Hi there, is there a recent tutorial that would demonstrate the application of transmaps from poser models into C2 without using Grouper (I'm on a Mac) I have read the posting from Antoine Clappier dating back from feb 29,2000 but I guess I still don't get it... Thanks in advance Hawk999

Well I use the grouper tutorial now (it made such a difference) but I don't know of any other tutorial like it. Basically if you put a transmap in the trans section of the shader you are working with, there will still be artifacts, so by following it through like the grouper tutorial says, and use the transmap applied over the entire layer panametrically, it masks out the transparent areas, thus removing the artifacts. Once I got used to the concept of what the grouper tutorial was doing, it has been very easy to replicate. I love using grouper also because it cuts down on the number of objects, which is a real boon for me since I tend to do multi-figure scenes and each character had way too many pieces (just the fingers and toes alone made up 60 objects) I hope that is of some help. It really works great when you get the hang of it. JDexter

JDexter, can you translate the grouper method with a simple example, like hair or eyeballs/eye texture? It might be a big help if it wasn't software-dependent. If Hawk can't use grouper, it's logical to assume he can't follow the tutorial either.

Hi I did try the part 4 of the grouper tutorial to map the transmaps to the eyelashes and the eyebrows. The head is a layer's list shader when it appears in C2 I applied the technique to the corresponding layers of the shader but it didn't work. Might try to change the order of the layers. Thanks for the help, HAWK999

I'd have to try to do it without the grouper utility, but I bet I could come up with an example using the eyelashes (which is the biggest PITA normally). I personally use the Grouper utility because I like having less object, but I can see not wanting to use it. Give me a few minutes and I will fire up the programs and see about transmapping without Grouper using the concepts I learned. JDexter

Okay, here is what I have. I am horrible at explaining myself, but I will try. I used Stephanie and Bliss Texture for the example (For the eye later on I used a mockup of a texture, that is why it looked different. I imported the head and eyes into Carrara and this is the result: As you can see Eyebrows/Lashes and eyes are funky.

Using the Grouper method with using grouped will not work for the Eyebrows and the Eyes because as stated in the Grouper Tutorial, the intersecting areas will cause artifacts, and since you cannot nudge the Eyebrows or inner pieces of the eyes you cannot get rid of them. (I will explain how to take care of it later on:

Now this is where you do the Lashes. The inportant part of the shader is shown here: In the transparacy of the layer for the eyelashes, you put the lash trans that you have from your texture and invert it. Then you click the + button on that layer itself and set the 2 options as you see it (also inverting the lash trans texture). What that extra piece does is mask out the areas that should be transparant and that way it doesn't get effected by any of the scene's environment.

Now because you are not using Grouper and cannot nudge the eyebrows or eye pieces, then you have to put a little forethought into the character. Basically I cannot find a method to get rid of the eyebrow artifacts so I turned off the eyebrows in Poser before I exported it, that way we don't even have to deal with that shader at all. The eyes are a little more complex, you have to edit the actual texture (always work with a copy of it, not the original texture) Basically all I did was take the actual eyes and rescaled them and pasted them into the eyeball section of the texture map because it is the topmost layer in the actual eye. Here is the result of doing those 2 items:

I hope you can follow what I did, but if not, please ask, I will try harder to explain it better. JDexter

Don't know if you are rendering with G.I., but F.Y.I. there is a known bug when using G.I. with transmaps. Areas on top or near other surfaces turn black. Hopefully this will be fixed in the upcoming patch. Here's a shot showing the bug. The rest of the stuff was imported using Grouper. Personally, I am really looking forward to Poser 5 coming out in Sept. and the C2 patch so the new figures can be rendered in G.I. Should be some amazing results.

Hi JDexter, I posted a message this morning but I guess it didn't make it through so here goes again. The technique for transmaps worked great on the head and I think I figured a way to map the eyes. In the shader for the eye there is four parts; pupils,eyeballs,eyewhites,and irises

If I go to the eyeballs parametric mapping and, in the multi channel change the color to value=0 and the transparency to 100 the eyes seem to render properly

Thanks for all your help

HAWK999

Look very good Hawk! I will try the setting you said, but I am pretty sury I did that too, the pieces of the eyes that intersect is what caused my black-eye syndrome, but maybe I did it backwards? Anyway, glad it worked for you. I use the same technique on the hait with good results. Patrick, I don't use GI for that reason, at least with Poser imports, I have P5 preordered and refresh my Carrara page daily waiting for the patch too =) JDexter P.S. I love Grouper BTW, that has helped me a whole bunch it is truly a great thing. Major kudos to the author!

I think I can follow how you guys did this. It seems to work o.k. for the eyeball, eyebrow and eyelash. The new part for me was duplicating the transparency map in the coverall layer. From Patrick's image, it looks like it doesn't work for hair. Can you do one with your method that does Poser hair in some color other than black? I get the feeling that if the hair color has any value (or if it's a colored map), it will have the glow effect that Antoine Clappier referred to.

The bug is only rendering with Global Illumination, it works fine with the ray tracer.