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Copy Morphs with Python?

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
It doesn't look like SMS was catering for content creators as the primary user. Every time I talked to SMS about adding or improving content creation tools on the Pro version. they end up telling me this part has low priority because most people don't use them. When we look at the update logs, they concentrate on what people use the most, definitely not the dev tools. I have no doubt that the majority of Poser users have never touched even half of the tabs beyond Pose and Materials.

SMS' lack of communication with the community has always been like this, even more with the previous owners. The only exception was when Chuck Taylor was the product manager. Most of the recent progress was done in that short period, where we had multiple updates and webinars involving the community. Seems like that was Chuck, and not SMS. Once he was gone, so was all the progress and open communication.

To some of those who read this, it may seem like we are detracting from the subject - but not really. The fact that I have tried to make it easier for conforming clothing to fit my body morphs - and failed - is a red flag. Up above I was mentioning the series of poor SMS decisions that led to how Poser is now, both in features and pricing. This communication gap has led to the current demise. If SMS (or the dev team) cannot see that copying morphs from the figure to make them follow the figure's morph is "essential", I see a problem there. I couldn't make this easier for my customers because the feature is not available in the Poser Python API, remaining confined to the Poser Pro version only.

When I started this thread, I didn't believe I wouldn't be able to compensate with a Python script. I thought I was just not finding out how to do it, and that someone else could point me to the right direction. I have asked at the SMS forums, and looks like there is no way around it. SMS has told me this is how it was designed to be. That brings me back to the poor decisions. Only someone who has probably never used Poser could think this was a good idea.
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Beach girl using Body Type-1 (+Dawn body morphs), and outfit by me. The hat is from my "Laced Sundress". Rendered in Poser with Superfly.

BeachGirl_1024.jpg
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Thanks, Miss B! I wrote a Python script to apply it as an overlay over any texture across the entire body. Still experimental, but it saves me a lot of work. ^^
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Thanks, Miss B! I wrote a Python script to apply it as an overlay over any texture across the entire body. Still experimental, but it saves me a lot of work. ^^
Well I hope if you get it "finished", you'll be adding it to your store. ;)
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
@Miss B I've also made another script that creates composite figures using Dawn/Dusk with my universal heads (Anime and Chibi) with a single click. It positions and attaches the head, and then matches the full body materials to the head in 1-step. Whatever material is applied to the universal head's face gets transferred to the body, which can save time. It uses plain text file profiles that people can customize to support other heads and figures. I wonder if people would like that?
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Well, I'm not into doing anime renders, but a good many folks are, so it's possible they may very well want a script such as you describe to make things easier.
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
@Miss B Well, you can attach any head on any body. It doesn't have to be Anime style. For example, today I tried something different, like putting V4's head on Dawn's body, and this is what came up. Used "Body Type-3", "Narrow Shoulders", and the "Mai Tai" dress I bought at Rosity. The rest of the outfit is from my "Diamond Dress". Rendered in Poser with Superfly.

Nightlife_1024.jpg
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Interesting for sure. I've never tried mixing characters, but looks like it wouldn't be that hard to do.
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
I've learned about composite figures from a book called "Poser 4 Handbook" by R. Shamms Mortier (2000). I have never used Poser 4 because it was too buggy, but all of it could be applied in Poser 3. I couldn't stop mixing figures ever since. It's not just heads - you can replace a hand, arms, legs, or even the torso with props or another figure. The process is simple. The challenge is on matching materials and making the seams less visible.
 

glennf

Eager
I've learned about composite figures from a book called "Poser 4 Handbook" by R. Shamms Mortier (2000). I have never used Poser 4 because it was too buggy, but all of it could be applied in Poser 3. I couldn't stop mixing figures ever since. It's not just heads - you can replace a hand, arms, legs, or even the torso with props or another figure. The process is simple. The challenge is on matching materials and making the seams less visible.
Is their an tutorial on how to do this somewhere? I have poser 10.
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Is their an tutorial on how to do this somewhere? I have poser 10.

I wrote a 10 pages PDF tutorial that ships with my 2 universal heads, covering all aspects of "composite" figures, and explains why I consider it a better approach than "hybrid" figures. It works in Poser and DS, using only the available in-house tools.

I have also created a fully automated Poser Python script that sets up a composite figure, including positioning, scaling, and matching the body/head materials with a single click. All we have to do is load the body and head, load the script, choose the proper profile, and click a button. Custom profiles can be quickly created to handle different bodies and heads by editing a file that contains a single line of plain text. Although my universal heads work in Poser and DS, the Python script is Poser-only. I still don't know if people would be interested in this script. I could put it in my store if enough people wanted it.

The process itself is very simple. If you know how to drag and drop, you can make a composite figure.
 

Dreamer

Dream Weaver Designs
Could be very handy, I am currently in a bit of a standoff with poser python scripting. I know what I want to do is doable but I suck big time at coding.GAH
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Could be very handy, I am currently in a bit of a standoff with poser python scripting. I know what I want to do is doable but I suck big time at coding.GAH

I know what you mean. It took me a while to get used to Python, and eventually I managed to do what I wanted, like for example, add/remove an overlay to an existing material over the entire figure. This is a lot of work, and needed some automation. :)
 

Dreamer

Dream Weaver Designs
I know what you mean. It took me a while to get used to Python, and eventually I managed to do what I wanted, like for example, add/remove an overlay to an existing material over the entire figure. This is a lot of work, and needed some automation. :)
OMG That is what I am trying to do and failing badly at! Glad to see I am not the only nut-job betting my head on this one ;)
 
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