The construction props are nothing more than morphing cubes and cylinders. However as well as their normal scale and translation dials, they also have morph dials which are calibrated in real world units: inches, feet or metres. The idea is that you "rough out" your proposed model outline using these props within Poser, then export them to your modelling program of choice for detailing.

You can use all three units simultaneously if you really want to. Each prop comes in three versions, the only difference being in their initial size: 1 inch, 1 foot, or 1 metre per side.

To download, and to see a brief demonstration of their use, visit the clumsily named "down-orial" page by clicking on the thumbnail, or follow this link.

This is a new version of the old Morphing Band.

The morphs are:

• Diameter - Use this instead of scaling, since it retains the band thickness
• Height - This does the same as yScale, but is included for completeness
• Thicken - Makes the band thicker
• ThickenInwards - As above, but keeps the outer diameter constant
• ThickenOutwards - As for Thicken, but keeps the inner diameter constant
• EllipseX - Makes an ellipse with the major diameter along the X axis
• EllipseZ - Makes an ellipse with the major diameter along the Z axis
• SlantX - Slants the band in the X direction
• SlantZ - Slants the band in the Z direction
• Square - Makes a square
• StretchX - Stretch along the X axis. When applied to the band, makes an oval; when used with the Square morph, adjusts the X dimension
• StretchZ - Stretch along the Z axis. When applied to the band, makes an oval; when used with the Square morph, adjusts the Z dimension
• TaperX - Makes the top of the band an ellipse, major diameter X
• TaperZ - Makes the top of the band an ellipse, major diameter Z
• TiltX - Tilts the band around the Z axis, keeping the sides vertical
• TiltZ - Tilts the band around the X axis, keeping the sides vertical
• WedgeX - Makes the band less tall on the left, taller on the right
• WedgeZ - Makes the band less tall at the back, taller at the front

You can combine the morphs, and set values outside the usual 0 to 1 range, to obtain many interesting results. If you find that something is missing (and you can describe it to me somehow) get in touch and I'll try to add it as an update.

superband.zip (38KB)

This is an improved version of one of my earliest freebie props, the Magic Morphin' Torus. It now matches the Poser torus closely in size (it even loads with fatness set to 0.2!) The morphs don't change the size of the prop as they used to, and the UV mapping has been made to tile so that any seamless square texture can be used.

The morphs are:

• Diameter - alters the major (overall) diameter of the ring; unlike scaling, the ring fatness stays constant.
• Fatness - alters the minor diameter, like the Poser torus.
• Height - alters the height while keeping the curvature the same.
• Flatten - makes the top and bottom faces flat.
• EllipseX, EllipseZ - makes an ellipse, with the major axis in the X or Z direction.
• Square - makes a square ring with rounded corners.
• StretchX, StretchZ - stretches the straight part to make oval shapes; also enables the square to be adjusted without changing the corner radius.
• SquareCross - makes the cross-section square.

You can combine the morphs with each other, and with scaling to make more complicated shapes if you have the time. Because it's a simple geometric shape, most of the dials can be altered way beyond the usual -1 to +1 limits.

supertorus.zip (79KB)

This is an open-ended cylindrical prop with shape morphs designed for modelling within Poser, especially "roughing out" clothing meshes. It's used in this tutorial, where I show you how to make a simple skirt with its help. There are two groups of morph:

• Profile1 to Profile32:
  When adjusted to +1, these pull a single column of vertices in towards the centre of the tube. Profile1 affects the column at the far left, and they are numbered clockwise from there.
• 1zTran, 1zScale, 1xScale to 17zTran, 17zScale, 17xScale:
  These affect a single ring of vertices, where 1 is the top edge of the tube, and 17 the bottom. There are no xTran morphs since clothing is normally symmetrical. For sleeves and trouser legs the overall xTran dial will do the job.

magictube.zip (29KB)

The world's simplest props! A triangle and a square, but what makes them useful are the morphs. Each corner of each plane can be moved independently in the X, Y, and Z directions, making them useful for all sorts of things:

• Making simple props "on the spot"
• Repairing gaps in a mesh
• Backgrounds and floors
• Measuring things within Poser

The basic triangle is an isosceles type, 0.1 OBJ units across the base and 0.1 units tall. The square is 0.1 units on a side (like the Poser square). The morphs are named x1, y1, z1, x2, y2, z2, ... etc. As you might expect, an x morph moves its vertex in the x direction and so on: a setting of 1.0 on the dial corresponds to 0.1 OBJ units. The dials may be set positive or negative as required.

planes.zip (5.3KB)