kerwin posted at 2:22AM Sat, 02 January 2016 - #4246816

Since you are using multiple UV maps on the same model (which is common with poser figures) you will definitely want to also create selections of the pieces that belong to each UV map and assign a unique material to each. This will allow you to apply the separate UV maps later in Poser's material room.

-K

I see, I looked and there's the same default material assigned to each of the UV's. So, you are saying I should create a unique new material for each pretty much the same way I created a name for each polygroup?

I don't have to actually get/fabricate an actual material that's going to appear there right now, just make sure it is named separately so Poser recognizes that something can be assigned there later? Sorry for being so simplistic. lol

@DarkEdge: Hey, thanks for the input! Someone else was telling me I really should at least see for myself how PHI fits into the workflow, and really, I don't know much about Poser's interface, and your tut gives me a very good visual step-by-step to follow with Phi, so I was probably going to just try it for myself before dismissing.

So... I just spent many many many hours naming groups in UV Mapper, lol... - largely, to be blamed on the sheer number of parts this model has, I suspect - but, would the naming have been simpler in PHI? Less clicking on a model and navigating around a 3D viewer anyway?

Either way, headed to PHI next just so I can keep following along with the tutorial. Since I don't know Poser's interface really at all yet. Just know from messing around that I like the way I can interact with my models in there when posing and such.

Got it. Can't make a group unless I'm on "select by facet." Sigh I'll force myself to stay away for a bit. Trust myself to figure out these little obstacles as they come.

Sorry for tripple posting! Okay... I think I was just on "select by facet" mode before... I switched to "select by vertex" and it looks like before. Such a newb! Still, my only question at this point is, why can I assign new groups now, when before I couldn't? What was broken with that other obj, if anything? Or did I just hit a wrong button last time right after importing? Oh well. I'll update again soon if I get really stuck.

Weird!

So, before I got on with trying to get my dragon into Poser, I had to go back and get all the other body parts and merge them while retaining their VUs. (Eyeballs, jaws, eyelids, claws, etc.) It kept the UV's but the textures are no longer assigned to the tools. I think that's fine, because the UVs are there and I can export the textures from the un-merged versions and maybe re-assign them?

In case the "merged tools to one obj" version had reordered verts, breaking the textures from fitting the UV's, I have also exported the individual tools as obj, with their UV's , textures, and verts in the order the textures "know." That way I can hopefully copy and apply them to the merged versions in UV Mapper...? Not really all that much extra work, but maybe not necessary...

So, OKAY, that's not even the problem I'm having, lol. What went down is, I brought the merged model into UV Mapper just to check if the UV's did in-fact survive, (since I couldn't check seams in ZB this time I merged, for whatever reason) and, yes they did make it, but the odd thing is... this time in UV Mapper, I CAN re-name the groups, it's not grayed out. Another behavior has also changed. When I select a group everything else disappears. Maybe it's in some different viewing mode, idk, since it's not showing me selected verts as highlighted like before. I selected everything and welded all vertices. It reported 0 verts removed, so I guess there was no duplicates, and it's an intact object?

EldritchCellar posted at 10:52PM Thu, 31 December 2015 - #4246662

Yeah you can rename your groups in poser. This will only propagate to a poser saved .obj file though. I tend to stay away from any in Poser modified .obj files, I don't like the variables and additional lines of Poser specific (useless IMO) whatnot that Poser adds.

Quick tip: take your .obj and change the extension .obj to .txt.

Open that file in a text editor.

Let's say you have a group named AB1 that you would like to rename abdomen.

Search/find with the text editor: g AB1

The text editor will locate the line g AB1

Change that line to g abdomen.

Save your file (always keep an unmodified backup though) as .obj or drop the .txt extension.

What you have just done is located the group AB1 and changed its name to abdomen. It's that simple.

That does sound incredibly simple! Thanks Eldritch! Since I already have it open in UV Mapper, I tried Kerwin's method and the option to assign to group was grayed out. I can select the group, but can't assign it to a group again for some reason. So, for now, I think that changing the name in text file will work, and I can refer to the model in UV Mapper to see what group is what since I could never remember what they are as currently named, haha.

So, I'll export without materials, keep this version open for reference, and start re-naming the groups in the version I exported. Unless I have no real need to wipe the materials? Will it save me time? Will it actually show up in Poser with the texture maps and stuff I've assigned? It didn't long ago when I used GoZ. I'm just paranoid and don't trust ZBrush. When maps are always flipped, things like that... Figured to keep a clean slate and manually add on textures and materials after I got a rigged model.

It's actually great to have two or more people saying the same thing though because, in my newbishness, I tend not to budge on something unless I know EXACTLY what is going on and I don't like to assume I understood someone until I heard it said twice and both descriptions seem to mean the same thing. So, for me, it's super helpful. I'm also getting multiple options which is nice when balancing time saving methods with solid backup plans.

Eldritch, I actually love the way you explain things, you and Kerwin both are helping me understand this software so much better. But definitely, I don't break your back or lose any sleep over it. :) I totally understand where you're coming from. You've set me off in the right direction.

I will try to apply what I learned and update soon.

Wow! Thanks everyone for all the info. Don't worry, I can't be given too much at this point. I'm glad to see that I seem to have options. @Kerwin: Yeah I was thinking the trial could serve for now, but why learn another program that I'm inevitably not going to buy? Might as well focus on the one's I'll be using in the end. Notepad++ ...noted. I'll grab it. So there don't happen to be any video tutorials on this subject? Hell, I'll be an art slave for some tutoring if anyone wants to show me how to navigate an obj in text format. I'm a very visual learner, and more creative than technical. It's why ZBrush is my comfort zone.

About welding changing the vertex order: In the tutorial by Darkedge, he copies the vertex order from the original, and imports it back to the modified and welded one. Or something like that. I need to re-watch. But yeah, I'd just be doing it for a base mesh at this point, though I'll be morphing later, my morphs -shouldn't- break things unless ZB has a brain fart. I've made quite a few morphs for fun on the legacy models just to experiment and only a couple times did ZB reorder verts. (I didn't modify topology, only sculpted, on all tests.)

@Cnolte: What a great walkthrough! Thank you, and as a Blender user, I'm extremely likely to try this out. I have to un-rust every time I navigate in Blender, but I'll catch on. I'll most likely come back to this and test it for myself once I share the next baby steps in progress I've taken with you guys. Since I've decided to experiment a little.

Ok, so I decided to just export my model from ZBrush grouped and bring it right into UV Mapper Pro to see what happens. It actually looks like this is on eof those times ZBrush didn't export the polygroups split up. Maybe only importing to Blender did that, I am not used to working with ZB and other applications. I selected all vertices and hit "weld" so hopefully that fixed anything that I might not have noticed. It reported 0 vertices welded, so there must have been nothing to fix. The UV's came over too so that's kinda neat. I mean they should but in my ignorance I always expect things not to work. I didn't know if ZB materials would make it over but they seem to have, which, I don't really need... I was kindof thinking of just keeping the texture and bump map, but thought I might add materials later. How do I keep the groups and get rid of the materials in UV Mapper? Or is that just a bad idea?

The groups were never given proper names. I don't think I can do that in ZBrush - Googled but found no answer yet. I can rename the parts in Poser though, right?

In UV Mapper: Group

@ EldritchCellar: Thanks for your thorough and clear explanations, and your willingness to guide me through obstacles.

@ Kerwin: Yes! :) I actually bought all three of Darkedge's tutorials. The "Redux," and another one for rigging non-humans in which he uses the PHI Heirarchy Builder, and "ZBrush to Poser" which is where he really goes into how to group the model - but he's using Max. They're awesome tuts and I've been watching and re-watching to try and grasp the general idea and despite some missing pieces in my toolbox, and for the most part it makes sense. That's why I brought up PHI heirarchy builder since that's what he used. Ray (Darkedge) also mentions UV Mapper Pro for, mainly, re-ordering verts on welded and modified versions of the obj in case the verts get arbitrarily re-named by whatever application - such as ZB. (UV's I haven't touched with a 60 foot pole as far as Poser goes, and that's going to come next, but I did make some in ZB today. Can't see any seams so I'm happy. Big map tho - it's resolution is 8192, and have no idea if that'll work yet.)

I have no doubt that this is a big project. I know I will need to clean up the weighting once I get the groups and IK into Poser, and at least that's concept I'm actually pretty comfortable with. I've rigged and weighted in Blender and gotten pretty savvy with it over there. I've watched videos of how it's done in Poser 2012, with the two kinds of weighting. As an artist, I can't wait to get to that... It's figuring out the ideal pipeline for me that's been the biggest struggle. But as long as there's a way where I don't have to code, lol.

So okay, it's looking like I was more or less on the right track, overall. I'm glad that it seems we're all on the same page about what my goals are, and what means I'm working with. ...Again, I can't express how much I appreciate the tips you have been able to give. It's helping me feel like I'm not flying blind, since it's all theory to me right now.

So, the immediate obstacle is still grouping and so my questions are: What modelers out there are confirmed to work as far as naming and making groups for Poser? Modo looks good, if expensive, but there's a free 30 day trial. Kerwin, do you happen know if Blender might work?

Sorry if I missed something and I'm backtracking, but just want to be totally sure: What if I didn't' actually -need- another application? Is it possible to get a ZBrush obj to export my polygroups as un-welded parts, then still weld them in UV Mapper. Can I name them there?

Thanks Donnena. Poser newbie asking advanced questions - uh oh! ;D

Ah, thank you EldritchCellar! So the pipeline I was looking at really isn't relevant anymore. Your input is so reassuring. So far, the only time I have only seen ZB export obj's with polygroups suddenly split into separate objects was when I've imported said obj into Blender. In the ZBrush to Poser tutorial the instructor mentions that that can happen, and it can also reorder verts when creating morphs, so maybe it will be nice to have UV Mapper just in case. Even if I may never need it.

So you would recommend that I export a solid obj with no groups from ZBrush, and create body parts, name and order them all in Poser? I have used GoZ to export to Poser once before, I don't remember anymore if it brought over my groups or if I had them on the model. If I don't have to do that though, then it doesn't matter, does it? :)

Thanks for your compliment.