Python scripts for Poser 11
This is a commented list of useful Python scripts known to work in Poser 11 (SR6 and higher). Is was first made when Poser 11 appeared, and has grown and been maintained since.
Page started: 8th May 2017.
Page last updated: 18th October 2021.
All Web links were last repaired by hand: August 2021.
Where to put your scripts:
In Poser 11, after un-zipping manually copy your .PY scripts to: C:\Program Files\Smith Micro\Poser 11\Runtime\Python\poserScripts\ScriptsMenu to have them show up in Poser 11’s Scripts menu…
It’s really really important to get right down to that last ../ScriptsMenu folder and not stop at ../poserScripts and think you’re there!
Script filenames can be re-named by you before copying, to give a quickstart on what they do and how to operate them when you’re working with a scene or character. For instance: the cryptic Snapto.py might become the descriptive Snapto_SelectProp-StartScript-SelectBodyPart-PropMovesThere.py or similar. Note that your scripts can also be grouped in new folders which are descriptively named. For instance you might set up the following folder/directory structure…
ScriptsMenu
— MyScripts (for everything that is not the stock scripts that ship with Poser).
— — Folder_1 (with a descriptive name)
— — Folder_2 (etc etc)
— — Testing
Manually running a script from File | Run Python Script will also work, which can be useful for quick initial testing just to see if it works or not. If you look on the Renderosity Python forums, you’ll also find there what appears to be a ‘console’ script, in which you paste in a script and run it and get error codes, which also looks useful for quick development and testing.
If finding scripts on forums, paste them into Notepad++ on Windows. TextMate appears to be the script-friendly plain text editor for Mac users. Save to the desktop as a .TXT file and then rename as a .PY file. Copy-paste as usual to ../ScriptsMenu and restart Poser to see the script in the dropdown menu.
You should also know that it’s possible to have a script automatically load when you start Poser. I have a tutorial on this and the very useful XA Toolbar which gives you an iconized toolbar to which you can pin scripts, menu/keyboard commands and more…
PHILC’s SCRIPTS: According to Phil all of PhilC‘s scripts “should work as before” in Poser 11. He has a useful book on PoserPython scripting with sample scripts, and free scripts on ShareCG such as Create Props (create unusual 3D primitives) and OBJ Import Plus (batch import etc). His book has a strong focus on building use-able interfaces using Tkinter, which still runs but is now Windows-only due to all the changes at Apple. The book also comes with a number of useful example scripts.
Phil’s Wardrobe Wizard, shipping as standard with Poser 11, appears to have been updated for the new Pauline character (which ships with Poser 11). It’s possible that you may need the official SR6 patch and its associated Content patch applied to get the updated version of the script. I haven’t heard about any subsequent La Femme update here, and you should ask on the forums about that.
SNARLYGRIBBLY SCRIPTS: has updated his main scripts for Poser 11, including EZSkin3.3. EZSkin is very useful for instantly fixing existing Poser and Genesis (via DSON) skin materials to work in SuperFly rendering, and I have a quickstart tutorial on how to use it. Apparently his EZMetal no longer works. Also, my Poser 11.2 testing show that his EZMat appears to require that it be briefly opened first on an unsaved Poser scene, for it to then open properly when working with saved scenes.
At summer 2021 Snarly also has WIP Poser 12 scripts, and on the same page you will find the latest Poser 11 scripts. It’s possible some may be updated by the time you read this, thus voiding some of my comments here.
The Scenefixer toolbox script apparently doesn’t work with SuperFly renders, but does with Firefly. Version 1.9.7 appears to works fine for me re: Firefly rendering in Poser 11. His Particles3+ reportedly only partly works with Poser 11. The fun Snow Machine 2.3 works for me in Poser 11. Though note that SnowMachine does not work in SuperFly renders in Poser.
NETHERWORKS SCRIPTS: on release, they posted at the old RuntimeDNA forum that the following scripts work in Poser 11:
Scene Toy 2014
All Creator’s Toybox tools
Camera Panel Plus 2014
Dial Manager 2015
Light Dots
MATWriter Panel 2014
Pose Dots Revisited
Posewriter Panel
Runtime Rodent
Scripts Servant
Slim Parameters Panels
Spawn 2014
Thumbnail Designer
Transfer Material
I’m not familiar with all the other morph and other tools that content developers use for making character and clothing, but I assume that the commercial imperative there has meant that these have also been updated.
Creator’s Toybox was later updated with some tweaks for Poser 11, but apparently the old 2014 version can run in Poser 11.
The Netherworks Scene Toy 2014 does indeed works fine and is very stable, and is a vital tool. It offers an initially confusing array of scripts in its folder, but the ‘Launch’ one is the one you pick to start the script. There was also a Scene Toy Pro (2016) which improved on the 2014 version, and which some version of Poser 11.x may require. In general Scene Toy Pro works fine with Poser 11, and I have an install tutorial. The problem is that in 2020 the rights to SceneToy 2016 were purchased with the intention of making a forthcoming Poser 12 update for it, and this has meant it is no longer officially available for Poser 11 users. However, if you can get a copy it will work fine with Poser 11.
The Netherworks Thumbnail Designer I just couldn’t get working in any version of Poser 11. The old Advanced Shaders + Colorize plugin also appears to be totally dead in Poser 11, even with the AVfix hotfix. I’m uncertain what version of Poser you would have to go back to if you want these working, possibly Poser Pro 2012 at a guess.
EGUCHI SCRIPTS: The useful Poser Python Tools set mostly works fine in Poser 11. This set includes an excellent non-rendering ‘eye target’ box for easily controlling both eyes at once on M4/V4 and some other unsupported characters including A3 (though not the Nursoda characters, and La Femme and toon characters with large eyes have problems with it). There is also a script to quickly apply a fairly good subtle toon-edge shader onto a character or prop, useful for comics work. This can work in combination with Poser 11’s Comic Book Preview mode, and all Poser comics makers should have a look at it.
D3D SCRIPTS, Ralf Sessler (Dimension3D): His XS eXtended Shader Manager works fine for me using its Poser 9 version, despite being initially reported not to work. This is perhaps the most advanced of several scripts that can quickly copy/paste materials around the scene, such as MATWriter Panel and Transfer Material. But apparently in Poser 11 when copying materials XS will “ignore materials with compound nodes”, and in such use-cases MAT Writer Panel is to be preferred. Update: XS eXtended Shader Manager works fine for me in the latest Poser 11.2.
D3D Pythons: 12 Free Poser Python Scripts (Archive.org link, at which the .zip files do download) has a useful Reset Values script that works in a very easy way. There are two other scripts, elsewhere, that also work to reset the default values on a pose or eyes after they’ve become snarled up.
Update: a couple of Dimension3D’s scripts were broken by Poser 11.2 but there’s a small AVFix script to fix it. This hotfix will also fix the Reality 4.3.1.x plugin (read the readme instructions fully), XO Object Manager, and others. AVFix appears to work with scripts that expect an earlier version on Poser, and it reassures them that they can run in Poser 11.x. It appears not to fix ‘Send in the Clones for Poser’, which has other problems in both Poser 2014 and Poser 11 and is no longer working. Again, if you want that working you need to install an earlier version of Poser and run it there, save the results as a scene and then load that to Poser 11.
OCKHAM’S SCRIPTS: Ockham’s Python page has a large number of useful scripts that work, including the absolutely vital movers “SnapTo” (Windows only) and “Zoom To Extent” and variant. His ‘instant toon’ script “Z-Flatten” can still be useful, though it changes the geometry outline. Ockham’s “SnapTo” script is so vital for Poser users that I have a small usage tutorial. At summer 2021 there is also now a working Mac-friendly version of it.
His “Exploder” script also looks fun, though note it is the old 2004 version for Poser Pro 2010 or earlier (the commercial $10 Renderosity Store version was an update to make it work with
Poser 2014, but that update is now no longer sold).
Ockham’s “Eureka” script works in Poser 11. You select two scene items (a girl sitting on a cushion, for instance) and it deforms the lower object to give a displacement effect (in plain English: “she’s sitting on that cushion and squashing it down a bit”).
Ockham’s Python script “Loader” used to work with Poser 11 in its loader-locate.py script form, being able to duplicate and randomly scatter a prop. But a better choice is now a similar BagginsBill script, that also works in Poser 11 and is for making things like fish-shoals. See also Ockham’s “Swarms, leaf piles, etc” for a script for Poser 11 that constrains the scattered props inside a container shape (e.g. “fireflies in a jar”). There was also a new paid and advanced “Scatter” script for Poser 11 on the old HiveWire Store, which after a store-move hiatus is now on the Renderosity store.
If you have trouble downloading the .ZIPs via Ockham’s page you will find that many are on Renderosity Freestuff, and The Wayback Machine also has them.
From Ockham and others there are various small scripts to quickly adjust all lights up and down in intensity… I find that these still work. The same goes for various scripts to quickly adjust the scale of a texture bitmap up and down. You can also Change Shadow Intensity of Selected Lights.
GRUNGE OVERLAYS: The Rust-Icator and Grunge shaders and their application script still work, and offer an easy way of laying a new texture on top of the existing texture without fading or blanking the base texture. One can easily swop out the bitmap that’s driving the rust effect, for hatch shading or skin FX etc. There are three version of the Rust-Icator script, and in operation Poser 11 users need to pick the ones named “MSGH” from the Poser scripts menu.
CAGE’s LOOPER AND OTHER SCRIPTS:
They are now archived at Archive.org in a .ZIP file. At least one still works in Poser 11…
CLIP STUDIO EXPORT: The free Poser to Clip Studio – the OBJ export script from Smith Micro. Easy and simple, works in Poser 11 and the latest Clip Studio (aka Manga Studio). Export a clothed posed figure from Poser, as an OBJ without having to see any OBJ settings. Load it into Clip Studio, and the figure is correctly clothed, posed, and scaled to the canvas. This was originally written for Smith Micro’s Anime Studio (now Moho), so it should play nicely with that software to version 12.5. Poser support was dropped in Moho 13, though, due to the sale of Poser to Bondware/Renderosity.
MATERIAL AND HAIR: For the Material Room, there are a couple of neat-ify scripts which make working in the Material Room nodes more pleasant. Such as align_Nodes.py. This free script lets you change the colour of the Toon IDs on a entire character or prop, without a fiddly trip to Poser’s Material Room. I also have a script that allows the changing of a base bitmap for a material without visiting the Material Room, which works fine.
Copy Dynamic Hair Room Settings works, allowing you to develop a library of copy-paste Hair Room settings. Probably most useful for “quick fur” in Poser.
MULTIPASS AND COMPOSITING: So far as I’m aware there are no scripts for multi-pass rendering which mix Firefly with the other render types from a single scene file. You will find that Poser ships with scripts that can do various types of multiple renders, though, and there is at least one RPG game-maker script for making a series of turnaround masked game-sprite PNGs from a Poser figure.
The useful Render each figure/prop separately works, after a few manual tweaks, and runs fast. Useful for masking big complex scenes, which you then work on in Photoshop. There is also a script to allow you to pick the ToonID colour, so you get a custom ‘Clown Pass’ render that makes Photoshop selections much easier.
WallyR wrote a 2010 script set to Export Poser Cameras and Lights as co-ordinates in XML data which may be useful for some, perhaps in combination with Poser’s mature ability to send Poser scenes to Vue (Standard and Pro), and to Lightwave, Cinema 4D and similar supported software. The latter is done via PoserFusion plugins but these send scenes without camera co-ordinates, which is where such camera position XML-data may come in handy.
Not a PythonScript, but useful to know. If you want to share any Sketch Designer presets you’ve made, your personal ones get stored as .PZS files in one of Poser 11’s many obscure hidey-holes on your hard-drive, at: C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Poser Pro\11\SketchPresets This and the higher folders should be backed up before you upgrade to a new version of Poser. The same is true of your C:\Program Files\.. Python script folders. Also, it is now possible for a Python script to load a Sketch preset file, via a simple method that had always been possible but was unknown before its discovery in 2020.
AUTOMATION: The Python scripting in Poser can automate a lot. But if you’re looking for the equivalent of Photoshop’s recordable and re-playable “Actions”, to automate repetitive aspects of your Poser work, then you should look at the free WinParrot or the paid-for JitBit Macro Recorder. Both of these work with any Windows software. In some cases you may need to know the internal ID name of a Windows you want to have the automation macro work with, in which case you also need the freeware WinSpy.
While DAZ Studio has been able to host a websocket since 2015, it seems Poser cannot do this natively. But it seems quite possible that a Python script could be made to do this, as there are many Python websocket examples. This would allow things like the automatic live driving of facial animation in the real-time viewport, driven from the likes of F-Clone.
DSON IMPORTER: This brings DAZ Genesis 1 and 2 figures into Poser 11, in a usable way. The DSON Importer for Poser fairly swiftly and automatically imports DAZ’s Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 figures to Poser 11, and can also work with DAZ clothes, morphs and even props. Assuming you run 64-bit Windows then to run the DSON plugin you’ll need at least Poser 2012 with SR3 or higher, up to Poser 11.x. On install you may get an error message about the need to ‘define a path’, which translates as ‘where is poser.exe?’ — just point the installer to the Poser 11 poser.exe file. Many people also have to fool the installer and tell the DSON installer it’s actually looking at a Poser 2012 poser.exe.
Which version is best? Well, the DSON Importer version 1.2.0.12 apparently gave Genesis 2 Female’s ankle a slight ‘dent’ and there is a slight mesh flaw on the throat under the chin, so if you work heavily with G2F in Poser then you may want an earlier 1.1 version if you can get it. However, if you work with G2M or just with Genesis 1 that should not be a problem. You could also postwork out the flaw.
There has been some confusion about if DSON can only run on the older Smith Micro Poser (to Poser 1.1.11.35540) or if it can also run on the newer Renderosity/Bondware Poser 11 (11.2.x and 11.3.x), due to a slight upgrade in the Python 2.7. But I’m told it can now run under all Poser 11 versions.
If able to run DSON then you’ll also want the DSON Loader. This is Dimension 3D’s free add-on script which works fine in 11.2, and works in tandem with DSON Importer. It even imports DAZ .DUF files that have no Poser CF support files along with them. So Genesis 1 & 2 to Poser 11 can be done. Some users can even bring in Genesis 3-8, but it seems an incredibly fiddly and complex process.
The ‘butterfly-wing eyelashes’ problem on a DSON Genesis 1 or 2 import can be easily fixed with a script: Top Menu | Scripts | DSON Support | SubDivision | Set SubDivision OFF.
Note also that the import process for Genesis 1-2 will break with the forthcoming Poser 12, since there will be a new higher version of Python scripting in Poser… and DSON will stop working. DAZ have apparently said they have no plans to update it for Poser 12. So keep hold of your Poser 11 installers, if you want to keep the DSON importer running. It used to be that Poser 11.2 was needed, but apparently now any version of Poser 11.x will run DSON, Smith Micro or Renderosity. The old .CR2 export method from DAZ will still work.
One obvious and relatively simple fallback option for Genesis figures is just to do DAZ to Poser in 2D. Bring a static posed Genesis figure into Poser via rendering it 2800px with a similar light and greenscreen and then using it as a 2D billboard in Poser. Or render it and then composite it into your picture using a graphics editor. Quick and easy, though obviously only really suitable for background and crowd figures.
If you’re animating, rather than making a still picture, you’ll save yourself months of frustration by just staying in DAZ Studio and working there with the Genesis figures. Completely forget about the insane idea of trying to export a Genesis 8 to Poser and animating there, is my advice.
CONTENT MANAGERS: There are also several Content Library handling scripts, but I think the new native Poser Library (despite some early teething problems) is fairly good with the latest patch and with the constant indexing turned off (after the first indexing pass).
D3D’s ‘XL - Extended Library’ content manager script works fine in Poser 11, and in 11.2 with a simple AVFix script to fix it. A key main advantage here is to be able to easily bookmark your favourite content folders, though in tests I find its keyword search is impossibly slow on a large runtime (compared to the 10-20 seconds or so, in PzDB).
PzDB is a fairly speedy and robust content library indexer and finder, and the one I use, best for those with immense runtimes full of content collected over the years. PzDB 1.2 is perhaps to be preferred over 1.3. Version 1.3 tried to add indexing of the latest DAZ Studio .DUF formats and iClone content, and though this worked it was not entirely successful. If you only need Poser content indexed, then save some cash and get 1.2 for around $20. PzDB works fine with the latest Poser 11.2, re: drag and drop from PzDB to Poser. I use PzDB for finding and loading nearly everything, and use the Poser library only for a few regularly-used folders with Lights and Materials, these folders being placed ‘up top’ in the Library hierarchy so they can be speedily found.
MAC-USERS: Some Poser Python scripts, those which display nice user-friendly UI elements built with Tkinter, will still run perfectly fine in Windows and Poser 11, but not on a Mac version of Poser. Tkinter does not run on Macs (take it up with Apple and their Weird Foibles Dept., not with the makers of Poser…), and all Tkinter scripts were thus perma-blocked from running in Poser Mac installs from the Poser 10 / Poser Pro 2014 SR3 patch onward. Tkinter’s successor is also said to be flaky on recent Macs. Given the other problems with Macs (again, blame Apple not Poser) and also Apple’s forthcoming abandonment of OpenGL, I guess it’s probably now just easier to run Poser 11 with lots of scripts on a Mac in a ‘Windows in VirtualBox’ manner. Poser 12 will reportedly run fine, even on the latest OS and hardware, but will of course need updated scripts that run on Python 3.
POSERFUSION PLUGINS: There were also the official PoserFusion plugins available via the Smith Micro Download Manager download to bona fide users of the Smith Micro Poser Pro 11. These were formerly available via the old Smith Micro Download Manager software, and to get them you simply input your valid PoserFusion serials. Many will have the installers languishing on their hard-drive, relics of the since-uninstalled Download Manager. The PoserFusion plugins themselves necessarily lagged behind on sync with the very latest versions of Cinema 4D / Lightwave / Maya etc. If you’re looking for a ‘big beast’ 3D software to use with Smith Micro’s Poser 11 Pro then (at spring 2019) Cinema 4D R17 would be your best target choice, and 2016 your best choice for Max. (Update: I have heard that Cinema 4D R18 and R19 are now supported on both Windows and Mac). For Lightwave, I read on the forums that “Poser Fusion in Poser Pro 11 works with LW 2019” and that the new subscription Vue can take an imported Poser scene out to Lightwave 2020. However, since Renderosity purchased Poser, the old PoserFusion plugins are longer officially available though those that have them can still install them and they work (for C4D at least, tested). Note that ‘Structure’, on the Renderosity forums, maintains a useful Dropbox archive of the Poser service release packs and I believe the old PoserFusion plugins are also available if you look hard enough.
VUE: The other big beast software, E-On’s landscape software Vue, still imports Poser scenes fine and swiftly with no plugin or script needed. It does this very well — since the process was intensively worked on and refined over many years at both Smith Micro and E-On. Both pre and post-subscription Vue versions can import Poser scenes, although there are no guarantees on Vue import once Poser goes to version 12 and a new version of Python. For both the greatly-increased render-speed and the new stability, your ideal target Vue should be Vue 2016 R5 which was the last non-subscription Vue. (Why not R4? Because a small bug introduced in R4 meant that Poser 11.2 scene saves may not open correctly in Vue 2016 R4, but this bug was fixed in R5). Don’t confuse these with the currently subscription Vue R patches, as that has now also reached these patch numbers.
DOCUMENTATION, WRITING CODE AND SR’s: There is an official PDF guide to Python on Poser, part of the excellent Poser documentation, which is up to date. This is found after install at C:\Program Files\Smith Micro\Poser 11\Poser Python Methods Manual.pdf since it ships with Poser 11. It was updated for Poser 11 along with the third patch (SR3). But it’s not a step-by-step guide to making a script, to skill up beginners. For that you should look to PhilC’s paid-for Python for Poser book, though this is somewhat dated now.
Also useful is my Poser Technical Search Engine which constrains Google to around 70 of the most useful sites and books.
You may also want the official ‘Service Release’ patches for Poser, in order to have a script run properly. The various service packs for older Poser versions are to be found here on Dropbox, though Poser Pro 2014 currently has SR5.x missing.
For writing scripts, a proper Python editor such as Microsoft Visual Studio Code or PyCharm will allow you to copy-paste properly formatted code at the Renderosity Python forum. This cannot be done from Notepad++, even with Python language activated. Digital Art Live magazine recently had a two page guide to installing and setting up the free Visual Code Studio (not to be confused with the behemoth Visual Studio).
For those on offline Windows 7 PCs, you may need to step back a few versions on Python 3 to get it to install. Success is reported with the 3.7.1 64-bit installer from the official site. Python 2 should be no problem.
SEARCHING FOR SCRIPTS: Poser Python Scripts have their own tag and category on the Renderosity Store, but regrettably this is relatively new — and thus misses many scripts. The other and older Renderosity tagged category is then Utilities, though even this misses a few things. Neither will pick up scripts and utilities in Freestuff, for which another search will be needed using the Freestuff searchbox. Many free PoserPython scripts can also be found at ShareCG.
COMPANIONS: Not a Python script, but similar and absolutely vital for those with huge old runtime collections: RSR to PNG Converter. This chugs through your runtime and fixes any old content without a PNG preview picture. Very useful, especially in combination with PzDB! Some really ancient Poser 5 content may not be handled, but nearly all of it is.
That’s it. At 2021 you’ll find there are more scripts out there for Poser 11, if you go looking or asking on the forums. At 2021 I’d say that the key starter bundle for newbies would be: SnapTo (or its Mac equivalent); Scene Toy 2016; EZSkin; DSON; and XA Toolbar and the AVfix; Also PzDB 1.2 and the RSR to PNG Converter.
On Poser 12 Early Access, a key thing to know is that new Renderosity Store-purchased scripts cannot activate (i.e. be registered with a serial number) from inside a Windows 7 install of Poser 12. So don’t waste your money on new scripts if you run Poser 12 on Windows 7. Another key thing is that there appears to have been some Poser-specific fixes. For instance in Poser 11 there was no Disconnect command available for some Material Room nodes, and this has reportedly been fixed in Poser 12.