Making MAT Poses (Quick Method)

Even though it may seem like making MAT poses is old hat to many people, here is a tutorial on how to make MAT poses, quickly and easily from an existing cr2 (figure file). How do we do it? Every cr2 file contains material information in it. So, we're going to remove the non-material information, change the file from a cr2 to a pz2 and, then, presto!, it's a MAT pose.

As a side note: using this method will result in creating MAT poses that are "optimized": they may start at the Runtime folder (or at the specific texture folder) and include a ":" in the references, as in "Runtime:Textures:vicky:body.jpg".
This is the generally-accepted, correct method for referencing texture files, rather than the incorrect method of starting at c:\Program Files and using backslash character, "\", as in "c:\Program Files\ e-frontier\ Poser\ Runtime\ Textures\ Vicky\ body.jpg" (Or, even worse, using a reference to a folder on a user's own D or E drive, as in "e:\graphics\ temp\ texs for models\ del later\ body.jpg".)

Applications used:

 Poser (any version)
 NotePad, WordPad, or any text editor

1. Open Poser.
 Add the figure to the scene. It can be any figure.
 Change the material settings to your liking: change the colors, add texture maps, add transparency maps, add reflection and bump maps, etc.
 When you are done, add the figure back to your Library, by clicking on the "Add to Library" (the button). Be sure to give it a new name... and remember where you added it.

2. Finding and opening the file.
 Open Windows Explorer and go to the folder you just saved the figure to: Poser\Runtime\Libraries\character\(folder)
 Find the figure that you just added.
 Open the cr2 in a text editor.
For more information on how to open Poser files in a text editor, follow the steps on the General Tips & Information page, under Opening Files in a Text Editor.

3. Editing the file.
 First, let's change the "hard path" to a "relative path": we'll replace the full "c:\program files\e-frontier\Poser 4\Runtime\Textures\folder" to ":Runtime:Textures:folder".
 The seventh line of the file should say "figureResFile": if it says ":Runtime:Geometries:...", then you don't need to do a search and replace and you can skip to section 3.2, below.
 3.1 We'll replace the "c:\program files\e-frontier\Poser\..." in this line since we can see it on the screen. Not to worry, though, by running a "Replace All", we'll also change the lines that reference the textures.
    First, highlight the text, starting from "c:\" and ending with the slash just before "Runtime".
    Copy this to the clipboard: hit Ctrl+C.
    Go to Edit > Replace (or hit Ctrl+H).
    In the "Find what" box, paste the text you just copied: hit Ctrl+V.
    In the "Replace with" box, type in a colon ":" (without the quotes).
    Click the Replace All button. Your file should look similar to the example, below:

{

version
	{
	number 4
	}
figureResFile c:\Program Files\e-frontier\Poser 4\Runtime\Geometries\VP\veepster.obj
actor BODY:1
	{

	}

{

version
	{
	number 4
	}
figureResFile :Runtime\Geometries\VP\veepster.obj
actor BODY:1
	{

	}

    Next, we'll replace the slash "\" with the colon ":".
    In the "Find what" box, type "\" (without the quotes).
    In the "Replace with" box, type in a colon ":" (without the quotes); this should still be in the "Replace with" box.
    Click the Replace All button. Your file should look like the example, below:

{

version
	{
	number 4
	}
figureResFile :Runtime\Geometries\VP\veepster.obj
actor BODY:1
	{

	}

{

version
	{
	number 4
	}
figureResFile :Runtime:Geometries:VP:veepster.obj
actor BODY:1
	{

	}

 3.2 Scroll down to the very bottom of the file or press Ctrl+End.
 Delete the lines that start with "displayMode", "locked", and "setGeomHandlerOffset" (see Example 1). The last three lines should now be three brackets: the } character (see Example 2).

		...
		}
	displayMode USEPARENT (delete)
	locked 0 (delete)
	}
	setGeomHandlerOffset 0 0.3487 0 (delete)
}

		...
		}
	}
}

 3.3 Scroll up to the very first line that starts with "material" (press the Page Up key). The first material will be located below the lines starting with "canonType" and "conforming" (see Example 3).
 Highlight the line starting with "conforming" and go to the very top: Hold down the Shift key and press Ctrl+Home. Then, press the Delete key (see Example 4).

	...
	figureType 1318 
	origFigureType 1318 
	canonType 8 
	conforming 0 (delete this line and everything above)
	material Paint
	...

	material Paint
	...

 3.4 Add the "version" and "figure" lines before the first "material" line. Your file should look like Example 6.
Hint: You can highlight the lines in Example 6, copy, and paste into your file. If the text editor complains that it's in a different style, ignore it- the file is text-only, so formatting and style doesn't matter.

	material Paint
	...

{

version
	{
	number 4.01
	}
figure
{
	material Paint
	...

 Save and close the file.

4. Making the MAT pose.
 Go back to Windows Explorer.
 Move the cr2 and rsr (or png) file to any folder under the Libraries\Pose folder.
 Change the cr2 file extension to pz2.
 It's now a MAT pose!

5. Optional: Check your work.
 Go back to Poser.
 If the figure is still there, delete it from the scene.
 Add the figure back to the scene. It should be loaded into the scene without the textures.
 Switch to the pose folder, find the MAT pose that you just made, and apply it the figure.

Optional: To make a nice thumbnail image for your MAT pose, follow the steps on the General Tips & Information page on How to Make Your Own Thumbnail Files.