All,

When creating a Poser scene, I think the one thing that I agonize over more than anything else is how to get all your scene components to work in together.

In particular, how to get your background, lights set and camera pose to complement each other. I know that some cyclorama packages have this, but in most cases there is nothing. 

So, are there any guidelines on how to approach this problem ?

mathman, i think a good sense of balance is needed with any good scene. just the way things/characters are arranged on the set. if you skim through the galleries look at just the scene setup, don't get lost in what the picture is saying to you, look at it analytically...and you will quickly see if a scene seems to fit, or flow, and one that doesn't. this should become fairly straight forwad after a while.

also, know how to create a standard 3 light setup, like they use for movies or photoshoots (google+3lightsetup=info!). poser more or less creates this for you automatically. a key light, a fill light and a back light. some say to put your backlight opposite your key light, poser does that too. in my opinion lights are much more of an artistic thing than say the scene setup. you should already have a good idea of what you want ahead of time. so here is what i do and it's worked very well:

i make all colors white, i turn all lights "off", i turn light 1 "on" to say 1/3rd to 1/2 and postion it where you think you want your main source of light to be coming from, now watching your figure, and how the light is reacting/bouncing off the body, fine tune the light positioning by what shading/shadowing "looks best" or more dramatic, turn that light "off"...now same thing with light 2 which will be backing up light 1 in a support role (positioning wise) and finally our backlight, light 3. then just start bringing them "on" one at a time and doing "quickie" renders to monitor progress. be careful with the intensity levels, you don't want to wash stuff out.

anyways, sorry to babble...hope this helps

Thanks, mrpeabody. Problem is I don't have a background in photography and therefore don't know what the key light and the fill light are for. So if you can help me with definitions .....

Key Light: The main light (the one that provides most of the lighting and shadows.
Fill-in Light: Used to provide (usually low-level) additional light in areas that are too dark. (often with no shadows, although you can't do that in photography...)
Back Light: A  (usually low-level) light that is behind a figure, to provide a a bit more modelling...
Hope that helps:-)

Also, google for "Art Theory" and "Art Composition", to get tuts on where to place figures/props in relation to each other and why...

I have a couple of tuts on my HD, but can't remember where I got them from, so can't give links:-(

Cheers,
Diolma

Thanks for the handy definitions, diolma :)

mathman,

http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/animation/3point-light/index.html

that's literally from typing 3lightsetup in google...hence my reference from my original post (google+3lightsetup=info!), my humor is very dry and hard to catch.

in my opinion nothing really is more important than your lights. even if you have a great scene, if the lighting is bad...it's a goner. and likewise i've seen some "iffy" scenes that were literally saved by good lighting. you might consider renting some old alfred hitchcock films, especially the black and whites. excellant 3 hour tutorial(s) on lighting and shadows and the drama they induce. also great use of camera angles and positions.

just keep plugging away boss, it'll come.

Hi Mathman -

If you don't have background in photography, I'd say you should GET ONE! There are tons of free resources out there on photography and cinematography/videography. All it takes is time.

Working with Poser is nothing more or less than virtual photography/cinematography. The process of creating a finished product is very different from the conventional way, but the concepts are EXACTLY the same. Composition, perspective, lighting, color, mood, pacing... these apply in the same way whether you are working with digits and pixels or real equipment and models/actors.

Every aristic medium has its base set of skills you need to master before you can achieve proficiency, much less excellence. If you are the type of person who agonizes over your creative output, you need start working on those basic skills.