I'm sure this has been asked many times but I don't frequent this paticular forum much and I apologize in advance for the repitition. All I want to know is what programs are used by most to create clothes and accessorries for Poser. I've been a Mac user for years but have started venturing over to the 'darkside' over the past few years and have found it's not quite as dark as most avid Mac users will have you believe. I primarilly use ElectricImage Universe but I'm willing to bet the farm that that's 'not' the weapon of choice by most.

I use Maya Complete for Windows (available for Mac OS as well)... but its quite expensive and hard to learn - on the other hand its very powerful.

Mine is at the opposite end of the price/learning-curve/power spectrum ... MilkShape 3D.

I've used trueSpace in the past, however.

Imagine 3d.

On my Mac I use FormZ: http://www.formz.com/ but I've been messing with the free version of Maya http://www.aliaswavefront.com/ (had to get a 3 button mouse though!) and I'm really thinking about switching. Besides these 2 Mac programs , I've seen these used with Poser and there are (or will be) Poser Plug-ins: Carrara/Amapi/Transposer - http://www.eovia.com/ Lightwave - http://www.newtek.com/ Cinema 4D - http://www.maxon.net/ Here's a couple more Mac modelers: Wings - http://www.wings3d.com/ Pixels3d - http://www.pixels3d.com/ Electric Image - http://www.electricimage.com/ Blender - http://www.blender3d.com/ HTH; Dan

On my Mac I use FormZ: http://www.formz.com/ but I've been messing with the free version of Maya http://www.aliaswavefront.com/ (had to get a 3 button mouse though!) and I'm really thinking about switching. Besides these 2 Mac programs , I've seen these used with Poser and there are (or will be) Poser Plug-ins: Carrara/Amapi/Transposer - http://www.eovia.com/ Lightwave - http://www.newtek.com/ Cinema 4D - http://www.maxon.net/ Here's a couple more Mac modelers: Wings - http://www.wings3d.com/ Pixels3d - http://www.pixels3d.com/ Electric Image - http://www.electricimage.com/ Blender - http://www.blender3d.com/ HTH; Dan

Just about every 3d modeler you can thing of. Lightwave, Max, Rhino, and maya seem to be the most popular ones.

Attached Link: http://www.wings3d.com

I second Wings3D. Free and good. Using a (comparably) high-priced 3d suite like Maya or 3ds just for modeling Poser figures is, IMHO, a waste of money.

it all depends on the preferences of the modeller. Personally I use studio max 6 for the clothing mainly because I find the boolian operations easier in max. Props I do in lightwave 7.5 because the modeller has better precision tools such as bandsaw. For characters, I jump to cinema 4d 8.5 because the nurbs options are great to work with and it has a super fast renderer on slow systems. I know all of the work can be done in one program, but again, modellers preference, I like to have different options available to me. p.s I put my vote in for wings 3d as well, exellent program for the price, also blender is a good program, though its harder to learn the interface.

Yeah but bobcat, not many people have the kind of cash to buy all three of those main modeling programs... that's what? $2000-$2500 worth of modeling software?

more actually. That is one of the major drawbacks of the top end software, unless you use them to make money, they are not exactly economical for the hobby lover. But if a person was truly committed to buying the software, go with cinema. Easy to learn, powerful rendering system, awsome hdr capabilities with the caustics and radiosity. (Something that max seriously lacks in considering the price!)

I'd have to disagree.. if I was going with one program, I'd still stick with Lightwave. I love the modeler's interface, it doesn't load the animation part unless you want it, and the results of many yv shows and movies speak for themselves. LW8 looks to be even nicer, with it's clothing room, and enhanced setup tools. But everyone will have a favorite.

Thanks for all the feedback. I didn't realize that the import options were so many. I guess what I didn't realize is that so many programs support one of the import options. Thanks

Happy to help, and I have to say, I have been drooling over the lw 8 for some time now! but unfortunatly I need to upgrade the old pc first.

Well, the main file format is wavefront, and many programs support it.

Well, the main file format is wavefront, and many programs support it.

Come to think of it I have yet to use a program that doesn't support .obj. It is one of the main formats common to the 3d world.

You're absolutely right. I didn't realize how prevalent it was. My own modeler (ElectricImage Modeler (EIM)) even outputs OBJ (duh). In my own defense though, I have heard that the EIM OBJ export doesn't support everything, like UVs (I think). There's an update of Universe (EIU) being released this coming week so maybe that's changed anyway. At any rate thanks for all the feed back. At the very least it has removed a mental block regarding creating stuff for Poser.

Poser users should check out something like Silo. It's only $100 bucks and is very capable. It's not the modeler that you would find in Maya, Lightwave, etc, but if you have one of those applications it would be much smarter to animate and render in that package as well, rather than going back into Poser.

Hello, I have recently been using ZBrush 2.0 to create textures and re-jig/ create new models. Its really fast to use, fairly easy to learn and cheap at the price. I would seriously consider looking at this package in future for working/ re-working poser models / textures.

Z-brush has to take the cake when it comes to texture maps, the pure simplicity of it is mind blowing in itself. It's one of those can't live without programs.