Anyone ever done it? Is it possible?

If the prop is parented to a figure and the figure is loaded, yes. otherwise, no it is not.

Yes, it's possible. Take a gander at the Actual Eyes/Blackeyes props in the Marketplace. But ynsaen is right. RC

Would it be possible then to load a null figure, parent the prop to that figure then apply the mat pose? Thanks. France

Any figure that the prop is parented will do, actually -- doesn't matter. But in order for the pose to work the prop must be loaded and parented to a figure. Which is a long way of saying it should, lol. Note, however, that this will also apply to the user. So the sequence for doing so will always be figure-prop-mat. I did this with the MAT poses for the pouch in the Goldeflower texture set in my store. THe readme tells ya how I explain the steps for using it -- not the best, but, well, it worked for the moment, lol. Note, however, that there is another way to do this, if the props are made correctly, that actually ends up with less space and more variety. If the props are externally called -- that is, the object file information for them is stored in the geometries folder, not within the prop itself -- then they can be much, much smaller, and you can create several versions of the prop with color variations in it.

It's also possible to create a mat pose for a prop file without parenting the prop to a figure. Edit the mat pose file and replace the word "prop" with "actor". Then whenever a figure is loaded, the mat pose can be applied to the prop even if the prop is not parented to any figure. It still needs at least one figure to be loaded though.

Thanks ynsaen and 12rounds... will try this ASAP. ;o) France

A hint along these lines: Include a null figure (like LesBentley's MinFig, in freestuff) in your default Untitled.pz3 file. This will insure that pose files for all sorts of purposes will always have a nominal figure to work on.

Guys Thanks for all the help on this one. I've got a feeling the best way for me to go is make my prop a figure and then I will be able to apply standard MAT files to it. Thanks gain as you have save me days of trying things out and failing. NeilP

As 12rounds points out you need a figure in the scene for the pose to load, but in Poser 5 (only) you can also use: actor $CURRENT { ... } to load the (MAT) pose to any (currently selected) prop regardless of its base name so long as the material/parameter names match. Bill Weird Juice Software

WeirdJuice: Wow, i didn't knew that. It will be very helpfull. Thanks.

Thanks WeirdJuice! I'll try that also. France

It is posible to apply a MAT (or just about any other type of pose) to a prop, even if the prop does not have a parent. There must be a figure in the scene before the the pose is applied, but the prop need not be parented to it.

The secret to making a pose work on an unparented prop is open the pz2 in a text editor and replace each occurence of the word "prop" with "actor".

The question remains how to make a MAT for a prop. Here is one way:

Download and install MinFig from the Free Stuff. Parent your prop to MinFig, set its materials the way you want, save MinFig back to a pallet as (for instance) "MyFig".

Open a text editor and create this pz2 template:

{<br></br><br></br>version<br></br>      {<br></br>   number <br></br>     }<br></br><br></br><br></br>        {<br></br>//---Paste material block under this line.---<br></br><br></br>      }<br></br>figure<br></br> {<br></br><br></br>       }<br></br>}

Note the use of "actor". Replace "MyProp_1" with the internal name of your prop.

Open another texteditor window and load "MyFig.cr2". Copy the material block from the prop and paste it into the template. You must copy the material block from the prop, NOT the material block in the 'figure' section. The file should now look somthing like this:

{<br></br><br></br>version<br></br>    {<br></br>   number <br></br>     }<br></br><br></br>actor MyProp_1<br></br>     {<br></br>   material Preview<br></br>            {<br></br>           KdColor 0.74902 0.462745 0.250965 1 <br></br>                KaColor 0 0 0 1 <br></br>            KsColor 1 1 1 1 <br></br>            TextureColor 1 1 1 1 <br></br>               NsExponent 10 <br></br>              tMin 0 <br></br>             tMax 0 <br></br>             tExpo 0.6 <br></br>          bumpStrength 1 <br></br>             ksIgnoreTexture 0 <br></br>          reflectThruLights 1 <br></br>                reflectThruKd 0 <br></br>            textureMap ":wall_covering-fin-t.jpg"<br></br>                               0 0 <br></br>                bumpMap NO_MAP<br></br>              reflectionMap NO_MAP<br></br>                transparencyMap NO_MAP<br></br>              ReflectionColor 1 1 1 1 <br></br>            reflectionStrength 1 <br></br>               }<br></br>   }<br></br>figure<br></br> {<br></br><br></br>       }<br></br>}

Save the file to a pose pallet with a pz2 file extension. After testing the pose (remember a figure must be loaded), you can delete "MyFig.cr2".

Note that this is a pose for "MyProp_1", if you load another instance of the prop into the scene, Poser will increment the number and the new prop will be named "MyProp_2", the MAT pose you made will not work on "MyProp_2" as it does not refer to "MyProp_2". If you needed to set a MAT for 3 instances of the prop you have to include 3 seperate material blocks in the MAT, for MyProp_1, MyProp_2, and MyProp_3. Message edited on: 11/10/2004 14:55