I finally figured out how to finally bring a model into Poser, properly UVMapped, and textured. For some reason, no matter what color Madison's hat band is, it renders black. Here is a render of the hat. Next, is the material room screen. Notice that the edge of the band is teal, but, when rendered, the band is black. For the love of God, what can I do to finally get textures and colors to render properly? -Thanks, -The Starkdog

Here's a shot of the material room.

The normals might be reversed. IME, that's usually the problem when things render black when they're not supposed to. If you can, try using the grouping tool to select the band and reverse its normals. Then see if renders correctly.

:::: uploading the love of god to the starkdog ::::: and bookmarking. frankly, i am fascinated by the term "Your normals are reversed" in general, and looking forward to seeing the results for Poser. ::::: Opera :::::

my normals have been reversed since birth... what are normals anyway ???? all i see here are a hat with a band...and probably some polygons if you look at the mesh

Thanks for the help guys. It was reversed normals. Here is a render of the fixed hat, the soon to be fixed sandals, and a dynamic dress. I made all of this in Shade7.2. -The Starkdog

awesome....great looking dress, sandals, and hat... normals...I have to remember that. How do you like Shade overall ???? obviously you're good with it

"Normal" is a mathematics term. It means at right angles, perpendicular. It's much used in engineering and science calculations, since a lot of vector math and such is based on geometry. The line labeled n is the normal:

You can see from the illustration how this applies to 3d modelling. The normal shows which side of a polygon is the "right" side.

Weirdly, Poser doesn't actually use normals. It uses one-sided polygons or something like that. (I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will explain.) That's why the "reverse normals" function in some other apps (such as UV Mapper) doesn't work for Poser. The Poser "reverse normals" has the same effect that reversing normals in other apps...but it's not actually reversing the normals.

Okay, I probably just made it even more confusing...

I do like that outfit. I've been wanting a dress like that for Laura, actually. If it's dynamic, you should be able to use it with just about any character.

To continue what randym77 said: A normal is a vector. It is a vector perpendicular to the plane of the polygon. The direction of the normal (which side of the polygon it points out from) is determined by the order of the points of the polygon. When the polygon is viewed directly from above (so that it appears flat or parallel to the screen, for instance), the common standard is that the points are arranged in a counter-clockwise direction. The normal is then facing directly at you. If they are ordered in a clockwise fashion, the normal points directly away from you. This is why Poser and other apps actually don't need to store normals. They can be calculated from the polygons themselves using the order of their points (vertices). "Reverse normals" changes the order of the polygon's points to flip the direction of the normal.

*When the polygon is viewed directly from above (so that it appears flat or parallel to the screen, for instance), the common standard is that the points are arranged in a counter-clockwise direction. The normal is then facing directly at you. If they are ordered in a clockwise fashion, the normal points directly away from you.*

The classic way to remember this is the "right-hand rule." If you curl the fingers of your right hand in the direction the points are going, your thumb will be pointing along the normal. (If you look in on a bunch of engineering students taking a test, you'll often see them curling their hands this way.)

But if you're not interested in vector math, all you need to know is that reversed normals means you're looking at the back side of the polygons. Poser 4 is more tolerant of reversed normals than Poser 5. Some things that look fine in P4 have ugly black splotches in Poser 5. It's usually reversed normals.

And if you import an object made in another app, and it looks black no matter what texture you apply, try importing it again, with "reversed normals" checked.

awesome explanations on the normals...thanks :) why don't they call the reversed normals abnormals?

gratitude to randy and kuroyume0161... you guys rock. Permanent bookmanrk ::::: Opera :::::

Dave-So 'cuz then you be taking Psychology not Mathematics (which can make you crazy, then you'd need a Pyschologist!)

Ok, Here is a sample render with everything fixed. I think that I may need a few more drape frames, because Madison's right knee pops out through the dress. Sorry about the blinding light, I just thought that Madison all dolled up with a BIIIGG smile looket too cute to be in the shadows of her hat. I am still making textures for these and should be in beta testing soon. -The Starkdog

cool stark, we are blinded by your creativity! That draping looks natural. ::::: Opera :::::

Very cute! I usually turn "casts shadows" off for hats, so they don't shade the face too much. Call it artistic license. ;-)