Free is good.

I am not yet a 3D modeler, I only morph provided content in Poser up to this point - but I was wondering if Blender is a good choice for me, If I want to make , from scratch, props and clothing that will fit Poser characters. Aside from the fact that I will have to learn how to operate Blender, I think my question is: How doies Blender work out when you are using it in conjunction with Poser (as your final posing/ animating rendering arena).
Is it easy to account for Poser figure rigging when you are working in Blender?  Are there any known incongruencies  when you move a Blender object  into Poser?  is it easy to transition objects into Poser?  etc.....

Thanks

Rigging in Poser and Blender are approached differently so anything rigged in Poser has to be re-rigged for use in Blender and vice versa. You can outside rigging into Blender with the FBX and Collada file formats but you have to bind the mesh to the skeleton and adjust all your deformations to work in Blender, slightly easier than building a rig completely from scratch but still a chore.

When creating new Poser objects it is MUCH easier to create your grouping in Blender then export to Poser for rigging rather than using the group tool in Poser.

Naming conventions have to be closely adhered to when naming object groups, Blender adds data blocks automatically and appends the block name to the naming. You just have to be sure of the naming of groups prior to exporting to Poser. You can rename object groups using a text editor inside the .obj file but it's just easier to handle everything up front.

Poser's tiny scale is a problem anywhere you try to work outside of Poser. I make it a habit to scale up anything Poser related by a factor of 4 or 5 after import, do the work, return the object to Poser scale, then export.

If you decide to try Blender I have a tutorial that is specifically for creating clothing items for use in DAZ Studio and Poser. The tutorial covers modeling a simple t-shirt  as a way of introducing the tools and preparing the item for export to Poser. It does require you to be somewhat familiar with finding your way around the Blender interface though I do try to define key combos used.

Blender can be tough to learn but so is any other high end modeling suite, fortunately there is a strong community of Blender user's that can provide assistance.

WOW  that was the perfect , detailed  answer

Thank you very much, lisa

It sounds like it is definitely not a "snap"  but then again what is?

I will get into Blender when I am prepared to invest in the learning curve - probably in the next few weeks.   I am certainly hoping, and it seems to me from what I have read,  that there is a little more ability to actually  warp and smooth poly shapes in blender at the single poly level -  and I mean  REALLY  change vertices , not just shading them to appear warped and smoothed.

just to say: i switch back and forth between 10xs scale.  that way i can get back down easily if i forget.  that said, i've been thinking about scaling everything in Poser up by 10, because (iirc), the small scale affects Firefly, too.

lisaritchie,
where can I find your creating clothing for Poser tutorial?  I'd like to have a go at this.
Thanks!

Quote - lisaritchie,
where can I find your creating clothing for Poser tutorial?  I'd like to have a go at this.
Thanks!

Sent you a PM with the links.

I do all my modeling in Blender and I make a lot of my own stuff and piece together and morph characters in it. It's a great app.

Quote -
If you decide to try Blender I have a tutorial that is specifically for creating clothing items for use in DAZ Studio and Poser. The tutorial covers modeling a simple t-shirt  as a way of introducing the tools and preparing the item for export to Poser.

I would very much like a link to that tutorial, please.  :)

Quote -
I would very much like a link to that tutorial, please.  :)

Check your site mail.

Quote - > Quote -

I would very much like a link to that tutorial, please.  :)

Check your site mail.

Is there anyway I could also get that link :D  Thanks so very much :D

Okay, I've posted the links to the tutorial in the Blender resources sticky at the top of the forum.

Quoted to save some folks precious clicks. :)

http://www.4shared.com/file/33921586/2c9f1710/Simple_Modeling_in_Blender_-_Part_1.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/33921619/6fa40f91/Simple_Modeling_in_Blender_-_Part_2.html

Wanna really be awesome?  Put the links in the first post so anyone who stumbles across this thread for the first time doesn't have to read the whole thread to get to the linkage. :)
 

:tongue2:

Thanks very much for the links. I'm considering starting to build props and clothing for Poser/DS, and this should be very helpful. I'm giving a go at both Amapi and Blender to see which I will prefer. I've worked with Blender before, so I know what it can do...just need to re-learn it. (Easier said than done.)