Poser ProPack Tutorial: Attaching Bones to Preexisting Parts. Introduction Loading the Object Laying Out the Bones Attaching the Bones to the Parts Modifying the Joint Parameters Saving the Finished 'Shroom Download the tutorial HTML as a .zip file for off-line viewing (104K). Download the mushroom.zip tutorial object and texture.(204K)

Introduction This tutorial is an attempt to show an alternate to the "Auto Group" function to attach Pro Pack bones to a new figure's polygons. Auto Group often works really well and it allows you to create the various Poser parts all inside ProPack, without the need for an external modeler. But if you do have a modeler and it has good tools to select, separate and name polygon groups, it's often easier and faster to do all the "prep" work there. Then in ProPack, use the Element Properties dialog to "manually" attach the bones to the pre-created parts. The reason for this is that Auto Group often leaves large numbers of polygons attached to the wrong bone. While this can be fixed, it relies on Poser's rather basic tools and with certain types of objects, can easily become quite time consuming (and sometimes downright frustrating!). So... the goal of this tutorial is to bone a simple mushroom that consists of 4 pre-created parts, then "manually" attach the bones to the parts and do a few basic adjustments to the Joint Parameters. No previous ProPack experience is necessary but I'm presuming that the reader knows how to select various cameras and be able to manipulate them; how to change Display Styles and how to use the Translation dials.

	Loading The Object 1) Download the mushrooomfiles.zip file (204K) and expand it. You should now have a folder with 3 files: mushroom.obj, mushroom.mtl and mushroom.jpg. To keep things simple drag these files out of this folder and put them in the same folder as the ProPack application file.
	2) Load ProPack and create a New scene (File>New). Now Import the mushroom.obj. In the Import dialog deselect the "Centered" and "Percent of Standard Figure Size:" boxes and hit OK. You should now have a fully textured, single part mushroom.
	3) Select the Front camera and adjust the camera so the mushroom looks something like the image at right. Don't worry about matching the Display Style, we'll be changing that in a minute anyway.

Laying Out the Bones
	1) Click the Setup Tab at upper right and click OK to turn the object into a figure. After a short wait this will drop you into the Setup interface.
		2) You should now see the same Front Camera view of the mushroom. You can do the boning in any of the Display Styles but I prefer to use the Outline mode because it shows only the important features when boning with this method.
		3) Click the Grouping Tool and click in the top popup in the Group Edit window. This gives a list of the parts, selecting any item highlights that part. So if you don't remember what you named them or the names are unknown, you can always check them here. Now close the Group Edit window.
		4) Click the Boning Tool. Move the cursor (now "Bone" shaped) to the bottom center of the mushroom, then click&drag to the center of the line above, as shown at right.
		5) Move the cursor to the tip of the first bone and drag out the second bone. Continue this method for the 3rd and 4th bone but on the last one only extend the bone to the center of the mushrooms cap, as shown below.