What is the difference between a prop that has an obj file, & one that doesn't?

Is one better than the other? Thinking about dynamic clothes particularly.

Thanks

No difference in how it performs in Poser. External .obj is handier, though, and it is also required by DAZ (and, I believe, Renderosity) for brokered products. Not sure what their reasoning is, but I like that you can make changes to the geometry or mapping without having to re-save the prop. Also can be cute to address the same external geometry with more than one pp2; in my old set I had a couple of swords that had two smart-prop files; one smart-propped to waist/scabard, the other smart-propped to hand. Both props used the same geometry file. Oh, yeah, and for some stuff it's nice that Bryce or Vue user can use the prop without having to go through Poser. Of course these days more and more applications are opening Poser files native...

Ok, so how do you do it?

How do you extract the info from the prop to make the obj file & then edit the prop file info?

Thanks

My method's a bit stupid, but it works for me. I open the prop in Poser, make sure it's zeroed and all that, and export the object. Then go into my handy text editor. Open the prop, and open another prop that's already external geometry. Delete the geometry section on the new prop, copy and paste the header of the other prop, and fix the geometry reference to point towards the new object file. Basically, I use a text editor to make the new prop look like one that's already like that.

What export setting do you have ticked any or none?

Thanks

Attached Link: External Geometry

John

That's a nice one. Talks a bit about having to put in the correct offset number (no-one really knows what it does, but sometimes Poser does funny things if it is changes). I still like exporting the obj directly, (and simply deleting the geom lines in the pp2) but that's because I'm so used to popping stuff in and out of Poser. The import/export settings have become so instinctive I'm not even sure I could name them any more. Basically, tho, for exporting a prop uncheck everything but "use original groups" (or whatever that one is called) -- that keeps all the material zones intact. For a figure (like conforming clothing), also check "keep body parts." And "As morph target" is basically useless to us here. We WANT to keep all the changes we made in aligning and scaling the prop. Aligning and scaling? Yah. For neatness this is what I do; First import into Poser; drop to floor, centered, percent of figure size. Then I pull in something (like Casual Man, or even like a free ruler) to check the scale and help me set the orientation. During this first import I also look to make sure there are no reversed surface normals (an unfortunately frequent happening with certain modeling applications). Can start a prop now, or start it after exporting the scaled object, then re-importing with all the checkboxes unchecked. Set the textures, set the smart parent if there is one, set the joint centers. Save to library. Leave Poser and edit the pp2 as above. If I made the prop from the first object I've got to re-open it now in Poser, and fix the scaling (it is basically scaled twice now). Otherwise, just open it again to make sure everything is working correctly, that it can find its geometry, etc. And I haven't had my first coffee yet, so excuse me if this is more rambling than usual!

Actually I use CR2Edit, which was much cheaper than it is now.  I wrote the tut for those who have no other way.

The reason for stripping it is that Poser exports larger files than it holds internally.  It exports normals, in case another program needs them.  Internally, it doesn't use them.  These are the "VN" lines in the exported OBJ.

John

Thanks I have all this bookmarked & will give it a try next time.