I have an old FBX model. It has pieces misaligned when brought into Poser. I thought I could fix the misaligments then and then save it as a Prop.

The problem is the thing must have at least two hundred separate parts. Nice if I was going to blow it up but as it stands now, I can't turn the whole thing one way or another. Retexturing must also be done piece by painstaking piece. Is there something I have to do to prepare FBX for use in Poser? Is there a way I can remap it so I can add a name to it? I have attached a screenshot.

I'm no expert, but I think if you load it in Blender you can make all the parts into a single mesh and simplify it. Then load it back into Poser as either FBX or OBJ.

That sounds like a good idea. Very doable. Right now I can import in as FBX and export as an OBJ but you can see there in preview, it loses all color and appears to be one long rectangular box with little shape or form. I still haven't mapped anything in Blender but if I could at least preserve the textures, turn into an OBJ at that point and then save it as a prop, I would be ahead of the game.

Thanks for replying. It's a long hour and a half when people peek in for an answer but there isn't a reply. I have some time. I'll give it a shot.

Rather then to go through blender . it might cause at times some issues when Imorting a Fbx that would not apear in Poser you just Import your model into Poser ... is the aspect ok then export the whole as Obj in Poser this will join all Parts into one.

Depending on the export setting you can keep all Parts in the grouping for further works or not. after this step just Import the Obj created into Poser.

note : It will also save the scaling when exporting ... so scale and position it already the way you wish having it ... else you will have to spawn the correct size through he Grouping tool after Import

To remap your model just use the grouping tool by assigning the regions and saving by name 1: Write a new group 2: Mark the polygons best way is to increase your selections by bolygroups with the + after selection 3: Assign Material 4: Delete new group as you will not need it anymore

this way you can assign as many Map regions as you wish .. needs a little training but easy to do after getting used to the group editor

you also seem to have another issue with your model as it has inverted Poly sides Poser needs to have all Polygons on the outside to render or show it in the correct way same to correct this error ... use the group editor mark the Inverted polygons in a group and hit reverse group normal

Sorry! Work or fun. No excuses. Let's get started. First here is the original import at one hundred percent. The first pic is at 1000 Percent. I try to remember that the Enterprise probably could fit on my desk. Still, "The Old Man", Commander Munroe isn't impressed.

The size of the model compared to a five foot four Female. Is that how modelers operate? Size counts a little, no?

Pieces are misaligned. I did not touch the model or move it in anyway. See the side pieces? One side is missing struts. There is only a single red pipe. There should be two. What is that orange slice? Shouldn't there be two as well? I like the gray but paneling, not too heavy would be nice. Petipet has some nice textures but I would have to rip them from his ships. Can't afford to buy Sveva's panels or I would (Susan is just the best!). Procedurals are nice but I'll need a UV map later. Please see below to see what I mean.

To deal with multiple objects in Poser you could create a Grouping from the Object menu and name it as you like. In the Hierarchy palette you can select multiple items with shift and ctrl clicks, and drag stuff into the Grouping which is a bit like a folder. When you select the Grouping you can scale, translate and rotate everything in it at once. Alt click on the eye icon will toggle visibility for everything too IIRC.

When loading a Fbx it can happen that there are loading errors, for example a car and only one wheel in the center this would mean that the parts were not assigned correctly in the original creation Program or there just ghosts duplicate Parts in such a case you need to try loading the Model in a appropriate Program try Blender it it gives an error try another one until you get the model right from there export it into an other format ... but as far as I can see your space craft needs a large overwork to end up in a good way into Poser ... at some point even a whole overwork

There are several versions of FBX format as well. You mentioned your file is quite old. There is a free utility by Autodesk to convert formats:

https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-converter-archives

"FBX Converter Archives

Transfer files from one file format to another quickly and easily with the FBX Converter. This utility enables you to convert OBJ, DXF™, DAE, and 3DS files to or from multiple versions of the FBX format. "

I took the model into Blender where it loaded all parts correctly. At least it seems correct to me. I then exported it as an OBJ file. Next I imported the new OBJ file into Poser, increased the size from 100% to 5000%. Of course it still won't be to what should be it's true scale but it allows me to show everything in place. It also welded all the parts together so I can use the translation parameters to turn the entire thing at once. So FBX into Blender. Blender converts FBX into OBJ. Poser imports OBJ. It also gave me a much different Material setup. Instead of two hundred items all numbered as cubes (See the very first image above), it gives me something, well, completely different. In the Hierarchy Editor it's listed as BST and that's it. I'm not sure if it's good or bad as I still want to UV map the entire thing. I hope it's quads and not triangles. Triangle UV Mapping is a nightmare for me. Here is the result below.

And here is the Material Room issue. Is this better or worse than that mulitcubed thing?

Gate, thank you for all of your help. It's been immeasurable. I still want to do the grouping assignment in Poser as I want to learn. It's fine to automate things but like math, you use a calculator after you know you can do it by hand. Establish deep roots is always best.

infinity10 posted at 11:42AM Fri, 27 September 2019 - #4364412

There are several versions of FBX format as well. You mentioned your file is quite old. There is a free utility by Autodesk to convert formats:

https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-converter-archives

"FBX Converter Archives

Transfer files from one file format to another quickly and easily with the FBX Converter. This utility enables you to convert OBJ, DXF™, DAE, and 3DS files to or from multiple versions of the FBX format. "

I'm downloading it now. I know that Poser certainly isn't autodesk or Maya but I saved roughly 4500 dollars by using Poser. I still don't have an UV mapping utility (which I think is a good idea. I was told in the Poser Wishlist thread that it isn't necessary as there are other UV tools out there. None were listed. The ones I know of like UVMapper are a bit costly on my current budget. I do carry a CS6 subscription (Crunchyroll or CS6 was a difficult choice. It IS better to own the software outright than a subscription. I used to think otherwise). Wish me luck at the next job fair so I won't have to choose. The question I have is how, in your experience, is the FBX converter better than importing the FBX into Blender and then outputting it as an OBJ that Poser can handle. I don't have lightwave or Zbrush. I have Poser, Cs6 and DS (which I rarely use but it's necessary when I want to convert DUF files.)

File edited to include that I scanned converter exe file with both my virus protection (classified) and Malwarebytes. It's clean. One of my favorites people in the forum got hit recently and it's best to learn while you can. Life normally tells you what to do. One must only be able to listen and act.

Ok so to make it easy if you used Blender, then you can as well rename the material regions there , add materials or merge them. your model mostrobably is triangles ! this can also be changed in blender, with caution as it could cause very bad shadow edges. click Mesh and go into edit mode in blender, hit Alt-J, this will make the mesh tris to quad, make sure to mark " Compare Uvs " else these might get messed up. If you wish to make groups to rig the model in Poser make sure to Remove Doubles in the Transform tool on the Left of Blender before you make tris to quad.

these steps will help you to get a better start when importing the mesh as Obj into Poser

It appears to my untrained eye that the Blender Conversion is slightly better than the FBX autoconverter. I do mean slightly. There is a saying the USA, "It's six of this or half a dozen of the other". It's that close. Also the textures once the item has been converted were exactly the same.

I confess that I'm not a Blender Guru but I'm learning as I go along and somethings are coming back to me. Before rendering, the ship near the blonde is the Blender Conversion. The ship near the redhead is with Autodesk's own converter. As you can see, Blender seems to line things up a bit better, however....

After Conversion Both ships look pretty identical. I have to put in a few hours (Friday night is always our busiest but I'll test for triangles and quads. I DO want wish to make groups if just for UV purposes. There isn't really any moving parts. Any gun turrets will have to be added afterwards. I'd like those at the very least. But you know. One of my deal stoppers are shuttles or ships that don't have at least ONE logical working door. Plus I want to try that change to quads function on a small fighter OBJ. That canopy doesn't work in poser.. Not a surprise, I knew that when I purchased the model. Still it would nice if I ever wanted to try animation. Below is a render after conversion. You can see how close they look. Six of one... half a dozen of the other.

For personal reasons about 20 months ago, I had to stop my self lessons with Udemy and Blender. This means recently, I found myself just trying to get through the interface to find MESH. So I am learning it all over again. Trying to do things piecemeal (Wanting UV MAP it for use in Photoshop) just was a study in frustration. It was indeed a classic case of not just being unable to give an answer but being unable to understand the question. Some 5 days When I bought I asked for a conversion for this piece from the source I bought it at. Hey it was two bucks! Even I can afford 2 bucks. It's why I used to carry a Prime membership.

To @Gate. @Caission, @infinity10 I did as a good converting it as they did thanks to your help. They did a preview and returned the FBX in a PZ3, not a PP2. Everything is procedural so I still have to map the thing to get an HMS-1170 or ships name on it. But in the meantime, thanks for your help. It is truly appreciated. I would show the two crafts but honestly, there is almost no difference between the conversion that you guys helped me and the ones that the company did for me. Their name will not be mentioned publically. For now. Many lessons were learned but one lesson I learned a while is to say, again, Thank you!