Why does Poser do it?

Poser displays 'welded' verticies with a rounded (soft) appearance.
It does this so that the human figure will not appear to have skin that looks like a bunch of polygons that are placed edge to edge. That is, it produces a smooth surface across polygons.

Note, however, that if you load the 'box' prop from the Poser props library, it has sharp edges. This is because the verticies (that is, it's edges) of the box prop are NOT welded. This means that at each edge of the box there are actually two edges (and 4 vertices - 2 verticies for each edge) which lie exactly in the same position.

So, if you want SHARP edges, do NOT WELD verticies.
And, if you want SOFT (or rounded) edges, then WELD verticies.

Example:
Take a regular sheet of paper and fold it in half.
Now open it so that you have a 90 degree angle at the fold.
You now have 2 (4 sided) polygons on either side of the fold. The fold is the common edge. This is like the verticies being welded together and Poser will display a soft or rounded edge (like it was one continuous surface) - because it is!

Now, tear the paper along the fold and then put the paper back together along the fold. You now have the same shape but TWO edges along the fold and Poser would display this as a sharp edge (like you had 2 distinct and separate surfaces)..... because you do!

Hope this helps.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

P.S. This one bothered me, also, for many moons until I learned the 'secret.' Now that you know the secret, you can make your models with sharp edges or soft edges. Your choice. ;=]

Remember ... "With Poser, all things are possible, and poseable!"

cheers,

dr geep ... :o]

edited 10/5/2019