... and the User Guide describes it all. Oh my g !

Can the foam still be altered in this stage (as in: can Vicky change underwear without taking off her dress) ?

 ... and the User Guide describes it all. Oh my g !

Can the foam still be altered in this stage (as in: can Vicky change underwear without taking off her dress) ?

In theory, yes. To do that would involve rolling your sleeves up and going into the Material room, but all the nodes for each layer shader are still in there somewhere!

• Even with drag-docking disabled it always docks if I drag it in the material room. (Edit: I tried again several times - same problem. Tried again and it works properly, doesn't dock. Go figure!)

You can right click on the UI background to get a menu that lets you control the docking behaviour ...

Thanks Snarly - I'd realized that and already had 'Floating' checked and 'Drag Docking Enabled' UNchecked. That's why I was very surprised that it still drag-docked. And I tried checking/unchecking those options several times and repeating - same problem. But restarting poser cleared the problem and I can't get to repeat now, so I'll put it down to gremlins in my system. Playing with EZMat now - it certainly takes a lot of the hard work out of tinkering in material room. Love it!

P.S. That layering looks absolutely fantastic...

I'm so glad you could find some time to develop and come up with this feature! It will make creation of complex nested shaders so easy for material developers, and application and individual adjustments so easy for users who are not so familiar with layered materials... I always found it so hard to share my material shaders with others, because in order to make individual adjustments they needed to first understand how they were working, identify where to plug what and where to change parameters, and so on. Now, if I'm able to create an integrated user interface, it will be so easy to share even complex layered shaders and empower users to easily adjust certain parameters to their liking :-)

It will be great to see how you solved the problem of analyzing initially existing materials (they can use any channes like diffuse, or alt_diffuse, specular or alt_specular, reflectivity or not, displacement or bump or both or none of this...) Variants are so many, which have to be conserved and combined with the layers, really this is a challenge...

I promise to implement my recent bathing foam shader and share it, as soon as I can get my old head understanding how to build the ui. And then, you can never have enough mud to throw at people and things, lol, so I guess all kinds of nice materials are going to appear soon :-)

Can someone show a render with a hot looking female in a bikini with skin that looks like it's been lotioned? I'm curious how much EZSkin has changed in EZMat.

It will be great to see how you solved the problem of analyzing initially existing materials (they can use any channes like diffuse, or alt_diffuse, specular or alt_specular, reflectivity or not, displacement or bump or both or none of this...) Variants are so many, which have to be conserved and combined with the layers, really this is a challenge...

Indeed :-)
The trickiest bit was how to handle transparency: sometimes transparency is used to remove a bit of an object (a torn edge on paper, for example), and sometimes it simply refers to part of an object that is see-through (like glass, for example). When EZMat applies a plugin's shader it needs to be able to treat the two cases differently.

Can someone show a render with a hot looking female in a bikini with skin that looks like it's been lotioned? I'm curious how much EZSkin has changed in EZMat.

EZSkin in EZMat is identical to the standalone version (at the moment).

I so love this script ... I just have a couple questions. 

Is there something I can find ... to make tiles like BB had ... I can't find how to adjust the edges of the tiles and the depth of  the mortar.  Not in the tile setting.  IS that a special plug-in BB has?  Also is Bagginsbill planning on releasing a BBLoom for us (non-commercial) and a tile, if it is different.  These are the 2 things I'm eager about. 

Second thing ... I LOVE EZmat and EZskin by the way ... how does one build a plug-in, can it be done from the Materal room?

OT: is there a step-by-step tutorial on matmatic?  I've tried to install it in PP2014 and it's a nightmare. (I have PP14 on an external drive, but found the content is automatically inPstalled on the main drive so my paths are all screwed up).  Another thread would be great.

P.S.  I've tried reading several Tutorial PDF's on the script and have gotten hopelessly lost.

I so love this script ... I just have a couple questions. 

Is there something I can find ... to make tiles like BB had ... I can't find how to adjust the edges of the tiles and the depth of  the mortar.  Not in the tile setting.  IS that a special plug-in BB has?  Also is Bagginsbill planning on releasing a BBLoom for us (non-commercial) and a tile, if it is different.  These are the 2 things I'm eager about. 

Second thing ... I LOVE EZmat and EZskin by the way ... how does one build a plug-in, can it be done from the Materal room?

BB's shaders and EZMat plugins are much more sophisticated than the ones distributed for free with EZMat. Hopefully they will be made available at some point, but their quality means that they will most probably be commercial ones. I don't know that for a fact, it's just a guess. The sort of subtle adjustments you are seeking aren't available in the simpler plugins that I have made, although they can still give good results.

As for building a plugin, it's not so hard, but you do need to know a little Python. Probably not as much as you might think though :-)
There are no explicit instructions for doing so yet, but several people have been successful just by using the tools in the development zip and copying the free plugins, which are all in uncompiled format.

Here's a few more examples of the beta layering code in action: The shaders themselves are pretty rubbish, but are just being used for testing purposes.

Starting with the default mannequin (my goto figure :-) )

Add a couple of EZMat plugins:

Add some 'blood' (I know, it's not great, but it's just for testing ...)

And some kind of 'foam' over the top ...

and, back to not receiving emails about updates to the thread, lovely.

These look awesome Snarly! and that blood actually looks quite good!

The cloud is a great "sudsey" look ... They all are wonderful!  Care to share the settings as I'm a HUGE follower of EZmat now!  Rubbish?  No way.  These are fantastic!

Undo, Save Material Collection and Restore from Material Collection buttons added ...

This is probably the last change for a while, to give the documentation writers a chance to do their thing without the UI constantly changing. I'll save up other changes for a future update.

With a bit of luck I'll be able to release this version at the weekend,or soon after.

You're doing a marvellous job here Snarly - this is great!

I think I've found a repeatable situation that causes the problem I mentioned just over half-way down the previous page (i.e. no figure/actor/material displayed on EZMat) - it only seems to happen if I start up Poser by double-clicking a PZ3.

Simply reloading the PZ3 using File>Open seems to resolve it every time. (I've tried with a few PZ3s, all saved from the same Poser that shows the problem (Poser 9.0.3.23027, Windows 7, EZMat v1.1 build 0102))

Wondering if anybody else has seen this? If it's not just me then it may be worth a mention in the User Guide.

I just uploaded build 119 to my site, if you want to grab it.

There's a couple of new plugins up there too, the ones used above for testing the layering feature of EZMat. Also, a rust plugin based on Bagginsbill's notes in a thread here. That one still needs to be finished off, but you might have some fun with it anyway.

I'm taking a break from EZMat now.

Could someone please tell me what the version number for the newest should be showing up as?  Mine keeps showing v1.0 build 0097. Is this correct?

Poser does not display the correct version number in the title bar unless you upgrade by closing EZMat first (Right click on main user interface background to do so).

To see the actual version installed, click on the About box in the bottom right hand corner of the user interface. You may need to resize th window if you can't see it. The about box will show the version and build number actually nstalled and running.

Thanks, Snarly.  Looking forward to checking this version out.

Thank you :)

 Just a heads up that the final release version of EZMat is almost ready :-)

The release version will include the latest build of EZMat, loads of free plugins to get you started, comprehensive documentation for users (by aRtBee), plugin templates, a Developer's guide for plugin authors, an API reference and a suite of utility scripts to help with the development of plugins.

I need a couple of days to check all my ducks are in a row (slightly complicated by the fact that I don't get home until Thursday), so I'm looking to release it on Saturday.

And yes, it remains a free product :-)

AS a huge fan of EZmat/EZskin, I look forward to it.  You have done a great job and provided a wonderful added service to the Poser community Snarly.

Looks like it all ready to go :-)

Download the final version here:

EZMat v1.2 build 122

Have fun.

Thanks for the latest release.

Thank you so very much. Can't wait to give it a go.

 THX :D

Thank you :)

Thanks so much for such a useful addition to the tool-set I use with poser.

New idea for a plug-in ... an overlay setting for stockings like BB's stockings shaders.  http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2719482&page=1 or is that already done?

New idea for a plug-in ... an overlay setting for stockings like BB's stockings shaders.  http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/?thread_id=2719482&page=1 or is that already done?

It's a good idea for a plugin, and one I'd previously considered along with many others. However, the idea is that the community (and possibly vendors) will now make plugins. The EZMat API is fully documented, there are several example plugins in souce code format, there are plugin templates and a suite of utilities to assist the plugin author.

I have plans to make one more plugin, in partnership with a popular vendor, and I think it's going to be an exciting one :-)

I don't have the time to keep making lots more plugins, so it's important for the success of this free addon that you guys make some cool plugins too :-)

And, of course, I'm always willing to help anybody who wants to try...

congratulations Snarlygribbly , I can't use Poser without using your gorgeous EZmat now

when/where to buy/download all the materials plugins ;)?

when/where to buy/download all the materials plugins ;)?

They are all included for free in the same download, along with aRtBee's documentation for them. I'm hoping that other creative souls will now make some more plugins :-) 

 I think this thread has run its course now and served its purpose.

@Admin: Time for it to be unstickied? 

I think it should stay stickied as long as people are still posting on topic...  I still check in every time I see someone (especially you or BB have posted).  I'm looking forward to seeing what plug-ins people come up with, and I think keeping the thread on top would help make sure new users are able to learn about it as quickly as possible.

I've downloaded and installed it but it does not accept any plugin folders. I can select them but they all appear empty, there are no plugins read from these folders.

Any hints?

I've downloaded and installed it but it does not accept any plugin folders. I can select them but they all appear empty, there are no plugins read from these folders.

Any hints?

I drafted a comprehensive reply to this and then this ridiculous forum software through it all away, so my apologies for the brief (second) response: Consider whether UAC has moved the plugin files eslewhere. Plugin folders are best kept away from UAC's control.
Check that the plugins are not within a zip file while appearing to be within a folder hierarchy

Otherwise, please provide screenshots of your setup so that I can diagnose the problem further. This issue has not been reported previously, so I don't have a ready solution. 

hm weird. well the setup is this: i copied the contents of the .zip file to the main poser runtime c:programs..., and this is where I start the program from.

I had assumed the tool has a system component and a data component and the sytem component needs to go to the main poser folder for library inclusion reason, as that is true for many python scripts... maythe thats wrong and it cannot write its configuration files but maybe it should raise an error in that case?

the plugin folders are on the data drive. d:ezmat

so maybe I did it wrong 180° degrees. the plugin folders are writable but the program folders are virtualized...?

No. It sounds like you did it correctly, so that is good.

Without being able to see what you have ended up, it is a little tricky to diagnose.

When you browse for a plugin folder the selected folder needs to contain at least one plugin, identifiable as a Python file (.py or .pyc) with the prefix "ez_".

It won't find plugins contained within a zipfile.
It won't find plugins contained within subfolders of the selected folder.

Multiple plugin folder locations can be saved on the Preferences tab, for easy access.

 I just downloaded both versions from RDNA and Snarly's Space just to make sure they're both the same.   I then proceeded to install following the instructions in the documentation.   I copied the EZMat folder into the Python:Addons folder and opened Poser.   The splash screen came on and then it crashed telling me that the "Poser Pro executable file has stopped working".   I'm using Poser Pro 2012 with the latest SR so the version number is 9.0.3.26149.  I've never had something like this happen before and I have EZSkin and Scene Fixer installed and both work fine.  Any idea what may be crashing Poser?  Once I remove the EZMat folder and open Poser it works.   I've tried it like 5 times copying the folder back in and then deleting it and sure enough it always crashes when the folder is in the Runtime.

 Forgot to add that my husband has the exact same setup as me, same poser version, identical pc and it works on his.   Could I possibly have something on my pc that causes a conflict?  And if so, what should I look for? 

ETA:  Also another python script not working for me is the integrated Wardrobe Wizard by PhilC although again it works fine for my husband.   I would guess that something has corrupted python on my system but everything else works except these two scripts so I really have no idea.   I had bought the standalone Wardrobe Wizard by PhilC and had been using only that but checking all my scripts now I see that trying to run WW from the PP2012 menu causes Poser to crash.

It's hard to know what might be different between the two cases of no specific error message relating to EZMat is being shown.

Reinstalling Poser is obviously an option, to make sure that all the right files are in place. This can be done without losing any settings if you choose the right options during install.

Can you confirm that other Poser addons work ok?

 Well I don't have any other addons, just python scripts and everything has worked fine up until now when I had the problem with EZMat and then tried everything I had installed just to make sure.   As I said I only just discovered the problem with WW too because I had been using the stand-alone version I had bought before it became integrated into Poser. 

Do I uninstall PP2012 and make a clean install and then SR 3.2?  I haven't installed much in the PP2012 runtime since I have linked all my other runtimes so I can probably do it without much hassle.   

A clean uninstall is probably the recommended approach, but I usually just reinstall over the top of the previous version because I'm lazy :-)

I have a problem that happened to me before with the test versions and I still happening with the last vercion:
sometimes (not always) when I open the EZMat no materials of selected character are listed

I don't know, but it strikes me that all those issues arise with PP2012. On PP2014 I've got none of them, ever. Perhaps there is a clue in there.

For Aldebaran40, the [SYNC] button might be of use. But I don't see any plugin folders either. Perhaps the preferences might have to be redone as well (I sometimes have to redo the preferences once after installing a newer version).

what has me confused aRtBee is that it is a random problem , in occasion the materials appear and everything works perfect and in occasionally not (even with the same scene), in all tabs are the same , Sync button unfortunately  does not solve the problem