Hello all. I'm new to Poser (working with Poser 4) and I can't figure this one out using the user manual. I've spent a good bit of time posing two figures together and I have them saved as one file. I also spent a while constructing a room, and that's saved as a separate file. Is there an easy way to get those figures into the room setting now, still connected together? A way to 'merge' the two files together?

I tried saving each figure's pose separately, but when I apply the poses to new figures in the room file, they still have to be positioned together just right (rotate, trans) and it's a pretty tricky pose so that'll be a little time-consuming - I'd rather not have to do it again if possible.

Help?!

Why not just parent one to the other. That's what I do.

You can open one scene as normal, then import the other one: select Poser file from the File > Import menu. That effectively merges two scenes.

EnglishBob - thank you! I had tried that, but when the figures appeared, they were just hair, eyeballs, and a bit of skin here and there. Pretty creepy, lol. So I thought it just couldn't be done that way. After you suggested it though, I tried closing Poser completely, and trying again. Worked perfectly! I think maybe my PC just can't handle much Poser work at one time. dbowers22 - thanks for the parenting tip, too. I haven't worked with parenting much yet - maybe I can make that work for me in the future. Thanks y'all!

Have you tried saving the room as a prop? Then open your file with your posed characters, load the room from the props library and move it into place as needed.

Message edited on: 02/03/2005 11:39

Move the room, not the people, thats what i do. If you have any, make sure you parent all the room props to the floor. Regards, E

In any sensible program you would just select both figures and drag them. Let's hope that Poser 6 fixes the bizarre selection system at last.

Yeah, I was really surprised that there wasn't a way to select both figures, like by holding down the shift key or something while clicking on each one. And I'm having a hard time learning to set parents - I'll try it 3 or 4 times and the figures won't be linked, then inexplicably on the next try, they will be and I honestly don't know what I've done differently. But I've managed to get my figures into the room and where I want them, but now shadows (or the lack of rather) are giving me major problems. I think it may be that the floor of my room isn't sitting on the ground plane. I've tried File>figure>drop to floor, but the top of the floor is still above the ground plane (I also have a rug in there, and when I drop it to the floor, it falls a good little bit below the room's floor.) Oh well, shadows will just have to be a problem/question for another day. :o)

Here is a trick I use? Load a prop like the cube from the prop Library Save it to your figure library. Now it is a figure Load the cube figure. Parent each figure to the cube figure You can rotate and move the cube and everything moves with it. You can also parent your characters to one cube figure, laod a second cube figure and parent your room to that. Now you can move your room separately. Sometimes you have to parent each item in the room to the cube figure. Make your cube figures invisible so when you render them you son;t see them. Hope this helps. cheerio lululee

You can parent one figure to the other, but there is another way that you might find easier. Load a Poser 'SQUARE' prop, then parent both figures to the square. You can then move both figures by moving the square. This can be a more flexible approach, as you can move either figure by its self, or move them both together by moving the SQUARE.

You can hide the SQUARE prop: From the menu bar; Object > Properties > Visible.

There are many problems with shadows in Poser. Here are some things you could try:

Make sure 'Casts Shadows' is checked in the Render Options.

Turn off 'Casts Shadows' for all lights except one. Lights can fill in shadows cast by other lights. With only one light set to cast shadows, make sure that its 'Shadow' dial is set to 1.000. Increase the value on the 'Map Size' dial, say to 1024.

Select props and figures that don't actually need to cast shadows (the room and GROUND, for example) and turn off 'Casts Shadows, in their Properties. With less things needing to cast shadows, the shadows of the remaining things can become stronger.

Lastly remember that you will never see shadows in preview, only in the rendered image.

Thanks for the help everyone! I like the idea of parenting the figures to a prop - that seems like a great solution to that problem. The shadows are going to be trickier. Lesbentley, thanks for the shadow tips. That makes a nice checklist - seems that there's a lot of little things to remember when it comes to lighting and shadows in Poser. I tried everything you suggested and still not even a faint hint of a shadow under the figures. I experimented with the figures in a simpler room - just a floor and back wall, and had no problem getting the shadows, so I think it's just that I don't have my original room lit properly. I'll just have to experiment with adding some more lights. I probably should have started with a simpler first project! :o)