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