Newbie here. What are Poser5 users using to create a background/ foreground scenes? Are you just waiting for plug-in support or what?

I use Infinity Cove from RDNA as a prop for my backdrop. You can place a pic on it and re-size the Cove if you need to. I find this a great saver on my computer resources when render'n.

Nerd's Backdrop, pretty much the same as infinity cove...What do I use to put on them? Why Bryce 5 Scenes of course :) I love Bryce and I truly believe it is what made my transition to P5 much easier(as in features and paitence) I both import poser figures into bryce(really not that hard, and grouper makes it easier) or create a bryce scene and put it on nerd's backdrop.

3DWorldz, by Andix. It renders great, you can get a lot of effects with it, and it's very cleverly designed to be as lightweight a mesh as possible so it doesn't bog down the renders. It's easy to make new textures for it and it works very well in any image where you want multiple layers of background scenery, but don't want or need to use full models.

I use Bryce, but a lot of people use Vue D'esprit which is supposed to be easer to import into and has similar features to bryce.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=leather%2Dguy&Form.sess_id=4629816&Form.s

If it's for my Gallery, I usually just build my scene entirely in Poser when it's an exterior (like the "Runaways..." or "Susie-Lou's....". When I have an interior with an outside view, like my Valentine picture, I just map a photo onto a square and place it outside the window. For fun and speed in an exterior, I've used all those above, or Gryphon's wonderful free 360-degree "environments" series.

Hi,

I don't have personal experience on them, but the 3dmodelz' WorldZ and ForegroundZ from Andix seem to be popular (and on sale until end of February, $14 for both).

For photographic backgrounds, there is the Infinity Cove which is free, Nerds backdrop tool ($10, pretty similar thing I guess), and the Cyclorama from DaZ which might work better for animations since it includes some flipboards ($15). Note though that with Poser 5 you will have to fiddle with the material a bit to get the correct brightness for the background picture (see e.g. this thread). The same thing may apply for other background props as well.

If you want more power than Andix paks can offer, then there are external programs which are in an entirely different league - unfortunately, also pricewise. You'll want something that can import Poser directly. The alternatives are pretty much Vue d'Esprit ($199 + $99 for animation) from e-on software and World Builder ($399, animation included) from Digital Element. For the differences of the apps I can't give personal comparison since I don't own both, but my impression is that Vue is easier to use and better productized but lacks some of the features and power of World Builder. Vue community is much larger, so there is more free content available.

Since you characterize yourself as a newbie, my recommendation would be to get the Andix WorldZ V2 and ForegroundZ V2 and download the infinity cove (Go to http://host1.bondware.com/~syydr/, register and then follow the "Free RDNA" link on the left - there's also something called a "Cyclo-drop" if you browse the free stuff). This will set you back all of $14 and should give you plenty to play with. There are free textures for the Infinity Cove available, but you may have to search a bit. You can also try just using any suitable photograph JPG.

Best Regards,

--Oskari

I use the DAZ Multiplane Cycolorama here, though I haven't done a huge amount with it. Based on a few quick tries with 3D Worldz v1 (is it still in freebies?) I suspect that V2 would be easily sufficient for a newbie :)

Thanks folks. Looks like I'm leaning toward Vue but I'll give some of the other recommendations a look see. thanks again.

All of the above. And more. You can use all of this stuff in combination, or in layer processing. I'll build a scene in P5 with andix's WorldZ and his creat backdrop, and import it into Vue for the final render and lighting. Or I'll build a scene/world in Vue or Bryce, and put it on Nerd's backdrop, the Cyclorama from Daz, or the free rDNA Cove in P5. Switching between software and world methods can give some very interesting effects sometimes. I'm even slowly building a complete texture set for WorldZ using Vue and Photopaint.

Vonsay...Vue does not import Poser 5 only poser 4 If you still want vue...they have promised compatiblity, but it is not out yet.

There is a way to trick it - to use P5... check out the Vue forum, a few have gotten great results.

As a Poser addict, Vue is soooo comfy with poser like I can't believe. A few versions ago they perfected the .bum thing and it works flawlessly. Go for Vue - they update often to give everyone something on the wish-list. Best company i've ever delt with after Daz.

:-)

I don't know why people keep saying that they can't import Poser 5 files into Vue. I don't have a problem with it at all. Here's a quickie import and render. The lighting is terrible, but you can tell its Don.