There is a way to set up alternate geometries for a prop or a jointed part. It is used in Poser nude men's genitalia (to select between show and not-show), and in Poser 2 people's hands to select between hand shape / finger attitude. I have used it much, e.g.

• In an oxy-gas torch model, to select between welder head and cutter head.
• In a scuba diver's fullface breathing mask, to select between shapes. Part of an example is:- alternateGeom mask_2 { name round_mask objFile 1002 C:/Poser4/Runtime/Geometries/aa/divers/rebrmasks/breathingmask_round_.obj } alternateGeom mask_3 { name ind_mask objFile 1003 C:/Poser4/Runtime/Geometries/aa/divers/rebrmasks/breathingmask_industrial_.obj } alternateGeom mask_4 { name mp_mask objFile 1004 C:/Poser4/Runtime/Geometries/aa/divers/rebrmasks/breathingmask_mouthpiece_.obj } The slashes should be backslashes.

It works. To make it, I had to imitate existing examples and text-edit the .CR2 file. Please:-

Can I set up alternate geometries from within Poser 11?

Where is a full description of Poser 11 .CR2 file format including alternate-geometry matter?

In ll the examples of alternate geometry that I have seen, after 'objFile' is a 4-digit number. Is that always so?

Anthony Appleyard posted at 7:55PM Wed, 20 July 2016 - #4276510

In all the examples of alternate geometry that I have seen, after 'objFile' is a 4-digit number. Is that always so?

Yes and No. The objFile must have a unique number so that Poser can monitor the alternative geometry so that it knows when to use it and what it is.

Numbers over 1001 are used as Poser uses some lesser numbers internally for other functions.

Does it have to be 4 digits - it usually is but I've seen 5 and 6 digit numbers used without Poser making a fuss.

The number is broken into two parts - a number for the body part and a number for the alternative geometry

the first two digits relate to a body part but it's not fixed, so 10 could be the hip, left shoulder or foot etc. Just keep it consistent so that all alternative hips would be 10, all alternative left shoulders would be 20, all alternative feet 30 etc etc

examples:

2001 would be left shoulder - alternative geometry 01

2002 would be left shoulder - alternative geometry 02

As to your other questions......

Can I set up alternate geometries from within Poser 11? > No - it still needs to be hand coded, or use one of the editor tools like Poser File Editor by d3d or the free Poser CR2 editor

Where is a full description of Poser 11 .CR2 file format including alternate-geometry matter? > I've never seen an official one released with Poser. Perhaps you could ask for a file breakdown over at the Smith Micro Official forum.

The CR2 file formate hasn't change much since the early versions of Poser and the best source of the internal file structure is still the very old "Secrets of Figure Creation With Poser 5" book by B L Render. other books that have some information : Practical Poser 7 or Practical Poser 8

Sadly many of the websites that had examples of the CR2 file structure vanished many, many years ago

adzan posted at 11:58PM Wed, 20 July 2016 - #4276541

.... The CR2 file formate hasn't change much since the early versions of Poser and the best source of the internal file structure is still the very old "Secrets of Figure Creation With Poser 5" book by B L Render. other books that have some information : Practical Poser 7 or Practical Poser 8 ....

Thanks. Please, what are the ISBN numbers and publishers of these books?

Look here at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Figure-Creation-Poser-5/dp/0240519299

There were some armor figures for V1 and M1 that used a dial to change the geometry ... The "Changing Fantasy Suit (1 and 2)" If you recall these, do they use the same configuration?

Boni posted at 9:28AM Thu, 21 July 2016 - #4276589

There were some armor figures for V1 and M1 that used a dial to change the geometry ... The "Changing Fantasy Suit (1 and 2)" If you recall these, do they use the same configuration?

Yes they do, many moons ago the poser users of the day hacked the cr2s and based the clothing swapping on the same hand and genital swapping that the old figures used

adzan posted at 9:36AM Thu, 21 July 2016 - #4276610

Boni posted at 9:28AM Thu, 21 July 2016 - #4276589

There were some armor figures for V1 and M1 that used a dial to change the geometry ... The "Changing Fantasy Suit (1 and 2)" If you recall these, do they use the same configuration?

Yes they do, many moons ago the poser users of the day hacked the cr2s and based the clothing swapping on the same hand and genital swapping that the old figures used. Jeff Howarth and then Anton Kisiel further developed the code almost 20 years ago to what is still used today

adzan posted at 9:48AM Thu, 21 July 2016 - #4276612

adzan posted at 9:36AM Thu, 21 July 2016 - #4276610

Boni posted at 9:28AM Thu, 21 July 2016 - #4276589

There were some armor figures for V1 and M1 that used a dial to change the geometry ... The "Changing Fantasy Suit (1 and 2)" If you recall these, do they use the same configuration?

Yes they do, many moons ago the poser users of the day hacked the cr2s and based the clothing swapping on the same hand and genital swapping that the old figures used. Jeff Howarth and then Anton Kisiel further developed the code over 16 years ago to what is still used today

I make extensive use of Geometry Switching in my Dalek models. Mechmaster suggested it as a way of keeping the number of Dalek characters down when I was converting some of his models. LesBentley gave me the lowdown on how to do it.

According to Les, the numbers can be anything you want; they are only there so Poser can keep track of what's being switched over and back. In fact, I discovered it's not even all that bothered if you type the wrong numbers in here and there, but DAZ Studio then gets its panties in a bunch, so for the sake of compatibility it's best to be consistent.

Take a look at my STLB4 Dalek model for example, that one has several alternates for almost every body part.