Create Props From A Selected Group
If you want to create a prop from part of a figure, you can use the Group Editor, shown in Figure 5-14, to select the exact polygons that make up the prop. You open the Group Editor by clicking the Grouping tool in the Editing Tools control. The Group Editor can be used to create material, hair, and cloth groups and other Group Editor features are presented in other chapters.

Selecting Polygons
Within Group Editor dialog box are two buttons for selecting polygons[md]one for selecting and one for removing selected polygons. By dragging over polygons in the Document Window with the Grouping tool, you can select polygons as part of the group. The selected polygons are highlighted in red in the Document Window. To remove polygons from the current selection, click the Deselect button at the top of the Group Editor and click the polygons to remove.

You can also access the Deselect button by holding down the Ctrl key.

Creating a Prop
Clicking the Create Prop button converts the selected polygon group into a prop. A dialog box opens where you can name the new prop. Figure 5-15 shows a new face mask prop that was created using the polygons in the front of the head element.

An excellent use of the Create Prop feature is to create a separate surface prop that defines where body hair will grow. For the head, this prop is called a skull cap.

Spawning Multiple Props
Clicking the Spawn Props button creates multiple props by converting all newly created groups into props. Each of these new props are selected from the Props category in the Actor list and are named using their respective group name.

Create a Scullcap for Hair
1.       Open Poser with the default figure visible.

2.       Click the Hidden Line button in the Document Display Style controls.

3.       Click the HeadCam icon in the Camera Controls.

4.       Click the Grouping tool button in the Editing Tools controls.

The Group Editor panel appears and the figure in the Document Window goes dark.

5.       Click on the New Group button and name the new group Skullcap.