I have had poser from the beginning. There are some things i still am having trouble with. What size document do you work with? Vertical or horizontal? What camera angle? IK on or of for posing? Do you pose first then add textures or do you add textures just before rendering. Which camera for setting up a scene main or pose etc. Hopefully these questions aren't to stupid, but i've been trying to figure it out on my own for quite while. thanks mike

Attached Link: A Beginner Guide to Creating a Poser Scene (Daz Arcana)

You know that there is no one answer to most of your questions, don't you? Everyone has a different style of working ... and may, in fact, change their approach depending on the graphic they are trying to achieve. It's not a stupid question. Just don't be surprised if you get a lot of contradictory answers. You might like to take a look at Firebirdz tutorial on setting up a scene...but it sounds like you are too advanced for that. I'd also be sure to read Crescent's thread on the forum called: [Repeat After Me](http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1289089) which gives some excellent suggestions. There will be more from others. That's just a little starter kit.

I render to a new window(stock size) But save it as a Tiff. Document window is maxed for my sreen 1400x1000. Main camera almost always for all the tools. I use IK only when making hip rotations as this can screw up some Preset (puchased) poses. Also save Figures with IK off. Now, adding texture at the 11th hour sounds clever. I'll try that. Some scenes are so complicated and tweaked it would be hard to remember all of them, though. You might as well save them on your file. I usually close all tools that are not needed to avoid punch- throughs (click on lib. and hit depth cueing). This is not a recommend, as I'm still learning. Richardson

heyas; well, i use a doc size that fits my workspace, as large as i can make it, by shoving other stuff out of the way. the actual vertical or horizontal and proportional stuff comes after i'm done posing, and i'm into framing the scene. i use the isometric cameras, mostly, for posing. for rendering, i use the main or face cams, and what angle depends again on the composition i want. i use ik OFF by default. i only ever turn it on when i get a foot or hand in a position where i want it, and then decide i want to fiddle around with the torso or arm/leg positioning. with ik, i can "glue" the hand/foot into place while i do that.

Yet another, another, another opinion... [grin] I usually have ik on for the initial "bulk" leg posing, then turn it off. I may later turn it on to do adjustments to posing if I want some part to 'stay put'. Otherwise it's off. Camera I switch off on, but usually shortly into setting up the image, a certain camera becomes my "main" camera. I tend to not move it and usually 'remember' its position with the camera dots. This is usually the camera through which I'm (at least initially) thinking I'll render the final image. I usually back the aux camera way off so I can get the birds-eye view of the scene. The dolly camera is great to use when doing an image inside something like a house or tunnel or cave. Or at least I think it's called the dolly camera... (i'm at work, no poser in front of me)... the one that sits in place and just pivots back-n-forth without moving... yeah, that one. Interestingly, the face and hand camera's seem to be my main posing cameras I use most. Camera use for me seems to be whichever one seems right for the moment and the image. If I need to revolve around something a lot, I'll use the face and hand cameras. The isometric cameras are great for lining things up. Especially if you have some of the "construction" type prop sets for making tunnels, buildings, mazes, walls, whatever, where they have to line up just right to look right. I have a large monitor, so my image size in poser is most always set to what I want the size of the final rendered image to be. Usually somewhere between 640x480 to 750x[mumble-mumble]. I rarely render in a separate window. I usually add textures as I'm going along. Mostly so I don't have to go back and try to remember what I was thinking of doing texture-wise later on. However, my view is usually set to flat-shaded or hidden-line while posing. I'll click on the full-textured display ball just to see how things are shaping up, then go back to flat-shaded for more posing. Lights I usually have in mind what I want to do with them as I go along. I'll use the default lights for set up and posing until I'm "done posing". Then I delete all but the main infinite light and start putting in the spot lights I want. During this (supposedly) "done posing" stage I'll turn up the main infinite light if I decide to do any tweeking to the posing (which is a common occurance and why I put "done posing" in quotes :P ). Depending on the final image I want, I'll either turn off the last infinit light, or change its color and turn it waaay down to provide ambient light to fill in areas I want to be a little visible but not worth a spotlight.

Big, -depends, -depends, -only when needed, -from the beginning. -usually Main or Aux ...essentially what Bloodsong just said. One little digression, but a tidbit worth noting regarding the working size of your composition window: When a Background Image is imported, it is resampled to the current size of your composition window, and it is this new resolution, rather than that of the original file, that is actually used during the renders -- often resulting in lossy multiple rescaling errors. (Sheesh! I had to type that four times to get it into a sentence that sounded like it might make sense) So, to reduce the interpolation errors when importing background images, either make your composition window the same size as your final render, or the largest even multiple that will fit. It appears that once the image is imported, you can then rescale the composition window back down without further detrimental effects. or, blow all this off and just apply your background image to a square prop with the Object Color Zero Black and the Ambient Color at 100% White.

I set the screen to the largest size that will still let me select tools, shift cameras and access libraries. It's easy to crop in postwork and I need the large size because my eyes are getting old ;) First thing I do in a new project is reset the main, face and aux. camera's focal length to between 55 and 120, depending on how far away my character is going to be--the closer, the longer focal length used. And I switch off IK unless I can't get an extreme pose right without it...it annoys me. Textures I apply right away, unless it's Vicki3 in a complex scene. Lights I tend to leave for last and then tinker with them for-friggin-ever! ;)