Hi,
 
I'm new to poser, and having problems with the grouping tool, the polys are too small to select and some are hidden behind other geometry and I can't accurately get to them.
I use Lightwave modeler, and though I can make my selections easily here, I can only save material areas, not groups.
Is there a way to convert the material areas to groups, or is there another modeler that would make this easier.

thanks,
tj

Wings3D will do that for you - it's a free modeling program. There's also Blender and a few other free modeling programs. I use Wings myself, but preferences may vary ;o).

Laurie

Thanks for the suggestion Laurie, I knew there had to be a better way ... I'll give wings3d  a try first, since you prefer it.

tj

In Lightwave use PARTS to make the body part groups.   Select the polys for one body part, and use the menu item In LW 9.3 its on the Detail tab Parts >create part.

Wow, Mark that's great, thanks so much, I never even realized parts was there  ...  or wouldn't have known what to do with it ifI did! 

tj

Hi Mark,

The parts work fine on the lightwave side but when I get the object into poser they don't show up in the grouping tool. I tried it as both .obj and lightwave. Am I missing something, or do you have any suggestions.

thanks,
tj

Quote - Hi,
 
I'm new to poser, and having problems with the grouping tool, the polys are too small to select and some are hidden behind other geometry and I can't accurately get to them.
I use Lightwave modeler, and though I can make my selections easily here, I can only save material areas, not groups.
Is there a way to convert the material areas to groups, or is there another modeler that would make this easier.

thanks,
tj

If you can assign material areas in lightwave you then bring the OBJ or LWO file into Poser and create groups using the grouping tool. Just import the file and click the group editor button and then the create group button. You then add poly's from the material zones to each group you create using the Add Material button and assign a material's polys to the newly created group,

I use Poser's group editor all the time on 3DS, LWO and OBJ files to break them into parts using that method but they have to have material zones that correspond to groups you want them to be in.

After you have done groups in external app. Import OBJ, in grouping tool click on spawn props and delete the original OBJ. You will have model separated into pieces according to your groups, its ready for rigging.

Here is a Python script (based on a script by rjjack) for converting Material zones to Groups.  It doesn't work within Poser, so you may have to install Python onto your system. ( delete extension ".txt" from the attached file)

What to do:

Export your object to a directory and call it "object_export.obj"

Next,  copy the Python script to that same directory.

With Python installed, double click the script to run it.  The script will look for the file called "object_export.obj" and convert all materials to groups and save a new file called "poser_import.obj".

Import this new file into Poser and you're good to go.

Take care

you  can use  free UV Mapper  if  you  have a direct relationship  of mat  zones to  what  your groups  have to  be.

in Lightwave.......  create  mat zones......   label  them   anything  you  want so  that  they are distinct  - "A", "B",  "C" ...etc.

then  bring the model  into  UV mapper - generate a UV map....then  click   EDIT....   TILE  BY   ...MATERIAL  ( with  "gaps"  checked ON)

and the map  will  change to showing  all of the different  mat  zones  from  Lightwave  neatly seperated.

then  just  select  each  section of  mesh one at  a time  and  do   EDIT ....  ADD TO ....  GROUP

and name your groups accordingly  as you  create them.

spit your new model out of UV mapper  and  you  are done.

the extra added  bonus  is  you  have also  taken  care of UV mapping your model  while you  were at  it.

also ....  AFTER  you  have  tiled  by  material  and  AFTER  you  have  put the different materials into  diff groups -  you  can  REGENERATE UV  maps  of diferent layout type ...and you  do  not lose your groups

I appreciate all of you taking the time to help me out! ... thank you so much

I can't wait to have the time to try these out later today,  I'll let you know how it turns out.

tj

Poser doesnt recognise the groups when you import. For making a figure from your object use phibuilder to make a control file and then use the Poser option to create a figure from the phi file.  phibuilder helps generate the control file which contains the hierarchy of your model. 

Using a phi file is in the manual, phibuilder is here > www.royriggs.composer.html

Ooops,  forgot to add.  After importing the converted object, open the Grouping Tool  so that Poser can recognize the groups - simply openning the tool does the trick.

take care

I've given up on the phi builder, when I finally got it to load the .obj it wouldn't let me run test or change to tree.

When I can build up some enthusiasm I'll try one of the other techniques.

LostinSpaceMan ... that works for me !!!!

I have to refine my zoning, but I'm on the right track now.

Again, thanks to all of you!

tj

Quote - LostinSpaceMan ... that works for me !!!!

I have to refine my zoning, but I'm on the right track now.

Again, thanks to all of you!

tj

Glad I could help. It's simple and I've been doing it that way for years.

Absolutely man, it's simple once you understand it. This should be in the manual, or in the tutorials.

It's almost perfect on the first try, I have to use it on an carrara animation in progress, so applying it is a little tricky, but I'm almost there!  

tj