ARGH! okay... well, i figured out how to use the grouping tool to help me make area-specific morphs with the magnets. besides the fact that as soon as you make a group, you throw out the cr2's obj pointer for that body part and create a custom geom, are there any dangers to using the grouping tool? because i am having a major problem. i have created a half-morph with the magnets, but i need to adjust and enhance it with ray dream. no problem, i export the obj to work on it. it is magsnarl1. magsnarl1 has 7929 vertices, and when i grab the head, hit add morph target, and import it back in, it takes fine. after i edit magsnarl1 in ray dream, i export snarl1 and snarl1a (two different versions). snarl1 has 7929 vertices. when i import THAT as a morph target, i get 'wrong # of vertices.' now somebody please explain this to me, before i lose my last shred of sanity.... :( if i weld the stuff in ray dream (the new group does appear as another polymesh), i get 6779 vertices, and that is the wrong number, too. and it doesn't matter if i import it to the grouped head or the ungrouped head (i saved both versions). wrong number. (the sound you hear, kinda like plucked ukelele strings, is my mind snapping...)

How to avoid your mind going "Twang": Being a naturally stupid person, I try to avoid these complex problems by creating a vertex map in Compose whenever I have to make a morph target of an object group consisting of more than one material. The morphs usually work when you rebuild them from the vertex map. But I'm sure someone will give you a more intelligent answer.

hmmm... you know, i was having trouble with compose and this too. export obj, adjust in compose, export; import to compose, un-adjust, export obj... wrong #. ARGH! but thanks for the thought, i can still try that....

bloodsong: I had the same problems using RDS 5.5. I got Compose working on my Mac thanks to Michael Barnes and bought a 3D program called Amorphium (mainly because all of Travelers tuorials use it for the examples)for $125. The two programs work flawlessly together and I have no more problems when I import morph targets back into Poser. The only drawbacks to Amorphium, from my perspective, is it's unusual way of doing things (although I am told it's interface and tools are very similar to a 3D program called Maya)and the inability to edit the mesh a vertice point at a time. I liked it so much though that I never even tried using Compose with RDS. If you have the $125 give it a try.... -Jim Moore

As a guess. >snarl1 has 7929 vertices. when i import THAT as a morph >target, i get 'wrong # of vertices.' Although the vertice count is correct between export to/from Poser/RDS extra groups may have been created, splitting up the original group into smaller groups. A lot of 3D apps (incl RDS) do not read groups/usemtl statements (in .obj format) that share edges thus create new groups, but this adds extra vertices (duplicating the shared edges). If you are welding identical vertices on import to Poser this will cover this up but the extra g statements will remain. There is much more to this but not sure of your exact procedure.... Naming as polygons on props tends to cause this later on down the line. Groups within groups. >if i weld the stuff in ray dream (the new group does appear >as another polymesh), i get 6779 vertices, and that is the wrong number, too. The weld feature in RDS is not as precise as the weld identical vertice on Poser import command. RDS will weld more than just the identical vertices together even in its minimum range as Poser figures are so small in scale. Especially around detailed areas such as eyelids and lips, thus generating fewer vertices. Simply weld on import to Poser.

I'm confused. Area specific morphs with magnets? What's that? Can't you do that by adjusting the size of the magnet zone? ScottA

heya; earnest... sounds like you're closest. when i exported the first obj (i cant remember what settings i used, shoot me), it comes into poser with a different polymesh for each group. which means that... oh.... oh... okay.... ::little gears whir and lights blink on and off:: okay, so that would explain why uvmapper and rdd's vertice count keep giving me different answers. right? okay. now the fifty dollar question is: how do i export this grouped head from poser in order to get ray dream to read it right, so it will export it right so it will actually work this time??? ::SIGH:: back to the lab... oh wait... i can just use compose to translate? maybe? ::goes off muttering and thinking:: jim: i have amorphium, but i need rdd for these specific morphs, for the fine control. scott: okay, but what if the part you want to affect and the part you don't want to affect overlap? for example, lets say you want to draw the lips back, but don't want to squish the gums and teeth simultaneously. if gums and teeth are separate groups (and the inner/outer skin), you could affect the skin with the mag zone/magnet, but leave the gums/teeth unaffected. especially since you can't change the shape of the mag zone, but you can make a group any shape you want. (within the polygons.) pretty cool. remember this, it might come in handy some day. :) earnest!! thank you!! :)

OK so you are OK up to here: >magsnarl1 has 7929 vertices, and when i grab the head, hit >add morph target, and import it back in, it takes fine. What I suggest is once loaded set the morph target dial to 1. Then export the head only from Poser. You could use the export as morph option. Then import this to RDS and fine tune and export as .obj from RDS and load this as a morph target, that should work.

uh... i dont think so. oh, you mean, put the grouped obj export on the ungrouped head and export THAT. duh, why didn't i think of that!! thanks again. :)