This is a dumb question but are magnets "parented" to their respective objects, or do you have to designate the parent yourself for the base, zone and magnet? The reason I'm asking is that I have a figure with about a dozen magnets on it. Sometimes when I put the figure in a already made pose, the magnets and zones move around haphazardly so that they are not influencing their respecitve parts anymore. I thought that when you made a magnet, the zone, base, etc. moved in conjunction with the element (for instance R Collar). It seems to behave when I move the part manually (twist, bend, up...) but not when I apply a pose. Also, I know there is a way to make the magnet into a morph dial, but when I tried it, rotating the new dial to 1.0 makes the bodypart blow up like a balloon.

"Also, I know there is a way to make the magnet into a morph dial, but when I tried it, rotating the new dial to 1.0 makes the bodypart blow up like a balloon." Did you delete the magnet before you turned the dial? If you didn't, when you set the dial to 1.0, you also had the magnet giving the effect of 1.0. So you in effect had the dial set to 2.0, which is probably why your part blew up.

If you make a magnet into a morph dial, you need to delete the magnet, that could be what is causing the bodypart to blow up like a balloon (if the magnet and the morph are affecting it).

Zero all existing morphs for the body part prior to adding a new morph.

magnets dont always move 100% with the bodypart they are attached to ..and no I'm not sure what Wyrmmaster does to make them behave better as far as the 'making into a dial' what you'll actually do is 'spawn a morphs target' .. which means if you have ANY other morphs on turn them off or they will be included in your morph also when you are done spawning REMOVE the magnets or you'll get a double effect when you turn on the new morph with the magnet still active ..the equivalent of turning the dial to 2 OR to test, turn OFF any dial you see named "magnet anynumber" and then you can check your morph without things exploding

Q: Are magnets "parented" to their respective objects? A: Yes. When a Magnet is loaded from the Object menu the Base and Zone will be parented to the currently selected body part or prop, the Mag will be parented to the Base. When magnets are saved to a props pallet they automaticly save as smart props, so they should attach to the right parts of the selected figure when loaded. The whole magnet suit, Base, Zone, and Mag, should move with the body part, irrespective of wether it is moved by hand or via a pose file. If this is not happening for you I am at a loss to think of an explination. P.S. Which version of Poser are you using?

Using Poser 6. Waahh! I always seem to ask questions that result in "Gosh, I just don't know!" As an example, I select the right shoulder, do Object --> Create Magnet and make a magnet that pulls the back of the R Shoulder out a bit. All three components (base, zone, magnet) move with the shoulder just fine when the shoulder is repositioned manually. But when a pose is applied, the zone and the magnet have shifted significantly such that the zone isn't even near the shoulder. Question: How do I save a magnet as a smart prop? You think if I save them as smart props, load a magnetless figure, apply a pose, and THEN apply my magnet props it'll work?

Why not just create a morph target with the magnet and then get rid of the magnet?

Save the magnet if you want to adjust clothing over the body part.

Q: How do I save a magnet as a smart prop? A: Unlike ordenary props magnets will automaticly save as smart props when saved to a props pallet. Just select the magnet, click the '+' in the pallet to save it, a 'Set Name' box will pop up, use the 'Select Subset' button to include the Base, Mag, and Zone. If you want you can save multiple magnets to one pp2 (prop) file. Q: You think if I save them as smart props, load a magnetless figure, apply a pose, and THEN apply my magnet props it'll work? A: It's worth a try!

Another thought. The poses you are applying, were they saved whilst the magnet was attached? If so I think that the pose file will restore the magnet to the position (relitive to the body part) that it had when the pose was saved. If you moved the magnet after the pose was saved, then the pose may just be restoring the magnet to its previous position. On the other hand perhaps this is a bug in P6, I don't have P6 myself, I mostly use P4, and have never noticed this problem you are having.

Bad news and good news:

The bad news is that poses do not restore the magnet positions even though the same magnets were saved with the pose. As an example, I load my figure that was saved with the magnets in their correct positions. I apply a new pose and the magnets fly. I apply the original pose but the while the magnets have moved along with the bodyparts, they are still in their haphazard positions.

The good news is that I saved all my magnets as props. Now all I have to do is play with my figure, and just before I'm finally ready to render or export, I apply all my magnet props and he's in the proper pose with all he magnetic tweaks.

Thank you!

Message edited on: 07/19/2005 02:58