How to Fit a Poser Hair Prop to a 3D Human Model it Was Not Designed For

Most of us that use Poser on a regular basis have run into the problem of having a favorite hair prop and wanting to use it with more than one 3-D human model, but thought we couldn't because the prop was only made for one or two models. However, it is possible to take a hair prop that is made for one model and fit it to another model. It can be challenging to get the hair prop situated just right on the model's head, but it is very rewarding as well.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• A copy of Poser on your computer
• A basic to intermediate understanding of how to get around in Poser

1. Open Poser and load a 3-D human model that you want to fit your hair prop to, and for which the hair prop was not designed to fit.

2. Load the hair prop. You will notice right away that the prop was not designed for this particular model since the hair prop will not fit correctly. It may be too low on the model's head or too high, or in other ways just not situated on the head correctly.

3. Use your camera drop down menu on the far left to change your camera view from the main view to the face camera view. This will make it easier for you to see how well you are fitting the hair prop to the model.

4. Make sure that your hair prop is selected on the drop down menu at the bottom of your viewing window where your 3-D human model is. Since, generally speaking, most of the time the hair prop is sort of floating above the model's head, you will need to use the dials in the parameters window to move it down. The best way to do this is to move the y tran dial so that the hair prop moves farther down, so that it fits more closely to the model's head. If by chance the hair prop is too far down on the model's head instead you'd simply use the same dial, but move the hair prop up instead of down.

5. Parent the hair prop to your 3-D human model's head. This ensures that when you move your 3-D human model into different poses, the hair prop will move with the model instead of staying behind in the original position that it was loaded into in the viewing window.

Tips & Warnings

• If your hair prop happens to be a conforming one where it conforms to the head like clothing might conform to the body rather than one where it must be parented to the head, conform the hair prop to your model before using the parameter dials to fit it to your 3-D human model's head. This will ensure that you don't get the hair prop fitted, and then go and conform it, which will undo all the previous fitting work, causing you to have to redo everything you just did.

• Be aware that some hair props will need more adjustment to fit to models they aren't designed for than just moving the hair prop up or down on the 3-D human model's head. I've fit some that actually needed to be moved forward in space to fit properly using the z tran parameter dial. I've also had to rotate some to get them to look right on the new 3-D human model's head. Not being aware of this can bring hours of frustration, so just be aware of the possibility.