I'm working through the above tutorial by JKeller, and I'm having a problem. I have pulled everything into Compose, as instructed, but I can't select multiple parts in order to merge them. Am I doing something wrong? Please help!

After you open the first file. click the "Read files" button again and find the file you want to merge with the first one. Then check the merge box before you read it. This threw me for a loop the first time I tried it too. -ScottA

Well, I actually got that far. The second file is imported without a problem. I have both geometries in Compose, waiting to be merged. According to the tutorial, any two parts which will share the same area-the figure hip and the suit hip, etc.-need to be selected at the same time, and merged using the "Merge Items" option. I can't seem to select any two parts simultqaneously. Compose drops the first selection when I make the second selection, and I can't Merge Items. I tried saving without merging, no go. Anyone? Oh, wow, I'm going to have to do the massive CR2 editing tutorial instead....

The files are merged on import if the have the same group names. If you bring in an OBJ with the group name "chest", and there is already a "chest" group in the file you have opened, the two chest groups will be merged. -Jeff H.

Use the shift key when you select the second part :) Both items will be highlighted and the merge objects button will come on. Berge

You really don't want to do it that way when integrating the clothing, Berge.

If not the "Berge" way, then how should I go about it? I really want to perfect something I'm working on, but as painlessly as possible. The files are automatically merged if the names are the same? Even though they are listed seperately? Then why did the clothing not appear on the final figure when I opened it? If I had given the .obj direction incorrectly, the edited CR2 would not have opened the file at all, right? The file opened, but without the added clothing. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Just tried the whole thing again. This time I opened the new .obj geometry in Poser, to make sure it had worked. Perfect on that front. Then the CR2 editing. I changed the two references, pointing them at the new geometry. Triple checked the case usage, which is fine. Went into Poser, opened the new CR2, and found...an exact duplicate of the figure from whose CR2 I had copied the edit. No new geometry invoked. JeffH, if you are listening to this now outdated string, "HELP!!!" Trying to distract himself from current events, Cage

When you did it the first time an RSR was created, you have to delete that and open the cr2 again. This will build a fresh RSR based on your new OBJ. -JH.

Delete the .rsr for the file from which I have copied? Hey, that is in the Tut! Wahoo! :) Many thanks, Jeff!

Okay, I'm being a pain. Sorry. I tried deleting the .obj geometry .rsr. I tried deleting the CR2's .rsr. I tried re-naming the new CR2 to match the name of the new geometry, by which point I was flailing about, grasping at straws. I am getting the same final results, i.e., no new geometry, in spite of all this. I skipped some of the steps in the middle of the tutorial because I am integrating geometries from an existing P4 figure, with pre-set materials and text-mapping. That shouldn't affect anything, right? Any idea as to where I've gone awry? D'Oh, Cage

I really don't know which steps you missed or why it isn't working for you. That's the trouble with communicating over the internet. List the steps you went through in full detail if you can.

1. Lined up the clothing figure in Poser. I used the figure geometry from the Geometries folder as a reference, lining up the clothing with this instead of a zeroed figure. 2) Exported the clothing as an OBJ. 3) Opened Compose. Imported the appropriate figure geometry from the Geometries folder. 4) Opened the newly saved clothing OBJ. "Merge with current file" was checked. 5) Verified that everything was present in Compose, and wrote the file to the same folder in Geometries as the source figure. 6) Imported the newly written figure geometry into P4. It looked fine. 7) Copied the CR2 for the target figure. Opened the copied CR2 in WordPad. 8) Changed the figure geometry reference at the beginning of the CR2. Verified that case usage was correct. Used "Find" to locate the second reference, and replaced that as well. 9) Opened P4, opened new CR2, came back to the forum and whined a bit.... 10) Experimented with the various .rsr's as mentioned above, trying the new CR2 in P4 after each new change. Closed and re-opened P4 for each attempt. 11) Here I am, whining again. I'm really sorry to be such a pain. Just once, I'd like to have a tutorial work the first time I try. I'm beginning to feel a bit stupid.

Having been rapped over the knuckles once, I feel a bit insecure risking it again :) I'm not sure if this will help, but try opening the obj geometry file in a text editor. Find the body part that's causing the problem. Look for the materials used. It may be that when you merged the parts, no material was allocated to one of the merged parts. If so, type in the usemtl... command, save, delete rsr's and try opening again. Good luck Berge

Was the clothing one of the ones from Poser4? Exporting from Poser will most likely leave your clothing figure without group names and it will be left behind by the cr2. I asked if it was a p4 clothing figure because they line up with the nude figures already and using the OBJ from geometries works fine, no exporting needed. The most work you would have to do is delete the extra body parts that each clothing figure has. Which clothing figure are you using and which nude?

Where's this tutorial?

It's not really a tutorial, more of an overview. It was way back in the days of Poser3 and it need updating bad ;-) http://super-spy.virtualave.net/dresstut.htm -JH.

I am using the P4 Nude Woman and the P4 Catsuit. I didn't think to try to join the two .obj's directly! D'Oh! I guess I do need to delete a few body parts, lest I lose the requisite morphs...gotta have the facial expressions! So, the material assignments are more crucial than I thought. I have been hoping that pre-assigned materials, showing up in Compose, would stay with the final figure. Do I also need to check the body part names for the Catsuit, in Compose? I saved the tutorial as an .html file, and now the only location I can seem to reference is the location of the file on my hard drive. The URL is given in another string, further down on the Poser Forum. I'll try to dredge it up. I think I have a pretty good idea of where I may have gone wrong at this point, from the above. Thnaks for everyone's help! I'll come back and whine a bit more if I have further trouble....

So you're doing the P4 Nude and catsuit. That's what I was going to do too, but with the mini skirt added in L

Uh-oh. How does the tutorial need updating? It seemed wonderfully concise. Mason has one which does something along the same lines, but I think it's geared towards users of 3D Studio. Can anyone key me in to the information that might be missing from the existing tutorial? The above URL is the correct one, BTW. Perhaps a bit predictably, I'm trying to integrate the Batsuit into KSL's Batgirl, which is wonderful! I'm a hopeless fanboy. I would really like to integrate the suit into the Evolution 1 Female, but that's a more advanced project for some time down the road. Has anyone tried integrating clothing into the Ev-1?

LOL, I already integrated the p4 woman,catsuit and boots months ago. Should I place this for download? There is no nude body under it though, just the catsuit. Lemme know. -JH.

I used Mason's tutorial for the same figures I listed above. The new figure came out ok, but it took a lot of trial and error to get it right in Poser. Or so I thought I had it right. The face lost all of it's morphing. The dials and stuff are there, but they don't work. Now, when I did this (Mason's tut), I eliminated certain parts of each figure. So I am wondering if that is what caused the face to become immoble. But I wanted to try this Compose deal too and see how it comes out. I wondered if that was the tut listed by JKeller. I was there earlier and saved the page to my HD like you did L

Jeff, that's what I did with mine with Mason's tut- I eliminated the non-visable parts from the Nude woman, and the unused parts from the catsuit, ie the leg parts, and added the mini skirt in too. Another prob I have with this character is turning her head- Gaps appear around her neck. I kept both chests, because without the nude chest, there were gaps as well.

Jeff! Yes! Post that file! I've been trying to talk several persons on the Forum, more skilled than I, into creating such a figure! Perfect! Has anyone THOUGHT about integtrating clothing, oh say, the catsuit?, into the Ev-1? I've built in the boots, but that's the easy part. I posted an ElectraWoman & DynaGirl to the 3DCC, using the Ev-1 as the base, and would really like to be able to use the figure for a wider variety of characters. I'ts such a great figure, and it might be our big breakthrough if we can't expect any more from Meta or Zygote. I would like to increase its funtionality, and see a corresponding male figure....

I'll check the files over and get it posted sometime tomorrow.

WarriorD - Just guessing, but isn't there an invisible "head" geometry on several of the P4 clothing files? I think I noticed one listed as part of the catsuit.... If merged and not deleted it would change the head geometries, and remove all the facial morphs, which is what I was thinking above.

Yeah, there was the invisable head. But I deleted it. The only duplicate parts I had were- The chest (nude and catsuit), hip (nude and skirt), lthigh (nude and skirt) and rthigh (nude and skirt). The catsuit chest I renamed to catsuitchest, the skirt parts had skirt added in fron, ie skirtlThigh. For the cr2 file, I used the nude cr2 info copied for the skirt parts (and names changed) and the catsuit cr2 for the catsuit parts. I'll just keep playing with it. I'm kinda thinking I'll have to end up leaving the nude completely intact and adding the other figures...

Oh, and one other thing- I DL'd the Java 1.2 runtime environment so I could use Compose, but it doesn't seem to be working... I followed the directions, and when I double click on the Compose.jar to run it, it acts like it's going to start up, then it goes dead. Nothing. Nadda.

I had Insomnia...the files are posted ;-) You'll need OBJaction mover to decode the .pcf file. It's on my Geocities site so that means you'll have to paste the link to your browser in some cases. -Jeff H. PS: the Java Runtime is here for the PC: http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/1.2/jre/download-windows.html Look in the tutorial database for making Comnpose work on a MAC.

Yeah, that's where I got it from. Maybe I just got a bad DL. Anyways, I'll check out your file and see how you did it :o)