Since I am most definitely NOT an artist, I can only comment as a viewer. I’ve always been fascinated with the potential for 3D to achieve graphic realism and I’m glad that Poser has made great strides in that direction over the years. At this point, I think that it has approached – and perhaps reached – the so called ‘uncanny valley.’ The best practitioners of the photorealist school can achieve results that are indeed impressive. At the same time, I do find that many of those images are somewhat unsatisfying emotionally. Once I get beyond admiration of the unquestionable technical expertise represented, there’s often a certain something that is missing.

I don’t have the artistic vocabulary to describe it in those terms. I can only say that I think the drawback of pure 3D photorealism is that it somehow falls just shy of the perfect representation of a documentary photograph and at the same time it may potentially fail to achieve the esthetic appeal of painting or artistic photography. That may simply be a matter of taste I’m sure. It may also evolve as the technology becomes more accessible to a greater variety of artists. It may also develop as more people master the latest techniques to a point where they become second nature and more artistic motivations return to the fore. That is not to say that there are not technicians who are good artists and vice versa,

As I said, it may just be that I personally don’t (for now) see much photorealism being as compelling for art – as opposed to say illustration. One of the few exceptions for me, is Vicki Yeo’s Young Girl, which has been commented on here in the forums a few times. The portrait really makes me wonder who she is, what her story is and what she’s thinking. I’ve read various criticisms about the skin or the hair not being ‘real’ enough etc. IMO, at that point, realism has become more of a fetish than an artistic vehicle.

For ‘painterly’ images, one of the artists I like here is Mimicat. She renders in Vue though she uses Poser figures. I find her work beautifully conceived and executed. My only niggling criticism is that she uses a bit too much of a soft focus/blur effect, but that may be partly my ageing eyes. These are a few of hers that I like.

Trust Me!

New Life The Getaway

Little Lovers

Ann Shirley 

 

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