I am new to all this, so I need some help, please.  I am trying to make some prop files, so I start in Carrara 3D Basics, export as *.3ds, import into Poser 5, export as *.obj, import into UVMapper, export as *.obj, and import into Poser to add textures.  I would like to save my work as a *.pp2 file in my Poser libraries.  How do I do this?  I have tried going through the help section of Poser to figure it out, but no luck so far.  Maybe there is an easier way to make props, but, for a start, I would like to know how I can make a *.pp2 file in Poser 5.

ppz or pp2?  Because Poser5's props are ppz files.  Poser7 saves props as pp2.  I don't recall if Poser6 could save as pp2 or not. 

Thank you for your reply.

ppz would be fine, but I would like to be able to save as pp2, also, as DAZStudio uses the pp2.

P5/6/7 all have file compression. Pzz , Pz2 and so on.

To turn it off in P7, will be simular in P5/6 I don't have them installed right now to check.

Edit > General Preferences > Misc  and uncheck Use file compression.

Thank you for your help.

The textures came through in Poser, when I loaded the props, but they did not come through in DAZ Studio. Is there any way that I can have the textures come along with the pp2's when I put the pp2's in DAZ Studio, or do I have to load new textures after loading my props there?

I don't use DS but I have read enough to know that can happen with DS. I have read it is better to add the textures in DS and save the DS Mats. This way you have Mats for both DS and Poser. Keeps everyone happy.

Thank you for your reply- it really helped me!

I did as you suggested and saved my mats.  When I loaded my prop, I selected it, went to File, Merge, and the textures loaded.

Cool

BTW, why did you export 3ds from carrara instead of .obj to begin with?

Thank you for your reply.

I bought it through the DAZ site and was not able to update it so that I could export obj instead of 3ds.

I believe that, in the past, through Eovia.com, that once the Basics version was registered, it could be updated to be able to export obj

OK, I have pro, so sometimes I forget about the other versions and forget that there are some limits to them.

See, you just showed me something. LOL.

I am glad that I could help you, too, after all that I learned from you.

A couple simplifications -- You can export from Carrara as .obj For that matter, you can UV map in Carrara (although the built-in mapper is much more primitive than what is offered by UV Mapper Pro). The major reason I ever have to import to Poser then export again is to set scaling, position, and orientation to suit. Now, if you save to library (with compression turned off) it should save as .pp2 HOWEVER, it will save with geometry imbedded in the .pp2 Last I heard, DAZ required external geometry. There are various ways to do this but, really, I find it simplest to line up a .pp2 without embedded geometry (which most things outside of the shipped-with library are), and my brand-new .pp2, side by side in a text editor. It's basically a matter of chopping a big section out and adding one new line that points towards the director I put the object file in (the .obj, that is). Fortunately, Poser will only imbed geometry when you create a prop for the first time. If you make some changes and re-save it, it will keep the link to the external geometry you chose.

Thank you for the information; it helps me to learn what I need to know to make my own props.

Basically, I loaded the same pp2 that I created for Poser 5 into DAZ Studio  and added new textures to it.  I saved the textures and can add them automatically after I load the pp2.

Before that, I tried editing the text but had no luck in finding the link to the external geometry so that I could point the pp2 in DAZ Studio to it.

There are better examples out there (which I can't find at the moment): but here are the tops of two different .pp2's; the second has external geometry:

version
    {
    number 4.01
    }
prop landspeeder_1
    {
    geomCustom
        {
        numbVerts    2764
        numbTVerts    0
        numbTSets     0
        numbElems   2556
        numbSets    10465
        v 0.001402 -0.015198 -0.010265
        v 0.001295 -0.015390 -0.010766
        v 0.000992 -0.015554 -0.011190 ...
   
    ....    f 2763 2764 2754 2753
        f 2764 2755 2745 2754
        usemtl Body
        f 2756 2757 2758 2759 2760 2739 2740 2761 2762 2763 2764 2755
        }

    }

prop landspeeder_1
    {
    name    landspeeder
    on
    bend 1...

Obviously the "v 0.001402 -0.015198 -0.010265" lines are geometry. So are the "f 2764 2755 2745 2754" lines. In the original file this went on for many pages.

Select and delete EVERYTHING until you get to that statement "Prop so_and_so_1" In the new file, insert instead of "geomCustom" the lines "storageOffset" and "objFileGeom" as in the file example below;

{

version
    {
    number 4.2
    }
prop City block_1
    {
    storageOffset 0 0.3487 0
    objFileGeom 0 0 :Runtime:Geometries:Dystopia:004.obj
    }

prop City block_1
    {
    name    City block_1
    on
    bend 1...

The numbers after "storageOffset," just copy. No-one seems really sure what they mean but it works best if you put them in! For the "objFileGeom" line you have to, again obviously, put in the directory and name of your actual object file; ":Runtime:Geometries:My_Props:New_prop.obj" Hope that helps.

Thank you for the examples.

I tried following them several times and several different ways, and got various results, but not what I wanted.  I'm sure my attempts were just misinterpretations of the examples you gave me.  I will try again, though, and let you know if I am successful.

"Various results?"

Big thing to watch for is the brackets.  If you haven't programmed in a C-like language, it might be hard to get really, really used to making sure that every single "open" bracket is followed by a "closed" bracket.

I went through it again, making sure about the brackets.  The textures did not come through.

I will try again and let you know if it works out.

Thanks for all your help.

Textures didn't come through?

Several things to look for:

Make sure the .obj file has "usemtl" statements. These appear in the face section and have the format "usemtl my_material".

Make sure that each statement is matched by a material declaration in the body of the pp2, with the IDENTICAL name used in the usemtl statement.

These will look something like:

    material Seats
        {
        KdColor 0.811765 0.811765 0.811765 1
        KaColor 0 0 0 1
        KsColor 0 0 0 1
        TextureColor 0.8 0.8 0.8 1
        NsExponent 100 ...

Lastly, be aware that props won't always take material POSES.  To make a long story short, it works best if the prop is parented before you try to apply a material pose to it.  I don't think this is the problem you describe but it is worth being thorough.