Im getting ahead of myself but I want to make sure not to mess it up during the modeling and have to start all over when it goes into Poser. What I want is to make this Captains Cabin poseable where the PortHoles on the wall will open/close and the PortHole Latches will rotate to open/lock the porthole. Also I might add a front wall with open/close doors but I havent decided weather to go that far or not. Question: Once it loads into the Phi Builder (Roy Riggs) do ALL parts have to be assigned as a Parent/Child or only the parts that are going to move? Each color represents a separate mesh (ie: walls, beams, windows, window grid, bench, trims, etc) and will be assigned separate textures. So does this mean they are ALL going to have to be assigned within Phi Builder or am I only concerned with assigning the PortHole parts that move (ie: Parent = Hasp / Child = InnerRing-Latch-Bolts-Glass) - But then I guess the Hasp would have to be Parented to the HaspPin of which it rotates around??

Or is what I have here not going to work??

What happens is that every polygon group in the model becomes a body part. Before you get to PHI builder, import the model into Poser, scale it and use the group editor to consolidate groups so that you only have one group for each bit that you want to be a separate body part. Leave no polygon ungrouped, but don't let any polygon be in more than one group. As long as you assign a different material name to each area that you want to texture separately, you'll have no problems with the textures. Once you're finished, export the model with the groups intact and then load it into PHI builder.

"use the group editor to consolidate groups so that you only have one group for each bit that you want to be a separate body part" -With this do you mean combine the beams, walls, trims, roof, square windows, and grid into one group and the porthole parts into their own? Q. Wouldn't that alter the UV mapping?

Yes, that's what I mean. No, using Poser's group editor to combine groups won't alter the UV mapping. A group is just a set of polygons. A material is also a set of polygons but groups and materials are stored separately and don't interfere with each other. UV mapping has nothing to do with either groups or materials. It's completely independant. You need one group for each body part, so you'll have one group for each porthole, one group for each latch and one group for the beams, walls, trims, roof etc. Actually, what a lot of figure makers do is make the floor, the ceiling and each wall separate body parts. Then you can do things like turning off the roof or a wall if it gets in the way of the camera.

or.. you can parent the various nits and pieces to the main cabin.. adjust the origins.. then edit the pp2 so the non used dials are hidden short version of poseable prop making the semi-easy way

Now I see. But is there an advantage to using Poser's Group Editor over doing the grouping in UVMapper at time of mapping? Yes, I intend on making the roof and walls separate body parts so they can be turned off too. Therefor each wall and the roof would be a separate 'Group' with it's associated beams and trims included in that group - correct? And then the Portholes would be separate groups - parented to their appropriate Wall Group?

Yep, that's right. You could use UV mapper to do the grouping just as well if you want. Both UV mapper and the Group Editor allow you to select existing groups and combine them. It might even be a little faster to do in UV mapper.

Think I've got it, Thanks!

Igohigh, You might check out SAMS3D tutorial using their chest model as an example. It may help reinforce your knowledge of the subject. - TJ