Hello everybody!

Since Caligari has some really interesting special
offers this year, recently I became the more or less
happy owner of trueSpace 5.2.
I found tS 4 extremely difficult to operate, but for
some reasons I haven't figured out yet, tS 5 is much
easier. At least this is my opinion. (It is really helpful
to print out the pdf-maual and go through the examples.)

I also learnt that there is a program named LUUV
which helps importing *.obj into tS. There are many
import options but the export doesn't have any options
at all (like scaling, exporting textures etc.)
It seems that it is meant only to import something into
trueSpace. But of course I want to model something there
and use it in Poser. So, what is the best way to do this:

• modelling everything in tS, export it to Poser and
  do all the rest there
• switching between tS and Poser serveral times to
  do some adjustments here and some there?

Thanks,

Ernst

Attached Link: http://www.render-lab.com/Render-lab_Tutorials.htm

When you export with luuv, the material settings get exported, too, in the .mtl file. If you applied an image file as a texture in trueSpace, it should be present when you import the object into Poser. There are some export options for luuv, but they deal with the grouping options of the mesh. You can also enable "copy texture files" there.

If you want to make a clothing for a Poser figure, the best thing to do is to uncheck Autoscale when you import the figure into trueSpace, then scale it up by a nice round number like 10 or 15 or 20. You can do that by typing in e.g. *10 in the x, y and z scale boxes in the Object Info window and hitting Tab or Enter. Then, when you're done with the clothing, scale it down by the same number (type in e.g. /10 in the x, y and z scale boxes) before exporting it out.

If you have a grouped model, you can open it up in UVMapper and select areas by the groups. You can also color different parts of the mesh with different colors inside trueSpace, then, when you open up the mesh in UVMapper, you can select those areas by material, map them separately, and assign them to different groups/materials/regions. Very handy.

I model in TS so am constantly converting between SCN or COB and OBJ. I use 3D Explorer, the LUUV plugin or an old utility still found in the Renderosity freestuff called Compose. I tend to scale by a factor of 20 and X-Rotate 90, Z-Rotate 180 to get the models the correct size and orientation in each application.

Here's an extra tip. When I import a model using the LUUV plugin it arrives with its axis central to the model. Before scaling I reposition the axis to the world center. Now when I scale this and other imported items everything still lines up.

If you ever want to render animation in Truespace there is also Truepose. Works great, and last time I talked to Konan he said he was working on a Poser 5 compatible version. Mine is collecting dust though... I'm finding that Poser 5 is very capible when it wants to behave well... and when I need Truespace elements I render them seperately and composite them in Mirage. I tried the TS 5 demo and couldn't figure out how to do anything... If I wanted to learn a new interface I would learn Lightwave! I'll be sticking with 4.3 thank you very much :D

one tip I can give using boolen operations in tS then transfering to Poser / Obj can be problematical. I normally right click the boolen tools and turn 'delete edges' off. this will help a great deal.. then you just gotta watch for 'Ngon' faces. these are faces with more than 5 faces. adding an edge with the point edit 'add edge' tool should fix these no probs..

Thanks for the tip. I've had really awful luck importing many kinds of objects into poser from TS... including very simple objects (like a plain bent in mesh forge) They always render with horrible artifacts