Hi Bill... have a question about what I must be doing wrong: I've got this shader for skin which includes very specific nodes for the face in which I manage tint strength. For example, this code:

mBlusher = ImageMap().labelled("Blusher Mask")

blushTint = Add(tone.mkBlushB).labelled("PM:Blush Tint")
setBlusher = Blender(setComplexion, colBlusher, mBlusher * blushTint)

where tone.mkBlushB is a value passed from another file as discussed in this thread:
www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php

creates this:

So, changing the value in Value_1 of increases the tint strength of that Blusher colour.

This appears to work, both from inside the material room, and when Parmatic places the control for these nodes on the Parameter Dials window. Really neat stuff!!!

I have 10 PM: nodes and 7 PMC: nodes (I know, they don't do anything yet, but I'm ready for when the colour management bit of Parmatic works). These PM: nodes all appear on the 1_Lip and 1_SkinFace and 1_Nostril materials... a few of the PM: nodes appear on the other skin materials and PM: Gamma Correction appears on ALL materials.

When I run Parmatic, all the PM: materials appear on the Body parameter dials under an "Other" group the script appears to create. The dials are not in the order they appear in the script or in the order they appear in the shader itself:

or

Now, I save this parameter list with the Save Parameters button, which creates a pz2 file. Looking at the pz2 file in Poser File Editor, it looks like this:

So, all good so far.

However, when I create a new character (V4-based), install the MAT files and then, load the MaterialDials.pz2 after that, only one of the dials appear, but in the Deformers group, under Base:

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong...

BTW, I am running Parmatic 2. There are no messages (for the most part)...

I'm happy for anyone who uses Parmatic and who does or doesn't have this problem to chime in, here. I've tried saving and then installing saved parameter dials with the MAT files in place on different characters and I keep getting the same result.
Anyone?
Or, barring making the pz2 behave correctly, is there some way to add the contents of the saved parameter dials (that pz2) into a MAT file so that it saves the user a step and puts the dials in the appropriate location?

Another question about Parmatic... in the Readme, (paraphrasing) it indicates as an example that:

MyBlenderNode = Blender(RED, WHITE, SomeNumericVal).labelled('PM:Makeup:Blending ')

would, on a blend node, create a parameter PM:Makeup:Blending for the blending value, to be managed on the parameter dials window.

Does Parmatic take the ":Blending" part of that 'PM:Makeup:Blending ' string to decide which of the three channels is going to be managed, or does it assume the Blending channel because colours can't be managed in the Parameter Dials window, and so the ":Blending" bit is only part of the label to be displayed in the parameter dials window?

Doing a bit of research on the RDNA site on Parmatic, and I ran across this:

*** After loading and selecting your AM figure, click one of the base shaders. This will load the shaders, call the parmatic updater to create the dials, then invokes the Parameter Dials pz2 file to sort and organize the dials into groups. (The Parmatic Updater Python script has no access to groups or dial order - so that's handled by loading the pz2.)

• The presets are pz2 files with specific values for the dials. The Parmatic Updater is sitting around in memory waiting for dial changes. Upon loading a preset, the dials get new values, and the updater notices and copies these values into the shader nodes.**

So, hang on (looking at the underlined bit): does this mean that the Parmatic Updater script must be run at least once per Poser session in order for the dials to work? So, in order for the non-developer / product user to get any benefit from the dials, they would have to run Parmatic themselves first, otherwise the dials don't work?

Back to reading...

Edit: Geez, it says it right there in the readme:
These scripts will scan your materials in a figure or prop,  create actor parameters for them, then update ALL the  materials as you adjust the parameters IN REAL TIME!

So, the script does the updating of the material node channel values. Well, that makes sense. But it kinda takes this concept out of the realm of something distributable, for it would mean the end-user will have to get a copy of and install Parmatic for themselves for the dials to work.

Mind you, I love this tool! But then, I'm a geek.

Right.

I'm going to attribute the lack of response by anyone to the question raised in this thread to one or more of following reasons:
--the question is too hard
--the question is too obscure
--no one uses Parmatic anymore, and so the question is moot (hardly likely)
--people are getting sick (finally!) of me asking weird questions about issues that only seem to happen to me

Whatever the reason, I'll still ask if anyone else has encountered this issue:

I start Poser. Load a basic V4 character. Load my favourite Matmatic-generated PM:-flavoured shader on to V4. Run ParmaticUpdater.
Close the file.
(Parmatic is still running - I haven't closed Poser, just that file.).
Bring up another Pz3 with that same PM:-flavoured shader but for which ParmaticUpdater has not created any dials on the Parameter Dials window (remember: same exact shader as above). Try to load a saved set of parameter dials. This attempt results in only one of the PM: dials loading... into the following location:

Why?
(I hope I have given enough detail as to the steps I took so that the discerning Parmatic developer / user might be able to identify where I went wrong).

Hi RV.

Sorry I didn't see this thread till now.

Hmmm. Lots of questions. Will have to do some tests myself, because I don't remember so much about Parmatic and Poser parameter dial behavior. I don't use it anymore - I just use VSS.

One thing I do remember clearly. The dials will not work unless you have run Parmatic at least once. So, yes, end users cannot take advantage of your parameter dials unless they have Parmatic.

When you run Parmatic it leaves behind a function in Poser that is watching dial changes. When it sees any that begin with PM:, it copies the new setting to nodes on the same figure.

When I built Parmatic (way back in the stone age) I kind of thought this behavior would be highly desirable, the community would embrace it and demand that Poser implement it natively, and that by now we'd see this as a built-in feature of Poser 8. It didn't actually go that way. For the most part, the community as a whole doesn't understand what this does and why they should care.

It is interesting to note that it is that same community which is so loathe to enter the Material Room and for whom Parmatic was designed in the first place. (or so my fevered imagination would have me believe)
I would like to include this functionality into a character I'm developing together with someone who's quite successful at creating characters, Bill. The dials work quite nicely for the most part: I can dial in tint strength for lips and eyeshadow as well as shininess for the same. Just reading a thread (on RDNA) on how I might be able to parameterize colours for the same regions (R,G and B values separately)... so it's just the saved parameter thingie that isn't behaving as expected.

Oh, and thank you, Bill, for pondering this question for me...