Attached Link: http://members.rogers.com/hordes/images/orc_work_a.jpg

Hi Blackhearted/Experienced Poser users,

The image above is an Orc made with Michael. (The textures are just stand-ins and no post has been applied to the image. This is just the start of the model.) This is about as far as I can take an Orc-Like head with Michael.

I'm working on a project that requires the creation of a large number of Orcs. I dabbled in Poser for a few weeks last year and stopped (so I'm a complete Noob). I just started a project that I think Poser would be perfect for; the project requires the creation a large amount Orcs whose faces and bodies must be noticeable different for one another. As I am still a Noob to the software I have a problem that I know Blackhearted (and perhaps many others have solved).

The simplest solution I can think of is to export the head as an .obj, make the appropriate deformations in another 3D package then bring it back into Poser (this way I can apply the new head as a morph and use all the existing Michael morphs thus creating a number of different looking heads. I am, however, experiencing a number of problems when trying this approach.

First, if Ive made deformational changes to the model and try to import the .obj as Morph Target (Michael Head) I am receive an error that 'Number of Vertices Do Not Match'. This is curious considering that I havent changed the amount vertices (or polygons for that matter). Secondly, if I take the standard head, open in Maya or Cinema 4D, export as an .obj without applying any deformations to the file, Poser will import as a Morph Target, but it's a bloody mess it looks as if the normals have been turned inside out and then some.

Blackhearted has created a new head for Victoria (Elowen?) that obviously must work just fine (it's in his Store). Does anyone have any ideas of what might be going Amok here? Also if you've has success with this in the past what software did you use to achieve the deformations; what was the exact process you used to deform the model and bring it back in as a Morph Target?

Best Regards,

Omadar

Wrong # of vertices? And you didnt do any kind of subdivision? Did you take Mikes head directly from the Geometries folder?? Try that. What program was the original head deformed in? Check to see if theres a way you can unify the normals. Unify them, view them again to make sure theyre "facing" the correct way. How are you "importing" the new head??

On another note...there is a wonderful Orc morph for Michael in the free stuff section here...it was made by n0s4ra2 if you want to do a search for it. This could add to your variety.

Additionally, if you're using Poser 5, you might want to consider the Face Room- if you make an Orc morph for Don, it will be compatable with every face made in the face room; just apply a custom texture (finally, a good, clear use for the Face room!) With "Random face" and "Characiture", it would be a nearly limitless variety. As for creating an orc morph itself, I'd either use magnets or careful tweaking in the face room; once the nose and forehead are in the right position, save it as a morph target, then import it to the new heads to be "orcified"... of course, this is no use to you at all if you don't have P5...

Another option is my orc package at Daz. It is more of a Lord of the Rings style set than the Warhammer look you sorta seem to have going on here but it has a number head morphs. There is also another Warhammer-style pack that I am working on with DraX but he has some things going on and is delayed. Will see about posting something when I get home.

Thanks all, Some great suggestions - thanks a lot. Ghost let me know the moment you release your Warhammer pak :)

export the whole head as an object. re-import it as a morph target called orc. Save your pz3 file as a new character called orc. When you turn the orc morph dial to zero your character looks like mike when you dial it to 1 it looks like your current orc. Dialing it up past 1 will give you extreme orcishness (at least until the mesh warps too badly and you can't stand it) By turning the dial to 1.1, .98 , .87 you can create several characters that look slightly different from each other. Check out the magnets. There are nose and chin and ear magnets in the default P4 menus. You can also create your own to deform the cheeks, skull size etc. You should be able to come up with a few variations. You can also apply the michael dials to your mesh with orc dialed to 1 to further warp the michael mesh. Try creating an emaciated or fat orc by adjusting the appropriate michael dials. When you get one that looks good export the mesh and reimport as a morph target called fat orc, skinny orc, old, heart faced, hero, etc. By using orc at 1 and hero orc at .2, .3, .4 you should be able to come up with half a dozen different characters quickly. You should also play with the size and make them 102, 106% etc of normal height. Learning magnets is probably your best bet because external programs loose the zero position of the coodinates or rotate the axes on export. The number of vertexes don't match because the imported mesh has shifted from the origin in some way not because there is actually a different number of points. If you stay in poser for morphs you don't have to think about it.

Also here's a trick to cut down on memory usage. If you have a lot of orcs in a scene and don't want to render them to background and they don't pose or move (like a crowd scene or ambient actors in a scene) you can do this. 1. Pose an orc with a generic standing, fighting, walking, whatever pose he will be doing in the scene. Assume he's standing around. Set some facial expression etc and put all his clothes on. 2. Using the poser obj file export, export the orc with all clothes etc to an obj. 3. Reimport the obj and fix up any bad materials. 4. Save this static obj as a prop. 5. Now do this like 5 to 10 times with a varying of poses and expressions and create a prop dir of static orcs in stock poses. Now simply populate your scene with these static orcs and place them about like they are doing something. Also scale each up or down slightly to give them variety. Here's what you gain: 1. Everything about each orc is now in one prop. If the orc had a shirt, shoes, pants, posing hair etc that can add up to a lot of figures in you scene. Now he's just one object easily moved, hidden or deleted. 2. Reduction of figures. Instead of 5 figures (orc, shirt, two shoes, pants, misc) you now have one static prop. 3. Processing time is reduced. Poser does not have to maintain magnets or pose parameters for all those orc body part positions. 4. Memory is saved. A cr2 with clothes, shoes, shirt and orc can be huge. Imagine having 10 of those is a scene. The prop will be way smaller. Just the obj info, a section to describe the prop and a material list. 5. Reuse. You can quickly populate a scene without posing each and every orc every single time. You can even put 4 or 5 into a group and save that as an obj or as a collected prop then just bring that whole prop in as one object. This technique works great for ambient crowds, guards, party guests etc, just about anything that doesn't pose or move but you want to maintain as 3D. It also works great for those room building packages people sell that are seperate wall, floor and ceiling pieces. Just create the room then output as one obj. Warning! There can be a problem with materials. If the orc's skin is called Skin and the shirt's material is called Skin then when you make the combine obj both shirt and orc will get the same material. This rarely comes up however but be aware of this.

Attached Link: http://www.morphworld30.com/

Different programs order the mesh vertices differently, which is why you're having trouble bringing the thing back in. There's a free utility around to fix this problem. I think it's called "Compose". Traveler would be the perfect person to talk to about it. He runs a forum at RDNA and you could ask there. Bloodsong would know too. I'm sure there are a lot of other people that could tell you where to find compose and how to use it to prepare morph targets in other software, but those two spring to mind as people who I'm sure can help you. Also, check the tutorial section at the site linked above. That's Traveler's site and he has tutes on using compose with Rhino to make morphs.

no worries, its just your import/export settings. simplest way to test this is by exporting the head from poser. open up the character in poser, select the character body, open up the joint editor, and click 'zero figure'. make sure all of the head dials are set to 0. click export - wavefront .obj format, uncheck the universe (which unchecks everything), then scroll down and check only the head. when you export, uncheck EVERY box except for the 'export as morph target (no world transformations)' one. now you have your exported head. the simplest way to test if your export settings worked (before you waste valuable time in another program and try to import it in only to find out its screwed up) is to reimport it. doubleclick on the orc's head in poser, click on import morph target, and import the head. theoretically when you set the morph to 1.0, nothing unexpected should happen (no hideous deformations, no moving of the head, no scaling of it, etc etc). if it works, youve exported it successfuly. whern youre working on it in a 3D program, make sure that while you may move the vertices around, you do not delete any of them. also, make sure you do not scale or move the entire head mesh, or you will get some very scary results in poser when you import the MT, like thehead warping to 10 feet behind the model, etc etc. ivenever used c4d or maya - but with max, since poser uses such a small object scale, what i do is when i import i scale to 1000 times, then when i export i scale to .001 size, which basically keeps everything the same. i use the habware .obj import/export free plugin. do a search on google for 'poser morph target cinema 4d', im sure you will find some posts on what export settings to use specificaly in this program to keep everything OK for poser. cheers, -gabriel