I've been using MPE for quite some time and I've never had problems. I created a mat for a prop, put it in my pose folder, and clicked to apply it in P6 but it wouldn't apply. Anybody know what the problem is? MPE created the mats just fine, only the prop mats won't apply in P6. The character mats work fine. Does anyone know of any other program I could try to create mat files?

Is the prop parented to a figure?

no... and I just noticed it's happening with all the props in my library. I just loaded the prop and clicked the mat in my pose folder and I hear a little bell sound (ding) and nothing happens.

Yah...the problem isn't in Mat-Pose Edit, it's in the prop. Poser will only apply materials to a figure, or something parented to a figure. One trick you can use is a "null figure"; a figure with no geometry and no body parts, that you can parent all your props to and thus fool Poser.

I'm going to go try that and I'll be back in 15 minutes... thanx.

I just thought of something... if Poser won't apply materials to props, how is it that the marketplace is literally loaded with texture mats for props? The very prop I'm trying to apply a mat to already has a texture for sale at Daz.

Well....easy answer is that most props are what we in theater call "hand props"; they are being carried by a character (and thus will take MAT-poses). Hard answer is that people were putting materials on objects in Poser for years before the MAT-pose hack was discovered. Despite the ubiquity of this useful hack, there is still a fully functional materials room in every current version of Poser.

Well of course the material room functions... lol... but so do all those mat files that are for sale. Trust me I've bought a lot of them. That's why after I thought about what you said, the fact that I've bought texture mats for props was the first thing that came to mind. And the mat files I've bought weren't all for props that have characters. Like I said, there is a textures set pz2 file for sale right now at Daz for the very same prop I've been trying to apply a pz2 (pose) to. But I just got off the phone with Curious Labs and they gave me an update for P6. They said a lot of people had been complaining about that problem in P6 so try applying the update to see if that fixes it. I didn't have this problem with P5 or a long time ago with P4 so I'll see if the update works. Thanx for trying to help me though, if this doesn't work I don't know what will... lol Guess I'll just be calling Curious Labs back. He told me if it didn't work to send him all of my files email and he'd check it out. Thanx again :) Angelluciano I'll post back to let you know if it worked.

You can apply poses to unparented props, but you have to hack the pz2, and there must be a figure in the Poser document.

I discovered how to apply poses to unparented props back in May 2003, after a related breakthrough with 'Point At' by Migal. Here's how; make your MAT pose, then in a text editor 'Search and Replace' the string 'prop' with 'actor'. Example for the Poser box primitive:

{<br></br>//'boxMAT.pz2' for the Poser 'BOX.PP2'.<br></br>version<br></br>    {<br></br>    number 3.0<br></br>    }<br></br> box_1<br></br> {<br></br>   material Preview<br></br>            {<br></br>           KdColor 1 0.768627 0.768627 1 <br></br>              KaColor 0 0 0 1 <br></br>            KsColor 0 0 0 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 ":Ground Default Texture.tif"<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>}

Notes:
There must be a figure in the document before any pose file can be applied to anyting. The pz2 above is for 'box_1', if you loaded another instance of the box it would be named 'box_2', the MAT pose for box_1 will not work on box_2, you would have to make another MAT refering to box_2, or include a section for box_2 in the original MAT. Message edited on: 06/04/2005 06:19

Wow. So the texture maps in the marketplace won't work on the prop they're made for unless there's a figure in the scene? Cause I've almost given up and just decided to go with mt5. & m6c. files instead of pz2. files I am very curious of how the mat in the marketplace works for the very same product I'm having so much trouble with. :(

Don't forget the null figure trick. Actually, this is one of the reasons I tend to make figures instead of props. Alternate Geometry reportedly has problems in props, MAT poses have the work-arounds we've discussed, and of course joints are a no-no in a prop. Conversely, smart-prop behavior may be approximated by making the prop conforming, with a dummy body part; aka, a sword figure would have BODY, hip, and rHand, unless you wanted to be able to twist and swivel the blade in the hand, in which case the actors are BODY, hip, rHand, and sword. Only the sword contains geometry; the rest are empty actors.

"So the texture maps in the marketplace won't work on the prop they're made for unless there's a figure in the scene?" Texture maps will work fine on props (providing the props have UV cordinates), the peoblem is just with applying MAT pose files. Remember that the standard way to change materials in Poser is in the 'Surface Materials' dialogue box (in P4), or the 'MATERIAL' tab (in P5). MAT poses seem to be an invention that happens to work with Poser, rather than a planned feature. It is a limitation of Poser that a figuer must exist in the document before a pose file will work, the tick mark at the bottom of a pose pallet won't be there untill a figure is loaded, and you can't even cheat by putting the pose in a UI dot, a figure must exist. As Nomuse said, using a small geometry-less figure as a parent/carrier for a prop is a good workround, you can use my 'MinFig' in the Free Stuff for this purpose, it's free to use and distribute in any way, including as part of a commertial package.