ooook..pulled up Doc Geeps Joint Editor tutorial. Seems fairly logical, except I'm coming from another perspective. Where he's creating from the ground up, I have a complete object (Gus, the robot).
Now the problem I have is separating 'body parts' so they can be posed. What my problem is, is that the .obj comes in as 1 piece. There's no separate parts I can grab ahold of. I need to separate the complete object into pieces, so I can set the joints (if I have this right..this is my first after all..;)

So, I've gone back into Wings and separated all the objects, but that didn't work. So, any ideas? is there another tutorial I should look at? Mebbe Quinlors? Just point me in the right direction..hey, if I can get it posable and UVMapped, I'll be offering it as a freebie..;)

You need groups for the geometry in the .obj file.  You can do this in UVMapper, possibly the original application, or in Poser's Setup Room.  Best to use anything but the Setup Room.  Each group (g in the .obj file) represents a body part.  For something like a robot, you then rig but you might want to sets bends to 0 except where the robot might have flexible joints (think "Lost in Space" Robot's arms here).
Don't know anything about Wings.  Look for Wings->Poser tutorials online or here in the Tutorials section.  UVMapper is a good idea if there is no easy way (but I'm sure that I've read that Wings can do this, I think?).

Robert

EUREKA ! (not the show..;) Ok, I found Quinlor's tutorial. It's got everything I needed. Heck, I didn't know Poser 4 had a Setup room..;) and how many years have I used it?..;) have many things to rename, delete, re-uvmap, etc. etc., etc.,...sigh....;)

get Uvmapper Free and look for PHIBuilder (free)

setup your grouping in UVM. Eg L-Upperarm, L-Forearm etc
save this with groups on into your poser/runtimes/geometry/newfigures folder
open PHIBuilder and load in your OBJ.
arrange your figures grouping then save your PHI file.
open Poser and in the File menu import HIER File.
enter name as requested
goto New Figures and load in your new figure..
use the Joint Editor to adjust as needed.

(this method is more or less painless........ to a relative level of pain)

so that's what PHIbuilder does..;)

Got the Quinlor tutorial, but I'm still stuck; the object exports as a single entity. I've renamed each flinkin' part to the requisite Poser name, and it imports as 1 object. No subnames (I'm still trying to figure out how Quinlor [hmm..haven't seen him around, mebbe I'll drop him a line] gets some fancy boning menu up. I can draw bones 'till the cows come home, but it won't break down the object into any useable pieces.

Hierarchy Editor isn't much more help, I get object, and that's it. Can't seem to chop down to any more levels (the ironic thing is it's actually made of about 30 objects, and there are no common polygons)

I'll try Phibuilder, and yes, I'll try UVMapper (which I have had no success with..;) and see what comes. Crikey, I begin to see why people charge for characters.. it's to pay for the aspirin..;)

I would uvmap it first then make the groups then make the figure.

spoken like the original robot maker..thanks..;) Actually, it was UVMapped, though in Wings. Or sort of..I would pull up the uvmaps, and they'd show, but not when let go. Outliner would only show 1 uvmapped material (the head). I switched the default material to the uvmapped color, which did the coloring, but for now, I'll get the thing boned and filleted first, then I can always go back and uvmap.
thanks again..

Hey pak, helgard has me pretty proficient in the whole figure making thing. Hit me for some help this weekemd. :)

Pakled I posted before you uploaded the mapped object picture.

Remember and turn off bending for any parts that don`t bend.

ISTR the gay robot in TTR did have some slight bending. but normally one turns off bending for robots.

It makes setting up the joints easier, you don`t have to bother about fall off zones etc.

I'm going to go back a couple of steps -- apologies if you've already made it past this point but I'd like to explain for the next time someone tries this. Poser's cr2-type files point to one or more .obj files, or to lines of geometry internal to the cr2 (done often for props and hair in the old days). Assuming a single .obj file, Poser sorts it into groups by looking for a "g" delineation. So far, so good. If you were able to use a clone cr2 you could merely repoint it at your new .obj file, it would recognize the internal groups, all would work. If you are creating a completely custom figure it gets a little more interesting. Outside of Pro-pack/P5/P6 and the Setup Room, there are two competing methods; the Hierarchy Editor method and the Phil Import method. The latter involves creating a Phil file (a simple text document that describes the desired hierarchy) then importing it into Poser. As part of the import process Poser will also follow the geometry pointer, and create a new cr2 that references the desired .obj file. The former seems more elaborate but I personally find it more error-free, particularly for simple figures. Import your .obj file into Poser. As Pakled has noticed, it comes in as a single object. However, the groups are still there and Poser can still make use of them. (Alternatively, you may chose to actually create your groups at this stage, by using Poser's Grouping Tool). To get access to the groups so you can re-arrange them in the Hierarchy Editor, you use the grouping tool. Create a new group. Hit "select all" (or is it "add all?" I forget.) Now use the command "Spawn Props." You now have in the workspace your original object plus a new object for every group that existed in it. Delete the original object, open the Hierarchy Editor, drag the objects into their right order, set their rotation orders, and hit "Create New Figure." As in the Phi method, you will at this point have a new cr2 in your library, and can go forward to the joint editing stage.

hmm..that's a lot of stuff..I'll see what I can do with it. I've had UVMapper Classic for awhile, I'll see what Phibuilder does. Back later..

I'd suggest checking the Poser4 manual first. Phi Builder works great (I've even run it on Virtual PC under a Mac OS) but I always have a little trepidation about people going immediately to an automated system before they understand what it is they are automating. I must underline. A Phi file is an extremely short and laughingly simple text file, completely human-readable. Phi Builder is a great time-saver for a custom figure with full hands and fingers, but silly if your "figure" is a handcart with two wheels. Oh and another by-the-by. Phil import was never implemented on Poser 4 Mac. It doesn't actually work until version 5. This won't affect you, of course, if you are PC.

I ran Phi Builder, which seemed to have no problems (ran the test). I think I have about 6 different pieces of the puzzle, and no idea how to put them together.

1. CR2 idea - copied Dorks', renamed it to Gus, and created a folder in LibrariesCharacters called 'gus'. Went into the CR2 with Wordpad, changed the path on the 2nd or 3rd line (I fergit) to point to that (gus) directory.

2. Geometries- made a folder there, called it 'gus' (why not be consistent..;), copied the export object from UVMapper into there

3. Copied the hierarchy PHI file created by PHI builder under File|Hierarchy (whatever)

4. Haven't created the (what) .rsr file (and where and how do I make that? Thumbnail wouldn't be too hard, but how to convert it to an rsr file?) I know it has to be 80-odd pixels on a side, but can't rememeber the exact number.

5. Tried making bones, but evidently they have to be in a certain order (according to various tutorials) and point in specific directions. They snap in all sorts of directions if entered randomly. Deleting them seemed to make 1 bone just get larger and larger..;) There's something about being able to export a skeleton from an existing figure, but I can't figure out how that's done. Sheesh..;)

I now have a panel in the New Figures directory that comes up empty. This is likely because I have a feeling that somewhere, somehow, there should be code pointing to the object, maybe in the CR2 file? not sure where to look.

y'know, I should probably take this slowly; I'm learning to fly before learning to crawl..;) All I need to learn is how to edit CR2 and object files, make groups work for me (the names are there, but the functions aren't). I'm kinda wishing the Poser Joint Editor was a little more flexible; say the ability to drag and size bones to where they need to be (I think I've been modeling too long..;).

Quinlor's tut is pretty good, and for those who know the basics, probably a life-saver. I just need to get the skinny on the basic steps. Mebbe I'll take another look at one of Doc's tuts. Thanks to everyone now..and hopefully I have scared the Bejorans' out of anyone wanting to try this..;)

It's now in chunks. Can get left shin, and left shin will rotate on 3 axes..next step, figuring how to tie it together so the parenting works, etc. Here's what the current 'skeleton' looks like..

That skeleton is all wrong, I would try the phi file method.

The free version of p3do explorer can convert a png to an rsr available at the link, you need to download the poser plugin pack as well.

http://www.senosoft.com/

and now I know what that does..;) I've got it downloaded (couldn't be Packrat, it was already taken..;)

human knees (or shins) only rotate thru one axis (just ask any athlete), but I reckon poser (and robots) don't need to adhere to that rule. :lol:

Oh, ask around and you'll find athletes you have discovered more than axis of rotation. Ask them after they are out of the cast, however! Poser does have a joint limits system, although it is often disabled by users. Perhaps more troublesome is that I, at least, can't figure out their weighting system; how to make a joint move preferentially along one axis first whilst dragging on end of a limb or invoking IK. And as someone who has drawn/plastic kit-built/modeled the occasional robot, it is quite clear that while legs are often depicted as being nothing but hinges, the poor thing can't walk a step unless you cheat the joints a little and allow play in other directions (particularly long-axis rotation!) From the looks of it, pakled, your robot is simple enough so building him in the Hierarchy Room method would be quite plausible. By the by, that screenshot with bones leads me to believe you are NOT rigging in Poser 4. Would this be Pro-pack, or are you using an even more recent version?

I'm not rigging at all!..;) That's one of the 6 secrets of character creation I haven't mastered yet. I'm wondering if these 'bones' can be re-oriented (or occidentalized..;) somehow.

I think what's next is parenting 1 bone to another. If I can figure that out, I think I'm almost there..

The bones in your picture look like they already are parented the lines attached to them usually mean that there is parenting, you could fix each bone manually in the setup room, probably.

ok..was hoping that. Will have to check, but the workweek calls..;)