I bought Poser File Editor here but am having a lot of questions on how to use it.  The PFD seems to just explain what's in the program but not how to use it.  I just sitemailed Dimension3D because it makes me re-enter the serial number every time I start it up, so hoping he has an answer for that.

 What I wanted to do in it was to move my FBMs into their own group tab separate from my adjustment morphs. 

I don't know how to do that in Poser either but was told that if I use PP2014 to change a morph then it will corrupt all my other morphs and they will no longer work so I wanted to use PFE to do it.

Is it possible to do it in Poser9 without corruption of morphs?  If so, how does one do that?  

 Thanks, the person I usually ask is not feeling well at the moment. 

Best advice, if you don't have any idea what you are doing, leave it alone.  Before you start messing with anything, read the manual.  Read as many tutorials as you can find.  Ask as many questions as you need to.  Expect to spend some time on it and have to put some effort into it.  It will save you a lot of headaches in the end.

 That's part of what I'm asking for...a manual that tells me how to use it or some good tutorials.  The PDF that came with it does not tell me that, just what is in the interface.  I have a site mail into the author.  Hopefully he'll be able to help direct me.

There is the manual that come with Poser.  It is a place to start.  While it's older and the information mainly covers legacy rigging, I recommend BL Render's "The Secrets of Poser Figure Creation".  It will tell you most of what you need to know about hacking a cr2.

I highly recommend Dr.Geep's site.  He his tutorials are free, easy to follow and cover just about everything you could need.

PhilC @ PhilC.net and Nerd3D @ Nerd3D.com are sites that have excellent tuts as well.

You would have to search the DAZ wiki for the tuts from the old Poser Arcanum.  They're there but the jpgs and download files aren't available.  Just the text files.

Also check out the tuts here at Rendo.

There was the Practical Poser series (I don't know if the books went past P8).  I13 and Fugazi have an extensive set of video tutorials for Poser that covers beginners to advanced.

As for what you want PFE to do, I'm not sure I'm following you.  From what it sounds like, you simply want to regroup your dials so your FBM master dials are separate from your other adjustment dials.  Is this what you want?

Quote:  As for what you want PFE to do, I'm not sure I'm following you.  From what it sounds like, you simply want to regroup your dials so your FBM master dials are separate from your other adjustment dials.  Is this what you want?

Yes, that is what I want to do.  I don't want V4's morphs or JCMs in the same heading as my adjustment morphs.  PFE is a powerful editor but I only know the very basics of deleting items, finding items and renaming a group heading. 

I opened P9 and renamed the 'other' group to 'V4 Morphs'..  I was afraid to use Poser to make the change because I was warned that it can corrupt your morphs. 

I don't know what I'm missing; I simply want a PFE instruction manual.  I should have one from when I purchased PFE but I don't.  Only the PDF that I mention.  Thanks.

You do not need an expensive program to create content. Everything can be done by editing the cr2 directly.  Take the time to learn how the various files are put together and you'll be much further ahead.

Content Creation in Poser 5 by B.L. Render: Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, buy this book now! While it's listed in Amazon or Barnes & Noble, there are usually several copies on eBay for under 20 bucks. Get one.I can't say enough about it as it cleared up ALL of my CR2 questions. An invaluable resource despite being for an older version of Poser. Think of it as a combination of the Bible, Torah, Koran and the Bhagavad Gita for Poser. Every CC I've talked to swears by this book.  She even details the rigging of mechanical items including how to rig a piston. The author is sadly, no longer active in the community but will answer polite emails.

http://www.3dmenagerie.com/

...almost forgot these folks...

Dr Geep's Site: It comes across as childish at first but on closer inspection proves to be an in depth and comprehensive set of tutorials on the blood and guts of Poser. It's somewhat disorganized in navigation and doesn't appear to have been updated in some time, but remains one of the first places you should visit when learning Poser.http://drgeep.com/

Poser Dependant Parameters by Denis Gravel: An in-depth technical treatise on everything you've ever wanted to know about DPs (ERC, or Extended Remote Control). He's promised more tutorials along this line and I email him every month reminding him of his promise. He has several other tutorials in PDF format that delve into the math behind Poser which are quite interesting in their own right. His paper on Poser Matrix Methods showed me (finally!) why Poser's rotation order is so important. Great material from a fellow Canuck.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?item_id=71136

English Bob's site: Some excellent tutorials and information on the obj format and what happens to it when saved in various programs. Another prolific supporter of the Poserverse and frequently seen in various forums.

http://www.morphography.uk.vu/index.php

Modeling for Poser by Stefan Kotuziak. For eight bucks it's a good read and provides some interesting insights into errors to avoid when making 3D items for Poser. Has information I've not seen anywhere else. http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/modelling-for-poser/82834/

Unofficial CR2 Specification. Follow the link to many pages detailing the cr2 file specs in all it's gory details.

The site seems to be devoid of activity since the fall but a PDF is available. Grab it in case the site goes under.

http://www.kuroyumes-developmentzone.com/poser/

PFE is a great program and essential tool, BUT it is not an easy program to use to do what you are trying to do.  It is very particular in how it nests in a Paste, and that is the basis of what you want to do.

It is more easily done using a text editor - one that does not add formatting of its own - I use EditPad Lyte.

The down side - Poser does not forgive mistakes in { } placement.  It does not tell you what or where those mistakes are - it just says that the file is not a Poser file.  PFE keeps track of { }  and collapses the trees so that the endless scrolling in a simple text editor is avoided.

Open your CR2 in PFE.

Navagate to 2nd instance of " actor BODY "

 channels

groups

Look at how groupNode xxx are arranged and how they are displayed in Poser.

Experiment with your changes until you get the display that you want.

You can try to use PFE to CUT/PASTE, but I usually wind up with the paste in the group tree one level too high, so it do it directly in my text editor.  Just understand, one misplaced { or }  and the file will not work.

 Let me thank the people sharing tutorial links and books first.  There are some great resources here and English Bob is well known.  Definitely will check them all out.

 to Jaager, thank you for the info on PFE.  The wonderful lady who has been helping me responded today and is feeling better.  She said that the PDF manual on PFE that I have is all there is on it.  Imo, software sold at Rendo should have good support documentation. I'm a bit disappointed.

I bought PFE because she said that using a regular text editor would corrupt my morphs since I'm also using Morphing Clothes.  It makes me afraid to use a regular text editor but I can try and see how it works for me.  I know what you mean about the.  It's similar to writing HTML with its () but I think it's more confusing.  I use Notepad++ for editing regular my files.

 I renamed my groupNode morphs to groupNode Adjust Morphs and that put all my V4 morphs into their own heading.  I then renamed that heading to V4 Morphs so all is good.  Also I had to select the 'show hidden morphs' in Poser and resave. 

You need a text editor that will handle ascii.  That is why the recommendations for Edit Pad Lite and TextPad.  Both handle ascii without a problem.  Cr2 editor is an older app that will allow you to hand edit cr2's. 

Before you actually go messing with the cr2, have you tried simply moving the dials in the parameters tab to regroup them.  I will admit I haven't bothered with this since the P5 days so I don't know if it still works or it's something that got lost in the new coding.  However, back in the days of P5, you could grab dials and move them into different groups to suit your needs.  IIRC, you had to save the new arrangement to the figures library.  I'd say before you do anything with hacking a cr2, try this.  When you save the new set up, save it under a different name so you don't accidentally overwrite the original. 

Remember, before you hack any Poser file, back it up to somewhere safe.  No matter how careful you, you will overwrite something at least once.

Here's another little (free) gem I forgot about (again).  Thousands of lines of text can be a bear to wade through.  This program simply presents it in a more logical, collapsible manner.

CR2Editor by John Stallings: A free and simple editor that can take some of the grunt work out of fiddling with the CR2 file. You still need to understand what you're doing so it's not a replacement for Notepad++, rather it's an aid.

http://www.morphography.uk.vu/dlutility.html

 Thank you all!  I, unfortunately, have already hacked my cr2 but it seems to still be working.  I save every step I take as a new cr2 so I can always go back to my original cr2 with only fix morphs in it or even one step back from that with the rigged only cr2.

I had tried moving in Poser by dragging or right clicking and looking for an option and also searched through all the little triangle menus but found nothing.  I then, instead, cleaned up the cr2 in PFE then went into Notepad++ and moved the JCMs into their own groupNode.  The cr2 is still working..for me at least.

I think that I have cr2 editor on my hard drive.  I'll have a look at it.  Thanks everyone!