Shape Magic Tutorials

Importing into Poser

This tutorial uses a bracelet to demonstrate how to import and texture a Shape Magic model in Poser 4. You can download a copy of the Shape Magic .obj and .smg file here if you want to use them to follow the tutorial. Or feel free to make your own.

First create a Side View that looks like this. Set bezier segments to zero for both the top and bottom face.	Create a Top View that looks similar to this. Set bezier segments to 10.
After clicking the Create button on the Create File page, go to the Save File page. Enter the file name, and if not checked already, click on the three checkboxes: Group names, UV mapped and Front & Back polygons.
Note: Group Names is not needed if the same texture will be applied to the entire model. UV Mapped is required for all Poser models, otherwise no textures will be mapped. Front & Back Polygons are needed only for open-ended models (such as this bracelet); otherwise, Poser doesn't render the interior correctly in all render styles.
Start Poser and create a model and pose. Then import the Shape Magic model by clicking on the top menu bar File - Import - Wavefront OBJ.
The Prop Import Options screen will appear. For the example object, set the percent of standard figure size equal to 4%. Also, if the Flip Normals does not show a checkmark, click on the box. Note: as of Shape Magic 2.1, you do not need to check Flip normals anymore.
I used Vicky 2 as my model with her arms folded across her chest. The settings shown in the image to the left position the bracelet around her left wrist. I first set yTran until the bracelet was visible in the camera view, then I set xTran and zTran to position the bracelet over her arm. Next adjust xRotate and zRotate to get the bracelet aligned. I needed to set Scale to 118% so the bracelet did not cut into Vicky's clothing.
This shows the bracelet correctly positioned. Poser will assign an arbitrary color to the bracelet. We'll change this next.
Click on the top menu bar Render - Materials.
This dialog box will open. It will show the arbitrary color in the Object Color box and black in the Highlight Color box. First, be sure the bracelet is selected in the Object box (A). Then click on the Object Color button (B).
The Color dialog will open. To get a gold color, I set Red to 244, Green to 208, and Blue to 108. Then click OK. Next click on the Highlight Color button (C in image above). Set Red to 255, Green to 255 and Blue to 103.
One could stop now if the same texture is desired for all parts of the model. In this tutorial, we want to make the middle section different than either end. To do this we need to use the Grouper tool, the right-most tool in the Editing Tools icons.
After clicking on the Grouper tool, the Poser image will go black and one section of the bracelet will be highlighted in red. The Group Edit dialog will open. Click on the top drop-down box (A) in the Group Edit dialog and select the middle_section. Then click on the Assign Material button (B) lower down in the Group Edit dialog.
The Set Name dialog box will open up. You can type anything you want here, I kept the default NewMaterial name. Click OK.
Without doing anything else, click on the top menu bar Render - Materials.
Be sure bracelet is showing in the Object box (A). In the Material box (B), select NewMaterial or whatever name you used. Set Object Color (C) to white. Load (D) a new texture map, in this case I used a texture I have called epoxy2.jpg. Click OK.
Poser requires Front & Back Polygons to properly render open-ended models such as this bracelet. Shape Magic saves these in two different groups, for example, top_section and top-section_inside. (Unlike Bryce and Vue, Poser truncates the name so look for a name ending in a "_" or "_ins".) Click on the top box in the Group Edit dialog, then select middle_section_ .
Next click on Assign Material button and use the same name as before (in this case, NewMaterial).
The last thing to do is to parent the bracelet to Vicky's left forearm so it moves with her as you set new poses. On the top menu bar, click on Object - Change Parent.
When this dialog appears, click on Left Forearm, then OK.
That's it! Click on Render - Render from the top menu bar. Here's an image of the final result.