Hello all! I am a newbie to the 3D modeling world and a (quite) amatuer artist of sorts. I have a very specific goal I'd like to accomplish, and would REALLY appreciate some advise as to what software/model types(Vicky, Mike, stock, etc.) to use to accomplish my goal. The goal - I would like to create a comic book and perhaps series using a composite of artistic techniques. 3D modeling for figure posing, position, perspective, etc. 2D graphics work for background and scenery, digital photography for the same purpose, and my good 'ole drafting board for hand drawn and inked art. I want to combine all these tools to help me create a comic that LOOKS LIKE A TRADITIONAL COMIC. Therefore, I'd want realistic poses and figures, but not necessarily photo realistic textures, hair, etc. I'd like to be able to create a picture or panel in the same time or less than it would take me to do it traditionally -- allowing me to more time to concentrate on the story. I have been looking around the web at possible tools to use to help me with this. Poser seems to be the choice for figures, but after reading the 5.0 manual and many forums out there, I am not sure what figures (if any) I should buy. Should I buy Vicky and Mike 3.0 for max realization, and texture them with solid fills? Would the stock figures work as well for this purpose? How about the line art layer? It looks like Poser can output sketch style renders of the figures. Is it possible to output a full render and a sketch render, then delete all the white from the sketch layer and place it on top of the full render? Any advice would be appreciated.... I'd hate to spend cash on the wrong software or figures... Thanks!!!! Jim

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/tut.ez?Form.ViewPages=319

This link is for a very good tut on "Z-toons"...a way of makeing cartoon looking images in Poser. For your purchase,I would get plain Poser 4 (I think they sell it as Poser Artist now). Poser5 has a lot more features along with a higher learnig curve,but for your use you just don't need it. Start with the figures that come with Poser,as they may be all you need for now.As you learn,you'll find out what other figures you'll need.You may not even want to go with Vic or Mike,but with a more "toony" looking Koshini or animal(toon cat,toon mouse,toon moderator,etc.). Of coures you'll need an image editor such as PaintShopPro or Photoshop.There is a free plugin that will work in either called "elminwhit"that will drop out the white background of the sketch render leaving just the line art. Hope this helps,SWAMP

elimwhit?! Where can you get that plug in?! I've never heard of it but it sounds VERY interesting :o)

Attached Link: http://www.edesign.com/filters/

If the link is still good, its here.

Use the eliminate white filter on your texture templates also....then just use the outline over the texture your working on...nice.. SWAMP

Hey all, thanks for the advice! I have PSP already. I was thinking of a Sojourn-style art, where the figures are quite realistic, yet still comic in nature (ie, solid fills and shading. No real texture). Hense, the question on Vicky and Mike. Will V and M work in Poser 4?

DAmn!!! That tut was EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thanks! It even mentioned the sketch render idea. Guess I'm on the right track. Are there some features in Poser 5 Ill need for any of this?

Yes, they will work in P4.

Great! Now here's a weird installation question. Is there a way I can run Poser off a CD? Here's why I ask... My home PC is not nearly as good as my work laptop. BUT, I'm not supposed to load my personal software on the laptop...but I can use the laptop for personal use. I'm a systems analyst by trade, so I could handle a complicated technical answer if there even is one.. Thanks again!!!! Jim

I THINK you can, if you install it to the laptop, then copy the entire Poser 4 folder to a CD. I think there need to be a reference in the registry, so you'll probably have to install it. You can then delete it again (not uninstall it) and in theory run it from a CD. But it's just an idea I have. Don't know if it'll work :o) Can't harm to try though.

Kewl.... I'll try that. Now I need to take a hard look at 4 vrs. 5 to see which one to get. I suppose I can just get 4 and buy the upgrade pack....

Look for what you wanna do 4 is the clear choice. It's now known as Poser Artist BTW. The features P5 has over 4 you don't need for what you want to do, and 4 is much more stable and easy to use. I'd suggest getting Victoria and Mike 2. V3 and M3 are really not that well suited for beginners IMO, and their detail and flexibility for character creation should be up to what you want easily. The basic Poser 4 people lack sufficient morphs to create any variety in characters though they do have plenty of free morphs floating around. Clean out the freestuff here, though do pay attention to what is for commercial use and what is not. (assuming your comic is to be commercially available and not just for fun.) Most important get a subscription to Poserworld.

Also swing by Animotions.com, there are many great comics style artists there who use Poser for figure realisations. Many links to comics done with poser. Really good to see whats being done out there. Plus some great stuff in freestuff there. I'd recomend getting Mike and Victoria, plus subscriptions to PoserWorld and possibly Poserstyle. Depending on how stylised the faces are you might want to look into Capsces Studios Boris and Roxanne, morph sets for Mike and Victoria respectively.

I'd recommend getting Poser Pro Pack (an add-on for Poser 4) or Poser 5, if you want to Z-toon. There's some python scripts in the Free Stuff that will automate the Z-toon process and make things much easier. Python runs on Poser Pro Pack and Poser 5 only. Bear in mind, Z-tooning does change the figures a little bit. I made some faces that looked great while Z-tooned but when I unZ'ed the faces, boy were they scary! ;-) Because Z-tooning squishes things, you can get a bit of a distortion so if you want to do everything Z-tooned, I'd recommend working with the characters while Z-tooned for morphs and such. (Bodies don't show much difference but faces can change significantly, IMO.) Cheers!

Many thanks to all!!