poser make me crazy, i can't found a solution for the following problem ...

everytime if i import a 3d cloth-mesh from 3ds max and add the bones and assign it to polygon groups in poser, it result in gaps at the polygon group edges and the smoothing is also interrupt. how can i fix or take influence on this, close the gaps and make the smoothing over all groups ?

any suggestions ?

Looks like the groups in your mesh are not welded to each other.  I can't tell you how to fix this in MAX since I don't have MAX.   If you have UVMapper you could try welding the vertices.

This usually happen if in the distribution of the mesh groups there are two (or more) mesh groups that "touch" each other, but the corresponding bones do not.
This happens a lot when using the auto group tool, and it happens with chest and rCollar, lCollar. Or with hip/abdomen with lThigh and rThigh.
Or, the cr2 is missing weld groups. This is rare when rigging via the setup room.

I'm assuming you're cutting the mesh in Max before you send it to Poser, so a few things that I can think of here at work this morning.....if not, I guess just ignore me then:

Are you matching the shape of the base figure's various parts as close as possible when you cut the clothing in Max? If the clothing group is too far off from the body zone, it can cause problems like this on occasion.

Do you give each piece of clothing the same internal name as the base figures bones? While this isn't necessary, it saves a heap of trouble in the setup room - all you have to do is delete the bones you don't need, open up the group editor and just run through the list making sure that each one matches up correctly.

As long as you have the grouping right, and everying left the setup room correctly, Poser should weld the groups for you just fine. I'd say go back and have a look at how the clothing is grouped. In Max, I set the clothing to see-through, and then do each body part separately. I'm probably not describing this well at the moment....but I can do a little better after work if needed.

@chriscox

in this case i have the mesh as one piece exportet, without any groups, elements. in poser it looks well until i make groups in the setup room and add the bones, after i leave the setup room the mesh is like on the picture. i have also tried do make the groups in max but the result was the same ...

Quote - @manoloz
This usually happen if in the distribution of the mesh groups there are two (or more) mesh groups that "touch" each other, but the corresponding bones do not.
This happens a lot when using the auto group tool, and it happens with chest and rCollar, lCollar. Or with hip/abdomen with lThigh and rThigh.

i think you are right and this is the main problem, but what can i do to prevent such a result ? or make the chest group always such problems with the boundaries ?

@Realmling

i have tried it in serveral ways, make the groups in max, make it in poser but the gaps don't go away entirely. the group names are too the same like the bones and the clothing group is not to far from the body as well. maybe i make an mistake anywhere but i don't know where, in max i'm a professional and exporting/importing, editing in max isn't the problem, only poser make me insane because i haven't really experience with it ...

you can edit the autogrouped groups with that same tool inside Poser (group editor tool). After the grouping is as desired,  click on the weld group button.

I've got to admit that despite having made dozens of Poser figures I have never made one with the Setup Room and seeing silly problems like this leaves me thinking I never will.

Does the clothing object consist of multiple elements in Max? In other words, did you use Garment Maker in Max and then collapse to a mesh/poly object? Especially the look of the armpit probem makes me think of that.

I'd love to see a wireframe of the problem object, then I can see whether the vertices in the sleeve have matching vertices in the body of the shirt. Poser can only weld vertices that are in exactly the same place, there's very little tolerance and the tolerance is not adjustable.
I find it useful to build a clothing item out of just one single mesh element, and then cutting it up in Max. The "one element" approach makes sure that Poser will be able to weld the parts.

Even if the verts are in the same place, if the grouping is "too far" outside what Poser thinks it should be it can cause the gaps. I found that out in my early days of making conforming clothing. The more exact I got with my grouping by cutting in Max ahead of time, the less I had problems. Not 100%....but generally saves headaches.

Poser is a very tricky little snot at times and no matter how many chickens one offers up as sacrifice....some days it just doesn't cooperate with us (or me at any rate).

It sounds like just an issue for this particular article of clothing that the grouping is just a tad off hence Poser being a #(#$#$ when everything should technically be working right. A wireframe shot or something showing us where the groupings are and what figure it's for might help narrow things down.

** the group editor "weld group" button doesn't change anything, it is only useful if you want join splitted groups in a new ... as i read in the manual poser split the geometry if you make groups, because its the only way to add bones and deformation.

@**svdl
**
 the clothing object consist no elements, it is one single mesh ... (pic)
after some experiments i have decided to make the groups inside of poser.

@all

as you see on the picture the green mark areas make the problems, and now i know why. in an older poser manual i have found the following ... "any two polygon groups that are touching must have a parent-child relationship or tears in the geometry will appear when the model bends in that area"

means abdomen and Thigh groups should never touched each other, chest and Shldr too.

stachelzelle: you're right, regrouping will solve that problem. Or you could use the "illegitimate weld" technique: adding weld statements in the CR2 telling Poser to weld the rThigh and lThigh to the abdomen, and rForearm and lForearm to the chest.
"Illegitimate welds" is officially a hack, and older versions of Poser (Poser 4) may crash on it. Better not to rely on it if it's not absolutely necessary.

Nice clean mesh, by the way!

Easiest way I've found to do grouping is to create a color coded by group  "dummy" of the figure you are making garments for and use this as a guide for manual grouping in your 3d modeling app of choice.

I simply set a rendered view of the dummy as the background picture, set the model to wireframe view then create the necessary groups.

I made a quick modification to the screenshot you posted (forgive the crudeness, my left hand got ummm twisted when I fell off my boke in the weekend).

With the grouping like this you should not have any more troubles

Aye - for the hip, you can make the grouping like a g-string selection (shapewise) or you can simply group the whole bottom area to the hip bone itself, but leave the thigh bones in the rigging as "ghost" bones. The mesh will still be affected by the bones from the main figure when posed (may take some tweaking with the joint editor) but it generally works well for clothing.

It's how I do skirts and such anyway. Process would be the same for a shirt, just without the extras.

@manoloz**

** this is exactly what i did ;) i have considered to upload an additional picture to complete the thread, but now you have done it for me :D in comparison to other 3d programs it is a little bit confusing how poser works, but step by step the mystery disappear.

yea Realmling youre right, it is better to group the whole bottom area to the hip. the thigh add to much deformation to the shirt, especiality if the legs are moving. thanks all for the useful hints, save lots of time with try and error. now i'm enlightened ... ;)

No worries. Sometimes simpler can be better...and sometimes you need the specific groups in. Just depends on what you're making really.

I'm still learning with everything I do and new figures and such. ^_~

Glad to be of help.

Of course you can weld it in Poser, but you lose all morphs if you created any.

1. Go to the Setup Room.
2. Select Figure_Name_SETUP (you can find it in prop list)
3. Open grouping tool window.
4. You can find there chest, collars etc groups - DO NOT CHANGE them, but press "new group"
5. Press "add all" and press "weld". Def welding 0.000010 should be ok.
6. Leave setup room and save your figure.