Attached Link: http://www.facegen.com/modeller.htm

re: Daz... I started to mention them in the previous message, but forgot. Yes, I do make some exceptions and buy a few things from Daz, however if I had the option of getting zips from them, I'd get zips instead. I don't rule out installer packages completely (contrary to my lack&white statement above), but it's a strike in the 'cons' column when I'm evaluating products ;). Of course a strike (or half strike) in the 'pros' column can come if I know that there's some over-riding authority making all the installers, but that still doesn't address the issue of knowing what's exactly in the package and where exactly everything gets installed. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this subject, but I thought I'd throw it out there as food for thought ;). Cheers.

Sounds like time to whip out some magnets, Emily ;). Seriously, give it a try...

• select the hair object.
• 'create magnet' from the menus
• the 'closed end' of the magnet is always facing it's 'Y' direction, so if you want to pull the hair 'back' (in the Z diretion), you can either just move the magnet that way or...
• rotate the base of the magnet, so that the closed end is pointing back (the direction you want to pull the mesh in)
• re-select the magne itself and add some 'Y' translation.
• observe what parts of the mesh are moving and if it's not right...
• set the magnet zone to wireframe so you can see it (select the zone circle, then Display/Element Style/Wireframe in the menus).
• adjust the size, shape and position of the zone (sphere of influence) object so that the right parts of the mesh are affected.
• once you get it how you want it, 'Spawn Morph Target' in the object menu, which adds a new dial to your prop... delete the magnet (better yet, save it to the prop library first) and set the dial to 1.0
• save your new morph-enabled hair prop back to the libraries for future use

...it takes a while to get the hang of it, but you'll be happy you learned it - comes in really handy for stretching clothes around to cover up poke-throughs.

Just a head's up... I'm on a PC and I know that installers are used to make things easier, but I won't buy a product if I can tell ahead of time that it's an .exe vs a .zip file. Call me paranoid (if you must ;), but I can't trust 500-600 Poser merchants to come up with a valid installer program - and I can figure out what to do with a broken or badly built zip. And it's not just about trust.. with a zip file, I can see (at some future date) exactly what was included.. an installer can put stuff in the registry or pretty much any place... I want to know what went where and therefore how to get rid of it or rebuild it if needed. Again, I understand that the reasons for using an installer may be completely honorable, but I don't think I'm alone in being weary of them. - Keith

Just to clarify... this is NOT a 3d-modeller and it is NOT a 3d-file-format-conversion program (unless you count being able to read .obj files that some apps can't and spitting out ones that they can ;). It is (currently) just a tool to manipulate and view .obj files.

You need some sort of modeling program and the preferred mesh format is wavefront .obj files, so the modeler should export the meshes/models in that format, or you'll need some way to convert them.

There are several 'free' modelers available... you might want to take a look at these:

Wings3d - http://www.wings3d.com
Anim8or - http://www.anim8or.com

...both of them will export in .obj format. I personally use Wings3D currently for most of my work.

If you want to be able to texture-map your model, you'll need to create UV mapping attributes... one of the most widely used utilities for doing this is Steve Cox's UVMapper program - http://www.uvmapper.com

Once you have your model created and/or set up for texturing, you can import it as a prop into Poser ( File/Import/Wavefront OBJ... ). Note that Poser's world space is very tiny... your newly created cigarette prop may be as large as one of your characters. You can either scale the model as you import it, or (as I normally do), load it full size, then scale it using the prop dials.

Once you have it scaled and positioned to suit you (ie. good 'default' positioning), export your model back out, delete the one you have from the scene and load the scaled/positioned one back in... set up your materials (optionally parent it to a character if you want a smart-prop) and save it to your prop library.

The reason for re-loading it after scaling is so the prop's new 'default' size is 100%. If you just used the one you scaled down, it might be scaled way down (4%, 10%, etc)... scaling happens in finite steps and those steps are huge if you're starting out with a prop that's already only 5-10% it's original size. If you load it back in after scaling, you get the full range of scaling available again, so you can make fine scaling adjustments.

Good luck,

• Keith

If you like Nendo, you'll love Wings3D... it was written as a Nendo clone by a guy who had problems purchasing Nendo. It is very actively updated, has all (?) the same features (and more), exports in .obj format (and doesn't force you to triangulate the object... it prefers to work in quads, by design) and best of all - It's FREE. http://www.wings3d.com MilkShape - it's a nice program too (I own a registered copy), but an additional caveat is that it only works in triangles.. it will convert your quad meshes to triangulated ones, but fails to load lots of .obj files. It does understand groups and materials pretty well though (Wings3D seems to think the two are linked). Another one I recently purchased (sub $100 range) is 3D Canvas ( http://www.amabilis.com/ ). I hadn't had a chance to play with it much yet, but it looks fairly feature-rich and also supports .obj format.

Thanks.. I have the Curious Labs version of P4, so that makes sense.