Strange happenings in Poser 11

[Hornet3d]

I am having a problem with a product I have recently purchased but not from Hivewire. I am dealing with the relevant support team who are trying to help but I do not understand how what is happening is possible. I wonder if any of the Poser buffs here can explain how something like this can happen. I am not expecting a fix just a possible explanation of something that baffles me.

The product has a number of figures and all load and render as expected, with one exception. When this particular part is loaded it appears in the preview but has a strange colored glow when lit with white light. What baffles me is that the figure is not added to the figures list and therefore cannot be selected. It does not appear in the scene when rendered. It is however listed in the hierarchy with all it's parts but clicking on any part causes Poser to crash.

Can any one throw any light, sorry about the pun, on how something can appear in the preview but in almost all other aspects just not be there.

 

[Miss B]

Glow sounds like it's Ambient settings are too high in the Material Room, but if Poser crashes when you select any part of it in the Hierarchy Chart, I wouldn't mess with it.

As far as the support team of the site where you purchased it goes, they may or may not be able to help you, but if I were you, I'd try contacting the vendor directly, as something may have been accidentally added when the Runtime zip was created, and shouldn't be there at all. The vendor may not even realize s/he had done so, and the store files will need to be fixed and re-uploaded to that store.

 

[Glitterati3D]

I am having a problem with a product I have recently purchased but not from Hivewire. I am dealing with the relevant support team who are trying to help but I do not understand how what is happening is possible. I wonder if any of the Poser buffs here can explain how something like this can happen. I am not expecting a fix just a possible explanation of something that baffles me.

The product has a number of figures and all load and render as expected, with one exception. When this particular part is loaded it appears in the preview but has a strange colored glow when lit with white light. What baffles me is that the figure is not added to the figures list and therefore cannot be selected. It does not appear in the scene when rendered. It is however listed in the hierarchy with all it's parts but clicking on any part causes Poser to crash.

Can any one throw any light, sorry about the pun, on how something can appear in the preview but in almost all other aspects just not be there.

Well, the disappearing act could be because the normals are flipped. You can test that by loading just that item, call up the Group Editor, choose all and then on the menu choose Flip Normals. Do a render and see if the object "appears" then. If so, normals are flipped and your settings probably have Preview (in Render Settings) Remove Backfacing polys checked.

 

[Hornet3d]

Glow sounds like it's Ambient settings are too high in the Material Room, but if Poser crashes when you select any part of it in the Hierarchy Chart, I wouldn't mess with it.

As far as the support team of the site where you purchased it goes, they may or may not be able to help you, but if I were you, I'd try contacting the vendor directly, as something may have been accidentally added when the Runtime zip was created, and shouldn't be there at all. The vendor may not even realize s/he had done so, and the store files will need to be fixed and re-uploaded to that store.

Thank you for taking the time to reply, you could be right about the ambient but there is no way of checking as it is not 'seen' in the material room. If I click around it with the selection tool it selects background as you would expect if I click on the figure it selects part of another figure. It would seem then that the selection tool knows there is something in front of the background but cannot identify what.

I am not going to play with it but I am intrigue on how it can seem to be in two states at the same time by which I mean it is there in the preview and Hierarchy but nowhere else.

The reason I raised a ticket to the site support is because I want them to know there is a problem before too many others buy it.

 

[Hornet3d]

Well, the disappearing act could be because the normals are flipped. You can test that by loading just that item, call up the Group Editor, choose all and then on the menu choose Flip Normals. Do a render and see if the object "appears" then. If so, normals are flipped and your settings probably have Preview (in Render Settings) Remove Backfacing polys checked.

Thank you for the suggestion, I tired that but nothing renders. It will show in a preview or sketch render but not otherwise.

 

[Hornet3d]

OK so after a little more playing I found I can import the object from the geometries folder and it will load as a prop with all the different material parts. If however I try another scene and load the figure and then list scene inventory neither the textures or the figure object is called. That sort of explains why it is not listed as a figure but not why it is shown in the hierarchy.

 

[ockham]

When an item is "there and not there", sometimes it's a matter of misnaming in the CR2 file. Poser has several different lists of parts in the CR2 and in the OBJ file. If the part is named, say, LeftArm in one list and Left_Arm in another, Poser gets confused.

In any case, it's up to the vendor to fix all of these problems. It shouldn't be your problem!

 

[Deleted member 325]

ockham has hit one of the big causes, but no the only cause - though ultimately this means there is an error in the CR2 somewhere. It could be a range of causes, including naming issues of parts, missing bracket(s), a bad syntax line (poser is very specific about case and spelling of certain commands, and sometimes naming a figure element too close to one of these will cause issues), bad file references. I have run into cases of all of these causing the exact behavior you mention. When I used to code ERC I more than once made a syntax error or had either one too few or one too many brackets which would take a previously working figure and turn it into what you describe (I did my editing by hand in Notepad...so it was often a nightmare to track down the cause...then I discovered Notepad++).

With a little help, you should be able to load a CR2 into Notepad++ and quickly determine if it is a syntax or bracket issues. A few trial talk throughs by someone with a file you can both share would give you a quick primar on what you would be looking at/for in the CR2 in question. That is, if you decided you wanted to have a go at it.

 

[Hornet3d]

When an item is "there and not there", sometimes it's a matter of misnaming in the CR2 file. Poser has several different lists of parts in the CR2 and in the OBJ file. If the part is named, say, LeftArm in one list and Left_Arm in another, Poser gets confused.

In any case, it's up to the vendor to fix all of these problems. It shouldn't be your problem!

ockham has hit one of the big causes, but no the only cause - though ultimately this means there is an error in the CR2 somewhere. It could be a range of causes, including naming issues of parts, missing bracket(s), a bad syntax line (poser is very specific about case and spelling of certain commands, and sometimes naming a figure element too close to one of these will cause issues), bad file references. I have run into cases of all of these causing the exact behavior you mention. When I used to code ERC I more than once made a syntax error or had either one too few or one too many brackets which would take a previously working figure and turn it into what you describe (I did my editing by hand in Notepad...so it was often a nightmare to track down the cause...then I discovered Notepad++).

With a little help, you should be able to load a CR2 into Notepad++ and quickly determine if it is a syntax or bracket issues. A few trial talk throughs by someone with a file you can both share would give you a quick primar on what you would be looking at/for in the CR2 in question. That is, if you decided you wanted to have a go at it.

Thank you both for taking the time to suggest possible causes and fixes. As the tech support as now gone silent on me it looks like it is down to me although I will see if I can contact the vendor as well as the product is still on sale and I doubt I will be alone. I will look at the CR2 and see if anything jumps out but I am now well versed on CR2 so the other option I have is to import it as a prop and then reassign all the materials and re save the item. I think the biggest annoyance is this is multi part figure and all the rest well and is of a great quality, of course the problem part has to be the main part that everything else connects to and thus the whole product is trashed as it stands.

Thank again for all the help, if I do find the cause I will come back with the fix.

 

[Semicharm]

Definitely sounds like a corrupt file. I'm assuming you've tried downloading the zip again? Even with checksums to catch corrupt files in zips, some occasionally slip through undetected. Otherwise, the vendor likely made a mistake somewhere. Good luck!

 

[Hornet3d]

Definitely sounds like a corrupt file. I'm assuming you've tried downloading the zip again? Even with checksums to catch corrupt files in zips, some occasionally slip through undetected. Otherwise, the vendor likely made a mistake somewhere. Good luck!

Thank you for responding and I did try a downloading the the files again before I contacted the tech support. Tech support actually replied that there were two versions of the an original and updated version and that I only needed the updated version, in fact the old version had been removed. So I downloaded the updated version, deleted the original folders from the runtime and installed only the updated version, unfortunately the problem still exists. As a final attempt I downloaded the update version yet again and this time installed it into a different runtime after removing it from the other runtime but the problem remains.

It is a shame as it is a very good scene but quite honestly I use Poser to try and relax and my days of bug fixing computers and programs are behind me so I think I am going to wave a white flag on this. I am thankful for or the help though as I at least I have some idea of how this strange occurrence might happen. One final point is that, despite being the largest figure in the scene Poser loads it very quickly which tens to suggest is is dropping out of the CR2 early.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to give advice and I will try and look through the CR2 at some point but it will have to be a work in progress for me for a while.

 

[Deleted member 325]

I have most commonly run into this with a Bracket out of place, and have found Notepad++ invaluable at finding and fixing those. I understand now there is also a Poser language plugin for it that will help fix syntax.

Recently, when pondering doing more involved content development, I picked up a number of tools to analyze and help troubleshoot Poser files. I would hope Tech support wherever you purchased the item from would have such tools, but I have found that is not always the case. If it was not a Daz3D purchase there is a chance it may be an item I have or is in my lists somewhere if you want to shoot me a PM with the name of the item if I can I will help see what the issue is. I have a lot of Poser content.

 

[Hornet3d]

I have most commonly run into this with a Bracket out of place, and have found Notepad++ invaluable at finding and fixing those. I understand now there is also a Poser language plugin for it that will help fix syntax.

Recently, when pondering doing more involved content development, I picked up a number of tools to analyze and help troubleshoot Poser files. I would hope Tech support wherever you purchased the item from would have such tools, but I have found that is not always the case. If it was not a Daz3D purchase there is a chance it may be an item I have or is in my lists somewhere if you want to shoot me a PM with the name of the item if I can I will help see what the issue is. I have a lot of Poser content.

WAHOO, I have a fix.

Thank you for the offer, I was going to take you up on it but I thought I should at least try myself before I had someone work on my behalf. I loaded the CR2 into Notepad++ as advised and started to have a look. As the figure aborted very early on when loading I was hoping any problem was also very early on and luckily it was. I was getting very confused with the nested brackets but at one point there are two brackets with nothing in between. I deleted the second bracket and saved the file thinking it cannot be this easy, low and behold it now adds to the scene and renders as expected.

Thank you so much for all of you here that responded with suggestions I am truly grateful, not only do I have a fix but I have a better knowledge of what to look for if it happens again. I am left with the question is how this passed the checks before launch, the mistake is clearly very easy to make but it does not take a lot of testing to find there is a problem, still I am a happy bunny so I won't ponder on it.

I have advised tech support of the problem and where the rouge bracket is so even if someone buys it and has the problem tech support should be able to rectify it easily.

 

[Semicharm]

Glad to hear it worked out. I've had to fix more than my share of glitches and mistakes, mostly due to older content with sloppy file references. As for text editors, Notepad++ has an invaluable toolset. Netherworks has a Poser language file for it too. Not as good a real editor app, but the keyword highlighting helps with readability.

Notepad++ Poser Language File

 

[Hornet3d]

Glad to hear it worked out. I've had to fix more than my share of glitches and mistakes, mostly due to older content with sloppy file references. As for text editors, Notepad++ has an invaluable toolset. Netherworks has a Poser language file for it too. Not as good a real editor app, but the keyword highlighting helps with readability.

Notepad++ Poser Language File

Thanks, it felt good to have fixed it. Thank you for the link.

 

[Deleted member 325]

Glad to hear you fixed it. Yes, the neste3d brackets can be a bit confusing if you are not sure what you are looking at - but once you get a base feel for the structure and syntax of a Poser file, those nested brackets are a godsend because it get's easy to say "wait that top one shouldn't close here, it should close much further on." for example.

I had a feeling it might have been a bracket out of place. I have accidentally done that so many times when injection ERC code into a CR2 (and by injecting I mean typing by hand). It's now one of the first things I check on a bad file, whether I have worked on it or not.

 

[Hornet3d]

Glad to hear you fixed it. Yes, the neste3d brackets can be a bit confusing if you are not sure what you are looking at - but once you get a base feel for the structure and syntax of a Poser file, those nested brackets are a godsend because it get's easy to say "wait that top one shouldn't close here, it should close much further on." for example.

I had a feeling it might have been a bracket out of place. I have accidentally done that so many times when injection ERC code into a CR2 (and by injecting I mean typing by hand). It's now one of the first things I check on a bad file, whether I have worked on it or not.

Reading it was bad enough, having to write it must be a nightmare and it must be so easy to make a mistake. Thank you so much for the help and guidance.

 

[Deleted member 325]

Reading it was bad enough, having to write it must be a nightmare and it must be so easy to make a mistake. Thank you so much for the help and guidance.

It is, especially when you are prone to typos as I am. I am always hitting extra keys or the wrong key...or my fingers get ahead of my brain.

 

[Miss B]

I'm just the opposite Kage. My brain gets ahead of my fingers, so I'm 2 words ahead of what I've typed, and I type fast, so I either lose some letters to a word or two, or I lose the words altogether. ~LOL~