The skirt is conforming, not dynamic.  When I attempted to create sit morphs in the cloth room, I did not conform the skirt, I parented it to Vicky's hip.  (Since the entire skirt is one group, this was easy to accomplish.)  The morph was easy to create using a drape/simulation, but when the skirt is conformed and the morph is applied, the skirt stays embedded in V4's leg.  I have no idea WHY, but if the skirt is conformed it does not work.  It works fine parented.  B

I understand that I can use an existing skeleton to make the skirt work... but I'm not sure how ethical that idea is.  And it doesn't tell me WHY someone else's bones work, while mine don't.  I'm assuming there is something -- perhaps with the red and green spherical falloff zones? -- that I'm missing when I rig the skirt by hand.  I would really like to learn what the heck I'm missing in this process.

Thanks... I think I'm going to try handles again...  My brain hurts, LOL!

The skirt is actually quite short.  Here's an image showing what the skirt looks like when V4 is standing, and what it looks like sitting.

(please pardon the non-materials, and the default V4 skin... just a quick screenshot to show you what I'm talking about.)

As it's grouped now, all the cloth is grouped to her hip -- which seems to be the norm for skirts, though I won't profess to be an expert.  If I group portions of it to her thighs, the front part looks moderately better, but then the back part looks ridiculous because a line of cloth in the middle of her leg sticks out funny. 

I've tried adding another bone attached to the hip bone in the skirt, and while doing this DOES make the skirt bend when not conformed (and the x-rot value of the extra bone is adusted), it doesn't do anything when the skirt IS conformed, except make the parts of the skirt not embedded in V4's thighs stick WAY up in front.

I'm open to using handles... Have done so before when rigging wings... but adding extra bones only seems to be affecting the portions of the skirt NOT embedded in her legs.  And it's irritating the crap out of me, LOL!

Using magnets, again, doesn't seem to be affecting any portions of the skirt that are embedded in her legs.  It's like when the skirt is conformed, it simply refuses to budge from within her thighs.

I feel like I must be missing something obvious.

BTW, using Poser 7 &  V4.2, in case I didn't already mention that.

EDIT:  Forgot to add this...
If I use cloth simulation, I can obviously drape the skirt when she's sitting and generate an obj for use as a morph target.  However this morph does NOT work when the skirt is conformed to her.  Does exactly what adding another bone does... just makes the non-stuck parts of her skirt jut upward.  

The ONLY way I have gotten the sit morph to work is to NOT conform it to V4.  If I parent the skirt to her hip and use the cloth simulation morph OR the extra bone, then the skirt works in a sitting position. 

I just wonder how ANYONE gets conforming skirts to sit... I OWN at least a few... I'm mystified as to how it's done!  LOL.

I tried that already.  The magnetize clothing pose does not resolve the problem.  Her skirt is still embedded severely in her thighs.

I guess the only "good" news is that I've just gone back and looked at several other skirts and pants from high-quality vendors, and most of them exhibit the same issues, if to a lesser extent.  Grr!

Hmmm... You know, I haven't tried magnets yet.... Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll give that a shot! 

I swear, I THOUGHT I already tried that...  But I just did exactly what you wrote, and Voila!  Perfect.

Thanks, Phil!!

Phil, I've tweaked and updated.  (Script looks a tad different now because I poked around with it so much.)  It works, but not quite the way I want it to work.  If I use the "for actor in figure.Actors():" line as suggested, it goes through EVERY actor and writes a pose file that includes deformers, etc.  I can't get it to only work for ONLY bodypart actors.  If I leave the bodypart counter in, then my pose file does, indeed, have the correct number of body part lines in it -- but they all read the current actor.  The file has been updated at the previous link's location.  At your leisure, if you can offer a suggestion, I'd be very grateful.  (I'm cross-eyed from staring at the darn thing for so long!)

Thanks.
Karen

Quote -

The currentActorName is a variable that I defined earlier with actor.InternalName.  (See line 9)

currentActorName = scene.CurrentActor().InternalName()

And now I understand...  Since it was defined in line 9... it uses the same name defined at the start of the program.

I defer to your Python Greatness.  :)

Thanks again!

Quote - Cool you are apparently putting my Python manual to good use :)

However if you open temp.pz2 in a text editor you'll see where you are not quite right yet.

Change line 23 to:-
for actor in figure.Actors():

and in line 29 change currentActorName to actor.InternalName()

Hope that helps.

Thank you for the help!!  And yes, the manual is a HUGE help! (You should go to lulu.com and offer it for sale in a bound version.  I've got mine printed in a binder, but a bound hardcover would be awesome!)

The currentActorName is a variable that I defined earlier with actor.InternalName.  (See line 9)

currentActorName = scene.CurrentActor().InternalName()

(I figured out the need for the internal name the hard way -- when the script ran but didn't change anything, LOL!)  And you're right about the end bracket. I'll fix that.

As for line 23...   So, the "for actor in figure.Actors()" can replace the counter I set up?  (Am I in the right spot?  I edit in notepad, so no line numbers!) Cool.

Thanks for your help!!

Thanks for your help. The final result is here: http://www.karibousboutique.com/shares/setcreaseangle.zip

Works like a charm!

Karen  :)

That works.  I must have had some sort of syntax issue.

Quote - There is a method that will turn smoothing on or off but I do not believe there is one to set the crease angle.

A solution would be to do it via a pose file in the format as below:-

Code:

<pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border:1px inset;margin:0px;padding:6px;width:640px;height:130px;text-align:left;">
 
{
    actor abdomen:1
    {
        creaseAngle 40
    }
}

You could write the script to prompt the user for a value then have it write the pose file and apply it.

Phil,
I can't seem to get a pose file that works.  Every time I add "crease angle" to the pose, it tells me that it's not a valid poser file.  Is crease angle something that you can change with a pose?  If you have a pose file -- ANY pose file -- with a correct reference to this, I'd love to see an example.  

Karen

That should work!  Thanks, Phil.  Never would have thought to do that on my own. 

You didn't mislead me... I was just (once again) in bonehead mode and apparently couldn't articulate a complete thought.  It's true that I rarely use postwork, but what I think I was trying to express (before my brain fell out of my head) is that I rarely use background images period.  I prefer prop backgrounds to background pictures as a rule, mainly because I like rendering with DOF. 

I think maybe I should stop talking before I really make myself look stupid, LOL...

Quote - In my defense ...

"Call me a bonehead"

(edit: laughing with you, I hope) Cheers

LOL...  Okay, yeah.. I did ask for it.  

Fair enough!

Thanks again for the info.