Hi  there,

I was thinking about buying Poser, but before I shell out for it I was just wondering if it will suit my needs. Basically, I'm looking for it to conceptualize some characters for a game that I'm currently writing (pen and paper Role Playing Game).

I'll need the ability to create different characters and make them look like what I have in my mind. Basically badly dressed aggressive Mad Max type characters with Guns (men and women), if that makes any sense. :)

I really like what I've seen in the poser galleries, but I'm wondering how easy it it to get the type of characters you are looking for from a base model and can you get fairly wacky outfits with a bad attitude? :) How far can you tweak the base models.

Many thanks for the info',

Rob.

I know another fellow that does this same thing in Poser.

Heresy alert - Maybe start with Daz Studio, and get your chops up to speed (you can download it for free). Then, once  you've found the limitations frustrating, come on over to Poser.
ooops, Did I say that out loud?...;)

Hi guys,

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry, if I've said anything to offend.

Yes, I downloaded Daz already.  It seems okay, but then you have to buy loads and loads of stuff from what I've seen. I've used 3ds Max a wee bit in the past so I understand there is a learning curve with Poser.

But as I'd like to use it for a few of my projects and I'd be happy to buy it if I'll be able to have that customization for the characters I require. Again, I apologize for my ignorance, but I didn't find their main site all that helpful. They didn't mention all that much about character creation and customization. So voila! I came here. :)

Thanks again,

Rob.

Poser itself has the Face Room (for Poser native figures) and a Morph Tool that can alter figures, provided you have a fair amount of time to fiddle with the options.

Alternatively, the Poser figures have a number of morphs already pre-setup to offer a degree of change. Finding enough clothing for them might be a bit difficult.

As for Daz, the "Generation 3" (Victoria 3, Michael 3, Aiko 3, David 3, etc.) and "Generation 4" (Michael 4, Freak 4, Victoria 4, etc.) groups of figures require buying Daz's morph packs to use, especially since a large number of character sets for the figures use those morphs.

Chances are you'll have to buy a cartload of stuff for Poser, too.  Specially if you want Mad Max types.  Most of the clothes included in Poser are pretty ordinary.

A good investment would be Wardrobe Wizard (or at least licenses for various figures) so that  you can use one basic outfit on several models.

The DAZ (human) models are free but the Millennium 3 and 4 figures need morph packs in order for you to use the, er, morphs.  The older figures (Victoria 2, Mike 2, Stephanie, Aiko) have morphs built in, so they are worth working with.  I like 'em better than most of the figures included with Poser, anyhow.

Addendum...

I'd go so far as to say Mike 2 is my favourite male Poser figure anyhow.

Content is hard to come by for the older figures but there may be some lurking in Freestuff. 

What you need to do is get something like blender and wings3d (both free) to make some items and props if you have a lot of time and want to save money.  You can also make morphs for v4/m4 but those take time.

Hey Guys,

Thanks again for helping me out. That W. Wizard sounds cool! :)

Okay, so it looks like I can tweak the characters to suit alright. Sorry for all the noob questions. It's just I'm scared of blowing the cash and finding out that it can't do what I need it to. But it looks like it's going to fit. :)

So now the clothing and props seem to be the next issue. I'm okay at modeling stuff like guns + knives in max (basically anything non-organic). But clothing seems to be a bit more problematic now. Is it possible to buy leather jackets/Bike boots and the like for poser? Also, Victorian stovepipe hats and overcoats, etc. I'll be working on some Victorian material next, a la "League of Extra Ordinary Gentlemen".

Thanks again,

R.

before you buy, look at your own work and free stuff creatively.  if you can make a knife, you can make a hat.  hats aren't but so organic, most of the time, especially in the Victorian era.  and a lot of stuff doesn't need to be.  for instance, most armor doesn't bend in real life, so why should it bend in Poser?

if you're really looking for flexibility you might prefer Poser. it's pretty easy to make dynamic dresses for Poser.  it's absolutely impossible for you (not DAZ) to make dynamic clothes for D|S.

in the end, it's about how far you're willing to go, how much you want things to look the way they do in your head, and what you're willing to pay for to get there.  the one thing i'd advise is to look at figures not based on their version or what people use most in the galleries.  if M2 fits your style of male best, use him.  if the free Apollo does, use him.  if Sydney or Jessi are fine for your work, use them, not a version of Vicky.  all of the figures have their advantages and drawbacks, so if you're coming to the whole business clean, go with whatever works for you.

the thing about most of the work in the galleries is the content came first, not the artist's vision.  most gallery work was made by someone seeing something they thought was cool, acquiring it, and building a scene around it.  some of the most creative work i've seen has been that of people who decide to make a narrative with their work.  because they have their own story to tell, they run into the limitations of existing content.  as a result, they've had to do a lot of painting (even if it's just to make textures), a lot of re-purposing for content, and (if they could) some modeling.  so when you look at something, you can't look at what it is, but what it could be.

It depends heavily on what you want to do??

Do the figures move in your game?

Poser figures are real resource hungry. hence, Poser itself has a good CPU and RAM apetite.
It would be wise to make a good game plan. (and I do not mean a plan of the game) but rather the workflow plan to get where you want to go.

It can take from minutes to hours do render one single frame as you see them in the gallery.

But then, If you worked with DAZ Studio you know this already.

Poser 8 and PoserPro2010 (as all versions before)  have figures and some basic clothes in the content, but, you certainly will have to buy, (or make) stuff.

all depends on what you want to achieve.

Hi Vilters,

Thanks for the reply. :)

To be honest, I wont be animating the figures, so it would be a one frame picture - prolly with some dynamic poses in there (pardon the pun) :). I have a semi-decent pc and I'm not in a massive hurry, so time is not a factor per se.

As regards needs, it seems that, from what people have said here anyway. The "figure" side of things seems to be fine, and I've no problem with non-organic props in max.

So the final piece of the puzzle is if I can find suitable clothing (or near as). For example some of the characters will definitely have "biker style" leather jackets, and long Victorian long coats (think Jack the Ripper). Plus, I'll need a Mohawk hairstyle. Now, there's not way I can make a leather jacket in max, it's way beyond my skill set (damn nurbs!). So if I can buy those props somewhere then all is well. :)

Thanks,

R.

Billy -T has biker jackets coming out of his ears.  Well, not exactly but you get the idea.  He has a store here and also sells at DAZ.  There was also a free biker jacket for V3, made by dodger, but I don't think it's available now.  Not sure, so look around.

I believe Wardrobe Wizard is built in with the latest versions of Poser but you'll most likely need to buy conversion licenses from PhilC if you're converting clothes for DAZ figures. 

Cool man, I'll have a look at those.

Thanks for helping me out.

R.

Hey,

Well, I'd like to say thanks to everybody for helping me out and putting up with my dumb questions. :) My search is almost complete.

I have one final question for you guys, if you have the time. I've been looking at "Utilize" clothing (thanks to SamTherapy) and a lot of those costumes will definitely fit the bill. Some really lovely stuff there.

So if I bought "X costume" (for a male) can I use that on any poser male model through the wardrobe wizard? Or do I need the exact model it would be specified to use with that clothing (if the clothing said it was for "Micheal 4" as an example).

Thanks!

R.

You'll have to tweek it a bit more than likely in a modelling program, but ww will get you very close.

Cool... so can these adjustments be done in poser itself or would you have to bring it into Max?

Thanks,

R.

I got into Poser to please myself. Ran through bryce, Daz Studio and finally bought Vue as well. In order to get seriose work done you WILL either need to buy lots and lots of characters, morphs and clothes. OR you will need to learn a modeler. Don't pirate so Maya is probably out of the question but the free apps mentioned will work if you dedicate boatloads of time into learning them. I'm addicted and have probably spent upwards of $25,000 on hardware, software and training videos and books (Lynda.com is great) so beware it is very very addicting.
Personally I have never used a Smith Micro character in anything I've done since Poser 3. The Daz Mil4 are the best you can get and are currently free. get them now even if you aren't sure about poser. Go to the free stuff here. You will probably need a full day to make it to the end of the free stuff but I will bet my bottom dollar much of what you need will be there

Cool thanks for the advice. So how, if you don't mind me asking, do you get an M4 model with morphs into poser? I know theres an executable file for daz, but how will it work for poser?

Thanks,

R.
 

You would probably have to use MAX

Thanks for answering **kyhighlander59. :)

Cheers,
**

** **

R.

The daz installers ask for the target app, Daz or Poser. Then locate the folder that has the Poser exicutable and there you go. They always install into your main runtime by default

Wow, it's that easy.... Cool!

Thanks,

R.

I use Poser to create animated instructional videos. The results are quite satisfactory. While Poser is a low-budget program, it is capable of very fine results. It all depends on how well you understand what the program is capable of and how much time you're willing to invest. You won't create Pixar or ILM quality images but I've seen professionally made, theatrically released animated films whose image quality and animation was clearly inferior to what Poser can deliver. I don't see why Poser couldn't be used to create a "real" movie.

Hi guys,

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to reply to my noob questions. With all your advise I purchased poser last night and a load of stuff from Daz.. I know that it will take a few months to get my head around the program but I hope to have a gallery up soon.

Thanks guys!

Rob.

Quote - Hi guys,

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to reply to my noob questions. With all your advise I purchased poser last night and a load of stuff from Daz.. I know that it will take a few months to get my head around the program but I hope to have a gallery up soon.

Thanks guys!

Rob.

You might consider joining the DAZ Platinum club. It's about $60 a year, but you get a $5 coupon each month, a discount on most DAZ store purchases, and you can buy Platinum club items for $1.99. The Platinum club items are often quite good and cover a huge variety of outfits, vehicles, props etc.

Quote - Hi  there,

I'll need the ability to create different characters and make them look like what I have in my mind. Basically badly dressed aggressive Mad Max type characters with Guns (men and women), if that makes any sense. :)

Rob.

I know this is a Poser forum,  but you will be better served getting the current version of Daz Studio 3 which is a free download at cnet.  And as mentioned all the Daz Base models are now free at  DAZ3D.  The tool functionality of Daz Studio is far more user friendly and you'll be generating concept art in a shorter time frame.  

Thanks for chiming in guys. :)

I've actually been messing with Daz while I was waiting for my Poser Pro to arrive :). I have to say, it's been very interesting, as I was able to make some "okay" stuff right off the bat. And the level of customization is astonishing! The program is pretty easy to pick up, at the basic level anyway. However, I must admit I'm finding the folder structure a bit confusing tho', as I can't really find where some of my new content has gone even after I installed them - Gah! :(

My copy of Poser arrived today incidentally so I've been messing around with it too. There's definitely a learning curve with it (which I was aware of). One thing will say that I'm a tad disappointed with is it's instability. It keeps crashing... Virtually every time I try and render something. However, I may be doing something wrong or don't have something set up correctly. I'll install the latest service pack tomorrow and see how it goes. But for now it's back to DaZ for a bit. :)

Thanks!

Rob.

PS - You guys were right, it's bizarrely addictive, and  I think I might have to set up a platinum account now, thanks to the advice from AnAardvark.

Glad we could all help.  Keep asking questions and look around the forum for various threads; you may find answers there before you need to ask something.

Poser crashes can be due to a number of things.  I have Poser 6, which is very stable on my ancient system, but it's very limited compared to P8 and Pro2010.  For best advice, state the version you're using and your system specs.  Those in the know will then be able to give you best advice.  There are a few threads around at the moment regarding Poser crashes, so check those out.

BagginsBill is a mine of information regarding most aspects of Poser, and is the expert when it comes to advanced material settings and shaders.

Doctor Geep (aka geep) has tons of tutorials covering many aspects of Poser, so look out for his threads.  They got me and many others started.

Hey Sam,

Thanks again for all your advice - I'll keep my eyes peeled for the guys you mentioned now too. :)

Cheers,

R.

Dont sleep on Daz Studio . get a Uber lights plugin or LightDome pro 2 , v4 and M3,M4 morphs ++, buy or model a few clothing items . Pilage the freestuff for hair and props and you'll be stock up on usable tools to do exactly what you want for about $80 -$100 instead of $200 for poser8. then if you decide you want to mix shaders and use IDL lights  or VSS shader for skin, drop it on Poser 8.

Thanks man, I'll look into those options.

Cheers,

R.

As a long time Poser and Daz user I'd definitely recommend checking out Platinum Club at Daz. They have a number of Victorian Era costumes. Also here is a leather outfit they sell you may be looking for:

http://www.daz3d.com/i/shop/itemdetails/?item=7720

Hope it helps.
Nolos.

I'm smart...and I want respect!