All images from Poser 7 Revealed: The e frontier Official Guide by Kelly L. Murdock.

This is the last in a new series of excerpts from the Thomson Course Technology book Poser 7 Revealed: The e frontier Official Guide. VFXWorld readers were introduced to the skills needed to create, render and animate scenes and projects using the amazing tools offered by Poser 7. Step-by-step tutorials were offered for each task, followed by projects that allowed readers to apply each new skill.

What You’ll Do
In this lesson, you learn how to access the various pre-built Python scripts.

You can execute PoserPython scripts within Poser in a couple of different ways. The easiest way to access existing Python scripts is with the Scripts menu. Another way is to use the File, Run Python Script menu command and another is with the Python Scripts palette.
 

Finding Default Python Scripts
Several default Python scripts are included with the default installation of Poser and looking at these scripts is a good way to start to learn the Python syntax. To locate the default PoserPython scripts, look in the RuntimePythonposerScripts directory where Poser is installed. You can open and edit all Poser scripts that have the .PY file extension within a text editor.

Using the Scripts Menu
All Python scripts that are added to the poserScripts/ScriptsMenu directory will automatically appear in the Scripts menu. If a folder exists within the PoserScripts/ScriptsMenu directory, the scripts contained in the folder will appear within a submenu in the Scripts menu.

[Figure 1] Python Scripts palette.

Using the Python Scripts Palette
You can also open the Python Scripts palette by selecting Window, Python Scripts. This palette, shown in Figure 1, includes several buttons. Each button can be attached to an external script. Clicking a script button executes the script and clicking an empty button opens the Open dialog box where you can load a script for the button. Clicking a script button with the Alt/Option key pressed clears the selected button.

Executing Scripts
Selecting File, Run Python Script makes an Open dialog box appear where you can select a script file to execute. This dialog box can open both Python source files with a .PY file extension and Python compiled files with the .PYC file extension.

Learning the Pre-Built Scripts
The available pre-built scripts are divided into several different categories. Some of these scripts will add simple props to the scene and others will give you access to utilities that can be helpful. The following sections list the available scripts and how they can be used.

Learn the Prop Samples Scripts
Within the Prop Samples category are several scripts for creating props, including:

• Bucky Ball. Adds a geometric Bucky Ball to the scene.
  
• Tetra. Adds a geometric tetrahedron to the scene.
• Sinwaved Mesh. Adds a sin wave mesh to the scene.
  
• Fractal Terrain. Adds a terrain plane to the scene.