I want to simplify the geometry of a chainmail bikini top (classic Red Sonja costume).

There are these little "bracket" pieces connecting the chainmail disks and I want to remove them. (See the b&w pic with the blue highlights.)

I opened the OBJ file in Hexagon and figured out how to select and delete the pieces.

I saved the file as an OBJ:

I tried both "Save As" and "Export" as OBJ

I left the settings to default

In both cases, I kept the name of the original Geometry file (don't panic, I lept a back-up of the original).

When I open Poser Pro 11, the new Geometry file loads (the brackets are gone), however:

The top no longer fits properly.

The breasts are too small

I cannot morph the top with the properties dials: they no longer work.

Clearly, I am doing something wrong (probably when I save/export the OBJ file). Or is there something I need to fix in the CR2 file?

What can I do to fix this?

HEXAGON with the "brackets" selected.

The bikini top rendered in Poser Pro 11 in Comic Book Preview mode.

Close up of the little brackets I want to delete (blue color added for emphasis).

I don't know about Hexagon, as I'm solely working in Wings3D myself.

But since ancient times, if you as much as change or delete a single polygon from an object file, any morphs made for said object file will stop working in Poser.

As you have Poser Pro 11, try loading the figure you created with your NEW object file and also the original figure based on the old object file.

Then under "Figure", select "Copy Morphs From..." and follow the instructions.

This will "average" a new set of morphs for the modified object file.

Depending on the shape of the object, this might might or might not work well.

I think it was the user "Cage" who wrote a python script with a similar functionality, but based on another principle.

So you can try that, too.

If the result is still unsatisfactory, I guess you need to create a new object, but this time with the morph already applied, so that it will match your morphed figure.

JoePublic posted at 9:35 AM Mon, 31 January 2022 - #4434114

I don't know about Hexagon, as I'm solely working in Wings3D myself.

But since ancient times, if you as much as change or delete a single polygon from an object file, any morphs made for said object file will stop working in Poser.

As you have Poser Pro 11, try loading the figure you created with your NEW object file and also the original figure based on the old object file.

Then under "Figure", select "Copy Morphs From..." and follow the instructions.

This will "average" a new set of morphs for the modified object file.

Depending on the shape of the object, this might might or might not work well.

I think it was the user "Cage" who wrote a python script with a similar functionality, but based on another principle.

So you can try that, too.

If the result is still unsatisfactory, I guess you need to create a new object, but this time with the morph already applied, so that it will match your morphed figure.

I'll try an FBM to see if that can solve the issue. I'll also reach out to the product creator and see if I can persuade (i.e. pay him) to make the modification.

If you just want the brackets gone:

What you could do is export the object into Hexagon and assign a new material to the brackets only. (If they don't have that already)

BUT DO NOT DELETE THEM OR CHANGE THE OBJECT OTHERWISE!

Then create a new cr2 with that "new" object.

Then you can simply make the brackets invisible in the material room by making their material 100% transparent.

The original morphs should still work then, as you didn't changed the object itself.

BTW, you can assign a new material to an object or figure also in Poser itself, using the Grouping Tool.

(Create a new group, then select all the stuff you want into this group, then assign a new material to it.)

This might be the "safer" option, but might be a bit more "fiddly" to select all the faces depending on the object.

IMHO, the only exception to 'Change even one poly breaks everything', in this case texture maps, may be the mega-OBJ ports by prolific Richard Mandel aka 'Digital Explorations'. He found a work-flow to concatenate sub-objects' OBJs so each vertex set began afresh within the mega-file. You could copy/paste them out, they'd call their mapped textures and work !!

Vertex lists and counts re-start for each of the many sub-objects, so keeping their number lengths short. Even allowing for those sub-objects' modest admin overheads, this significantly reduces the over-all file size compared to equivalent 'monolithic' OBJ with vertex count rising to tens of thousands, each count-digit yet-another file-byte...

I have asked him to consider doing a tutorial on crafting such 'concatenated' OBJs, he's yet to reply...

Note: IIRC, RM no longer posts DLs, has 'pulled' prior freebies from eg SCG & DA, leaving only their renders. Luckily, I'd grabbed the dozen GB of his team's RE scene recreations...