Is there a way to make the grouping wireframe box no show in a preview render? I know it doesn't show up in a firefly render,. Thanks

Select the grouping - Select the Properties tab - Uncheck visibility

Thanks. I tried that and it makes every thing within the group invisible. All I was looking for was a way to just get rid of the wireframe group indicator.

I have that as well, and I've just learned to ignore it, as it indeed doesn't show up in FireFly or SuperFly renders.

To have it not show up in the preview render, change the object style to texture shaded and then go into the material room and turn on the transparency.

This Python script should clear most of the gunk off a Poser 11 scene you want to render to Preview. It assumes you have only one Group and also that the Ground is present in the scene.

# Clear PREVIEW scene of unwanted guide gunk, before rendering to PREVIEW.
# Your Poser 11 scene is assumed to have it it a GROUND and one visible GROUP box.
# Version 1.0

import poser

scene = poser.Scene()

# Turn off PREVIEW visibility of "Grouping 1" grouping box, by internal name

actor = scene.ActorByInternalName("Grouping 1")
actor.SetVisible(0)

# Ensure all scene lights are not displaying their guide-wires in PREVIEW.

if (scene):
    lights = scene.Lights()
        for light in lights:
        if (light.LightOn()):
              light.SetOnOff(0)
        else: light.SetOnOff(0)

# Ensure current selection's DisplayOrigin guides (aka 'axis wires' or 'green rods') are off in PREVIEW.
# Can be left on by accident or auto-activated on coming back from SKETCH Designer to PREVIEW.

for actor in scene.Actors():
    actor.SetDisplayOrigin(0)

# Now select the GROUND to ensure no bounding boxes or similar are displaying on figures or props.
# GROUND must be present in the scene, of course, but it nearly always is.

scene.SelectActor(scene.Actor("GROUND"))

# Redraw the cleaned PREVIEW scene ready for rendering.

scene.Draw()

Save as a .txt file, rename to .py

@ HartyBart: Thanks for the script. I have a question for you unrelated. How did you create your avatar? Is it a Poser creation? Thanks It's cool.

Yes. The avatar is Poser - an M3 with a character morph, and Poser 11's comic book feature under the right lighting.

I see the problem with my above script now. My script perfectly handles a stray Grouping box, but not one that has been parented. As you say, it also turns off the parented item. So it needs a further fix.

A new bit of script is then required, to add in RedPhantom's solution. But I cannot get the script to switch the transparency from 0.0 to 1.0. Should be:

mats = actor.Materials()
if mats:
    for mat in mats:
        tree = mat.ShaderTree()
        root = mat.ShaderTree().Node(0)
        nodeInput = root.InputByInternalName("Transparency")
        nodeInput.SetFloat(1.0)
        tree.UpdatePreview()

But it throws an error every time on the damn SetFloat.

Nice job with the M3 character my go to character for most things. I can’t be of any help scripting due to my ignorance. sorry.

Thanks for the complement. It sounds like you're a Poser comics maker, and that's why you need the real-time preview renders?

Here is a working and tested 1.2 version of the above script. It tries to clear as much as possible of the clutter off a Preview render, and works with a parented Grouping box in the scene. Thanks to RedPhantom for the working solution, which is now encapsulated in this script.

# Clear PREVIEW scene of unwanted guide gunk, before auto-rendering to PREVIEW. Then restore.
# Your Poser 11 scene is assumed to have it it a GROUND and one visible GROUP box.
# Version 1.2 working and with Grouping fix - thanks to RedPhantom for this part of the solution.

import poser

scene = poser.Scene()

# Turn off PREVIEW visibility of "Grouping 1" grouping box.
# To do this we first select the Grouping box by its given internal name
# and set it as the current actor

scene.SelectActor(scene.Actor("Grouping 1"))
actor = scene.ActorByInternalName("Grouping 1")

# We set its Display Object mode to Texture Shaded in the Viewport.

poser.ProcessCommand(1409)

# We set its Transparency from 0 to 1 - which makes it invisible in the Viewport and in PREVIEW.
# To call this we have to use internal "Transparency_Max" label not the obvious "Transparency" label.
# Not sure this part is done "right", but it works.

materials = actor.Materials()[0]
materials.SetTransparencyMax(1.0)

scene.DrawAll()

# Grouping box can still be manually selected and used, but is now invisible to the Viewport
# and to PREVIEW, while its parented items remain visible. We will have the script restore the
# Grouping box later, after a PREVIEW render has been made.

# We now ensure all our scene lights do not display their guide-wires or wireframes in PREVIEW.

if (scene):
    lights = scene.Lights()
        for light in lights:
        if (light.LightOn()):
              light.SetOnOff(0)
        else: light.SetOnOff(0)

# We then try to ensure current selection's DisplayOrigin guides (aka 'axis wires' or 'green rods'
# or sometimes a 'purple ball') are off in PREVIEW.  These can be left on by accident or can be
# auto-activated on coming back from SKETCH Designer to the Viewport for a PREVIEW render (bug?).

for actor in scene.Actors():
    actor.SetDisplayOrigin(0)

# It's possible the above bit may not work except in certain circumstances (i.e. coming back to
# a Preview viewport after making a Sketch render, and finding a purple DisplayOrigin ball),
# and thus ideally you have no such DisplayOrigin points visible in your scene when you render.

# Now we hide all Deformers in the scene, such as magnets, force fields, waves. Visibility of
# these is restored later.

poser.ProcessCommand(1471)

# Select the GROUND to make absolutely sure no bounding boxes, figure circles or similar are
# displaying on figures or props. GROUND must be present in the scene, but nearly always is.

scene.SelectActor(scene.Actor("GROUND"))

# Have OpenGL redraw the cleaned PREVIEW scene viewport, ready for rendering.

scene.DrawAll()

# Auto-render the scene to PREVIEW according to your currently-set dpi resolution and render size.

scene.SetCurrentRenderEngine(poser.kRenderEngineCodePREVIEW)
scene.Render()

# GROUND is still selected. Re-select the Grouping box ready to reverse its invisibility.

scene.SelectActor(scene.Actor("Grouping 1"))
actor = scene.ActorByInternalName("Grouping 1")

# Now restore transparency on the Grouping box.

materials = actor.Materials()[0]
materials.SetTransparencyMax(0.0)

# Then have the Grouping box go back to its original wireframe Display Mode.

poser.ProcessCommand(1421)

# Finally, unhide all Deformers in the scene, such as magnets, force fields, waves.

poser.ProcessCommand(1470)

# Redraw the restored scene.

scene.DrawAll()

Still to do - work out how to cope with a scene with two or more Grouping boxes in it. Make the DisplayOrigin section work better. But for now, enjoy.

To be clear... I should copy this into text edit (Mac) save it with the name "Clear Preview.py" Is that correct? After that where do I place it? Thank you for going to all this trouble, you coding script guys have my upmost respect.

Yes, you copy-paste it, ideally to Notepad++ or some similar coder-friendly Notepad equivalent that is set to use absolute plain-text (no fancy Mac formatting) and probably also a plain universal font like Courier. TextMate is said to be a good one for the Mac, for that. Save as a .txt file, rename it to a .py file and also give it a meaningful name - Clear-scene-and-make-Preview-render.py or similar.

You may initially get errors about an 'unexpected indent', if some of the indenting didn't carry across well. Poser 11's Python is strict about getting the correct code indenting, and Poser 12's is even stricter. You will be told which line is in error. It's then just a question of editing it on the desktop, then copy-pasting it back to the |ScriptsMenu| folder, over-writing, relaunch Poser and try again. But with most Python scripts you will get them from Rendo Freestuff or ShareCG, and such in-the-wild testing won't be needed. I'll post this one there when it's finished.

Not sure about the Mac and its file paths, but on Windows my new .py scripts go into C:|Program Files|Smith Micro|Poser 11|Runtime|Python|poserScripts|ScriptsMenu| and then (on restart of Poser) they show up in the top scripts drop-down. Ideally you also make a FavoriteScripts folder there, to hold your own installed scripts and keep them apart from the scripts that ship with Poser. Or, under that folder, you could drop it into a "testing" sub-folder of that, if you don't want to clutter your main FavoriteScripts menu.

You may also want the very useful XA Toolbar, to which scripts can be pinned and iconized, and then activated with one click. The bar can be launched along with Poser 11 and, if you get it, I can give you guidance on that it needed. XA is available on the Renderosity store ("XA - Toolbar for Poser") and needs the free AV hotfix to run on the latest Poser 11.

Along with SceneToy it's one of the top Python scripts for Poser 11. Also, there is a Mac version of the famous SnapTo mover-helper script under development and working. It's been Windows-only until now, so it may also interest you.

You probably want to look at a particular vital Web page too. A Google search for "Python scripts for Poser 11" should find it. A useful introductory guide.

The quick and easy solution I always use is to:

1. Select the Group box
2. press Ctrl+Shift+9 to make it fully visible
3. Change the material to 100% transparent with 0 specular or reflections.
4. Enjoy

I always do Preview renders with Antialiasing though. If rending beyond that you probably need to uncheck 'Visible in Raytracing' on the Properties panel too.