Using the advanced materials tab in Poser

[Pendraia]

I'm starting to look at setting up the mats for Diva in Poser and two minutes in and I'm already stuck. I need a step by step for dummies I'm afraid.

Can anyone tell me how I change a map in the material room advanced section. I can do it in the simple section but I'm going to need to do it in the advanced tab.

Thanks in advance...I'm sure this is the first of many, many questions as I try to work this out.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

If you haven't got a texture map added yet, right click any blank area in the material room workspace:

Click New Node > 2D Textures > image_map
Connect the Diffuse_Color Channel to the Image Map sprocket
Click Image_Source (None) and browse to and select texture file

 

[phdubrov]

A. You already have image node. You click on image source parameter and browse for file.
B. You don't have texture node. Make it (Right click-New node-2d textures-image map) and connect to desired input.

 

[Lissa_xyz]

Also, be sure to set the correct gamma value when you add the maps. Color maps should be 2.2 and black/white should be 1.0.

 

[Pendraia]

Thanks everyone...I was starting by looking at a texture I knew was set up correctly like the Baby Luna one so I could see what sort of bricks I needed and just have a general play before I try and do anything serious. Now I can get an image map up and add a source map to it, see below. What do I do if I have a colour map on a network, how do I change it?
I know how to connect the nodes as that's similar to Shader Mixer. I've tried clicking on the image in a variety of ways but nothing is happening.

 

[Lissa_xyz]

That little icon next to the eyeball, it looks like the standard "minimize" icon on most programs, click that to toggle the image map settings, which will give you access to the image_source property to add/change a map.

-edited to add the minimize and eye icon will work on all nodes, not just image map nodes. Enabling the preview (eye icon) is great to see how a node is affecting the texture.

 

[Pendraia]

Thanks Vaskania...I knew it would be something simple that I was missing. Also can I use normal maps in Poser? And what sort of brick /node do I need?

One more question is there any way to select more than one area at a time so you can do the one map at the same time?

 

[phdubrov]

One more question is there any way to select more than one area at a time so you can do the one map at the same time?

No. Only with scripts.

Normal maps - can, don't remember, but Poser HAS docs IIRC it's gradient bump input on surface node and just image node.

 

[Pendraia]

Next silly question where do I find the docs? Gradient bump input...okay I'll have a look.

Okay...that seems to work.

 

[phdubrov]

Help - Poser reference manual there is Documentation folder in default content folder.

Normal maps on p359 in ch13.

 

[Pendraia]

Thank you...not that I've had much luck reading the documentation for Poser in the past. I have difficulties with the basic stuff, but it's worth a look...

 

[Lissa_xyz]

Unfortunately the scripts that made using poser and content creation less of a hassle were by Netherworks.

 

[Pendraia]

Oh...I have his toybox. I don't suppose they are part of that?

 

[Lissa_xyz]

Matwriter panel I believe was the one you could edit multiple surfaces with. For what it's worth, here's a screen grab of all his scripts I purchased to get poser more user friendly. Not shown, but I also have Semidieu's library pane replacement.

 

[Pendraia]

That's a lot of scripts...looks like I'll be doing it manually this time.

 

[phdubrov]

To close Normal Maps question

To load a Normal Map, from the Material Room > Material Palette, Advanced tab,
connect the Image Node containing a normal map to the Gradient Bump channel on
the Poser Surface Node. The channel value controls how much influence the normal
map has on the surface. Higher values yield more effect, or rougher surfaces, while
lower values yield less effect and smoother surfaces.
You can use Gamma Correction to adjust the amount of surface
influence from the texture. For more information about assigning
gamma correction to an image source, see “Gamma Correction Per
Texture” on page 528.
Next, select the type of normal map from the Gradient_Mode pull-down menu
according to how the normal map was exported from the application it was created
in. Select from the following options.
• Tangent Space Normal Map: Tangent space normal maps have a mostly blue
appearance. The normals in a tangent space map are always considered “up”
even if it is not true in world space.

 

[Pendraia]

Thanks...I will need to have a look at the gradient mode pull down menu. Found it and I'm have a play with it see what it does.

 

[phdubrov]

And about multy-materials editor: there is crazy powerfull Advanced Materials Manager 2 you can work with mats across zones and objects, BUT:
A. It's love or hate type of workflow
B. It's works up to P0ser Pro 2014 (no P11 version, and probably would not be at least soon)
C. It's not cheap

 

[Pendraia]

Looks interesting...thanks for the link. I only really use Poser to do content creation as I don't feel comfortable using it. What I find really frustrating is that stuff I can do inside DS no problems I can't do in Poser...simple things like selecting multiple materials. I'm going to head off and do some reading before going to bed...I'll start again in the morning.

 

[Glitterati3D]

Well, hang on a minute....a couple of things....

If, for instance, you have the same texture painted on all the parts of a piece, there IS an easy way to use the map with a couple clicks.

Let's say we have a pair of Jeans and you've painted all the parts on in Photoshop on the template.

Now, in Poser, we've got Jeans, Waistband, Pockets, etc. materials.

Once you load your first setup in the advanced or simple room, go to the Advanced tab

Then, click on the top of the Poser Materials column, right click, Select ALL, then right click again, and Apply to ALL. Confirm with the OK button.