How to use this Poser power house.
Super Conforming figures can be a bit confusing to use. This tutorial will help you use them to their best advantage.
If you're wondering what all the hoopla is about
check out these videos Dream Dress
and Nimue Dress
Definition:
Super Conforming figures are special conforming
figures that have morph channels that work automatically as the target figure
is posed and morphed. These special morph channels can be linked to a morph on
the target figure, a conforming morph (CM) or the can be linked to joint
movements on the target figure, a Joint Controlled Morph (JCM). As a whole the
technique is called Extended Motion Control (EMC).
We can now develop clothing figures that have
realistic motion dynamics. We can create wrinkles that change as the figure
moves, Dresses that flow as the model walks, and skirts that pose more
realistically.
This guide may seem a bit long winded for something
that is supposed to make life easier. For the majority of users EMC Conforming
figures (Super Conformers) will not require any more effort than standard
figures. If you do encounter troubles, this is the place to start looking for
answers. This guide will also help you get the most out of Super Conforming
Figures.
Limitations:
Super Conforming figures can do lots of things, but
they can not match morphs they don't contain. If you have a cool morph that
you've created, a flexing calf muscle for example. The Super conforming figure
will not automatically match this morph. The Super Conforming Figure must have
the calf muscle morph too. You would need to create that morph and add it to
the conforming figure. Beyond that, the CR2 or Character file for the Super
Conforming figure must be manually edited (hacked) to enable the Conforming
Morph. All this has been done on the morphs included with Nerd3D Super
Conforming figures.
There is a bug in Poser related to the Full Body
Morphs. EMC relies heavily on this feature to work. A scene containing more
than 2 Super Conforming figures will not save properly. There is a work around
for this bug we will cover in the next section. Soon there will be a fix for
this problem, figures will contain special shielding to prevent cross
talk.
Usage:
Now we have the ugly stuff out of the way, the actual
use of a conforming figure is very similar to a standard conforming figure. The
order that you load Super Conforming figures in is very important. If you load
a Super Conforming figure before a target figure is loaded it will cause Poser
to lockup. (It looks for the target figure forever) Follow this sequence for
best results.
- Load the target figure. The target MUST be the
figure the Super Conformer was designed to use.
- Be sure the "hip" or "body" of the intended target
is selected.
- If you are going to rename the target figure do it
now, before loading the Super Conformer.
- Load the Super Conforming Figure.
- From the menu bar select Figure > Conform
To?
- Pick the target figure (e.g. Figure 1) from the
list and then click OK.
If you are loading several target-conformer pairs
repeat this entire process for each pair.
If you are connecting several Super Conformers to one
figure repeat from step 2 for each additional Conformer.
Some Super Conformers, especially skirts, will need
the Inverse Kinematics (IK) on the target figure to be turned off. Click Figure > Use Inverse Kinematics then click all the checks marks off.
The Target and Super Conformer are now locked
together. The morph channels that have been EMC enabled on the Super Conformer
will automatically match changes in the target figure. You can pose the target
figure as you normally would.
If you have more than 2 Super Conforming figures in a
scene it won't save properly in Poser 4. When it is reloaded the 3rd and up
Super Conformers will be locked onto the wrong figure. Don't panic this is easy
to fix. This does not effect Poser 5 and newer.
- Select the Super Conformer that is locked onto the
wrong figure
- Delete that figure. (The clothes not the
model!)
- Select the hip or body of the correct target
figure.
- Load the Super Conforming figure from the
library.
- From the menu bar select Figure > Conform
To?
- Pick the target figure (e.g. Figure 1) from the
list and then click OK.
- Reapply any colors and textures to the Super
Conforming figure.
When you load the Super Conformer it will lock on to
its correct target figure. This is a bug in Poser, probably because we are in
territory they never expected us to find.
Manually Changing EMC Morph
Channels:
Because the movements of the target figure control
Conforming Morphs channels they require extra finesse to adjust manually. Here
are some pointers that may help.
Most EMC morphs have their minimum and maximum values
set relatively low. This is to prevent a Controlled morph from over reacting.
Sometimes you may need to add more of a morph than the designer anticipated. To
do this, double click the dial on the morph channel. In the box that comes up
change the minimum and maximum value to what you anticipate you will need. Take
note that the amount that is applied through EMC does not show on the dial.
Sometimes simply changing the min and max may get your desired effect without
touching the dial.
When you need to reduce the amount a morph is applied
you will need to dial out far more than you would normally. This is because you
need to overcome the amount applied automatically by the EMC control. Sometimes
you will need to adjust the min. and max. settings here too.
Above all, remember you can always spawn a new morph.
That morph will be manual and may be easier to control. When spawning a morph
on an EMC figure, make sure the target figure is "zeroed out" before you spawn
the new morph. Use the Zero Figure button on the Joint editor panel to do this
quickly. If you don't do this you may get unwanted extra effects in the newly
spawned morph.
Tips:
- If you rename a target figure it will break the
connection to the Super Conforming figure. Change the name before you
load the Super Conformer.
- If you replace a figure by double clicking a
figure in the library a Super Conformer will not lock onto it properly (Full
body morphs don?t work either.)
- If you save a Super Conformer to the library when
it is not conformed to any thing it, removes all the special codes that
make it a Super Conformer. In other words, it ruins it.
- If you save a Super Conformer to the library while
it is conformed it inherits the figure name of that it was conformed to
at the time. If you use it after that it will only lock on to figures with that
name.
- You can manually adjust EMC morphs. If you need to
make an adjustment on the conformed figure it will not effect the link between
it and the target figure.
- If you have a figure with Joint Controlled Morphs
(JCM) and the Super Conformer has CM morphs linked to the JCM morphs they will
conform automatically. Example: The target figure has JCM biceps that bulge.
The Super Conformer has Biceps morphs that match and have been setup as CM's.
It will all work automatically. This is very useful in animations.
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