repeat magic?  

for example, if i set up a waterfall movement in a separate layer, is there a magical way to make those first frames repeat through all the rest of the frames?  no matter adding and deleting frames later on in the timeline?

through all the parameters, what does saving an animated pose actually save?

animating a conveyer belt is mind esploding?

can it keyframe a parenting change?  (this one should be easy to figure out with a simple test )

     Set up the waterfall as a seamlessly looped material in the material room, rather than using keyframes.  Then, you can add/delete frames of the scene, but the water still runs.

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an animated pose simply saves the keyframes for the range you specify (normally all)

if you open a pose file in a text editor you will see for each parameter a line that reads K 0 0  that is keyframe  frame number and value.

Ockham has a repeater script that will fill the timeline with the action. Not sure where he keeps his latest freestuff. 

How great is that waterfall seachnasaigh!!  Would you mind elaborating on how to do what u suggest?

     I'll make some material room screenshots with annotation.    That waterfall model is in the freebies under the title Eldar house;  make sure to get all three zips.

     Right now, I'm struggling with getting TinkerBell's new dress/panty/slippers textured in satin, and I see some dynamic self-collision issues too.  Simultaneously, Cameron is repeatedly grinding out test renders to dial in the materials of a Resident Evil T-virus vial.  Available soon in both a low-poly version and a version with two-sided glass and optional P9+ IDL glow kit.

     An important concept to focus on:  the series of images need to seamlessly loop.  Think of a flip-book movie.  As you progress through the images, the last image must smoothly seque back into the first image.  By so doing, with a modest number of images, you can endlessly run your animation with no jolting breaks, no visible stop/start point.

     In Poser, you can

• use a movie in the movie node.
• use a numbered sequence of JPEGs in the movie node (P9 SR3.1 or later).
• use a matrix in the image map node.

     The chop/waves in the stream of water use sequential JPEGs in the movie node.  Load a movie node, and browse for the first JPEG of the sequence.  The node will automatically read the other numbered JPEGs as the scene's frame number progresses, and after reading the last JPEG, the node will loop back to the first image and begin again.

     The waterfall uses a matrix in the image map node.  A matrix has all your animation images composited in rows and columns, like a post office's pigeonholes.

     Math nodes manipulate the frame number to decide which "pigeonhole" cell of the matrix to display at a given moment.  The nodework might look intimidating, but you could simply copy my material to your own project, and replace my matrix image with your own.  If your matrix has a different number of rows/columns, just adjust the numbers (circled) to match.

     I've overlaid a reduced-size copy of the matrix onto a blank area of the material room screenshot so that you can see what one looks like.  Notice that you only see one cell image in the Poser material preview.  If you advanced the timeline to the next frame, that image will change, automatically.

     While it looks more complicated -well, it is more complicated- to use a matrix, the matrix has the advantage of being universally robust.  Even in versions of Poser which have issues reading the movie node, the matrix works.  Even if rendering in network in 64bit (or a mixed group of 32bit and 64bit), the matrix works.

     While the waterfall uses an 8x4 matrix, the base splash uses a 4x8 matrix.  See where I've switched the 4's and 8's in the nodes?

     The biolumenescent lamps in the Eldar house are animated with two 4x4 matrices;  one displays the color, and the other controls the displacement.

     The 4x4 matrices loop seamlessly every sixteen frames (4x4=16);  the 8x4 and the 4x8 matrices loop seamlessly every 32 frames (twice the period of the 4x4).

that's awesome!

an auto repeat option would be so so so so kewl.

something like automating a sprite action. 

like 'Sprite name' (sprite by the waterfall) begin 'animated pose action' at frame 30, repeat until frame #

waterfall1 begin animated pose 'matrix8' at frame 30, repeat until frame #

scenario - a dragon or ship flying over an urban area.

     The closest technique I know of would be (using the keyframe palette) to select one complete cycle of keys, such as a complete wing flap cycle, and then ALT-(left click) drag a copy rightward to daisychain it onto the end.  Now you have two wing flap cycles.

     Select that 2-cycle string of keys, and ALT-(left-click) drag a copy rightward to daisychain it onto the end.  Now you have four wing flap cycles.

     Repeat as needed.  It grows exponentially, so it doesn't take long even if you need to fill 1,500 frames.

Thanks!

hmmm, not tested for it, but may be

can seperate his walk stride with one layer, and put his body position on another layer?

or if i turn his hip on a higher #layer, will it supercede the lower# layer, or ...