I've had Poser for almost a month now and have gotten no where. I'm more frustrated than I ever have been before and I'm at my wit's end. I can not seem to figure out how to do anything in this program and it's driving me nuts. How on earth did all of you learn to use Poser? Is there a book out there that gives simple instructions to get you started or maybe some tutorials somewhere? I've tried using the manual that came with Poser 5 and have found it to be totally worthless. I need a dummies book for this thing I guess. Kristta

The manual is not totally useless, but they've never covered everything. Many of us learned by starting with Poser 1 or 2, which was much easier. It allowed us to ease into the later versions. So try asking a specific question, like just one thing you can't do, and the experts here will be able to answer.

I would suggest you search the forum for tutorials posted by geep. Dr geep writes some amazing tutorials for Poser and generously posts them in the forum for all to read. Most of them are for Poser 4, but he has also posted a few for Poser 5. All of them are well worth reading. Shoshanna.

I felt the same way. I was about to reclaim the space on my disk drive when I decided that it was worth investing $25 in Lyrra's Poser course at LVSOnline.

It was well worth the money. I now have a grasp of the basics and am able to make use of the more advanced information available in Dr. Geep's materials.

This testimonial is unsolicited, and has the backing of neither Lyrra nor LVSOnline, both of whom (I believe) are unaware of my writing this.

I learned by looking in here, reading other people's posts, reading Geep's tutorials, asking questions and I even gained a little enlightenment from the manual. I agree the manual is pants, though. I haven't even bothered looking at the P5 manual. I get my answers from online tutorials or the gang here or over at DAZ or RDNA, or PoserPros.

As with all software I have...I scoured the web for tutorials & printed them out....I think I have a total of around 20 HUGE binders of tuts ranging from Poser/PSP/Terregan/Vue. I did 1 at a time in addition to reading the manuals(which are well :(. Then I came here or various forums(software related) & ask ???'s. I've been at this for about 1 1/2 years & haven't even come close to learning everything...magnets being 1 item. So take your time/scour the web/read the manuals and ask ???'s

After about the 2 month period the program will actually link with your brain and assimilate you. From then on you'll live in bliss and harmony using poser carefree. Actually poser just takes work.

Ditto to SamTherapy's comments. I started with Poser 4 about six months ago, upgraded 1 month later to Poser 5, and have been addicted ever since! I just started learning 3-D Modeling last month when I needed a prop. Cudo's to Dr. Geep, Lyrra, PhilC, NeilP as well as many others who lrovide tutorials and advice along with the literal hundreds of others ready to offer help and advice at the drop of a post! You've started out right coming to this forum!

Ditto Mason. A good rule is "Start from the end, not the beginning." Think of some image that you really want [or need] to see. Try to make it happen in Poser, even if super-crudely at first. For instance, if your image involves two people sitting at a table, start by using a Box for the table and Balls for the people, to get the scene in place. Then gradually refine the picture, asking questions here at each stage when you get stumped. Keeping the end in mind will focus your questions, and you'll also have a feeling of momentum and purpose that won't happen if you just fiddle aimlessly.

Hi Kristta, You might be interested in THIS TUTORIAL. Just CLICK HERE. cheers, dr geep ;=]

We all go to a secret poser coffee shop and discuss things and watch how to poser videos. Then at the end we go to dances and get ideas. The when the sunsets and then rises in the morning. We feel that we have enough ideas to do our stuff. Until the next month. Such an addiction. :-)

No..just kidding. About August of last year, I started poser, and you should have seen my fustration. Same problems, like what your going through. Reading the forums, asking questions,manual, and also purchased a item (Skin texture for the P4 woman to understand. I didn't have Vicky yet and was wondering.."Who is this vicky character?") Then realize she is an addition for poser. Poser 5 is on my way, in the next few weeks from renderosity. I read in the past in this forum, "People should start with Poser 4, before advancing to Poser 5". Wow..were they ever right. I can see trouble in P5, and I do not have it yet. I could be wrong...but..Once you break through that hard barrier, you will see the light on you, and your arms wide open "I did it!" and an endless room with no end in site..hehe. And you will never ever stop using poser. Do not..I say..do not give up. It will all pay off.

Message edited on: 05/23/2004 18:58

learned? who says?..;) I've had Poser 4 over a year..and am just now starting to play with it..seriously, that is..;)
I found the manual..uh..actually I've lost the manual..actually, it's in storage..somewhere..;) I'm a technician, so if you see one of us actually crack a manual..be afraid..be very afraid..;) Really simple things I know..
10 things I know about Poser..or not
1)Pose first, clothe later
2)you can click on the numeric part of a dial's readout, type '0', and undo the 'pretzle people'..;)
3)downloads- go in Runtime directory; obj goes in Runtime Geometries, cr2 and some rsr go in Libraries/characters, pp2 goes in librariesprops, jpgs go in textures..except when they don't..;)
4)render as high a setting as you have patience for (anti-alias helps, but takes longer..but remember, it takes much longer in Bryce..;)
5)focus the eyes on something, dialate them slightly, use the face to convey emotion (eyebrows and smiles), and you'll have a more interesting-looking character
characters and clothes don't have to match (caveat-it helps if you have 'item x for Mike', or Maya Doll [free, and a lot of clothes for her, at Studio Maya], but it shore helps with a good fit..;)
6)lighting can make all the difference (in any package, not just Poser..;)

1. uh..I guess I am a newbie..that's all I know..;) hope this helps..

Here's a LINK to the first 10 tutorials that I did for Poser4 ... Much of that info can be used with Poser5, also.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Message edited on: 05/23/2004 19:38

er .. clothe FIRST pose LAST. I really suggest building the character in the default position. This saves tedious hours of jiggling clothing props into place on a posed figure. After the figure is built, save in default and then pose. I agree, the manuals are woefully inadequate and written in some other langauge. They do explain everything but they use the most unexpected langauge to do so. Even knowing what I was doing in poser, it took me several tries to puzzle out what the manual was saying about the poser5 face room. My class may not be the most advanced thing around, but at least its written in plain language! Poser has some inflexible 'Rules', mostly to do with file placement. And then theres some less strict rules, like 'clothing can only go on the model its made for' (which can be fiddled around with if you're bored or desperate) and then theres guidelines like 'Hair should be used only on the model its meant for, but really you can use it anywhere' Gearcy - Why thank you! blush I do my best :) Lyrra

I've written two sets of 10 beginner tutorials that may also help. Search for "snowsultan" in the Tutorials section above and they'll show up. :) SnowS

Please take this for what it's worth (Advice is worth what you pay for it). Computer graphics is a combination of: Art (poses to convey mood, textures, modeling) Photography (composition, lighting for mood) Acting/cartooning (expressions to convey emotion) Start with a wall and floor. Get the textures set up you like. Put an object, sphere, poser figure, something you don't mind looking at over and over. Turn all the lights off, except for one and experiment with position, color, and intensity. Add one or two lights. Move them around, vary their intensity, keep it simple like a still life. Then start adding complexity, more objects, figures, dramatic poses, expressions. I've got just a few pictures here, but I'd be glad to give you info on their setups. The best thing is to find something you like, a picture/scene, and make your interpretation of it. Be patient. I've found simpler is better. Good luck.

The Poser 5 manual is okay as a reference, but terrible for beginners. I found the Poser 4 manual to be much better. The tutorials in the P4 manual are enough to get you started. The ones in the P5 manual are not.

hmm..guess I have a lot to learn about clothes..;) I've just had better luck posing first because I use some wierd poses..and getting the clothes to follow doesn't always work for me..knees sticking out of jeans, etc..but as I said..I'm a relative beginner (related to Naysay..;)

;=]

I'm a relative beginner too but fortunately I started with Poser 3. I got to work out my frustrations on that program, wondering how everyone was posting all these awesome pics and my ppl wound up looking like pretzels, all twisted up. My advice would be to read any tutorials that are offered, even if they seem to simple at first. I found all my info online and I'm sort of a half-assed Poser user now! (nothing I'm proud enough of to post, though). Also, if you encounter a problem with a specific product offered here (or even any other store) definitely post a question on this forum. The people here get back to you sometimes within an hour. A really great community! Oh, and also I'd say that the key to enjoying Poser (for me anyhow) really is the accesories you can get once you learn a little about the program. Pre-made poses and morphs can REALLY make your work shine and cut down on the time you have to spend moving all the little dials and switches and stuff. I was dissappointed with what I got with regular Poser 4, some generic characters and clothes mainly, and it wasn't till I started shopping at Renderosity and a few other stores that I started being happy with what I could do with Poser. I'd suggest getting Michael, Victoria and the millenium kids to start, and then buy the unique character textures and clothes here. Those characters are a must-have for Poser and are really sort of "standard" for the more realistic clothes/hair/accesories. I'm not trying to plug any particular site or make you spend a lot of cash, but I just want to emphasize that I probably would have lost interest in Poser early on if not for the cool stuff I bought to really sort of put together artwork that I really enjoyed.

Maybe I'm just odd...but within my first month of using Poser 4 (the first one I ever used) I had a pretty ok, basic, knowledge of what I was doing. Then again, I'm a very firm believer in trial & error. Yeah...I wasn't nearly as good as anyone else, but I could at least pose, clothe, and light a figure/scene. However, it was several months before I learned anything about textures/maps/trans maps/anything in the material options menu. I'd suggest reading a few turorials, becomming friends with someone who knows what they're doing and bug the hell out of them (hehehe), and just screwing around. www.3dlinks.com has some really good Poser tutorials. I probably didn't help much, but I hope that you find something I said useful. ^^ Jay P.S. MoxeyH said: "Those characters are a must-have for Poser and are really sort of "standard" for the more realistic clothes/hair/accesories. I'm not trying to plug any particular site or make you spend a lot of cash, but I just want to emphasize that I probably would have lost interest in Poser early on if not for the cool stuff I bought to really sort of put together artwork that I really enjoyed." Ohhhh yeah...Poser and Posette just don't cut it AT ALL (unless you're going for that Barbie and Ken look). It's possible to make them look really good, but it...takes a lot of time and mapping knowledge...I started out (once I was introduced to them) with DAZ3d's Victoria 2 and Michael 2. I now have V3 and M3 and plan to get SP3. They make a world of difference in the realistic aspect of your renderings when compaired to Poser and Posette. So once you get a very basic knowledge of Poser, I'd highly suggest looking into getting one, or both, of them. ^^

I learned mostly by playing, asking "A lot" of things here and finding tuts when necessary. I didn't go by the manual because well... it confused me and I had way to many blonde moments lol But I need learn to use it by the aid of others here. BTW can anyone direct me in a tutorial for using Mimic very basic tut? ---Essie

So true, RedMM. The generic adults, Poser and Posette, and kids, were "OK" for the first month or so, but not very versatile. In fact I don't even remember the last time I used them in a render! Thinking about Poser and Posette is, like, trying to remember the name of the science book I used in middle school. IOW seems like a loooooong time ago! Michael, Victoria and Vicky (the MG package) are pretty much the "main characters" in all the renders I like, and in a lot of other people's work, too. Stephanie, Mayadoll, the anime girl and a bunch of others are catching up, though!

If it's any help - I jumped in at the deep end. I started with Poser 5. I had never used any other version so I had no "hang up's" about version 3 or 4 being better/easier to use. I learned an awful lot here in my first few frustrating months, and after 14 months of using P5, I am still learning ;-) but with the experts that hang out here, I never worry - If I get stuck, I just hop over here and search - 9 times out of 10 I find the question has been asked before, and answered. This place is a gold mine of information and talent. Every single one of you that takes the time to answer questions that, to you, must seem trivial, deserves a gold medal ;-).

Message edited on: 05/24/2004 15:59

Hehe Engel, I like the perpetual questions, coz they're so EASY to answer ;o) I started with Poser 4 about 4 years ago, and that was long before I knew that things like online communities even EXISTED. So I sat all alone and played with my Possette and Dork. Didn't think about the possibility of 3rd party morphs, let alone other characters. I found a few freebies onlin, mostly obj's or 3DS files, and at that time I did all my rendering in Bryce. Then I got tired of Poser and put it away for about a year. One day, while cleaning, I saw that disk and thought "hey let's try that again, it's gotta be more fun than housecleaning" so I went out looking for some new freebies and found Renderosity. Been stuck here ever since. I then learned about Vickie and where to get her, so I did, and the rest,as they say, is history. I'm not sure if the Poser 4 manual is available online as a pdf, but it is better than the P5 for the basic stuff. and in the beginning, I'd advice you to stay out of the hair- and cloth room. The material room can seem scary, but it's got those cool previews of the resulting texture, so it's really a place where you can sit and play for a long time. That's what I do. I LOVE the material room. Most of the time I have very little idea of what all those nodes DO, but I plug in a lot of them and watches what happens. :o) Never be afraid to play, and never be afraid to ask.

Mmm hmm...the last time I used Poser or Posette seems forever ago...unless you count V2 > P4 of course. The default characters/figures in Poser 4 are very simplistic and have very little expansion options (ie. morphs, clothing, hair, accessories). The figures that DAZ3d offers really are the 'mainstream' figures. 9 out of 10 times you look in the MarketPlace, the product is for a DAZ figure, not Poser or Posette. DAZ is more or less a monopoly when it comes to Poser figures 'cause they're the best. Their figures have unlimited morphs and combinations and, like I said, 9 out of 10 times you look to buy something, it's for them. Anyway...maybe this'll boot your confidence or maybe it'll make me come off as trying to boot my ego (lol), but that picture is the VERY FIRST Poser 4 render I ever did. Very first and, at the time, I was so proud of it and thought it was the greatest thing ever. I was so happy for myself and I felt so accomplished. Considering the time it was created (almost 4 years ago) it was great and it was an accomplishment, but I look back now on that pic and think, "OMG...how did I ever think that looked so awesome??" Look at my gallery now; it's much more 'advanced', you could say. I've come a long way - and I'm still learning! Just whatever you do, DO NOT GIVE UP! I think I speak for us all when I say that I've been there and there have been periods of time when I pratically refused to even open Poser, but you cannot give up! If you have a question or are stuck on something, ASK or research it. I have no idea where I'd be if it weren't for the Renderosity Community because they have taught me so much and offered so much. Just hang in there and in a year or two, you'll look back and be amazed with how far you've come. ^_^ Jay

confession time? *L* OK here's a very old one of mine, from 1999/2000 (uploaded it april 2000 but that's not the date of creation) I thought it was VERY advanced back then. I painted the Star Trek uniforms on the texture maps so the shirts are bodypaint, and they wear black pants to give the needed flare at the legs. Picard wears boots but Beverly walks around in black socks *L* - remember this was long before I found Rosity and free shoes, and none of the shoes for Posette looks like star trek boots... I actually tried to morph Picard on this one, with a magnet, which explains his somewhat odd headshape *G* It's rendered in Bryce.