No matter how much I tweak, fiddle and mess with my figure poses, they always come out looking stiff and unnatural. I've spent hours on stuff, but then I look at pics here and in the MP, and I'm blown away. Is there a technique or a -- geez, what am I missing here?

I have the same issue. Someone told me use reference pics, but when I do I still get something that looks like someone posed a dummy, thats why I keep to the headshots and prefabbed poses. I'd love to hear about some peoples techniques though because I would like to do my own poses.

It takes some getting used to, but try posing with Inverse Kinematics on the arms and legs (Dragging the foot or hand poses the entire leg, for example). But in addition to that, make sure that "Auto Balance" and "Use Limits" are set so that you don't twist everything way beyond what they are supposed to look like. When it gets close to what you're looking for, then use the dials to tweak it. Also ... often overlooked are HANDS. Hands can be just as expressive as the face. The tilt of the hand and positions of the fingers can tell a lot about the emotion of a character. And don't forget the eyes ... they are posable too!

Quote - But in addition to that, make sure that "Auto Balance" and "Use Limits" are set so that you don't twist everything way beyond what they are supposed to look like.

Hmmm, maybe that's part of my problem too. My poses look like contortionists, LOL Where do you find those options?

They are in the Figure menu.

Deecey is right the hands and the fingers make that pose. I spend hours posing hands. They make the pics much more real.

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Thanks Geep - I'm working on a very difficult picture to pose right now and this is coming in quite handy :-) Angel1

Seconded on using IK on arms and legs. Once you have your basic pose switch on IK for the legs and rotate the hip slightly. Nobody ever stands bolt upright, so a slight tilt will increase the natural appearance. There's no substitute for studying anatomy, either. Learn how the body moves; the relationship between arms and legs and shoulders and hips are all important.

Read Schlabber's tutorials on posing - he's gold. The tip that comes in most handy is to work from large to small first - get the large motions/poses down and make them look as fluid as possible. Then make minor adustments working outward to smaller components of the figure. For Poser human figures start with the hip and then move outwards from there.... It's vague but it works. Unzipped

I fully agree with "unzipped"'s post: If you want to learn posing, read schlabbers tutorial....it's not only about how to technically solve the thing in Poser. It has also a lot to do how real human are "posing"... the only other suggestion I can give is to make "small" posing. CG (at least with unanimated pictures) is a still - media, and all too exposed "movement" looks strange and unreal.

Try checking out paintings as well - there's also a system called "Contra-Posto" (Counter Poise) that painters and sculptors uses for creating body poses. Sometimes it's easier to see how other artists achieve a "natural" look, because usually they "cheat" in some way - add exaggerations in areas of weight etc - the "Lead Hands" approach is most noticeable - the figure looks like their hands are really heavy, creating an interesting slope to shoulders and curve to the limbs etc...

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Well, using a mirror is a great technique,....but is is sooo exhausting to get "Alien Queen" standing still for 2 hours! :) I prefere fotographs :)