Wow, that looks great! I'm going to give it a try....

I use UV Mapper pro to make the map, after I assign material zones in Wings 3D

No, it sure wasn't. There have been times before when creating a prop when that was the case, and it makes everything a much easier process. But other times - like today - it wasn't, and I had to go and bit by bit highlight everything. I even went "inside" the model and highlighted any hidden geometries, just to make sure I had the exact number of vertices. It's a pain, but in this case it worked

Nope, but I figured it out. Well, that is to say, I corrected the problem. I can't truly saying I figured it out, because I don't know what the issue was. But here's what I did differently.... When I first imported the .obj, all I did was hit the "save to library" button in my props library, gave it a new name and then deleted the .obj. I then loaded my new prop, loaded the morph target and had the problem. This time, I followed the same set of steps, except... after importing the initial .obj, I used the grouping tool and highlighted everything on the rocket, and saved that as a prop.

So, using the grouping tool was the key. Why? I'm not sure, because I've made props before with and without the grouping tool. So now, it's on to mapping

Hi Eldritch, well we can rule out the scaling issue I think... I did as you suggested, and I imported both of my rockets (wings extended and wings retracted) in their native .obj format, and both are the exact same size. And last night I checked out something you addressed here; I imported the .obj, saved it as an unparented prop, then imported the morph target I'd created, and the exact same thing happens... when turning the dial to extend the wings, the entire rocket shoots up into the air. Retracting them brings it back to it's starting position. So, it's also not an issue with it being a parented prop.... it happens whether it's parented or not. It's been a long time since I tried making a conforming figure of any kind, and the process as you've outlined it here seems a bit daunting... I'm sure I'm overthinking it, though

Hi, and thanks for the response. Eldritch, I'll try the import here in a little bit and check the size. And the wings don't rotate. They tuck into the body or frame of the rocket pack, and extend outward along what was the x-axis as I built it (to make it easier for me as I modeled it, the polygons that make up the right and left wing segments overlapped inside the frame, but the user wouldn't notice that.... I had an earlier version in which I utilized the same technique and it worked fine). But you said there are advantages to having it as a figure... what might they be? One disadvantage (I think) is that if the rocket is a figure, I don't believe I can parent a figure to another figure (Michael 4). And the thing isn't an article of clothing, so I wouldn't make it as a conforming figure (I've never been able to correctly make any conforming clothing before anyway, despite several attempts).

OK, I got it to work. I'll be darned if I know what I did differently that I hadn't done a dozen time already, though. But it works now!

Let me see what I can do here.... By the way, Eldritch, thank you for taking the time :)

I'm sure it's user error, as you say because of my earlier success

Okay, I'll take a look and try to reload the morph. I use Wings 3D as my modeler. Earlier today, I did it and it worked just fine, but soon after I deleted it to re-do something with the texture map. I re-did everything and this is the result. I've gone back and done the whole process over about 4 times now. That's what I get for trying to be a perfectionist!!

Okay, so with work and everything, I finally found time to follow these steps and I'm finding that when I turn the morph dial I created, the model.... explodes. if I reset the morph to zero it looks fine, but a move in either direction and the model flips out and I have an explosion of vertices. What would cause this?

Ok, this is indeed a good start. Just a couple quick questions however. My prop isn't a prop yet... at least it's not a .pp2 file. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I'll need to start the process you described above by converting it to a .pp2, and then beginning with step 3 above, correct?

Ok, I understand now - thank you so much!

I may not have explained it right.... In the above picture, if it can be done, I'd like to use a shader to make the chrome look, but have a checkerboard pattern, or lettering across the chrome. As though someone painted it right on the chrome surface

I have it figured out thanks to you all... I used the utility script and decompressed the file and there you go. Thanks so much everyone