I was asked by a private investor to update and improve my Poser tools for the latest version of Blender.  They're going to be made available for free to the Blender community as they're ready.

  I wanted to encourage everyone to try them.

I'm sure there's bugs to be found but at the moment, I do not have a location to collect bug reports.

Very interesting Reddog9, thanks.

Wow, amazing, Reddog9... good ON you!!

Do the red dots mean WIP? Behind you all the way on these objectives: how awesome will these tools be!

this looks very interesting.

where could we use this?

where can we use poser tools for blender?

Wow sounds like a plan I can agree with. I'd love to use Poser and Blender together.

Stunning. I am very glad you are working on this.

Attached Link: PT2 6/24/2011

Check out the latest news: PT2 Blog

• Unzip in the Blender Addon folder.. then enable from the User Pref / Addon menu
• Prop Exporter shows up as a panel under object properties.
• Set Each output folder (Geometries/Textures/Props).  The script stores each folder and remembers them when you restart blender.
• Create an object - Save Prop.
• Create Multiple Objects, select multiple objects - Save Prop
• The active object name determines the Prop Name.
• Create / Assign materials to faces
• The only Material Setting stored at the moment is the Color Value
• Add Textures, set to image, load or create images.
• ALL Images must be packed - to be saved as the Prop Textures.  An error will generate if not (I'm researching how to do this automatically.. but have been unsucessful so far)
• Saves textures enabled and used for Color, Alpha, Normal and Mirror.
• Saves Last Render as Thumbnail image (You'll want to do it at 91 x 91 pixels)

The thumbnails work for Poser but not Daz Studio for some reason.. I'll be researching that further when I can.

I'm aware of something I left out of the current Prop importer.. I'll be going back and fixing that soon.  A section that imports multiple external .obj files. 

Try it out.  It's really nice to be able to create a prop with just one click.

It's still a work in progress.  Just wanted to get this out so people could try it before I went away for the weekend.

SAVE YOUR BLEND FILE BEFORE YOU EXPORT!

Occasionally, blender would clear images generated within Blender when you try to export, so save your blend file first.  Not sure if this still happens.

I haven't checked it on another machine yet, so bare with me if there's some technical issues.

I posted an updated version that now works with Blender 2.58.  It's still a work in progress of course but the prop import and exporter are working very well at this time.

There's a new download location on the main page as well as some basic instructions as well.

Update Posted:

This update to the exporter now handles parented objects as well as rotation locking.

Thanks a lot Reddog9, nice job.

Have a great weekend

Wow. So I won't need to import items I want to articulate on a main figure (say, like a door in a wall) as a separate obj ... this is really good!! Thank you, redDog9.

Quote - Wow. So I won't need to import items I want to articulate on a main figure (say, like a door in a wall) as a separate obj ... this is really good!! Thank you, redDog9.

  That's correct.  That is the model I was using was a cabinet and 2 doors.. parented to the base in Blender, then locked the 2 axis in Blender that you don't want to show up in Poser / Daz. 

  It's working very well at this time.  I'm looking at adding a couple small upgrades possibly before moving on to a Character Importer / Exporter.

Prop Exporter Sample Video.

Poser Tools for Blender Export Demo 1 from Scott on Vimeo.

i've tried this in three different versions of Blender (2.57 with Yafaray & Lux, 2.58 with Yafaray & Lux, and plain, out of the box 2.58).  none have worked for exporting with this plug-in (for me).  that is, there are absolutely no options for the exporting tools.  there's a heading Poser Tools, but nothing underneath it. i haven't tried importing yet.

i've tried following your instructions pretty exactly in an effort to make them appear, but nothing has worked so far.  the only discrepancy i can find is that you say to put the plugin under Blender > Scripts > Addons, and every version i have has Blender, then a folder with the version number, then Scripts > Addons.  but other than that, i'm stumped.  i just downloaded the most recent version an installed it just to make sure the problem persisted before asking about it. 

if you have any ideas about how to get this working, i'd be very interested.  this obviously works for you, and the way this doesn't work for me is so absolute that i'm sure there's a particular cause.   and i'm aware it might be very specific to my setup some how, because i haven't seen anyone else mention the problem.   i'm just totally in the dark about what the problem is.

oh, and i just tested import, which said there was an error on line 1252 of PPI9.py, that child_parent was referenced before assignment.

Quote - i've tried this in three different versions of Blender (2.57 with Yafaray & Lux, 2.58 with Yafaray & Lux, and plain, out of the box 2.58).  none have worked for exporting with this plug-in (for me).  that is, there are absolutely no options for the exporting tools.  there's a heading Poser Tools, but nothing underneath it. i haven't tried importing yet.

The latest version only works with 2.58 since there was Python changes from 2.57 to 2.58.  I had to re-write parts of the script to make it  compatible with the latest version of Blender.

Quote - i've tried following your instructions pretty exactly in an effort to make them appear, but nothing has worked so far.  the only discrepancy i can find is that you say to put the plugin under Blender > Scripts > Addons, and every version i have has Blender, then a folder with the version number, then Scripts > Addons.  but other than that, i'm stumped.  i just downloaded the most recent version an installed it just to make sure the problem persisted before asking about it. 

Where ever your Blender Addons folder is should work. 

Quote - if you have any ideas about how to get this working, i'd be very interested.  this obviously works for you, and the way this doesn't work for me is so absolute that i'm sure there's a particular cause.   and i'm aware it might be very specific to my setup some how, because i haven't seen anyone else mention the problem.   i'm just totally in the dark about what the problem is.

I appreciate the bug report.  I just set up a dedicated email address to receive reports.  Unfortunately, I'm down to one computer so I'm unable to test it on several machines personaly at this time. 

  If Poser Tools is visible from the Addons section of the User Preferences menus, then you are installing it to the correct location.  If you're able to check the box to enable the addon, that's a sign that the script is starting.

Once it's started, you should see this panel listed under the Properties for Objects:

If it's possible for you, please send a screen capture of the console window of Blender that shows the error at start up when the script is enabled.

As far as the Prop Importer, please direct me to the specific prop you are trying to import or if it is a free prop, send it my way if that's possible.  There are many different versions of poser props out there and even though the goal is for the script to be able to load 100% of them, it may not be realistic.

Email bugs to:

pt2bugs@blender3dclub.com

Thanks again for the feedback.

I'll try to help you get this working ASAP.

Works like a charm for me in 2.58.

Thank you very much for the good work and the detailed information. Very professional.

Quote - Works like a charm for me in 2.58.

Thank you very much for the good work and the detailed information. Very professional.

Thanks for the feedback.  Glad to hear it.

i only tried 2.57 because it wasn't working at all in 2.58 (again, straight unaltered and add-on packed).  i turned it on just fine, got the Poser Prop Exporter section, but it's empty.  starting it from Terminal, i'm not seeing any errors for Poser Prop Exporter, though i am seeing two statements of it starting up.

"--- Starting Poser Prop Importer Version 9 ---

--- Starting Poser Prop Exporter Version 5 --" 

that's only the one i updated recently.  the one i installed not that long ago just said

"Start Time: 1311523850.675335
PPI.py"

as for the import, the first one i tried that had that simpler error was parts of the Cistern set by Orestes at DAZ.  but trying random other props, items in Ruins of Alecto (DAZ, PC) , Drinking Horns (DAZ, former freebie), and Satin Studio  2 (freebie that i thought was here, but has been replaced by version 3)  also don't work by have an error in the same file at line 1199,  which then refers to line 40 and adjust vert and says that it's not finding a key that seems to relate to the prop geometry (key "[insert name here]" not found).  the only one that worked for me so far was the RDNA Organics freebie props that are very old.  does it only work with props that have embedded geometries?

Quote - i only tried 2.57 because it wasn't working at all in 2.58 (again, straight unaltered and add-on packed).  i turned it on just fine, got the Poser Prop Exporter section, but it's empty.  starting it from Terminal, i'm not seeing any errors for Poser Prop Exporter, though i am seeing two statements of it starting up.

The last 2 or 3 updates won't work with Blender 2.57.  I'll look at the props you mentioned and test them. 

The script will handle props with internal or external mesh data.

Just to be clear, I assumed this but I better make sure..  the script will not read a compressed prop file.. I believe they are .PZ2 file extensions.

Just purchased the Ruins prop set to test for you. 

Packaged in the achive is the Poser Version of the props that you'll want to install inorder to use them with blender.

Right out of the box:

Front view:

The prop loads with textures.  The script doesn't utilize Translation data at this time, so after a few minor translation adjustments:

Blender Render:

Looks nice.

You may want to set up a dedicated Poser directory if it's not convienent to use poser versions with Daz inorder to use them with Blender as well.

Hope this helps.

I just look at the Daz files and didn't notice any difference.  Still appears to use the same .pp2 file and syntax. 

Based on the error you mentioned.. it sounds like it's not finding the geometry for some reason.  It's trying to adjust verts of a mesh that it was not able to create / locate.

i don't use DS  at all.  i got this error from using Poser installations of various and unassociated props.  they are not compressed files.  the only commonality seems to be that they use external geometry.   checking one of my own props, it works on the early version that had the geometry embedded but not the final version with the geometry externalized.  i also noticed that it didn't give me the error that the RDNA Organics prop did, whch alerted me that it couldn't find associated textures.  i just figured that they didn't have textures (being old and pretty basic), but now i see that it doesn't say anything in that case. 

i figured that it couldn't locate the geometry, but i wasn't sure whether that was a built-in limitation or not.  knowing it's supposed to actually find external geometry, and that it can't find textures, makes me think the issue is paths and the question you haven't asked me yet: what OS i'm on.  i'm not on Windows, i'm on Ubuntu 11.04.  i went poking at the code when i first had problems with the exporter options showing up because i thought that path problems might be the reason.  i thought it might not be finding some sort of file.  i didn't find anything obvious, but i'm still guessing that might be the issue.  if you relied on Windows backslash syntax for paths, that might explain issues i'm having.  it might also mean there would be a problem on Mac or any other non-Windows OS.  but that's really just speculation.

  OK.  I'll make a note of this and look into it further.  I do have one other computer that runs Linux.  I'll look into this and try to come up with a solution for you.  I was playing with it a week ago looking to load Blender on it to work with, but I don't remember if there was a version of 2.58 available for Linux.  Blender's site is not loading right now for me to check.

  I use to work with Linux and Blender quite a bit a few years ago and remember some issues like that.

  For further reference, are you using Poser with Linux or are you just looking to be able to use Poser props with Blender?

  Bare with me and I'll look in to it this coming week and get back to you.  Again, I appreciate the feed back and I'm working on making this available to everyone.

You're correct about the error with directory syntax.  I had a few minutes to look at it in Linux tonight.  I'll work on that over the next couple of days and get it going for you.

I'm impressed with this! Good ON you, Reddog9... I'm ashamed to admit I haven't actually tried your utility yet, but I will tonight (Win7, etc). And I do intend to use it in Ubuntu as well.

oh, thanks!  both statements are true: i'm using Poser and Blender on Linux, and I would like to move to either doing half of my rendering from Blender or almost all.  especially once PyNodes return to the main trunk.  Matmatic is one of the big advantages to using Poser Blender always has a Linux version if there's a Windows version, though the converse isn't always true.  they tend to support the OS community first.  same is true for a lot of the OS renderers and Blender exporters. you can always count on the latest version of Blender being available for Linux distros. 

i'm sorry i couldn't find the problem on my own.  i looked some at the code, but just didn't know where to begin.  it's a prodigous program. 

now i understand what this script does. it not only imports the object but also adds all teh textures.

can we also import poser figures with textures?

Quote - now i understand what this script does. it not only imports the object but also adds all teh textures.

 

can we also import poser figures with textures?

I'll be working on Character importers and exporters next.

i was shocked how good it works. it even loads bump.

I've been using the importer/exporter, and I love it. The importer has worked beautifully on everything I've tried so far, about twenty or so items in the freebies here at Renderosity. The Exporter is a little more touchy, but also works quite well, at least on my ancient XP 32 bit machine.

A few things I've learned while exporting to Poser:

All objects have to be UV unwrapped even if it doesn't use a UV map. Even a standard cube with a color wouldn't export without a UV map.

I don't know about later versions, but my copy of Poser 7 doesn't handle alpha maps the same way as Blender, so some of it won't translate perfectly. For example, in Blender, it's possible to slap a decal over an object with a .png or .tif with an alpha channel by checking the Use Alpha box in the Image Sampling tab, but in my Poser, I needed to combine a transparency map with the decal image through a blender node, then link it to the Diffuse channel.

All textures assigned to a material must be packed, even the textures that aren't checked, or the export will fail with an error message. "... line 583, in execute image = texture.image"

Materials won't import correctly into Poser, at least in my Poser 7, if they have spaces in their names, like "Wall Material". It has to be something like "Wall_Material".

Some of the values won't be the same in Poser. Diffuse Intensity, for instance, if it's set to .8 in Blender, will be the default of 1.0 in Poser, and it makes a difference.  

Procedural textures won't work. They have to be burned to images and packed.

I've only exported about a half-dozen objects so far, but they've all worked great, bearing in mind the above. I'm extremely pleased with the importer/exporter because it's just doubled the amount of stuff that I can easily bring into blender and because I've been making props for a Poser user, and it's been a pain for both of us working with .obj's.

Thanks again!

Quote - I've been using the importer/exporter, and I love it. The importer has worked beautifully on everything I've tried so far, about twenty or so items in the freebies here at Renderosity. The Exporter is a little more touchy, but also works quite well, at least on my ancient XP 32 bit machine.

Thanks for the feed back.  I appreciate the list.  I sent a copy of this to my bug list email for the project.

PT2bugs@blender3d.com

I believe I'm aware of all of the things that you've mentioned. 

I've got a note about the spaces in the Material names. 

A Believe non-UV mapped items were working before (or should), I'll double check that one. 

The exporting of various settings for values haven't been added completely yet, they just weren't high on the priority list at the time, but can / will be easily added down the road a abit.

Textures do need to be packed, I added some pop up status messages and one of them was suppose to alert the user about trying to export a non-packed image, but that message did not seem to be working during my recent test. 

As for transparencies, from what I remember, Poser / Daz prefer using a seperate B/W image for trasparency definition.  You're right, Blender can nicely use a .png or .tif with an imbedded alpha.

The goal is to make it as seemless as possible to transfer between the programs.  Blender & Daz/Poser differ in the ways they handle the data, more specifically with the mesh data.  That took a lot of work behind the scenes to get every thing to end up in the same place.

Right now, I'm just about finished working on updates for Linux compatability.  Mainly, just having to deal with OS directory syntax.  Just about finished with these then I'll look at the things you've mentioned.

I'm hoping to hear from users trying the script out on a Mac.  Once I post the upcoming update, hopefully one of you Mac users will send me some feed back and let me know if it works.

PT2bugs@blender3dclub.com

Thanks again.

Scott

is there a trick where i can save the figure in poser as a prop and then load it in blender with this script?

because manual laodaing all figure textures is a PAIN hehehe ;)

Quote - is there a trick where i can save the figure in poser as a prop and then load it in blender with this script?

 

because manual laodaing all figure textures is a PAIN hehehe ;)

Heck, as good as the Poser to Blender importer/exporter is, saving Blender objects as Poser prop files (.pp2) just to reuse them again in Blender, is not a good idea. Blender materials aren't done quite the same way in Poser, so there'd be wasted time tweaking the materials to get Poser to accept them fairly well, and then bringing them back, you might have to tweak the material settings again in Blender to get them just the way you want. It's much better to bring in prop files, tweak them to get them the way you want, then save the .blend file with them in it.

You don't need to redo the textures if you save an object in Blender. To bring in a Blender object, complete with textures and all the settings, use the Append option under File. Click Append, browse to the .blend file where the object is, click on the Object directory, then select the object(s) that you want. Copies of those object(s), complete with all their assigned materials, UV maps, etc., will be loaded into your .blend file and your scene. You can also load in materials, lights, armatures, entire scenes, or whatever else you can see is there.

The only drawback to this method is that Blender doesn't allow you to keep thumbnail images of the objects in the Object directory, so you may not know what you're getting unless you open the .blend file itself and have a look -- or keep a seperate file with pictures of what the objects look like.

You can also, by clicking the Link box, link to the data in the .blend file, which means that instead of bringing in a copy of the object, which you are then free to modify any way you like, you have just the link to the data, which can't be changed in your open .blend file. In other words, you could bring in a chair and move it around and resize it, but it wouldn't allow you to change the materials or the mesh. That option is quite useful for large projects.

It's worth reading up on the Append and Link options.

this is not what i meant.

i pose my figures in poser. now i would like to load the figure in blender. the problem is loading al lthe textures in blender on poser figures. they have a lot materials.

ice-boy:  here's a few techniques that might speed things up a little.  for one, merge the purposeless groups that all take the same textures by going to a material zone and setting it to one main one.  like setting the nipples material to the torso material.  second, in case you didn't know, .blend files act like libraries.  not a very clean method for maintaining libraries, but you can save materials in a .blend file, then use File > Link or Append to import the materials from it into a new .blend file.   i don't know about you, but i mainly use very few textures with some material tweaks.  about 4 sets of materials would set me up pretty good.  outside of making my own textures, which would be involved in any case.  for a third, you could pretty easily make independent figure parts (like the eyes, upper teeth, lower teeth, etc.)  into props or replace them with props.    that way you can use Poser Tools on those bits.  

you know what would be really helpful for figures?  a way to convert morphs into shape keys.

FYI - for folks seeing an empty "Poser Prop Exporter" subpanel... it looks like the current scripts expect to be installed in the global scripts directory, not the per-user scripts directory. (i.e. the scripts folder under where blender is installed, not in your home directory) 

that's where it's installed on mine.  unfortunately, it doesn't help to have it in the right place if the reference to that place isn't correct.  the paths are currently Windows specific.  but Reddog9 is being incredibly helpful by working on that now.

oh, and just to say: sorry, Aardvark_, for basically repeating what you said about importing stuff from .blend files without acknowledging it.  you went over some of the more interesting points of linking and appending really well.

Attached Link: PT2

Ok my friend.  I just posted an update to the Importer & Exporter

• Linux fix ( I set it to deal with windows and if not > everything else in hopes that a Mac will work the same as Linux on directory syntax.  I have no way of testing with a Mac at this time.)
• Added Reflection setttings and reflection map texture importing to the Prop Importer.
• Fixed Exporting issue for Materials with spaces in their names.  (Script replaces spaces with underscores).

I've tested on my Linux machine and it seems to be working well at this time.  There's still a few general translation (obj placement) issues to look at but I'm out of time for today.  Wanted to get the Linux fix posted asap.

Let me know how it work.  Also hope someone can test with a Mac and let me know.

Thanks,

yay! big thanks!  ok, this is what i've found so far:

the exporter, as far as i can tell, works great.   woohoo!

the importer seems to have some difficulties on my system i haven't quite gotten a grasp on yet.  it could import the Ruins of Alecto geometries OK, but not the textures.  checking on the prop file, the path only referred to folder within the Textures folder.  no clue why, but it seems a few DAZ items do this.  same issue with an arch from BRC_Cloisters, but again, not the textures and the textures have that weird truncated referrence.  if i can figure out how to do some batch file editing, i probably will.  the weirder instance was when i tried to import the SoulBringer staff by Aery Soul.  i'd chosen that because it had a proper texture reference, case sensitivity and all.  but it couldn't find that geometry.  i'm not sure why, as the reference seemed to be correct. 

what's really awesome is that it pulled in a whole bunch of items at once using one of those multi-prop .pp2s.  even if i have to take some time to deal with textures, well, i end up having to take time to deal with each material in Poser anyway. 

so it may be that now what's necessary for me to get optimal performance is batch editing of .pp2s to normalize everything.  which i'm not surprised by.   i'll probably do some more testing later to figure out what i can change to make the importer happier.  that said, as much as i want to work in Blender, i know that's not the common approach.  and until PyNodes return to the main release, i'll probably still use Matmatic (and therefore Firefly).   i'm not even sure yet how to make textures work in the renderers i want to try, anyway.   as far as i can tell, the exporter will make my life much easier all on its own as i make Poser props for myself and others.  and i'm not overly worried about textures, to be honest.  it would make life more convenient, but it's a much bigger deal to master lighting and materials anyway. 

just as an fyi, there's a "Drop to ground" script for Blender.  i haven't tried it yet, but it's supposed to drop objects to the surface of another object you designate as ground.   just thought i'd mention it since it might help with setting up scenes in Blender.

Quote - ice-boy:  here's a few techniques that might speed things up a little.  for one, merge the purposeless groups that all take the same textures by going to a material zone and setting it to one main one.  like setting the nipples material to the torso material.  second, in case you didn't know, .blend files act like libraries.  not a very clean method for maintaining libraries, but you can save materials in a .blend file, then use File > Link or Append to import the materials from it into a new .blend file.   i don't know about you, but i mainly use very few textures with some material tweaks.  about 4 sets of materials would set me up pretty good.  outside of making my own textures, which would be involved in any case.  for a third, you could pretty easily make independent figure parts (like the eyes, upper teeth, lower teeth, etc.)  into props or replace them with props.    that way you can use Poser Tools on those bits.  

you know what would be really helpful for figures?  a way to convert morphs into shape keys.

any tips how to fast merge two materials together? for example how to merge torso,hip,neck,chest,niples in to one material?

Quote - oh, and just to say: sorry, Aardvark_, for basically repeating what you said about importing stuff from .blend files without acknowledging it.  you went over some of the more interesting points of linking and appending really well.

Hey, no apology necessary! We're all here trying to advance the cause and help each other out. 

Quote - any tips how to fast merge two materials together? for example how to merge torso,hip,neck,chest,niples in to one material?

the only ways i know are already pretty fast.  in edit mode, you go to the relevant zones and click select until you have all the polys of the relevant material zones selected. then choose the material main you want and click assign.  or you can just assign the areas as you select them.  either way, it shouldn't take long to setup the 3 skin zones (whiich i'm figuring is the main issue).  i mean, still annoying to have to do every time, but not too time consuming.

i just checked, and it took me about 20 minutes from export import to finished render with Blender internal.  mind, it took longer than it should have because i:
a) didn't realize the texture i picked didn't have bump, so i had to look for one that did
b) needed to tweak my world settings for a decent render
c) was slow to realize that if i chose an existing image first, when i browsed for a new one, i'd start in the proper directory
d) felt the need to delete unused material zones as i went
e)  tweaking the normal strength for that bump map

just as a convenience, it's also possible to rename materials after they're set.  face and torso work as names, but i renamed the single limb material 3_Limbs. 

oh!  and iirc, if you use PoseRay to export, it bundles your textures with your obj, and Blender picks them up from the mtl file.  i've never tried that, though. 

i am thinking that maybe i will make a duplciate figure in the figures runtime. with changed material zones. so that when i already in poser have only 3 material zones for limbs,torso and head.

that's a great idea!  you can just point a copy of the character file at the new .obj.   just like a remap.

Posted another small update this morning that takes care of the issue of finding data files for the script when someone installs it using Blender's Install Script option.

thanks alot for this excellent script...helps my workflow in creating props alot.

Quote - i am thinking that maybe i will make a duplciate figure in the figures runtime. with changed material zones. so that when i already in poser have only 3 material zones for limbs,torso and head.

That's what I've done since Gen 3 (I don't use all materials most of the time) I loaded the mesh obj in UVmapper then merged all the materials that use the same mapping  and saved as a coppy then edited the cr2 reference to te obj and the materials definitions, I've done this with almost with all the characters with useless mats for me.

By the way I think I've seen a Figure to prop python script somewere, but don't remember, I'll look for it if I find it then I'll post it here :-)