I'm studying the P6 figures. 

They have a full body texture file.  Then a separate head texture that goes over the underlying body texture.

The eyes have an eye ball texture file and then an inner eye for the iris.

How does Poser know what order to apply the textures?

I'd like to make a fishnet stocking texture to go  over the legs.  I was wondering how I could work out a separate leg texture map to go over the underlying body texture file.

Thanks
Cheers,
Lara

 It doen't work that way. The figures have material zones defined on their surface, and each one can have different settings, including texture map, colour, node setup etc. Look at Jessi in the material room and you'll see a list of her material zones at the top.

Unlike the DAZ figures, Jessi doesn't have a separate leg material zone, but it's quite easy to add fishnets to her existing texture. Make a copy of the body texture, open it in an image editor like Photoshop, overlay a fishnet pattern, and save. Then apply that texture in place of the existing one in the material room.

I feel like there is a secret to the layers of texture files.

There is a Jesse.obz.  And I understand to bring the obj file into UVMapper to create the body map.

But, how do they make her Head have a separate texture file and still be part of the Jesse.obj?

If you take just her head into UV Mapper, it's a separate obj file.

Understanding this is the key!!! (maybe?)

Cheers,
Lara

Ok, try this - maybe it will help. Open Jessi's geometry file in UVMapper, then do Edit > Select > By Material... and you'll see a list of her material zones. These will correspond to the list you see in the material room. Material zones (ie where on the model's surface to apply the materials) are defined as part of the OBJ/OBZ file. The actual material characteristics (colour, texture etc.) are defined in the CR2/CRZ file.

Each obj file is made up of a lot of polygons (faces).
each face can be in 1 and only 1 material group.
each material group can have 1 and only 1 texture definition.
In Poser no material groups overlap or layer

An easy way to see whats going on is to load a figure and set the diffuse color channel for each surface listed to a different color.
In uv mapper you can set the color for each material, it shows as colored lines.
.

• yes, you can do some things within a material zone to layer stuff - thats a special case *

Is it possible to make each "GROUP" in a welded object have it's own separate texture map?

I've noticed eyelashes have their own transparency maps, etc.

Thanks.
Cheers,
-Lara

The obj file for the figure contains groups that define the body part, and surface(material) groups that define the texture areas. The two are different.

It may be easier to use the total uv map which contains multiple surface groups to paint skin textures . When applied it will then affect only the surface its assigned to.

Look at the pulldown list of surfaces in the material room for the figure you are working with.

I've noticed UV Mapper has an arrange by material option.

The result is a might unwieldly.   lol

Is the mapping info in the .obj file? 
Or is it in the .cr2 file?

I bought the Secrets of Poser 5 book.  I'm hoping it will answer the multi-map-on-one-figure questions.

uv mapping is in the obj file , so are the material groups
in an obj file a line starting with g is a group, usemtl is a material
i think the vt lines are the uv texture coordinates.

This may be an inappropriate bit of information to throw in here, but my enthusiasm and excitement for what is being developed prevents me from being discrete. There is an incredible tool being developed by Bagginsbill called VSS (Versatile Shader System) that will potentially do what you seek to do. Since fishnets mold themselves so closely to the body, they are appropriate subjects for the "Second-Skin" approach... but in order for them to look realistic in close-up renders, you want a fairly sophisticated material-room enhancements, such as displacement settings for your mesh. This means a mask.
I'm doing makeup using masks at the moment, and although my artistic skills are a bit average - poor Charlotte's obviously had a hard night out - you get the idea:

I know - not the best makeup ever, but it's all done in the material room as opposed to being painted directly on the texture .jpg, which I think gives one infinitely more flexibility to vary tint and add colours by layering and do different sorts of shine and all sorts of exciting things. And yes, he's even done stockings...
www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php
...so I'm sure even fishnet can be done that way.

Here's the thread about VSS - it's a loooooooong read!
www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php
An idea worth exploring...

At first I tried to paint the lines, but then I realized the default texture map made by uvmapper made an interesting fishnet design.

I plugged the 2D material node into the first socket.

-Lara