well the good news is. I'm not getting any younger lol

How many frames per second are you ageing at though? ;)

Well, the Rocket Bairn character is taking shape... lol.

Almost got the Rocket Suit for Pippin costume modelled...

Will see if I can get my first Rocket Bairn script worked out on the way to work in the morning...

looking forward to seeing it when its done chris..........i'm ageing at 24fps and my brain has just gone into the blackhole of non creativity with the idea of the following video lol.......I set up a scene with terradome and a spacecraft like bassilisk, then i use every character from my runtime walking to the space craft, as the new kid on the block glides down on a shaft of light, i call it exodus :)

Well here's a "Rocket Bairn" modelling WIP Poser screen test...

...no idea how the Pippin figure animates yet... but seems like it would be fun to do something with it...

Quote - I see your point, but honestly, I don't think the majority of poser users goes beyond poser at all, so is it worth a huge investment if only a handful of people are going to use it? You may use those programs, but we all sure don't, there are many different applications people use with Poser, giving full export/import features just isn't possible for what we're paying at the moment. Where does it end? Why only these? Why only Unity.... there are so many more game engines people use... I want full gamestudio A8 support, AGK, FPS Creator, DGS, CryEngine, Torque3D and so on.

 

I assume most users do go beyond Poser eventually, but without a survey it's your opinion vs mine.  I have used Poser and I've bought D|S and iClone but have spent next to no time with them.  The galleries are full of Poser figures rendered in Bryce, Vue, Carrara etc.  The whole point of PoserPro was that it did fit into a larger workflow of other programs.  I personally would like to be able to use iClone or UDK as renderers for Poser content, because while I do like Firefly's output it takes too long to render animations.  

Why Unity?  Well Unity isn't a format, but rather a popular game engine with no entry cost.  The publishers of Shade noticed how popular it had gotten and have released a free version of Shade specifically for rigging and animating figures for export to Unity.  

I'd think any feature that would make Poser useful to a larger number of people would be worth investing in.

I liked the rooster animation of the guy in the blue suit.  I clicked off after a minute, but it was good IMVHO.  IIRC no GI nor IDL nor any of that, but in a gaming environment ($60 billions market in the states) it might be viewed with favour.  they want speed and action, and I daresay they're not worried about the minutiae of realism that we expect from single-frame poser renders here.

p.s. first thing I thought when I saw the vid - did wolf work on it?  maybe not, but those guys can translate their skills into $$$,$$$.

I render in Cinema 4D, but I compose my animations mostly in Poser, using Daz figures. In this example (below), most of the animation is mocap created in Optitrack Arena, exported as bvh into Poser. In Poser I clean up the animation, add facial expressions and hand movements, then save the animation to be applied to Daz figures in Cinema 4D via InterPoserPro.

https://vimeo.com/60618286

The walking section (starting 55 seconds) is mocap layered with Walk Designer walks. 

That said, I agree that Poser's IK and graph editor, and particularly its bvh import could use an upgrade, paticualrly the bvh import. I mean, it's just math, right? Why can't it resize bvh data to the skeleton in Poser? A clean import would be an enormous improvement for me, since I spend a lot of time trying to fix foot-skating. Fortuntely, IKinema is working on a web-based retargeting tool that shows real promise, and maybe that will help me with that.

As I see it, Poser is just one of many tools to use for animation, as any 3D package should be. Even those using Maya and other high-end 3D packages use a number of other packages in conjunction, and don't bill themselves as one-stop shopping.

Quote - With all this, let's not forget that current licensing of content will be a major problem as well, you couldn't use most of it in a 3D game engine at all and the use of Poser would be very limited when it comes to those engines. If you want to use game engines there are much better options available then Poser. So once again the question would be, is it really worth the investment.... personally I don't think so, the poser team is much better off creating features and improvement we all can benefit off, not just a few people.

I've got Collada import and export and the little bit I've used it, it worked well, but others may have done different things and may have other experiences. Also, if you have Poser Pro, I would say one of the import/export plugins should work with all of the mentioned applications, with exception of blender perhaps, don't know that one.

I'd just like a rig once-use anywhere solution.  Carrara doesn't export to Poser, Poser doesn't export to iClone, etc.  Is it Smith-Micro's responsibility to prevent someone from using content improperly?  Or as developers of the program shouldn't they try to make it as useful as possible to the most people?  I've said in the past that the program made it purposefully difficult to get things and in and out, but with the addition of figure set-up tools and continuing animation improvements the need for a range of export options should trump possible mis-use.  Assuming exported content would violate a license is like assuming all torrents are piracy.  Maybe I want to use a game engine as a machima tool to create still images.  That would be fine in many cases.

I just want someone to step up and say "we know proper rigging and morphing is difficult to learn, and we want it to be something you need only learn once whatever other programs you use".  I use Poser for figure and prop creation, but I'm drawn to iClone and the game engines for their speed and handling of large environments, and to blender for soft-bodies, cloth and fluids.

What features do we really all benefit from, aside from improved stability and responsiveness?  Some people never animate.  Some never make anything from scratch.  I've never used the faceroom.

Attached Link: Why do we create Poser? Oh yeah – it’s about personal storytellers like this.

Cheers,

Steve Cooper

Quote - I render in Cinema 4D, but I compose my animations mostly in Poser, using Daz figures. In this example (below), most of the animation is mocap created in Optitrack Arena, exported as bvh into Poser. In Poser I clean up the animation, add facial expressions and hand movements, then save the animation to be applied to Daz figures in Cinema 4D via InterPoserPro.

https://vimeo.com/60618286

The walking section (starting 55 seconds) is mocap layered with Walk Designer walks. 

That said, I agree that Poser's IK and graph editor, and particularly its bvh import could use an upgrade, paticualrly the bvh import. I mean, it's just math, right? Why can't it resize bvh data to the skeleton in Poser? A clean import would be an enormous improvement for me, since I spend a lot of time trying to fix foot-skating. Fortuntely, IKinema is working on a web-based retargeting tool that shows real promise, and maybe that will help me with that.

As I see it, Poser is just one of many tools to use for animation, as any 3D package should be. Even those using Maya and other high-end 3D packages use a number of other packages in conjunction, and don't bill themselves as one-stop shopping.

Having "played" with animation for years now, I thought with some degree of success but in all honesty everything I have created was pretty amateurish, in some respects things are getting easier, rhapsody motoblocks, import of animate sequences,bvh. Well that's the animation taken care of lol, next comes the hardest part, camera set ups, length of clip, character and prop interaction, dialogue, voice creation,lighting, compositing, oh yes and one small almost insignificant bit......storyline...........no wonder so many people struggle. I have found the animation forum here to be helpful, but as so many of its contributors use other programs to create their anims, might I suggest that we have a forum dedicated to Poser animation. Just an idea.....and I still think we should have an animation gallery hosted on youtube or vimeo or similar..........just my thoughts.

Quote - I have found the animation forum here to be helpful, but as so many of its contributors use other programs to create their anims, might I suggest that we have a forum dedicated to Poser animation. Just an idea.....and I still think we should have an animation gallery hosted on youtube or vimeo or similar..........just my thoughts.

I think this is a great idea, for a dedicated Poser animation forum, here at Rendo :)

With a showcase channel on Vimeo / Youtube too...

Off topic, but does anyone know if that Gun Scythe is available anywhere for purchase/download?  I would love to have that.

Thank you for all the links to the animations.  I really enjoyed them and never knew you could do all that so well with Poser.  My animation skills were never as good as my stills, maybe I should re-visit animations.

Thanks again, Steve.

"I mean, it's just math, right? Why can't it resize bvh data to the skeleton in Poser? A clean import would be an enormous improvement for me, since I spend a lot of time trying to fix foot-skating."

Hi Tim Looking forward to your next production.
Your work flow is quite similar to mine except that I dont have access to a Capture system and I use DAZ Studio's aniMate+  nonlinear motion system
to seamlessly mix various bits of Mocap to create
new motions and Export them from DS as animated pose files(PZ3).

Overall I cant complain about posers ability to import mocap or retarget motion to other rigs
because compared to C4D, poser and even DAZ Studio
Does an excellent job overall.

My number one biggest Complaint about poser animation tools is the fact that if I use IK at any point for feet pinning in an animation but later turn it off
so my figure can leap or kick it ruins any animation Data for the legs& hips completely.

its a shame the Code behind new animated constraint system in poser pro could not have been somehow applied to foot pinning with its strength being an animatable parameter.

We already know such a thing is possible with python
because of the way the strength of the ragdoll& collision
Dynamics can be animated with Paul's Excellent poser physics plugin.

"
**I'd just like a rig once-use anywhere solution.  Carrara doesn't export to Poser, Poser doesn't export to iClone, etc.  Is it Smith-Micro's responsibility to prevent someone from using content improperly? **
"

Hi the biggest hurdle unfortunately is the way
we "Dress" our poser figures.
right now ,other than Daz Studio, the Interposer pro plugin, that Tim and I use, for Maxon Cinema4D is the ONLY third party program that Directly supports posers "native" Conforming clothing .
OK vue sort of does but the C4D plugin allows me to change/unconform/reconform clothing inside C4D by loading it from any  runtime just as we do within poser itself

"Or as developers of the program shouldn't they try to make it as useful as possible to the most people? "

Well Ultimately thats a decision for Smith micro to make
but it Compatibility with other programs& game engines would be more easily Achieved
with Standard single mesh Figures like the Custom Spartan Characters in the red vs Blue Clip
not the modern day poser figures with multiple
conformers.

Cheers

E-on has a showcase where the regular tout the latest Hollywood blockbuster or other high end professional project that utilized Vue. The nice thing is that they feature interviews with the creators, where you learn that Vue was usually only part of a production that incorporated several other applications. I think the truth is that at that level, whether it was one application or multiple ones, the end result is often beyond what the average punter is going to realistically be able/willing to achieve.

Having such showcases is a great thing. Its good for business, especially for an application like Poser that may not be thought very capable in terms of professional production. Having something at that level that was done all or mostly in Poser is even better. The only caveat it full disclosure. As long as people get a realistic idea of what is required, go for it. You’re always going to have people who buy something based on production credits without looking at it realistically but as long as the facts are available up front, then any disappointment or frustration is their problem.

I don’t know if there’s an animation equivalent of the “Figure Creation” book for Poser but now might be a good time for someone to write one. Perhaps in addition to showcasing what folks are doing, SM might commission one.

Quote -
Hi the biggest hurdle unfortunately is the way
we "Dress" our poser figures.
right now ,other than Daz Studio, the Interposer pro plugin, that Tim and I use, for Maxon Cinema4D is the ONLY third party program that Directly supports posers "native" Conforming clothing .
OK vue sort of does but the C4D plugin allows me to change/unconform/reconform clothing inside C4D by loading it from any  runtime just as we do within poser itself

I was under the impression that PoserFusion for Shade 13 did as well.  Since it doesn't look like Poser will have soft-body physics anytime soon, I'd wondered if it was possible to apply them (like a deformer) in another application.  I really thought there were options for this.

FYI, Anyone interested should hop over the Runtime DNA and check out Coops latest little tidbit about RWBY. The really neat news is that they apparently are going to give us at least a peek or three behind the curtain, but only after the premiere at RTX this July.

And aside from modelling in an OBJ friendly app (I assume Maya, as there is at least one pic showing the knight and you can read Maya on the top of the app bar), nearly all of the animation is done in Poser...including the particle sprites, based on techniques from an 'old Poser hand' (hmmm, wonder who that could be, ponder ponder....).

We got RWBY coming out.

We got Aurora II coming out.

things are looking good in animators land. We may have to expand 'The Poser 12'. Finally.......!  

additionally, thinkcooper has promised a webinar in the near future to show Poser animators how to get the best from Poser animation. Obviously it won't be all encompassing but it does show that SM are listening to us. Waits patiently for the next negative post :)

And head over to Rooster Teeth's site, the Black Trailer is up!

Heehee, I knew it! Blake's 'cat ears' are a strategically placed hair bow.

That's Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. Now how many Y names are there out there.....?

And the animation quality is holding up nicely.....