I'm only halfway through a 6 minute animation that I promised to create and I've been working on it for a month. Every time I think I've hit on some way to save the LAST frame of one part it to be the FIRST of the next so as to preserve some continuity, the way I did it does not work the next time around and every night I find myself floundering and pounding my desk and feeling like I ought to just give up.

Please let me explain how I made it work last night for one 12 second long segment:

I opened a still image I saved at the beginning of this nightmare with my two characters in the general position I want them in. Then I apply the poses they were in from the LAST frame of the previous   400- 600 frame segment. One of them stays in place and the other- the poser 4 cat- for some reason I cannot understand flies off in the back ground and I have to maneuver it back in with the parameter dials till it matches the position of a screen shot i took of that last frame of the previous part.

Then I apply the talk designer with the desired .wav file to the other character (a poser 7 character.) After that I apply the saved poses frm the previous part and everything SEEMS to be working, but the instant I run the animation the damned cat goes flying off and the human character reverts to the position she was in when i opened the file.

Somehow, somehow, SOMEHOW last night I managed to apply that pose to all cells on the animation pallette and they turned light blue, keeping her in the desired pose, which I could then manipulate as desired through out the animation. And somehow, I did the same to the cat, but I cannot re-create it for this next.

Will somebody please explain in language a mentally challenged person could understand how I can do that? Somehow the answer seems to be in making that whole row light blue. At least that's how it worked last night. If somebody could just explain how to make the whole row of cells for the character's body from frame one to the last light blue, I think I can figure the rest of it out. It worked last night. It really did.

Thank you.

Here's how I would do it. There are other ways...

Save the scene you were just working on to a new file name - this will be your subsequent scene.

In the animation palette, make sure that all the cells of the final frame have a keyframe - select them all and click on [+] to create them to be certain.

With all the cells of the final frame still selected, grab them with your mouse and drag them back to frame 1.

Delete all other keyframes. (Edit: the quickest way is to set your frame count to 1; then back to the required maximum.)

Now you should have a scene where frame 1 is identical to the last frame of the previous one.

Good luck. If you're trying to do a six minute animation you'll need it. ;)

Quote - Here's how I would do it. There are other ways...

Save the scene you were just working on to a new file name - this will be your subsequent scene.

In the animation palette, make sure that all the cells of the final frame have a keyframe - select them all and click on [+] to create them to be certain.

With all the cells of the final frame still selected, grab them with your mouse and drag them back to frame 1.

Delete all other keyframes. (Edit: the quickest way is to set your frame count to 1; then back to the required maximum.)

Now you should have a scene where frame 1 is identical to the last frame of the previous one.

Good luck. If you're trying to do a six minute animation you'll need it. ;)

I've tried and tried that. I tried that weeks ago and a hundred times since then, but it always reverts to the first frame. I'm just baffled.

So am I - all I can say is that works for me, which doesn't help you.

Your Poser is a later version than mine, so maybe something broke; I don't know.

My usual method is the same as EnglishBob's, the colour of the keyframes should make no difference (they indicate the 3 spline or tween types) The only other reason they might change is when they are selected, I've said before I can't remember P7's interface too well, in later versions selected keys are highlighted by a white square.

Here's an alternative method though.

First save your scene under a new name.

Download and install LesBentley's free MinFig

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?item_id=55533

This is an invisible "null" figure, load it into your scene and do absolutely nothing to it. Poser can't save poses for props or multiple figures, but parenting all to the null, they become it's "body parts" and so their poses are saved in one file.

In the hierarchy editor parent all figures and props to MinFig's body, do not change the parent of conformed clothing though or parented props, just the figures they are conformed to. Do not include Lights or Cameras. save them as poses in their respective libraries.

In the animation palette go to the last frame, click in the topmost keyframe and drag all the way to the bottom to highlight the keyframes for everything in the scene, click + to create keyframes.

Still at the last keyframe select but do not alter MinFig, save that frame to your library as a single frame, select "Morph Channel" if your figures have morphs, leave Body transformation unchecked.

Delte all frames/frame count of 1, select MinFig and apply the pose you just saved and you should be good to go

3Dave, I'll try that. Thanks.

I basically do the same as English Bob, with one minor addition. After saving the animation with a new name (to make sure you dont screw up all your earlier work), and make the final column of frames all keyframes--then I select all the IN-BETWEEN frames, the second through the next-to-last--and deselect all their keyframes. THEN I grab the final frames (make sure they are all selected) and move them over to the first frame.

Bingo. Release, and all the frames after the first column are gone. Er, I hope.