thanks - I actually use BodyStudio - that just lets you bring a Poser scene directly into your Max scene - kind of does what I want as an end result, in that it lets me do the character animation piece in Poser then merge it with my Max scene, but was wondering if there was any way of digging into the Poser CR2's etc to help with some Max character rigging

cheers

Sean

cheers mate - it's Poser 6, so will try the options you mention - at work at the moment so can't check, but are these options in the Render settings ?

thanks Sean

thanks guys - just didn't occur to me that being a projection, it wouldn't necessarily need a significantly higher frame resolution on the source film cheers Sean

Personally I use Reiss BodyStudio - supports Poser 6 and Max 6,7,8 and lets you bring a Poser file directly into your Max scene so you can do whatever you need to do in Poser, then mix it with a Max scene - had a few crashes when rendering, but not sure if that's my setup or a glitch in the system somewhere between Max/Poser/BodyStudio - generally works fine though, but I do try to keep the Poser scene as minimalist as possible - haven't really pushed it so not sure how well it will work with a big Poser/Max scene btw, just thought I'd mention that I have nothing but praise for the Reiss support team

once you've imported the OBJ to UVMapper and done your map, try Edit->Tools->Split Vertices I'm no expert on UVMapping but if you split the vertices before you save the OBJ back out, should be in better shape when you import to Poser - it'll still be smoothed, but not as much (try the other options there as well - Fix Seams and Weld Vertices) for what it's worth, I'm yet to get a model out of max and into Poser as an OBJ in absolute perfect condition

Steve - thanks for all you help it's greatly appreciated - will give it a go tonight cheers Sean

Steve - just had a read through a tutorial on making a refrigerator - from what I can tell, are these the 'basic' steps: 1. Create and export OBJ (with groups) 2. Open OBJ in PHI Builder, create hierarchy and save out PHI file 3. Import original OBJ to Poser 4. 'File'-'Convert Hier File' and load PHI file to create new version of OBJ with hierarchy loaded in (it says in the tut that it'll automatically save the figure somewhere in the library - presumably as a CR2?) 5. Delete original figure By the sounds of it, this'll end up with a CR2, with the grouped objects as seperate body parts that can then by rotated etc using the normal dials or ... at this point, I could go down the road of editing the CR2 directly and putting in morph dials, constraints etc also, am I right in thinking then that for a simple object, I could just negate the need for PHI Builder by using the standard Hierarchy editor - I guess once the hierarchy's set up, i could just enter/exit the setup room (without adding any bones) to convert the OBJ to a character rather than a prop ? does that sound about right as the general flow to this ? thanks Sean

thanks Steve - forgot about the fact the vertices will try to move in a straight line - for some reason the PHI builder links are blocked at work, but will have a look later - hopefully it's fairly straightforward!!! if you have a moment, a few really basic steps would be great(I can fill the gaps with the detail later when I can access the links), but if not, no worries In terms of figure creation, I've bought props into the setup room to convert to figures, and played around with editing CR2's to create new conforming clothes (not very successfully though tbh), but not sure if that's relevant as certainly haven't come across a PHI file that I'm aware of thanks a lot for the advice Sean

if it's any help, the easiest way imo, is to ...

1. export from Max as OBJ
2. Load the OBJ into UVMapper (the free version will be enough)
3. Create new UV Map, save model, and export map as image (all done from within UVMapper)
4. load BMP into Photoshop and texture away
5. load OBJ into Poser and apply map you created

Message edited on: 03/07/2006 03:49

thanks guys - I assume then that I'm right in thinking that Vue doesn't have an option to replicate and randomly scatter an object over a surface not a biggy now as I've got over my mental block and found the scatter compound in max thanks anyway for the help cheers Sean

Message edited on: 02/16/2006 13:34

thanks guys - will definitely do some searching before I make up my mind on this one as not sure whether it'd be more hassle than it's worth - would probably be beyond my skills to join it seamlessly, so unless I gave all my characters scarves not sure if I could really use the Facegen models - will try playing with an existing standalone head OBJ and see how I get on - not sure who Facegen is aimed at really, as presumably you'd have the same issues with connecting the head to a body in any 3D package unless it lets you specify the number of neck vertices etc btw, anyone know any other products that would do what facegen does, but also adds a full body? - had a look at iClone as saw an article/link in 3D world, but that looks like a 'toy' to just create avatars as far as I could tell from the demo thanks again Sean

rasputina - i've uploaded the xbox prop in the picture above here

hopefully it'll dl ok with all the files you need in the zip file (just in case I have bandwidth restrictions, I'll have to delete the zip file in a few days, so let me know once you've got it) - just unzip all the files to a single directory in your prop folder and apply the textures - would be good to see any images you make with it!

as mentioned above, this is a work in progress, but to be honest doubt that I'll ever get around to finishing it, so it's a bit rough around the edges - if it doesn't work, let me know as this is the first time I've distributed anything, so not 100% sure that I've done it correctly

cheers Sean

rasputina - give me a couple of days and I'll get the files uploaded somewhere - will post back here with the links once I've sorted it out cheers Sean

sorry for all the edits, just worked out how to put the image in this thread rather than linking - this is what I've got

I've uploaded a (very compressed) image of my Xbox prop here

if it's what you're looking for, I'll work out what files are needed and put them up somewhere and post some links - just to reiterate though it's not totally finished (as you'll see from the lack of proper texturing - nothing that you and Google couldn't finish off though) - also not sure where the power and disc open/close button have disappeared to, but I'll work that out if you want it

btw, there's a morph dial to open/close the disc tray

cheers Sean

Message edited on: 11/02/2005 15:25