Did you bring the geometry in and save as a prop? Then it is a prop. An actor is part of a figure. You will need to convert it into a figure.

No, it is a figure, I made bones for it in the setup room, the wheels can turn and the steering works but it says no actor when I select it.

Just from memory, so I may be wrong, but I think this problem can happen if the 'name' of the root actor is NOT 'BODY' or 'GetStringRes(1024,1)'. So;

actor SomeName:1<br></br>  {<br></br>   name    GetStringRes(1024,1)

is OK, but;

actor SomeName:1<br></br>  {<br></br>   name    SomeName

would cause the 'No Actor' error if 'Body' is selected in the dropdown menu. Of course this may not be the problem, there are probably a lot of things that could cause this error.
Message edited on: 12/05/2004 08:17

I checked the cr2 and it has actor BODY:1 { name GetStringRes(1024,1) I made an animation using the bike and minimized poser to use another program, when I brought poser back up the main part of the bike had disappeared. The wheels and the handlebars were still there.

Okay, just verifying basic principles. :) I'd like to see the CR2 myself. This should not occur unless something is not quite right about the figure setup.

The "figure parts" of the bike are not standard poser names, that might be the problem? I wouldnt be allowed to send the bike object ( its from 3d cafe ) but I could send you a copy of the cr2 if you would like to have a look at it.

That's all that is needed - the good thing about Poser's file format. Still, you should verify that the Wavefront Object group names match the body part names exactly (including case). One would expect to have missing geometry if this were the case, though. No, I don't think that is the problem. Except for BODY, Poser really doesn't care what you name 'body part' actors. This is only an issue when you are doing things that require specific Poser names for organic body parts. I've done several figures with Romaji names (Japanese in English alphabetics) and they worked as expected. I will IM with the email to which to send it.

I should say that the main part of the bike is bone 1. 2 is the steering and 3 and 4 are the wheels.

Okay. Here's my synopsis. It works. After looking over the CR2 file, couldn't find any problems. The only mistake is that the second figureResFile statement has an incorrect name, but that is not the issue. So, what I did was to create a very simple mockup of a motorcycle using a tube, cube, and two cylinders in C4D which represent the four groups - bone_1 thru bone_4. This was exported as Wavefront OBJ named 'harley.obj', fixed up in UVMapper (inverted faces), and placed with the CR2 in the 'New Figures' folder in Poser (4.03 and 5). Despite the fact that the joint parameters aren't even close (because the mockup is not proportional to the original at all), the CR2 loads, shows all body parts, the body parts are selectable, and I can even use your named dials (Steer, Turn Wheel). This leads me to believe that there is something amiss in the geometry. Poser abhors having a polygon that belongs to more than one group. It also does not like n-gons, lines, and double-sided polygons. But my guess is the first. So, I must ask if the groups already existed or you created the groups in Poser setup room. There should be no group in the Wavefront OBJ file name "BODY" or "Body", even if it is empty. This may confuse Poser. I give a seal of approval on the CR2. Now you must carefully check out the geometry file.

I`m sorry, I knew about the wrong named figureresfile line I meant to change it before sending you the cr2. I created the groups in the setup room there was no part originally named body. If you still have the mock-up could you try loading that into the scene and then another figure? (any other figure) because then if you select the mock-up you will see that it says no actor. I will check the geometry but I am fairly sure it is ok.

I checked the bike and there were quite a few multiple grouped parts, I deleted the non-figure groups (there was about 50 of them) and after that it did work perfectly. If I could contact the owner I would maybe be able to make this a free download.

Glad that I could be of some help! :) Congrats! Hope that the owner capitulates.

Thank you, for the help, I didnt even know that extra groups could cause that kind of problem. I havent been able to contact the owner, I tried emailing 3dcafe and got the message returned. I dont really want to ask in their forum either because they seem to be very anti-poser there.

Message edited on: 12/06/2004 13:14

Attached Link: http://www.fantasy3d.com/pfiles/thumbs.cgi?objects

Sorry I didn`t know that you already had a version of this bike for free. I will try the RTE encoding but I havent used that program before so it might take some time.

Wouldnt I need to use an original copy of the bike object for RTEncoder to work? If I do then the poser groups would be lost and the figure couldnt work anymore. :(

You encode your poserised bike using the original bike object as the seed. RTEncoder allows you to encode using almost anything as the encoder object (you have to select 'all files' in the Key Files, Files of Type dialog box), so if you use the unzipped bike object from the 3D cafe to RTEncode your version, then people could only use your version by un-encoding using the same unzipped bike object downloaded from 3D Cafe. Make a note in a readme about the 3DCafe bike required for decoding (a link that could be copy/pasted to download the bike for example), and hopefully Bob's your uncle! Tell you what, try the encoding, and let me try decoding it to see if it works. You can send the RTE file to me at nightraven_uk@yahoo.co.uk if you want.

OK I sent the bike as a zip to make the file smaller.

I managed to extract the harley.obj using the downloaded file from 3D Cafe ok. What I would now suggest is setting up the folder structure for your freebie ready to go into Poser, with the rte file inside the geometries folder. That can then be decoded into the geometries folder and the figure would be ready to use.
I think your readme should have a bit more info re the object file though. IE, 'the harley-d.prj file from the "harley-d.zip harley davidson made in the usa" at 3DCafe freestuff is required to decode the file.' Other than that, I see no problem. Again, if you want to send me the completed RTE zip to check out, then no problem (so long as the final filesize is less than 10meg).

Ok I will send it to you, the file is less than 3 megabytes.

It worked fine, apart from a couple of niggles. I have sent you an email (there is an approx 12kb attachment) with the details. Good job on it! :)

I fixed the problems with the file and thanks again for testing every thing and making the rsr.