Just got P6 (upgrade from p4pp), and want to use characters that can be exported as a Wavefront OBJ. I understand how to set up groups within the OBJ and the naming conventions for Poser (for symmetry and the Walk designer). Keep in mind that I'm using Mac OS X and PHI builder ain't available. This is where I'm confused (moreso than usual :> ) When I do import the OBJ to be used as a figure, is using the Hierarchy editor the same as creating the Hierarchy file as described on Pgs 344-346 of the Poser 6 tutorial manual? It seems as if that section of the manual is pretty much the same as what came in Poser 3...and in the "Bad to the bone" tutorial on the Curious Lab web site there's no mention of creating a text-based hierarchy file, just the use of the Hierarchy Editor in the setup room. So.... can I just forget about creating a text-file hierarchy and just use the Hierarchy Editor? Just wanna know so I don't get all frustrated and waste hours going down a dead end... Any comments or links appreciated muchly! tia

A PHI file specifies nothing more than the hierarchical relationship and the rotation orders of the joints. If you have a text editor and know the rotation orders you want for each joint, you can create a PHI file by hand. Then import the PHI file within Poser and tweak in the Setup Room. The structure of the PHI file is not very complicated: objFile: [path to wavefront obj file] 1 part rot.order 2 part rot.order ... The Hierarchy Editor is good for specifying hierarchies, but you still need to 'rig' the figure in the Setup Room. Importing a PHI file gives you an automatic rig which you can (should) then tweak with the Joint Editor.

Yes. You can create a new figure using the heirarchy editor. One little bit, tho; if your imported obj is a single FILE containing multiple GROUPS Poser will import it as a single prop. To make the groups visible to the heirchary editor you use the grouping tool and "spawn props." Another thing to pay attention to in the heirachy editor is the joint rotation order. Setting it right there (click "show parameters") will save you lots of trouble. As it happens, I just got done rigging a stomp box this way. Took just a few minutes to spawn props, drag to the right heirachy, change the rotation orders to the primary axis, generate figure, then a minute or two more to adjust one of the joint centers and all of the limits. I'll be finishing in text, however, where I'll set all the unused rotations to "hidden." There is, of course, also the Setup Room, which many people find more intuitive. There you actually drag around bones and visually place them in alignment. Might be easier to set the joint centers there for a more complex organic creature.

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Thanks for the replies!! And I'll check out those tuts, Dr. Geep. It all begins to make sense now. later

Just one other tip, if you wish to write a phi file using BBEdit or similar. It may work better if you export the associated obj file from Poser before trying to refer to it with your phi file.

Heck, Mateo, that's good advice in any case. Poser is lousy about reversed normals, n-gons, star points....it's a good habit to import into Poser and make sure everything looks the way it should before going into the time-consuming rigging steps. Also, I for one find it easiest to model in whatever scale is comfortable, import to Poser at "100 percent figure", do the primary scaling there, then export a now Poser-scaled object from there.

Thanks for the info/suggestions Mateo and Nomuse. Exporting and OBJ from poser and then working from that is a great tip! Especially since I'm using Carrara to model in -- and there's no way to set normals direction in it. I tend to model in quads and really work at keeping the mesh organized and clean, so no star points. Just Quads and some Triangles. thanks again, all the replies have really helped. Wotta great community!