How to handle SmartProp parenting between multiple props?

[Ken1171]

I have a prop that has SmartProps attached to it. But what happens when I have more than 1 copy of the prop on the scene? The SmartProp will always attach itself to the first copy, and ignore all the others. What if I want to attach the SmartProp to the 2nd or 3rd copies of the prop? When I drag a new SmartProp into the scene, Poser ignores which prop I am dropping it over, and attach the SmartProp to the first copy no matter what.

Is there a way around this?

 

[quietrob]

Perhaps parent the new Smart Prop to a Universal Null (A Primitive object saved as a CR2. The null will still retain control of the smart object, won't render and also makes camera use easier. It's what I use for large smart propped scenes when I have to install my own cameras.

 

[Ken1171]

Thank you for the suggestion, Rob! I wonder if that means there is no way around this when it comes to SmartParenting when there are multiple instances of the same prop on stage? Figures have protection mechanism against this, but what about SmartProps?

 

[StudioMartillo]

A smart prop.
What?
I'm thinking that for a prop to be a smart prop,
it must have gotten saved to the prop library as a smart prop.
But what makes it so smart? Why isn't it just a regular ole' stupid prop?
Probably 'cause it knows something. Which can actually be dangerous.
Do we want props knowing things? That could get outa' hand.
Maybe what it knows is who it's parent is supposed to be.
But, could be what the problem is, that it 'knows' it's parent by name.
And as you can see, when you copy something, it has almost the same name,
only not exactly because the name gets an enumeration, a number appended to the name.
So what might work is either don't save the prop as a 'smart prop' or,
just drop it in the scene, or double click on it in the library which should
add it to the scene, and then with the prop selected click the Object>Change Parent
command in the menus and set the new parent to the specific actor in the scene
which you want for it.
Worth a try anyway. It seems like if you want a number of different parents for
any particular prop, then either you need to make a whole bunch of smart props
in the library, which could be really really dangerous (too many smart things)
OR just make stupid props.
Another difficulty that can occur is that poser doesn't always enumerate things the same.
And then all your 'smart props' would be like a nest of mad hornets.
Not a happy situation.

 

[Ken1171]

So what might work is either don't save the prop as a 'smart prop' or,
just drop it in the scene, or double click on it in the library which should
add it to the scene, and then with the prop selected click the Object>Change Parent
command in the menus and set the new parent to the specific actor in the scene
which you want for it.

The idea is an empty dog bowl prop, and inside we can add either food or water. Each of the fillers are SmartProps that attach to the bowl when loaded. The problem is that the filler props only attach themselves to the first bowl added to the scene. If we want the water to be attached to the other bowl, we have to add it to the first bowl and then change parent, and then reset the prop.

A similar situation would be to parent a sword prop to Dawn's hand, and then add another dawn and parent another copy of the sword to the 2nd Dawn's hand. This works with figures, but apparently not with props?

 

[StudioMartillo]

Well, there you go huh?

When a SmartProp is parented to Dawn's right hand, the name of the parent is probably 'rHand'
That's a kind of convention with Poser.
But whatever the name of the body part, when you make a copy it's Dawn that get's enumerated.
Like Dawn, Dawn_1 etc.
But the right hand is still 'rHand' so the parent still has the correct name.

Now, with the DogBowl you would have something like DogBowl, DogBowl_1
so only the first DogBowl has the correct parent name.
See how that works?

SmartParenting is a different concept, so like, when you add a Sword to Dawn,
it get's attached to her right hand, and not her elbow.
It's too hard to sword fight with your sword attached to your elbow.
You're almost always gonna loose and that would be bad.

How do you get the filler props to be SmartProps anyway?
The version of Poser I use won't let me do that.

 

[Ken1171]

How do you get the filler props to be SmartProps anyway?
The version of Poser I use won't let me do that.

Well, it's not that they can't be SmartProps, but instead that they won't parent to the parts I want.

I wonder how do other CAs handle this?

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I include an option to load the prop with the additional props intended to be parented to the main prop.

So for example, the !Preload FE Chest loads the Fen End Chest, Fen End Chest Lid, Fen End Folded Blanket, and Fen End Pillow together.

Click the Preload a second time, a second set is loaded with the parented props correctly parented to the second copy of the chest.

I do this for the convenience of the customer, but it also avoids the problem where loading the parented props separately end up with them parented to the first copy of the chest.

In this case, if the Folded Blanket and Pillow are loaded separately, they are parented to the Fen End Hut, not the Chest. Because, maybe someone wants the folded blanket and pillow sitting on the floor beside the chest, as if one were putting them away in the chest or pulling them out. But, if I had specified the folded blanket and chest were parented to the chest, they would load parented to the first chest, rather than a second or third chest.

I manually create the preload file by copying and pasting the code from each prop pp2 into the preload pp2 file. When I do that, I change the SmartParent to the FenEndChest.

The !Preload FE Chest pp2 file then looks like this:

... bunch of code

... bunch of code

... bunch of code

... bunch of code

 

[StudioMartillo]

Click the Preload a second time, a second set is loaded with the parented props correctly parented to the second copy of the chest.

Now that's cool.
No doubt you had to figure that out.
You have a lot of patience.
If I wanted to make a prop smartparented to a prop then it would be necessary to add that smartparent line with the code editor.

Would n't do it that way though.
Being 'modeling' oriented I would just make different props with or without contents if there were just a few items to be used as fillers.
Pretty easy to do once each prop has been created, by just adding them together in the modeling tool.
Then save them with different names and export the obj.
Same kind of process in Poser.
Once the materials have been done for each separate prop, then when the combined props are imported the mats can be applied from the library and the composite prop saved as a new prop.

The dog bowls would be a good candidate for separate objects because they are very simple geometries.
A water bowl and a food bowl.
That way they can be color coded so the dog can tell which is which.
Like a red bowl for food, and a blue bowl for water.
It's always good to keep the welfare of our animals in mind.

A good code editor is a valuable tool.
Some text editing apps won't handle code properly and it gets corrupted.
So be sure and use an editor that can.
The add actor section could be a little tricky.
Gotta pay close attention to that part.

What code editor do you use Satira? That info would also be helpful.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I use Notepad ++.

Netherworks provided a Poser Language file for Notepad ++ which helps a lot in working with the Poser files as it gives you syntax highlighting and code folding.

 

[Ken1171]

Click the Preload a second time, a second set is loaded with the parented props correctly parented to the second copy of the chest.

Oh my.... Why didn't I think of that - PRELOADS! Haha

Thank you! I will do that! ^_____^

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Welcome!

 

[Ken1171]

The best solutions are usually the simplest! ^____^

 

[Satira Capriccio]

That they are!

 

[Dawn]

If it is only a couple of options on the contents, I would have put all the meshes together and made 0ne prop with separate mat zones so you can hide one with make the other invisible and visa versa.

 

[StudioMartillo]

I'm still using PP2014 and in that version it's possible to make props with any number of geometries.
So another approach could be to import the separate geometries for what ever combination desired,
set standard parenting and make a new prop including the parts needed.
With the obj files stripped and referenced each prop comes out as compact as the code edit method, or more so.
And just as easy for the end user.

 

[Dawn]

There are probably a lot of ways to go with this, as SM stated, you could do a prop group and save that for each option, or could do as I said, but instead of mat options, do a morph to shrink the desired part and move it to inside the bowl, then do the dialing so that the increments are 1 and have the limits between 0 and 1. that way the dial will ping the contents into obscurity. I've seen it done hair props and the fringe disappears, or as they put it 'HIDE'

 

[Ken1171]

The advantage of simply saving combined props to the library is that they require no changes, all material presets still work, and the props can still be detached if the user desires to do that. All of that can be done in any Poser version, so it's the simplest and most elegant solution for the issue.

 

[StudioMartillo]

Here's some examples of how this compound prop stuff is working in PP2014.
Dug out some old geometries from my archives. Stuff goes back to Aiko3 days.
Just imported two obj geometries to the scene.
Then the Big Pillow is parented to the Blankets, and there's a Magnet applied to the big pillow with the Master Parameter named 'ScrunchPillow'.
Add a new prop to the library by clicking the '+' sign and select all the stuff in the group.
The prop could be named '!Preload-something I suppose. Don't know what that means really, but it turns out almost identical to the editing method.
Lot easier.
Can't this still be done in PP11?
Anyway, as Dawn said, if you want the pillow gone, deselect it's 'visible' parameter. Or the blankets too.

Same kind if thing could be done with the Dogbowl and Food.
A magnet could be added to the food so that it could be scrunched down and look half eaten, or the food could be made invisible so the bowl looks empty.
Easy to do, and easy to use.

 

[Ken1171]

Can't this still be done in PP11?

This can be done in any Poser version as far as I know. For example, all of DAZ Mil4 figures (V4, M4, A4, etc) were rigged with magnets to handle deformations as means to replace JCMs. A lot of people who use V4 may not even know what a magnet is, but she is loaded with plenty of them.