Didnt want my thread buried, so I thought I would copy over the last message and re-post it :) If anyone is interested in the information provided so far, the link to the primary thread is- http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=1110528&Reply=1111201#10 We now return you to your regularly scheduled program... ** Err.. Okay, so I opened windows explorer, go in to Program files>Curious Labs> Poser 4 > Runtime> Libraries> Poses. Where I create a file called simply "mats" Then, I started up poser, opened up Vicki 2 then go to >Render>materials >set all materials to white and the highlight colors to what I want. >press Ok So she comes up all nice and white like she should. Im happy, she's happy, we're rockin and rolling along. I open my "mats" folder, select the '+' to add to my library, I choose 'no' to the Apply morph with preset question.. It creates a sweet little picture of White V2. And I think, hey! I did it!... Only, apparently, I didnt. Just to be sure ( cause I'm NEVER that lucky :P) I close poser, open it back up, load up default V2, and open my "mats" folder within my poses, click on the sweet little pic of white V2, watch as my cursor turns into an hourglass... and have absolutely nothing happen.. What did I do, or rather not do, wrong?

When I convert a figure like that, I resave to the characters library. Did you try that?

Attached Link: http://www.fallencity.net/lore/index.php

You can't do it that way. MATs are a clever hack that was discovered a few years back - Poser doesn't technically support them. Poses, by default, save only position information (and morph information if you tell it to.) Someone discovered that you can also create a file with material information, save it using the .pz2 extension, and Poser will load the material information. (It's too dumb to know better.) The easy way to do this is to save the white Vicki as a character and get a MAT creation utility to strip everything out and leave you with just the MAT. The harder way to do it is to save the white Vicki as a character, exit Poser, open up the .cr2 file (created when you made the white Vicki character) and strip everything out by hand except what you need. I have some tutorials on MAT files, if you're interested.

MAT Pose Editor is free and easy to use. There was an update posted one day this week. Do a search in the Renderosity Freebies to find it. It will make your life MUCH easier. I make MATS for new texture files I create, for V3/V2 textures I've converted, etc.

Oh! * note the bulb going on over my head Eddison would be so proud..* Now that makes sense. I have the mat pose editor ( thank you to whoever came up with that) but I havent tried it yet, Im still a bit intimidated. Thanks for the link as well, Ive bookmarked your site and will see if I can make heads or tails of the mat thing. ( As I explained to SamTherapy in the original thread, code makes me break out in hives. Too much of it and my eyes will explode :P) I still havent gotten into the whole file types yet. Meaning that when I save, its as a Pz3 file. I havent the faintest on how to save something as a pz2 or anything else for that matter. Thats me The Default Junky. So what should I be doing to save this file type? I honestly dont mean to appear completely ignorant, but lets face it.. I pretty much am. The upside is that once I learn all this, I can share it with people too :P Im terrified of editing cr2s. Aside from the code/eyes exploding thing, Im afraid Ill screw things up beyond repair. Im not the brightest bulb in the box when it comes to that sort of thing. Know your strengths and stick to em, thats what I say. Still, I wouldnt mind learning something new, so long as someone could guarantee that I wouldnt destroy something and that my head wouldnt cave in. And honestly? Ive seen an example of cr2 code and felt my cranium drop just looking at it. It makes absolutely no sense to me what so ever. Heck, I cant even decipher something as basic as html. With my luck, Id probably code poor Vicki buck teeth and knock knees. She wouldnt return my phone calls, things would get ugly... You get the drift.

Hey, good to see you're getting more help. As for screwing up the cr2, make a backup copy of it first, rename it something like "experiment.cr2" and work on that one. If you make a pig's ear of it you still have the original one to go back to.

Mat Pose Edit is easy to get the hang of. Just save your character with all the textures as you want it. Then open the character in MPE. If things are to your liking, then just save the file in the pose library and you will have a mat file.

I have been making textures and MAT poses for about a year now....and still have never looked at the code behind it. MAT Pose Editor is a god-send ;) Learning it causes less brain explosions than learning the code (imho) Rawnrr

Daz has a MK script that will also make MAT pose files which I have used and had good results with. It is less than $20. There are also scripts to turn Micheal and Victoria white. Also scripts in there to apply texture maps to the entire body more easily than using the materials dialogue box. In the past I have changed all the parts of my model white in the materials dialogue, then I have saved the model in the Figures Library as "White Micheal" etc. I love MAT Pose files and Curious Labs should really endorse and utilize them because they can make life a hell of a lot easier. MAT Pose files also work with Poser 5, but I'm pretty sure the MK Scripts won't.

Mat Pose Edit is easy to get the hang of. Just save your character with all the textures as you want it. Then open the character in MPE. If things are to your liking, then just save the file in the pose library and you will have a mat file oooooh... I'm liking this more and more already! Though, I promise that I WILL take a crack at the whole cr2 thing. ( Sam likes exploding eyeballs, and hey, I aim to please :P) The tutorials on Cresent's site are pretty good actually, even for someone as code allergic as I am. The manner in which it is explained seems to make more sense to me. ( Which is, in and of itself, a minor miracle) Now, what about rsr's? I know there was a tutorial about how to make them for your new mat files and whatnots, but I cant seem to find it. And learning it wont make anything -else- explode, will it? I'm running out of body parts :P And how do you add these files to a zip? Is it simply a matter of copy/paste? I know some files will auto install ( like Daz.. bless them) and if possible I would like to make the files as user friendly as possible, any suggestions? I've also seem png's offerd in texture packs isnt that a graphic? ( I was clumping them under the same heading as the rsr's) and what do you all feel 'ought' to be included in a texture file? In my first freebie texture I offered bump maps and reflection maps for the eyes and the trans map for the lashes.. I think there might have been a few other whatnots as well, Im not remembering right off hand. What is considered standard?

It's easy to make the .rsr thumbnail. Just save your character with the materials you want - we'll say Vic-White in this case. Create your MAT file and save it in the RuntimelibrariesPose[whatever folder] Go to the runtimelibrariescharacter[whatever folder] and copy the Vic-White.rsr file. Go to the RuntimelibrariesPose[whatever folder] where you saved your MAT file and make sure it has the same name as your new MAT file. Ta Da! Instant thumbnail. If you want to get fancy with the .rsr, I have a tutorial on that which I think it pretty easy to follow. I also have a tutorial on zipping things up to make it easier for people to download and install. Cheers!

ooooh crescent! I adore you! I do!.. In a non- stalking, information guru kinda way, but hey, that counts. :P Absolutely. Any and all tutorials you can provide are welcome. Can these be found on your site as well? suspects I shall need to spend some quality browsing time there if this is the case. Any thoughts on what a 'standard' texture package should contain? Thank you ALL for your help. This is wonderful :)

Yep, they're in the tutorial area as well. Standard texture package - depends on what you're texturing. Person - eyelash trans, eyebrow trans, skin texture. MAT file to easily apply. If you have several eye colors, lip colors, etc., a MAT file for each color. Also, is this commercial or free? Commercial tends to offer more. You'd do well to look at some of the popular packages right now to see what they offer. Cheers!

It's a free deal. Perhaps at some point, if I ever get to that level, I'll actually have something to sell. But I'd like to make at least a few packages that have just as much to offer for free as the ones for sale... Just because I think it'd be cool :P I'll go poke around some more on your site then head over to the market to check out the "what's hot" section to see what there is to see. If I run across anything confusing i.e. file extns ( gee, ya think? g) or "how'd they do THAT?!" you can bet I'll be right back here bugging all wunnermus.. (Yes, wunnermus.. its Staceyish )know-how types again :) I want to thank everyone yet again for all of the help you have all provided. I now have a warm fuzzy where R'osity is concerned. I hope I'll be able to return the favor someday.