Poser Figures Hierarchy

In order to make a figure bendable, it needs to be attached to a skeleton that moves the polygons in the geometry. In order to attach the polygons (or “skin”) to the bones, the polygons in the geometry must be named the same as the bones in the underlying skeleton.

To utilize as many of Poser’s posing and morphing capabilities as possible, there are specific naming conventions that should be followed. Most human Poser figures follow a hierarchical structure that uses the hip actor as its root. Internal body part groups must always begin with a lower-case letter, with right and left body parts always beginning with a lower-case r (for right) or l (for left) to work with Poser’s Symmetry commands properly.

The internal group names that are used by the Alyson and Ryan figures are shown below in their correct hierarchical structure. Alyson and Ryan have additional groups (shown in bold italics) which control the top and bottom teeth, several levels for the tongue, and an extra joint for each of the fingers and toes to allow for better bending. Other Poser figures may have more or less groups, but the basic arrangement of the bones will be similar to that shown below:

hip

waist

 abdomen

  chest

   neck

    lEye

    rEye

    TopTeeth

    BttmTeeth

    Tongue1

     Tongue2

      Tongue3

       Tongue4

        Tongue5

         Tongue6

lCollar

 lBreast

  lShldr

   lForeArm

    lHand

     lThumb1

      lThumb2

       lThumb3

     lIndex0

      lIndex1

       lIndex2

        lIndex3

     lMid0

      lMid1

       lMid2

        lMid3

     lRing0

      lRing1

       lRing2

        lRing3

     lPinky0

      lPinky1

       lPinky2

        lPinky3

rCollar

 rBreast

  rShldr

   rForeArm

    rHand

     rThumb1

      rThumb2

       rThumb3

     rIndex0

      rIndex1

       rIndex2

        rIndex3

     rMid0

      rMid1

       rMid2

        rMid3

     rRing0

      rRing1

       rRing2

        rRing3

     rPinky0

      rPinky1

       rPinky2

        rPinky3

lButtock

 lThigh

  lShin

   lFoot

    lToe

     lBigToe1

      lBigToe2

     lIndexToe1

      lIndexToe2

     lMidToe1

      lMidToe2

     lRingToe1

      lRingToe2

     lPinkyToe1

      lPinkyToe2

rButtock

 rThigh

  rShin

   rFoot

    rToe

     rBigToe1

      rBigToe2

     rIndexToe1

      rIndexToe2

     rMidToe1

      rMidToe2

     rRingToe1

      rRingToe2

     rPinkyToe1

      rPinkyToe2