Hey guys and gals, I'm tinkering with ERC, and would appreciate some advice.

I made a group of JCM's for stormchaser outfit which are enslaved to joint movements xrot, yrot, zrot. I'm setting up theese relationships with help of Easy-Pose.

There are two things that are bugging me... 

First:
How can I tell how xrot, yrot and zrot correspond to V4's dial names?  For example, a simple one would be where LeftThigh Bend dial corresponds to xrot - which seems pretty obvious in xyz space, and the dial order seems to correspond to the joint Parameter Panel joint order.
It gets little more convoluted on shoulders, and when I follow this logic, I don't seem to get the results I think I would be getting.  I can't find "internal/external' naming relationships for theese within Poser or within Easy Pose. I looked through cr2 as well, but I got lost.
Any advice?

Second:
With ERC settings, is there a way to limit the effect of the morph. For example, if I want to tell it when joint xrot is between 1 and 90 use Morph "A" with a factor of 0.02, and when joint rotation is between -1 and -90 use morph "B" with a factor of -0.02.  Sort of assigning two morphs to a single axis joint movement but not compounding their effects?

With internal/external you pretty much have to look at the CR2.

        rotateX xrot
            {
            name Open
            initValue 0
            hidden 0
            forceLimits 1
            min -90
            max 0
            trackingScale 1
            keys
                {
                static  0
                k  0  0
                }
            interpStyleLocked 0
            }

Here, the external name is Open and the internal is xrot.
The top line of the paragraph will always have the internal name.

V4 has so many layers upon layers of ERC that it's easy to get lost, though!

On the second question, you may be able to set up ERC
paragraphs in Morph A and Morph B, with each of them using
a "forceLimits 4" line and appropriate max and min limits. 
That way each morph would take the command when it's within its own bounds.

If that doesn't work, you'll have to get seriously complicated.
Here's a tutorial in advanced ERC techniques by VK,
which includes tricks for setting up a hidden "selector channel".

http://www.atlantis23.com/arc_download.html

Another option for the two-way morph, if your figure is intended for
use only in P7, is the "dependent parameters" method, which I prefer
to call "Keyframed ERC".

I made a tutorial for this method here:
http://www.3dcommune.com/3d/forum.mv?Poser+read+8830039578#

For example, assuming your source joint is the right shoulder, and
assuming each morph has values from 0 to 1,
you'd have a Keyframed ERC paragraph in Morph A looking like this:

            valueOpKey
                Figure 1
                rShldr:1
                xrot
                beginValueKeys
                    valueKey -90.0  0.0
                    valueKey 0.0     0.0
                    valueKey 90.0  1.0
                endValueKeys

and then a Keyframed ERC paragraph in Morph B looking like this:

            valueOpKey
                Figure 1
                rShldr:1
                xrot
                beginValueKeys
                    valueKey -90.0  1.0
                    valueKey 0.0     0.0
                    valueKey 90.0   0.0
                endValueKeys

This would do the job, again providing you set the max and min
properly for each. 

Thanks Onnetz, I'm digesting what you said here. Great info, and so quickly too :)

Force limits never even crossed my mind! I'll try that one first.

Looks like my new CR2 Editor doesn't croak when I try to open a 90 meg Cr2 - now i can look through things in more detail :)

ooh, I see in that arc manual that you can use math function in the ERC, like ABS values... That too has been having some unpredictable results... adding a minus sign to a multiplier didn't always produce a positive value on the morph when a dial value was negative.

I don't understand the syntax of the CR2 enough to be able to insert the ABS function, and yet again, I'm not finding a good example.  (I know, I know, I need some hand-holding)

I have

rCollar
zrot
deltaAddDelta 0.030000

In math terms, when Zrot angle is negative,  deltaAddDelta 0.030000 should be applied and result in a positive value, and in an ignored negative value when the angle is positive.

can I just write:  deltaAddDelta inv(0.030000)

I'm so lost in it, I'm not even sure if I'm describing it right :(

No, writing inv() won't work.

The VK tutorial is especially difficult because he seems to have been using a
sort of meta-language on top of the actual CR2 code.

I tried to make his abs function work once, without any luck, for a
mechanical ratchet in a typewriter model.  Frankly I'm not sure that
it really works in the newer versions.

Did you try my valueKey stuff yet?

Quote - Did you try my valueKey stuff yet?

I read through it, but I didn't try it yet - mostly because I found some other little glitches I wanted to fix before I forget about them.
I'll give your thing a try tomorow morning when my head is clearer. I think I'm zapped on complex stuff for the evening.

Thanks a ton for the suggestions, I'll keep you posted how it's working.
Looks like your suggestion to force limits worked out like a charm :)

Oh, just setting opposite limits did the whole job?

Worked like a charm. I just posted a quick before and after pic here:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2733083&page=29

You can't see all of the morphs fully at work there... but there's 15 JCM's that seem to be working just fine at the moment - except for couple morphs needing some hand sculpting touchup.

It also seems that using
deltaAddDelta 0.030000
and
deltaAddDelta -0.030000
solved my issue with changing a sign or using ABS value.

I'l give it all another test run in the morning, with a number of other poses just to double check.
I still wanna try your keys suggestion, to get a hang of how it works. I'm sure I can find other uses for it :)

Thanks a milion :)

I haven't tried making V4 JCMs yet, but certainly for V3 it was common practice to have separate "up" and "down" collar JCMs, which were switched by setting limits. There are a couple of threads at PoserPros which may be helpful, although it sounds as if you have it more or less licked (see how I introduced a cat pun there, LOL).

How to make matching JCM morphs in your clothing, a Tutorial
I made a collar JCM :-) - and, a suggestion...

Thanks English Bob!
I'm sure you heard about cats and curiosity - more info is always good!
Thanks a bunch!!!