Using Poser Figures in Amorphium Pro

This tutorial is designed to show how to export out of posers and import them so they can be used in Amorphium Pro. If you want to make morph targets to be used in Poser, see my tutorial on making morph targets in Amorphium Pro. These techniques shown in this tutorial are for using the figures in Amorphium Pro. It will not only show how to import the figures into Pro, but also how to break down the hierarchy, paint and set up the materials, then restructure the hierarchy, then merge body parts together and fix the figures using the meshman tools. It will also show some tips on how to apply mask to parts of the figures. This tutorial takes into account that you are familiar with the interface and tools in both Poser and Pro.

Exporting out of Poser

After creating setting up and posing the figure in poser.

Export the figure, I use the obj format, I find this format type to usually
be a smaller file size and be smoother mesh.

For the Export Range select Single frame.

In the Hierarchy Selection go ahead and exclude and unnecessary body parts ( parts that won't be seen under clothes ). If you plan to make clothes transparent or have holes in them don't do this. By excluding unneeded body part not only will the file size be smaller but it will help fix any clothes that might have ripped when posing and the figure will be easier to work with in Pro.

Then Name and select a location to save the export.

In the last option box select all the option except ( as morph target ) This will keep the names with all the figure's parts and weld some of the parts seams.

Import the figure into Pro using the Project / import option. It will appear as nothing was imported in the workspace window. That's because Pro doesn't change any geometry to imports and Poser imports are very small. But on the project list will be the name of the head ( parent ) of the hierarchy with a white arrow next to it. In this case it's chest: 1

Bring up the properties menu for the head of the hierarchy by clicking on the blue green sphere next to the name, or right click on the name and select properties from the pop-up menu. Then on the xform tab of the properties menu, type 500.000 in the scale XYZ options. This will make the whole figure large enough to work on.

Now the figure is big enough to see and is facing backwards. Turn it around by selecting the head of the hierarchy and using the rotate Y tool. You'll also notice that the figure has been mirrored, that will be fix at the very end of setting up the figure.

Setting up the figure

This portion of the tutorial shows the techniques I use to paint and fix the figure. It is not the only way to set up the poser figure, if you were to use textures on some parts you may need to skip some of the merging techniques.

Now I will unlink parts of the figure, but do it in by groups. So I'll select the unlink from parent tool in composer and use it on all the parts of her short pants.

On the project list all the parts of the pants are now listed separately, expand the parts of the hierarchy by clicking on the white arrow and make sure no parts of the pants were missed. In this case the names of the pants should end with a 5.

Since the shorts have a belt I will need to do some masking before linking the short back together. In the mask workspace I select the hip part of the shorts from the choose list to make it the current object in the window.

Then use the zoom fit option to fit it in the window.

Even though the figure was scaled bigger in composer all the workspaces still see the parts as their original size when imported into Pro. For this reason the fit object option needs to be used, also if the move view tool is used the object will instantly move out of site in the workspace window.


The zoom, rotate, and bank view tools can be used to maneuver the object in the workspace window.


Now I'll mask the belt on the hip using the rectangle mask on tool, tilting the object so the mask won't effect the opposite side as I go and being carefully not to hit the belt loops and buckle. One of the tricks to masking is to hit the vertices of the polygons
( where the corners of the polygons meet ) in the case of the belt it is the top and bottom edge.


After the majority of the belt is mask I invert the mask and clean up any missed and over hit places using the mask on and off brush. Using the brush properties shape, size, pressure and flux will help tremendously doing this. Sometimes masking is not easy but with practice it can be accomplished.


Now I will go back to composer and link the shorts together in their own hierarchy.


Then flatten the shorts hierarchy into one object.

On close inspection the lines can be seen where the different parts of the shorts came together.


To fix this use the meshman weld vertices tool on the shorts.


Back in the mask workspace the mask has stayed intact through the operation, but the rest of the shorts need to be mask also. I do that using the rectangular mask tool.


Then go to paint workspace and bucket paint the belt ( unmasked ) black.
I also went ahead and made some custom colors up I will be using on the whole figure.


After inverting the mask I bucket painted the shorts blue, then used the FX paint noise tool and then the FX smooth paint tool to blend the two colors together some. Then in paint I used the paint brush tool to paint the buckle gold.


For the shirt I'll did the same procedure and operations of unlinking restructuring then flattening the hierarchy, welding the vertices. I didn't need to do any masking since it is all the same color when painted.


For the hair I needed to hide some of the other body parts in composer so I wouldn't accidentally select one of them when unlinking and linking back together.


I also had a hard time unlinking one of the hair strand in the composer window. So I selected it on the project list and just click in open space in the window with the unlink from parent tool to unlink it. To link it back I selected it on the project list then click on the parent in the window with the link to parent tool selected.


Then I bucket painted the hair but also used the paint brush to add some darker areas and highlights.


Next I painted the eyes, but first I need to unlink them since I don't want them to be flatten with the rest of the body parts when the time comes. To make this easier and both eyes be exactly the same, I'm going to go to task and make a task file while I paint the first eye, then play it back on the second eye. To make a task file just click on the record button in task and select a location on the hard drive to save it. Now all the operations and functions done in most workspaces will be recorded. Then I bucket paint the whole eye white then select the paint brush and adjust the radius smaller then the size I want the corona to be. Select the color and fit the eye into the center of the workspace making sure the eye is facing the right way. When the figure was imported into Pro it was facing backwards this is the direction all the parts are still facing in all the workspaces no matter how they rotated in composer. Do not attempt to rotate any body parts using the FX rotate tool for this will place the object facing differently then the rest in composer. Depending on the angle the figure was in when imported you may need to rotate the eye using the rotate view tool in the workspaces. Usually you should select back view in the workspace then rotate the eye, if you look closely you can see where the corona and pupil should be. With the brush color and radius set and the eye aligned as well as possible I simply place the brush in the middle of the eye and paint moving very small circular motions. The way the polygons are arranged on the eyes make this rather easy if the eye is aligned properly. Then after changing color and adjusting the radius smaller I do the same for the pupil. After the first eye is done simply go back to task and select the other eye from the choose list and play the task file on it. There will be no need to move the second eye in the window the task file will take all the placement into consideration.


Next unlink the toes and all finger part that has nails on them, their names usually end with a 3 :1 ( ie. rthumb 3:1 ) Then I bucket paint them with a flesh tone color, then select a lighter flesh tone color and use the paint brush to paint the nails. Using the brush properties ( shape, size, pressure and flux ) will make painting the nail fairly easy.


With all the body parts with nails ( including toes ) painted go back to composer and unlink the head from the hierarchy. Then to paint the head various parts will need to be mask one at a time then painted. But first the whole head needs to be bucket painted the same flesh tone color used on the fingers and toes ( not the nails ). After painting the whole head I'll start by masking teeth.


Make sure to clean up any mask that may have spilled over to other parts of the head when using some tools.


After masking the teeth I'll invert the mask then bucket paint the teeth white. Then to give them a little extra depth I'll add a medium shade of gray to the edges or in-between each tooth.


Since I'll need to unmask each location as I go it is important that I'm satisfied with each feature before moving on to the next one. With the teeth done I'll unmask the whole head then mask the lips. A few tips for applying mask is to zoom in close and rotate to different positions, look for where the polygons meet ( vertices ) they are key spots and will soak up the mask on the whole polygon. When using the mask on or off brush tool release the mouse button after getting a hard spot, that way the undo command can be used if the mask spills over at the next location you try to get. Also if the mask keeps spilling over try lowering the pressure of the brush.


Then Paint the lips a little darker color then the flesh tone used on all the skin parts.


An easy way to get the view able part of the inside of the mouth is to use the oval mask off tool at the front lower lip area.


Then rotate the head to a side view and use the mask on tool just hitting the front of the lips.


The inside portion will stay unmask while the outside features receive mask.


Then I painted the inside of the mouth a fairly dark reddish color.


With the mouth area complete I do the eye lids and eye brows. Since a transparency map can't be used on just the eye lids I'll smooth them down some after masking them using either the Tools smooth brush or the FX smooth tool. And leave them the flesh tone color like the rest of the head. This will make them less noticeable and make the eyes more visible.


With the eye brows after masking them, I paint them a lighter shade color then what I used for the hair then and a little even lighter color using the paint brush, then use the smooth paint brush on them.


With the head done and all body part which require more that one color unlinked from the hierarchy, the hierarchy can now be flatten into one object and bucket painted the skin tone.


After that the rest of the skin body parts ( head, finger tips and toes ) and eyes can be linked back to the main body, then that hierarchy can be flatten. Now I'll link all the parts together hair, body, shorts and shirt then flatten that hierarchy into one object and name it. There is no need to weld the vertices unless you need the pants shirt and hair welded to the body to do distortion on it. Then to fix the figure so the right and left side are not opposite, use the meshman mirror tool on the figure.


Lastly I will set the material up on the figure, which will only requires to lower the spectral to about 6.000


Now the figure can be saved as an Amorphium 2 export and used in a render.

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