Where to Look: (How To) Grouping Materials Under Poses?

Consumer573

Ok, I'm at a point where I know what I want to do, but don't know what terms to use to find it. I have the books from Poser7 - Poser 8 and more. Am Running PPro14 on Win7 , but it shouldn't matter as this probably goes back to Poser5 or earlier.

(1) When I buy products from vendors, typically Hair or Clothing, I go to Figures or Props to load the basic item, then
(2) I go to "Poses" to change colors or materials.

I know how to use the material room and nodes to change the textures jpg by jpg for Items I have created.

But how do I make something that allows me with one click to change whole character or prop materials from the 'Pose' menu like the vendors do, and what is this process called?

It seems like a Poser idiosyncracy that major material changes in Hair or clothing textures should be under "Pose" rather than "Materials," but I can accept that this is just the way it is done. However, if how to do it is in any of the books, I just don't know the terms to search on.

Any help to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Richard Haseltine

Save a Material Collection, from the Materials room. You can fairly easily convert that to a PZ2, but in PP2014 there's no need to do so as the Materials library is available in the Pose room.

Consumer573

Okay. Material collection is the term to look for. Thank you Richard, very much!

Consumer573

Okay, in P2014 you don't have to use Pose Files, but if I am intent on doing it anyway:

I found this link as to how to convert Materials files *.mc6 to pose files *.pz2:

http://www.free3dcontent.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=154

And some additional background here:
http://forum.runtimedna.com/showthread.php?73299-MCZ-files-in-poser2012-problem-newbie-questions

Don't now if there is an easier or more professional way to do this.

Ghostman

The easier way is to use MATWriter Panel from RDNA by Netherworks. Writes both Poser and DS files.

WandW

Consumer573 said:

Okay, in P2014 you don't have to use Pose Files, but if I am intent on doing it anyway:

You condemn the kludge, but then choose to perpetuate it. ;-)

An easier way is to save as a material collection, and copy it and the png thumbnail to the appropriate pose folder, and it can be loaded from there...

Consumer573

WandW said:

Consumer573 said:

Okay, in P2014 you don't have to use Pose Files, but if I am intent on doing it anyway:

You condemn the kludge, but then choose to perpetuate it. ;-)

What was it that Wayne Gretzky said? Consistency is the key to success? Yes, I condemn the kludge and continue to perpetuate it. :-)

Why? because in Poser Pro 95+% of the hair and pose files have their textures in the pose library and even as we speak they are still being made that way. What I'm doing is occasionally creating my own add-ons and I'd like them to live with everything else, and then also have them archived on a CD or DVD.

If there was an organized way to move every hair and clothing and skin texture done by every vendor in the past to the material room, which would make some sense, I'd consider it, rather than going forward always having 95% of the stuff in one place and 5% in the other.

Thanks for the response. I actually read it months earlier, but in coming back to it for reference I wanted to say thank you.

WandW

Consumer573 said:

Thanks for the response. I actually read it months earlier, but in coming back to it for reference I wanted to say thank you.

You're welcome. :)