I'm playing around, trying to make a convincing looking Female Barbarian, using Vicky and Stephanie. I put them together in a scene, and yes, Crosstalk struck. On the left of this composite, you see the original Vicky and Stephanie characters as they appear by themselves. You see the settings used to create their body shapes. Note I used the largest breast size on each figure. Vicky goes up to 8, while Stephanie only goes to 4. I used Breast Cleavage on Stephanie, but not on Vicky.

I eliminated the Breast Cleavage setting on Stephanie, and Vicky's breasts are no longer squished together. However, Vicky's breast remain much smaller than their original "size 8." I'm a bit miffed that this problem exists. I know the solution, but it's lots of work. Now tell me, do we have the same crosstalk problem if we put Mike into the picture with Stephanie or Vicky? I forget.

No matter which figures you use, any morphs with the same internal name (the name on the dial doesn't matter) will crosstalk in Poser 4. If Victoria 2, Stephanie and Michael all have a morph named "ZLURB", but Victoria 1 and the Millennium PreSchool Girl do not, when you set the 1st figure's "ZLURB" dial to 1, they will all show the morph applied at 1, except Victoria 1 and the Millennium PreSchool Girl. For multiple-figure scenes you need to load a Null before EACH figure, as rbtwhiz's tutorial instructs, and then you don't have to figure out what morphs share names on what figures, even after you save the scene.

Attached Link: http://205.122.23.229/ronknights/

Actually, Jaager's (spelling?) method of eliminating crosstalk is much better than fussing with Null figures. Remember I wrote that Crosstalk Tutorial. It works!

Jaager's method is meant for figures you want to use repeatedly. But I find nulls far easier and faster for most of my work, because you can use any figures in any combination on the fly, with no preplanning.

Here's something that I find works for me...I know it sounds strange and I don't know why it works but here is my crosstalk revelation. If I'm using a scene with Mike and Vicki (for example), If I load Mike first and then Vicki...no crosstalk. Same with Stephanie and Vicki...Steph first and then Vicki. I don't know why this works, maybe I've gotten lucky everytime I've done this. :-)

gryffnn: Nail on the head. The null method is really the way to go. I find it to be very efficient and requires no fussing at all. BTW: I'm loving your XpressionMagic for Mike 2. Great tool and the possibilities are endless...but you already know that :p

The null method is all very well.... But if I save to a PZ3 (of course), next time I open it, the figures have been crosstalking on the sly and the file is buggered. Even with a null. So the null only works during that original session. Bummer! :] FishNose

I plan to use the same figures repeatedly. And I plan to make Free Characters that others can use. I want the permanent fix.

Attached Link: http://www.rbtwhiz.com/rbtwhiz_ERC.html#update

FishNose - right, the single null only works until you save the scene. If you are saving, rbtwhiz discovered you have to load the null before EACH figure (null1, figure1, null2, figure2, etc.) It's only awkward at first - after that it's a snap. I have detailed illustrated instructions in my P4FemMagic user guide PDF, and the Crosstalk section at this link is full of info. Another downside of the name-changing method is that .pz2 and .fc2 files that use the original internal morph names won't work if you've changed them. Mark, great to hear that you're enjoying M2XprssnMagic! (Vicky's will be out soon) - Elisa/gryffnn

Thanks gryff! I'll be checking it out. :] FishNose

Forgive me if I get any thing wrong here, I first ran into this cross talk problem only a couple of weeks ago, when I was making a scene for a tentacle contest, so I'm hardly an expert. I needed a null figure for Ajaxe's EP Tube, Ajax did not have one, so I had to make one from scratch. No disrespect meant to Ronknights, and his method, he's a brilliant guy. I haven't even tried his method, but as far as I can see from reading the tutorial, its just a way to rename the morph channels, and that doesn't cure crosstalk between iterations of the same character, it only creates a new character, you would have to do this procedure for each instance of the character you wanted to place in the sceen, sounds like a lot of work, and if the original character was Victoria 2 I can just hear that HDD groaning under the strain of all those cr2's.

But lets not get confused here, the way I see it, this is not a contest between two methods of doing the same thing. Two entirely different things are being done here, each is appropriate for its own purpose, and neither will fulfill the other purpose. Null figures are a method for CURING crosstalk. Renaming morph channels is a method for creating a NEW CHARACTER that won't crosstalk with an old one (although this new character could have the same shape and function as the old one).

IMHO null figures are by far the best way to handle crosstalk between instances of characters that you use regularly, but if you don't have a null for that character, don't plan to use the character on a regular basis, and don't like getting your hands dirty with a text editor, you might find that Ron's method an easy workaround (although building nulls isn't that hard once you get the hang of it).

On the other hand if you are making a new character, especially if it's for distribution, then you definitely should rename the morph channels, to prevent any crosstalk with different characters.

Like I say I'm no expert on this so forgive me if I've got it wrong, but as I see it these are two entirely separate methods, to achieve two entirely different things.

P.S. Love your Barbarian Ron :)

Les, you've caught the essence of the situation. Multiple copies of the renamed figure will crosstalk just like any other, unless you make one for each instance, and they are big files. Nulls are miniscule and, as you found, easy to create, once you understand them. As you work with Poser, you find there are almost always several ways of doing things. Sometimes you stick to your favorite; sometimes you pick the tool that best fits the situation. Keeps life interesting - Elisa/gryffnn

My solution to crosstalk - Part 1, use a figure that doesn't need FBM dials turned very often (I just happen to know of some females that are pretty much just what I'm looking for right out of the box...), part 2 is when I do run into it I just spin the crosstalked figures body morphs (the part morph, that is) backward to turn off the unwanted effect. To be honest, while all the other solutions work they require too much planning ahead for me, I tend to make things up as I go along. (Now wouldn't this scene be great with another Vickie in it, with a helmet and sword, and oh, a temple, too!)

By the way, the Crosstalk combatting method I've used does several things. It removes un-needed morphs, it renames morphs that are used. The Crosstalk-immune character will not cause Crosstalk with other characters. However, each character needs to be immunized from Crosstalk, or the characters will cause Crosstalk. The other thing I've noticed is that the clothing these characters wear must be fixed to eliminate Crosstalk. This can be done in Tailor. You just pick an unused name for the morphs. By the way, here's a Barbarian I've created using Musclebound Mike. Musclebound Mike won't cause Crosstalk with other characters. Is anyone interested in this character? You'd need Mike 1 or Mike 2, and you'd need to own Musclebound Mike for this to work. Ron