I need to show the vertebral column with some muscles in place - namely the smaller ones such as intertransversarii and rotatores (bigger words than marmalade!)

The muscle maps for M3 etc aren't up to it, and I know it's possible to buy an advanced muscle set (can't remember name off hand) which is thousands of dollars, but this is far too much.
Is it difficult to create a single muscle which will attach to two points and change shape when the spine is turned (ie stretch/contract)

I'm dabbling with Blender, but I know there are other 3d apps available free (important!) to create the shape, but I need to know if it's rocket science to get the shape to play as a muscle.

Is it difficult to create a single muscle which will attach to two points and change shape when the spine is turned (ie stretch/contract) I heard Maya has something like that. (Is that still an $8000 application?) In Poser, you'll have to get by with morphs and the Setup Room's falloff zones and bulge/indent creation. Good luck.

Attached Link: http://drgeep.com/

Wanna see something?
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=43&t=432320

Not very applicable, but on the topic.

Quote - it is possible to do that in poser. see geep's piston tutorial. one will need several years' experience in poser and some advanced 3d modeller to get it done IMVHO. might be more cost-effective just to buy it from zygote.

I love Geep's tutorials, but I couldn't find anything there on pistons.  Is Geep rotating tutorials, or hiding them on purpose for some reason?

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=2029949&ebot_calc_page#message_2029949

Quote - Wanna see something?
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=43&t=432320

Not very applicable, but on the topic.

Very applicable.

There's some gobsmacking stuff there.

Maya is free for personal use, so it may well be worth me playing around with that - It will at least teach me what I need to do.
The muscle primitives seem a great idea.

thanks for all the replies

It makes me wonder, why this isn't the way poser figures are created?   Maybe I'm not wrong, but it seems that the Uni-mesh and e-frontier figs are created with only the skin topology in mind, and not with the underlying structures that define how the skin stretches and bends, thus creating our posing problems before we even get the figures : ) 

Quote - It makes me wonder, why this isn't the way poser figures are created?   Maybe I'm not wrong, but it seems that the Uni-mesh and e-frontier figs are created with only the skin topology in mind, and not with the underlying structures that define how the skin stretches and bends, thus creating our posing problems before we even get the figures : ) 

Which is something Anton, myself and several others were discussing in another thread a few weeks ago.

Bear in mind the figures - and the basic technology of Poser - were not designed for realistic images in the first instance.

Originally, true.   It was designed as an artists tool. But I think over the course of its growth from one version to another, its transformed into a digital imaging tool, and thus those sorts of anatomical principles need to be taken into consideration.  But what do I know?  I can't even model a stupid piece of clothing or prop for Apollo = )

Wasn't trying to bump this, but why not...

I never understood how "it's an artist's tool" excuses the unnatural anatomic bending.  I know it started as a replacement for a mannequin, to gauge foreshortening mainly.  However, once the decision was made to give the characters muscles and smooth bending, why not try to make that as correct as possible?