How to Make a Wooden Box Prop for Poser

Making a wooden box prop is not difficult with the right software. Sometimes you just want a simple prop for a render, maybe you're trying to do a picture where someone is moving or maybe you just want a seat for your 3D human model. Whatever the reason, a wooden box prop can be just the thing to round out your creative brainstorming.

Things You'll Need

• A computer
• Poser software
• UV Mapper Classic software

Instructions

Making the Prop in UV Mapper Classic

1. Download a copy of UV Mapper Classic here: http://www.uvmapper.com/downloads.html.

2. Open UV Mapper Classic, do this by clicking on the shortcut on your desktop and this will open a small window with a little stick figure walking inside it. Maximize this window so you have room to work in the program.

3. Select the File drop down menu, then New Model, then box. You should now see a window that gives you the opportunity to create the dimensions of your box, choose whichever dimensions you like, then click ok. Make sure that all sides are equilateral, and leave everything on the texture map side of the window alone.

4. Draw a square with your mouse around one of the sides of your box. To do this just hold down the left side of your mouse and drag it, this will open a box that you can fit around the side of your box prop.

5. Go to the Edit drop down menu and select Assign, and then To Material. This will bring up a small window that says Assign Selection to Material. In the space provided type side1 then click ok. Make sure there are no spaces between the word side and the number one, otherwise your prop won't load properly into Poser when the time comes.

6. Repeat Step 5 for all the other box sides except make them side2, side3 and so on until you finish with side6.

7. Save the actual box prop as a Wavefront Model file by going to the File drop down menu and selecting File and then Save Model. This will open a long window with several options, make sure that only Export UV Coordinates, Export Materials, and Export UV Mapper Regions are selected then click ok. This will open a window that allows you to save your box prop anywhere you want on your computer.

8. Create a file in your Poser Geometries file named My Models and then save your wooden box prop wavefront model there. To do this go to C:\Program Files\Curious Labs\Poser 5\Runtime\Geometries and then right click with your mouse and select New and then File, finally name your file My Models. Save your wavefront object to this new file.

Texturing your box prop in Poser

1. Open Poser if you haven't already. Go to the File drop down menu and select Import and then Wavefront OBJ. This opens a window that will allow you to search for and find where you saved your box prop in your Poser files. Once you locate it, double click it and that will open your box prop in Poser.

2. Select Centered, Place on Floor, and Make Polygon Normals Consistent on the Prop Import Options window. Click ok, and you should now see your box prop in the viewing window of Poser.

3. Go into the Materials Room, you do this by selecting the Material tab running across the top of the screen. Once you are there, you should see a window with Object, Material and Node Options running across the top of it. These are little drop down menus, and you need only pay attention to the first two. On the object drop down menu select your box prop, it will be under Props. Once it is selected go to the Material drop down menu and select the first side.

4. Locate a wood texture in the Materials Library to the right. I believe that Poser comes with some wood textures, but if you cannot find them, or don't like them there are several that can be downloaded for free in the Renderosity free area in the 2D section, you need at least one wood texture to experiment with.

5. Texture your wood box by selecting your wood texture from your Materials library to the right and clicking on the one check mark icon at the bottom of the library window. This will apply the wood texture to the first side of your box. You will need to repeat this step for each side of your box prop.

6. Go back into the Pose Room, you do this by simply clicking on the Pose tab at the top of the window. Now go to the Render drop down menu and select Production and then uncheck the Smooth Polygons option, if you don't your box will render with rounded edges.

7. Save your wood box prop for later use by going to the Props area in your Poser library and then click on the + sign at the bottom of the window. This will add your wooden box prop to your Poser library for future use.

Tips & Warnings

• UV Mapper Classic has other props you can create since they also offer cones,

• Renders done in draft mode do not look as sharp as renders done in Production mode especially when you are dealing with a wood box, so I always suggest that if you want your renders to look sharp then use Production mode. It will take the picture a little longer to render, but the overall look is much better.

Resources

• UV Mapper Classic
• Poser 7