Is Rhino a good program to be used for human modeling as an input for Poser4? Some extra know-how I need to know when I use Rhino this way? Thanks in advance, Benny

Rhino is an excellent programme, and certainly can model to the level of detail required to create figures. In addition, it has a fairly easy learning curve and isn't priced too high. It's not a programme I use, but I know there's a fair number of tutorials available Paul

Oh well, I just downloaded the trail version. It says that it is specialized in NURBS curves ,but has limited support for polygon meshes. Didn't the manual of Poser states that it can only import polygon meshes and not curves/splines etc? Or do have I interpreted things wrongly? Thanx in advance, Benny

Everything I do... Morphs, clothes, props.. is done in rhino . You will need to find the .obj to rhino format converter and then you can import .obj file meshes. The mesh tools are kinda on the weak side (1.1 just added a killed face reduction command) But the stuff you can build with nurbs, then convert to a mesh are out of this world. -Trav

If you don't like Nurbs. You won't like it. I've never been a big fan of them myself. But that's because I've got chronic Polygonal vision. ;-). My favorite things are making 3dmodels and setting up the JP's for new figures. Not rendering nice pictures. So you may want to ignore my opinions. I'm sorta wacky compared to everyone else. <:oP ScottA

I use Rhino for around two months,sharing my son 's student version.I still beginning using it and it seems fantastic Nurbs modelling is powerfull .I model a detailled cello with it ,a model i tried without success to model before with Carrara.I plan to use it for poser morph .Traveler:I admire yours morphs and i have bought models from you by Bbay(Garb pack and long coat).It will be nice if you would make tutorial about using Rhino for Poser file.Just a question: When you convert to mesh when exporting from Rhino,where you put the quality dial? ,Thanks

So you can do NURBS and then convert to mesh. OK. But the price $795 :-( makes me think of Raydream 3D instead and is only $129,- or so. I just want to use it mainly for humanoide modeling. Benny

If you're a student, you can get it for around $200. I don't know too much about RD3D.

If you need to model humans don't even think about raydream 3d its modeling is very limited I reckon rhino will be your best bet for that, Steve

If you want to do organic modeling Nurbs is the best way to do it IMHO. RDS is ok, but Rhino blows it away both in sheer power and useability. If anyone is looking to buy it, you can get 1.1 for $520 at DVDirect. If you are a student, you can get it much cheaper :) MartialF: I use the Detailed controls, and the settings vary on every thing I make. Sometimes you need a high count, sometimes not. The help file explains what all of the settings do there. If your item is scaled for poser the numbers get pretty small. -Trav

I gotta give good reviews for Rhino. It makes construction so much easier than with Raydream. I'll be honest, when I started modelling I thought Raydream was great, but when I fiddled with Rhino, I realized that creating the same things with RD would be so much slower. However, RD is better for predictability, you get better detailing since you are manipulating the objects directly rather than having the program calculate the details like you do with Rhino. Also, you can get carried away in Rhino, building objects that take hours to render (it converts to Polygons before rendering which can take it forever with really complex objects). I will give RD this, and it's why I still use it: The rendering is quick and beautiful, the range of effects is staggering, and last but not least, Rhino's lights offer very (and I do mean VERY) little property control. My advice is build it with Rhino and do the finishing touches and rendering in Raydream. -Happy modelling!

heyas; ray dream can do some decent figure modelling; i used it exclusively (er, well it and amorphium) for the dragon figures of dragon factory. but you want details, you gotta put in the points yourself, and move them all by hand. it is SLOW. (you can do automatic subdivisions and triangulations, but you quickly lose control of your shape that way.) i got the rhino demo, and building things with this sucker is FAST. you only need to create a few (as little as 4) outlines and skin them. the nurbs-to-polygon conversion can be a bit tricky, but it can be done. i used rhino's drape thingy to make a horse blanket, by draping it over the horse (converted from obj to 3dm -- ask jeeves, he knows where that util is), and trimming the outline. there's pictures of it around (search for horse blanket). the mesh turned out kinda messy, but the model is sweet, it even has little natural folds in it that i wouldn't have made if i were building it by hand in ray dream.