup room.
groups (one named Figure, and the other named 1) have
5. Open the Poser library, and click the Figures category. all polygons assigned to them. Select each of these
Locate the library folder that contains the original figure groups in the Group Editor, and then click the Delete
Group button to delete them.
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Review each group that has been created and edit polygons
Delete groups that have all polygons assigned to them.
assigned to them if necessary.

8. After you inspect all of the groups and have edited them
to your satisfaction, you can return to the Pose Room. You
should now have a poseable figure.

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After applying the skeleton and joints to your • Choose Figure > Skinning Method > Poser if you want to
figure, you should test the rotations of the joints display or create a figure that uses Poser’s traditional model
in your clothing to make sure that falloff zones are of breaking the mesh into individual body parts.
adjusted for proper bending of the clothing. If you see
polygons that do not bend properly, or which fly away • Choose Figure > Skinning Method > Simple Bones
from the figure when your character is posed, it is likely Single Skin - Interoperable ... if you want to work on or
that you will need to adjust joint parameters such as create a figure that has a single skin mesh (a unimesh, as
falloff zones or inclusion/exclusion angles. The more the opposed to Poser’s traditional model). Figure setup is very
shape of the clothing deviates from the default body simple in this mode. You can specify joint origins and one
shape (for example, like puffy sleeves, or baggy/loose/ vertex weight map. After you convert the model to Simple
flowing clothing), the more necessary it will be to adjust Bones Single Skin, test each joint and use the Simple Bone
spherical or capsule falloff zones. Weights painting mode to correct any problem areas.

Traditionally-rigged Poser figures use a mesh

9. Before conforming the clothing to your figure, or before
that is broken into body parts, and has spherical
saving the clothing to your library, choose Figure > Zero
or capsule-shaped zones of influence and weight maps.
Figure to zero all joint rotations. Also use the Edit >
To export these types of figures to COLLADA, you should
Memorize > Figure command to memorize the conforming
switch to Simple Bones Single Skin first. That way, you
clothing. You may also want to assign a new name for the
can preview how the figure bends in other applications.
object in the Properties palette.
If you are not satisfied, you can touch up the weights at
that point.

Skinning Methods
The Figure > Skinning Method commands are primarily used
when you want to export a poseable figure to a third party
application, such as Autodesk 3DS Max or Maya. This command
offers the following three subcommands:

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Alyson converted to Simple Bones Single Skin.

• Choose Figure > Skinning Method > Regenerate Simple

Bone Weights if you want to start over with a new simple
bones single skin mesh.

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Chapter 32: Using Poser If your imported movie’s size or aspect ratio (width/height) is
different than your current Document window settings, you will

with Other Applications be informed that the background width and height are different,
and will be asked if you want to change the window to match the
background.
Poser allows you to import and export various types of content Selecting Yes resizes your Document window to fit the imported
such as background images, movies, and 3D objects. This movie. It is recommended that you only use this option while the
allows you to use third-party applications to create textures, Document window is docked.
background scenes, and clothing that you can use to enhance
your scenes. • Selecting No “stretches” the Document window to
accommodate the movie. You may see areas of the
Document window not covered by the imported movie.
Importing Files
• Changing the aspect ratio of imported movies can introduce
Selecting File > Import allows you to bring both Poser and non- unwanted artifacts and distortions into your scene when
Poser files into your scenes. These could be images, movies, or rendered. Smith Micro Software therefore recommend
props (which you can convert into Poser figures as described in resizing your Document window or importing correctly
“Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on page 518. sized animations.

Importing Movies
To import movies, select File > Import > AVI Footage
(Windows) or File > Import > QuickTime (Macintosh). You can
use imported movies to add background action to your Poser
animations. For example, you could have a scene with two Poser
characters sitting on a train with an imported movie showing the
scenery rolling past as if the train was in motion.

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together. Please see “Chapter 12: Lighting” on page 256 for

information about lights in Poser.

Importing Background Pictures

You can also import static images as backgrounds. For example,
if you are creating a scene with Poser characters in a room with
a window, you could use a background image to simulate the
view from the window. Selecting File > Import > ackground
Picture opens a standard Open dialog, allowing you to select
your image’s format and location. As with movie imports, you
are asked if you wish to resize your Document window to match
the imported image, and the results are the same as described
above. Changing the aspect ratio of imported images can
introduce unwanted artifacts into your scene when rendered and
Aspect ratio of imported movies can be retained or adjusted to fit can result in blank areas on the sides of the Document window
the size of the window. (see above). We therefore recommend resizing your Document
window or importing correctly sized images. Poser supports
importing background images in a wide variety of formats. The
Imported movies will begin at the first frame of your Poser
following is only a partial list of those formats supported: SGI,
animation. If your animation is longer than the movie, the movie
BMP, DDS, EXR, GIF, HDR, JPG, PCD, PNG, PSD, TGA, TIFF
will remain in the background paused at its last frame. If your
and WBMP.
animation is shorter than the movie, you will see Frames 1-X of
the imported movie, where x is the number of frames in your When importing images, we recommend that you import them
Poser animation. while the document window is in its docked state. You should try
to light your scene in a manner consistent with the background
When importing movies, you should try to light your scene in
so as to blend them together. Please see “Chapter 12: Lighting”
a manner consistent with the background so as to blend them
on page 256 for information about lights in Poser.
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Importing Poser Documents or Props • DXF (File > Import > DXF)

Selecting File > Import > Poser Document/Prop loads either • Wavefront OBJ (File > Import > Wavefront OBJ)
an entire Poser scene or a Poser prop into your scene. This can
• Lightwave 5/6 LWO files (File > Import > Lightwave...)
be useful for inserting props that are not part of your Library
palette’s Props category. Imported scenes/props become part • COLLADA
of your current scene complete with animations, morphs, poses,
etc. This option opens a standard dialog box allowing you to Most 3D modeling applications support exporting to at least
browse for the desired file. Use the Files of type pull-down one of the above formats. Some formats, such as Wavefront
menu to select one of the following types of Poser files: OBJ, allow you to save geometries as either polygons or NURBS
surfaces. Poser will only accept geometries saved as polygons.
• Poser document files (*.PZ3 and *.PZZ): This option
Poser will import smoothing groups in Wavefront OBJ format,
imports Poser 3.0 and later scenes, both uncompressed and
as defined in the source file. (If no smoothing groups are
compressed.
specified in the source file, none will be imported.) Please refer
to “Smoothing Geometry” on page 408 for more information
• Poser Prop Files (*.PP2 and *.PPZ): This option imports
about smoothing groups. Note that while Poser does not support
uncompressed or compressed Poser prop files.
the 3DS Max style of defining smoothing groups, Poser does take
See “Miscellaneous Preferences” on page 39 into account the vertex normals when determining creases. As a
for more information about compressed file result, OBJ files exported from 3DS Max will usually appear as
support within Poser. expected, despite the fact that the 3DS Max smoothing groups
are not read.

Importing 3D Objects Tips & Tricks

Poser allows you to import geometries in the following formats: When using your favorite 3D modeling application for creating
new geometries for conversion into Poser figures/props, it is
• 3D Studio Max (File > Import > 3D Studio)

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a good idea to follow these guidelines in order to speed up the • Eliminate overlapping polygons, which can occur if
figure creation process and provide a better end result: pieces of the geometry are embedded within each other.
The following graphic shows an example of overlapping
• Make sure that you do not have duplicate or overlapping polygons on the left (the smaller pipe embedded within the
polygons. Duplicate polygons occur when you have two larger one), and the correct way to create the geometry on
identical parts of the geometry occupying the same location, the right (without overlapping polygons).
for example if you accidentally paste an item twice. The
following graphic depicts an instance of duplicated polygons
within a 3D modeling application.

Remove overlapping polygons.

Two spheres that overlap each other. • Poser allows you to import geometries as a single file
with groups within the file, as separate files, or as a single
file with no groups. We recommend that you create your

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geometries as single files with no groups, since Poser ƒƒ Percent of standard figure size: The Percent of
includes powerful grouping tools and since some geometry standard figure size option scales the geometry
formats (such as Wavefront OBJ) allow you to assign relative to the height of a standard Poser figure. For
polygons to more than one group at a time. Importing example, setting the scale to 50% imports the geometry
geometries with polygons assigned to more than one group at 50% of the height of a standard Poser figure. The
will cause Poser to duplicate those polygons, resulting in rest of the geometry scales to maintain the correct
additional unwanted figure parts. proportions relative to the selected height. When
importing DXF geometries, Poser considers one DXF
Use the following procedure to import geometries into Poser:
unit as being equal to the height of a standard Poser
1. Begin the process by creating a polygonal mesh object in figure, or about six feet.
your favorite 3D modeling application. Once you have
finished, import it into Poser by selecting File > Import ƒƒ Offset: Entering numeric values in one or more of the
> format, where format is the format you wish to import Offset fields positions the geometry at the selected
(such as OBJ). A Standard Open dialog appears, allowing position within the Poser workspace.
you to select your desired filename and path. ƒƒ Weld identical vertices: When enabled, the Weld
identical vertices option unites identical vertices
2. Once you have selected the desired geometry, the Prop
within the geometry.
Import Options dialog appears. It contains the following
options: ƒƒ Make polygon normals consistent: If the geometry
file contains vertex normals, checking the Make
ƒƒ Centered: Checking the Centered checkbox positions polygon normals consistent checkbox makes the
the imported geometry in the center of the Poser polygon normals consistent with the vertex normals.
workspace.
ƒƒ Flip normals: The Flip Normals option reverses all of
ƒƒ Place on floor: When enabled, the Place on Floor the geometry’s normals.
option places the bottom of the prop at “ground level”
ƒƒ Flip U Texture Coordinates: The Flip U Texture
on the floor of the workspace.
Coordinates option reverses the geometry’s U texture
coordinates.
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ƒƒ Flip V Texture Coordinates: The Flip V Texture

Coordinates option reverses the geometry’s V texture
coordinates.

Once you have finished selecting your desired options,

click the OK button.
3. The geometry file imports into Poser. The amount of time
required to import a geometry file depends on factors such
as the size of the file, number of polygons or groups, speed
of your computer, etc. A progress indicator tracks the
import process. When the process is complete, the imported
geometry appears in your Poser Document window.

An object after it is imported into your scene.

Imported geometries are treated as static props. You can add

props to the Library palette as described in “Maintaining
Your Library Palette” on page 158 and/or can convert props
into poseable Poser figures using either the graphical Setup
room (see “Chapter 26: The Cloth Room” on page 518 for
instructions on using the Setup room) or the legacy text-based
method (refer to “Global vs. Local Coordinates” on page 783).

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Exporting Files exported image will be the rendered image that is currently
selected in the Main Render menu at the bottom left of the
In addition to supporting a wide range of import formats, Poser Document window.
supports many formats for export, allowing you to use your
Poser output with your favorite 2D and 3D applications.
Exporting BVH Motion Files

Exporting Images To export a BVH motion capture file:

1. Select the figure you wish to export.
To export an image, select File > Export > Image. A standard
Save As dialog appears, allowing you to specify your desired 2. Select File > Export > BVH Motion.
filename and save location. In addition, you may be able to
select various image-specific attributes (such as quality for JPG 3. Select Scale Automatically. If the exported file looks
exports). incorrect, re-export it and disable automatic scaling.

If you want Poser to write an alpha channel to 4. A standard Save dialog appears, allowing you to specify
preserve transparency in your exported image, your desired filename and save location.
you should export to either the PNG, TIFF, or PSD
formats. An alpha channel causes the foreground to be
transparent wherever it is empty, in order to allow the Exporting Painter Scripts
background to show through. This feature is essential
Clicking the Export Painter Script button in the Sketch
for compositing in image editing applications.
Designer exports the current Sketch Designer settings to
Corel Painter (see “Chapter 20: The Sketch Designer” on page
Exporting an image saves a snapshot of your current scene as
426). This has been tested to work with Painter 6 and previous
seen in the active tab of your Document window. Therefore,
versions, and is not supported for later versions though it may
if you are in the Preview tab of the Document window, your
work with them.
exported image will be a snapshot of the scene exactly as it
appears in the Preview tab. If you are in the Render tab, your
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Exporting 3D Objects Exporting Flash (SWF) Files

Poser allows you to export 3D objects in RIB, 3DS, DXF, OBJ, Flash is a popular 2D format most commonly used for animating
VRML, LWO, OBJ, and COLLADA formats by selecting File > Web content. You can export your Poser file to the Flash format
Export > format, where format is one of the supported export (.swf file) from the Make Movie dialog, and then use the Flash
formats. To export to a 3D format: application to modify the file. Flash presentations are normally
viewed directly within Web browsers using the Adobe Flash
1. Select File > Export > format.
plug-in.
2. In the dialog that appears, check the appropriate radio Please refer to “Keyframe Controls” on page 438 for
button to export either a still (at the current frame of your more information about the Make Movie dialog, and to for
animation) or an animation. If you select to export an information about setting Flash export options.
animation, enter the frame starting and ending numbers in
the appropriate text boxes and click OK.
High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) Export
3. Select the actor(s) you want to export in the following dialog
and click OK. With Poser Pro you can render and export files that are
optimized for HDRI output. Files can be exported as Radiance
4. A standard Save As dialog appears, allowing you to select files or OpenEXR files. HDRI optimized files accurately
your desired filename and path. represent the wide range of exposure found in real scenes,
including the details, shadows, and high-contrast lighting.
If you are trying to create a full-body morph To optimize images for HDRI export, from the Main Menu select
target, do not select File > Export > Wavefront Render > Render Settings and enable the HDRI Optimized
OBJ. Instead, select Figure > Create Full Body Morph. Output check box. To Export an HDRI file, from the Main Menu
select File > Export. To make a movie optimized for HDRI
output, from the Main Menu, select Render > Render Settings
> Movie Settings, select Image Files from the Format pull-
down menu.

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When you save the file(s), you will be given the option to save as Poser content to applications such as Softimage XSI or NVIDIA
Radiance (.HDR) or OpenEXR (.EXR). FX Composer without having to rely on hosting plug-ins.
While more precise, files optimized for HDRI output can lead
Importing COLLADA Files
to perceived loss of anti-aliasing and banding in very subtle
gradients. Optimizing for HDRI output omits dithering that Importing COLLADA files allows you to import geometry with
would otherwise be applied to eliminate banding. standard surface materials, cameras and lights. COLLADA
Optimizing images for HDRI output provides maximum import in Poser Pro does not currently support Cg shaders,
flexibility in post-production, performing color correction or morph targets, bones or animation.
adjusting exposure without having to re-render the image. To import a COLLADA file, from the Main Menu select File
> Import > COLLADA\RWY. Enable the appropriate import
options and click OK.

Same HDR image at varying exposures in Adobe Photoshop CS.

COLLADA Import Options dialog.

COLLADA Import/Export
Poser Pro offers data exchange with the industry-standard • Import Lights: With this option enabled, Poser Pro will add
COLLADA format. Gain maximum flexibility by transporting lights stored in the COLLADA file to the current scene. For

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more information about lights, see “Chapter 12: Lighting” 2. If you want to export only the current frame, choose Single
on page 256. Frame. To export multiple frames in an animation, choose
Multi frame export, and then enter the range of frames to be
• Import Cameras: With this option enabled, Poser Pro will exported.
add cameras stored in the COLLADA file to the current
scene. For more information about cameras, see “Chapter
11: Cameras” on page 237.

Exporting COLLADA Files

COLLADA offers increased flexibility by allowing to export a

more comprehensive representation of your Poser scene. For
example, as a game designer, you might want to import your
scene exported from Poser Pro as COLLADA file into 3DS Max
or Softimage. You can work on your scene in those applications,
Export Range dialog.
and then transfer it to your game engine with COLLADA. Your
scene remains editable at any position in the pipeline. COLLADA
is a feature-rich format that can store various aspects of your 3. Click OK to continue. The Select Objects dialog appears,
scene, thereby preserving a maximum of information upon with the items in your scene selected for you. Check or
export. Provided that the application you are exporting for uncheck items as desired to export.
supports those features, you can choose to transfer data such as
static figures, props, baked morph targets, cameras, and lights.
To Export a COLLADA file:
1. From the Main Menu select File > Export >
COLLADA|RWY (.dae). The Export Range dialog appears.

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ƒƒ Export Standard Units vs. Custom Units: Select one

of the standard Poser units. If none of the standard
units meet your needs, then you can define your own
measurement in meters.

ƒƒ Scale: This allows the adjustment of the scale of a

scene upon export. Adjust the scale if you want to adjust
the size of the scene.

ƒƒ Triangles only: Forces triangulation of polygons upon

export.

ƒƒ Include normals: Allows you to specify whether

polygon normals are exported explicitly. Discarding the
normals will require the target application to recompute
them. Toggling this option may help resolve shading
issues.

ƒƒ Include rigging (preserves posability and

animation): Figures are exported as posable and
animatable objects.

ƒƒ Export every frame as keyframe: When checked,

Choose the objects to export from your scene.
will export an animation keyframe for every frame in
the selected range. When unchecked, exports already
existing keyframes only. This can help increase accuracy
4. Click OK to continue. The Export Options dialog appears.
in a complex setup (e.g. conforming clothing) or if the
Enable the appropriate Export Options and click OK. These
importing application has difficulties interpolating
options include:
between keyframes.

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ƒƒ Bake all Morphs: COLLADA files with a lot of morphs Poser black areas indicate transparent areas and white
can be large and resource consuming. Bake Morphs areas indicate opaque areas in the transparency map.
allows the export of morph targets so you get the An inverted transparency map would be the opposite
essence of the morphs without the file size and resource (black is opaque and white is transparent).
expense. You will not be able to animate those morph
ƒƒ Maximum Texture Size: Textures in Poser content
targets any more, which sacrifices some flexibility.
are often very large. Some applications experience
However, you’ll receive the same end result if you are
difficulties upon importing COLLADA files with
only interested in the particular shape variation that
large textures. Maximum Texture Size allows you to
was present in your scene upon export.
automatically reduce texture size upon export, thereby
ƒƒ Bake Diffuse Map: Blend diffuse texture with diffuse maximizing compatibility. Your original textures
color. If you enable this option Poser Pro will write a remain untouched.
new texture map that is shader baked into a texture
ƒƒ Power of 2: You can increase compatibility further
map.
by enabling the Power of 2 option. This option will
ƒƒ Bake Transparency Map: Enable this option automatically resize your textures to the nearest width
when your target application expects transparency and height that is a power of two. For example, a
information in the alpha channel of the diffuse texture texture that is 1100x600 pixels large would be exported
rather than as a separate transparency map. You will at a size of 1024x512. Once again the original texture
be allowed to designate a channel name, and choose remains unaffected.
whether or not you want to invert the transparency map
(turn black to white and vice versa). When exporting to 3d software that supports
COLLADA, you can export using Poser’s default
ƒƒ Bake Transparency to Channel: Choose this option skinning method, or a single mesh with weight maps.
if you want Poser Pro to create a texture map that has For more information on these options, see “Skinning
transparency information baked into it. Methods” on page 699.
ƒƒ Invert Transparency Map: Choose this option to
outout a “negative” transparency map. For example, in

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Poser Pro 2012 SR3 or later is required for GoZ

compatibility.

Setting Your Poser Path in ZBrush

When you install Poser Pro 2012 SR3, the required GoZ files are
installed in your ZBrush installation folder. You’ll find the GoZ
interface files in the following ZBrush-related folders:

• Poser Pro 2012 (Windows) will place the interface files in

C:\Users\Public\GoZApps\Poser.

• Poser Pro 2012 (Macintosh) will place the interface files in

Users:Shared:Pixologic:GoZApps:Poser
Export Options dialog. Once the files are installed you will need to start ZBrush to make
sure that you have the path set to Poser. To do this, choose the
Preferences > GoZ command, and hover over the Path to Poser
Using Poser with ZBrush and GoZ button. If your path is set, it will appear on the screen as shown
below.
Users of ZBrush 4 will find the Poser GoZ plugin to be a welcome
addition to Poser Pro 2012. You can use GoZ to export a
complete figure mesh, or a selected actor or body part into GoZ.
Then use ZBrush’s powerful tools to create your morphs and
reimport them back into Poser. The GoZ plugin makes morph
creation - including reverse deformation joint controlled morphs
-- easy, and painless.

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After searching for your path, it will appear in a dialog if one or

Make sure that your path to Poser is set in ZBrush GoZ Preferences. more versions of Poser are found on your system.

If you hover over the Path to Poser button in ZBrush and get a
• If you instead get a message that states that no version of
message that reads Poser application was not found, then
Poser was found (which may be possible if you installed
you will need to set it up manually. To do this, click on the
Poser to a non-standard path), then you will have to locate it
Path to Poser button. This will initiate a search for your Poser
manually. Click the Browse button to navigate to the folder
application.
that contains the PoserPro.exe file.
If Poser is installed to the default installation path, ZBrush
should find the application after a brief time. A screen will • Clicking the Not Installed button will remove the preference
display the path (or paths, if you have multiple versions of Poser that was previously set, and cause the GoZ link to Poser to
installed). not work properly. If ZBrush does report your path to Poser
properly, make sure that you click the line that displays the
• If one or more paths to Poser are reported in the dialog, correct path to exit the dialog properly.
click to select the path that you want to use as the default.
This will set the preference.

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Using GoZ to Create Morphs and Texture figure to Poser. When checked, the figure will be export to
ZBrush in its posed position, which is desirable for creating
Maps joint-controlled morphs. For additional information, see
The GoZ plugin for Poser allows you to create full body morphs, “Creating Joint-Controlled Morphs with GoZ” on page
partial body morphs, and joint-controlled morphs with ease. 721.
In addition, you can also add additional detail to a model with
• Material: When you choose this option, the polygon order
normal or displacement maps. The following sections describe
of the object that is exported to ZBrush will be grouped by
how to initiate the steps to send your models to and from ZBrush
Material. This will allow you to show or hide polygons in
with the GoZ plugin.
ZBrush based on their material assignments. For example,
Exporting Objects to ZBrush if you export a head, you will be able to hide the face texture
while you work on morphs or textures for the parts inside
When you use the GoZ plugin as a bridge between Poser and the head (teeth, tongue, etc).
ZBrush, you are presented with a couple of choices in how you
want the polygon grouping to work. These options are to assist • Body Part: When you choose this option, the polygon order
in making it easier to show and hide polygons in ZBrush while of the object that is exported to ZBrush will be grouped by
you are editing your object. ZBrush allows you to show or hide body part. This will allow you to show or hide polygons in
polygon groups by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+Click (Windows) or ZBrush based on body part. For example, you can hide all
COMMAND+SHIFT+Click (Mac). When you click on an area of parts except the head if you are working on face morphs,
the mesh in ZBrush, this key sequence will cycle between “Select allowing you to frame only the head in the ZBrush window.
only this polygon group”, “Select everything but this polygon
Creating Full Body Morphs with GoZ
group” and “Show all polygon groups.”
When you choose to export a character or actor to ZBrush, you The Figure > Export Figure Mesh to GoZ command allows you
are presented with the following options: to export a complete figure from Poser into ZBrush. When you
export a complete figure through GoZ and then return it back to
• Export Posed: This option is not checked by default. When Poser using the GoZ plugin for ZBrush, a full body morph dial
unchecked, Poser will zero a figure pose before it exports the will automatically be created for you when the morph is sent

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back to Poser. In addition, corresponding dials will only appear of editing in that application. For more information, see
on the body parts that were directly affected by the morph (in “Exporting Objects to ZBrush” on page 715.
other words, there will be no need to delete redundant morph
dials from unaffected body parts). 4. Click Yes to continue. Your model will open in ZBrush as a
subtool. Drag the tool onto the scene and create your morph
To create a full body morph using GoZ:
as you normally do.
1. Load the figure that you want to morph into your Poser
scene, and select it as the current figure. 5. After your morph is complete, click the GoZ button in the
Tool palette (in the upper right section of your screen by
2. Choose Figure > Export Figure Mesh to GoZ. A dialog default) to send the OBJ file back to Poser.
displays some options for the export.

GoZ options dialog. Press the GoZ button to send the morphed mesh back to Poser.

3. In the Polygon Grouping section, you have two choices 6. When you return to Poser, a dialog asks if you want to
for how you can group polygons when you export them to import the modified geometry as a full body morph. Enter a
ZBrush. The method that you choose determines how you name for the new morph and press OK to continue.
will be able to show and hide parts within ZBrush (either
by material, or by body part) and are primarily for ease

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Creating Normal and Displacement Maps with GoZ

If you want to use ZBrush to create Normal or Displacement

maps, the process is simliar to that discussed in the previous
sections. Normal and displacement map creation involves
subdividing the mesh in ZBrush before painting, and then
comparing that higher resolution mesh to the original resolution
when your maps are generated. Please reference your ZBrush
documentation for more detail in how to create normal and
Enter a name for the new full body morph in Poser. displacement maps.
As long as you are working on a content item that has everything
7. Initially, the dial will be set to zero. To test the morph, on a single texture, the import and export between Poser and
choose the BODY actor, and dial your morph to test it. You’ll GoZ should work the same as discussed under the morph
also notice that a corresponding dial will only appear in the creation sections. You select the item you want to export,
individual body actors that were affected by the morph. use GoZ to transfer the OBJ to ZBrush, make your changes
in ZBrush, and then click the GoZ button to bring it back into
Poser.
However, it is important to note that most Poser characters use
multiple texture maps with overlapping UV sets. A workaround
for multi-map characters is to choose Material polygon grouping
when you export from Poser.
Once in ZBrush, you can hide the groups that do not belong to
a particular UV set. Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT key while
Test the dial in the BODY actor to make sure it works.
you left-click a material group. Then you can generate a map
from the remaining groups. ZBrush will pretend that the hidden
groups don’t even exist when it creates your map.

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After you have the desired material groups displayed, you It will load into the same document as a subtool. Repeat this
will need to export the maps from within ZBrush, rather than process for the second (or additional) clothing items.
exporting them back into Poser with the GoZ command.

Morphing Multiple Items

There are times when you need to have a piece of clothing over a
character to make sure that the morphs you create will properly
fit a chracter. You can use the GoZ plugin to export one item at
a time.
For example, select the figure in the first GoZ session and export
it into GoZ using the Figure > Export Figure Mesh to GoZ
command, and Body Part polygon grouping. Drag the figure into
your ZBrush document. Click the Append button in the Subtool palette to append an object
Then go back to Poser and export a clothing item (like pants), into your current window.
using the same steps (Export Figure Mesh to GoZ, with Body
Part polygon grouping.) Initially it will appear in the document When you need to morph the clothing item, select the piece of
window by itself. clothing from the Subtool palette.
Go back to Poser and use the Figure > Export Figure Mesh to
GoZ to export a third item if desired, using the same steps as you
did with the previous clothing item.
Now you have three Poser OBJ files in ZBrush - the character,
and two pieces of clothing. Each appears as a separate tool. The
last item that you loaded appears in the scene.
Expand the Subtool palette in ZBrush, and press the Append
button. Click to select the figure mesh in the selection area.
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To return the morphed items back to Poser, select the item

you want to return from the Subtool palette, and press the GoZ
button. The item will update in Poser and you will be prompted
to enter a name for the new morph.
Return back to ZBrush and select the next item from the Subtool
palette. Again, press the GoZ button to import that item back
into Poser and assign the morph name.

Creating Individual Actor Morphs with GoZ

Sometimes you only need to morph an individual body part. For

example, if you want to create a morph that changes the shape of
a character’s nose, you only need to export the head. The steps
to do this are similar to those discussed previously in “Creating
Full Body Morphs with GoZ” on page 715, except that you
initiate the GoZ command from the Object menu instead of the
Figure menu.
To create a morph for a single body part, follow these steps:
1. Load the figure that you want to morph into your Poser
scene, and select it as the current figure.

2. Click to select the body part that you want to export (for
example, the Head).

3. Choose Object > Export Object to GoZ. A dialog displays

Select the clothing item that you want to morph from the Subtool some options for the export.
palette.

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7. When you return to Poser, a dialog asks if you want to

import the modified body part. Enter a name for the new
morph and press OK to continue.

GoZ options dialog.

4. In the Polygon Grouping section, you have two choices

for how you can group polygons when you export them to Enter a name for the new body part morph in Poser.
ZBrush. The method that you choose determines how you
will be able to show and hide parts within ZBrush (either 8. Initially, the dial will be set to zero. To test the morph,
by material, or by body part) and are primarily for ease choose the actor that you morphed, and dial the morph to
of editing in that application. For more information, see test it.
“Exporting Objects to ZBrush” on page 715.
When you use the Object > Export Object Mesh
5. Click Yes to continue. Your body part will open in ZBrush as
to GoZ command to create morphs, a
a tool. Drag the tool onto the scene and create your morph
corresponding Full Body Morph dial will not be created
as you normally do.
in the BODY actor.
6. After your morph is complete, click the GoZ button in the
Tool palette (in the upper right section of your screen by
default) to send the OBJ file back to Poser.

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Creating Joint-Controlled Morphs with GoZ ƒƒ If your joint controlled morph will span more than one
body part, choose Figure > Export Figure Mesh to
Joint controlled morphs, in the past, have been difficult to create GoZ
for Poser, because all morphs had to be loaded when a figure
ƒƒ If your joint controlled morph will affect only one body
was in its default T-Pose. Eventually, third party Python scripts
part, choose Object > Export Object Mesh to GoZ.
allowed you to load a “reverse deformation” morph that would
track the difference between a posed object, and a “corrected” A dialog displays some options for the export.
version of that posed object.
Basically, “reverse deformation” allows you to export a figure
in a posed position. Then you can morph out any distortion in
the body or piece of clothing, and when you reload that morph
back into Poser it only keeps track of the differences between
the posed version and the corrected version. This allows you to
create morphs that improve the appearance of a joint when it is
rotated, and is useful for use in legacy figures that do not utilize
weight mapping for improved joint bending.
GoZ options dialog.
To create a Joint Controlled Morph (JCM) use the following
steps:
4. Check the Export Posed option, so that Poser exports your
1. Load the figure that you want to morph into your Poser object in its posed state.
scene, and select it as the current figure.
5. In the Polygon Grouping section, you have two choices
2. Pose the figure in the pose that you want to correct. For for how you can group polygons when you export them to
example, if you want to fix an underarm bulge that appears ZBrush. The method that you choose determines how you
when an arm is raised, then pose the arm in the raised will be able to show and hide parts within ZBrush (either
position. by material, or by body part) and are primarily for ease

3. Do one of the following:

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of editing in that application. For more information, see

“Exporting Objects to ZBrush” on page 715.

6. Click Yes to continue. Your body part will open in ZBrush

as a subtool. Drag the tool onto the scene and create your
morph as you normally do.

7. Use the tools in ZBrush to create a morph that improves the

appearance of the rotation; or, to add muscle definition such
as a muscle bulge when an arm is bent. After your morph
is complete, click the GoZ button in the Tool palette (in the Enter a name for the new joint controlled morph in Poser.
upper right section of your screen by default) to send the
OBJ file back to Poser. 9. Initially, the dial will be set to zero. To test the morph,
choose the BODY actor, and dial your morph to test it. You’ll
8. When you return to Poser, a dialog asks if you want to also notice that a corresponding dial will only appear in the
import the modified geometry. If you used the Figure > individual body actors that were affected by the morph.
Export Figure Mesh to GoZ it will ask if you want to create
a full body morph. If you used the Object > Export Object 10. Use the Dependent Parameters editor to link the rotation
Mesh to GoZ it will ask if you want to create a morph of the arm to the dial setting on the morph. For example,
for the body part you exported. Enter a name for the new if you created a morph that creates a bulge in the shoulder
morph and press OK to continue. when the forearm is bent, use the Dependent Parameters
Editor to activate the morph when the forearm is bent to the
angle that you created the morph at, and when the forearm
is in its default position (bent to zero degrees), set your new
morph to zero. When you create your dependencies, make
sure you dial your morph in the BODY actor, and not in
each individual body part.

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Importing/Exporting a GoZ File host application and the Poser files, actually opening Poser files
and accessing their contents directly in the host application. This
If ZBrush is not available on your current machine, you can allows you to take advantage of Poser Pro’s speed and ease of use
use the File > Import > ZBrush and File > Export > ZBrush and combines Poser files with the host applications’ powerful
commands to work with Poser figures/objects on another modeling, rendering, and animation tools. Poser files hosted
machine that does have it available. This command will import within supported applications retain all of their data including
or export a ZBrush binary object format file. When you use this materials, articulation, textures, walks, etc. Figures and props
command to export a ZBrush binary object, Poser will prompt are treated as primitives and are manipulated within the host
you to select a folder and assign a file name to the object you application as you would any other object. You may, however,
save. The object will be saved with a .GoZ extension. need to open the Poser file within Poser Pro depending on the
edits you wish to perform.

PoserFusion Hosting Plug-ins

PoserFusion for 3DS Max
Poser Pro includes 3DS Max, CINEMA 4D and Maya plug-
ins, letting you open and host Poser Pro files within these When you open a Poser file within 3DS Max, the selected file
applications. Modeling articulated poseable figures is a difficult retains all of the data created within Poser Pro, including the
and time-consuming task. PoserFusion allows you to load one geometries of the figures and props, materials, and keyframe
of dozens of ready-made figures and select from a wide variety data. 3DS Max treats hosted Poser figures/props as 3DS Max
of clothing and preset poses, allowing you to get high-quality geometry primitives, meaning that you can perform any action
results in a short amount of time. to the Poser figure that you can perform on any other geometry
primitive such as translations, rotations, modifiers, mesh
edits, etc. In addition, the Create and Modify panels allow you
Hosting vs. Importing additional control over hosted Poser files.

PoserFusion plug-ins allow you to host Poser files directly

within 3DS Max, CINEMA 4D, LightWave 3D and Maya.
Importing or exporting translates data from one format to
another. PoserFusion plug-ins serve as a liaison between the
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Installing PoserFusion for 3DS Max Creating Instances

The installer automatically installs the 3DS Max plug-in, which Once you have selected the Poser file, 3DS Max creates the Poser
will be available to you as soon as you launch 3DS Max. Universe object. To work with figures and props, you must create
at least one instance of the figure(s) and/or prop(s) within your
Loading A Poser File 3DS Max scene. An easy way to understand this concept is to
think of the Poser file as a template from which to create new
To select a Poser file to open and host within 3DS Max:
figures/props. There are two ways to do this:
1. Select the Create panel.
1. Click, drag, then release the left mouse button. Large files
2. Click the Geometries button. may take a moment to appear after you click. Drag slowly
and wait for the figure/prop(s) to appear before releasing
3. Select Poser Objects in the pull-down menu. the mouse button.

4. Click the Scene *.pz3 button in the Object Type rollout. 2. Use the Keyboard Entry rollout to specify a position and
scale, and then click the Create button.
5. The Scene Creation rollout will automatically be open at
this point. Click the Load File (…) button to open a dialog The newly created Poser Universe, scene, and figure/prop
allowing you to navigate to the folder containing the desired primitives appear in the 3DS Max view panes.
file. The words ‘No File Loaded’ appear to the left of the
Load File button if you have not yet loaded a Poser file.
Click the Load File (…) button to open a dialog allowing
you to navigate to the folder containing the Poser file you
wish to load. The name of the object instance appears in the
Name and Color rollout after you have created the objects in
the scene via clicking and dragging or keyboard entry.

Once a Poser file is loaded, the Keyboard Entry, Scene

Options, and Info rollouts will appear.
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ƒƒ When you create an instance of a Poser file, 3DS Max

will create a Poser Scene object, which is the parent
object for all figures and props from the Poser file.

ƒƒ 3DS Max creates a Poser Universe dummy object when

you load the first Poser file. This object is the parent
object for all Poser Scene objects.

ƒƒ The Create and Modify panels will display different

rollouts depending on the type of Poser object selected:

Poser figure/prop: Scene File, Scene Options, Info

Poser Scene: Scene File, Scene Options, Info

Poser Universe: Info

A Poser scene imported into 3DS Max.
• You can modify any type of Poser object as if it were a 3DS
Working with Poser Files in 3DS Max Max object; for example, figures and props can be edited
just like any other type of 3DS Max geometry primitive.
The following general rules apply when hosting Poser files within
3DS Max: The Create Panel

• You can host files with multiple figures. You can also load The Create panel contains the following rollouts:
one or more Poser files. 3DS Max places loaded Poser files
• Object Type: Standard 3DS Max rollout
into its hierarchy as follows:

ƒƒ Geometry primitives are created for each figure and • Name + Color: Standard 3DS Max rollout
each prop in the Poser file.
• Scene Creation: Please refer to “Loading A Poser File” on
page 724.
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• Keyboard Entry: Please refer to “Creating Instances” on • Scene Scaling: Enter a value in the Scale field or use the
page 724. up and down arrows to specify the desired scale for all of
the objects in the current scene. The scale value is expressed
The Create panel also contains the following additional rollouts:
as the percentage of the original scale set when the file was
The Scene Options Rollout created in Poser Pro. To scale individual figures and props,
use the 3DS Max Scale. When clicking and dragging to
Scene Options gives you the following options: create a Poser object, the scale value will change to reflect
the size of the scene that you are creating as you drag.

• Display Tracking: Check the desired radio button to specify

Box Tracking (all objects in the current Poser file appear
as bounding boxes for all figures/props at all times), Fast
Tracking (all objects in the current Poser file displayed in
full while static and as bounding boxes for all figures/props
when moving), or Full Tracking (all objects in the current
Poser file are displayed in full at all times).

• Frame Offset/Frame Remapping: Please refer to the

section, Animating Poser Objects in for information on
controlling Poser animations within 3DS Max.

The Info Rollout

The Info rollout appears as follows:

3DS Max Scene Options.

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The Modify Panel

The Modify Panel contains the following rollouts:

• Modifiers: standard 3DS Max rollout

• Modifier Stack: standard 3DS Max rollout

• Scene File: Please refer to “The Scene File Rollout” on

page 727.

• Scene Options: Please refer to “The Scene Options

Rollout” on page 726.

• Info: Please refer to “The Info Rollout” on page 726.

The Scene File Rollout

PoserFusion for 3DS Max screen.
The Scene File rollout appears in the Modify panel in addition
to the Scene Options and Info rollouts:
In addition to displaying the PoserFusion plug-in version
number, the Info rollout contains three buttons. Clicking the
Smith Micro Graphics button opens your Web browser and
takes you to the Smith Micro Graphics Web page. Clicking
the User Guide… button opens the electronic (PDF) version of
this document. Clicking the About… button opens a window
displaying more information about Smith Micro Graphics and
the PoserFusion plug-in.

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• File Information: Clicking the File Info… button displays

information about the current file, including the full path,
Poser Pro application path, and other useful information.

Animating Poser Objects in 3DS Max

You can control how any animation of your Poser objects relates
to your current 3DS Max animation by using the Scene Options
rollout in either the Create or Modify panel.

Frame Ranges

An out of range condition exists when the 3DS Max animation

The Scene File rollout.
has frames occurring before the Poser animation’s start frame
and/or ends after the Poser animation’s end frame. The end
The Scene File rollout displays the Poser scene file that the frame is defined as
currently selected figure/prop or Poser Scene object is associated
with: End Frame=Start Frame+(Num Frames – 1)
For example, if Start Frame=10 and Num Frames=15, then End
• Reload File: Clicking the Reload File… button refreshes Frame=24.
the data from the Poser file that is associated with the Poser
Scene instance. This function reloads the associated Poser If frame out of range radio buttons allow you to specify how to
file keyframe data. Thus, if you articulate the figure in handle out-of-range situations.
Poser, you can access your changes without losing any other
modifications you may have made on top of your objects
in 3DS Max. If the original Poser file has had figures/props
added or removed, you will need to recreate the scene via
the Scene Creation rollout on the Create Panel.

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Offsetting Frames

You can insert your Poser animation at any desired point in

the 3DS Max animation using the Frame Offset controls in the
Scene Options rollout.

Animating Poser objects in 3DS Max.

Enable the appropriate radio button to make your selection:

• Loop: Checking the Loop radio button causes the Poser

animation to repeat as many times as necessary to fill all of
the 3DS Max animation frames. This can include a partial
animation cycle. For example, if the Poser animation is 30
frames long and the 3DS Max animation is 45, the Poser
animation will loop 1.5 times to take up all 45 frames.
Offset options in 3DS Max.

• Freeze: Enabling the Freeze radio button causes the Poser

animation to not play before its starting frame and/or after You have three offset options:
its ending frame.
• Start on Frame: Enter the 3DS Max animation frame where
• Hide: Enabling the Hide radio button causes the Poser you wish your Poser animation to begin by either entering a
animation to be invisible before its starting frame and/or valid frame number in the Start on Frame field or using the
after its ending frame. up and down arrows.

• Poser Source Frames: You are not limited to simply

running your entire Poser animation within 3DS Max.

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• Start Frame: Enter the number of the frame in the Poser Remapping Frames
file where you wish to begin the Poser animation in the Start
Frame field or use the up and down arrows. You are not limited to simply specifying frame offsets. By
enabling Frame Remapping, you have full control over the
• Number of Frames: Enter the number of frames in the sense of time that the Poser scene experiences for shortening,
Poser file after the start frame that you wish to use in the extending, accelerating and decelerating the Poser animation.
Number of Frames field or use the up and down arrows. This provides extended control over an existing keyframed
For example, you have a 100-frame 3DS Max animation and animation in Poser Pro, without having to go back and adjust it
wish to open a 30-frame Poser animation. You could specify the in Poser Pro.
Poser animation will begin at frame 45 of the 3DS Max frame.
You could also specify that you wish to start the Poser animation
from the 10th frame of the Poser file and that you wish to use the
15 frames that follow. This scenario would cause the following
to occur:

3DS Max animation Poser animation

Frames 0-44 As specified in the Out of
Frame remapping in 3DS Max.
Range options.
Frame 45 Frame 10
Check the Enable box to enable Frame Remapping. Enabling
Frame 46 Frame 11 this option disables the Frame Offset and If frame out-of-range
options. Once remapping is enabled, you can select any frame
Frame 59 Frame 24
of the 3DS Max animation and map any frame of the Poser
Frames 61-100 As specified in the Out of animation to that frame. This feature is extremely powerful
Range options. since it allows you to literally reshape your Poser animation. You
can speed it up or slow it down, run it backward, or even skip
randomly through the animation.

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To remap frames, move to the desired 3DS Max frame using the
time slider or other 3DS Max tool, turn on the Animate function,
and enter a valid Poser animation frame number in the Remap
to Frame field or use the up and down arrows.
Once you have remapped frames, you can use 3DS Max’s Track
View window to obtain full control over how the map will
behave. Click the Open Track View icon to open the Track View
window. Then expand the Object node under the Poser Scene
object. Select Remap to Frame and use the standard 3DS Max
keyframing techniques to remap the Poser scene’s sense of time.

Poser Materials in 3DS Max

You can control your Poser objects’ materials as you would

any other material in 3DS Max by clicking the Open Materials
Editor icon ( ) to open the Materials Editor. Next, select the
Pick Material from Object tool and click within the desired PoserFusion for Cinema 4D.
Poser figure/prop to load its materials into the 3DS Max
Materials Editor. 2. Scene Creation: After creating a Poser object, the
properties of the object will show up in the Attribute
Manager. Click the […] button located under the Object
PoserFusion for Cinema 4D properties to load the Poser scene.

To host a Poser file in CINEMA 4D: 3. Material Creation: Once the file has loaded, click the Create
1. Go to the Plugins pull-down menu and select Poser materials button to create materials which approximate the
Object. materials from Poser.

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4. Once your Poser file is hosted in CINEMA 4D, a link is

maintained to the Poser file on disk. Make sure you keep
a copy of the Poser file in the same location on the disk in
order to re-load the CINEMA 4D files that contain hosted
Poser files.

5. In addition, you can re-load different versions of the same

Poser file if you want to update your animation and poses.

Poser Object Properties

PoserFusion includes a number of options that affect the

creation of textures and lights. Below is a detailed listing of the
options and their uses.

Poser Object Properties.

Poser File Attributes

The first attributes for Poser Objects are the Poser file options.

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• File Browse: Choose the Poser scene file you wish to import your scene without the overhead of a complete geometry
using the Browse […] button. Click the Browse button. calculation.
(Then navigate to your Poser file using the file dialog and
click Open. • Full: An object that is set to Full Tracking displays its full
geometry and materials even during playback or frame
• Reload File: Clicking the Reload File button reloads the scrubbing. This mode provides the most accurate display,
specified Poser file into CINEMA 4D and refreshes all but can also be slower.
existing instances of that file. This button allows you to
work in CINEMA 4D and Poser Pro simultaneously. You Disable Animation
can quickly and easily import any changes you make to
When Disable Anim is enabled, the Poser file will stay at a single
the Poser file. Just save your Poser file over your previous
frame. Animation from inside the Poser file will be ignored and
version, and click the Reload File button. You do not have
will not play back. During a render, the Poser file will stay static
to quit Poser Pro or CINEMA 4D.
(not moving) through the entire render.
Display Tracking

Each Poser object may be set to a display tracking mode. These

modes control how the geometry is displayed during playback of
animation, and scrubbing in the frame bar. Disabling Animation.

If Frame out of Range

When you have animation in a Poser file, there is a start and end
Display Tracking options. frame for the animation within the Poser file. Your animation
inside CINEMA 4D may be longer than the animation from
• Box: An object that is set to Box Tracking always appears Poser Pro. The Frame Out of Range options are used to
as one or more boxes in CINEMA 4D’s view pane. This is a determine what happens with the Poser file when the frame in
very quick way to get a general idea of the movement within
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CINEMA 4D is outside of the animation range from your Poser after the frame range of your Poser file, the Poser items will
file. become invisible.

Frame Offset Attributes

Using these options, you can insert your Poser animation at any
desired point in the CINEMA 4D animation. For example, if
Options if a frame is out of range.
you have a walk cycle that starts at frame 1 in Poser, you can use
these options to make the character start walking at frame 100
• Loop: The Poser animation will loop as many times as inside CINEMA 4D.
necessary to fill all of the CINEMA 4D animation frames.
This can include a partial loop. For example, if the Poser Pro
animation is 30 frames long and the CINEMA 4D animation
is 45 frames long, the Poser Pro animation will loop 1.5
times to take up all 45 frames.

• Freeze: The Poser animation will freeze before its start

frame and after its end frame. When viewing a frame after
Frame offset attributes.
the end of the Poser animation, the Poser animation will be
frozen in the same position as the last frame. When viewing
a frame before the beginning of the Poser animation, the • Start on Frame: This parameter allows you to enter the
Poser animation will be frozen in the same position as the CINEMA 4D animation frame where you wish your Poser
first frame. animation to begin. If you enter a frame number like 125,
then your Poser animation will start to play at frame 125.
• Hide: When hide is selected, the Poser items will only be Until frame 125, the Frame Out of Range options will be
visible when your CINEMA 4D frame is inside the Poser used to determine if there is movement before the start
animation range. If your CINEMA 4D frame goes before or frame.

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• Poser Start Frame: This indicates the first frame of it allows you to literally reshape your Poser animation. You
animation that you wish to use from the Poser file. can speed up your Poser animation or slow it down, run it
Animation in the Poser file before this frame will not appear backward, or even skip randomly through the animation.
in the CINEMA 4D scene.
• Remap to Frame: To remap frames, simply animate the
• Num Poser frames: This is the numbers of frames after Remap to Frame parameter. Your Poser scene will move
your Start Frame that you would like to use. If you choose to whichever frame number is specified in this parameter.
to only use 15 frames, then you will only see 15 frames from For example, to play your Poser file backwards, you would
your Poser animation inside of CINEMA 4D. animate this parameter from a higher number frame, to a
lower number frame.
Frame Remapping Attributes
Hair Attributes
You are not limited to simply specifying frame offsets. By
enabling Frame Remapping, you have full control over PoserFusion has the ability to preview and render strand-based
playback of your Poser animation within CINEMA 4D. Poser hair in CINEMA 4D.

Frame remapping attributes. Hair attributes.

• Enable: Check the Enable box to enable frame remapping. • For speed purposes, only the guide hairs are visible by
Enabling this option disables frame offsets and out-of-range default. In order to view and render a full hair simulation,
options. Once remapping is enabled, you can modify the turn on the Populate hair option.
playback of the Poser animation by animating the Remap to
Frame parameter. This feature is extremely powerful since
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• Hair root scale: This is the scale of the hair geometry at Menu, select File Menu > Import Options. Select the Import
the root of the hair (close to the scalp). This can be raised if Options that are appropriate and click Apply.
the hair looks too sparse close to the scalp. Try to make this
Below is a description of the options available.
value as small as possible for quickest rendering results.
Animation Controls
• Hair tip scale: This is the scale of the hair geometry at
the end of the hair. This can be raised if the hair looks too You can play back and view Poser animations from inside Maya
sparse at the tips. Try to make this value as small as possible when you use PoserFusion. One animation curve controls the
for quickest rendering results. frame you will see from the Poser file. This animation curve
animates the frame attribute on the mpzFile node.
PoserFusion for Maya
To host a Poser file in Maya, select File > Import. In the File
Dialog, select Poser (*.*) as the file type and choose the Poser file
you want to host inside Maya.
Make sure you keep a copy of the Poser file in the same location
on the disk in order to re-load the Maya files that contain hosted
Poser files so you can re-load different versions of the same
Poser file if you want to update your animation and poses.
Instructions on updating versions of your Poser file are located
in the section describing the Shelf Buttons .

Import Options

PoserFusion includes a number of options for hosting your Poser

file. To select the options for importing your file, from the Main

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Animation

Enabling the animation checkbox automatically sets up an

animation that matches the range you specify for the Poser file.
You can add animation later by animating the frame attribute on
the mpzFile node.

Animation checkbox.

Poser Range

This specifies the range of animation from the Poser file that
will playback in Maya. You can use the actual frame range from
your Poser file, or specify the first and last frame from the Poser
file that will play back in Maya. This can be modified later by
adjusting the animation curves.

Import options. Poser range (for animation).

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Maya Range These options set the pre-infinity and post-infinity type on the
animation curves. This can be modified later by adjusting the
This specifies Start and End frame in Maya during which pre-infinity, and post-infinity options for the animation curves in
animation will play back. The first frame specified in the Poser the graph editor.
Range will start at the first frame specified in the Maya Range.
The last frame specified in the Poser Range will occur in Maya • None: No animation will playback out of the specified Maya
at the last frame specified in the Maya Range. There are a few Range.
options for choosing the Animation Range in Maya.
• Cycle: Animation will repeat outside the Maya Range
• From Poser: Uses the animation range from the Poser file. specified. The animation will play forward from the start
again each time.
• Start: Specify the start frame in Maya, and the length of the
range will automatically be imported from Poser. • Oscillate: Animation will repeat outside the Maya Range
specified.
• Start/End: Set a start and end frame in Maya. The length of
the Poser Animation, as specified by the Poser Range will be
compressed to fit in this range. This can be modified later by
adjusting the animation curves.
Repeat options.

Texture Options

Maya Range. • Use Full Texture History: PoserFusion can maintain a full
texture history back to the original Poser file. When using
this option, any changes in color or texture maps assigned
Repeat Before/After to the Poser shaders will update the next time the file is re-
loaded in Maya. This option is disabled by default for better
The Poser animation will play back outside of the specified
compatibility with external renderers such as Mental Ray.
Maya Range, based on the type of repeat option which is set.
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• Process .bum Files: .bum is a special file format that

historically was used in Poser  for bump maps. When you
enable Process .bum files, Maya can read, and understand
.bum files. This option is enabled by default. Disable this
option for compatibility with Mental Ray, and other external
renderers. Texture options.

• Use Transparency Min/Max: Poser has a special function

Scale Conversions
that allows a drop off in transparency based on surface
angle to camera. This option emulates this behavior with The Poser world has a scale that goes from 0 to 1. In order
Maya shader nodes. This option is enabled by default for to make it easier for Maya users, we have implemented an
highest compatibility with Poser shaders. Disable this automatic scale conversion with 4 settings.
option off if you are having trouble painting on shader
transparency textures. • Real Life: This is the setting to use if you are working in
life-size scale within Maya. All geometry gets scaled up by
• Multiply Texture when Appropriate: Poser shaders 243.84
multiply the texture color by the shader color. When this
option is enabled, shaders created in Maya will have a • Centimeters As Feet: A number of Maya users start
multiply node inserted to emulate this behavior. This option with the default units (centimeters) and use them as feet
is enabled by default for the highest compatibility with Poser instead. This setting works very well with this workflow. All
shaders. This option can interfere with some Maya features geometry gets scaled up by 8.0.
like painting on textures, therefore disable the option if you
experience trouble. • Direct: No scale conversion occurs; the geometry is the
same scale as in Poser.

• Manual: This mode lets the user set the Scale X, Scale Y,
and Scale Z to any numeric value.

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File Update Buttons

Scale conversions. File Update buttons.

The PoserFusion Shelf The first 3 icons are used for reloading and updating Poser files
from within Maya without having to re-load the file Poser files
The Shelf included with PoserFusion adds a number of are set up in Maya using Construction History. This means when
commands which work with Poser. These include commands you reload a Poser file, all texture assignments and modifications
to help reload files, and switch between Bounding Box, and Full made in your Maya file remain the same. The only difference is
Geometry. that you’ll now be referencing the new poses/animation from the
updated file. Here is a description of the specific functions, and
what they do. 

File Reload Browser (selected)

Use the File Reload Browser to select a different version of a

The Poser Fusion shelf.
file from disk. The file should contain the same Poser characters
as the file you already have loaded, but can contain different
poses/animations. To use this function, select any character
from the file you want to reload, and click on the shelf button. 

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File Reload (all)

This command is the same as the File Reload (selected), and

will reload all Poser files in the scene, regardless of what is
selected. To use this function, click on the Shelf Button. 
File Reload Browser.

File Reload (selected)

Use the File Reload to reload the current Poser file from disk. File Reload (All).
The file should contain the same Poser characters as the file you
already have loaded, but can contain different poses/animations.
One example of using this would be if someone had modified the Playback Buttons
poses or animation in the original Poser file, and you wanted to
see the updated changes in Maya. To use this function, select any
character from the file you want to reload, and click on the shelf
button.

Playback buttons.

Bounding Box (selected)

File Reload (Selected).
This button makes the currently selected Poser character display
as bounding boxes.

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Bounding Box (all)

Use this button to make the currently selected Poser character

display as bounding boxes. 

Bounding Box.

Bounding Box Playback (selected)

Bounding Box.
This button makes the currently selected Poser character display
as bounding box during playback for quick interaction. 
Bounding Box Playback (all)

Make all Poser characters display as a bounding boxes during

playback.

Bounding Box (Playback).

Full Geometry (selected)

Bounding Box Playback.
Use this button to make the full geometry display for all Poser
characters.
Full Geometry (all)

Use this button to make the full geometry display for all Poser
characters.

Full Geometry.

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PoserFusion for LightWave

Double-click the InstallPoserFusionForLightWave.exe or
InstallPoserFusionForLightWavex64.exe icon to run the
respective 32-bit or 64-bit plug-in installer.
Full Geometry.
This section expands upon the LightWave installation
instructions contained within the Poser Pro Introduction Guide
Camera Export Buttons by including instructions for LightWave 9.x. The following
instructions should be followed after running the installation
This button will export a camera pose from Maya to Poser. This
application on your Poser Pro CD.
feature makes it easy to line up a pose between Poser and Maya.
To use this feature, first select a character you want to use as Adding PoserFusion to LightWave 9.x
a scale reference, and then select the camera node you wish to
export. The Export Camera window will then appear. Enter a Launch LightWave and click the Utilities tab. Then choose
name for the new camera pose. This name must end in .cm2. Plugins > Add Plugins as shown below.
The exported camera pose will show up with the camera sets in
Poser.

Exporting a camera pose.

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Confirmation window for adding the plug-ins.

Exit and re-launch LightWave. PoserFusion for LightWave is

now ready for use.

Using PoserFusion for LightWave

When you open a Poser file within LightWave, the selected

file retains all of the data created within Poser including the
geometries of the figures and props, materials, and keyframe
data. LightWave treats hosted Poser figures/props as LightWave
object primitives. This means that you can perform any action
to the Poser figure that you can perform on any other LightWave
object primitive such as scale, translate, or rotate. For example,
if you host a Poser file containing a figure that was created with
Adding Poser Fusion to LightWave. a walk-in-place animation, you can key a simple path that the
entire figure follows; however, you can only perform direct
In the dialog box that appears, navigate to the PzrForLW articulation operations on the figure in Poser. If you wish to
folder within your LightWave plug-in folder, select the file modify the Poser animation, you need to modify the Poser file
PzrForLW9X.p and click OK. The following confirmation within Poser, save your changes, and re-load the figure into
window should appear. LightWave.

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Note: The Bounding Box Threshold and Dynamic Update 1. In the Load Scene dialog box, select All Files in the Files
settings can affect what you see during playback. If you see a of Type pull-down menu. Then locate and open your
bounding box with no articulating figure details when playing desired Poser (*.pz3 or *.pzz) file.
a keyframed animation, please check and adjust your Display
Option settings as follows: The first time you use PoserFusion for
LightWave you will be prompted to enter your
• Select the desired figure/prop, then select Extras > Statistics
name and PoserFusion for LightWave serial number.
and note the number of polygons comprising the selected
Click OK to continue with the import after you provide
item.
the information. You will be prompted to enter the path
to the Poser application before you proceed with the
• Be sure to press [ENTER] before closing the Display
import. The Poser Pro EXE (Windows) or APP (Mac) file
Options dialog box to save your changes.
is located in the Poser installation directory.
You should now see the figure/prop within the bounding box
when scrubbing the frame handle or doing a keyframe playback. 2. PoserFusion prompts you to choose some options for your
geometry:
Loading Poser Figures
ƒƒ Convert to triangular mesh: Choose this option if you
There are two ways to load Poser files into LightWave depending
want to convert all polygons to triangles.
on whether you are opening the given Poser file for the first or
subsequent times. ƒƒ Leave mesh as general polygons: This is the default
selection, which is recommended for most cases.
Loading a Poser File – First Time
3. Your figure(s) and/or prop(s) from the Poser file appear in
To load a Poser file into LightWave for the first time: the LightWave window.
1. In LightWave 9.x layout, choose File > Load > Load Scene.

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file structure in the same folder that contained the original Poser
scene.

The Poser scene imported into LightWave. Subsequent imports are numbered in sequential order.

You can now use LightWave’s tools to view any animations When loading the same file for the second or subsequent time,
contained within the hosted Poser scene, and you can modify the you do not need to select All Files and load the Poser file.
figure(s) as described in “Working with Poser Figures and Props Instead, simply open the appropriate LightWave *.lws file.
in LightWave” on page 747. The <PoserFilename > .LWS file is the LightWave scene file,
where <PoserFilename > is the name of the Poser file. This
Loading a Poser File – Subsequent Times
scene file contains a reference to the original Poser file, meaning
When you open a Poser scene for the first time with PoserFusion that you can perform many changes to the Poser file such as
for LightWave, PoserFusion automatically creates the following articulation, animation, etc. and the LWS file will load the
current version of the Poser scene file. The exceptions to this are

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where you have changed a figure or prop’s geometry or added/ named <PoserScene > (1) through <PoserScene > (n), with n
deleted a figure/prop from the Poser file. IN this case, you being the number of instances of the same file.
should reload the original Poser file.
The PoserScene null object is the parent of all of the child objects
In addition to the *.lws file, LightWave creates a sub-folder with <Figure > 1 through <Figure > n and/or <Prop > 1 through
the name <PoserFilename > .LWO. This folder contains one <Prop > n, where <Figure > and <Prop > are the names of the
*.lwo (LightWave geometry) file for each figure and prop within figures and props within the Poser file and n is the particular
the Poser file. The file names will reflect the names of each instance of each figure/prop (see below).
figure and prop within the Poser file.

You may not be able to load a Poser file that has

the same name as an *.lws file previously created
by PoserFusion for LightWave while that *.lws file is
loaded in LightWave.  This is because PoserFusion
cannot overwrite the *.lws and *.lwo files while they are
open in LightWave.  This is normal behavior.

Working with Poser Figures and Props in LightWave

This section covers important topics to keep in mind when Object properties.
working with Poser files in LightWave.
The PoserScene null object is the default selected
Hierarchies
item. To make changes to a specific child (figure
For each loaded Poser file, LightWave creates a <PoserScene or prop), you must select the desired figure/prop.
> null object, which will be named according to the name of
the loaded Poser file. If you load multiple instances of the same
Poser file (see following section), the null objects created will be

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You can only access the Poser panel within

LightWave if you have an individual figure or
prop selected.

Creating Multiple Instances

You can create multiple instances of Poser figures or props either

by cloning the desired figure or prop using standard LightWave
functionality or by reloading the appropriate Poser file. Cloning
is generally preferable since it uses less RAM and hard drive
space. Creating a new instance of a PoserScene null object will
create a new PoserScene null object with the name <PoserScene
> (n+1), where n+1 is the number of the new instance. Creating
Creating a new object.
a new instance of a figure or prop will create a new object with
the name <Figure/Prop > (n+1).
Cloning a null object with no child objects
selected creates a new instance of the null object
but does not recursively clone child objects. To clone a
parent object and its child objects, you must select the
child objects before cloning the null object. Please refer
to your LightWave documentation for more information
on hierarchies and cloning.

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Accessing Poser Functionality Within LightWave 3. Select the Deform tab.

You must have a Poser figure or prop selected in order to 4. Double-click PzrForLW - PoserDisplacement in the
access the Poser interface within LightWave. To access Poser displacement plug-in list to open the Poser Scene window.
functionality in LightWave:
1. Select the Poser figure/prop.

2. Click the Item Properties button on the bottom of the

Layout window or press [p] (lowercase) to open the Object
Properties window.

The Poser Scene window.

The Poser Scene Panel

The Poser Scene panel is where you access Poser functionality

within LightWave. This window contains three tabs, which are
discussed in the following sections. To close the Poser Scene
window, click the Continue button at the bottom of each tab.
Object properties.

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The Scene File Panel • File Information: Clicking the File Info… button displays
information about the current file, including the full path,
The Scene File panel displays the Poser scene file that the Poser application path, and other useful information.
currently selected figure/prop or Poser Scene null object is
associated with. The Scene Options Panel

The Scene Options panel is where you control your hosted Poser
scene.

Scene File options.

The following functions are available:

• Reload File: Clicking the Reload File… button refreshes the

Poser file associated with the currently selected PoserScene
object. This function reloads the associated Poser file
keyframe data from the Poser file. Thus, if you articulate the
figure in Poser, you can access your changes without losing
any other modifications you may have made on top of your
objects in LightWave.

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the current scene. The scale value is expressed as the

percentage of the original scale set when the file was created
in Poser.

• Frame out of range/Frame Offset: Please refer to

“Animating Poser Objects in LightWave” on page 752
for information on controlling Poser animations within
LightWave.

The Info Panel

The Info panel displays the PoserFusion version number and

allows you to access information about Smith Micro and Poser
Pro.

Scene options.

The Scene Options rollout gives you the following options:

• Scale: Enter a value in the Scale field or use the mini

slider to specify the desired scale for all of the objects in

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Animating Poser Objects in LightWave

You can control how any animation of your Poser objects relates
to your current LightWave animation by using the Scene Options
rollout in either the Create or Modify panel.

Frame Ranges

An out of range condition exists when the LightWave animation

has frames occurring before the Poser animation’s start frame
and/or ends after the Poser animation’s end frame. The end
frame is defined as
End Frame=Start Frame+(Num Frames – 1)
For example, if Start Frame=10 and Num Frames=15, then End
Frame=24.
The Info panel. The If frame out of range boxes allow you to specify how to
handle out-of-range situations.
The Info rollout contains three buttons:

• Clicking the www.smithmicro.com button opens your Web

browser and takes you to the Smith Micro home page.

• Clicking the User Guide… button opens the electronic

(PDF) Poser Pro User Guide. Frame ranges.

• Clicking the About… button opens a window displaying Select the appropriate box to make your selection:
more information about PoserFusion.

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• Loop: Selecting the Loop box causes the Poser animation to

repeat as many times as necessary to fill all of the 3D Studio
Max animation frames. This can include a partial animation
cycle. For example, if the Poser animation is 30 frames long
and the LightWave animation is 45, the Poser animation
will loop 1.5 times to take up all 45 frames.

• Freeze: Selecting the Freeze box causes the Poser animation

to not play before its starting frame and/or after its ending
frame.

• Hide: Selecting the Hide box causes the Poser animation to Offsetting frames.
be invisible before its starting frame and/or after its ending
frame. You have three offset options:

Offsetting Frames • Start on Frame: Enter the LightWave animation frame

where you wish your Poser animation to begin by either
You can insert your Poser animation at any desired point in the entering a valid frame number in the Start on Frame field or
LightWave animation using the Frame Offset function in the using the mini slider.
Scene Options tab.
• Poser Source Frames: You are not limited to simply
running your entire Poser animation within LightWave.

ƒƒ Start Frame: Enter the number of the frame in the

Poser Poser file where you wish to begin the Poser
animation in the Start Frame field or use the mini
slider.

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ƒƒ Number of Frames: Enter the number of frames frame Accessing Poser Materials
in the Poser Poser file after the start frame that you
wish to use in the Number of Frames field or use the In LightWave 9.x, click the Surface Editor button on the left side
mini slider. of the LightWave window, or press F5. You can do this with any
tab selected.
For example, say you have a 100-frame LightWave animation
and wish to open a 30-frame Poser animation. You could specify Material Hierarchies
the Poser animation will begin at frame 45 of the LightWave
animation. You could also specify that you wish to start the LightWave 9.x supports hierarchical materials, meaning that
Poser animation from the 10th frame of the Poser file and that each object in a scene will have its own list of materials.
you wish to use the 15 frames that follow. This scenario would
cause the following to occur:
LightWave animation Poser animation
Frames 0-44 As specified in the Out of
Range options.
Frame 45 Frame 10
Frame 46 Frame 11
Frame 59 Frame 24
Frames 61-100 As specified in the Out of
Range options.

Poser Materials in LightWave

This section discusses using Poser materials within LightWave

9.x.

Material Hierarchies.

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Texture Maps The Poser UV map is loaded once and is used in every
LightWave Texture Mapping channel where you specify it as
LightWave 9.x supports the use of UV mapping. described in the previous paragraph. If you want the texture
You can view and modify any texture map by opening image map to be applied to a surface parameter, you can open
LightWave’s Texture Editor window as described in your the Texture Editor and apply the Poser UV maps to the specific
LightWave documentation. Poser’s Texture, Bump, Reflection, parameter.
and Transparency texture maps will load into LightWave. The following example describes the steps required.

NOTE: LightWave 9.x allows you to create UV data 1. Launch Poser Pro. Select and save the default Simon
and/or modify it by adding and/or repositioning scene as a Poser file.
UVs. This feature gives you complete control over
2. Launch LightWave 9.x.
how textures are applied to your figures and props.
While Poser uses UV mapping, users were previously 3. Load the Poser file you just created by selecting File > Load
limited to using the UV data supplied by the geometry’s > Load Scene and choosing All Files from the Files of
creator. Using Poser Pro and LightWave (or any Type dropdown list. Open the .pz3 file that you created in
other application that supports UV creation and Step 1.
modification), you can manipulate your figure or prop’s
UV data to have textures behave exactly how you want 4. If prompted, locate the scene textures by selecting All Files.
them to. Locate the textures in your default Runtime folder.

By default, the Poser texture map loads into the Color channel in 5. After the scene opens in LightWave, open the Surface
LightWave’s Surface Editor. The Poser UV data is available for Editor.
any map you apply in LightWave on any channel that supports
6. Select a Surface name (such as Head, shown in the following
maps by setting the Projection Type to UV in LightWave’s
figure).
Texture Editor, and the selected UV Map to Poser UVs. This
is true for all Poser texture maps (Texture, Bump, Reflection, 7. Open the Color (or other channel) Texture Editor. Set
Transparency). Projection to UV, UV Map to Poser UVs and specify the
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image file to use as the texture. Click Use Textures. The

Poser UV map is now applied to your figure.

Configuring texture maps.

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Part 8:
PoserPython

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Chapter 33: About languages. Because it is free software, Python is freely usable and
can be distributed free of charge. Python’s inclusion of a number

PoserPython of high-level data types as well as dynamic typing makes it easy

for users to get their job done without the implementation hassle
common to lower-level languages.
This section explains a few Python basics and lists each of PoserPython is a customized implementation of the Python
the customized PoserPython methods, including explaining interpreter that includes many commands not found in the
functionality and providing syntax and use examples. It standard Python releases. This customization integrates Python
provides a certain level of background and behind-the-scenes with Poser and provides you with an extensive list of easy-
explanations that will put the PoserPython types and methods to-use commands that can greatly reduce the time you spend
involved into context. performing repetitive tasks in Poser.
Note that this chapter assumes that you have at least a basic One of PoserPython’s best features is that you do not need to
level of understanding about the Python scripting language. be a programmer to begin enjoying its benefits. Poser includes
While it does explain a few basic Python concepts in order to a number of useful sample scripts that can be executed by
add clarity and context, this chapter is not intended to teach you clicking a button. You never have to see a line of code, and
Python. There are numerous excellent sources of information none of your friends will ever label you as a programmer! That
for learning Python, many of which are available for free. Please said, another of PoserPython’s best features is that you can “get
refer to “Other Important Resources” on page 12 for a listing under the hood” to write scripts that will do just about anything.
of some recommended Python resources. PoserPython gives you virtually full control over your Poser
Python (named after Monty Python’s Flying Circus) is a high- documents including figures, props, lights, cameras, scenes,
level, interpreted, object-oriented scripting language first etc. and their building blocks and parameters. As you can see,
developed in 1989 by Mr. Guido van Rossum and first released PoserPython benefits both novice and expert alike!
as free software in 1991 after extensive testing. It is an extremely PoserPython also includes the Numerical Python extension,
powerful and easy-to-learn language that runs on virtually all which loads automatically when Poser starts up. Many geometry
platforms and that can be extensively customized and modified methods use this extension for fast manipulation of vertex, set,
to run with other applications (such as Poser) and programming

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and polygon information. Please refer to http://www.python. PoserPython script. Because of the inherent power that
org/topics/scicomp/numpy.html for more information. scripting provides, it is possible to accidentally or intentionally
destroy data, possibly beyond Poser itself. We at Smith Micro
Software have made every attempt to provide “safe” methods
Why Python? for manipulating Poser internals, and in most cases a Python
mistake simply means that the interpreter throws an exception
Adding support for a scripting language to Poser gives users
and halts the script execution. Nevertheless, Python is an entire
unprecedented power and flexibility to automate and customize
programming language designed with far more than Poser in
their Poser experience and liberate creativity and productivity.
mind. It is a powerful tool and, like all tools, should be used
The combination of simplicity, power, extensibility, and free
with care. If you are not familiar with Python basics, we strongly
distribution rights is making Python an increasingly popular
recommend that you obtain training and begin your Python
programming language and has made it the obvious choice
experience slowly and carefully so as to enjoy a smooth and
for integration with Poser. The PoserPython additions provide
trouble free learning curve.
advanced Poser users with virtually infinite control and
flexibility: A few lines of Python code can quickly automate
processes that might take hours if done manually. And, with PoserPython Types & Methods
Poser’s internal structures exposed in the Python environment,
you can write importers or exporters that interact with obscure Listing
or proprietary data formats. Because Python runs entirely within
PoserPython consists of hundreds of custom methods, and
Poser, the only external application you’ll need for creating
Smith Micro Software is continually updating the list of available
Python scripts is your favorite text editor.
methods. Please refer to the PoserPython Methods Manual,
which contains an organized listing of each PoserPython method
A Word of Warning available in Poser. It is included in PDF format on your Poser
CD and is also accessible from within Poser by selecting Help >
Unlimited control is a double-edged sword. On one hand, users PoserPython Manual.
have direct access to their creations and underlying data. On
the other hand, it is impossible to anticipate every conceivable

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Chapter 34: Basic PoserPython consists of a standard Python interpreter that has
been extended to recognize and execute commands that are

PoserPython Concepts not included with the standard Python language. PoserPython
scripts written using the customized commands will only work
with the Poser ProPack or subsequent versions (5 and on). You
This section describes some of PoserPython’s basic concepts in can, however, pass data back and forth between Poser and other
order to provide context. Python scripts, programming languages, and applications.

How Python Integrates with Poser The standard Poser application contains volumes of data about
each item (figure, scene, light, camera, prop, etc.) found within
There are two basic types of programming languages:
a given scene. You control these parameters via the mouse and
• Compiled: A special program called a compiler reads the interface elements such as menus, buttons, dials, etc. However,
code written by the programmer, translates it into a form you cannot directly manipulate the data itself. This helps make
directly readable by a computer, and creates an executable Poser easy to use, but does create limitations. For example, you
program that can run on its own on any supported computer have no way to automate repetitive tasks or record a complex
platform. Languages such as C++ fit into this category. series of actions for further use. PoserPython circumvents these
limitations.
• Interpreted: Interpreted programming languages require a PoserPython exposes much of the raw Poser data. Using Python
special program called an interpreter to run the code written scripts, you can extract data from Poser, manipulate it, and pass
by the programmer. The interpreter reads the commands it back into Poser. Essentially, you can program Poser to do what
found in the code and executes them from beginning to you want, and you are no longer confined to the Poser interface
end without translating the original code. The drawback to and Poser’s built-in functionality.
interpreted languages is that they must use the interpreter,
and the code can never run as a standalone program. The
advantage, however, is that a programmer can change the Basic Python Structure
code and see the results very quickly without having to
wait for the code to compile. Additions, edits, and deletions Python is an object-oriented language. An object is a virtual
become fast and simple. entity combining structured data and the methods in which

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the data can be manipulated. A method is a procedure for discussion of mutable vs. immutable types. The data can be
manipulating data, and an argument defines how the method virtually anything including letters, numbers, files, etc. As you
is carried out. A simplistic but effective analogy is that of basic begin to think of data in terms of objects and manipulating
grammar: An object can be equated with a noun, a method objects, you will find it far easier and faster to write Python
with a verb, and an argument with an adjective or adverb. For scripts.
example, consider the following:
car = Factory.Produce(vehicleXL)

In this case, the variable car is the result of the object factory Sample Python Script
being acted upon by the method produce as modified by the
This section provides a brief example of how a Python script
argument vehicleXL (the make and model). To put it in lay
might look. For this example, let’s say that you have an open
terms, the car’s existence and everything about the car depends
Poser scene consisting of a figure with its left forearm already
on the factory being told to produce a car of a specified make
selected. The forearm is called an actor. An actor is any element
and model. Consider how the value of the variable car can differ
of a Poser scene (body part, prop, etc.) and this manual uses the
based on the following examples:
two terms interchangeably. Let’s say you want to set the x scale
car = Mechanic.Repair(car, transmission)
car = Junkyard.Salvage(vehicleXL) to 88 percent.
car = CarThief.Steal() scene = Poser.Scene()
actor = Scene.CurrentActor()
In the first example the car argument is passed in, modified by parm = actor.ParameterByCode(Poser.ParmCodeXSCALE)
the Mechanic’s Repair method, and returned as a working car. parm.SetValue(88)
The last example contains no argument. In this case, the car thief Let’s look at the above script in detail.
may not take external input to decide which car to steal. Again,
The script begins by obtaining a variable called scene, which
the object defines a structured set of data, the method is what
is a reference to the current Poser scene. That scene contains
the object does, and any arguments describe how the method is
numerous actors. Recall that the left forearm is already selected,
performed.
so all the script needs to do is request the scene’s current actor
car may contain either data or a reference or link to data. Please to define the variable actor. Next, the variable parm consists
refer to one of the many Python resources (such as those listed of a reference to the left forearm’s specified parameter, in this
in “Other Important Resources” on page 12) for an in-depth case the parameter XSCALE. A parameter code (ParmCode)

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designates an easy to remember word to signify the desired Alternatively, you can use Macintosh format, which uses colons
parameter. Lastly, the value of the parameter to which parm to signify folders as follows:
refers is reset to 88, which will cause the left forearm to shrink to :folder:test.txt
88% of its normal size along the X-axis.

Running Your Script

Writing Python Scripts You can run your script directly or via the Poser Scripts menu or
Write your Python scripts using your favorite text editor. palette, all of which are described in the following chapter.
Alternatively, you can use one of the graphical Python interfaces
such as Tkinter for Windows to write your scripts.
For Further Information
Folder Syntax The preceding information was a very brief glimpse into Python
and the PoserPython extensions. If you do not currently know
Python, among other languages, designates certain special Python, you may want to read and learn more. With the power
characters as symbols beginning with a Windows-style and flexibility this interface offers, developing Python expertise
backslash. Two common examples are \t ([TAB]) and \n (new would be well worth it.
line). Thus, in Windows, the notation To view the Poser Python Methods Manual, choose Help >
C:\folder\test.txt PoserPython Manual from the menu commands.
is interpreted by Python as
C:[TAB]folder[TAB]text.txt or C:
folder test.txt

To work around this issue, you should use a double backslash

(\\) to signify folders. The above example would then become:
C:\\folder\\test.txt

which would be properly interpreted to mean a specific file path.

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Chapter 35: Running

PoserPython Scripts
Poser includes a simple graphical user interface that allows
you to execute Python scripts by pressing a button. You can
customize the Python Scripts palette and, in addition, you can
run Python scripts directly.

The Scripts Menu

The Scripts menu provides a hierarchical list of PoserPython
scripts available for use within Poser. When you first launch
Poser, this menu will list all of the PoserPython scripts
that were included with your Poser installation. You have Python Scripts palette.
the option of placing additional Python scripts into the
:Runtime:Python:PoserScripts: ScriptsMenu directory within
Clicking some of the buttons will display a
your Poser installation; all scripts placed into this folder will be
submenu of buttons within the Python Scripts
accessible within Poser from the Scripts menu.
palette. This is just one example of how Python scripts
can be used to customize Poser. You can write scripts

The Python Scripts Palette that will open button menus and submenus. If you are
curious, you can open one of the existing submenu
Launch the Python Scripts palette within Poser by selecting scripts to see how this is done.
Window > Python Scripts.

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Using the Script Buttons Unassigning/Reassigning Buttons Within

To run a script, simply press the desired button and the script
the Console
will execute automatically. To reassign a button to a different Python script, you must first
delete its current assignment and then assign the new script to
Assigning Buttons Within the Console it. Do this by pressing and holding [OPT]/[ALT] while clicking
the button you wish to unassign. If you wish to assign the newly
Unassigned buttons do not have a label. An ellipsis (...) appears freed up button to a different script, do so as outlined above.
in unassigned buttons to mark their availability. To assign a
script to a button, simply press the mouse on the button and
locate the desired script (.py file) using the standard operating Running Python Scripts Directly
system file picker. Once you have located the desired script,
The Poser Python Scripts palette keeps your frequently used
select it and press Open.
scripts close by for easy use. However, you can run any script
you wish by selecting File > Run Python Script to open the
Editing Scripts Within the Console standard operating system navigation dialog. Locate the script
you wish to run by browsing your folders and directories, then
You can edit scripts assigned to a Poser Python Scripts palette press Open to run the script.
button by pressing and holding [CTRL] while clicking the
Alternately, you can access your script directly from the Poser
button assigned to the script you wish to edit. This opens the
Scripts menu.
script within your operating system’s default text editor for
easy modification. Save your changes as appropriate for the
editor you are using. You may also select your own editor via
the General Preferences dialog, which can be obtained by
choosing Edit > General Preferences as described in “Setting
Application Preferences” on page 31.

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Appendices

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Appendix A: Technical Still don’t see your question answered? Please contact Technical
Support by clicking the link to http://support.smithmicro.

Support com and completing our online support form. When contacting
Technical Support, please fill out the form as completely as
possible and include as much information as possible. This will
We’ve worked hard to ensure that Poser’s powerful features are help us resolve your issue faster. Once the form is complete, a
both easy to use and available to users running a wide variety Technical Support representative will contact you directly as
of computers. However, there may be times when you need soon as possible. Support requests are answered via e-mail in the
technical support. Smith Micro Software is pleased to offer order they are received. Online support is free to all registered
free technical support to registered users of our products. To Poser users. Poser users are strongly encouraged to register
receive technical support, please visit our Web site at http:// after installing the application on http://my.smithmicro.com/
my.smithmicro.com/support and browse through our extensive register.
product FAQs. Telephone support is also free to registered users. Before using
Please use the following checklist before contacting Technical telephone support, please check the resources listed above.
Support: Phone support is intended to solve critical technical issues. We
are unable to answer project-based questions. Our Technical
• Poser Reference Manual: This Reference Manual Support phone number is listed on our website at http://
answers most Poser questions. Before contacting Technical smithmicro.com/contact. Telephone support hours are 10 am
Support, please read the pertinent section(s) of this manual to 4 PM (U.S. Pacific time). If you call during other hours, or if a
thoroughly. representative is not able to answer your call immediately, you
will be asked to leave a message, and we will return your call
• FAQ: Please visit the product FAQs at the above-listed URL. as soon as possible (generally within two business days). When
calling, please be in front of your computer with Poser running.
• Third-party forums: If your question is more artistic than
technical, check out some of the great online Poser forums In order to receive support, we require the following
where artists come together. Please see “Third-Party information:
Forums” on page 12 for links to a few online forums.
• Your name
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 Poser Pro 2012 767
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• E-mail address

• Telephone number (including international dialing

information, if applicable)

• Your current operating system

• Your computer specifications (CPU, RAM, hard drive, video

card, etc.)

• Poser serial number

• Detailed description of the problem

This information will help us isolate and resolve your issue. We
require this information in order to provide support services and
are unable to respond to incomplete requests in a timely fashion.
For international support, please contact your local distributor.
Smith Micro Software maintains a list of our international
distributors at http://my.smithmicro.com/store/intlpartners.
html.

Smith Micro Software reserves the right to alter

our technical support policies at any time
without advance notice.

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Appendix B: Poser File Please refer to the Poser end user license
agreement (eula) in part 1 of this manual for

Structure information regarding the legal uses of the Poser file

formats and structures.

This Appendix describes some basics about the Poser file system.
A Word of Warning
About Poser Files Editing files directly can give you ultimate control over your
Poser creations and help provide spectacular results. However,
Some advanced Poser users obtain added control over their work
editing files directly could cause problems up to and including
by editing the source files directly instead of, or in addition to,
crashing the Poser application file, corrupting your edited file,
using the Poser application. This manual provides a detailed
and causing data loss.
description of the Poser file formats, including syntax, layout,
and commands/ parameters contained within each file type. Smith Micro Software provides this information as an aid
to advanced Poser users for reference purposes only. Direct
Poser uses separate files for each character, prop, light, and
editing of Poser files is specifically not recommended and is not
camera, as well as other files for particular character details
supported. Please do not contact Smith Micro Software tech
(face, hands, etc.). These files typically reside in Poser’s Runtime
support regarding file-editing problems. Any work you do within
folder. The Poser installer automatically creates folders and
Poser files is done solely at your own risk. You are on your own.
inserts files into their correct locations. While each type of Poser
file has a separate extension and purpose, each of the file types This appendix provides some guidance with regard to valid
discussed in this manual (with the exception of OBJ and non- values and error handling, however it is impossible to cover the
native Poser formats) follows the same general format and uses nearly infinite ways in which you may edit files and how those
one or more subsets of the overall Poser command/parameter edits may affect the Poser application or data.
structure.

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Editing Files Poser File Types

You can edit all native Poser files using a plain text editor such There are several native file types associated with Poser:
as Notepad (Windows) or Simpletext (Macintosh). In addition,
some users have created helpful applications to aid you in • Prop: This file type contains information about a prop
editing Poser data. Please refer to the online 3D community including source geometry, materials, texture and other
at large for help locating and reviewing these third-party maps, etc. Prop files have the extension PP2. Magnet files
applications. are prop files with a pre-positioned magnet as the prop.
Props are often supplied as PP2 files with embedded OBJ
Poser files contain formalized descriptions and instructions
information. They may also include texture and bump map
written in a code that Poser can read. As with any computer
files.
program, each element of a Poser file must be in the correct
format, using valid values, and located in the correct portion • Camera: Camera files contain camera information
of the file. Poser files can be large and complex, and it is not including location, direction, focal length, etc. They have the
advisable to modify them unless you have a good idea how to go extension CM2.
about it.
• Light: These files contain information on lights, including
All native Poser files follow a similar structure, however each
type, position, color, and other attributes. Light files have
file type has a separate filename extension and library location
the extension LT2.
(discussed below). The simplest Poser files control props, lights,
and cameras, while the most complex (CR2 and PZ3) describe • Hair: Hair files contain information on hair props and are
Poser characters and scenes, respectively. similar to prop files. This file type has the extension HR2.
It should rarely be necessary to modify native Poser files outside Hair files may have the geometry embedded within them (as
of Poser, with the notable exception of CR2 files. When editing opposed to in a separate OBJ file).
any Poser files, be sure to back up the original file and work on
a copy. This will prevent data loss if something goes wrong. You • Face: Face files contain information required to articulate
may also wish to save iterations of files as you work, allowing you and/or deform a face to the desired expression and have the
to easily revert to a previous state without losing all of your work. extension FC2.

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• Hands: Like face files, hand files contain information morph targets for a particular figure or scene. These files
required to articulate hands into the desired positions or have the extension PMD.
gestures. Hand files have the extension HD2.

• Pose: Pose files contain information required to articulate File Hierarchy

an entire figure into the desired position, which can include
face and hand information. Pose files have the extension For purely conceptual purposes, it is useful to think of various
PZ2. Poser file formats as falling into a loose hierarchy, with some
files containing subsets of information stored within other file
• Character: A character file contains all information types. Also, while each Poser file type contains information
required for a Poser character including reference geometry, unique to that format, several file types are virtually identical
Joint Editor palette morph targets, materials, default pose, in structure. For example, hand and face information is part of
etc. These files have the extension CR2. a pose, which along with hair forms part of a character, which
combined with other information is part of a scene.
• Scene: This file type is what is created when you create
a Poser scene and select File > Save within the Poser
animation. This file type contains all of the information File Families
found in the above-mention files plus details on movie,
background, rendering, animation set, lights, cameras, It is also useful to think of Poser files in terms of the types of
figures, and other information. Poser scene files have the information they contain. For conceptual purposes only, you can
extension PZ3. They are similar in structure to CR2 files. think of Poser files as being grouped into the following families:

• Material Collections: A Material Collection is a fully • Face, Hands, Pose

integrated file format, which stores groups of materials
• Hair, Prop
from a single figure for access through the Library palette.
Material Collection files have the extension MC6/MCZ. • Camera, Light

• External Binary Morph Targets: Poser saves morph targets • Character

to an external binary file format, which contains only the
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• Pose • CM2 (Camera): libraries\camera\Camera Sets

• CR2 (Character): libraries\character\(category)\(character

Poser Default File Locations name)

In the list below, note that the following list provides the default • FC2 (Face): libraries\faces\(category)
locations of the Poser file types. If you are downloading any
Poser files, be sure to place them in their correct locations. File • HR2 (Hair): libraries\hair\(category)
placement is most critical for files that belong in the Runtime:
Geometries folder. Library files have more flexibility. In the • HD2 (Hand): libraries\hand\(category)
following list, an expression in parentheses means that the
• LT2 (Light): libraries\light\Light Sets
subdirectory or name depends upon the figure. You may create
your own subfolders and relocate files within the Libraries • PZ2 (Pose): libraries\pose\(category)
subfolder. In this case, file locations will be reflected in Poser’s
Library palette. You may place graphic (texture, bump, etc.) • PP2 (Prop): libraries\props\(category)
files wherever you like, since Poser allows you to specify their
locations. The following list gives all file locations relative to the • MT5 (Shader): libraries\material\(category)
Poser: Runtime folder:
• TIF, BMP, BUM, JPG (textures, bump maps, etc.):
• OBJ (figure geometry): Geometries\(figure name) textures\ (category)\(subcategory). You may store
additional images in any folder you wish.
• RSR (small file, Windows-only thumbnail graphic):
libraries\character\ (category)\(character name) • PZS (Web links): Web links\(category)

• RSR (large file, both Mac and Windows – Binary OBJ): • MC6/MCZ (Material Collections): libraries\material\
Same location as associated geometry file (category)

• PZ3 (Poser scene): any (user-selected location) • PMD (Morph Targets): PMD files are binary morph target
files that are a redistributable means to deliver morph

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targets. If you have Use External Binary Morph Targets Poser Downloaded File Locations
enabled in the Misc tab of the General Preferences dialog,
PMD files are created next to a CR2 (when a figure is added By default, Poser places downloaded content (obtained using
to the Library), next to a PP2 (when a prop is added), or the Content room) in the Download library. Please refer
next to a PZ3 (when a scene file with morph targets was to “Chapter 7: The Poser Library” on page 119 for more
created in an earlier version of Poser, or when the morph set information about Poser libraries.
of figures and/or props has been changed since they were
added to the scene).
Other Poser File Types
Users who download characters or other Poser
Some users may encounter PHI and PCF files. Previous versions
files may need to manually place some or all of
of Poser used PHI to perform functions that are now carried
the files in their correct locations. Please use the above
out in the hierarchy editor/Setup room (Pro Pack & later). PHI
list to ensure correct file placement.
files were directly contained within OBJ files, and were located
with the OBJ file. PCF files are used by an application called
Poser Pro stores files containing preference information in the
Objaction Mover and are beyond the scope of this document.
user’s home directory. This preference information includes
Memory dots, Library preferences, Poser UI preferences, and the
Poser.ini/Poser Prefs file. These preference files are stored in the Commonly Used Poser Objects
following locations:
Windows: %AppData%\Poser Pro\9\ Morph targets and characters are commonly used and traded/
Windows XP example: C:\Documents and sold by and among users and third-party vendors. This section
Settings\<PoserUser>\Application Data\Poser Pro\9\ provides a brief explanation of each.
Windows Vista & 7 example: C:\Users\<PoserUser>\
AppData\Roaming\Poser Pro\9\
Morph Targets
Mac OS X: ~/Library/Preferences/Poser Pro/9/

Mac OS X example: /Users/<PoserUser>/Library/

Morph targets are supplied as OBJ files that you import into
Preferences/Poser Pro/9/ Poser for application to part of a figure. The figure’s CR2 file

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controls morph targets, and a dial appears for each morph target grandchild n
child n
when an applicable body part is selected. For example, a head section n
morph target dial will appear when you select the figure’s head.
This Reference Manual defines and discusses OBJ morph targets
in “Creating Morphs in Other Applications” on page 592.
Brackets & File Sections
Each Poser file opens and closes with brackets ({}), as does each
Characters & Clothing section within a Poser file. Major file sections describe the file
version, location and name of the underlying OBJ file (if any),
Characters can be modifications of meshes that come with Poser and file properties. One of the major file sections (Channels)
or can include entirely new OBJ meshes (models). Characters contains position, size, texture, morph target, and other
based on pre-existing meshes typically come as CR2, texture, properties. Poser automatically modifies values and adds entries
and bump files. Also, each piece of conforming clothing uses CR2 as needed.
files to make it poseable, making clothing downloads similar to
As described above, brackets denote the beginning and end of
characters; thus, the download is similar to that of a character.
file sections. A left bracket begins each section, while a right
bracket ends a section:

Basic File Syntax {begins

} ends

For example,
As you will see by examining this document, each Poser file type
{
uses the same general syntax. section A
}

Tabs Nested Brackets

Tabs within Poser files are mostly insignificant, however they As implied above, one can nest file sections using brackets to
serve to show file structure, such as: denote each section and subsection, as follows:
section 1 {
child 1 section A
grandchild {

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section B
} Poser & OBJ Files
}
The Geometries folder contains several dozen subfolders with
names corresponding to Poser figures. Each of these subfolders
Parameters
contains OBJ files, each of which is a mesh object, e.g. a set
Parameters and other items within a section do not need of polygons arranged so as to form the desired shape. These
brackets. For example: polygons are placed into different groups that define important
{ subdivisions within the mesh (such as body parts, also known
section A as actors). In order to work with Poser, these groups must have
parameter 1
parameter n specific names, such as hip, abdomen, etc. Poser groups do
{ not require such specific naming conventions; figures created
section B
command 1 using the Setup room could have groups named, for example,
parameter 1 Bone_1.
parameter n
command 2 The OBJ file itself does not contain enough information to
parameter 1
parameter n allow Poser to produce all of the mesh object’s properties, hence
} the presence of CR2 and other files that provide supplemental
}
information. Poser files can contain embedded information that
Comments would normally reside within the OBJ file. This is why many
prop downloads do not include an OBJ file.
You can insert comments into Poser files, as follows:
Some native Poser files normally refer to an underlying OBJ
{
number 4.01 geometry file, which is also in text format. Native Poser files
This text is a comment added to the CR2 file. describe parameters controllable within Poser, such as size,
}
position, textures, etc. One OBJ file can have more than one
Poser file pointing to it. This happens, for example, if a modified
prop, character, etc. is saved to the Library under a different
name and/or location.

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Character (CR2) files contain Poser-specific details such as size, The Dependent Parameters editor can help you
position, pose, textures, proportions, etc. and also control the do this and more. Refer to “Using Dependent
dials that change the figure. Normally, one CR2 file governs a Parameters” on page 598 for additional information
single figure. By combining the OBJ mesh information with the about this feature.
CR2 details, Poser can create customized poseable figures.
Some Poser files (pose, face, hands, etc.) work by modifying the • -1.0 underweight belly
CR2 itself. Poses, faces, and hands are already described within
the CR2, however applying the data contained in one of these • -0.5 sixpack belly
files changes the corresponding values within the CR2 file itself.
• 0.0 regular belly mesh
These applied CR2 changes are then saved to the Poser scene
(PZ3) file. If the user saves the modified character in the Library,
• 0.5 slightly protruding belly
the modified information gets written to a new CR2 file.
PZ3 files are similar enough to CR2 files to allow changing a PZ3 • 1.0 large protruding belly
extension for a given scene file to CR2, thereby creating a new
• 2.0 hanging beer belly
character complete with its associated props, hair, etc.
This range of belly types would incorporate various morph
targets and parameter values at each of the key points along the
Dependent Parameters dependent parameter dial. Thus, dependent parameters are far
more powerful in the scope of modifications they can encompass
With Poser you can set up meta-level parameters, called than a single morph target or parameter dial.
dependent parameters, which allow you to modify other
parameters and morph targets with a single parameter dial. The following sample code illustrates how to set up a dependent
An example of this type of dependent parameter would be a parameter. This code is an example of a targetGeom channel in
full range of belly types, with the following values along the a CR2 file. The resulting dependent parameter will appear as a
dependent parameter dial: morph target parameter dial named “bump3”.
targetGeom bump3
{
name bump3

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initValue 0 • Once Custom_Morph reaches 0.75, the value of bump3 will

hidden 0
forceLimits 1 increase by 1.
min -100000
max 100000 • By the time Custom_Morph equals 1, the value of bump3
trackingScale 0.02
keys will increase by 0 again.
{
static 0 • Values in between these points are determined by spline
k 0 0
} interpolation.
interpStyleLocked 0
numbDeltas 261 In the next example, we are looking at the rotateX parameter of
useBinaryMorph 1 an actor (in this case bone_2:1, which is not apparent from the
blendType 0
valueOpKey code sample below). The resulting dependent parameter dial is
Figure 1 called “xRotate”.
bone_1:1
rotateX xRotate
Custom_Morph
{
beginValueKeys
name xrot
valueKey 0.5 0
initValue 0
valueKey 0.75 1
hidden 0
valueKey 1 0
forceLimits 0
endValueKeys
min -100000
}
max 100000
The end of this sample defines some interesting interactions trackingScale 1
keys
with regards to the “bump3” dependent parameter. The {
“valueOpKey” keyword identifies a section that defines that static 0
k 0 0
this parameter can be driven by the Custom_Morph dial on the }
bone_1 actor of the specified figure. The “ValueKeys” section interpStyleLocked 0
valueOpKey
defines how exactly the “bump3” dependent parameter will be Figure 1
affected: bone_1:1
Custom_Morph
beginValueKeys
• If Custom_Morph equals 0.5, the value of bump3 will valueKey 0.25 0
increase by 0. valueKey 0.75 45

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valueKey 1 0
valueKey 1.25 -45
valueKey 1.5 0
endValueKeys
}

As in the previous example, the “valueOpKey” section defines

that the Custom_Morph parameter dial on bone_1:1 of
the specified figure can take control of this parameter. The
“valueKey” value pairs add rotation in degrees of xRotate to
certain values of the Custom_Morph parameter.

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Appendix C: 3D Basics
This part describes basic 3D concepts. The following discussion
centers on Poser, however most of these concepts apply to all 3D
applications. Novice 3D artists should read the entire chapter
to gain valuable “behind the scenes” insight that will help in
learning and using Poser. Veteran 3D users can use this chapter
as a handy reference or refresher.

A two-dimensional object.
About 3D Space
Pick any one of the three dimensions and call it A. Now pick
Let’s begin by defining the three dimensions:
either of the remaining two dimensions and call it B. In the
• Zero dimension: A point is an example of a zero- graphic, the arrows represent the two dimensions and the
dimensional object. It defines a point in space but has no rectangle represents a two-dimensional object. You will
length, height, or width. immediately notice that all two-dimensional objects are perfectly
flat, like the surface of a sheet of paper. Two-dimensional objects
• First dimension: A one-dimensional object is a single line. are called planes.
It has length but no height or depth.
• Third dimension: Three-dimensional objects use all three
• Second dimension: A two-dimensional object has any two of the dimensions (length, height, and depth).
of the following three dimensions:
As you can see from the graphic, the cube is a three-dimensional
ƒƒ Length object. It has length, height, and depth. That’s pretty simple,
right? Here’s the hard part: You create 3D data using two-
ƒƒ Height
dimensional tools. Your computer screen is a two-dimensional
ƒƒ Depth object and your mouse can move in two dimensions; it can
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report left-right and front-back motion but cannot report how separating them into separate workspaces called views. One
far above or below the desk it is. Furthermore, your output will view will displays the A and B dimensions, the second will
always be two-dimensional. Look at the above graphic: It does displays the A and C dimensions, and the third will displays
not have depth. It does, however, represent three dimensions the B and C dimensions. You can also have a fourth view that
using a simple optical illusion called perspective, which is displays all three dimensions. This graphic shows how the four
defined as the tendency of objects to appear progressively views might look in a 3D application such as Poser.
smaller the farther away they are until they disappear on the
horizon at a location called the vanishing point. You can see
this by standing at the corner of a long building and noticing
how the roofline appears to get closer to the ground the farther
away you look. Given these limitations, you ask, how can one
create 3D information?

Four views of the same object.

A three-dimensional object. Let’s look at the same graphic again, only this time let’s
substitute a simple boat for the cube to better illustrate the
The short answer is that all 3D applications, Poser included, concept. One of the benefits of this system is that it becomes
create a “virtual” 3D space. Look at the above graphic again. possible to precisely control your 3D model. For example, you
We can view and manipulate the cube in three dimensions by can determine the length of the boat using the AB or AC view,
the width using the AB or BC view, and the height using the
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AC or BC view. Which view you use depends on what you are theory behind 3D applications such as Poser. Let’s expand on
trying to accomplish. For example, to create the stern, you would that.
probably use the BC view, and would probably use the AB view
It should be obvious that the AB, AC, and BC views lack
to create the overall shape.
perspective. Two-dimensional views without perspective are
called orthographic views. Each three-dimensional object has
six orthographic views: Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, and
Rear. Pick up any object you like and look at it from all angles;
you will see that this always holds true. So, while the boat
example above shows the Top (AB), Left (AC), and Rear (BC)
views, it could just as easily show any three of the six possible
views. This is important because, like the boat, not all three-
dimensional objects are symmetrical.
Now that you understand this fundamental concept, let’s learn
how it’s used in the real world. To recap, the three dimensions
are width, length, and height or depth, each dimension is
represented by an axis, and we can view each pair of axes in two
Four views of a more complicated object. ways to generate a total of six possible views. So far so good,
except for one small problem: If everyone used an arbitrary
system of axes to define the three dimensions, then it would be
In these examples, the A, B, and C dimensions are collectively
difficult to pass data back and forth. In the above example, we
called axes. Taken individually, each dimension is called an
are using the AB as the Left view. Someone else could just as
axis. So far, we have used each axis to describe one of the three
easily define AB as any of the six available views. You can see the
dimensions without caring about which axis describes which
chaos that could ensue. To prevent this, both 2D and 3D objects
dimension. The A dimension could describe any of the three
conform to a standard system of axes called the Cartesian
dimensions with B describing either one of the remaining two
coordinate system. The term Cartesian is used in honor of
dimensions and so forth. We did this to illustrate the most basic
the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes

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(1596–1650), who was one of the first to employ such coordinate The Cartesian coordinate system goes one step further by
systems. defining three axes, called X, Y, and Z. In our previous examples,
we deliberately used the arbitrary letters A, B, and C to illustrate
the concept of axes and avoided using the actual letters because
Cartesian Coordinates we wanted to familiarize you with the general idea of axes and
dimensions before focusing on how they are actually used. In the
Before getting too far into Cartesian coordinates, let’s pause for
Cartesian coordinate system, the axes correspond to dimensions
a quick math review: If you arranged all of the numbers from
as follows:
negative infinity to positive infinity along a line, the number 0
would be in the center of that line. Negative numbers would be
• X: Width
on the left side of 0 with –1 being the closest to 0, and positive
numbers would be on the right side of 0 with +1 being the closest • Y: Height
to 0.
• Z: Depth
Let’s combine the origin with the Cartesian axes as follows. As
you can see, the Cartesian coordinate system uses three axes to
represent each of the three dimensions: X, Y and Z. The positive
X axis points to the right, the positive Y axis points up, and the
The number 0 is in the center of an infinite amount of numbers. positive Z axis points towards the front of the scene. The center
of the 3D space is a single point, which is the midpoint (origin)
Negative numbers being on the left (or front) works for of the three axes. Thus, the 3D space extends to infinity in both
horizontal lines or axes. For vertical lines, negative numbers are negative and positive directions along all three dimensions. You
beneath 0 with positive numbers above 0. This stands to reason, can see the origin in any of the Poser views.
since negative numbers are literally less than 0. When dealing
with coordinate systems, we assume that each dimension is
infinite, with zero representing the dimension’s center or origin.

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Remember the box we used in the previous 3D example? We

can use Cartesian coordinates to define its corners. What if we
move the box over somewhat? The graphics on the right show
how that might affect the coordinates. As you can see, Cartesian
coordinates serve to define an object’s shape, size, and location
in 3D space.

Directions extend along three dimensions, represented as X, Y, and

Z.

Now that we have a standard system for defining 3D space and

objects within that space, we can use coordinates to define the
Point coordinates.
object’s shape. Remember that coordinates are always listed in
XYZ order. Coordinates themselves are defined as the distance
from the origin along each of the three axes. For example, the
coordinate {1,1,1} signifies a point that is 1 unit to the right of the Planes
X origin, 1 unit above the Y origin, and 1 unit behind the Z origin.
As we discussed earlier, 3D applications must depict and
The format of listing the X, Y, and Z coordinates manipulate 3D data using a series of 2D views and tools. You
within braces and separated by commas is the already know that 2D objects are planar because they exist on a
standard shorthand used with the Cartesian coordinate mathematically defined plane. A plane is a formula defining the
system. relationship between two dimensions, such as XZ. Combining
these two facts with what we just learned about the Cartesian
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coordinate system and a quick glance at our monitor, we find

that 3D applications like Poser use three views aligned with
coordinate planes to help you locate points in 3D space.

Three orthagonal views.

Planes in 3D space.

You can change the Poser Document window to show several Global vs. Local Coordinates
cameras, including the orthogonal views (Left, Right, Front,
There is one last wrinkle to the Cartesian coordinate system.
Back, Top, Bottom) and perspective views (Main, Auxiliary,
To explain this wrinkle, let’s use the example of a motorcycle
Face, Hand, Posing). Please refer to the “Chapter 5: The
rider leaning into a turn. What just happened? For the sake of
Document Window” on page 70, for a description of the
argument, let’s assume that the headlight is 30 inches above the
Poser Document window. The graphic shows a quick rendition
ground when the motorcycle is upright. If the rider leans the
of three orthogonal views:
motorcycle 45 degrees to the left, then headlight will now be 21.2
inches to the left of center and 21.2 inches off the ground.

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For anyone into trigonometry, we find the new

location by multiplying the original location by
the sin and cosine of the angle. In this case, sin(45) =
cos(45) =.707, and.707*30= approximately 21.2.

Thus, the headlight’s coordinates will have changed from {0,

30,0} to {21.2, 0, 21.2}. However, nothing has changed about the
motorcycle itself. The headlight is still in the exact same position
relative to the rest of the machine. To demonstrate this, let’s
create a second 3D space using the motorcycle’s center of gravity
(balance point) as the origin. Let’s further say that the headlight
is 12 inches above and 30 inches in front of the center of gravity.
This means that the headlight’s relative coordinates are {0, 12,
-30}, and these relative coordinates do not change because the World coordinates vs. local coordinates.
headlight does not move relative to the center of gravity. But
what do we mean by relative?
If this seems a bit complex, bear with us as we use a far simpler
Has the motorcycle leaned 45 degrees to the left, or has the example. Each object in Poser has its own object coordinate
world leaned 45 degrees to the right? To an observer standing on system. When an object is first created, its center and orientation
the ground, the motorcycle has leaned over 45 degrees. To the are the same as the world’s. As described above, this changes
rider, s/he is still on top of the motorcycle and it is the world that when the object moves. The world’s center and orientation are
has leaned over 45 degrees. Further, the rider maintains her or still the same, but the object’s center and orientation may have
his relationship to the motorcycle, meaning (for example) that changed. Look at the square in the graphic. Say the upper-left
her or his head is still 30 inches behind and 32 inches above the corner is located at {-5,5,0}. When the object is first created, that
headlight. Thus, while the motorcycle’s world coordinates have point is the same in local and global coordinates because the
changed, its object (or local) coordinates have remained the object’s center is at {0,0,0}. If we move the object +7 along the
same. X axis and +3 along the Y axis, the upper-left corner would now
be at {2,8,0} in global coordinates but would remain at {-5,5,0}
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in local coordinates, that is, relative to the object’s center. In As you can see, the box’s center is the same as the origin
other words, any point can be specified relative to its object’s ({0,0,0}). What happens if you want to move the box? You can
local coordinate system (object space) or relative to the global move each one of the points, delete the existing box and draw
coordinate system (world space or global coordinates) shared a new one in its new location, or simply translate the box. For
by all objects. example, setting a Translate value of {2,2,2} would move box’s
lower left corner to {0,0,0} since (-2)+2=0. Again, the Translate
value refers to the location of the center of the object relative to
Transformation world space.
So far, you have learned about 3D objects, the Cartesian
coordinate system, and the difference between object space and Rotation
world space. Let’s move on and learn how we can use XYZ values
to define an object’s transformation in addition to its size, An object’s rotation value refers to its orientation in 3D space
shape, and position. measured in degrees. As you probably know, any actual object
will revolve around its center of gravity (balance point). Objects
An object’s transformation describes an object’s position
in Poser have no mass and no center of gravity, so you can set
(translation), orientation (rotation), and size (scale) in 3D
the object’s center wherever you like and the object will rotate
space. When an object is first created, its transformation is set
around that point.
to align with the global coordinates. Its position is set to {0,0,0},
its orientation is set to {0,0,0}, and its size is set to {1,1,1}. An
object’s transformation values are almost certain to change as
you work with the object.

Translation
An object’s translation describes its position in 3D space relative
to its center and is measured in defined grid units. Let’s take
another look at the box we used in an earlier example.

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Scale
An object’s scale value refers to its size in relation to itself and
is measured in percent. In this case, a value of 1 corresponds
to 100%. Take the example of a circle. As with all other Poser
objects, it is initially created with a scale value of {1,1,1}, meaning
that it is 100% of its original size in all three dimensions.
Now that your perfect circle is in place, you realize you need
to double its height on the Y axis. Simply enter a scale value of
{1,2,1} and the circle will turn into an ellipse that is twice as long
on the Y axis as it is wide. To stretch it on the X axis, you would
Three axes of rotation. enter {2,1,1}.

Let’s think back to the motorcycle example. If you model a

motorcycle and decide you wish to lean it 45 degrees, nothing
is stopping you from performing trigonometric calculations to
determine the new location of each part. Remember that each
part of the motorcycle will move in at least two dimensions as
the whole machine rotates. In this case, since the motorcycle is
rotating about the Z axis, you could simply enter a rotation value
of {0,0,45}. The trigonometric calculations will still need to be
performed, however Poser will get stuck with the job instead of Scaling axes.
you.
To compute every point on a model, multiply the original
coordinates by the X, Y, and Z components. With this in mind, it
becomes easy to see how different values can change the size of
your object. For example, entering a scale value of {2,2,2} would
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double the circle’s size. Poser allows you to set each scaling
Splines
factor independently in order to obtain squashing and stretching
effects. This is called differential scaling. Splines are lines that are defined by multiple control points.
Now that you’ve learned about 3D objects, Cartesian The following graphic shows three basic types of splines.
coordinates, object space vs. world space, and object The simplest type of spline consists of a set of control points
transformations, let’s go ahead and learn more about 3D objects connected by straight lines, called a linear spline (shown on
themselves. the near right). The other two splines are curved. You can curve
a spline by adjusting its basis, or method used to compute
the spline. Splines can be divided into interpolating and
Vertices approximating.

A point is a zero-dimensional (0D) object in 3D space. It has a

set of coordinates to define its location but has no length, width,
or height. It is nothing more than a location in Cartesian space.
However, we can connect points to create edges or polylines. An
edge is part of a polygon between two vertices, and a polyline
connects two vertices together that are not part of a polygon. At
its root, 3D modeling consists of nothing more than connecting a
series of vertices together to create 3D objects.
A group of vertices used to define a 3D object is called a point Splines can be linear or curved and are controlled with control
cloud. Each point in a cloud is usually called a vertex and is used points.
to define one of the corners of a polygon. Points used to define
a spline (see below) are called control points. We’ll define these
An interpolating spline will always touch the points that
terms a little later.
define it. In the above graphic, the two splines on the left are
interpolating. This gives them a more drastic skin-like bend than
approximating splines. Approximating splines, such as the right-
most example in the above graphic, have a softer curve because
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they don’t necessarily touch the points that define them. Either
type of spline requires three or more control points in order to
show any curvature. Poser uses interpolating splines for such
things as the Walk Designer and the Animation palette.

Polygons
Polygons are multiple-sided surfaces that use vertices to
define their corners and edges to define their limits. Most 3D
applications use triangles (3-sided polygons) and/or rectangles
(4-sided polygons). Groups of polygons form a polygonal mesh,
which alone or with other meshes defines a mesh object. Let’s
reexamine the box example we used above: In this example, the Polygons.
point cloud consists of eight vertices. These eight vertices are
connected by 12 edges, which define six rectangular polygons.
Had we used triangles, the eight vertices would be connected by
18 edges, which would define 12 polygons. The Poser Workspace
The Poser workspace is the virtual 3D world in which you build
your scenes. This world contains an origin and the three axes.
The Document window acts as the viewfinder for the currently
selected camera. By looking through this viewfinder, you can see
the workspace. Please refer to the “Chapter 5: The Document
Window” on page 70 for more information about the
Document window.

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Normals Camera
A surface normal is a line (vector) that points perpendicular to The Camera is a default object. This means that it always exists
(away from) the surface it originates from. Since models have and cannot be deleted. However, the camera is an object like
more than one surface, knowing which way the normals are any other and can be moved and animated. Additionally, you
facing can help you understand how a particular function will can apply many different settings to the camera including its
affect a model. This is important when rendering a model or for position, angle, perspective, and focal length. These are
calculating other operations such as a collision (determining standard photography terms. Object animation rules apply to
if two objects are residing in the same 3D space). If a model’s the camera.
normals are inverted, certain routines may behave erratically or
your model may render incorrectly. Poser allows you to control
the direction of the normals and automatically performs these Lights
calculations for you.
A light source is a special kind of primitive. When Poser
launches, it places three default lights in your scene. You can
add, edit and remove lights in your scene and can also control
and animate many settings such as color, intensity, position,
shaders (gels), etc.

Hierarchy
Poser objects are often grouped in a hierarchy in order to
facilitate manipulation. The original object is known as a parent,
and each object linked to it is known as a child. The graphic
shows an example of a simple hierarchy. In this example, the
Surface normals.
trunk is the parent. The branch is a child of the trunk, the twig is
a child of the branch, and the leaf is a child of the twig. Selecting

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and moving the trunk will also move the branch, twig, and leaf. containing one or more nodes), and the camera. Each scene item
Moving the branch does not affect the trunk but moves the twig has different settings (parameters) that can also be animated.
and leaf, and moving the twig moves the leaf without affecting For example, you can animate an object’s scale, rotation,
the branch or trunk. Selecting the leaf only moves the leaf. translation, and shape, or a light’s color, position, and intensity
(Poser calculates shadows). You can animate any component of
an object’s material. Plus, you can animate the camera’s position
and rotation. Creating animations involves making changes
to these parameters over time and assigning these changes to
keyframes.

Keyframing
Animations are made up of individual images known as frames.
An animation is created when a series of frames that vary slightly
from one frame to the next are displayed one after another over
An example of hierarchy.
time.
Keyframing is the core of computer animation and involves
Let’s try another example: Bend your arm at the shoulder. Notice
the following general process: First, a starting frame is created
that your shoulder rotation moves your upper arm, lower arm,
on a timeline and all parameters for each object in a scene are
wrist, hand, and fingers. In this case, your upper arm is a child of
assigned to that frame. Next, an ending frame is created later on
your shoulder and so forth. Now try bending a finger. Your hand,
the timeline and all changes to any parameters are assigned to
wrist, arm, and shoulder do not move.
this frame. Poser then compares the parameters assigned to the
starting and ending frames and calculates all of the intermediate
Animation frames that occur between the starting and ending frames. This
calculation is called interpolation.
Poser lets you animate virtually everything in your scene
including objects, lights, materials (which can have a shader tree
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For example, if you tell Poser that an object is large and red
at Frame #1 then small and blue at Frame #10, then Frames
1 and 10 become the keyframes. Poser then calculates the
intermediate values for all of the frames in between the
keyframes. Thus, as the animation moves from Frame 1 to
Frame 10, the large red ball will gradually shrink and turn blue
with each passing frame until it reaches the values you set for it
at Frame 10. Keyframing and interpolation allow you to create
complex animations with a minimum amount of work.

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Appendix D: Creating
1 hip zxy
2 abdomen zyx
3 chest zyx

and Converting
4 lShldr yzx
5 lUpArm yzx
6 lForeArm yzx

Hierarchy Files 7 lWrist yzx

8 lHand yxz
4 rShldr yzx
5 rUpArm yzx
6 rForeArm yzx
The Hierarchy file describes how the groups in a figure are 7 rWrist yzx
arranged. It outlines the parent-child relationships between 8 rHand yxz
4 lowNeck zyx
groups. Once created it can be imported into Poser where it is 5 upNeck zyx
converted to create a new figure file in the New Figures library. 6 head yzx
2 lThigh yzx
The hierarchy file specifies four important things: 3 lLeg yzx
4 lShin yzx
5 lAnkle yzx
• The geometry (.obj) file to use. 6 lFoot yxz
2 rThigh yzx
• The hierarchical connections (parent-child relationships) of 3 rLeg yzx
4 rShin yzx
the body parts. 5 rAnkle yzx
6 rFoot yxz
• The desired rotation order of each body part. 2 tail1 zyx curve
3 tail2 zyx curve
4 tail3 zyx curve
• A specification of each Inverse Kinematics chain to be 5 tail4 zyx curve
included in the figure. ikChain LeftLeg lThigh lLeg lShin lAnkle
ikChain RightLeg rThigh rLeg rShin rAnkle
ikChain LeftHand lShldr lUpArm lForeArm lWrist lHand
Hierarchy files can be created in any text editor that can save
ikChain RightHand rShldr rUpArm rForeArm rWrist rHand
documents in a text-only format.
There are more samples in the Tutorials > Figure Creation
The following is an example hierarchy file: It represents the full folder that is included with your Poser installation.
hierarchy for a horse -- including curve channels for the tails.
objFile:Runtime:Geometries:horseHi:horseHiP3.obj
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Hierarchy File Explained Hierarchy File Body

The following section explains the various parts of the Hierarchy The bulk of the hierarchy file contains lines similar to the one
file. shown below:

Hierarchy File Header

The first line of the hierarchy file contains the “OBJ File”
command which specifies the location of the OBJ file associated
with the new figure. A typical Hierarchy file line.
objFile:Runtime:Geometries:horseHi:horseTex.obj
The first part of the line indicates Hierarchy level, or the parent-
The file location should be defined using a Macintosh format
child relationship, of the body part. In this case, the abdomen
file specification (i.e. using colons). The file location is specified
body part is a child of the body part of the part on the next level
relative to the Poser application folder.
up. Hierarchy levels are numbered in depending order, so the
When the hierarchy file is converted, the text of the OBJ file is next level up from this part is 1.
read into Poser where a geometry resource is created and linked
In the example below, the lShin object is located on the 3rd level
to the OBJ file. This process results in a new figure file.
of the hierarchy. The closest level 2 line above would be the
From then on, when Poser uses this figure file, the geometry lThigh, so the lShin is a child of the lThigh.
resource is used to defined the figure hierarchy relationships
rather than the text stored in the OBJ file. Reading from the
geometry resource is dramatically faster.

Parent-Child relationships indicated in the Hierarchy file.

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The indenting of the lines is not processed but is helpful visually

to denote the hierarchy levels.
The second part of the line specifies the name of the body part.
In the example the part is called abdomen. This name must
match the group name in the OBJ file.

The X, Y, and Z planes that make up 3D space.

Assigning a rotation order is a three step process:

The body part name in a Hierarchy file line.
• Always place the “twist” axis first. This axis should be placed
The 3-character string at the end of the line represents the lengthwise through the object. If the object, like a leg, is
rotation (or gimbal) order of the body part. A rotation order built down the Y-axis, specify the Y first since that is the axis
defined as “zxy” means that a Z axis rotation occurs first, along which the leg would twist.
followed by the X, then Y axis rotations.
• Of the two remaining rotations, place the one most likely
to become 90 degrees last. This helps reduce rotation lock
problems that occur when the middle rotation approaches
90 degrees.

The rotation order in a Hierarchy file line.

• Place the remaining rotation channel second.

• Some objects are built non-aligned to the major axes. In this

Poser uses the following XY and Z axis orientations: case, you are able to “align” the coordinate system of the
body part later, while adjusting the joint parameters. For
the hierarchy file, pick the rotation order that seems closest
to what would be desired. When you align the part later, the
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twist axis you choose becomes aligned down the length of Inverse Kinematic Chains
the body part.
The last commands in the hierarchy file specify the links that
compose the individual inverse kinematic chains. Inverse
Linking Body Parts Stored in Separate OBJ Kinematic chains are defined in the following format:
Files ikChain chainName firstLink nextLink nextLink...
endGoal
If each body part were stored in a separate file, rather than all In the example above the ikChain is defines as follows:
body parts being groups in a single file, you would specify the full
path name for the file at the end of each line. This path is relative
to the Poser folder.
Here is an example of three links using this method: An ikChain line in a Hierarchy file.
1 link1 yzx:Runtime:Geometries:examples:l1.obj
2 link2 yzx:Runtime:Geometries:examples:l2.obj
The name of an ikChain cannot contain spaces.
3 link3 yzx:Runtime:Geometries:examples:l3.obj

Using Curved Transformations Converting Hierarchy Files

The Curved flag tells Poser that this link should use curve Selecting File > Convert Hier File opens a standard Open
transformations. This is a method of bending designed for the dialog box prompting to you locate and open a Poser 3 Hierarchy
tails of the animal figures in Poser. Here is an example used in file (*.phi). If this file contains no errors, this function creates
the Horse figure: a Poser Figure (*.cr2) file. Please refer to “About Poser Files”
2 tail1 zyx curve on page 768 for more information about Poser files and their
3 tail2 zyx curve
4 tail3 zyx curve functions.
5 tail4 zyx curve
Hierarchy files are used when creating custom figures using the
text-based method (see “Global vs. Local Coordinates” on page
783). Since the introduction of the graphical Setup room,

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this older method, while still supported, is far longer and more 2. Locate the Hierarchy file you created in the text editor and
tedious as it forces you to do everything manually while in a click Open.
text-based environment. Once the Hierarchy file is completed in
the text editor, you can import it into Poser by converting it into 3. If there are no errors, a Poser Figure library file is created.
a geometry resource (called a CR2 file). This geometry resource
4. The hierarchy conversion may take several minutes if there
is then used by Poser, in conjunction with OBJ 3D data to create
is a large geometry file.
a new figure file with rotation order, and Inverse Kinematic
relationships as defined by the hierarchy text file. 5. The figure file that gets created references the geometry file
whenever used. Its location should be established and not
On Windows, the resource is a separate file
moved later or the figure file cannot find the geometry.
ending is RSR. On a Macintosh, the resource is
stored with the OBJ file. If you need to edit the resource 6. If the location is changed you need to edit the figure file with
on a Mac, use a resource editor to remove the text from a text editor to designate the new location (specified relative
the OBJ file, or create a new text file by copying and to the Poser application in Mac format).
pasting from the old one.

If you make changes to the hierarchy file and then convert it

Verifying Hierarchy Files
again, the conversion won’t re-create the geometry resource
if it already exists in the OBJ file. So, if you are trying to make Once you begin adjusting the joints you are not able to
geometry changes, you need to either delete the resource, or regenerate the figure file a second time and have all your joint
start with a new blank text file that contains only the text portion changes in place. Make sure that all Parent-Child relationships
of the OBJ file. are correct before editing joint parameters. You can make
To convert a Hierarchy file: geometry corrections later, but you cannot change the hierarchy
without creating different joints from scratch again.
1. Choose File menu > Convert Hier File. The Open dialog
appears.

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Index
Animation 790 Applying to Figures 460
Frame Rate 441 Creating 459
Overview 433 Setting attributes 460
Retiming 431 Antialias Document 381
Saving 478 Area Render 87, 379
Skipping frames 432 Atmosphere 307
Symbols Tools 435
Attenuation 268
Animation Controls 55, 59, 435,
Auto Balance 212
3D Motion Blur 405 436
Auto Grouping 619
3D Mouse 34 Animation Layers 440
Automatic conforming 139
3D Objects Adding poses with 146
Base layer 456 AVI
Exporting 708
Controls 456 Rendering options 481
Importing 703
Creating 456 AVI files 479
3D Space 778
Deleting 456
A Poses with 519 B
Previewing 456
Animation Menu Commands Backfacing polygons 404
Acquire from Auto 395
Clear Sound 432 Background
Add Reflection 306 Loop Interpolation 431 Pasting onto 113
Add Refraction 306 Make Movie 431, 479 Background color 94, 403
Add Subsurface Scattering 306 Mute Sound 432 Background Footage
Affected actors 653, 676 Play Movie File 432 Clearing 114
Ambient 297 Quaternion Interpolation 432 Showing 114
Ambient Occlusion 308 Resample Key Frames 431, 454
Background Pictures 403
and Lights 267 Retime Animation 431, 453
Clearing 113
Skip Frames 432
Animals Importing 702
Posing 207 Animation Palette 56, 435, 440 Showing 113
Posing heads 208 Layers tab 455
Background shader 403
Options menu 442
Animatable origin 194, 224, 474 Base Layer 456
Animation Sets 458


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Bend 193, 200 Camera Parameters 247 Locking 254

Body maps 287 Depth of Field 248 Main 238
Body Parts Focal 248 Mini Camera Controls 88
Bending 112 Focus Distance 248 Orthographic 240
Posing 178 F-Stop 250 Pointing 253
Properties 192 Hither 251 Posing 238
Selecting 178 Perspective 248 Positioning 243
Pitch 253 Right Hand 239
Bones
Roll 253 Roll control 245
Assigning names to polygons 645
Shutter Close 251 Rotation trackball 244
Attaching to geometry 645
Shutter Open 251 Saving camera sets 254
Deleting 641
XYZ Dolly 252 Scale control 244
Inserting 641
XYZ Orbit 252 Transforms 251
Naming 644
Positioning 642
XYZ Scale 252 Camera views
Yaw 253 and posing 173
Symmetry 644
Yon 251 Cartesian Coordinates 781
Bone structure
About 638
Camera Plane 243 Cartoon 106
Creating 639 Camera Properties 246 Cartoon Tones 118
Selecting 640 Animating 247 Cartoon With Line 107
Name 246
Breadcrumbs 126 Cast shadows 193
Visible 246
Bump 299 Center of Mass 212
Cameras 154
Bump maps 289 Auxiliary 238 Chain Break Tool 186
Bump Maps 280 Camera dots 254 Changing figures
BVH 473 Changing 89, 241 With replaced geometry 226
Exporting 707 Creating 246 Clothing 218
Dolly 240 Conforming 219
C Face 239 Conforming vs Dynamic 519
Flyaround 243 Dynamic 219
Camera 789 Focal Length control 245 Cloth Room
Camera Controls 48, 58, 242 Left Hand 239 Air damping 534


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Calculate simulation 531 Ignoring hand collisions 526 Constraint objects 5

Choreographed cloth groups 528, Ignoring head collisions 526 Content
530 New dynamic group 529 Downloading 171
Clear simulation 531 Play simulation 531 Installing 171
Cloth controls 522 Reset 534 Loading 132
Cloth decorations 528 Rigid decorative cloth groups 530 Managing 132
Cloth density 533 Shear resistance 533 Online 10
Cloth draping 522 Simulation name 521 Searching from Library 167
Cloth dynamics controls 530 Simulation range 521 Content Collections 169
Cloth groups 527 Simulation settings 522
Content Paradise 170
Clothifying objects 523 Soft Decorative cloth groups 530
Cloth parameters 534 Static friction 525, 533 Content Room 170
Cloth self-friction 533 Stretch damping 533 Context menus 5
Cloth simulators 520 Stretch resistance 533 Actor 77
Collision depth 525, 526 CM2 771 Background 86
Collision friction 534 Cameras 85
COLLADA 8, 709
Collision objects 523 Figure 79
Export 710
Collision offset 524, 526 Lights 83
Import 709
Collision options 521 Prop 82
Collision detection 193
Constrained cloth groups 528 Copy 67
Collisions 73
Constrained group 530 CR2 771
Creating morphs with 534 Color 277
Crease angles 194, 224, 409
Creating props with 534 Color-blind accessibility 33
Create Atmosphere 307
Delete dynamic group 529 Colors 94
Current Actor Menu 76, 195
Delete simulation 522 Color Tool 187
Displaying tools 59 Custom Scatter 351
Compressed Files 65
Draping from zero pose 525 Cut 67
Conforming Clothing 219
Dynamic cloth groups 527, 529
Adding from Library 141
Dynamic friction 525, 533
Using without a figure 520 D
Figure collision options 525
Constraint channels 5
Fold resistance 533 Deformers
Ignoring feet collisions 526 Constraint Channels 233


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Showing and hiding 111 Clear Background Picture 113 Double-click Behavior 35
Using 563 Deformers 111 Downloading content 171
Using with grouped objects 578 Depth Cued 110 Download Manager 164
Delete Figure 215 Document Style 108, 109
Drag and drop
Deleting objects 196 Element Style 108, 110
Multi-select 6
Figure Circle 112
Dependent Parameter Editor Drop to Floor 213
Figure Style 108, 110
Graph 602 Duplicate 68
Fly Around 109
Dependent parameters 775 Foreground Color 113 Dynamic Clothing 219
Dependent Parameters 598, 774 Frame Selected 109 Adding from library 519
Dials 198 Ground Shadows 112 Saving to Library Palette 534
Driven value 606 Guides 115 Using without a figure 520
Natural value 606 Orbit Selected Mode 109 Dynamics
Teaching 608 Paste onto Background 114 Recalculating 198, 431
Depth Cueing 92, 110 Production Frame 97, 109, 480
Depth Map Shadows 266 Show Background Footage 114 E
Depth of Field 248, 405 Show Background Picture 113
Dial Groups 197 Show Camera Names 109, 237 Editing Tools 49, 58, 182
Tracking 111
Diffuse Color 295 Using 179
Use Background Shader Node 114
Direct Manipulation Tool 188 Edit Menu Commands
Display origin 194 Copy 67, 68
Displacement Bounds 191, 193
Display Units 34 Copy Picture 68
Displacement Map 282
Documentation 8 Cut 67
Displacement maps 404
Document Style 103, 109 General Preferences 31, 65, 409
Display Controls 51, 103 Memorize 69, 197, 648, 649
Document Title 71
Display Menu Commands Paste 68, 453
Background Color 113
Document Window 50, 70
Options Menu 71 Redo 67
Bend Body Parts 112, 193, 514 Restore 68, 69
Preview tab 70
Camera Layout 108 Undo 66, 67, 185, 494, 586
Size 73
Camera View 108, 237, 242 Elements List 450
Clear Background Footage 114 Document Window Size 59
Element Style 104, 110


801 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Embedded library 36 Customizing textures 495 Delete Figure 215

Enable hardware AO 388 Displaying tools 59 Drop to Floor 213
Enable hardware shading 387 Face Shaping tool 496 Figure Height 210
Photo Lineup 491 Genitalia 211
Enable Hardware Shadows 387
Saving faces 501 Hide Figure 215
End User License Agreement 14 Selecting images 490 Lock Figure 213
Exit 66 Textures and 500 Lock Hand Parts 213
Exporting 707 Using images with 489 Set Figure Parent 227, 229, 632
3D Objects 708 Using morphs with 499 Show All Figures 215
BVH Motion Files 707 Faces 147 Symmetry 214
Flash Files 708 Posing 202 Use Inverse Kinematics 175, 634
Images 71, 707 Falloff zones 664 Use Limits 177, 178, 212
Painter Scripts 707 Blending 669 Figure Parameters 199
SWF Files 708 Capsule 666 Figure Parent 226
Extended details 126 Changing display mode 672 Figures 136
External library 36 Deleting 670 Assigning IK chains 647
Eyedropper Tool 292 Enabling and disabling 671 Creating 636
Eyes Spherical 665 Hiding 215
Posing 205 Weight maps 679 Posing 178
Working with 668 Properties 190
F FastScatter 306 Replacing 138
FC2 771 Showing all 215
Facebook Figure Circle 112 Testing original 647
Visibility 190
Uploading to 101 Figure Height 210
Face Parameters 203 Figure Hierarchy 627 Figure Style 104, 110
Face Room 487 Figure Menu Commands File Compression 65
Adjusting points and lines 493 Using 39
Auto Balance 212
Applying Heads 500 Conform To 141 File Menu Commands
Applying shape 494 Create Full Body Morph 595, 708 Close 65
Caricatures 499 Create Walk Path 465 Convert Hier File 795
Exit 66


802 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Export 71, 707, 708 F-Stop 250 Polygon mode 618

Import 467, 469, 473, 636, 701, 702, Full Body Morphs Using 614
703, 705 Analyzing 537 Vertex mode 618
New 64 Creating 595 Welding groups 620
Open 64 Deleting 597 Grouping figures 646
Page Setup 66 Grouping objects 4, 229
Print 66
Recent Files 65
G Grouping Tool 187
Revert 65
Groups
Gamma correction 418 About 621
Run Python Script 66, 764
Per texture 419 GroupsCloth 625
Save 65
Save As 13, 65 Gamma node 334 GroupsHair 625
File Search 35 Genitalia 211 Guides 115
Deep 36 Geometry
Shallow 35 Importing 638 H
FireFly 384 Global coordinates 783
Saving render presets 408 Global Illumination 399 Hair 149
GoZ 713 Adding strand-based to library 516
Flash 479
Adding to scene 149
Rendering options 484 Gradient bump maps 323
Colors 515
Flash Files Graphs 56, 435, 444 Materials 515
Exporting 708 Editing 446 Prop hair 217
Flat Lined 106 Parameter dials 199 Strand-based 217
Flat Shaded 106 Using with Animation Palette 447
Hair Edit Tool 509
Focus Distance 117, 248 Ground Plane 115
Hair Parameters 514
Foreground Color 94, 113 Color of 95
Hair Properties 514
Frame Indicator 436, 441 Ground Shadows
Showing and hiding 112 Hair Room
Frame Rate 441 Add hairs to selection 509
Group Editor 614
Frame Selected 245 Air damping 512
Auto Grouping 619
Frame Selected Object 6 Bend resistance 512
Creating groups 620
Front-Back 201 Calculate dynamics 513


803 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Clear selection 511 Translate hairs 510 Technical Support 12

Clumpiness 508 Translate In/Out 511 Third-Party Forums 12
Collisions 512 Twist 511 Help Menu Commands
Constrain length 511 Verts per hair 508 About Poser 11
Curl hairs 510 Hand Models Content Paradise 11
Defining hair groups 503 Using 206 Other Web Links 12
Displaying tools 59 Hand Parameters PoserPython Manual 9, 11, 759
Falloff 511 Grasp 205 Poser Reference Manual 8, 11
Gravity 512 IndexBend 206 SmithMicro Web Links 12
Growing hair 505 PinkyBend 206 Hidden Line 105
Hair density 508 RingBend 206 Hierarchy 789
Hair length 506 Spread 206
Kink delay 508
Hierarchy Editor 57, 626
Thumb 205 Filtering display 630
Kink scale 508 ThumbBend 206 Object relationships 631
Kink strength 508
Hands 150 Reordering scene elements 631
Lengthen 511
Locking 213 Rotation orders 632
Length variance 506
Posing 205 Standard hierarchy 632
Position force 513
Presets 206 Using 628
Pull back 506
Pull down 506
HD2 771 Working with branches 630
Remove hairs from selection 511 HDRI Export 708 Hierarchy Files 792
Root stiffness 513 HDR Images 390 Body 793
Root stiffness falloff 513 HDRI Output 418 Converting 795
Root width 508 Header 793
Head Lengths 115
Scale hairs 510 IK Chains in 795
Head maps 286 Linking parts 795
Setting dynamics 511
Help Verifying 796
Show populated 508
Getting 11
Spring damping 512 Hier Files
Online Support 11
Spring strength 512 Converting 66
Other Resources 12
Style hairs 509
Reference Manuals 11, 13
Highlights 296
Styling hair 507 Hip-Shoulder Relationship 116
Smith Micro Sales 12
Tip width 508


804 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Hither 251 Index of Refraction 329 Deformer indicators 655

Horizon Line 116 Indirect Light 397 Joint strength indicators 656
HR2 771 Indirect Light quality 397 Parts of 652
Using 652
Infinite Lights 257
Joint end points 659
I Indicators 263
Installing content 171 Joint front-back 661
IBL 258, 308, 390 Installing Poser 14, 22 Joint Orders
IK 174, 435 Upgrading from earlier version 27 Setting 674
Enabling/Disabling 175 Internal name 192 Joint parameters
Understanding 176 Editing 656
Interpolation
Using 634 Loop 431 Joints
IK Angles Quaternion 431 Adding affected actors 676
Setting and memorizing 648 Copying from another figure 657
Interpolation Controls 448
IK Chains Fine-tuning 647
Interpolation types 445 Setting limits 648
Assigning 647
Irradiance caching 396 Teaching 600
Creating 633
Item List panel 126 Joint scaling 663
Images
Exporting 71, 707 Joint Settings
Importing 701 J Copying and saving 679
3D Objects 703 Joint side-side 661
Background Pictures 702
Joint angles Joint twists 660
Setting 673
ImportingProps 703, 705 Joint up-down 661
Movies 701 Joint attributes 653
Types of 658
Poser Documents 703
Joint bend 661
K
Tips & Tricks 703
Importing Geometry 638 Joint bulges Keyboard shortcuts 60
Include morphs when conforming Editing 674 Display menu 61
191 Joint Centers 658 Edit menu 60
Include scales when conforming 191 Joint display options 653 Figure menu 61
Joint Editor 57 File menu 60


805 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Object menu 61 Adding libraries 129, 131 Showing folder counts 125
Render menu 63 Adding Material collections 156 Showing item details 127
Window menu 63 Adding materials 156 Showing path tool tip 125
Keyframe Controls 438, 443 Adding scenes from 157 Switching libraries 128
Keyframes Adding strand-based hair 516 Thumbnail size 127
Adding 452 Always on top 125 Thumbnail size in List 128
and timing 473 Categories 135 Tree indentation 127
Copying 453 Categories Tab 53 Tree options 127
Editing on timeline 451 Category icons 120 Using arrow keys with 136
Moving 452 Conforming clothing 141 Using Download Manager 164
Recording 437 Content Collections 169 Library selection 120
Removing 452 Creating subfolders 159 Library Tab 53
Resampling 431, 454 Deleting items 164
Light Controls 47, 58, 262
Retiming 453 Details options 128
Displaying 122
Light emitter 193, 223
Selecting 451
Display options 125 Light Emitter 191
Keyframes tab 443 Light emitting objects 5
Dragging and dropping 165
Keyframing 790 Dynamic clothing 519 Light Parameters
Ks Microfacet Node 339 Extended Details image 128 Angle End 272
Favorites tab 54 Angle Start 272
L Folder thumbnails 127 Color 273
General options 125 Distance End 272
Launch Behavior 31 Horizontal gap in List 128 Distance Start 272
Library Label Height in List 128 Intensity 273
Searching 165 Library tabs 120 Scale 273
Library Palette 52, 119 List options 127 Shadow 272
Accessing content libraries 128 Maintaining 158 XYZ Rotation 273
Adding actors 162 Refreshing 136 XYZ Translation 274
Adding dynamic cloth 535 Removing libraries 131 Light Properties
Adding items 160 Reopening folders 125 Advanced Materials 268
Adding items manually 163 Saving scenes to 158 Ambient Occlusion 267
Search tab 54


806 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Animating 265 Selecting 258 About 310

Atmosphere Strength 267 Spotlights 258 Animating nodes 318
Attenuation 268 Light Style 307 Collapsing nodes 316
Color 268 Limiting Motion 177 Creating nodes 314
Depth Map Shadows 266 Deleting nodes 318
Lit Wireframe 105
Include in OpenGL Preview 265 Delinking nodes 316
LightType 266
Load Morph Target 193 Displaying tools 59
On/Off 266 Local coordinates 783 Entering node values 317
Raytrace Shadows 266 Looping 450 Expanding nodes 316
Set Parent 267 LT2 771 Linking nodes 315
Shadow Blur Radius 266 Moving nodes 317
Shadow Min Bias 266 M Node connections 313
Shadows 266 Nodes
Visible 265 Magnets 563 2D Texture Nodes 368
Lights 154, 789 Base Properties 566 3D Texture Nodes 359
Adjusting 260 Creating 564 Ambient Occlusion 353
Aiming 261 Locking 569 Anisotropic 335
Animating 274 Object Parameters 566
Color 260
Blender 328
Object Properties 565
Creating 258 Properties 565
Blinn 337
Deleting 261 Using Editing tools with 565 Brick 371
Image Based Lights 258 Zone Falloff Graph 568 Cellular 362
Indicators 263 Zone Properties 567 Clay 339
Infinite lights 257 Maps 278 Color Math 332
Intensity 260
Master Parameters 600 Color Ramp 333
Light position control 262
Memorizing 274
Creating 196, 603 Component 330
Editing 605 Diffuse 339
Point lights 257
Indicator 198
Properties 265 Diffuse Nodes 339
Restoring 274
Material Collections dNdu 359
Adding to library 156
Saving and loading 274 dNdv 358
Material Room 291


807 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

dPdu 358 Reflect 352 Alternate Diffuse 322

dPdv 358 Refract 353 Alternate Specular 322
dU 358 Root Atmosphere Node 326 Ambient Color 321
dV 358 Root Background Node 324 Ambient Value 322
Edge Blend 329 Root Light Node 325 Angle 355
Environment Map Nodes 356 Root Material 320 Angle End 325
FastScatter 351 Root Nodes 320 Angle Expo 325
fBm 360 Simple Color 333 Angle Start 325
Fractal Sum 359 Skin 341 Attenuation 329
Frame Number 358 Special Nodes 341 Auto Fit 370
Fresnel 355 Specualr 338 Background 352, 353, 356,
Gather 354 Specular Nodes 335 371, 376
Glossy 337 Sphere Map 356 Balance 367
Granite 366 Subsurface Skin 342 Base Color 365, 366, 374
Hair 345 Tile 373 Bias 360, 361, 364, 375
HSV 333 Toon 341 Blending 328
Image Map 368 Turbulence 361 Blue 332
Math Functions 330 User Defined 332 Bottom 359, 360, 361, 364
Math Nodes 328 U Texture Coordinate 358 Brick Color 372
Gamma 334 Variable Nodes 357 Brick Height 372
Movie 375 Velvet 345 Brick Width 372
N 357 V Texture Coordinate 358 Bump 322, 324
Noise 361 Wave 2D 368 Cell Mode 363
Phong 336 Wave 3D 368 Cloud Color 364
PoserSurface 320 Weave 374 Color 324, 325, 330, 333, 334,
ProbeLight 340 Wood 367 339, 356, 362, 363, 374
Raytrace Nodes 352 Options menu 311 Color Mode 332
Properties Complexity 364


808 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Component 330 IBL Contrast 326 Noise Type 361, 363, 364,
Dark Color 341 Image Mapped 371, 376 365, 366, 367, 368, 372,
Dark Wood 367 Image Resolution 326 374
DepthCue Color 326 Image Source 369 Normals Forward 323, 336,
DepthCue EndDist 327 Index of Refraction 353, 356 337, 338, 340, 341, 345
DepthCue On 326 Ink Color 341 Octaves 359, 360, 361
DepthCue StartDist 327 Inner Color 329 Opaque in Shadow 346
Diffuse 325 Input 328, 333 Outer Color 329
Diffuse Color 321, 324, 340 Intensity 325, 362, 363 Point 330
Diffuse Value 321, 340 Jitter 363 Quality 352, 353, 356
Displacement 322 Ka 342, 345 Random Color 363
Eccentricity 338 Kd 339, 342, 345 Ray Bias 352, 353, 354, 355
Edginess 345 Ks 337, 339, 342, 345 Red 332
ETA 342 Light Color 341 Reflection Color 322
Exposure 340 Lighting Nodes 335 Reflection Kd Mult 323
Filtering 371 Light Wood 367 Reflection Lite Mult 322
Fractal Increment 360 Line Width 341 Reflection Value 322
Frame Number 377 Loop Movie 377 Reflectivity 338
Frequency Gap 360 Math Argument 330, 332 Refraction Color 322
Gain 360, 361, 364, 375 Max 362 Refraction Value 322
Global Coordinates 363, 364, Max Dist 354, 355 Root Color 346
365, 366, 367, 377 Min 362 Root Softness 346
Gradient Bump 323 Mirror U 371, 377 Rotation 356
Gradient Mode 323 Mirror V 371, 377 Roughness 337, 338, 339, 345
Green 332 Mortar Color 372, 373 Samples 354, 355
Height 375 Mortar Thickness 373 Saturation 334, 340
Highlight Size 321, 324, 346 Mortar Width 372 Scale 364, 366, 367
Hue 334 Noise 372, 374 ScaleX 363


809 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Scale Y 363 Tile Height 373 X 357, 358

Scale Z 363 Tile Shape 373 XDir X 336
Shades 366 Tile Width 373 XDir Y 336
ShadowCatchOnly 323 Tip Color 346 XDir Z 336
Sharpness 337 ToonID 323 X Index 362
Sheen Color 342 Translucence Color 322 X Scale 359, 360, 361
Signed 360 Translucence Value 322 Y 357, 358
Size 336 Transparency 322 Y Index 362
Skin Color 342 Transparency Edge 322 Y Scale 359, 360, 361
Sky Color 364 Transparency Falloff 322 Z 357, 358
Softness 352, 353, 356, 365, Turbulence 363, 366, 367, Z Index 362
372, 374 372, 373 Z Scale 359, 360, 361
Specular 325 U Highlight Size 336 Selecting nodes 314
Specular Color 321, 324, 335, U Offset 370, 372, 374, 376 Materials 155, 382
336, 337, 338, 346 U Scale 370, 374, 375 Basics 276
Rooms 363, 364
Specular Roll Off 338 Value 331, 332, 334
Roots 365
Specular Value 321, 335, 336, Veins 366
MAT poses 145
338 Velvet Color 345
Maximum bucket size 398
Spot Color 365, 366 Velvet Sheen 345
MC6 771
Spot Size 365 V Highlight Size 336
Memorizing Items 69
Spread 341 Video Source 375
Memory Dots 54, 55, 58
Strength 354 V Offset 370, 372, 374, 376 UI 43
Surface Color 340 Volume Color 327 Menu Bar 47
Texture Coordinates 370, 376 Volume Density 327 Minimum displacement bounds
Texture Strength 371, 377 Volume Noise 327 398
Thickness 342 Volume On 326 Minimum shading rate 397
Threshold 365 Volume StepSize 327 Morphing Tool 188
Tile 373 V Scale 370, 375, 376


810 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Combine tab 579 Rendering 431, 479 Point At 209, 210, 253, 254, 262
Create tab 583 Rendering AVI 479 Properties 265
Creating morphs with 578 Rendering fewer frames 481 Replace Body Part with Prop 226
Morphs Setting time range 480 Set Parent 262
Adding custom 593 MT5 771 Spawn Morph Target 594
Combining 594 Multi/Sub-object Materials 277 Object popup menu 33
Creating custom 592 Multi-threaded bending 32 Objects
Creating in other applications 592 Adding new 133
Multi-threaded rendering 392
Deleting morph targets 613 Changing 133
Loading full body morphs 596 Deleting 236
Managing morphed figures 612 N Duplicating 68
Saving morph targets 612 Grouping 229
Spawning 594 Name 193 One-dimensional 778
Splitting 198 Normal maps 301, 323 Three-dimensional 778
Morph Targets 772 Normals 789 Two-dimensional 778
Creating in Poser 578 Zero dimensional 778
External Binary Morphs 40 O OBJ Files 774
Spawning 594 Occlusion culling 390
Motion OBJ 771 OpenGL
Limiting 177 Object Menu Commands Hardware Acceleration 74
Motion Blur Document 381 Add Constraint 234 Real-time preview 7
Motion Capture Change Parent 227, 228, 535 Optimize simple materials 387
Importing BVH files 473 Create Camera 246
Options Menu
Movies Create Grouping 230
Document Window 71
2D Motion Blur 480 Create Light 259
Create Magnet 564
Orbit Selected 245
Antialiasing 480
Create Wave 573 Orbit Selected Mode 6
Flash 479
Frame rate 480 Create Wind Force 569 Outline 104
Image file sequences 479 Delete Object 221, 236
Importing 701 Load Morph Target 593, 594 P
Playing 432 Lock Actor 209, 254


811 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Page Setup 66 XYZ Rotate 201 Pictures

Painter Scripts XYZ Scale 200 Copying 68
Exporting 429, 707 XYZ Tran 201 Pixel samples 397
Palettes Parameter Groups Planes 782
Closing 43 Creating 196 Play Controls 437, 442
Docking 41, 43 Deleting 196
Play Range 442
Enabling/disabling docking 43 Parameters
PMD 771
Floating 43 Body 201
Moving 41 Dependent 774 Point Lights 257
Displaying as list 196 Indicators 264
Project Guide 29
Repositioning 41 Figure 199 Polygon Hair node 352
Resizing 41 Memorizing 196 Polygons 788
Showing and Hiding 56 Posing 200 Pose dots 208
Parameter Dials 197 Restoring 196 Pose Library 173
Bend 200 Scale 200 Poser Documents
Dependent Parameters 198 Universal 199 Importing 703
Displaying graph 198 Parameters Palette 51, 52, 58, 190, Poser Download Manager 164
Editing 198 194 Poser Figures
Face 203 Dial Groups 197 Hierarchy of 627
Front-Back 201 Options Menu 196
Graph 199
Poser Files
Using 180
About 768
Min and Max limits 199 Parent Characters 773
Name 199 Changing 227 Clothing 773
Resetting 197 Paste 68 Common objects 772
Scale 200
Paste Onto Background 113 Downloads 772
Sensitivity 199
Side to Side 200 Persistent size 38 Editing 769
Perspective 779 Families 770
Taper 200
Phonemes 203 Hierarchy of 770
Turn 201
Locations 771
Twist 200 Photoshop Files
Morph targets 772
Value 199 Rendering in layers 420


812 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Other types 772 with Animation Layers 146, 519 Project Guide 29
Syntax of 773 Posing Properties
Types of 769 And camera views 173 Bend 193
Warning about editing 768 Body Parts 178 Body Part 192
PoserFusion 723 Posing Figures 173 Cast shadows 193
3DSMax 723 General principles 173 Collision detection 193
Cinema4D 731 Post filter size 406 Collision settings 193
LightWave 743 Crease angle 194, 224
Post filter type 406
Maya 736 Displacement bounds 193
PP2 771
Pose Room 46 Figure 190
Preferences Internal name 192
PoserPython 758 Document 31
Accessing manual 759 Load Morph Target 193
General 31 Name 193
Basic structure 760
Interface 32 Shading rate 194
Folder syntax 762
Launch behavior 33 Smooth polygons 194
Methods Manual (opening) 762
Library 34 Visible 193
Running scripts 762
Miscellaneous 39 Visible in raytracing 193
Running scripts directly 764
Mouse input 33
Sample script 761 Properties Palette 51, 52, 190
Preferred State 32
Scripts Menu 763
Render 36 Props 152, 220
Scripts Palette 763 3D Objects 220
Warnings about 759
Preview Drawing 118
Adding to scene 152
Why used 759 Preview Renderer 385 Creating 221
Writing scripts 762 Preview Styles 58 Deforming 220
Poser Workspace 788 Preview Tab Deleting 221
Poses 142 Context Menu 77 Importing 703
Figure poses 142 Multiple views 90 Moving 220
INJ and REM 146 Single view 90 Origin 222
MAT poses 145 Preview texture resolution 389 Parameters 224
MOR poses 146 Printing 66 Properties 222
Other types 145 Procedural Shaders 283 Replacing body parts with 225
Saving 209 Resizing 220
Production Frame 109


813 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Props Library 220 Q Rendered Image Cache 38

Props Parameters Render Engine
Scale 224 Queue Manager 415 64-bit 417
XYZ Rotate 224 Installing 26 Render Engines 384
XYZ Scale 224 Sending jobs to 413 Rendering 71, 88, 98
XYZ Tran 225 Quick-Scale 97 Area Render 87, 98
Props Properties QuickTime Auto settings 393
Casts Shadows 223 Rendering Options 482 Background rendering 71
Collision Detection 223 Comparing renders 99
Collision Settings 223
Displacement Bounds 223
R Dimensions 72, 95
Firefly options 403
Display Origin 224 in background 379
Raytrace bounces 396
Internal name 223 In separate process 392
Load Morph Target 223
Raytracing 395
Manual settings 395
Visibility 191
Name 223 New window 98
Set Parent 223 Recent Renders Panning 99
Shading Rate 224 Palette 100
Preview dimensions 72
Smooth Polygons 224 Uploading to Facebook 101
Quality settings 392
Visible 223 Redo 67 Selecting render engine 97
Visible in Raytracing 223 Reflection 298, 306 Separate Process 37
Python Reflection Map 282 Settings 72
Reinitializing 66 Reflection maps 289 Render Menu Commands
Running Scripts 66 Refraction 306 Area Render 379
Setting Editor 40 Materials 382
Registering Poser 28
Python Scripts 57 Reloading Textures 72, 382 MotionBlur Document 381
Running 66 Reload Textures 382
Remove Detached Nodes 308 Render 379
PZ2 771
Render 379 Render Dimensions 382, 383
PZ3 771
Render cache Render in Queue 380
PZS 771 File locations 38, 39 Render Settings 382, 384
Render Dimensions 382 Reuse Shadow Maps 383


814 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Sketch Style Render 380, 429 S Selecting

Render Over 403 with Current Actor menu 180
Render Queue 412 Scale 200, 786 Setting Up
Multi-frame job 413 Scale Tool 185 Document Window 44
Single frame job 413 Scaling zones 689 Workspace 31
Renders Scatter node 346 Set Up Ambient Occlusion 308
Displaying recent 57, 399 Scene Set Up Light Style 307
Render Settings 382 Adding items 134 Setup Room 635
Display Engine 386 Scene category 6 Finalizing figure 649
Movies 389 Geometry requirements 646
Scenes
Preview Tab 385 Loading bone structure 638
Adding hair 149
Procedural Shader Preview 387 Memorizing and saving figures 649
Adding props 152
Sketch Tab 385 Set Up Shadow Catcher 307
Closing 65
Style Options 389 Set Up Toon Render 307
Compressed 65
Tips and Tricks 389
Creating new 64 Shaders 304
Transparency Display 388
Opening 64 Shader Window 292, 293
Render Tab 95 Opening recent 65 Advanced shader view 303
Restoring Items 68 Removing items 135 Navigating 293
Reuse Shadow Maps 382 Saving 65 Simple shader view 293
Reverting Changes 65 Saving to Library 157 Simple view 293
Room Help 57 Scene style options 388 Shading rate 194
Room Tabs 49 Script buttons 764 Shadow Blur Radius 266
Rotate Tool 183 assigning 764 Shadow catcher 307
Rotation 785 Assigning in console 764
Shadow light cameras 240
Rotation orders 632, 646 Scripts Shadow Maps
Editing in console 764
Rotation trackball 244 Clearing 72
Scripts menu 763 Reusing 72, 382
RSR 771
Scripts Palette 763 Shadow Min Bias 266
Run in background thread 38
Select Figure Menu 76 Shadows 92, 93


815 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Casting 395 Syncing with motion 468 Technical Support

Color of 95 Splines 787 Types of 766
Shadows Only 403 Spotlights 258 Templates 278
Side to Side 200 Indicators 264 Creating 283
Silhouette 104 StuffIt Connect Texture caching 38
Sketch Designer 57, 384, 426 Uploading to 102 Texture display 387
Brushes 427 Subsurface scattering 7, 306, 395 Texture filtering 391
Checkboxes 427 Subsurface Skin node 342 Texture Map 283
Exporting Painter Scripts 429 SWF Files Texture maps
Parameters 427 Exporting 708 279
Presets 427
Symmetry 213 Texture Maps
Rendering 429
Syntax Creating and using 284
Sketch elements 426 Brackets 773 Textures
Sketch Style Render 380 of Poser files 773 Creating for characters 283
Skinning methods 699 Tabs in 773 Reloading 72
Skip frames 450 System Requirements 9 Texture Shaded 108
Smoothing geometry 408 Windows 10 Threads
Smoothing groups 410 Number of 37
Smoothing Preferences 32 T Tiled texture loading 391
Smooth Lined 107 Time Control 441
Smooth Polygons 194, 404, 412 Tablet Mode 33 Timeline
Smooth Shaded 107 Tablet support 5 Editing Keyframes on 451
Software Updates Talk Designer 57, 436, 469 Timeline Indicator 436
Checking for 40 Configuration 471 Tone mapping 407
Configuring 470
Sound 467 Tools
Emotional tweaks 472
Clearing 432 Chain Break 186
Head motions 472
Editing 468 Color 187
Importing 467 Taper 200 Direct Manipulation 188
Muting 432 Taper Tool 185 Grouping 187


816 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Morphing 188 Universal Poses 36, 144 Creating 465

Rotate 183 Updating Poser 28 Removing control points 466
Scale 185 Uploading to Facebook 72 Shaping curves 465
Taper 185 Wardrobe Wizard 537
Use custom gamma 334
Translate In/Out 184 Analyzing full body morphs 537, 544
Translate/Pull 184 Choosing original clothing 539
Twist 184 V Clothing Types 541
View Magnifier 187 Convert 537
Toon outline 405 Vanishing Lines 117 Convert From 540
Toon Render 307 Vanishing point 779 Converting options 542
Tracking 111 Vertices 787 Convert To 540
Tracking Mode 91 View Magnifier Tool 187 Figure Utilities 548
Visible 193 Finding converted clothing 544
Transformation 785 Footwear 558
Translate In/Out Tool 184 Visible in camera 191, 193, 223
Lights Utilities 553
Translate/Pull Tool 184 Visible in raytracing 193
Magnets Utilities 556
Translation 173, 785 More utilities 557
Transparency 300 W Morphs utilities 549
Transparency Maps 281, 289 Prop utilities 553
Wacro Drawer 293 Questions and answers 559
Tree list 126
Wacros 305 Refining morphs 546
Turn 201
Walk Designer 57, 435, 460 Shape utilities 554
Twist 200 Applying walks 463 Shift utilities 555
Twist Tool 184 Blend and Tweak Styles 462 Target library 540
Creating walks 461 Texture utilities 552
U Figure Types 462 Utilities 547
Loading walks 463 Wave Deformers 573
Undo 66 Saving walks 463 Creating 573
Undo/Redo Views 461 Falloff Graph 576
Setting number of 32 Walk Paths Object Properties 574
Universal Parameters 199 Adding control points 466 Parameters 576


817 Poser Pro 2012
Reference Manual

Using Editing Tools with 573 Project Guide 30, 57

Zone Properties 575 Python Scripts 57, 763
Weight maps Quick Start 29
Activating 683 Quick Start Guide 57
Adding 680 Room Help 57, 320, 487, 494
Deactivating 683 Room Tools 59
Deleting 683 Sketch Designer 57, 426
Painting 684 Talk Designer 57, 436, 470
Painting bulge maps 688 Walk Designer 57, 435, 461
Painting tips 694 Windows
Support in Poser 3 Showing and Hiding 56
Transferring to clothing 695 Wireframe 105
Welding groups 620 Workspace
Wind Force Fields 569 Customizing 41
Parameters 571 Setting up 40
Properties 569 Setting Up 31
Window Menu Commands
Animation Controls 59 X
Animation Palette 56, 435, 440, 459
Camera Controls 58 XYZ Rotate 201
Document Window Size 59 XYZ Scale 200
Editing Tools 58
XYZ Tran 201
Graph 56
Hierarchy Editor 57, 628
Joint Editor 57 Y
Libraries 57, 122
Light Controls 58 Yon 251
Memory Dots 58
Parameter Dials 190 Z
Parameters Palette 58
Preview Styles 58 ZBrush 713