Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/softgood.ez?Who=JHoagland

Ask yourself- how many times have you downloaded a texture for Vicky or Mike and then had to manually apply it to every... single... body part? Wouldn't it have been better if the artist had included a MAT pose file to automatically apply the texture to the body parts? Sadly, though, most people don't know how to create MAT poses. My new MAT Pose Applier program (for Windows only) solves this problem by allowing YOU to create your own MAT pose. Unlike some other "free" programs, my program is a quick and easy way to apply textures to the P4 Male & Female, Vicky & Mike, and your own cr2 figures (which you can import yourself). Best of all, you don't need to know if the texture map for the "InnerMouth" or "Tongue" is on the HeadMap or the BodyMap- my program does the work for you. It even creates it's own .rsr thumbnail file so you don't have to look for the ugly "shrugging man" image in your Pose library. And what exactly is a "MAT Pose", you may ask? It is a method of automatically applying textures to a figure which is saved as a pose file. But, unlike normal poses, a MAT Pose changes the texture of the object, not the positioning. Click on the attached link, take a look, and even download a "test" version! Note: you can not save the pose file in the "test" version, but you can get a feel for the program AND be sure everything works properly on your PC. (Some people using Windows ME have found that they are missing some "support" files.) --John

Good job John....bravo

Think , ill give it a try.

WOW! now that sounds useful! Any beta testers care to share thoughts? :)

I have a question :) What is the difference between this and the free one in the free stuff section here? I haven't tried the free one yet, but I did look at the read me that came with it, and it looks similar, except that yours looks easier to use, and the free one has settings for highlight color ambient etc. Like I said yours looks like its easier to use ( I'm not to great on complicated, lol ) Does yours let you set the highlight color etc. Just wanted to ask before I buy it :)

To answer everyone's questions between my program and the free one. In one sentence, they are both different, however: My program is the quick & easy way to apply textures to the entire figure. The other program requires that the user apply the texture to each and every material (similar to the "Materials Editor" within Poser). My program comes with the P4 Male & Female, Vicky, Mike, and a large number of cr2 figures already built into its database (as well as the ability to import and save cr2 figures). The user simply selects the figure, selects the texture(s), and then saves the MAT Pose. The other program requires the user to select a cr2 every time the program is run (including the P4 figures, Vicky, and Mike), and then select a material, and then select a texture and then select a base color, (and then select another material, select the texture, etc.) and then save the MAT Pose. (This level of detail may be perfect for expert users, but the average user may not want to have to do all of this selecting.) My program has been beta-tested by a number of other users (using Windows 98, NT, ME, 2000, and XP) and has passed Renderosity's approval process (or it would not be for sale in the Marketplace). The other program is in the Free Stuff section and there is no way to know its quality until you use it. My program creates a custom .rsr thumbnail image so you can find it in the Pose Library. The other program does not. My program has a big button labeled "Save Pose" so it is obvious to the user. The other program has a menu option: "File" > "Save" and "File" > "Save As...", which could cause the user to accidentally resave the loaded cr2/ figure file instead of the pz2/ pose file (and cause permanent changes to the cr2 figure). In my opinion, my program has a much cleaner and better-looking interface. --John

I am curious why expert users would want to use the longer form...can't one change to different textures in one model in yours by building a new pose file and saving it?

I'm convinced ! Thanks for the info John :)

I betaed the program on NT and 98SE The beta testing was boaring. It did just what it was supposed to do. No exciting system crashes. No frozen screens or blue screens. I could actually reapply the MAT files after I made them. I had previously been using the MKTools PPP Scripts and I like this program better and you don't need PPP to use it. I think this program will up the antie in the store. You should routinely get MAT files with purchases this makes it too easy.

JHoagland wrote: "The other program is in the Free Stuff section and there is no way to know its quality until you use it." - - - ??? of course not, same applies to anything. I have used it and it is great - and free :)

Papu, I downloaded it ( the free one), and tried to look at the help files, to make sure what I was doing, and it wouldn't open ,error said it was in another language.

Oops, forgot to ask, does either program let you make mats for just the eyes, and lips, so you can change the colors?

At DAZ3D they sell MK Scripts which include the creation of MAT files at a click of a buttom. As I bought it a while but never try it, is it the same?

Vicky and Michael has a separate texture for face and body but P4 character does not have that. How your tool work with P4 models?

pokeydots, you'd better e-mail ilari.pihlajisto@mbnet.fi and ask :) (it's the author) - nothing like that happened to me.

Papu, lol fogure out what was wrong :) I was trying to open the wrong help files, instead of the html,lol there are very good instructions in there!

hehehehhe ok

I might have to look into it. I am not that convinced yet. (But I may be.) To clarify a point you made about the one in free stuff. I have been using it, and no, it will not let you overwrite a CR2. I hit save instead of save as and instead of rewritting the CR2, it gave me a little message that it doesn't do them, and left it alone. Just wanted to clarify for you so you weren't spreading misperceptions. For the person who asked, I don't know about this one in the marketplace, but you can make MAT files for just eyes, nails, etc with the free one. And it isn't as difficult as it sounds to use the free one. Just load a CR2 with the texture set the way you want it, (You usually get one with a character you purchase anyway) and it does all the work. Or you can modify an existing Mat pose file. I personally like it. Unfortunately, yours in the marketplace came out after the free one, or I probably would have jumped on it. But I have no problem buying a program that I have a similar free one if I am convinced it does something more. So I will take a look. A couple of questions... 1. Does it allow you to, like asked above, just the eyes or nails instead of the whole texture? 2. Can you change the ambiant and highlight colors with it? 3. Can you load other MAT files and just modify them if you only want to change, lets say, the eye color? Just wondering. Angela

To answer some more questions: My program is a quick & easy way to create MAT Pose files, so, no, there is no way to change the texture or colors for a specific material or body part. This "advanced" feature is planned for "version 2", due out in a few months (and, when finished, will be free to anyone who purchases the current "version 1"). This version of the program is really geared towards the people who want to apply a texture map to the figure and not worry about which texture goes on which material. If you are an artist who would like to see more features in the next version, feel free to let me know your ideas. To answer another question: The program can handle both the P4 and Vicky/ Mike characters with the same ease and knows which texture maps go to which body parts. For the P4 figures (and cr2 files), the "Head Texture Map" option is "greyed-out" to let the user know that this texture map is not required. Also, you can't edit an existing MAT Pose in this version, but I can certainly add it to the list of features for "version 2". --John

Many people are interested only in texture-changing MAT files, and it sounds like either will do the job, John's sounds a little more user-friendly. If you want to do more with PZ2 files, you will need a text editor and a bunch of tutorials, or CR2Edit, which will make PZ2 files for CR2, PZ3, PP2,etc files. MAT with the ability to set colors for each material (for texcolor, ambient, hilite), set all colors to white, include tex and/or trans maps or not, make Scaling MAT files, subdividing MAT files (of two types), JNT MAT files (joint parameter altering), and MOR files. (Current CR2Edit users, if your copy doesn't include all of these you need to check Help/Check Current Version) regards, Dan http://www.zenwareonline.com/cr2edit/cr2edit.html Sorry Win only for software http://www.zenwareonline.com for ZenPaint, ZenTile, ZenGrid and VueMaster

Dan- While I've never used your program and I'm sure it does an excellent job at what it does, you forgot to mention that it costs $15 for an upgrade and $50 for a new user. My program is $10 for the current version and "version 2" will be a free upgrade for everyone who purchased the current version. I will agree that my program doesn't have as many features nor is it as powerful as yours, but it is significantly less expensive. --John

John, I just purchased your program, :) Will it work with Dina? Will it know where everything is on her texture maps, like Vicky? Thanks

John, I didn't mean to sound like I was casting aspersions, this is a case of apples and oranges. I wouldn't suggest that someone get CR2Edit simply for making MAT files, that is just one of 50+ tools included. The type of PZ2 files your app addresses is the one that most people will be interested in, and the additions to version 2 will make it even more of a good value -- I see no reason why it shouldn't become very popular. With the brokerage fees and the thousands of hours of research and programming time, its obvious neither of us is in this for the money, but rather for the good feeling of having made things easier for artists, so they have more time for actually creating. regards, Dan http://www.zenwareonline.com/cr2edit/cr2edit.html Sorry Win only for software http://www.zenwareonline.com for ZenPaint, ZenTile, ZenGrid and VueMaster

John, I used your program,and it is very easy to use, but I have a question :) It makes an rsr but it is a created by Mat pose edit, something like that, is there a way I can get it to make an image of the actual texture like say on Vicky? Or make my own to put with the mat pose, so I know what it looks like insted of going by what I named it? lol Does this make sense? Thanks, and it is very easy to use by the way :)

Answering today's questions: Working with Dina V- Currently, it is not designed specifically for the "Dina V" character, but you can import it as a "Other Figure" cr2. However, if it used two texture maps (like Vicky & Mike), then the current version of my program won't handle it correctly. I will go ahead and add this as a feature to the next version of the program. .rsr files- I will look into creating a more "descriptive" rsr image, but I may be limited by what Poser can handle. For now, you can make your own thumbnail rsr image and have Poser use that one instead. All you need to do is create your own pose (with a similar name), delete the original rsr and new pz2 and rename the new rsr file to match the old name. Here are the specific steps: 1) Create a MAT Pose with my program and call it whatever you want. For example, "test.pz2" 1a) The program will automatically create an rsr file with the same name: "test.rsr" 2) Open Poser, and go to the Pose Library and you will see the "test" MAT pose and custom rsr. 3) Apply this MAT Pose to a figure. 4) Click "Add to Library" and call it "testTEX". After a pause, you will see it in your Pose Library. 4a) Poser will create two files: a "testTEX.pz2" and testTXT.rsr". 5) Switch to another Pose Library- any other one will do. (We don't want the library open when we switch rsr files.) 6) Open Windows Explorer and go to that Pose Library folder on your hard drive, under PoserRuntimeLibrariesPose(folder) 7) You'll see the 4 files: test.pz2, test.rsr, testTEX.pz2, and testTEX.rsr. 7a) Delete the middle two files: test.rsr and testTEX.pz2. 7b) Rename textTEX.rsr to test.rsr 8) Switch back to Poser, open the original Pose Library and you'll see your new thumbnail image for your MAT Pose. --John

Thanks John, I tried the Dina and seen it didn't work, so will watch for the new version :)

John, I'm really beginning to appreciate the benefits of the MAT Pose stuff. I've seen some very amazing stuff done. My question to you: Does your program take advantage of the MANY textures for Mike and Vicki? I've seen texture sets that make them appear to be whole different characters. Or does your program have only a limited set of textures for these characters?

To answer Ron's questions: My program doesn't come with any textures- you use your own maps for the "body" (and for Vicky & Mike, select a map for the "head"). You select a figure, select the maps, and click "Save Pose", and repeat as often as you need, with as many textures as you have. You could even create a MAT Pose for every Vicky (or P4) texture you have (which is actually what I have done). Also, keep in mind that I have a "test" version available for download that people can play with. Just go to the MAT Pose Applier "sales page" (see the link in the first message), scroll down, and click on the link. Sometimes, using the program could answer your question better than I could word one. Of course, feel free to keep the questions coming- I'm sure other people are wondering the same thing (and I don't mind answering them at all). --John

Ok, thanks. This is becoming clearer. But here is another dumb question. What do you mean by selecting maps? Do I have a map around for all these characters I have? I found one for Vicki 1 (I have both Vicki 1&2, and lost some time due to my own confusion on that.) So I have a map for Vicki 1, but not for vicki 2. I have one for Mike. If I have a map, don't I just click on that... and doesn't that load the character all ready for me? No need to do any more? And is it possible to have textures without a map? I seem to have hundreds of textures for all sorts of people and characters, but not many maps.

This is what I see as a map.

Let me see if I can explain... A MAT is just a pose that assigns textures. Thats all. It doesn't load any figure at all, or alter your existing figure in any other way. That is what makes them so useful. So... you would need to load Mike. THEN select him (click on him) and then load (apply) a MAT pose to set up the textures. nd no, not all textures come with MAT files - hell, almost none of the old ones do. There is basically no excuse for newer textures not to have MAT poses.

To answer Ron's question: A "texture" is the same as a "texture map" is the same as a "texture image" is the same as an "image map" is the same as an "image". They all mean the same thing- it is simply an image file (.gif, .jpg, .bmp, etc.) that can be applied to "colorize" a 3-D object. (The word "map" refers to the fact that the image can be "mapped" to precisely cover the 3-D object's geometry.) A "MAT Pose" is Poser's automated way of applying the texture to the selected 3-D object. The MAT Pose defines which texture is applied to which part of the object (the "material"). Ron, in your example, the "Michael Map" is a "figure" created by DAZ: it is the "Mike" figure, but with textures already applied (compared to the "Mike" figure, which does not have the tetxures applied.) P.S. Thanks for the screen shot using Windows XP- it looks cool. But, next time, could you make the image a little smaller? --John