Hi all,

Could we save pose or animation seq. with props?

Thanks in advance
:)

yes, as pz3 file.

@Miss Nancy: But this will create another poser file. Is it possible to save the pose and set into poser library, so that it could be re-use later?

Can you save an animated pose for props? The answer is yes, sort of. It's really a workaround, or a series of workarounds, depending on exactly what you are trying to do.

Poser will not save poses for unparented props, but if a prop is parented to a figure and you save a pose for the figure, the pose for the props will be saved along with the pose for the figure (including any animation). With the above in mind, you need an invisible figure with a small memory footprint, the solution is to download "MinFig" from my Free Stuff here at Rosity. MinFig is a small cr2, about 5KB, that only has a BODY actor.

The method is to load MinFig in Poser, parent your props to it, animate your props, then save an animated pose for MinFig. This will also work if you animate the props first before you load MinFig and parent the props to it.

There are a few different methods for applying the pose.

1). If you save the whole set-up to a pz3 with the props still parented to MinFig, you can apply the pose again even if you have deleted all the frames from your animation.

2). You could save MinFig back to a Figures pallet with the props still attached. Later load MinFig into a new scene, the props will load with it, then you can apply the pose (see notes below).

3). You could just load the props into a new scene, load MinFig, parent the props to it, then apply the pose (see notes below).

4). If you want to distribute the pose, none of the above methods is very satisfactory, as they all require the end user to have MinFig, but there is a solution, though it requires a bit more work. With Poser file compression turned off in the general preferences, save the pose as above. Open the resulting pz2 in a text editor. Use the editors Search and replace function to replace every instance of the string "prop " (note the trailing space), with "actor " (note the space). Save the file to a Camera folder with a cm2 file extension. This cm2 file should work on the props even if there are no figures in the scene.

NOTES:
When poser loads a prop from a pallet it appends an underscore and number to the name of the prop. For example, if you load two box props the first one will be named "box_1", and the second one will be named "box_2". A pose for an item named "box_1" will NOT work on an item named "box_2", and vice versa. With this in mind, if you are using multiple instances of the same prop in the scene, the order of loading is crucially important. All the above methods can potentially be subject to this restriction, except method #1, where the names are always preserved.

If you only have one prop in your animation, you can edit the pz2, or cm2 to use "actor $CURRENT". Using "actor $CURRENT" will allow you to apply the pose to any selected prop, irrespective of its name. "actor $CURRENT" only works in P5 and above. All the other things mentioned here will also work in P4 and above.

The above methods only work on props (and cameras and lights, with some restrictions). If you have figures in your scene you will have to save separate animated poses for them. Parenting other figures to MinFig will not result in their poses being saved along with a pose for MinFig.

To explain method #4 a bit more. Referring to the prop as "actor" in the pz2 allows the pose to be applied even if the prop is not parented to a figure. However no pz2 can be applied to anything unless there is a figure in the scene. Saving the pose file as a cm2 to a camera folder overcomes this restriction, as a cm2 will work even if there is no figure in the scene.

Pose files saved in Poser include translation, rotation, and optionally morph settings, they do not include scale data.

Thank you very much for your tips, lesbentley.
They are full of details! It takes time to "digest" them.

Hiya Les... Just wanted to add my thanks for taking the trouble to write all this up.  I found it very very helpful.  It would be nice if we had some kind of "wisdom wall" where bits like this could be preserved rather than counting on iffy forum searches.  anyway... cheers, and thanks again