The Weld Group Command

The Weld Group feature can be useful if, for example, you need to make alterations to your groups after you leave the Setup room or if you import a prop with groups that you want to change. In the Setup room, once your figure is created, Poser breaks the single geometry into pieces corresponding to the groups you created. If you reassign polygons to different groups, the original breaks remain, which can cause your figure to appear broken or disconnected at the point where the old group boundaries lie.

The best way to illustrate this is by using an example. Say you create a figure with, among others, groups for the head and neck. After leaving the Setup room, Poser breaks the single geometry into pieces whose edges correspond to the group boundaries you created. This is necessary in order to allow the figure to bend. Later, you decide to move the neck higher into the head by reassigning some of the polygons in the head group to the neck group. You can do this easily using the Grouping tool.

Poser creates a new break in the geometry at the new group boundary; however, the old break at the old group boundary still exists. This can cause your figure’s neck to appear broken or discontinuous as you pose and render it. To solve this problem, you would:

1. Select the Grouping tool.
2. Select the neck group.
3. Click the Weld Group button.

The Weld Group function alters and combines the vertices on either side of the break so as to create a smooth bridge across the gap. A good way to think of this is to imagine sealing a crack. The filler compound joins the two surfaces, but does minutely alter the surface topography where the crack used to be. The Weld Group function works this way as well, modifying the geometry slightly in order to eliminate the break. This should be unnoticeable in most cases.