I'm trying to make a set of placement poses for a Poser environment, like the poses you get with the Transpond sets. When you click on a placement pose, it takes the figure to a certain spot in the set without otherwise changing the figure's pose at all. It just changes the xyz translations of the body. Very handy for putting figures exactly where you want them when you're using certain camera angles.

So here's how I'm doing it: Using one of the freebie Transpond placement poses for the Prancing Pony Inn as a template, I'm first manually moving a figure into the spot on the set that I want to make a placement pose for. The way I'm doing this is by manually adjusting the x, y, and z position of the body. Once the figure is just where I want it, I copy the x, y, and z position settings of the body, then paste them into the template placement pose file, like so:

{
version
{
number 4.0
}
actor BODY:1
{
channels
{
translateX xtran
{
keys
{
k 0 -2.853
}
}
translateY ytran
{
keys
{
k 0 15.500
}
}
translateZ ztran
{
keys
{
k 0 28.000
}
}
}
}
figure
{
}
}

The problem is that when I apply the new placement pose to a figure, it goes zooming way the heck off somewhere entirely else (in this case, when I applied the pose the coordinates the figure ended up at were x: -24.54, y: 133.33, and z: 240.86, which is nothing like the coordinates I put in the pose file.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? :-( I've been messing with this most of the day, but I just can't figure it out.

Perhaps the pose is taking hip rotation into its effects?

That should work fauve. Are you selecting the body for the coordinates?

Yep, I'm selecting the body. I have absolutely no idea what the heck I'm doing wrong. Select the character's body -- translate the xyz until the character is exactly where I want it -- copy the xyz translations of the body and paste into the pose file. It ought to work, but when I apply the pose, the character moves to XYX coordinates that are nothing like what I pasted in. I'm obviously messing up somewhere, but I can't figure out where.

Yep, it should work, the text is exactly the same as what I use. hmmmm, and the figure is zero'd when you start? I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work, it's a pretty straighforward system.

The body is zeroed... should the hip be zeroed too? Maybe that's where I'm going wrong.

I usually zero the entire figure.

fauve, I do of lot of these. I call them SET files, because they 'set' values. I think the problem is that your values are HUGE. A value of 28.00 on the Ztrans will take a figure 224 feet backwards. If you want a value of 0.280, then that line should read 0.28, not 28.00. And the Ytrans is pretty wild too. That would put a figure somewhere up at the top of the Empire State Builing. LOL. mac

Holy cow... maclean, that was it! I can't figure out why the settings I put in the pose file were wrong, because I was just cutting and pasting the values right out of the box in the Parameters tab for the figure body, but when I went back in and edited them by one decimal place, zoom, there the figure is, right where it should be. Very, very, very confusing. Thank you, maclean and Judith... I'd still be tearing my hair out if not for you two. You have my eternal gratitude. :-)

If you're interested, here's one of mine. A simple one which moves some body parts around and switches others on/off. I use these for all sorts of things, from altering joint parameters to switching shadows on/off, setting morph values or configuring body parts movements and visibility.

{
        version
        {
                number 4.01
        }
        actor back_wall_1:1
        {
                on
                channels
                {
                        translateX xtran
                        {
                                keys
                                {
                                        k 0  2.0925
                                }
                        }
                        translateZ ztran
                        {
                                keys
                                {
                                        k 0  -0.6975
                                }
                        }
                }
        }
        actor back_1:1
        {
                on
        }
        actor back_wall_2:1
        {
                on
                channels
                {
                        translateZ ztran
                        {
                                keys
                                {
                                        k 0  0.6975
                                }
                        }
                }
        }
}

mac

Heh heh. The simple mistakes are the easiest ones to make. I know all about that. Glad you got it working. mac

PS One more thing. You're doing this the best way. That is, by using the BODY and not body parts. Using the BODY values means that the same SET file can be applied to any figure at all (as long as it's selected). I've found that this has several advantages (at least in my project), because you don't need to make multiple SETs for different figures. mac

Ah, very cool fauve, you've got it working. Sorry, I didn't notice the values being so large... though truthfully, some of the values we use in sets are pretty big too (sometimes into the teens), depending on how large it is, so the big numbers didn't really click. Anyway, glad you've got what you needed. ~j~

Some of those values must be large, Judith, considering the size of some of your sets! (One of my favorites ever, "Dark Lord's Realm", covers a ton of Poser real estate. Thank goodness you included all those placement poses to make life easier. :-) I love that set.) Thanks again for your help -- much appreciated!

Aww thank YOU fauve!

Just one decimal place? I have some camera files that make the camera go flying off into space and would like to fix 'em. Suspect this is the problem.