Poser Texture Tutorial

A Poser figure.

Poser is one of the premier pro-sumer level 3D graphics and animation programs on the market. Poser comes with a number of 3D computer-generated figures that can be loaded in a scene and posed. It also comes with some clothing and props, as well as textures for these figures. Textures are essentially the "skin" that is painted on the figure. These texture exist as 2D flat images stored in the program. If you have a texture for a figure that you would like to change in some way, such as adding a tattoo, you can do this using a good graphics program, though you will have to use caution to avoid damaging the original texture.

Instructions

1. Open Poser. Delete the default figure that you see in the scene.

2. Click on the "Library" tab on the right and open the "Figure" library. Search for the figure that you want to use and select it. Click on the little "+" at the bottom to add it to the scene.

3. Open the "Pose" library where (despite the name) textures are listed. Browse to find a texture (technically this is called a MAT) you want to apply. It has to be one that was made for the specific figure you selected. Double-click on it to load it onto the figure.

4. Click on the body part of the figure containing the texture you want to change. Now click on the "Material Room" tab.

5. Follow the lines leading from the "Color" channel to find the texture map applied to the section you picked. Note the name and location of the file.

6. Open a graphics program. Browse to and open the texture file you found in Step 5. Use the tools in the program to make whatever changes to the texture you want to. Select "File" and click "Save As." DO NOT choose "Save," since this will overwrite the original file. Instead give the file a different name and save it to the same location.

7. Open Poser and reload the figure. You can now go back to the Material Room and replace the previous texture with your new one.

References

• Smith Micro: Material Room 101

Resources

• Creative 3D Net: Poser Gallery