I have for a figure, that aren't actually being used ie for zones that don't exist?

Tried Snarlys Mat helper?

I'll take a look - thanks.

If you're referring to the actual material groups of the figure you will have to remove the material lines from the .obj and the .cr2 in a text editor. whatever you do though make sure to retain the preview material in the .cr2 or your figure will be invisible.

_I think that one of PhilC's utilities can automate this, Poser Pocket Knife or Poser Tool Box...

you think I need to hack the Cr2 and the .obj?

I'm hoping there will be an easier way.

Love esther

I just did it last night in order to get rid of unnecessary material groups (created in wings) that I used for establishing groups for rigging... It's a PITA but it's the only way I know of to get rid of the zones. Ummm, If you try overwriting with the grouping tool it just adds that additional zone.

Poser needs an in house way of deleting material groups. (Maybe there is a way that I'm not aware of).

... Hacking the files is really the most precise way.

I'll have a look at snarly's script.  If I can't find a script I'll just keep my unecessary groups I think.  they aren't really causing much of a problem.

Love esther

@primorge!! big thanks you just solved a problem thats been bugging me for a week aaarrghhhhh (was deleting preview mat when tiding up some stuff  doh)

 do this successfully and those material zones will no longer be present in the material room. There's probably an easier way but this is how I do it.

Thanks for those tips ockham. It seems many times this kind of information can only be found by hours of tinkering and happenstance. BL Render's 'secrets of figure creation with Poser 5' has also been a tremendous help, too.

I thikn philCs pocketknife may do the job for me automatically.  Have'nt bought it yet though.

Material zones are in both, the obj file and in the cr2.

You will have to adapt both if you want to get rid of a material zone.
I merge material zones, and always do it in both.

That is why it is not so easy to do it inside Poser.
Poser would have to adapt the cr2, but also would have to save a fresh obj file.

Update, in Poser you can create extra material zones but you can not remove those that are in the obj file.

Hmm, I didn't know that there were material zones in the object file. I've just been removing them from the .cr2 files and that's it.

When you create an obj file, you can group it and define material zones.
All depends on the possibilities of the modeler one uses.
Hexagon can do groups and material zones. Then they are in the obj file and Poser reads them as such.

All depends how the obj file was created.

Some create the material zones entirely in Poser, others do it in the modeler. These can only be deleted from within the obj file.

I define my material zone in Blender, but I don't group anything until I go into Poser's Setup room.

Yeah... If you just delete the materials in the .cr2 (and they are present in the .obj) those materials will still be present every time you load the figure.

Probably best to create your groups and materials in a modeling app where the tools are more efficient than the horrible grouping tool, depending on the geometry it can be pretty frustrating when a single tucked away poly refuses to be selected (and this is in wireframe with multiple orthographic view selection attempts). Don't know if the group editor has been polished with Poser 9+, if not it certainly needs some working over.

For the life of me, I can't get a handle on Poser's grouping Tool. Sometimes it seems to work for me, and other times it act's like I'm it's bitch!

Attached Link: here is a link for you

It is pretty cheap and does a bunch of cool stuff. Well worth the money!

Tom

PZ3 editor= Windows only, esther.

_possibly could get it to work on an Intel mac with one of those doohickies (which you use if I remember correctly).