I'm considering buying Poser so I can make stills and animations. I haven't done animation before but I'm proficient with Photoshop, Avid non-linear video editing, Web programming and a bunch of business sotware that's far from being intuitive.  This is a strange question but can anyone tell me how difficult it is to become ok at Poser? How long did it take you to get decent at it? It looks like there are a lot of great resources to purchase in the Rendeosity Marketplace and I was figuring on buying most of what I need instead of making it from scratch.

Thanks!

It looks like there are a lot of great resources to purchase in the Rendeosity Marketplace and I was figuring on buying most of what I need instead of making it from scratch.

99,99 % of the made clothes etc etc is done in other programes not in poser.

And it how realistic you want to be is how difficult it is to be good in poser...

Getting nice things done is not so hard ..gettting a above level is much harder .. specialy in animations...

So think about what you want to make and how much animation work you want to do...

I for one think that animating in poser is not that good at all....

But so many people so many opinions :}

Chris

You can get decent pictures in a matter of a few days of playing with it . Getting real looking pics might take you years if ever.  Getting the lighting right is a big issue and is not in my opinion a purely technical matter, but an artistic one.

Poser 5 is $20 from content paradise so its worth a try. Or you can get Daz studio for free.

www.daz3d.com
www.contentparadise.com

I for one think that animating in poser is not that good at all....

But so many people so many opinions :}

Are there any other low priced animation apps I should consider? Poser seems to have lots of books written on and and lots of online sources. Maya seems too high end, probably has a steep learnign curve. How about Lightwave?

Thanks!

Mmm good questions .. only info is missing What is it you wanna do ?

Chris

The learning curve for poser is not too bad. The basics are pretty easy to get a handle on, but like anything else, it takes a bit more effort to learn the advanced features. Most of the content ismade in various modeling programs, so if you don't plan to learn one of those too then you'll probably end up buying most of your content , or downloading some of the free stuff that's available here and elsewhere(and there's plenty available, both free and for sale).

And beiong as you already know photoshop, you will probably be able to make a lot of your own custom textures, most of which are made with Photoshop or similar programs.

And I'd suggest that you take markshum's suggestion and get Poser 5 which is only about $20, as that would be a good way to see if Poser is what you're looking for. Poser 6 costs quite a bit more, and P5 has most of the features that P6 has.

Lightwave is in the $800 range, but it is  not that difficult to get a handle on the basics. It also does modeling, etc.

And when you get P5 for 20$ the upgrade to P6 is Not that High too ..

But it realy depends on what you want to do with it ..

Chris

If you just want to get your feet wet, look up Anim8or, which is free. It is suprisingly full featured, but still much simpler than Poser. But it's a nice way to start to learn the ropes. (Gerald at fast3d.co.uk uses it to make all his models, so check out his site to see what's possible. More of a complement to Poser than a replacement, though.

Also, certainly DO check out DAZ Studio. It is similar enough to Poser that it will give you an idea how easy it will be for you to learn a 3-D app. The interface is different, but many of the concepts are the same. If you pick it up in no time, chances are good you won't be too baffled by Poser.

You also might want to check out Quidam from N-Sided. (n-sided.com) It's a new, Poser-like 3-D app, and a free trial is available, but I don't think they've said yet what the final price will be or when you'll be able to purchase it.

I've heard good things about Hash Animation Master, but it is not free, although it is very low cost compared to something like Maya or 3D Max.

Caligari has TrueSpace, which is fairly low cost, and older versions are available at even lower price points, down to about US$99. People either love TrueSpace or hate it, or sometimes both. It will also introduce you to the basics of 3D modelling and animation, and it has lots of bells and whistles, but the interface is "quirky" (to put it kindly) and in my experience it's also a bit buggy. Pros refer to it as "Toyspace" but these are the same people that don't refer to Poser at all, they just spit when they hear the name. :-)

There is no substitute for Poser.  Especially with Poser 5 having been given away a couple weeks ago, and it's now low low price of $20. pefect for anyone new to 3D!   You really ca'nt pay for anything better, as there is'nt another application like it, and it already has a huge  learning curve!

Alot depends on how much time a day you'd like to spend.  The other is how wisely you spend your money, on tools to then learn what it takes to use them.  I doubt you'll be moderately aquianted with the application within a month, or even a season, more like years of experience.  But it's easy to say that would be more for any other application.

lh, poser is easy to use to animate human figures thru various poses IMVHO. "poser artist" is also far more intuitive than poser 5 or 6, for those with no 3D experience.

I should think one would  be hard pressed to find a price tag on Poser 4 Artist cheaper than Poser 5's current sticker at Content Paradise!

Poser Artist is a bit easier , but yeah, Poser 5 is WAY cheaper, so if you're going to get Poser I'd get P5, simply because it's the lowest priced option. Poser Artist's material settings are a lot easier, but Poser 5's are way more realistic looking and offer more options (not to mention not needing those pesky BUM and RSR files)...

Sorry Marty - I would'nt even say it's easier, there's such a huge shift between the materials of P4, and the Material Room of P5, and P6.  I, personally, picked up on the visual "Nodes" much faster than P3, and P4's attempt at a Material Editor.  And knowing how much more they pack has me in question.

If you want, there is a great DVD video on sale at E-Frontier for an introduction to Poser, I highly suggest you purchase it, it will save you hours of "oh my gosh, what did I do".  Then, if you are really interested in the purchase of Poser, I would go for Poser 6, might as well get the top one for stills and animation.

Sharen

"How long to be ok at Poser"

Been going 3 years and I still suck at it!! [lol]

Good luck with what you want to do though, hope it works out for you!

Poser is good for animations as well as stills, but it takes practice. to be gooda at anything takes practice. There are very few programs out there with the "Make Art" button. It all depends on your own artistic will as to whether poser is "good". People like my stills and give good reviews on them. I have had my animations play at various festivals and screenings over the years (starting with Poser 3). IMHO Poser is good for starting and continuing. As a matter of fact, I'm teaching an entry-level workshop this weekend on "Basic animation using Poser 3" at Quickdraw Animation Society, in Calgary, so if you're available, sign up and come on in. If you want other programs, there's Blender (freeeee, used to make the movie "Elephant Dreams"), Wings, and iClone.

i think it varies from person to person. i am still yet to learn a lot of things in poser as most of us are but yes i think poser is good to get your feet wet and start you up into 3d. as some have suggested poser 5 or daz is the way to go, they don't cost much and daz studio is free and it will give you an idea of how 3d works. it's a lot of fun but be forewarned, you're bound to get hooked by it and your back account will never look the same ever again, lol.

don't forget the bags under yer eyes and the fruity language that comes out of your mouth when things go wrong!!! (remember to save frequently!!) not so bad now with poser6 (don't remember the last time i lost something i was working on in P6) but poser5 used to crash quite a bit!!!

Poser is the best habit you'll ever pick up!!

"This is a strange question but can anyone tell me how difficult it is to become ok at Poser?"

I started out with Poser ProPack.  It was my very first time using any type of 3D program and it took me about 2 months (and a lot of cussing and tearing my hair out!) before I finally got a handle on the basics.  After 3 years I'm just now getting to a point where I'm very happy with the quality of my work.

Thanks everybody for the responses!

Heck, for $20 for Poser 5 English Full version at contentparadise.com I don't have much to lose. I bought it there (online) yesterday but when they emailed me the receipt with the download link, the link for the "Content CD" worked but the lnk for the actual program download didn't work. It wasn't even a hyperlink.

Does anyone know if contentparadise.com has a download available? My email has the license number so I should be able to activate it.

I opened a ticket for this at contentparadise.com but I'm not sure how long it will take for them to get back to me. I couldn't find a support phone number for them either.

Thank you.

Nevermind on the lack of download app file. I found it in contentparadise under the "my stuff" link. Funny that the link in the email receipt didn't work.