looking for a 1 click solution to change the file extension type of every file in a folder or dir to another extension type. For poser, im hoping this can quickly change .pz2 files to .cm2 files to save my bloated ProPack Pose directory. Thanks!

shoulda kept my big mouth shut before I hit google. Im plahing now with Bulk Rename Utility from http://www.snapfiles.com/download/dlbulkrename.html But hey, since ive started the thread, anyone have prior experience with some proggies of this type and like any enough to recommend?

Attached Link: http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Shell_and_Desktop/Context_Menu_Enhancements/index2.html

Frankly, the fastest (on Windows) way to do it is just to go to a command prompt and type:

ren *.pz2 *.cm2

using the format ren [existing extention] [new extention] and hit return and bam you're done.

Download a context menu enhancement to give you a fast way to get to a command prompt for any folder and you're set. Sometimes the old ways are best :-)

Message edited on: 02/22/2006 01:25

Creative Element Power Tools $18 and worth it. Power rename ... Wild card and procedural renaming of files. Copy and print folder listings (Handy for file listings in readmes) Find duplicate files including a side by side image comparator. A gazilloin other power toys. One bug I know of. There is a thingamajig that remembers the last folders you used and puts an icon on all the file chooser boxes so you can access them quickly. (Really handy) If you turn this jigger on Poser becomes a rabid focus stealing hound. I've tried several of these folder assistant type things. All of them seemt to wig out with Poser (No Surprise there) P.S. I don't work for them.

"Frankly, the fastest (on Windows) way to do it is just to go to a command prompt and type: ren *.pz2 *.cm2" that a global command or dir specific? I wanna cd myself to target dir first then execute that command right?

Attached Link: http://www.folderview.com/folderview/index.html

http://www.pcanswers.co.uk/downloads/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=5525&subsectionid=596

It doesn't remember folders, you add them manually and access the list by right-clicking on the '?' icon in file dialogs. It works with every program I've tried it on, including Poser but that's Poser 4 so ymmv. For me, it helps tremendously, having the 4-5 folders I use most available though AF.

There's a utility called CopyTo at the link I posted above that's supposed to remember the last folder you used.

I just yesterday downloaded Folder View which looks like it may combine the abilities of both of these and do even more as well. I haven't installed it but it definitely looks like a possibility.

Message edited on: 02/22/2006 01:50

"that a global command or dir specific? I wanna cd myself to target dir first then execute that command right?"

Roger that. If you wanted to do several folders, you could copy/move them to a temp folder and then from there do:

C:myTemp>xcopy/s *.pz2 *.cm2

That would copy all the pz2 files in all the subdirectories to .cm2. That's a copy operation though so the originals would still be there. You'ld need to do a:

C:myTemp>del/s *.pz2

to clean them up and then copy/move the folders into your cameras folder. If you executed the xcopy from the root of the poses folder, you'ld get every pose file in every pose folder but I assume that's not what you want to do. Needless to say, be VERY sure you're in the right folder before doing a del/s * anything :-)

Message edited on: 02/22/2006 02:26

I've used a lot of rename utilities (MultiRen is my fave, followed by BulkRename), but for Poser libraries, I put the "ren *.pz2 *.cm2" command into a batchfile called PZ2CM.bat (along with a reverse version called CM2PZ.bat), and copied it into each folder I want to convert. Dbl-click on either *.bat file executes the command without calling up a dos window in each folder. Works best for me.

Attached Link: http://poser.rois-sorciers.com/ShaderWorks/index.htm

"but for Poser libraries, I put the "ren *.pz2 *.cm2" command into a batchfile called PZ2CM.bat" Leather, is this something that is done by creating a text document, typing in a string of code, and then saving as .bat? Could you provide the code to use? I sorta never really did officially learn DOS.... semidieu, I think that pre-Poser 5 users with Pose runtimes over 256 folders is an epidemic, and I for one would LOVE to see a little GUI app created specifically for Poser to convert directories full of .pz2 files into .cm2 files. What I would think would be desirable features would be: 1)Have it first launch prompt user to browse to root Poser directory, so it would have awareness of ProPack or Poser 4 Pose and Camera directories 2)Have it open itself to Pose library on all subsequent launches so you can get right to browsing for the pose subdir you want to work with 3)Give it an "explorer type" window, so that a dir with .pz2 as well as .rsr and .png can still be quickly used to select .pz2 files. Perhaps include a "select all .pz2's" button? 4)And possibly just to be Awesome on multiple levels, after conversion, an option to "Move dir of converted files to Camera library?" with a simple click of a "Yes" button? Tbis features list, if not prohibbitive, would I think make a sweet little application that most ProPack users would be proud to have alongside thier UVMappers, Objaction Movers, MAT Pose Editors, STOMPs, etc etc :) From a scripting standpoint, is this too complicated/time consuming an application to justify being a freebie?

1. As i don't have Poser 4 anymore installed, i have a little question: does the file Poser folderRuntimeprefsLibraryPrefs.xml exist or not ? (It's not necessary, but better for me) 2) Very easy... 3) This could take a bit more time to do this that way... In my mind, i was moving the files using the explorer, without changing the extension, then simply run the app to convert automatically the extension. But i can try to make it that way... The main issue is the rsr files. I still didn't take the time to have a rsr viewer, because Poser5/6 don't need it. I know there was some "hot" thread some month ago... I'll have to take a look. 4) Sure... but in their same folders name ? I'm actually finishing a new module for my app... But, i'll take a moment to look further to this one. Two last things: it will be for Windows XP, with framework 1.1 and, of course, free ;-)

Attached Link: http://aumha.org/freeware/mfshell.php

I favor 1-4a Renamer.... its free http://www.1-4a.com/rename I use it to rename my MAT pz2 to mc6.

Hello semidieu, 1)no, I dont see any such .xml there, ive only two filelist.xml's in my Poser ProPack 2)excellent! 3)with Poser 5 having the ability to handle Pose directories containing more than 256 subdirectories, this app would most likely be used only by Poser 4 and Poser ProPack users, so those subdirectories will contain .pngs at least, and very commonly .rsr's that havent been deleted yet. Now that I think about it, why complicate it and UNstreamline it with my explorer suggestion? Someone throw something at me! This app is only changing .pz2 to .cm2, so when you select the pose subdir, it SHOULDNT be explorer type, it should only show the .pz2's in that dir, ignore and not display any other file extension. Im a friggin idiot for not suggesting this originally! If we can still do the move directory, then all the .png and any .rsr you dont see displayed in the select for conversion window are moved right along - no problem! 4)Absolutely, keeping as simple as possible, just move that folder, stripping it completely from Pose library and putting it in Camera library with no change of name so you can keep looking for the same directory you are used to :) If working on XP makes it backwards compatible to Win2000Pro, WinME, and Win9x then Poser people across the globe will probably start naming thier children after you ;) Marque, that sounds worth looking at, is it just a folder moving utility or does it rename file extensions as well as allowing folder moving option? Tyger, ill look at the app youve suggested as well semidieu if you are a "joy of scriping" type of person and you have the time, I still am very eager to see what you code as a poser specific app! I believe its a very real app nitch waiting to be filled :) Thank you everyone for great suggestions!

The very best alternative I have found is a freebie, CKRename. I have re-organized several runtimes with it, and it's very stabile and easy to learn. http://www.musicsucks.com/CKSoft/index.htm Good luck, Britt PS.. I have no clue as of why the root directory is called "musicsucks" lol The software rocks!

Attached Link: http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=44093

I just wrote a little SendTo utility for copying/moving files amongst Poser's folders but it looks like FolderView may render that redundant. It would have been pretty easy to add the renaming functionality but no need to duplicate what semidieu is doing. My DOS skills are hardly great and I've forgotten most of what I knew years ago. After figuring out how compiled programs handle sendto I was curious to see how batch files work and came up with this: In Notepad or another text editor, add the following to a new document: xcopy %1*.pz2 %1*.cm2 del %1*.pz2 move %1 "J:Program FilesMetaCreationsPoser 4Runtimelibrariescamera" Substitute the proper path to your camera folder on line 3. Note you will need to add the quotes if there are any spaces in the path, best to just include them. Save the file as pz2Tocm2.bat Make sure it ends up with a .bat extension, not .txt - rename if necessary. Now, move the file to your SendTo folder. On my Win2K system, it's under Documents and Settings and my login. When you right-click on a folder in explorer and select SendTo, you should see your new .bat file as an option. To use it, right-click on a folder in your poses folder and select SendTo->pz2Tocm2. It should rename the pz2 files to Cm and move the folder to cameras. I tried it on a couple of folders and it worked fine but please make backups and test it before running it in earnest. The %1 resolves to the folder name which gets sent to the batch file. This is essentially what leather-guy is using except you don't have to copy the batch file into every folder you want to convert. You can leave off the third line if you want to move the folder manually. Make sure to only use it on Pose folders. It shouldn't rename or delete anything if it doesn't find .pz2 files but it will move the folder and its contents to your cameras folder. Using it on individual files will likely move them also.

Its working perfectly, converting and moving as designed. Thanks a lot Larry!

I second Tyger Purr in post 13

Glad it works for you. I think I'll actually end up using it myself so all is good :-)

OK... here are some informations... First of all, for the app to work, you need the Framework 1.1. This is available from Win98 to WinXP. Then, what the app will do: 1 scan a folder (and subfolders for Poser5/6 users) for Poser files, then automatically detect if these files are P4/P5/P6 MAT pose or even partial MAT pose. 2 You choose which files should move and where, using a context menu. For Poser5/6 users, you even can choose in which external runtime you want the files to be moved. (The selection system allow to select one file, all files in the current folder or all filles in current folder and subdirs). 3 Hit one last button to move all the selected files, with their png or rsr files, automatically changing the extension. PS. For Poser5/6 users, the material collection files are converted to pose file if necessary (a line must be changed in the file (mtlCollection -> figure)) Actually, this module is nearly finished. I have to make one or two last tests and make the documentation. I will also have to look how my app react with an old version of Poser, ie a version without the LibraryPrefs.xml files...

I can beta test this for you on Poser Pro Pack SR3 and Poser 5. Sounds like youre making great progress, the features sound exciting! Make sure to give us a nice sexy poser-babe GUI ;) PM me if you have need of beta stage experimentation, ill be happy to help

P3D0 Explorer has a has a batch rename utility, I that does extensions to. I still don't understand why you want to change .pz2s to camera files though?

Angel, the reason this application is desirable for Poser 4 and Poser ProPack users is that these versions have a bug that is not present in Poser 5 and up: When your Pose folder hits 255 or more subdirectories the long verticle column you get when you click to expand your list of pose directories shrinks to only 3 or 4 characters wide. so that an alphabetical list of your subdirs like: MAT M3 Maps Hi Med MAT M3 Maps Hi Light MAT V3 Maps Hi Med MAT V3 Maps Hi Light will display in the shrunk window like this: MAT MAT MAT MAT There is no way to read your directory names, you must open you pose library in explorer, outside Poser, COUNT your dirctories and remember for instance that "MAT M3 Maps hi is the 9th subdirectory down from the start of the MAT MAT MAT line of partial subdirectory names that shows." which im sure you will realise is a bit frustrating :) The reason for this utility, is that in Poser 4 and ProPack, pose files may be renamed from .pp2 extension to .cm2, and works exactly the same, this allows a user to start loading up the Camera library with pose directories, and get back that full sized subdirectory selection window. If you started out with Poser 5 or higher, you never would have had a chance to experience this wonderful limitation ;)

Ouch. I started with Poser 3, but never heard of this, lucky the Camera files work the same! I have big categories in my Pose Library. The first level of my runtime just designates which version of Poser the file works in, the next is which figure, then its separated by MOR, MAT, and Pose, after that I've even separated files by part i.e. Full, Partial, Head, Eyes, Lips, etc. Do you guys really mean you've still got that many MAT folders? My runtime is 30GB, I thought that was a lot?

Hmmm, mine's only just over 3GB so 30GB does seemlike a lot to me! It's not the size in MB or GB though, it's the number of folders as Logan says. I'm not sure that the list doesn't start shrinking in width even before you hit 255 but that seems a likely culprit since 256 (0-255) is the largest number you can represent in one byte. Another reason to split out some of those folders is that pre P5, you have can't use more than one level of subdirectories so all that nice multi-level stuff doesn't work and you have one long list which is tedious to scroll through. I'll give my fellow coders the benefit of the doubt and not necessarily call it a bug. Bill Gates supposedly once said that no one would ever need more than 640K of memory. Poser had and still has a lot of old code in it. I'm sure that back then, no one imagined that there would ever be a need for 255+ pose folders. MAT and MOR posed hadn't even been invented and 30GB would have probably held the runtimes of every Poser user in the world. You can also rename and move pz2 files to the hand (hd2) and face (fc2) folders. I think cameras is probably used most because usually people have fewer items there.