hi,

how can i learn  to create some custom dials for the hands and individual finger such as : grasp, spread .... etc .

can anyone advise  or are there any online tutorials that i can find .

thanks

It's surprisingly easy.  Grasp and Spread are internal functions that are always available for every figure.  You just have to write them into the CR2 file.

Add these three paragraphs inside the lHand actor, and again inside the rHand actor:

                handGrasp grasp
                        {
                        name Grasp
                        initValue 0
                        hidden 0
                        forceLimits 0
                        min -100000
                        max 100000
                        trackingScale 0.2
                        keys
                                {
                                static  0
                                k  0  0
                                }
                        interpStyleLocked 0
                        }
                thumbGrasp thumbGrasp
                        {
                        name Thumb Grasp
                        initValue 0
                        hidden 0
                        forceLimits 0
                        min -100000
                        max 100000
                        trackingScale 0.2
                        keys
                                {
                                static  0
                                k  0  0
                                }
                        interpStyleLocked 0
                        }
                handSpread spread
                        {
                        name Spread
                        initValue 0
                        hidden 0
                        forceLimits 0
                        min -100000
                        max 100000
                        trackingScale 0.2
                        keys
                                {
                                static  0
                                k  0  0
                                }
                        interpStyleLocked 0
                        }

tks for the help.

but i need to create each for the fingers and thumb

and i'm not too familiar with the cr2 script.

are there any tutorials that explain more in details  ?

How do I do it for each finger ?

Still getting into Poser so don't take this as factual:

Read-up on remote dials, read about that "Start Teaching" button in the Dial Properties and you'll be able to do what you want and a whole lot more besides.  It's amazingly easy to do and really powerful stuff.

I clik the Start Teachung but nothing happening ! I'll read up the remote dials. Since I need this to be learned for a urgent project....would appreciate if there are more advises . Thanks !

Can't give you a complete step-by-step because I don't even know how to create a new dial, but to give you the basics, try this example:

• Load a Roxie
• Select her Right Hand
• On the Grasp Dial select the Properties Button
• Note that the dial in the Properties Window is a copy of the Grasp Dial.
• Click on "Start Teaching"
• Now rotate the dial in the window to 1.000 and the hand should Grasp.
• Now select Roxie's head and turn the Head Bend Dial so that her head is tipping forward.
• Now click on "Stop Teaching" in the window you should still have open.

Now, when you adjust the Grasp dial for the hand it will make the hand grasp and even tip Roxies head forward at the same time.  Basically, whatever you do to the dials between Start Teaching and Stop Teaching will be recorded to the dial in the window that is open.

You can even make a grasp dial alter the colour of a light in the scene by following the same principle.  Further still, you can make changes while the dial is set at various different values, make your edits, and every edit you made at every position on the dial, will be recorded into a sequence for that dial.

For example, just spinning one dial could make Roxie first tip her head and then lift her arms one after another, all in a specific sequence and all from one turn of a dial.  Doing a custiom hand grasp is exactly the same.  You can even make her thumb bend in before the rest of the fingers fall over it if you wanted to do a fist.

It might sound complicated but actually, it's really easy once you get how it works, it's one of the best features in Poser I reckon, it's something they implemented really well.

It's also bloody addictive once you get the hang of it!

**
PS:** After you click on Start Teaching, be sure to twiddle the Head Bend dial on the head before you change the Grasp Dial to 1.000.  It's just so that Poser knows that you intend to do something with that dial and it creates a keyframe for it in the grasp dial.  Just adjust it from 0 to 1 then to 0 again before moving the Grasp Dial to 1.000.

If you don't do that, it will ignore the start position and it won't appear to work.

Sorry for the amateur explanation but I'm just a newbie, hopefully someone else will explain it better.  There must be ways to create a new dial and add the keyframe without twiddling a dial, but I don't know how to do that yet.

I think i understand it. Perhaps i did not make my message clear . Actually I do not want to have a dial that affect other parts. I just want to make dial for a 'SingleFingerGrasp' instead of the whole 'HandGrasp'.

TKS !

That's what you can do with this, it's the same thing except you would need to move the finger dials instead of the the head bend dial.

Best way to think of it is to clear your mind of anything you assume it does, and just visualise that a dial will copy whatever dial edits you make to any other dials between the Start and Stop Teaching presses.  A finger, a head, a foot, or even ten things at once, it still works the same way.

Even the bend of one part of a finger or the whole finger (which is what you want).

I just tested what I wrote above, it works fine so all you have to do is ignore the head bend part and do your single finger dial edits instead.  It's exactly the same thing.  If it doesn't work for you I'm pretty sure it's because you're not moving your finger dials before you move the dial in the window.

All you have to do is make sure Poser sees you touch the dial you intend to edit before you move the dial in the window.

It's a shame I can't explain it better, but what I'm telling you is what you need to do to make a custom finger grasp.  If you don't do it this way you have to do it old-school and that's a lot harder because it means doing it in a text editor as ockham pointed out above.

I'd make you a quick vid but I have no way to record it.

Sorry, I didn't see your image when I posted that last message.

That's something I would like to know myself, because like I said, I don't know how to get a new dial in the first place.  Frustrating I know, but there's no official Developers Guide for Poser, I think they must assume we're all mind readers :-D

Everyone who uses Poser automatically knows everything the developers do, that's the only possible conclusion for not having a Developers Guide for a content based product.

Join the club or outright frustration mate ;-)

I think you've been very kind to help ! I appreciate it . I guess I've to keep cracking my head for the solution :(

This isn't the official way to create a new dial with a Dependencies Button but here is how you can do it:

• Select the hand.
• Select the Morph Brush toll and do morph on the hand that is not noticable.
• You will automatically get a new Morph Dial with Dependencies button.
• The new Morph Dial will be called Custom Morph but you can change it to whatever you like.
• The new Dial can be dragged wherever you want in the dial list.

Now you can have fun with Start and Stop Teaching and create a custom finger grasp for that new dial.

When you click that option a new parameter dial called Master1 will be created in the parameters pallet of whatever body part you have selected at the time, and the Dependencies Editor menu will open automatically.

~Shane

Ah, please ignore my method, lol, but for those who don't have Pro I suppose it might still come in handy.

it's the same for PP2012. I don't know if the same option is available in P9/P10. If not, then you'll have to create it manually via the cr2 or like Pumeco says, use something like the morph brush to get a new dial. 

To delete the morph you'll first have to link something else to the dial, or the dial will disappear when the morph is deleted.

~Shane

Hi shane, I did found the the right clik to create  'New Master Parameter' and I'm still cracking my head to make the dial works .

Just a heads-up Shane; nope, don't have that option in 10 but I see it in 2012.

Anyway, don't suppose you know how to make it create a key for a dial in the dependencies window, do you?  I keep having to touch a dial so that the beginning of a dial movement gets registered.  I would expect to see a "Create Key" sort of button in the dependencies window but can't find anything like it.

Nothing will display in the Dependency editor until you have checked 'Start Teaching' and move a body part. As soon as you move a body part it will show up in the dependencies list. 

Set the dial on the dependency editor to 0.00, bend the finger to get the bend dependency to show, then set the bend parameter to whatever value you need it to be when your master parameter dial is at 0. 

Then set the master parameter dial to 1.0, and set the bend parameter to the value you need it to be at when the master parameter dial is at 1.0. Press Stop Teaching, and test it. If done correctly, then dialing the master parameter back and forth between 0 and 1 should control the bend of the finger. 

Repeat the same process for each bend, twist and rotation you need the dial to control on each body part. 

There's also a graph editor at the bottom of the dependency editor to control the strength of the bend during the course of the dial being turned. But for just setting up grasping you shouldn't need to mess with that too much.

~Shane

Been having a lot of fun with it and trying to teach it to davedoo :-P

But is there another way to make a dial register in the graph at position zero without actually moving the dial.  Seems odd there's no create key button for that, or actually, maybe there is in the Pro version for all I know.

@davedoo
Now you have that dial you have to learn what I said with the Teaching, and Shane just explained it a lot better.  If it still doesn't work, try practicing it on Roxie because I know for a fact that it does work on her.  Maybe the figure you're using is causing it not to work for you.

Quote -Just a heads-up Shane; nope, don't have that option in 10 but I see it in 2012.

Anyway, don't suppose you know how to make it create a key for a dial in the dependencies window, do you?  I keep having to touch a dial so that the beginning of a dial movement gets registered.  I would expect to see a "Create Key" sort of button in the dependencies window but can't find anything like it.

That's the only way to create a key that I'm aware of.

You can also see it demonstrated in this youtube video from Smith-Micro/Nerd3D:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogVjot24X20

That video is demonstrating animatable joint centers, but the dependency editor steps are the same whether you're controlling morphs, bends or joint centers. The only difference is that he creates the new dial automatically by importing an FBM. 

~Shane

It's very late night here and I think its time to go to bed. Will try it again when I wake up .  Yes. I'll try on Roxie. Thanks buddies !

It finally work !  What a cool tools ! Thanks to you guys again for the help .