I've just started out using poser and I tend to do what a lot of the pro artists so which is to use the posed ref and then paint over with a lot of post work. But then again..is that way too much postwork for something that supposed to be 3d? it's confusing...

To me, it loses the 3D effect that Poser provides but, that's just me. Others, use photoshop a lot. I know my images could use some hardcore post work, but, I just don't have a lot of resources at my fingertips nor the time to devote to doing postwork. Personally, to me, a lot of postwork overkills the 3D look and it winds up looking like a painted picture minus the 3D.(JMHO)

Message edited on: 02/27/2005 21:40

No such thing as too much postwork. No such thing as too little postwork. It's your art, whatever work or tools you need to realize your purpose is the correct amount. There are "purists" who try to do the whole thing in a straightforward render, and just as many who use a render as a starting point and wander freely afield thru any 2D software they fancy to modify the image until they're happy with the result. No two follow the same process. . . .

"It's your art, whatever work or tools you need to realize your purpose is the correct amount." Leather guy is right. Postwork or not depends on what YOU want. Use what ever tools is required to get the results YOU want.

Providing, you can keep the 3D 'look' in your picture while doing tons of postwork. I see lots of images in the gallery that are really not as 3Dish as they should be. Again, just my opinion. :)

Well, as anyone who'd care to check out my few renderings here might notice, I personally prefer to use a bare minimum of postwork in my own pics - To burn in shadows or tweak a color value. But, I've also seen some startlingly beautiful or moving images that have been postworked so thoroughly, that I couldn't tell what was Poser and what was Photoshoped. A pixel is a pixel, whether placed by the precise calculations of a sophisticated rendering engine, or a differential recalc of color values based on a casual click-sweep of the mouse in a paint program. It takes two to make art. An artist, and a viewer. The medium is just the language used to express the art. Digital Mixed Media seems as valid as any other means of expression. . . .just my two cents worth; opposing views expected and encouraged . . . G

Artists have been doing everything in what we call 'post work' for centuries. :)

It's rare that I do postwork. I'm not a purist, I just like to get a render as close as possible in Poser because I'm too damn lazy to open a paint program and mess with it some more. ;)

I'm with leather-Guy on this . Whatever it takes, 3D/2D/photography etc, to get the final result you want, is ok in my book.

The only place where there may be catagory limits is in an art competition. Somebody using Poser out-of-the-box work/render may be at a disadvange against a Poser, Maya, Max, Vue, Bryce, Lightwave, Photoshop, Painter, work/render, etc. combination. So maybe you have a out-of-the-box catagory, and maybe a 'freestyle' catagory. Sorta like a 'mixed media' catagory in natural media. Just thinking aloud.

"Too much postwork?" Depends on how you wish to view your images. Whatever tool or tools it takes to make your image look the way you want it to look, it's the result that matters. You might want to consider how heavily you used what tool when determining what category your image belongs to. In the Poser gallery here on 'rosity there are many, many fine images that hardly have anything to do with Poser (and a lot with very skilled Photoshop/PaintShopPro work) and IMO they belong to the 2D or mixed medium category. Bottom line is, you make what you want the way you want it, using the tools you want.

I tell my daughter that "if a man can tell you have makeup on, you have too much makeup on"..I feel the same way about Postwork, but she doesn't buy that either..;)

N/C....is all been said in this thread already ;-) However, this duz bring up a "beef" I have....I can't count the times that I've seen obvious 2 minnit renders w/ 14 hrs of postwork put up in the Mixed Media gallery, just to see a comment statin' "That belongs in the Poser gallery". Bugs the hell outta me.

how long is a bit of string

twice the distance from the middle to the end.

"how long is a bit of string?" . . until it's string no longer.

Many strings are 8 bits, but it depends upon what you are coding.

Why does it matter what it's "supposed to" be? Do you really need to conform to someone else's preconceived ideas about what is or isn't acceptable? I agree with those who say do what you need/want to do in order to bring about the end result you want. If that means spending hours in Poser getting it as close as possible or spending a few minutes in Poser and hours in Photoshop, do that. The end result is what matters, IMHO. bonni

elizabyte-well put.