Adding Outfits to the Library

 In this example, I've added the dress to the scene.
 Add colors, textures, reflections, bump maps, etc. to suit your taste (or use a MAT pose to apply these changes). In this example, I've added a purple and black texture map and a "dress short" transparency map.
 Normally, you would now conform the clothing to the human figure, but since we don't have a human figure, we will NOT conform this clothing to anything. Instead, this first piece of clothing will be our "conform-to" object.
 Important: do NOT pose or move this piece of clothing; however, you can adjust any morphs (such as "Lengthen").

 In this example, I've added the sock.
 Like the previous step, add colors, textures, reflections, bump maps, etc. to suit your taste (or use a MAT pose to apply these changes). In this example, I've added a "short sock" transparency map.
 Now, conform the sock to the dress: Figure > Conform, select the Dress, and hit the "OK" button
 If the piece of clothing flies off or srunches or does something weird, don't worry- when we conform it to a human figure (in Step #7), it will look correct.

 In this example, I've added the other sock and the running shoes.
If you look carefully, the shoes do not appear to be in the correct place- this is because Poser is trying to conform the shoes to the figure's Feet. In this case, the Dress has no Feet, so the shoes are conformed to the hip instead! You may see the same thing occur if you conform gloves to socks- since socks do not have Forearms or Shoulders, the gloves may wind up in a strange location.

 Select the "conform-to" clothing that you first added in step #1 (the dress).
 Open the Figures Library, select a sub-folder (or make a new one called "Outfits") and click "Add to Library" (the button) to add the outfit.
 Poser will give you a message saying "This figure it part of a multiple-figure grouping. Do you want to save the whole group or just the individual figure ?". Click the "Whole Group" button to save all of the clothing objects as one outfit.
Note: Yes, if you look closely, the message, "This figure it part of a multiple-figure grouping" contains a typo- it should be "This figure is part of a multiple-figure grouping."

Suppose a piece of clothing in your outfit has a transparency map. And suppose that you want a nice render of your outfit as a thumbnail image. You could follow my tutorial (found on the General Tips Page) on making your own thumbnnail... but, since we're adding a new entry to the Library (rather than replacing an existing thumbnail), here's an easier method:
 Make sure your document window is square: go to Window > Document Window Size. You can use any size, but the width and height must be equal.
 Next, set your lights, your camera angle, and your Render Options (shadows? use bump maps?). In this example, I've changed the background color to white.
 Render the scene.
 Paste this image onto the background: Display > Paste onto Background.
 Select another camera- the Top Camera will work nicely.
 Move the camera (NOT the object) so that your outfit can not be seen by the camera- all you should see is the rendered image. For example, move the top camera to the right (which moves the outfit to the left) until you can't see the outfit.
 Now, go back to step 5 and add the outfit to the Library- you should see your nice thumbnail appear.
Note: Even though you can't see your outfit in the document window, don't worry- it has been added to the Library correctly and will load into the scene correctly. If you move any of the clothing (or use the Hierarchy Editor to hide anything), the outfit may not load into the next scene correctly.
Note 2: Don't forget that you can render your outfit against any color or background image.

 Give your character any texture, change the shape, give it hair, etc... but don't pose it yet. In this example, I'll use my Tabby character.

 Go to the folder where you stored the outfit (from Step #5).
 Select your outfit and click "Create New Figure" (the button). Despite what the Poser 5 manual says, do NOT double-click on the outfit- Poser will ask you to replace the current figure (your human character) with the new figure (the outfit).
 Now, select a piece of clothing and conform it to the human figure. For example, select the Running Shoe, then go to Figure > Conform, then select "Vicky" (or the name of your character) and click the "OK" button.
 Repeat this step for each piece of clothing in your outfit.
Note: I know this may seem a little tedious, but remember that this is a LOT faster (and less tedious) than selecting the each piece of clothing from the Library, conforming it, then coloring and texturing it.