I've been Brycing for several years now and am considering Poser. I got a demo of version 4. It lets you morph and move around an image, but that's it. I don't see any tools to create images. From the demo it looks to me like the poser owners can only import the work of others, pose them, then go back to Bryce for the final render, yet I've seen images that imply there is more to the program than this. 1. Can I create a human body in mesh form with Poser or do I need another program to do that? 2. What exactly does the pro pack do? 3. Is there any rumor or beta testing of a new version other than 4? I hate to buy now and see a new release next month. Thanks.

Yes, Poser 4 can indeed create renders. You see a lot of folks export posed figures out to Bryce because it has a better render engine. 1. You will need a 3D modeling program to create the mesh for a new figure. You'll also want to have a 2D paint program for the texturing work. There is a free program called UVMapper that is the standard for making the texture templates. After you've created the mesh, the joint set and such can be done directly in Poser. 2. The Pro-Pack has a lot of different features. The Setup Room helps the joint setup process. There are plug-ins for exporting Poser figures to various programs. A scripting language called PoserPython is also included. Take a look at the PPP area at CuriousLabs for a complete list. 3. There is a rumored Poser 5 in the works but I haven't heard anything about it being in beta at this point. CL is pretty good about upgrading if you've recently bought just before a new release.

Thanks, I have several 3d modeling freewares. What kind of modeling program do you recommend?

It really depends on how much you want to spend on it. 3D modelers go anywhere for thousands to free. If you have around $600, Rhino seems to be the modeler of choice. Another good one but a bit more expensive is 3D Studio Max. Speaking of freeware, if you have anim8or, that's a good place to get your feet wet since it exports .obj files. It's not really going to give you the tools to do human figures but it will let you get a start with simpler meshes.

I have anim8r, and a demo of rhino. 3dmax would be my choice but out of the price range. Ok, I'll take a closer look at rhino. Thanks a lot.

Attached Link: http://bushi3d.com

LOL! Sheesh, don't you ever sleep? I thought I was the only night-owl around here. ;-) I have some tutorials on my site that may help you get started making poseable figures. They're oriented to RayDream Studio as the modeler but will give you some background on one avenue of the process. Click the supplied link and look at the tutorials sections. Good Luck!

Sleep? What's that? www.annsartgallery.com/eric.htm

Believe me, you would not be sorry if you buy Poser 4, but one warning, it's habit forming. You'll soon become an addict, like the rest of us. I do all my rendering in Poser. I've done some in Bryce, but the colors never really come in right in Bryce. They always seem washed out and blunted in Bryce and I can't get transparency to work right in Bryce. The colors are much more brilliant in Poser, and just I bring in an imported Bryce background. Most demos have certain features turned off, so you don't really get a good idea of the program's capabilities. Poser can do so much. As Bushi said, there's talk of a Poser 5, but I doubt it'll be ready in a month. I've seen some "wish lists" for it, but I haven't heard any solid info on a release date, so I think you would be safe in getting Poser 4. But caution, it's way too much fun and you'll soon start neglecting your daily chores. ;) Melanie

No kidding about Poser being addictive! I bought Poser 4 early last year and it took me a little while to figure it out. Then I found Renderosity, started looking at what other people were creating and WHAM! I was hooked! I'll start a project in the early evening and it'll suddenly be 4:00 a.m. and I'm looking around wondering where the time went. This program is truly awesome. I'm doing more in Poser than I've done in 3DS Max for several years. And the quality of the renders is truly remarkable. With the new VUE 4 coming out next week, the only thing I'll be using 3DS Max for is creating Poser meshes! BTW, Rhino is also a very good modeling program. Doc

The biggest attraction to poser for Me was ready made content!! If you want to do nice stills, animated people, robots and animals poser is a good program because you can start animating right away as opposed to to spending Hours upon hours building bone rigs and setting wieght maps or restiction tags as you must in the high end programs Before you can animate a character of course you can export these characters to other programs to render them. I personally NEVER do any final renders in poser due its admittedly weak render engine and Poor lighting capability. and there is a wealth of additional content available for poser such as the millenium man model ( see pic) and the highly versitile vicky of course. Mocap

take my advise and stay the hell away from poser it,ll end up taking over your life just as it has everyone elses stu-art

Bullshit! I'm a social Poser, I can quit any time I want. There's no reason to believe that Poser will take over your life. Afterall, there are textures to tighten up, a few models to make to fit the next scene. There are lots of things one can do other than Poser. Like a few hours of sleep now and then. 12 steps or not, I'm getting better and better renders each day.