Hi, I've had Poser for a long time and have used it to (yes) pose characters to help with storyboards. I know there are environments you can install for your Poser characters to inhabit, but I've only done it once and it never worked again for some reason. What I need to know is, can you get good looking environments with dynamic lighting that I could use as backdrops for stories, and is there tutorials that show you how to use them?

In general, yes. We have an entire gallery of similar things!!
but to deifine terms, what do you mean by environments?

Absolutely!

When you say environments are you talking about environmental or HDRI domes which provide lighting to the scene but can also provide picture in the background. Al;alternatively are you looking for 3D scenes that figures can 'walk through' or be posed in a particular location, here you can provide both a foreground and a background if you require. If you purely want a picture in the back ground there are two ways that can be done. Either attach a picture to the background in Poser so it will render out or, alternatively set the render to render over black and save the final render as a PNG. This will save the render with a invisible space where the background would be and you can use a program like Gimp, Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro to add a background layer of you choice.

Here is an example of the first, and environmental dome lighting the scene with a forest image attached to the dome to provide a back ground.

Finally in this render there is a cloth plane added to the scene (in this case a hi definition panel found in Poser 11, props, primitives). An image has been added top the cloth plane which is the blue behind the figure. The difference between this and the other two is that the cloth plane is lit by the lights in Poser where as the dome in provides the light and with the post layer image the light is that contained in the photograph.

Free seminar this Sunday...

https://digitalartlive.com/event/the-traveler-creating-a-steampunk-comic-with-poser/

When you say "graphic novels", do you want to: i) use Poser 11's new Comic Book mode or ii) do the graphic novel as photoreal renders? Your question about dynamic lighting and environments suggests you have the latter in mind. As you can see from the Renderosity store, plenty of environments are available in 2019. But you should also be aware before you begin work that it's also perfectly possible to have Poser 'make art' that looks like it was hand-drawn.

A two-second Poser 11 Sketch Designer render, laid right over a one-second Comic Book Preview line-art render. No further work, other than adding a few touches of light colour...

Whopps accidentally deleted one

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This is the one with the post worked render, everything above the bridge in the render is transparent and therefore when the sky image is added behind the render the sky shows through. As the lighting for the render is Poser and for the image is the natural light on the day there may be a need to balance the lights between the two. If you know the background image that is going to be used before the render is done Poser lighting cxan be changed to match the image.

Wow! Some pretty elaborate stuff there! I don't need anything too realistic, it's more a comic book than graphic novel, but I do like atmospheric stuff. I've been using a video game, as a backdrop and for textures, but so far I'm limited to 1024 x 1024 px for objects I create in my 3-D animation program. I'm a bit leery about having to pay royalties as well, I'd rather just pay up-front.

Comic books use shadows too. I'm not very good with them. I like the 'comic mode' look, but I'd like something 1/2 way, like in my example. HartyBart posted at 9:00PM Tue, 29 October 2019 - #4368639

When you say "graphic novels", do you want to: i) use Poser 11's new Comic Book mode or ii) do the graphic novel as photoreal renders? Your question about dynamic lighting and environments suggests you have the latter in mind. As you can see from the Renderosity store, plenty of environments are available in 2019. But you should also be aware before you begin work that it's also perfectly possible to have Poser 'make art' that looks like it was hand-drawn.

A two-second Poser 11 Sketch Designer render, laid right over a one-second Comic Book Preview line-art render. No further work, other than adding a few touches of light colour...

Ned_E_C posted at 12:26PM Wed, 30 October 2019 - #4368661

Wow! Some pretty elaborate stuff there! I don't need anything too realistic, it's more a comic book than graphic novel, but I do like atmospheric stuff. I've been using a video game, as a backdrop and for textures, but so far I'm limited to 1024 x 1024 px for objects I create in my 3-D animation program. I'm a bit leery about having to pay royalties as well, I'd rather just pay up-front.

From what you have given here I any of the methods would meet your aim. As far as the lighting dome is concerned you could use environmental domes that come with Poser or use the EZDome which is a free script by Snarlygribbly. EZDome can work with Sibls or HRDs which are generally free and a lot con be used for commercial products. That said in many cases you would not be using the dome lighting so this would probably more complex that required.

Using either the cloth plane or a layer would need the use of a photograph and many of those are free but there are also sets of images that can be purchased for a small sum that again can be used for commercial purposes. The sky used in my sunset render was part of a pack of eight images I paid $4.95 for and they can be used again and again, you would just need to check on the royalty question but it should not be an issues if the images are being sold in a Poser marketplace.

The restriction of 1024 X 1024 should not be an issue as most image manipulation programs allow you to set that. If you have a multi-layer image all you need do is merge the layers before saving. If you try and save a multi-layer image to a *.jpg file you will getr a warning that jpg does not support multi- layers so it will automatically merge the layers if you click OK. I always save the multi-layer as a master using .psp (as I am using Paint Shop Pro) which supports the multi layer, before saving a jpg. That way I can always return to and open the master and play with individual layers if need be before again saving the new image as a jpg.

"Comic books use shadows too."

Not all comics - see the famous Moebius and the French 'clear line' style. But yes, "no shadows" is a common knee-jerk response to seeing a NPR line-art demo. Yet... it's a very simple matter to lay a further 'shadows render' on top in Photoshop, and tweak the blending modes. That will get you the shadows, and they're then highly adjustable and erasable.

As for your existing software, that looks like Muvizu Play to me. I almost went to work for them, once. Yes they once had a sliding scale where it was free, but you started to pay if you commercialized what you make. It's fine software, and has .FBX import in the $70 Pro version. Looking at it again, just now, I see that the Pro "Muvizu:Play+ has no commercial restrictions so you are free to use your content in any way you see fit." That's a change from the previous licencing arrangement. HD watermark-free output too. So there's one viable option for you - keep using Muvizu:Play+ and get a copy of Topaz Clean 3 to made it a bit more comic-like, and a copy of Comic Life 3 to lay it out like a comic. That's roughly comparable in cost with getting the $99 upgrade to Poser Pro 11.2, plus some environments, and Muvizu is easier to use.

HartyBart posted at 8:12PM Sat, 02 November 2019 - #4368639

When you say "graphic novels", do you want to: i) use Poser 11's new Comic Book mode or ii) do the graphic novel as photoreal renders? Your question about dynamic lighting and environments suggests you have the latter in mind. As you can see from the Renderosity store, plenty of environments are available in 2019. But you should also be aware before you begin work that it's also perfectly possible to have Poser 'make art' that looks like it was hand-drawn.

A two-second Poser 11 Sketch Designer render, laid right over a one-second Comic Book Preview line-art render. No further work, other than adding a few touches of light colour...

Nothing to add other than I like this look very much,reminds me of my rapidograph pen drawings.. Nice job HartyBart

Poser's Comic Book Mode is at the heart of my work. And if you're interested in my approach to shadows, check out the link to the Noir Tutorial listed in my signature.