I finally got brave enough to post one of my creations. After seeing some of the work that other members have put here, I was a little timid. Anyhow, here it is. Be kind, I know there are some kinks in it:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2150136&user_id=663573&member&np

Great start!!

A little advice...

Set some goals of elements you want to learn: IE: shadows, lights, reflections, posing, placement, expressions........etc

Then make it your mission with each image you create to add at least one of those elements, and to pay extra attention to that single one element that you are trying to master.

Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to learn everything at once, because you will just get frustrated.

Learn in layers. Scenes are built from a series of elements that come together as a whole.  Think of these elements as layers.

Concentrate on one element and work hard on learning that one, even though the other elements may not be up to your vision.They will be in time :)

Once you are comfortable with that one element and have a good feel and are getting decent results that you are relatively happy with, with that one element, then work hard on a second element, while still incorporating that first element into it.

For example when I was learning lights, I spend months making images and concentrating on nothing but my lighting. I still used relections and the material room etc, but my efforts went into working on the lighting in my scene. As a result I'm pretty comfortable making my own lights now. No near a master, but I am adequate enough with lights that I can usually get what I want from lighting in my scene.

I can't wait to see your furture images and watch you grow. 

Another tip.  Never delete an image from your gallery. Use the first ones as a guage to your growth.  This time next year you'll be uploading master pieces!!

Looks good.  

Quote - Great start!!

A little advice...

Set some goals of elements you want to learn: IE: shadows, lights, reflections, posing, placement, expressions........etc

Then make it your mission with each image you create to add at least one of those elements, and to pay extra attention to that single one element that you are trying to master.

Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to learn everything at once, because you will just get frustrated.

Learn in layers. Scenes are built from a series of elements that come together as a whole.  Think of these elements as layers.

Concentrate on one element and work hard on learning that one, even though the other elements may not be up to your vision.They will be in time :)

Once you are comfortable with that one element and have a good feel and are getting decent results that you are relatively happy with, with that one element, then work hard on a second element, while still incorporating that first element into it.

For example when I was learning lights, I spend months making images and concentrating on nothing but my lighting. I still used relections and the material room etc, but my efforts went into working on the lighting in my scene. As a result I'm pretty comfortable making my own lights now. No near a master, but I am adequate enough with lights that I can usually get what I want from lighting in my scene.

I can't wait to see your furture images and watch you grow. 

Another tip.  Never delete an image from your gallery. Use the first ones as a guage to your growth.  This time next year you'll be uploading master pieces!!

Very sage advice. As a matter of fact, that's pretty much how I am tackling this. I am working on lighting now, as such. This piece was the first that I was relatively happy with the lighting. The only blotch I see is the green spot light I used to give her face a glow off the light saber. I know I could have set up the light saber to do that (saw that in a tutorial on here somewhere), but I didn't' know that at the time. I got too many reflections on the wall behind her. Oh well, live and learn. And no, I won't be deleting any of my work.

Quote - Looks good.  

Thank you!

looks ok to me.  You've already noticed the green glow on the wall :biggrin:  Unfortunately Poser doesn't make it easy to avoid that sort of thing.  It'll be interesting to see how this progresses

Quote - looks ok to me.  You've already noticed the green glow on the wall :biggrin:  Unfortunately Poser doesn't make it easy to avoid that sort of thing.  It'll be interesting to see how this progresses

I think there is a way to decay the light so that it doesn't shine that far out, right?  I know the beam can be adjusted. I am going to be working on it today. Perhaps I will post another render later on. Thanks everyone for the support. I think with my next render my skin will be thicker, and you can tell me what is really going on in the scene and how to fix it.

Quote - > Quote - looks ok to me.  You've already noticed the green glow on the wall :biggrin:  Unfortunately Poser doesn't make it easy to avoid that sort of thing.  It'll be interesting to see how this progresses

I think there is a way to decay the light so that it doesn't shine that far out, right?  I know the beam can be adjusted. I am going to be working on it today. Perhaps I will post another render later on. Thanks everyone for the support. I think with my next render my skin will be thicker, and you can tell me what is really going on in the scene and how to fix it.

One of my favourite quotes:

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi

As an important note, always post which version of Poser you are using for your final renders.  Through the different iterations, certain features have been added and improved upon which makes specific effects easily achievable. 

Quote - As an important note, always post which version of Poser you are using for your final renders.  Through the different iterations, certain features have been added and improved upon which makes specific effects easily achievable. 

Uhhh, yeah. Ooops. I am using Poser 8, and I also use GIMP 2.6 and Magix Movie Edit Pro 16HD. I have dabbled a bit with animation, but I decided to take it back to basics and get the posing, lighting, and all the rest down before I move on to making that next big YouTube epic.

Another note: I downloaded Blender, but it's going to be quite awhile before I can do anything with it. They warn you that it's not newbie friendly, so I knew going in that it was going to be hard to learn. But it looks so powerful and the things I've seen people do with it are stunning, to say the least. I want to be able to do that one day. Guess that will take awhile, since my real life and job keep me from doing this too much per day...

Blender is extremely powerful once you get the hang of it.  The interface is completely different to any other bit of software I've ever come across but the principles of modelling will work the same in most applications.  If you want to see exactly what Blender is capable of, do a search for "Big Buck Bunney" that was all done in Blender from start to finish (the compositing might have been done outside Blender but it does have the ability to do it inside)

which version of blender do you have?

blender 2.5 is not so hard to learn.

Attached Link: Light Saber

Quote - If you need another light saber model, i have one in my freebies.

Thanks! I think I already have it! It's a copy of Mace Winduu's purple saber, right?

Quote - which version of blender do you have?

 

blender 2.5 is not so hard to learn.

I got the latest and greatest stable version, which is 2.6 I believe. I haven't really opened it very much, as I am scouring the internet for tutorials (which there are a lot of, by the way), but you have to wade through some tripe before you find gold.

Yeah it's the Mace Winduu saber :o)

Quote - Yeah it's the Mace Winduu saber :o)

Check out my latest, titled "First Encounter". Your light saber is making an incognito appearance. I recolored the blade to match Sith tradition.

In addition to Acadia's great suggestions, I would recommend trying to not have the render centered all the time. I used to have my characters right smack dab in the center of the render, and once I started deviating from this, I was finding more dynamic ways of image composition. Though if you do a lot of closeups like I tend to do, there's not too many ways around that.. :)  By no means am I an artistic genius, though. I just try to convey what I know. :D

Quote - In addition to Acadia's great suggestions, I would recommend trying to not have the render centered all the time. I used to have my characters right smack dab in the center of the render, and once I started deviating from this, I was finding more dynamic ways of image composition. Though if you do a lot of closeups like I tend to do, there's not too many ways around that.. :)  By no means am I an artistic genius, though. I just try to convey what I know. :D

In my first render, Sydney was the only thing in the scene, and it was meant to be a close up camera shot a la a movie scene. And I guess the only other render that she is centered in is The Encounter. I am going to post one more render that I made, where nothing is really centered in the scene. I will put this in the back of my mind. I tend to think like a cinematographer, so in a sense, I am trying to look at the big picture and tell a story.

Thank you for the thought.

Someone turned me onto the "Rule of Thirds" for composition.  Really helpful!

http://painting.about.com/od/composition/ss/art-composition-rules.htm

In the following thread, at the bottom, JQP offers some suggestions on search strings for information on composition.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2691662

Quote - Searches like "elements of composition," "elements of design," "rules of composition," "rules of design," might be helpful.

I added both links to my favorites so I can read it more in depth later on. I am definitely going to do some research and reading before I create too many more renders...

This thread echoes that excitement one gets from playing with tools limited only by the imagination. You're tackling some interesting concepts, just with Poser, rokket. Give yourself plenty of time and practice to get a firm grip on each one (as Acadia suggested) and do a lot of rendering. Poser 8 is a great place to start: you'll be a while getting comfortable with all this programme has to offer. When you start with IDL, have a look on here for Bagginsbill's suggestions... he's got this tutorial I'm playing wth that I can't seem to let go of (although I'm meant to start having a play with dynamic cloth... just can't seem to get going on it).

Most importantly, enjoy. Poser is as much fun as you make it.

I only started learning Poser 7 back in May of this year, and then started modeling in Wings about a month later after LaurieA suggested it, as I was making my 1st props with Poser primitive shapes. I did prove you can do quite a bit with them tho. I think I am one of the exceptions on here that took the unorthodox route and started learning a little bit of everything all at once.

At 1st it was all jumbled info, but as a little time passed, things just clicked and started making sense. So in the last 7 months, I've learned to model and uv map, make props with morphs, rigging figures, making conforming and dynamic clothes (I prefer dynamic by far), and texturing of course. I've been told by a few people that I've learned way faster then anyone they've seen, I don't know tho, it's just fun and I took to it I guess.

But what I'm getting at is, you're only limited by how enthusiastically you take to learning new things to improve your images and/or animations. Don't think of watching and reading tutorials like school work, it'll only turn you off of this great means of expressing ones' creativity. Happily spend and hour a night watching a few good and informative tutorials before you jump into Poser. Then after(or during if that's easier for you to follow along) the videos or reading, go into Poser and practice around with what you just learned, and not only use the settings they implemented, change one here and there and see the after effects (especially in the material and cloth rooms.)

And most of all, never forget the people here are always ready and willing to help. Even for models here and there. I've made many freebies that were requests already, and am glad to give back to the community that has coached me along this crazy and warped road.

I'm still waiting for one of my products to be a big hit so I can upgrade to Poser 8 or hopefully Pro 2010. Maybe I should start a thread and have the people choose what they want made, and give updates periodically, and get feedback, to build a product that a lot of people contributed ideas for. Just a thought.

Here's a quick animation I made cuz I thought that shader was just too cool. It literally took maybe 15 minutes to set up. and that includes time to model the high poly sheet. Just to give you an idea with what you can do with just a few neat tricks learned from the forum here. That's just a spere, cloth sheet, and background image, and the cloth room did all the work for me. It's easier then it seems initially :o)

I bought Poser 8 back in March just on a whim. I had no idea at the time what it was about or how to go about doing anything. I am one of those few people who can learn something just by watching someone do it, and get an understanding of why they do this instead of that, so I am good about watching tutorials, and I don't think of it as work. It's part of the hobby this has become for me. I am really only limited financially. I can't buy props and characters and all the neat stuff that is on here for sale. I have too many family commitments and not enough free cash. Poser 8 just kind of fell into my lap. I am retired US Navy, and it was on sale in a Navy Exchange in Baharain. I didn't even open it (much like I am doing to Blender right now) for the first couple of months I had it installed on my computer. Once I did, and got passed the initial shock of the interface, I was off and running. I have really only begun to get serious about what I was producing after messing with all the different features and creating Gigabytes of deleted material. Now I am in full swing, and that's why I am on here more than I was when I first signed up. So lets see where the next month or so takes me until I have to get back to sea (I am a merchant seaman after retirement, the sea gets in your blood).

Well this place, and other sites, have a plethera of free models. It's hit and miss on some, but you'll start to catch on to what content creators you like. I'd say leave Blender alone a bit and try Wings 3D if you wanna start learning how to model. It's what I use, and I hope my stuff shows off just a little of what it can do. And if you are ever looking for something specific, and it's not something totally extravagant, ask here in the forums, and somebody like me may help you out and make it up real fast. Hell, I made a user here a Slap Chop©, with morphs for "chopping" action and the "open for cleaning" position, and all in about 30 minutes.

I just never uploaded it to my freebies, didn't know if anyone would want it. I'd have to remove the texture from the zip file if I did upload it to not have any copyright issues tho (keep that in mind if u ever wanna upload your stuff BTW)

Yeah, thanks for the offer. I was going to ask for some Jedi Knight uniforms awhile ago, but I think I will see if I can make them myself first before I ask someone else for it. I want to modify them anyway, to get a more primative feel to them (and go along with my story which takes place a millenia before Luke Skywalker is born).

And that's a pretty cool prop. 30 minutes, huh? I have a lot to learn...

yeah I made it for him and sent it to him in the chat room here on rendo. What model are you needing the Jedi outfit for? I can make a dynamic one with no hassle really.

I will be needing one for Sydney G2. I will want to animate it eventually, so that's why I need to learn blender. So I can make conforming clothes for Sydney. I don't think I can animate dynamic clothes, can you?

That's what the cloth room's about... for animation, primarily. Or so I understand. Blender's animation feature is powerful, but different to Poser's. Both need a fairly high level of patience, in my experience. If you're willing to learn Blender and Poser, I suspect you're endowed with such patience.

I do have a lot of patience. And I also have a lot of free time on my hands in the evening while at sea. There isn't much else to do, so I work on learning these programs. I haven't had much luck with the cloth room , however. I need to work on that one next. Right now I am still working on lights.

For a bit of light reading, you might have a look at this thread. Then, when you think all hope for the cloth room is lost, have a read of this thread next and then this thread*... they restore your faith in the resillience of the Poser artist.

I take back what I said. I have actually used the cloth room quite a bit for the renders that I posted on here. The shirt that Sydney is wearing is dynamic. Which lead me to questioning using dynamic clothes for animation. You have to animate the cloth to fit it to the character. I do it by setting the pose I want them in at the 5th frame, reset back to zero pose at frame 1 and run the cloth room sim. Leads me to believe I would have to do that for each frame of an animation, because if you move the character after that, the dynamic cloth stays where it was rendered in the cloth room...

That ghost image I posted is dynamic cloth in a clothroom simulation.

The cloth room simulation will make the clothes follow your figure throught all movements. As long as everything is "zeroed" at frame one, and posed at frame 15 on up, it's gonna make the cloths move, swish, and drape along the whole way.

So I would just have to edit the beginning of the render post production then? Niiiice. I am going to mess with that later today.

not necessarily. you set it to drape for X amount of frames and begin draping from pose 0, so at frame 1 you can have your pose and animation start, and the sim will do the rest. At least, to my understanding it will work that way.

I did a quick (well the post work wasn't quick) render of a walk cycle with Sydney and the dynamic shirt I used for the renders on here. I added in the belt from BLLE for Ryan because I wanted to see how it would behave on a character it's not rigged for. Didn't do too bad, but it ended up underneath her shirt. It's on YouTube because I don't know how to post videos here. I never really tried to.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrEstorey

I am going to try draping from frame one and uncheck the draping from zero pose and see what happens.

If the test of draping from frame 1 works, I may ask you to create the Jedi uniform for her after all... ;)

I gave the cloth room a try. It didn't work out too well. I started her out in a pose, and unchecked starting from 0 pose. I know where I went wrong. I still think you have to edit out the beginning of the render in post. Unless you want your character holding their arms out straight to the side at the beginning of the scene...

And obviously, I don't want the mechanical arm...

Ok, so several passes in the cloth room have shown me a few things about using dynamic cloth in an animation:

1. Start with zero pose, and have the first pose of your animation start between frame 5 and 15.

2. The first 30 frames of your animation are to drape the cloth, so you are going to have to trim them in post.

3. The cloth will drape properly and follow the character throughout the animation, regardless of the length of the animation if you follow point 1.

And I can animate dynamic clothing. It just takes a bit to figure it out.

That's about it. It's easier than people make it out to be. After making both conforming and dynamic, I see the benefits slide more to dynamic. It's easier to make, and looks better and more natural, especially in animations.

Quote - That's about it. It's easier than people make it out to be. After making both conforming and dynamic, I see the benefits slide more to dynamic. It's easier to make, and looks better and more natural, especially in animations.

So, I'm thick, I guess. And so is a HUGE percentage of Poser users. I've been working with this and working with this and get poo every time. In the Compleat Dummies thread, it's been pointed out that the default settings are great for a table-cloth on a table, but rubbish for cotton on skin. I think you need to qualify what makes you think it's easier... unless you're a natural genius who can figure out quadratic equations at a stoplight.

Or are you saying I'm imagining it's harder than it is? Then why do my efforts all end up as poo, try as I might? I just made Peri-Peri Chicken (Jamie Oliver) from a video and a recipe and the family raved about it... so I can follow instructions. No such luck with dynamic cloth.

Please explain.

I am not sure what you are doing wrong... I don't have any problems with using dynamic cloth. My only real problem is I wasn't sure how to animate it. After a few passes in the cloth room, I have it down. Now I just need to get my head around lighting, and try to find bagginsbill's rendering settings...

I want a high quality render, but I don't want to spend 3 days waiting for it. Especially since I am using a laptop and not my home pc for this stuff.

Attached Link: Poser cloth room settings and their effects

Trying to figure out what the settings do is a PITA, and I couldn't figure it out until I came across this link and then things were smoove as buttah! Now if you're making more complex clothes with pockets, etc, you just have to make sure to set your soft decorated and rigid decorated groups, and even constrained groups in some cases.

Key things:

1. Load figure and clothes, frame 1 is everything "zeroed"

2. Pose at frame 15 (or 30, whichever u use)

3. Set your simulation settings, collision depth, self collide, etc...

then run sim. Once you play around with it a few times, the fogs starts to lift and you will start getting the hang of it.

There is no ironclad rule to lighting, each scene has it's own unique settings and requires close attention to mesh and material content.  Too many lights can bog down your system.  However, high poly meshes, in combination with hires textures, can do just as much rendering damage with just one infinite light present.  So, the bottom line, consider each scene carefully and don't shoot for the moon by maximizing your settings.  You will need to strike a compromise somewhere to achieve the render you are after.

Quote - There is no ironclad rule to lighting, each scene has it's own unique settings and requires close attention to mesh and material content.  Too many lights can bog down your system.  However, high poly meshes, in combination with hires textures, can do just as much rendering damage with just one infinite light present.  So, the bottom line, consider each scene carefully and don't shoot for the moon by maximizing your settings.  You will need to strike a compromise somewhere to achieve the render you are after.

I figured that one out after attempting a few renderings with settings people say they used on here. That's when I figured out that I didn't want to wait for 3 days just to see that I made a  mistake in the pose, or there was some poke through I didn't notice because of this or that.

So basically, I render everything with the default settings first, then play around with bringing up the render settings until I get what I am after. So far, the only thing that has been hurting me is lighting. I need to experiment with it more.

I'll be uploading a Miki3 render soon with just one infinite light in the scene and oodles of goodies in the background.  Look for it.

Quote - I'll be uploading a Miki3 render soon with just one infinite light in the scene and oodles of goodies in the background.  Look for it.

I will. I would like to see what that will look like.