Hello Friends, I have purchased Poser 5.0 a few months back and I started to try and create some of the things you all have created. I just cant seem to get anything to pose correctly, nor can I apply any backgrounds or clothing to make it look like anything more than a naked body with an article of clothing wrapped on it. I had tried a couple of the tutorials, but there too, I just could not get it. Now, I am a 45 year old man who wants to try something new in his life and I thought Poser would be it. I wanted to create some of the things like Lion, Auntje and Bez for example of some of my favorite artist. I know it takes time, and it takes patience, and it takes a creative mind (for some anyway, Lol). But it seems like I just cant get it. Is this beyond some people? Is this for people who are natural artist (which I am not)? Should I just try something else like Bryce or some landscape software? I hate to think I wasted a ton of money on this software to have it sit on my system and not be able to create anything? Ok, I am feeling frustrated, but its driving me crazy. Thorrax

Attached Link: http://www.daz3d.com/

Others like myself are less sophisticated, and choose to use the multitude of Poser tools that are available. Let's take Vicky 3 & Mike 3 for example. You can get their "base bodies" for free now from DAZ3D. They come with Pose sets so you can pose them easily. Yes, you'd likely want to buy the morph sets, hair and some clothes. But you have a good start. You can buy scenes or props. You can find lots of stuff in the Free Stuff section here, and elsewhere.

There is an abundance of Poser tutorials. Here at Renderosity, geep rules. I bet he'll pop in here and give you a link to his list. There are also many tutorials at DAZ3D, and on other web sites.

Don't get overwhelmed. Take one thing at a time. Try "assembling" one character, with its skin texture, hair & clothes. Save it to your Character Library, then try using some "canned" Poses. Do a search on the Internet for Schlabber. He has produced hundreds of free pose sets, and now sells new pose sets at DAZ3D, I think.

Message edited on: 01/24/2005 11:24

If you want fast easy results try downloading the free version of Terragen. Great looking landscapes. In poser it is easier to get precise positioning by using the dials on the object > properties window. There are plenty of pose files to use as a starting point. Look for something close to what you want and tweak it a little. Also remember for posing you can use the menu symettry options to mirror left and right. Conforming clothing seems to suffer from the dreaded 'poke through' where parts of the body stick out when the figure is posed. You fix that in postwork or by using magnets to deform the figure or by simply making the body part invisible. There is so much available that it is tempting to try complicated things before you have learned the basics. There are plenty of step by step tutorials on the web. If you have specific issues please post them and someone will give you an answer. Ans if all else fails RTFM ( read the furnished manual ) :) Lastly - do not expect your work to look like some of the artists featured here. Some people do postwork (that is touching up in a paint program ) some people do a lot with custom morphs or magnets to get things looking exactly right. (like flattening the butt when seated on a chair. ) Learning all this takes time. There are free downloads of background scenery that will make a more complete setting for your figures. Hope you continue with it . p.s You can always try the naked or bikini clad woman with sword , possibly in a temple. Its a classic Poser scene.

I restarted trying to tinker with poser5 3 times before it "clicked". Like anything worthwhile, it takes time to learn.

Thank you all very much for your encouraging words. I will sit down back at it again after a couple months off and see if it clicks. Maybe I need to take a closer look at some websites for some Poser Tutorials for Dummies, hehe. Thorrax

If you have not done so you should download and apply service pack 3 and Service Pack 4 from www.curiouslabs.com. If you want feedback on your pictures you can post to the gallery here or directly to the forum.

I'm the same age as you are and I started about 18 months ago with Poser 5. This was my first ever 3D software and I didn't know any of the terminology or anything else about it. After a few goes and some right crap images I started to understand it more and gradually got better, not brilliant but better and I like to think I'm still improving. Don't take it lightly, there's shed loads to learn but it really is worth it. Give it time and patience and you'll get there. Look at my gallery and you'll see the crap I started with and where I am now but it has taken time and an awful lot of trial and error. Do it and live the addiction!

Take baby steps.. try one thing at a time, instead of trying to learn everything at once.

Almost 46 here. Started using P4ProPack about 3 years ago. I am - or was - a professional artist with a lot of experience in computer graphics but nothing like Poser until I actually started using it. Some things take time before they fall into place. What seems second nature now was difficult to achieve when I started. I set myself a few tasks when I first got Poser. I would read this forum and hunt tutorials, then try all kinds of silly things until I had a good knowledge of a particular aspect. Then I'd move on to the next bit. After a while I felt about ready to start posting images. I'm by no means an expert but I know a fair bit of stuff now, and a lot of that is thanks to the tutorial writers and good people here. Now I'm in the process of getting a better handle on P5's materials. I've been using P5 for a year and there's a whole lot more to it than P4. Don't give up. Work methodically (keep a notebook perhaps) and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Thank you all very much. Questions I will have, and time to regain my composure with Poser will happen. If worse comes to worse, I will always be all you artists biggest fan. You are inspiring people you Posers are! You have encouraged me to want to try and not give up. You have made me see that time is of essence in this world of Poser. I will try my very best if all esle fails, I will be back here for your help! Thank you all very much. Thorrax

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

age has nuthin to do with it. I'm a geezer like yourself. :-) different folks have different ways of picking up things. The way I learned Poser was to really focus and work for a particular effect. Sometimes looking here for the answer, sometimes (but rarely) in the manual, but frequently trial-and-error. I found a challenge, rather than discouragement, in finding a solution.

re: " ... geep rules."**
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ... ;=]**

(geep does NOT have any rules)

How-sum-ever, if you want to peruse a couple o' tuts, just CLICK HERE.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

BTW - Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha = LOL! ;=]

Hello,

I am at Poser since 1997, version 2.
Poser is a product with a very steep learning curve.
The bad news is: 2 months is simply not enough.
The good news is: using Poser now is a lot more advanced than it was in 1997.
Additional: Poser makes you think a lot about art and human body (how things pose, how the fabric works...) think outside the tool, it helps :)

Oh...and don't think just because you click on comform the clothes will fit perfectly...some will..some won't. In case of the won'ts, you just have to fiddle with the scaling dials & X,Y, Z dials. Because you have poke thru, it's NOT your fault. Hair sometimes requires the same thing. Posing is tedious...use the dials, bend/twist/front to back....play with small increments. ALso, don't forget..postwork is your friend :)

Message edited on: 01/24/2005 17:54

Message edited on: 01/24/2005 17:56

I've had very good luck with clothing as long as the clothing is made for the character, and has the same morphs available. Every once and awhile it's necessary to make parts of the body invisible. But that happens rarely for me. I rarely do postwork. If clothing doesn't fit, because of a pose, I either tweak the pose, choose a different pose, or get a different outfit.

Message edited on: 01/24/2005 19:18

47 here, had Poser 4 about 2 years. Just found the materials section under render, so it proves that everyone learns at their own speed..;) have fun, make mistakes, and learn.

Forgot if you have poke thru on clothes you can delete the offending body part....ie jeans..the thigh is poking out delete the thigh. This saves on render time as well :)

Don't give up on it, It really is addictive, I am 48 had P4 and now P5, still learning.I still produce some awful dross, but once in a while get something I am really quite proud of. Keep practicing and if you find you have a specific prob, someone is always willing to help...We have all posted what may seem stupid questions at one time or another, it isn't intuitive but it does give great satifaction, when you do get something right LOL!!

You know it makes me laugh. There's this thing with the "younger" computer user set that says anyone over say 25 has no right to be using computers! What ought to be remembered is that us over 40 types were brought up on "acorn electrons", "commodore amigas", "ZX spectrums" etc. wher you had to really know about what you were doing. I can remember havibg to do such obscure things like "memory manager", making sure you had enough memory in your "himem" area and such things. And what was "windows" some new thing that was going to blitz Dos [and it did]. Word processing packages like "wordstar" and another thing actually called "wysiwyg". Half these so called computer whizz kids wouldn't have a clue! Rock on tou over 40's, pioneers in computer technology. [Sit back and wait for reaction!;-)].

Yayyyy.. Go silver surfers!!! LOL!!!

Is Poser the tool for you? If you want to do something including human figures and you don't want to draw or model them, it is.