Ok, a few things that might be worth mentioning.

Poser's morph dials are indeed easy to use, and the plethora of content out there for it makes it very efficient. I won't get into the different arguments about rendering speed, etc., because as long as you're not using raytrace materials or volumetrics, 3D motionblur, or true DOF, then Poser 6's renderer is both useful and satisfactory in it's results. Keep in mind, however, you won't have any efficient means of network rendering from Poser. There are ways around this, but there's no true network rendering integrated into the app.

Now for some truths...

If you're using 3dsmax (like me), then you know about CharacterStudio. You must know of it's strengths, and it's weaknesses, so I won't get into those.

1. Morphs. The morpher modifier in 3dsmax works on spinners just like Poser. In fact, there's not much difference there at all. You insert a morph, and dial it up or down. Same thing.

2. Poser's character animation tools are weak. Sorry, but compared to what you are getting in Max, you're going to find yourself working twice as hard to get the same quality motion from Poser. If you've ever done character animation before in 3dsmax using CharacterStudio or even standard bones with a good rig, then you will know what I mean right away. I use CS mainly, so one quick comparison would be using IK/FK. In Poser, IK is either on or off. No in between, no blending. In CS, you can use IK/FK blending, so posing and animating a rig from any point in the hiearchy is much more efficient. In Max, you have motion mixing and blending, in Poser you have Python scripts that can do some of this, but the results are sketchy. Poser's WalkDesigner vs. CS Footsteps mode is no contest. Try both, and you'll see the difference instantly. CS Footsteps allows you to adjust for terrain (inclines/declines), and the character will respond automatically. Not so with Walk Designer.

3. Poser's learning curve is MUCH easier, that much is true. Some of this has to do with the fact that so much pre-made content is ready to go for it, all you have to do is "plug and play" in most cases. Pre-made motions, morphs, clothing, etc. are available for immediate use.

4. 3dsmax has the ability to use softbody dynamics or flex dynamics on a figure if necessary (for secondary motion on soft body parts or things like ponytails). Poser has no softbody dynamics system, but people have been experimenting with the cloth room for such things. Both Poser and 3dsmax have cloth and strand hair dynamics.

5. Wiring parameters. If you want complex animation, or interaction between characters/objects, then 3dsmx offers excellent means to accomplish this fairly easily through controllers and parameter wires. Poser's python scripting can accomplish some of these things too I'm sure, but only to a certain degree.

"But, "rigging" or "boning" the figure is where Poser shines!
unless, you're a Master at rigging figures in Max, you'll
save lots of time doing that part in poser."

I find just the opposite is true. Rigging in Poser is not exactly easy, otherwise characters we purchase would all have great rigging. ;-) However, the parametric skeletons used in CS Biped are extremely easy to rig. Just "fit" the skeleton into the mesh, and place a skin modifier over it. Then adjust envelopes, and you're done rigging your figure. Sure, takes some practice, but I find it much easier than using Poser's setup room. Plus, since the skeleton in CharacterStudio is parametric, this means any poses or animations you create on one figure can automatically transfer to another rigged figure of different size/shape. In Poser, you need a to purchase a seperate Python script for that.

Bottom line, I think, is this... Poser will definitely get you from point A to point B faster if you purchase all the content you need. That's not always a good thing, but it certainly works. If your ultimate goal is to animate something as quickly as possible, save time on modeling or tackling a learning curve, then Poser will DEFINITELY get the job done for you. Results, as always, will depend on YOU.

Just beware of app propeganda. When people say it's "easier", or "better", that's not always the case, and in fact, isn't true a lot of the time. If it were, I absolutely wouldn't have spent the money and switched to 3dsmax for character animation. ;-)

Message edited on: 02/25/2006 16:58

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.