Dr. Geep, I love your tutorials, and was really interested in the Poser House. I have been using AutoCAD for about 14 years, and since I can make solid models in ACAD, and export as a 3DS file; that I could try making a Poser house this way. I have imported some 3DS files into Poser before, but they imported in an "explosion" with parts everywhere. I want to have operational doors and windows, so should I take the model through Wings3D, Rhino, etc. and make it an obj? Which mode(3DS or obj) would better facilitate UV map creation? Thanks, -The Starkdog

I take it you know about the scale difference between Poser and most other modellingrender programs? I've found that 3DS files are about the right size in Poser when scaled to around 1.5% of original size. What I've also seen is some strange UVmapping on 3DS imports, but this may be the Poser import code. In Poser, a value of 1.0 in the .obj file (which is at heart the native Poser file format) scales to about 8 feet. Some people use 96 inches. I prefer the convenience of Geep-Scale -- 1 Poser Native Unit is 100 inches. If you have a box-prop scaled to the target size, it's a good gauge for rescaling an imported object. There is a file translator, recommended here a day or two back, called Accutrans 3D. I haven't actually tried it yet. Another program to look for is Anim8or; completely free and the import/export functions give you another route. I've used it for a lot of little tweaks to props.

Hi Starkdog,

CC: AntoniaTiger
CC: jupiterkris

It must be time for me to retire. ;=] It appears that you have all your questions answered and I didn't have to strike a single key on my keyboard. Thanks guys. The Doc ;=]

Sorry for the delete ... dr geep help still needed

Autocad uses its own metrics . In Poser, 0.6(Posette height) = 6 feet or 1.8288 metre .
If autocad uses feet or meter, then conversion during import would be 0.6/6.0 = 0.1 or 0.6/1.8288 = 0.33 etc .
http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/EASYlength.html

3DS uses a different coordinate system from wavefront obj .
There is a swop of Y and Z axis; the Y axis is the vertical axis in obj format (Z axis in 3DS format) .
So after import ...

1. In Poser, rotate imported model -90 degrees about X axis .
2. Then rotate 180 degrees about Y axis .
3. Goto Grouping Tool, select all, and reverse face normals .
4. Export mesh and reimport back into Poser .

Grouping Tool tutorials for grouping and materials assignment ... ??? dr geep

some bad news ...
I think autocad splits up all the faces . So you might have to weld the groups that have auto-smoothing (ie curved); and leave the angled edges lined up .
Unfortunately, Firefly doesn't render lined up edges properly; so one way is to render in the legacy Poser renderer, then composite with any Firefly render .
I think the proper solution is to create minute tri-bevelled edges for the aligned edges in a seperate vertex modeller - extremely tedious .
You can see the P4 conforming skirt hemline (at closeup) for how it is done .

Message edited on: 12/18/2004 12:16

Thanks for the feedback. I was sleepy and incoherent when I wrote the original message. AntoniaTiger and jupiterkris, I will take the ACAD model and export as a DXF, then import into either Anim8or, Rhino, or 3DCanvas; scale the object to Poser size, then export as an obj. I think SAMS3D uses the same approach for his models, as solid models use way less polys, and are easier to UV map. I'll post back on how this goes. Thanks, -The Starkdog

One thing worth doing for Poser models is to convert triangles to polygons. Poser is fine with four-sided polygons, and it makes a big difference to file sizes and memory usage.

: compliance : BkMrk

now see.. we still need you after all..and yer not going anywhere until your 'mystery' is solved..boyo..;)

Mystery?

I dunno..Naysay and I are still standing outside the silo, wondering if they ever found you again..;)

Found ............................. moi??? Dunno ........... ;=] Maybe we'll find out ........... next year. ;=]

Thank you VERY MUCH for the help Dr. Geep. Your prescriptions are healing my ailments!!! Hopefully soon I will have something working. -The Starkdog

;=] -The "Doc"