Poser2Ms3d: Imported Figure Creation: Hierarchy & Groups

Now that Poser can be utilized by Torque developers for content via the PhilC & BrokeAssGames.com plugin, Poser2Ms3d, there will be a number of Posts asking how to effectively use Poser to build characters and animate them. In this Bloq, I'll outline the workflow for mesh setup for the stock Poser 'controls', used to animate figures, with IK and the Walk Designer.

Poser reads a few types of 3D file formats, Wavefront::OBJ, seemingly used as the base mesh for all character figures I've seen. You will need a 3rd party modeling application capable of generating and editing this format.

Poser's IK controls and 'Walk Designer' tool have very specific namingConventions that allow them to function within the Poser environment easily. All of these control names are based upon the skeleton 'bone' names in the images, making this a fairly 'intuitive' process, as long as some basic caveats are followed. Each control 'widget'...needs the portion of the mesh it 'controls' to have it's meshGroup name be that of the control object. That may be a bit difficult to understand textually, so here is an image of what a mesh properly 'grouped' would look like: Notice how the mesh is broken down along the 'bone' boundaries of their influence, as a skeleton? Poser only uses a Parent-Child relationship to deform the mesh, meaning that a 'child' doesn't have any effect on a 'group' nested above it's Parent in the hierarchy. This also means that the faces in each meshGroup can't 'touch' any faces above it's Parent or below it's Child. This will cause tearing and other unwanted visual artifacts, especially if your mesh does not have enough in the way of details[faces] to deform. So, there is no 'weighting' per se inside Poser; merely setup your face 'groups' correctly[to the rig you want to bind to] and it's automagic, until edited later.... Leave the Setup Room, and the entire mesh is now under control of the bones in the Hierarchy/skeleton. These 'weights' export to MS3d at 1 bone per vertex. In this image of 'James'...the groupings are limited to his hands only....there are 'hand' pose controls as well, within Poser...and if the mesh is broken into groups properly there as well; fully articulating finger animation is possible with the stock control 'widgets' for the 'hands'...if desiring hand poses, remember to apply from this Library after, you've selected any 'full' body poses, which will overwrite any hand pose data applied before the full body. Below, is an image of these 'finger' grouping... keep the Parent-Child face caveat intact for the groupings, and you will be miles ahead.

Here is an example of how the Finger group faces are separated. The 'Left Hand/Fingers' would be the same Conventions, with a "l"[lowerCase L] prefix....as following the other body examples above. The red triangles are merely points of notice and are not covering all areas needing the separation. Each 'Child' group needs to be separated from other 'children' groups of a Parent.

Here's a visual example of this bad grouping in action...having two 'children' mesh groups touch at the center of the Chest area. This will cause horrible tearing at this location inside Poser. Notice how in the right image, some faces between the two sibling groups have been put into the 'chest' group. Welding the 'group' after adding/removing faces to it will prevent any tearing of the mesh area, once in the Pose Room. I suggest regrouping your mesh outside Poser, as this may speed up work once inside the Poser environment; where animation is the main focus, not primitive/face creation/manipulation.


This was a quick outline to help all those out there now beginning to explore the possibilities of using the fantastic animation tools inside Poser for DTS/DSQ content.

Happy New Year All!......when there will be more on the subject of Poser...and bringing your existing skeleton and IK into Poser and then getting the data back out by using the plugin. For that, all you'll need is an IDE or text editor of some kind, and your 3rd party modeling application, capable of OBJ Export, and your existing skeleton. Oh, and have an idea of what IK chains you might want to experiment with....!

Here's a better example on how grouping for control in Poser is setup:


PhilCDesigns on youTube has some good Poser videos explaining about character creation. Phil is also the author of the Poser2MS3D plugin, and knows a great deal about the program.







Poser images:Copyright 2008 Smith Micro Software (NASDAQ: SMSI). All rights reserved.