Tutorial:
Poser 4-2-Max

P4 2 Max

Using Poser 4 to produce characters for use in architectural Max renderings.

Although not specifically designed to do so, it is possible to use Poser4 as a generator for static human models to dress up an architectural rendering in Max. There are other programs and plug-ins that are made for this, but if you've got Poser already why not give it a try.

This process may seem complicated at first glance, but like most things, once you get the hang of it you can get pretty efficient at it.

To make things easier in Max later and be able to break out the various parts for texturing, we need to make a few naming convention changes in Poser. We will be importing 3 seperate models into max. The body figure with hair and shoes included, a pair of pants and a shirt. These will all be Exported/Imported as .obj files. You need version 2.2 obj I/O plug-in for Max from Habware

Begin by starting poser, select the figure that appears, hit 'delete' and answer yes to clear the screen. Go to 'Clothing-male' in the  libraries pallete and find Biz Shoe ML. Double click it to insert it into the scene. Under the window, select the second drop down  from the left and hi-lite 'Body Parts' as shown above. You'll notice the shoe has 2 parts, Left Foot and Left Toe. We need to change the names of these parts to avoid having to assign new names for them in Max. Click on 'Left Foot' to select it.

Go to the screen menu at the top and select 'Object' and then 'Properties' as shown above.

Type in a new name for the shoe part by clicking in the name box as above. I use leftbizshoe1 for the left foot part and leftbizshoe2 for the left toe part. Of course, click OK to exit the box

After you've re-named both parts you'll get a display such as that above. This makes it easy to find the parts later when imported to Max.

Click on the leftmost drop down under the screen (where it says Figure 1) and select it. Change the name of the entire figure to read 'Left Biz Shoe' or something similar. This just makes it easier to work with in Poser.

Once you've renamed the parts, you can save the shoe so you don't have to do this again. Simply pick the sub-catagory list as shown above and pick the library where you'd like to store the newly re-named part (shown above in 'New Figures). As an alternative, you can click 'Add New Catagory' and make a new library for your re-named parts such as 'Poser2Max' or whatever.

Once you've chosen your library, click on the Plus sign (shown above) to add the shoe to your library.

With the shoe you've just re-named still selected, hit delete to clear the screen and choose the right Biz shoe and perform the same  operations using 'Rightbizshoe1' and 'Rightbizshoe2' as names. Also rename the figure to 'RightBizShoe' and save to the same library you saved the left one to. When done, delete the right shoe also and get back to a clear screen.

With the screen cleared, Select the nude P4 man from the figures library and insert him. Before doing anything else, select a hair style from the hair library and double click to insert it. Once the hair is inserted, go to prop-properties-and parent the hair to the head by clicking 'Set Parent' as shown above and then............

......select 'Head' by clicking on the word 'head'. It will turn white to indicate it's selected. Click OK to exit.

Once the hair is parented, you can pose the figure. Pose before doing any other operations such as shoes and clothes.

Here's our boy with his hair parented and posed in a walking stance.

Go to the library that you saved the renamed shoes in and select one (right one shown above). Insert it with the 'DOUBLE CHECK MARKS' at the bottom of the library window. This is important, we want to 'Add A Figure' not replace a figure. The shoe will come in centered in the world. With the shoe still selected, go to the screen menu at the top and select 'FIGURE-CONFORM TO....'

The above box will come up, select 'FIGURE 1' to conform the shoe to the foot. It knows which foot and is totally automatic. OK to exit.

Here's our boy with one shoe on. Note how it now fits the foot. Do the same process with the other shoe, inserting using the double check marks and then conforming to 'Figure 1'. You can now also insert the Slacks and Shirt. Remember to use the double check marks!

Previously I had renamed the parts of these items also, but it is rather redundant later on. The shoes are the only components that I've found that need to be renamed.

Here's junior with his clothes, shoes and hair on, posed up and ready to go to the office.

To export, go to the screen menu-FILE-EXPORT-WAVEFRONT OBJ. Answer single frame to the box that comes up.

New to Poser 4 is the hierarchy list as shown above. The first model to export is the figure with hair and shoes.

Uncheck 'Ground' as shown above. Scroll down and you'll see.......

......the continuation of the hierarchy list. UNCHECK dressshirt1 and menslack so the shirt and pants are not exported. Your file name may differ depending on what you called them. Click OK to export the base model.

Go through the file export process again, this time UNCHECK 'Ground' and 'Figure 1' as shown below.

Scrolling down, uncheck the right shoe, the left shoe and the pants, we only want to export the shirt.

Again, your file name may vary......Make sure you have the shirt checked as below.

Do the same process for the pants, unchecking everything except for the pants and then export them also.

Open up Max and import the base figure model. Make sure that 'as multiple objects' is checked.

The figure will come in like this.....

Go to the select objects list and pick the hair as shown above. Apply texture to it with the material editor.

After putting material on the hair, pop up the select objects list again and pick the parts of your right shoe as shown above. You see know why it's handy to rename them in poser.

Group the shoe parts and apply a material to them. Do the same with the left shoe parts, selecting, grouping and texturing.

Select the remaining parts (everything except the hair and 2 shoes).

Open the material editor and select a slot. Pick maps at the bottom of the window and select diffuse as shown. Click bitmap on the material browser.

Browse to the location of the poser 4 textures files under the directory you installed poser into.

Pick 'P4 man texture.TIF'.

Apply the texture and here's what you get.

With out moving or scaling anything, import the pants model. Don't ask me why but I couldn't get this to work if I imported the shirt first! Go figure ;) Make sure you select 'as single object' this time. Once imported, select the pants and apply a material. Then import the shirt the same way as a single object and apply material to it.

Once again, our boy is dressed up and ready to go to work.

Depending on the model you used in poser and the type of clothes you've applied, you can probably lessen file size by selecting and deleting the body parts that are covered up. This is also how to clean up spots where the clothing doesn't quite cover up the flesh.

When you're done deleting, select the whole model and group it together.

By default poser exports obj's very, very tiny and in the wrong orientation for Max. Select the completed model and in the left viewport, rotate around the Z axis 90 degrees as shown.

While the model is still selected, scale the model up 9000% !!! Told you it was tiny.

This will place the figures height at around 5'10". To check it construct a box the desired height and compare.

That's it. Save your file with a unique name for later merging into your scenes.

Make up a bunch with various poses and clothes and your ready to populate.

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