Creating A Poser Figure Part 2

In Poser all the body parts will first be imported, then a hierarchy built, materials assigned, and JPs set up.

Importing into Poser

From the file menu highlight import then select Wavefront OBJ from the secondary menu.


In the open dialog locate the folder where the part are saved. Only one object can be imported at a time, it does not really matter what order their imported, since the order will change when the hierarchy is built.


When the Prop Import Option appears, select only the options:( Weld Identical Vertices) and ( Make Polygons Normal Consistent )


With only these options selected there will be no scale or world changes made to the body parts. So as each one is imported they should fall right into place.


Once all the body parts are imported, the figure should be all put together in the center of the window, standing on the ground. The only thing different is it's facing the front instead of the back ( like it was in Amorphium )



Creating the Hierarchy

A hierarchy is the linking of object in a Parent and Child relationship. When objects are linked together one is the parent and one is the child. The child object will be translated ( moved or rotated ) whenever it's parent is moved or rotated. Basically this is just like the link to parent tool in Amorphium, except scaling will not occur to all the children when a parent is scaled.
A poser figure's hierarchy should start at the center of the figure, and work out to the limbs. For humans & animals, this center part is usually the hip. But for some figure ( like this bug ) there is no hip, so instead the center most object will be used, which is the chest. So the neck, tail, and the first part of each leg will all be linked to the chest. Then those pieces will have the next piece out from them, linked to them. This process will continue until all the pieces are linked together to create the child to parent hierarchy.

This is the hierarchy tree for the bug figure


To create the hierarchy go to Window/Hierarchy Editor


The hierarchy can be built by dragging a child body part and dropping it right on top of the name of the parent. Here the Left Antenna-1 is dragged and dropped onto the head, making the antenna 1 a child of the head. Clicking the newly created plus sign next to the head will reveal the child object.


Another way is to select the child body part, then go to Object/Change Parent, then select the parent from the Choose new Parent for the Current Object menu.


Creating the Figure

Once the hierarchy is built a new figure can be created by selecting the head parent in the hierarchy editor ( chest for the bug ), then at the bottom of the editor click the Create new Figure option.


In the Set Name menu type in a name for the figure


A new figure will be created and added to the Poser figure library in the new figure category.


The figure in the poser window is still the imported pieces with the hierarchy built. It is probable best to save the project, then create a new project and load the new figure from the library.


Continue to Part 3



This character creation tutorial is written and provided by : Stephen Ray