Thomson Course Technology approached me out of the blue a few weeks ago about writing a Poser book. One thing led to another and I am happy to announce that I am beginning work on a new book covering Poser versions 4 - 6. This project will be geared towards new to mid-level artists and will feature a workflow-based (as opposed to reference-based) format. The idea is to teach people as much as possible about using Poser without necessarily going into every last little function. Of course, nothing has been finalized beyond the scope, so this project remains very open and flexible. Target cover price is $29.95. Expected release date will coincide with Poser 6 to the greatest extent possible. If anyone has any CONSTRUCTIVE ideas for what should/shound not be included, I'd love to hear them! :-) Anthony Hernandez anthony@dawnstarbooks.com

That is extremely exciting!!! It covers version 6...be still my heart! This is fantastic news.

nosfiratu, I've ragged on ya in the past, and admittedly unfairly on occasion or two. T'weren't nuthin personal. Congratulations, though -- very glad to hear this and wish you speedy writing and rapid royalites (and, one hopes, a decent advance). Constructive thoughts 1 - Well thought out chapters. More a part of the layout design, but it should likely be something you can easily find what you wanted in. 2 - Document the differences between what the Community discovered and took advantage of, and what really is. THere are a lot of differences between Poser 4 and 5 that sorta go against the grain to an extent. 3 - Be sure to cover the good stuff: new figure creation and animation methods. Animation, especially -- there needs to be a good reference out there for animating (the good Dr. notwithstanding). 4 - Support the community: get some good stuff on the disk. lol Again, congratulations. ynsaen

Poser 6??? Did I miss something?

Yes, Antonio, that's a good idea - workflow. Do various examples from start to finish, like how to do a movie clip, how to do an extreme pose, how to set up a firefly render, how to add materials to a figure, et al. Then you could include various freebie characters, materials, pose files and textures on the CD that you distribute with the book, to make sure everybody starts from the same base, from la pina misma.

Congratulations on the job and the workflow idea. Step by steps are a godsend for us dummies out here. I'd love to see the materials room, the cloth room, all the stuff we complain about here done so that I can set the book down next to my laptop and get cracking on learning how to do stuff. Oh, and Poser 6??? Heck, I haven't figured out 5 yet and I'm not sure about the latest service release...

6 is typo, surely???

Nope, P6 is in the works (according to CL, the aim is more to stabilize and clean things up once and for all, not add new capabilities so much). Glad to see one of the old CL crew getting into this. And as for ideas...ynsaen got to the animation. Another area that is -seriously- in need of documentation is the shader system (what the nodes actually -are-, and what they do, possibly with pictoral references. The cloth room (if it exists, tables of settings as to what produces a simulation of cotton, silk, wool, etc. The fiddly data that takes forever to figure out, as well as expertise with the actual fabrics), and something similar in the hair room. And yeah, I know that either one could support a book all by its lonesome. If the data doesn't actually exist, it might be possible to get a selected part of the community to do the neccesary experiments to document it.... Possibly some references to the other programs that Poser can be used with (so that people know there is a different world between P4 and P5, for instance), and there current status in the real world. Perhaps an overview of the user community, and just how it has turned a virtual artist's mannikin program into a tool for CG artists who don't have $$$$$$ to spend on the 'big boys', or the years needed to become marginally competent with them. Python! Ockham has been doing some great things for animators with his scripting, as has WierdJuice Software with Metaforms. Recommendations as to where to start learning python with an eye towards CG scripting would be a godsend to a lot of people (many who don't know what it is). Also, some mention of just how extensive a scene or animation can be; with DAZ's cyclorama and RDNA's Microcosm, some fairly realistic exteriors can be done. And with Liteluvr's Virtual Backlot series, and Transpond's various architectural creations, some excellent historicalexotic locales can also be done. Maybe a section on copyright as it pertains solely to CG and rendered artwork. That way we can stop saying 'go here, here, here, over there, and don't forget here' and just say 'Go buy Anthony's new book!' :P A question; how much of your page count is being allocated to actual images? Some of these things are better seen than explained...

Congrats Anthony! Everyone pretty much covered it, I want to cast my vote for coverage of animation, the face room, and Python. Also - how about some spotlight on the P5 (or, I gues, P6 now!) figures - Don, Judy, etc.? While the majority of the community uses Vic/Mike, there is a lot of potential in the included characters, especially when combined with the Face Room. I think it's a shame there's not more stuff out there for them. :( Best of luck with the book! --Donnie

"better seen than explained" Oh, absolutely! As a teacher I run into the problem of visual vs. textual learners daily and, as a visual learner myself who borders on being a global reader, I find it easier if I have an example to work from. But I still need that step by step if its an area I know nothing about. Perhaps a half page illustration of the finished image with the instructions (text on left, image on right) would be a usable approach. Personally, I'm excited about this project. I can use all the help I can get. And I agree, with Cyclorama, Microcosm and some of the "kits" some astounding images can be created. I'm waiting to find out about a contract and payment in order to purchase the "starter kit" for Microcosm and all its attendant supplements. Perhaps someone who has a little spare time should create a list of the freebies that are available for Poser for just such a purpose, rather like some of the professors post the reading list for their next two semesters in case you want to get the books early and read ahead. This would allow Poser users who were going to work through those areas a chance to download and putter a while.

Welcome back Mr H :) how you doing? hows the family? where you been hiding? nice to see you're still getting your hands dirty with poser, soon as I hear the book's gonna be released I'll start bugging my local bookstore for a copy :)

ps congrats on the job :D

Good to hear your talents are sought after...keep those pokers in the fire (smile)! My pet peeves with books run in the ordinary...a GOOD index, referenced and captioned illustrations, and, strangely enough (though unlikely), a ringed binding (for opening beside the KB (like the Mojoworld manual) instead of traditional binding (I hate those for reference!). Good luck!

One of the things I'd REALLY like in a book is a good chapter about lighting. Poser has something called "local light", only accessible from Python, but what is it? What can be done with it? How do you get those &@#@$#@$8 shadows right in a more complicated scene?

I'd love to see that book. Echoing especially the need for P5 materials/shaders advice. Incidentally, my anatomy stuff is published through Thomson. They are strict editors but pretty good about advances and payments. So Anthony, be prepared for lots of finicky revisions .... and readers, be prepared for a high-quality book.

Hey Anthony, how's it going? Long time no hear, after the 2002 layoffs :( Hope all is going well with you and your family. Good luck with the Poser book. That's cool -- I think a workflow-formatted book is definitely needed for P5 and going forward. Many have said the basic things I would imagine being covered. I would place some emphasis on the materials room. It is actually a very good procedural shader network system, and I think that 90% of folks are probably only scratching the surface of what it can do. Take care, Jeremy

Hi All, Thanks for the great input. Family's fine, life is good! THis project caught me by complete surprise, but who the heck am I to argue? Anyway, this book will be as visual as I can make it. If you pick up one of Thomson's IGNITE! books, it is basically a bunch of screenshots with some minimal text. For Poser, there is no way to include that many screens, since the page count is limited to 500 pages and I could spend that on the Material Room alone. So the idea is to skim over things that can be safely skimmed over, thus saving room for what matters. And of course, what matters depends on who you're asking... So right off the bat, the decision was made to focus on newer users to get them up and running and creating cool art/animations using some of the advanced functionality (hair, cloth, materials, etc.). Then, if that sells well, the door would be open for a more advanced book that goes into Python in detail, CR2 editing, etc. etc. One of the key things is going to be to see how much new stuff really is in Poser 6- which I should start to know more about in a couple of weeks. But back to the book for a second. Far as I know, the best-selling Poser book out there has sold just over 6,000 copies. My goal is 10,000. I think that discussing Poser 4-6 will help this a lot, that making it visual will also help, that involving the community from the start will also help, and so forth. Also, I have one advantage my competitors don't: I worked at CL for over 2 years. THough some will doubtless label that a liability :-). Anthony

6,000 guys bought Sham's book? Jeez, I hope they don't all march on his castle with pitchforks and torches. ;-)

Sounds great as there has never really been such a book on the market. Please don't sell Poser4 users short while conentrating heavily on P5 & 6... there are still a lot of P3 and P4 users out here seeking good info in one volume. If Sham's book sold 6,000 copies...then there are 6K customers up front wanting a good book. With all the bad publicity his book gets this means a Poser information hungry crowd just waiting for yours. Happy writing and good luck.