By Steve Shanks I have noticed a lot of people on various forums asking how to import a Poser figure into 3D Studio Max. In the past there have been the odd problems doing this but now we have a new version of both programs and with the new Wavefront OBJ plugins its a simple process.
First if you don't already have them, get both OBJ plugins Habware and install them into your 3D Studio Max Plugins folder.
Start up Poser 4 and set up your scene. I am using 3 figures here, the human, her dress and conforming hair and I've applied all the textures and rotated the camera a few times to check everything is OK before starting the export.
TIP TIME: When we go to export we'll need to work through the Hierarchy Selection window so at this point it's worth setting up your figure names, to do this, select a figure, then in the drop down menu click the body part and select body.
Now use "Ctrl-I" or "Figure Properties" and change the name to something more appropriate. Do this with all figures or props then go to "file export Wavefront OBJ" then click OK for a single frame export and the Hierarchy Selection window will open. We could just hit OK and import the figure into Max in many parts but it will make texturing a nightmare so let us export one figure at a time to be safe.
Remove the cross from the figures you don't want to export and also remove the cross from any parts you made invisible (Poser 4 won't do this automatic as in V3) and click OK and give it a name. Now, repeat this process for all of your other figures or props. Once that is done close Poser. Poser 4 will export MTL files automatically (these contain the texture information for 3D Studio Max).
With Max open go to "file import" and in the files of type box click and select Wavefront Material (*.MTL) then you can navigate to the location you saved the figures to and choose one. In the next window put a dot in add to library and then click OK. Another window may pop up warning you of unsupported commands but you can just click OK on that too, (repeat for the other figure MTL's).
Now to import an OBJ! I'm going to do the dress first as it has transparency maps and I want to get those out of the way. So, go to "File Import" and change the "files of type" box to read Wavefront Object (*.OBJ) then open your first figure. Next, this window will open:
There are many ways to set up the OBJ import but I suggest you just use this setup, you can experiment later. Once it's set up, click OK then OK again on the import statistics window. Now we have our first figure in and you'll notice that it's just a case of telling Max which texture to use, so open the "Tools, material Editor and Material/map browser" in the "Material/map browser" in the "Browse from" Category put a dot in "MTL Editor" and scroll down until you find one of your materials.
It is worth stopping here to note that it does not matter which material you choose. For example, if you use the one named "toenail" then when you "send" the texture it will apply to the whole figure, BUT you must choose a material for that specific figure.
Once you have your material, Double click on it and a sphere in the "Material editor" will highlight. Scroll down in the "Material editor" until you see the "Maps" bar and click on that, then click on the "None" bar next to "Diffuse Color" and a new "Material/map browser" will open. Double click on the bitmap reference and find your texture map. Now I'm doing the dress first which has a transparency map on it so I need to go back and add that. Click on the drop down menu in "Material editor" and select the material.
You will see the maps bar come back into the window. I want you to click on it and load your Transparency map into the Opacity Channel and once that is done check you have the correct figure selected in the main window at which point you can hit the "Assign material to Selection" Button.
Now, import your other figures and repeat the process, then add a few lights and a back ground and hit that render button.
Editor's note: "Wow!"
Copyright (c) 2000, Steve Shanks, All Rights Reserved
