Ahhh I see where you’re going. What you’re talking about is cutting edge stuff.

 

I can’t speak for the other programs that you mention but recently a couple of tools have been add to Max that will make body dynamics possible, for that program, in the near future.

 

Skin Morph Modifier:

 

Is a modifier that allows the deforming of a mesh based on the rotation of a joint controller and the set position is morph based on the position it is set and the completion of the rotation. Of course we are back to the “but” of the morphing idea.

 

But.

 

Skin Wrap Modifier.

 

Is a modifier that allows a mesh to be bound to a sub-surface object that overrides the skinning solution that has been applied or even driven by a sub-surface skin as you mentioned.

 

With the skin morpher you can now build highly accurate muscles at the element level that behaves as by design with out having to depend on the limited ability of the rig. Once you have all your muscles behaving properly as individual groups you can “wrap” your skin around the entire frame.

 

 Between the two it is now very possible to create a muscle system that has the same dynamics as a human being that has been rejected in the past as it was to complicated and expensive a process that really had no audience impact.

 

If you’re interested I did do a tutorial that demonstrates a very basic muscle design using Max.http://www.3d-frankiev.com/maxtuts/max8_video_tutorials.htm

 

But if your really interested in the roll of human dynamics in a production environment then the person to watch in that area would be Paul Neale at PEN Productions.

http://paulneale.com/3Dimages/ogre/ogreRig.htm

 

He has been doing some amazing work in the area of accurate character development and has a list of film and television credits that you might want to check out. I’ve seen his work on the Dresden Files and it’s amazing stuff. 

 

Also another place to check out.

http://www.cgcharacter.com/

 

A rather limited solution based on the technical factors to pull off a complete solution but it does demonstrate the possibility of human dynamics becoming a standard rather than working with a limited control system and then fixing the problems for the shot afterwards.

 

How does this affect Poser? Well I don’t what to get into that Dodge verse Ford argument but it “seems” to me that Poser is a platform that is used by those that don’t want to be involved in the technical aspects and requirements yet want to produce visually appealing images. For them it’s just a matter of time before human dynamics is included in the box as CG graphics as a whole has always been driven towards a realistic and accurate real world representation inside a world of fantasy.

 

And of course:

 

There will always be the but. ;)