just a little more detail for Fenric's weight map utility?

Diomede

I am trying to use Fenric's weight map conversion utility to get the Poser Pro default figures (Rex and Roxy) converted for use in Carrara. (Poser Pro 2014 into C8.5 Beta, windows 7 operating system). The instructions are in general very good. However, I could use just a little more help in understanding how to handle the problem of the feet being parented to the body. The instructions say to edit the CR2 file. But what specifically do I need to do? What lines need to be edited to correct such a parenting, and how?

one old forum post I found through the search is below but it didn't clear it up.
http://forumarchive.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=186247&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

Fenric

Just like Tyler and Miki4, Rex and Roxie have a very odd thing in their CR2 files: in the "Figure" section, the rFoot and lFoot are children of the BODY node instead of the rShin and lShin. You'll have to fix that manually, it is not something my utility can deal with.

I do not understand why Smith Micro keeps doing that, as it makes no sense at all.

She does work properly if you fix that foot error and make sure that you zero the figure at every step.

Headwax

thanks for the heads up on that Fenric

Diomede

Thanks. And thanks for creating the plugin.

LordGhoul

First off, thanks again to Fenric for the generous weightmap injector!

I have a similar problem with Anastasia1. If anyone knows how to fix these problems it would be much appreciated!

1.The forearm does not bend in the Z rotation axis
2.The pelvis distorts hip, thigh, abdomen when moved or rotated, so I locked it (solved unless there is a better solution)

Everything else looks OK.

I looked at the cr2, but the hand seems to be parented properly. The distortion only occurs in forearm z rotation. Forearm x rotation works fine. Forearm y rotation is constrained to 0.

Thanks for any insight on this!

Fenric

I assume you mean "Girl Next Door: Anastasia" (GNDA) by Blackhearted? She's why I wrote the utilities, and she's a big reason there are two utilities that you have to run. Please re-read the instructions and follow them carefully

- First load Alyson2 and inject Anastasia. It will work best if you have Poser Pro (2012 or 2014) and run "Merge all zones to weightmaps" before continuing.

Save the new figure to your library

Run the "Prepare Poser File" utility on the injected figure. This is a critical step, otherwise it will fail.

Load the prepared file into Carrara, and save that out to an un-zipped CAR.

Run the "Inject Poser Weighting" using the prepared file and the CAR.

*************

Detailed explanation:

Carrara...
is allergic to bones that don't exist.
is allergic to having more than one "otherActor" for ANY given joint.
can't handle Poser 8 style "Capsule" weights

LordGhoul

Fenric,

Thanks for the quick reply.

First, yes I meant “Girl Next Door: Anastasia” (GNDA) by Blackhearted.

After your message, I decided to start again from scratch, so here is what I did:
1. Loaded Alyson2 in Poser2012
2. Applied Anastasia Pose
3. File/Run Python Script... MergeAllZonesToWeights.py

Output message:
Merging waist twisty
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "P:\Ghoul\Batch Files\PoserWeightmapInjector\MergeAllZonesToWeights.py", line 6, in
param.AddZone(poser.kZoneTypeCodeMERGEDWEIGHTMAP)
AttributeError: AddZone

3. Saved the new character (AnastasiaGND)
4. copied the .cr2 (AnastasiaGND.cr2) to a temporary folder
5. Ran PreparePoserFile.exe and used the AnastasiaGND.cr2 as input. Output: AnastasiaGND_converted.cr2

Here is where I must be doing something wrong:

6. started Carrara 8, File/New/Empty Scene
7. File/Import AnastasiaGND_converted.cr2 (import Morph Targets and Import Deformers checked)
8. Deleted light and camera (only character left in scene) and saved scene uncompressed (Doc22.car)
9. Ran Poser Weightmap Injector and used AnastasiaGND_converted.cr2 and Doc22.car as inputs output:Doc22_converted.car
10. Loaded Doc22_converted.car and tested the figure.

The result is identical to my original post. The "pelvis" needs to be locked and the z rotation of the forearms create the same result.
I can live with the pelvis fix, but not being able to bend the forearms is a killer.

FYI Before running the weightmap injector the forearm bends properly (albeit without weightmap deformation).

Hopefully you can tell what I've done wrong as like you, I really wanted to use Anastasia!

Thanks.

Fenric

Lordghoul said:

Output message:
Merging waist twisty
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "P:\Ghoul\Batch Files\PoserWeightmapInjector\MergeAllZonesToWeights.py", line 6, in
param.AddZone(poser.kZoneTypeCodeMERGEDWEIGHTMAP)
AttributeError: AddZone

Ok... this shouldn't happen, and it does not happen for me. Do you have the latest service pack (3.1)? Your Poser version should be 9.0.3.23027

Lordghoul said:

7. File/Import AnastasiaGND_converted.cr2 (import Morph Targets and Import Deformers checked)

This is your problem. You would do best to forget that "File/Import" even exists -- never, ever load anything but a PZ3 this way, and don't expect the things in the PZ3 to work very well. Load Poser figures from the browser, always.

And since you didn't mention it: zero the figure.

8. Deleted light and camera (only character left in scene) and saved scene uncompressed (Doc22.car)

You don't need to do this. Just don't have any other character - the default light and camera are fine.

9. Ran Poser Weightmap Injector and used AnastasiaGND_converted.cr2 and Doc22.car as inputs output:Doc22_converted.car
10. Loaded Doc22_converted.car and tested the figure.

The result is identical to my original post. The "pelvis" needs to be locked and the z rotation of the forearms create the same result.
I can live with the pelvis fix, but not being able to bend the forearms is a killer.

FYI Before running the weightmap injector the forearm bends properly (albeit without weightmap deformation).

Hopefully you can tell what I've done wrong as like you, I really wanted to use Anastasia!

Thanks.

Fenric

Ok, some research:

You don't have Poser updated to at least SR2. There was no weightmap support in Python prior to SP2, so nothing will work properly.

Second, I miss-spoke on an important step: run the "Merge all zones to weights" BEFORE you inject Anastasia.

And zero, zero, zero the figure! At each and every step: in Poser and in Carrara, always zero the figure before you do anything else.

*****

One more thing: the fake "Pelvis" bone doesn't work and can't work in Carrara - just keep it locked.

LordGhoul

Fenric,

Thanks for the answers!

You were right about both problems. I just built the computer I'm using and had not installed the latest Poser service release. I loaded the character from the browser and now the forearm bends properly.

However, I still need to lock the "Pelvis" but I don't see that as a big issue.

On a separate note, I've written a few python scripts to help me and would gladly give back to the community if they are useful to others. They are:

1.Convert Poses to Rotations only - some pose files include translations and other dials that alter the character when all I want is the actual pose. This script strips all but xyz rotations and writes a new pz2 file.

2.Flip Pose - after converting the pz2 I usually run this to create a "mirror" pose for those sets that don't provide them.

3.Random Pose Generator - This script can generate hundreds of poses based on min/max values in an input .csv file. I've used it on various characters (Apollo Max, Antonia, V4...). While most poses are strange, with tweaking you end up with more organic poses. There are no previews, so you need to render and keep the poses you like.

Is the Freepository the best place for something like this?

Thanks again for all the help!