Attached Link: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=327194

Scare-y, ain't it ? :)

wow.....that is awesome!

Good Gawd... Mouth drops open Tom

not bad! even better if they can animate the model with the same realism.

yes, that's the proof in the pudding, animation. I only read the first page of comments, so far no discussion of the technique. There is always the issue of photography in, photography out. Also, postwork. Not that there is anything wrong with those things! It's a knockout effect. ::::: Opera :::::

Attached Link: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=219323

Had bookmarked one of an elderly lady that looked so real that I thought it was a photograph. And there was one of a male warrior that was great too. Unfortunately I lost the bookmarks :(

EDIT: I found the one for the male warrior, but not the one for the elderly lady

Message edited on: 03/14/2006 22:54

Attached Link: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=46897

"that's the proof in the pudding, animation." wires & more info is on page 6 animations can be seen here: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2297 look for trailer 3

Attached Link: http://www.atari.com/driver/

ooops, cross-post with Stoney

"animations can be seen here: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2297" Incredible. The cinematic parts of the trailer looks nearly as good as real live people, and the in-game parts look nearly as good as the cinematics! Absolutely astounding work.

runs into a corner and wails uncontrollably - waahhhhh!!!!!!

Ok I watched trailer 3, then I had to watch them ALL!! QUite honestly, I found myself sitting here trying to discern between what was live action footage, and what was done in 3D. Then i realised... it's ALL done in 3D!!! Those characters looked SO real in some parts that I honestly couldn't tell if I was looking at animation or a real person. Only the slightest irregularity in their motions gave them away. The interjected shots from the game play looked great too, but those parts were much more obvious. This is great stuff.

Did they do that with Poser? That's amazing. lol Nope... "Modelled and rendered with lightwave, rigged and animated with Maya" This is great example of the quality we should be aiming for. It certainly puts some of the gallery images to shame. ;) --John

Ohh Wow !! that is great,,,I am under NO illusions - I am an amateur LOL!!

It amazes me how close to real some of these artists and get but on the other hand look at the software they are using its not the low price stuff and maybe how long they have been doing this.

Attached Link: http://www.this-wonderful-life.com/photo-shoot.htm

I was gonna say that but you beat me to it lindans!!!

Don't forget, game trailer developers often have a whole team of people working on the trailer as well. And in that industry you may have one person doing the modelling, one doing the texturing, one doing the lighting, all under the supervision of someone else who's been doing it even longer.

Okay, okay ... I've got to speak up. This is certainly impressive stuff, but with people saying "this is the quality we should be aiming for" and "I really feel like an amateur," I really wonder what most people's goals are with Poser. Is the goal to make the most life-like, photo-realistic render that can possibly be done?

Personally I own a couple really good cameras, I know how to work with human models and I'm pretty good in a darkroom. If I'm looking for realism those are my tools of choice. If I needed 3D people to perform stunts in movies that couldn't be done with real actors, then this stuff would be appropriate as it would in making game figures more lifelike. Basically, in the field of entertainment. But for gallery renders ... isn't the important thing something about sparking emotion; a picture being worth a thousand words; speaking to humankind through an image; expressing yourself uniquely ... and on and on and on ... in other words ART?

Just my opinion - while these images are most impressive from a purely technical viewpoint, they hardly serve as the apex of what I'm personally looking to achieve either visually or aesthetically.

If that's going to be your target, you may as well drop Poser and start learning how to model with may and lightwave. I'm glad it's not my aim, I would really be a frustrated poser user then, since it would be aiming way to high for me as a poser user.

to continue my comment above "photography in, photography out" and JRey's point of view also.... the proof is in the animation. when you kick up the photorealism in the textures and lighting like this, it puts heavier and heavier pressure on the verisimilitude of your ANIMATION. To phrase that another way, if you saw this character moving or emoting, the slightest false-step in the animation will stick out like a sore thumb and ruin the illusion. That's why this kind of photo-realism instantly calls for motion capture, not hand key-frame. Contrast that with the "gladly forgiving" viewer of semi-realistic, stylized or toon animation; the viewer does not expect perfect humanoid flow, he'd rather laugh, cry or get scared by the emotion conveyed from the movement. The same principles kick in with posed stills. These are, after all, simply a frame (snapshot) of implied prior and following action. So for a still, you've got to reach the audience AS IF it were one frame of an animation, and photorealism of and by itself will not do that. ::::: Opera :::::

We're back to a "technical skill" vs. "artistic interpretation" discussion.

There are people who are partial to each side - based on their personal likes, dislikes, experience, and values.

Niether is inherantly better than the other - unless you skew your measuring system to favor one over the other.

IMHO what makes the best overall is when you can combine the two. A team can put together both mindsets to benefit the whole but it's often very difficaul for any one individual to do so.

Message edited on: 03/15/2006 15:57

If that's going to be your target, you may as well drop Poser and start learning how to model with may and lightwave. actually, I switched to lw a couple years ago....and never looked back.

Quote - since it would be aiming way to high for me as a poser user.

I'm happy if I can just generate something pretty with nice looking lights, LOL I guess my standards are way low, hehe

Acadia, I wouldn't say your standards are low. I would guess you're simply expressing yourself and Poser is a great and fairly quick medium to accomplish that. Some solid technical skills are needed, just as they are when working in oils, acrylics, pastels - any medium, including electronic. I just have an aversion to technical prowess being such a strong source of inspiration and enlightenment. Some of Michelangelos works were lost to us because his understanding of his medium was faulty. His frescos fell apart, his sculpture shattered. In addition, his depiction of human anatomy was less than accurate. Yet, he is still considered by most as a genius among many greats. It is his skills as an artist, not as simply a painter or a sculptor that has made him so.

Your post made me want to go and spend a fortune on art supplies, LOL I haven't sketched in such a long time that I can't even remember the last time I did. It's been very many years. I used to sketch with charcoals and pastels. Lately I've been thinking of turning my dining are (stupid 1 bedroom apartments, lol) into a mini studio and taking up oil painting. My problem with that is the ventilation though, and trying to keep my cats and their hair away. I tried painting along time ago and loved it! I could never do portraits (problems recreating faces), but my landscapes turned out pretty good. Bob Ross is my idle :)

Acadia - where there is a will there is a way. At one point a closet (albeit a large one) served as my "studio." But painting is a messy proposition and the cleanup when using Poser is a lot quicker. ;)

You know, I work as an RN right now but it's just a job and a pay cheque. It was never my life long dream, hehe. If I had my way I'd be living in an old warehouse loft and dedicating myself and my life to doing creative things like painting, drawing, and writing. I could be totally happy doing that. My creditors would hate it, but I'd be happy, LOL

"To phrase that another way, if you saw this character moving or emoting, the slightest false-step in the animation will stick out like a sore thumb and ruin the illusion."

I think "ruin the illusion" is a bit harsh. It all depends on if your goal is to fool the audience into thinking what they are seeing is live action footage (ie., using CG for things like stunt doubles,etc. where you want everything SEEMLESS), or if your audience already knows that everything they see is not real from the start (for example, animated shorts and game cinematics). If it's the latter, then you get some latitude in the accuracy of the animation, and if history holds true, then the more photorealistic the appearance, the more people will like it. Granted, the motion is still very important in keeping things cohesive.

Then there are people who bring up FinalFantasy as an example of the FAILURE of photorealism in animation, but in reality, the movie just sucked, and it had little to do with the rendering style. In fact, that's probably what drove 50% of the moviegoers into the theatre to begin with. The other 50% being FF enthusiasts. ;-)

In the example in this thread, I am willing to bet it will be a HUGE success, and game consumers are gonna go bonkers over the visual effects. In the case, the photorealism will make kids love it more! That was the case with Blur's awesome Warhammer 40K cinematic, and I expect that will be the case here. Message edited on: 03/15/2006 21:48

Its like someone else stated that some of these pics and animations might have a team of people working on it. Some of these people are true pro's at what their doing. It shouldn't make some of us feel all that bad about what we are turning out. If you as a artist is truly happy with what you are making thats all that matters. I've been doing digital art for 2 years and each time I finish a pic I notice that I'm getting better and better at it (maybe not to others but I notice it lol). Like the song said "Don't worry be Happy". :)

Yes, the kids will love it!