Okay, so now that I can import Poser models that didn't come stock with the installation, the next question is others. I want to focus on the obj and fbx files because those seem to be the most common so far.

1. Do I only bring them into my scene by importing them, or can they be added to and accessed from the Content Library?

2. Do I need to manually select the textures? (I'm figuring that's why some of them look kind of washed out -- they are missing the data that describes the colors and such.)

3. Is it safe to assume that, even if the models are rigged, the rigging doesn't carry over to Poser and I need to rig it myself? Or is there a way to set up a file tree to include the rigging, textures, etc. and be done with it?

I don't have any experience with FBX so someone else with familiarity with it can help. As for obj, you need to import the file every time unless you save it to your Library as a figure or prop. If the file does not have any texture materials associated with it then you need to apply those manually. Obj files do not have rigging. That you'll need to create.

.OBJ and .FBX are somewhat different beasts. OBJs you're likely finding for free, and may thus have trouble getting textures to load. Often makers give away the OBJ but didn't texture it, or the textures only load properly in their software. An FBX should theoretically have the textures embedded inside it, but will likely have other weirdness and explosive tendencies once inside Poser.

OBJs can be saved to the Poser Library. Not sure about FBX as I avoid them, but I assume they can also be saved if they're just props. Yes, they will likely not look as good as Poser / DAZ props. You will thus want to build up a Poser Library of materials. I assume you want to render in SuperFly, in which case you want packs from makers such as GhostShip and Vinge Bagna.

As for buying rigged FBX figures not made for Poser, that's a bit of a false economy. Usually they are low-poly for games engines, anyway, and also tend to expensive. You'd do better spending the time learning about how to find (a very important skill) and then adapt an existing Poser figure or robot etc to your needs, with morphs etc.

It would be useful if you could say what your end goal is here: graphic novel, game, animation, and with what types of figures and in what genre.

hborre posted at 10:54AM Thu, 22 October 2020 - #4401877

If the file does not have any texture materials associated with it then you need to apply those manually. Obj files do not have rigging. That you'll need to create.

So, once I import an OBJ, I can save it it? Do I just go under the Props button on the Content Library and hit Save?

HartyBart posted at 10:56AM Thu, 22 October 2020 - #4401914

As for buying rigged FBX figures not made for Poser, that's a bit of a false economy. Usually they are low-poly for games engines, anyway, and also tend to expensive. You'd do better spending the time learning about how to find (a very important skill) and then adapt an existing Poser figure or robot etc to your needs, with morphs etc.

It would be useful if you could say what your end goal is here: graphic novel, game, animation, and with what types of figures and in what genre.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet. Part of the reason I'm playing around with the software and learning it is because I need to know the limitations, not just of the software, but of myself. Can I get good enough with this to make something (at the very least) decent? You can give me the materials used to create the Mona Lisa, but that doesn't mean I have the skill to do it.

At the moment, I don't really have anything that I think 3D would benefit. Any project I work on, I consider what will help me best achieve my results. And frankly, some things simply work better with 2D animation than 3D (South Park comes to mind -- when they made the first wave of video games with 3D graphics, I thought it looked horrible. The construction paper 2D look worked so much better).

Part of the problem is I'm a tinkerer -- I learn mostly through experimentation. So I approach things as, "Here's a quick exercise, how do you make this happen?" One thing I thought of as a quick test was to find models of DVa and Soldier 76 from Overwatch and use it as a short video goofing on the "You are my dad boogie woogie" meme (if you're confused, don't worry. It's an inside joke in the fandom). It seemed a perfect way to test importing models, camera movements, backgrounds, etc. without having to delve into things like walk cycles and stuff just yet.

(And this is just working with stuff that already exists. Making my own models? I wouldn't even know where to start or who I would talk to. But I'd rather wait and see if I can work with 3D before I start delving into something I might not end up doing.)

My artistic ambitions grow with my progress. So I have no doubt the day will come when I'll hit on something and 3D is the way to go. But before that point, I want to learn what I'm dealing with so, when the time comes, I can do it right. I know I need the basics first.

I get it, so you're interested in videogame character rips as free FBX files. But, like I said, search-engine search and "where can I find" requests are talents to cultivate. Because... then you'd find that DVa from Overwatch is actually available ready-made and rigged for Poser, and she is even able to take standard Victoria 4 ("V4") Poser action poses. Her texture is low-res, but could be up-rezed with GigaPixel AI. FoRender has DVa available as "OV DAV 01" for $15 for Poser and she comes with her OV DAV pistol. Also on the same store are a matching OV Hover Bike and Mech for Poser. Here's a quick sketch-paint + lineart render of her from Poser 11:

As you can see - fuzzy low-rez decals on the suit, and I didn't fix the loose pistol-grip.

I don't see Soldier: 76 from Overwatch at the same store yet, but there is "MK SubZero" which is a bit similar but older, and might be adapted. I can't link FoRender here, as links to other stores and sites are not allowed. Not free from there, obviously, but such things would save you weeks of time re: learning Poser rigging.

As for walk cycles being an advanced and complex thing, Poser is not Blender (where, it often seems, you're expected to make everything yourself from scratch). In Poser you don't have to make your own walk-cycles. You just load a free BHV motion-captured file onto the figure and... they walk. Or boogie-woogie dance. Or make a cup of tea. A Google Search search for CMU_EcstasyMotion_BVH.zip will get you the main free set of motion-capture files, targeted for Poser and any figure that can take V4 or M4 poses. 2,600 of them, all public-domain from CMU and professionally captured. Use in Poser: T-Pose, Select BODY, Zoom out, Import BHV, Animation Palette visible, Play.

On saving OBJ to the Library as a Prop, yes... select and press the add button.

Hi ! Sadly, IMHO, FBX files may be a bit less friendly than mentioned above.

I've converted a lot of DA's free XPS files to FBX, got free and budget FBX figures from eg CGT & TurboSquid. Some do carry their textures internally, others reference files in a companion folder. If you're lucky, the latter calls are correctly 'relative' to the supplied texture folder. NOT 'absolute', hard-wired to a folder deep, deep in author's F: drive.

Those can be the stuff of nightmare, as PP_11.3 FBX importer seems unable to browse for them. P_12 may do better.

A few misplaced textures is not a problem, but I've spent entire evenings patiently hand-loading 50~70~~90+ via material room. Given its UI becomes increasingly hostile beyond first page, it is migraine inducing...

Some FBX have no texture info, rely on a single, UV-mapped 'drape'. Which, if you're lucky, is supplied and in a format Poser can read.

Rigging is a sore point. IIRC, FBX versions 'in the wild' range from v6.1 through to v7.5+.

PP_11 can usually import v6.x, but v7.x seem to come as 3~~4 different flavours of rig 'tree'. Only one rare v7.x flavour, often flagged as 'With IK', reliably 'plays nice'. The rest 'lose their tree root', may 'totally splat' like an ST_TOS transporter accident or, if you're lucky, arrive as 15~~30 mini-rigs and their free-flying parts. Such may be rounded up and parented to a place-holder via Hierarchy, but posing is non-trivial. Again, P_12 may do better.

Sorry, don't mean to scare you and, as I've said, P_12 may do better than 11.3. Either now, or in 12.1 update...