Forum: Poser Technical


Subject: Custom pose files to retain JP info

Kalypso opened this issue on Nov 05, 2001 ยท 33 posts


dwilmes posted Tue, 06 November 2001 at 11:11 AM

Hope this doesn't show up twice, Ren. is slow and flakey for me today, There has been a lot said lately about changing extensions to make files easier to organize, and this is a handy idea -- but with caveats. Files with the "wrong" information in them for their extensions will break CR2Edit and utilities that don't use hundreds of lines of code in extra error checking. If such files are distributed, the problem is compounded. Further, we are all hoping for and even expecting that Poser5 will include a new library system, and since this would involve a major rewrite, it wouldn't be surprising to me to see a lot of error checking dropped in favor of stricter file format rules. Go ahead and change the extensions, it certainly does make things easier, but I would highly recommend keeping the original extension in the new name, as in NewHair_pp2.cr2 or something similar. Then you can always rename if you want to distribute the file, or if it turns out Poser5 spits out a file that claims to be a cr2/whatever when it is actually a pp2/whatever. The latest build of CR2Edit helps to keep things organized by inserting comment lines into the PZ2 files it makes, listing the file it is intended to be used on, the body parts effected, number of materials effected, etc. There is a reader for these lines built into CR2Edit, and they are easily read in any text editor. While on the subject of formatting text files: it matters. Five spaces is not the same as a tab character. Putting a "{" for a line when it should be a tab plus the "{" matters. For many tools these things matter to CR2Edit, they may matter a lot to Poser5, and they matter to Poser4 in certain circumstances. I have had files sent to me that looked perfect, but wouldn't run in Poser. With a lot of find/replace of spaces and tabs, it would run. I don't know which lines matter or why, but somewhere, at least one of them does. So if you are hand-hacking Poser files, preserve the formatting, for your own sanity, because sooner or later you will wind up scratching your head over why a file doesn't work. Changing geometry with a PZ2 file: in a sense, this can be done with subdividing MAT file which references an alternate geometry. The ability to automatically create both standard and external obj types is included in the latest build of CR2Edit, as is scaling PZ2 files. Last night I added the JP switching type that started this thread, with your choice of body parts and X, Y and/or Z channels included. Nerd, that is the first time I have ever seen Posette toss a salute without getting a greenstick fracture of the collarbone, wonderful work! I agree that this sort of PZ2 file can be very dangerous in the hands of someone who doesn't understand what it does. Readmes are, of course, never read (I don't know how many times I've answered a support letter for CR2Edit with "As stated in line 2 of the ReadMeFirst...") Putting the needed info as to what it is to be used on and under what circumstances in the name of the file could quickly get cumbersome, to say the least, and unreadable in the Poser library list. This info is in CR2Edit-created PZ2 files, but that is even less accessible than a readme. If you decide to distribute your CaMie, I guess the best you could do would be put up an explanation in the download area, and put something in the ReadMe to the effect that you are using these files at your own risk; there is no support beyond the info on the website. But you'd still get email, I'm sure, "Hey, I put yer CaMie joint thingy on the Poser Rattlesnake and he killed my Poser!" Regards, Dan http://www.zenwareonline.com/cr2edit/cr2edit.html Sorry Win only for software http://www.zenwareonline.com for ZenPaint, ZenTile, ZenGrid and VueMaster