Materials
Poser’s Material library provides an easy way to apply preset materials to the items in your scene. You can navigate through the items in your library, and then drag and drop compatible materials from the Library to the objects in your scene. As you drag your material into the scene, a tooltip displays the name of the actor in your scene. Release the mouse when the tooltip displays the correct actor name.
When saving materials to the library, Poser offers two methods for storing material definitions for an entire figure in a single file. Both of these methods can save considerable time, since they can apply colors and maps to an entire figure simply by loading them from the Library palette instead of having to add them one by one.
This Library palette category houses materials (*.MT5), which include all Poser materials and any associated shader trees created or loaded into the Material room. Materials and material collections can be dragged from the Library and dropped onto an object in your scene.
The Material Collection (MC6/MCZ) file format was designed as a fully integrated replacement for MAT pose files. Additionally, Poser includes a built-in compatibility feature, which enables you to simply change the extension of your MAT files to MC6 or MCZ, and Poser will recognize them as Material Collections.
Use the Materials category to apply different textures and materials to the items in your scene.
Adding Materials to the Library Palette
Poser offers the option of saving either single materials, or grouped material collections from a single figure, to the Library palette.
To save single material to the Library palette:
- Open the Material room.
- In the Library palette, select the desired Category/Subcategory that will store the new material.
- Move the mouse into the Preview window, where it turns into an Eyedropper tool. Use the eyedropper to “pick up” the material that you want to save. The material settings appear in the Edit view in the Material room.
- Click the Save to Library icon (+) at the bottom of the Library palette.
- In the New Material Set dialog, select the Single Material radio button.
- Enter a name for the Material and click OK. A square showing the single material appears in the currently selected Material library category/subcategory.
If your single material contains material layers, they will be saved with the material. To save a material layer on its own, see Using Layer-Only Materials.
Adding Material Collections to the Library Palette
Poser also allows you to save some or all of the materials for a single figure together in a Material Collection, in addition to saving single materials individually. Simply select the Material Collection option in the Add to Library dialog, as described below, and choose which materials you would like to include in the collection. Like MAT files, Material Collections provide the convenience of grouping materials in a single file, and also offer the added benefit of seamless integration into your Poser workflow. Please refer to The Material Room for information about the Material room.
To save Material Collection to the Library palette:
- Open the Material room and select your desired category/subcategory.
- Move the mouse into the Preview window, where it turns into an Eyedropper tool. Use the eyedropper to “pick up” one of the materials in the object that uses the material collection that you want to save. The single material that you clicked appears in the Edit view in the Material room.
- Click the Add to Library icon (+) at the bottom of the Library palette.
- In the New Material Set dialog, select the Material Collection radio button, and click the Select Materials button to open the Select Materials dialog.
- Choose which materials you would like to include in your collection from the list presented in the Select Materials dialog, and click OK. Select All and Select None buttons are also provided to add or clear all materials in the selection set.
- Enter a name for the Material Collection and click OK. A small thumbnail of the object with your material settings appears in the currently selected Material library category/subcategory.
If your material collection contains material layers, they will be saved with the material. To save a material layer on its own, see Using Layer-Only Materials.