I want to make some shoes/boots for V4... How would I go about starting. For instance, what position the feet need to be in when I export her to modeling program... and how to make the shoes conform when I'm done.
Tutorials welcome :)

Thanks!

Tricia

A zeroed pose would be best for exporting her. As for how to go about modeling them, that's a whole other ball of wax. You could box model them or edge extrude them. Also, how detailed you want to get is another issue to consider.   As for conforming them, try to make the groups match those in the figure as best as possible. Then use a similar bone setup and you should be good to go.

Thanks!
As far as the getting them to conform part... is it possible to just parent them... like props? Or would they have to be conforming?

Well, that's up to you. You could parent them, but I wouldn't expect that to work in every situation.

There's a Joan of Arc tutorial at www.3dtotal.com that walks you through making armored boots. You may want to have a look. The box modeleing technique used could give you insight into how to do the modeling half of things.

I had come across that site before when I was taking 3DS Max class in school. I use Hexagon at home though.

Box modeling is the same across all polygonal based apps pretty much, so Max, Hex, Maya, etc. shouldn't matter. It's stil just, extrude, bevel, scale, move and such.  Give it a try.

  Point of curiousity... has anyone ever morphed shoes for things like ... Hmmm... I guess "foot position" would cover it. Like when you, for example, sit in a chair, and have just your toes on the ground, like from the ball of the foot... how the shoe, (and your toes), bends. Lou.

"..... and that was when things got interestiing."

Just a small point ... don't ever 'export' a character from Poser. Use the base obj from the Geometries folder.

Props are good for things like sandals, thongs, any kind of shoe that doesn't require an ankle bend. Once you move further up the leg though, you're going to have to switch to conforming.

Archdruid, if the shoe is a conformer, the toe should bend seperately from the foot so no morphs are required.

  Ah, Thanks, I was curious about that. Lou.

"..... and that was when things got interestiing."

Good point Xena about the obj files...very important.

Another note on weather to "conform" or to "parent"...if say you are making some chest/shoulder armour and you conform them, if you modeled your armour with hard rigid lines...when you conform it your hard lines will bend and whatever textures you have will also bend....depending on what you are after this is sometimes very bad effect (the armour stops looking like armour and looks more like a skin tight suit).
Really the only way to understand what I'm talking about is to try it yourself and you'll see.

So with that in mind if you are going to parent it, then when you model, keep in mind to stay close to each body parts limits so that the parenting won't look real goofy. Otherwise if you go past your body part limit and extend your parented chest model into the shld area (for instance) the ends will really start to cause some havoc.
Very bad if you are animating, not so bad if you are just taking single frame renders...minor fidgitting with the prop will align everything okay.

Hope this helps.

Comitted to excellence through art.

Armor won't bend when conformed if don't set Bend in cr2.

 Thanks everyone! All the info was very helpful ^_^
I need a lot of practicing on my modeling. There are a lot of good modelers out there that go into so much detail into the clothing and such....  Thats probably why I havn't sold anything of mine yet lol!