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