Quote - For what it's worth, I am told by Poser that the file is newer than expected.  Poser also asks for a texture called "no_map" that it cannot find.  (Just a hunch, but there is no such texture, is there?)  Could be a driver thing even.

I've been puzzling this no_map business for a while. It appears that Poser 7 and Pro write file NO_MAP into every node, even nodes that are not image nodes. Whereas Poser 6 and older write file "" (empty quotes) into the material.

When I load a P7 or PPro material into P6, and save it again, it writes file ":NO_MAP" into every node. So it thinks there's supposed to be an image file called NO_MAP in your runtime. Strange. I think I'm going to have to fix all the materials with an external tool. I may switch to generating them all using matmatic - it knows how to make compatible materials all the way back to Poser 5.

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Is there an easy way to preserve the root node settings, while still creating and connecting the cool stuff the script makes?  I love the crazy gob of noodles your script chucks out, but not how it also changes root node values like diffuse colour (which I know is not an accurate way to darken skin tones, but it is good for alien tinting), highlight size and the aforementioned transparency.  I thought I could copy before syncronising and then paste, but that seems to always unplug the child noodles which I find a bit cluttered to (quickly) plug back in.  (Actually, shouldn't they be preserved in a copy and paste?  Or do the noodles belong to the children?)  If I could figure out how to do this, it would solve my other problems.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to do. By definition, the template includes everything about the material being defined and copied, except for which image maps to use.

If VSS were to not copy certain settings, it would be impossible to actually force the target material to be what you want. For example, suppose you were going from skin to a bronze metal (because you want a statue). How would you expect that to work?

If you want the skin shader to be a certain shader, then put that shader into Template Skin. Bronze, human skin, glass, whatever you put there, it is, by definition, supposed to be copied to all the target material zones.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)