Hi,

I need to temporarily strip a figure (and props) of its textures at render time. Are there any scripts, or shortcuts, to do this?

The reason is that one prop in a complex scene of mine benefits from having P5's "texture filtering" turned on. The other figures/props render fine without it. Of course, this setting greatly increases render time so I would like to first render the scene without filtering, then render again with the filter on. I can't just remove the other characters in the scene for the second render because I want to preserve the lighting and shadows on the prop. So I figure by stripping the textures from the other figures/props I would speed the render time since there would be no "texture filtering" calculations for the stripped figures.

Thanks for any advice!

Not quite what you're looking for but I noticed a "render separate" script here in freestuff by MarkCD. Perhaps that could be used?

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=2356407

Link is to a thread about alternatives to texture filtering. It has lots of tips; you might find one that lets you do the render in one pass, without taking too long.

Thanks randym77 and ernyoka1, I'll look into your suggestions. I did mean to ask specifically about MAT files but forgot to put it into my post.

posted this elsewhere :

copy all the text within the #### lines into a text document and save it into your runtime/python/poser scripts folder calling it whatever_you_like.py

#####################################################

<br></br>import poser<br></br><br></br>scene = poser.Scene()<br></br><br></br>actor = scene.CurrentActor()<br></br>figure = actor.ItsFigure()<br></br><br></br>materials = actor.Materials()<br></br><br></br>for material in materials:<br></br><br></br>    material.SetDiffuseColor (1, 1, 1)<br></br>    material.LoadMaterialSet ("runtimelibrariesmaterialsClear.mt5")<br></br><br></br>scene.DrawAll()<br></br>

#################################

as you can see, almost at the bottom of the scripts is a line referring to a material called Clear.mt5

either change this material name to one you have already, otherwise create a material with all of the options that you want set (white diffuse, no specular etc) and save it in the main materials folder as Clear

to use the material, in the pose room, select the figure/prop you want to apply it to, then open the python scripts window, set the script to a button and then click the button, thats it!

I use this for all sorts of things, resetting V3 to white is one, I also use it to apply a white AO material to test AO options. change the settings in one material file, run the script and all of V3 now has that material.

hope this helps! Message edited on: 08/05/2005 20:49

Thanks templargfx, sounds good but I have one question. I'm not sure what I should use for "clear.mt5" as I have not .mt5 files in my materials folder to use as a guide. I really want no texture maps loaded at all as even a "blank" one will not stop poser from doing its texture filtering calculations. Is there a way to program a python script to simply remove all maps associated with all the body parts/zones so that you get a completely untextured figure? Thanks again.

OH, simply change the name of the material in the script "Clear.mt5" to the file name of a material you want to be applied to every material area on the current actor. I have been trying (with no luck) to get the python script to apply it to all figures. Ill keep trying, then, I could add a part in the script that makes the script apply it to all but the currently selected actor!

Try putting your loop over materials inside the following

figs = scene.Figures()<br></br>for fig in figs:<br></br>    acts = fig.Actors()<br></br>    for act in acts:<br></br>        # original loop over materials goes here

If you want to do the same for all props as well acts = scene.Actors()
for act in acts:
# original loop over materials goes here

Hi again, sorry, I still don't know what exactly the contents of this material file you refer to should be? I want every body part to not have any texture. I don't care what color the body part itself is--pure white, black, it doesn't matter. What should go into this material file? Is it a text file that I create with an editor? Thanks again for your help.

ok, go into the material room and create a material that is say white, with no specular, no textures, no bumpmaps, and thats it. save it you the MAIN material list as Clear as to whats supposed to be in the material file, well, whatever you want, you want to have no textures, so create a material that has no texture in it. if you will be compositing the two images together after you have rendered this one, you could make the material a bright ambient pure white. this way, everything in the scene will be totally white, except for the objects you WANT to render, probably will make it easier to composite the two images together! if your still having trouble, I will upload my Clear.mt5 material in a zip file for you

Thanks templargfx, that's a perfect explanation and I'll be trying it soon. Also randym77's link to a thread about shading rates as an alternative to texture filtering helped a lot.

Hi templargfx, I tried running the python script you supplied in msg #5 above but nothing seems to happen as far as removing textures from the figure except for this 3-line message that appears in the python window:

Traceback(most recent calls last):
File, line 8, in ?
AttributeError: LoadMaterialSet

I tried placing my "Clear.mt5" in different folders and also supplying a complete pathname (starting with "c:...") to the LoadMaterialSet call but nothing seems to help.

Any ideas what I should try?

Thanks!

That error indicates that you have P5 or PP.
The LoadMaterialSet is only available in P6.

Thanks, nruddock! I am indeed using P5. Would you know offhand of a similar function call in P5?

There isn't anything directly equivalent in P5.
Refer to the Python manual for the Material class to see what methods are available.
Essentially you can manipulate a Material to the same extent a P4/PP MAT pose can.