Manual (pdf, 94 KB) - Dimension 3D - Ralf Sesseler

D3D Pythons 4
Multi-Object Manager
Manual Version 1.0
Content
Important Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Copyright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1.Main Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2.Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.Figures, Groups, and Actors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.On/Off Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.Menu Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.Task Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1
1
2
2
3
4
5
5
6
Ralf Sesseler
Dimension 3D
E-Mail: d3d@sesseler.de
Internet: d3d.sesseler.de

Important Information
Copyright
Multi-Object Manager is © Copyright 2008 by Ralf Sesseler. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
There is no warranty beyond the legal minimal warranty. In no case, the author shall be liable
for any damage on hardware or software caused by using Multi-Object Manager.
- 1 -

1. Overview
The Multi-Object Manager is a Python script for Poser to modify several figures or actors in a
scene at once. This includes parameters and properties of figures and actors as well as
relationships between objects like parenting and conforming.
1.1. Main Window
The main windows consists of the following parts:
• close button: Closes the window.
• options button: Opens the options dialog.
• figure and actor selection: You can select the current figure and actor from the two menus
at the left top. This also sets the current figure and actor in the scene.
• group selection: In the leftmost list, you select a group of objects: figures, props, control
props, deformers, lights, cameras, and the figures in the scene. If you change the selection,
the list to the right shows all objects that belong to that group.
• actor selection: In the middle list, you can select one or several objects. Any changes will
be applied to the objects selected in this list. The right part of the list shows some
additional information for each object.
- 2 -

• tasks: Right to the lists, there are buttons and menus to modify the selected actors.
• update lists button: This updates the group and actor lists to reflect changes in the scene.
• select menu: Using this menu, you can quickly select several actors at once.
• update scene button: This updates the scene to reflect changes done by the script.
You can leave the Multi-Object Manager window open while working with your scene. If you
want to do so, you should enable the option to update the scene automatically. The
Multi-Object Manager and the scene are synchronized, changes in one of them will be
updated in the other as well.
1.2. Options
The options dialog has the following parameters:
• Window Position: This is the x and y position, where the Multi-Object Manager window
is created. Click on the button to set the current position.
• List Size: This is the width (number of characters) and height (number of lines) of the lists
for groups and actors.
• Max. Menu Lines: This is the maximum number of lines shown in the figure and actor
selection menus to prevent menus being higher than the screen.
• Sort Figures: If checked, the figures are listed alphabetically, otherwise the order in the
scene is used.
• Sort Actors: If checked, props, deformer props, and deformers are listed alphabetically,
otherwise the order in the scene is used.
• Sort Body Parts: If checked, body parts are listed alphabetically, otherwise the order in the
figure is used.
• Show Hidden Parameters: Includes hidden parameters in the Parameters list.
• Partial Match (Copy Morphs): Performs partial match (i.e. morph names in the target
object may have additional characters than in the source objects) when copying morph
values.
• Stay on Top: Keeps the Multi-Object Manager window on top of all other windows. (This
is available for Poser 7 only.)
• Update Scene: Regularly updates the scene to reflect changes in the scene like changing
the current actor.
Press OK to apply the changes or Cancel to close the options without changes.
Note: The update scene option may cause problems and make Poser crash. If this happens,
either turn off this option or close the Multi-Object Manager before doing critical actions. For
me, Poser crashes if I modify shader node values while Multi-Object Manager is running with
this option.
- 3 -

2. Figures, Groups, and Actors
With the two menus on the left top, you can change the figure and actor currently selected in
the scene. The actor menu has sub-menus for the different groups of actors. You can also
select no figure (---None---) or no actor (UNIVERSE). Some tasks like parent and conform
depend on the current selection.
In the figures group, all figures in the scene are listed. By selecting figures here, you can
modify the whole figure. The props group contains all props, except control props and
deformers. Control props are those props that are used internally by Poser like the center of
mass. Deformers are magnets and waves, the first letter in the information area is D for a
deformer, B for a base, and Z for a zone. The lights group lists all lights in the scene. The first
letter in the information area is the light type: Infinite, Spot, Point, or Diffuse IBL. The
cameras group contains all cameras. Finally, each figure is itself a group comprising its
actors. Here, the first letter in the information area means A for actor, P for Prop, D for
deformer, B for base, and Z for zone.
The following letters are used to indicate properties of an actor in the information area:
• A: ambient occlusion (lights only)
• b: bends not (body parts only)
• C: is child
• C: conforming (figures only)
• D: depthmap shadow (lights only)
• F: part of a figure
• H: hidden
• I: has IK (figures only)
• o: off (light)
• p: don't smooth polygons
• R: raytraced shadow (lights only)
• r: not visible in raytraycing
• v: not visible in render
• s: don't casts shadows
Note: Upper-case letters indicate a positive property (on), lower-case a negative property
(off). This is done to keep the number of shown letters low.
The Update Lists button updates the group and actor lists in case the scene was changed.
(Usually, the lists are updated automatically, if the scene changes.) With the select menu, you
can select all or no actors. For figures, you can also select all body parts, all props, all
deformers, or all other actors at once. Also for figures, you can select the left and right hand
or foot, which includes all actors below the according body part.
- 4 -

3. On/Off Buttons
There are nine on/off properties. Not all are available for actors of all groups.
• Visible sets the visibility of a figure or actor in the scene.
• Render sets the visibility of an actor during renders. For lights, this turns the light on or
off.
• Shadow changes whether an actor casts shadows. For lights, this means whether shadows
are generated by the light.
• Raytrace sets the visibility of an actor for raytracing. For lights, this changes between
depth map shadows and raytraced shadows.
• Smooth turns smooth polygons on or off for an actor.
• Bend changes the bending for a body part.
• Collision turns collision detection on or off for an actor.
• Lock locks or unlocks an actor.
• AO turns ambient occlusion on or off for a light.
Note: Collision and Lock are available only for actors in a figure, because there is no Python
method to change these properties. They are modified by a pose, which can be applied only to
figures.
4. Menu Buttons
There are five menu buttons to select a task or property.
Note: When applied to the whole figure, Reset Values and Copy Values are applied to all
body parts, but not to props and deformers belonging to the figure.
Reset Values
Select the parameter type that you want to reset from the menu. Scale and light will set the
parameters to 1 (= 100%), the other parameters are set to 0. If there are separate on and off
menu entries, parameters may be set to 1 with on and to 0 with off.
To include hidden parameters, first select Exclude Hidden to turn it into Include Hidden, then
select the parameter type to reset.
Copy Values
Copy values copies parameter values from the current figure (for whole figures) or the current
actor. Only those parameters are copied that exist in both, the source and the target.
Note: This copies the actual parameter values, not absolute positions or rotations in the scene.
- 5 -

Note: When values are copied, dependencies are only partly recognized. If you have a value
parameter that controls scaling, you have to first copy Morph/Param and then Scale, or
otherwise the scaling is applied twice.
Note: For actors of a figure, the values are copied from the actor with the same name in the
current figure, not from the current actor.
To include hidden parameters, first select Exclude Hidden to turn it into Include Hidden, then
select the parameter type to reset.
With Add Deformers, you can add actors to be deformed by magnets and waves. This is
available for figures and their actors only, because this is done by a pose and the deformers
are added to actors with the same name as the deformed actors of the source figure.
Symmetry
The symmetry tasks are the same as for the figure symmetry menu of Poser.
Note: Mirror is not available in Poser 6 because of restrictions in Poser Python.
Display Style
Select the display style to be set for the selected figures or actors. These are the same display
styles that can be set with the display style buttons in Poser.
Light Type
Select the light type to be set for the selected lights. These are the same light types as in the
properties tab of lights.
5. Task Buttons
Parameters
Opens a list with all parameters (editable in the parameters tab of Poser) of the selected
actors. Shared parameters are shown only once. You can select one or several parameters to
modify.
To modify a parameter, enter a value in the input field. You can set the value (=), set the
value symmetrically (= ; this means the negative value is set to actors starting with L
indicating the left side), add the value (+), add the value symmetrically (+ ), subtract the
value (-), multiply by the value (*), and divide by the value (/).
Note: The units are always those used internally by Poser. For translate, this are Poser units.
For scaling, 1 means 100%.
- 6 -

Properties
Opens a list with the numerical properties (editable in the properties tab of Poser) of the
selected actors. For props and body parts, displacement bounds and shading rate can be
changed. For lights, the strength of ambient occlusion and atmosphere and the blur radius and
minimum bias for shadows can be changed.
To modify a property, enter a value in the input field. You can set the value (=), add the value
(+), subtract the value (-), multiply by the value (*), and divide by the value (/).
Inverse Kinematics
Opens a list with the IK chains of the selected figure. If an IK chain is active, it has a +,
otherwise a -. Select the IKs and press On or Off to turn them on or off.
Note: Unlike other task buttons, this one is applied to the figure selected in the group list.
Delete
Deletes the selected figures or actors. Some actors may not be deleted, e.g. Main Camera.
Parent
Sets the current actor as parent for the selected figures or actors. Use UNIVERSE as current
actor for no parent.
Note: Unlike changing the parent in Poser directly, this will not make a prop part of a figure if
it is parented to a body part. This is due to the Poser Python implementation.
Conform
Conforms the selected figures to the current figure. Conform to ---None--- to unconform a
figure.
Point At
Points the selected actors to the current actor.
To Floor
Places the selected actors on the floor.
Memorize
Memorizes the parameters for the selected figures or actors.
Reset
Resets the parameters for the selected figures or actors to the last memorized state.
- 7 -