Before I put this into the official Suggestions/Improvements thread, I would like to get people's opinions and make sure the feature does not already exist (i.e. I am just not aware of it).

With iClone props and CC accessories we have the ability to change the material and somewhat (by using opacity maps) the shape by applying new material files. These new materials are store in individual material file so that each material variation does not need to include the base mesh. This means, for example, that if one has twenty different material variations for a base, there are would be twenty material files but only one base file that contains the actual mesh. This means that the twenty different variations would take up a lot less space than having twenty different copies of the prop/accessory that each contain the mesh and material. This is very good.

However, there does not seem to be a similar option for positioning of accessories. For example, I create some body piercing content which were provided as CC accessories. Obviously the user of this content can add the piercing and then relocate it to any location that he/she desires but, ideally, I would like to provide the user with a number of (more common) preset location such as the ears, nose and tongue. However, since iClone/CC does not provide the ability to provide individual location/orientation files (similar to how materials are done) then in order for me to provide my content with different preset positions, I need to provide copies of the entire content which includes the base mesh. If my piercing set, for example, had 3 different piercings and I wanted to provide presets for the common locations (right ear, left ear, right side nose, left side nose, and tongue) then I would need to provide 3x5=15 items all of which include the meshes as opposed to 3 items and 5 position files (or possibly 15 position files).

This can become a serious problem if the content being developed is detailed and thus is a large file size to begin with. In that case it can make it more difficult to upload (due to the draft size limit) and makes it a much large download for the user if he/she wants to have all the positions available in CC.

To solve this issue, I would propose to create a file format for storing a props or accessory's location, orientation and Attach value. Files of this new type could then be used, in a similar manner as material files, by applying them to a base object already in the scene. When this would be done, the object's location (move values), orientation (rotate values) and attach value would be set to the values in the file. This would then allow a single base content to be deployed with multiple location/orientation/attach files without needing to provide multiple copies of the entire content.

"We often compare ourselves to the U.S. and often they come out the best, but they only have the right to bear arms while we have the right to bare breasts"
Bowser and Blue, Busting The Breast