From the Readme: "External Binary Morph Targets By default, Poser 6 saves morph targets to an external binary file format (.pmd), which contains only the morph targets for a particular figure or scene. This format allows for faster loading and greater flexibility, as the targets are no longer enmeshed with the rest of the data in the PZ3/PZZ scene file. This storage method also requires less disk space, as all instances of the same figure can reference the same PMD file for morph target data when stored in the library that way. If you change the morph targets of one or more figures created from the Library and then save your scene, the morph target modifications will be saved in a single new PMD file accompanying the scene file. If you wish to save modified morph targets for any one figure independently, you must select the Use External Binary Morph Targets option in the General Preferences palette, and then add the modified figure back into the Library as a new figure. A new .pmd file will be created for that figure, containing the modified morph targets. You can then reuse that figure in other scenes." Hmm, this is going to get some getting used to. More files to keep track of.... :] Fish

.pmd = Poser Morph Data ??? ;=]

No. .pmd = PreMenstrual Depression, actually. For both men and women :o) :] Fish

"as all instances of the same figure can reference the same PMD file for morph target data when stored in the library that way"

And they can still look different from each other? And the user can change one and not the other?

"If you wish to save modified morph targets for any one figure independently, you must select the Use External Binary Morph Targets option in the General Preferences palette, and then add the modified figure back into the Library as a new figure. A new .pmd file will be created for that figure"

So there are pmd files for both pz3 and cr2 files, correct?
How do it know which one to use?

Is this stuff addressed more in the manual? This sounds promising for those who do character-heavy scenes. Maybe we can jam more in before Poser begins to choke.

Message edited on: 03/22/2005 17:53

Actually yes, it is adressed in the manual. I found a page long passage about it. 'External Binary Morph Targets' is something one can switch on or off, apparently. And if you bring in 'legacy' figures (i.e. older stuff), P6 creates new pmd's. Don't know whether that's good or bad. Or if it depends :o) :] Fish

Indeed, geep! One advantage is that it is a much easier way to handle all of those injection morph folders. All morphs are now contained in one much smaller file. For example, if you inject all of V3's morphs into her the resulting file will be something like 120+ megs if you save her with a texture as well. However, if you take that file and resave it to the library, with "Save external binary morph data" checked in General Preferences (it's checked by default), you'll end up with 2 files ... the CR2 or CRZ file (CRZ is a compressed version of the CR2 and it's only 97KB for Victoria 3), and a .PMD file that is just under 42 megs. That is about 1/3 the size of the CR2 in its uncompressed/old format. PLUS you have a raw CR2, containing no morphs, that you can use for the setup room.

Now that I can speak openly (and not as a rep for CL).... on a side note: You can use a pose file to 'INJ' a pmd file into a CR2 that doesn't have the channels present for the morphs. Soooooo....no empty INJ channels needed in the CR2. People can develop as many morphs as they want and not have to worry about if there are enough channels :) --Rebekah--

Yup, all in all a very POSITIVE solution to all of the INJ/REM files, and much easier for development all the way around.

Hmm. Sounds like a good system. Can anyone tell me if this has an impact on figures that use a lot of ERC, like HMann's V3 2005 at DAZ?

ERC is different and shouldn't be effected as far as I know by anything new that I have seen so far in P6

So basically, I can have one morph file that contains all the morphs (past, present and future ones) that a figure will reference and use? So if I add morphs to the same figure later, it will add the morph to the .pmd and other (older) characters using the same figure will be able to use the new morph?

You can have as many PMD morph files as you want. For example, you can add only eye morphs to the figure and put them in one PMD file. Then the nose morphs in another. And so on. They are additive, just like INJ files.

This system sounds really promising... assuming they fix the PMD memory bug that Weirdjuice mentioned in another thread.