I'm not a genius or anything, but I just wanted to mention a couple things that I notice in a few gallery submissions, and have obviously bugged me enough to write here. I would do it in the C&D, but this is more Poser specific. I'm not talking about every image, but certainly enough to get me to write this. Ok....let's talk about feet and hands. I would love to see people take a bit more time when posing their characters. I see renders where the figure is floating a couple inches above ground because the artist didn't take the time to notice.... or maybe they did, and just went ahead with it anyway. Why? In some pictures, I see feet posed like the women are wearing high-heels, but there are no shoes to be found. Is this the artist's intention? If so, why? Sometimes great attention is paid to a pose only to leave the hands wanting. They sit stubbed at the end of the arms, cramped in some position that doesn't go with the scene. We use our hands all the time when we talk, when we do anything.... why would such an important part of body language be left out of a pose? I guess I would just like to see people take more time with setting up their render. This is not a race. It's supposed to be something that's fun. Like I said, I'm no rocket scientist, but I do want to spend my time browsing the gallery and finding work that someone has worked a while on... and not just submitted it to submit it.

I've noticed both things as well. I'm more forgiving of the feet thing because it's typical of pinups (speaking only of pinups mind you) for the models to be standing on their toes or the like (but not floating above a defined floor). The hands, however, bug me. A lot of time they're being held in some very, very stiff position that seems awkward. My biggest complaint is the one with the hands stretched out as tight as they'll go. Straighten your fingers and then curve your hand a bit with the tips going up and you'll know what I mean. It just looks so out of place. I don't get it, and yet many people use it. Is it just me? Or perhaps just us?

No you're not alone. It's one of my pet peeves as well. It's simply not enough attention to detail. Listen, I'm the greatest slob alive and I can manage it. And If i can do it, anybody can.

Voodoo, I agree with you wholeheartedly. If it's at all possible I always use a photo reference when I pose hands or feet, and for pretty much the rest of the body too! I believe in general that if you are just posting an image because you can get it done fast and want the feedback that's great, but I think you are short changing yourself in developing as an artist. Some artist's are truly gifted and fast but I think most of us arent. I wont post anything until I consider it "done". When you produce a piece in any medium whether it's 3D or 2D or whatever, you should always ask yourself "is this the best I can do? Is there anything about this that could be better?" If you honestly answer yes than you're ready to post it or show it to people for opinions at least. If the answer is no than keep working on it, or start something new and come back to it at another time when you can look at it objectively.

This is a source of confusion for me. I use Pose Libraries a lot. I always figured that if I click on a Pose, it should handle everything, including feet, hands and maybe even the face. But now it appears I might be mistaken?!

Another vote of agreement. I can be down-right picky when it comes to my hand posing. Feet....I rarely pay much mind to...unless it is obvious. I wouldn't call it a pet-peeve though. I understand it just takes awhile to get the hang of hand and feet posing.

Schlabber asked in a previous post about hand poses, maybe feet would be a good idea as well, Mr Sclabber can you please take note?

Good to read a few responses; I appreciate the input. Too bad this thread will get buried from all the advertising that goes on in this particular forum. Ronknights, pose sets are just someplace to begin. You have to tweak the dials. Spend some time. Droyd, great idea to use photo reference. I do that whenever possible also. Wish more people did. On another note, I see so many figures out of balance too. Quite a few poser renders, if real, would have the figures falling over. Look at all the different views... know where the center of balance comes from... use a real person for reference if you need to. (I'm not writing this for those who have replied and know what I'm talking about, just the few who might find this thread and don't know). I could never understand the huge popularity of pose sets anyway... I thought that's what the program was for. Do it yourself and get something truly original. A ton of people have Victoria. Do something that no one else has. Make her original, and then pose her in a position that you create yourself, starting from scratch, using photos, using yourself, using your roomate, wife, husband, whatever. I'll be looking forward to seeing some new things.

OK - this is not meant as advertisement voodoo ... But I'm planing to release some hand-poses for DAZ Vicky/Mike and just to avoid any confusion - they will be for free - I don't know where - maybe on my site. It is right - sometimes the hands are simply not posed correctly - I (too) see this in many poses but I also see really a lot of Posing errors - sometimes I also see this origin' pose by (put-whatever-name-here) tweaked by (me-as-the-image-creator) - I sometimes think then - oh, well but why didn't you attach the hands then fitting to the scene (as I say - this happens sometimes - not always). You can try your best by creating a pose (btw I mostly work from images to see the pose-expression of a person) - but you can't see in other peoples mind. You do a sitting pose for a chair - and someone who is using this pose is using it for a throne-pose ... A pose is EVERYTIME just a start - you have to correct it (mostly) - especially the hands for some special expressions (if you don't know from what I'm speaking ... go out and read some better comics - than you'll understand - or have a look at some theater-scenes). chohole - posing feet is senseless (in my eyes) - correcting feet is a matter of seconds - the only thing image-creators have to do - is to take this little time to do so ... ronknight - a pose can't handle everything - and it is good that it is like this ... if something would handle everything your mind will be prisoned (hope you understand what I mean) mikitacreed - Posing hands is to learn to use the dials instead of the buttons ... - Hands can only posed correctly if you use the dials - or you'll risk some really broken fingers ... droyd - this is the question that keep me going (Is that the best you can do ?) - And this is the reason why I (mostly) never touch a pose of mine twice - a pose is never good enough (but maybe that is just the question for perfection that can never be reached)

I'm definitely guilty of the high heeled feet with no shoes thing, but it's an aesthetic thing, as whoopdat mentioned, it's very typically 'pin up' and I like the look of it (and no, I don't have a foot fetish). I try to adjust the hands of my figures, especially if your eye gets drawn to the end of the arm, and I almost always adjust the feet so that they're on the floor (or whatever the figure it standing on) and not at an odd angle. I find that a lot with preset poses actually, the feet with be turned in a weird way, like the person is standing on the edge of their food... I do use pose sets as a basis, and I really like the partial pose sets I have and have seen. But as many have stated before, I use my pose presets as a starting point... only on rare occasions will I leave a pose exactly as it was made out of the box... I also try to view my figure from every angle to make sure that the weight of the figure is distributed correctly... unless of course I'm doing an image where the figure has been caught mid-action... shrug I always think that things look good when I'm done with them, but I always find other things later that I think could be fixed... I sometimes wish that I had a 'mentor' someone that could look over my shoulder, so to speak, and say "That's good, but try this.", at various stages along the way... it's what a good art teacher can do for you... I unfortunately only have my own eyes to guide me. :)

shrug I always think that things look good when I'm done with them, but I always find other things later that I think could be fixed... I sometimes wish that I had a 'mentor' someone that could look over my shoulder, so to speak, and say "That's good, but try this.", at various stages along the way... it's what a good art teacher can do for you... I unfortunately only have my own eyes to guide me. :)

Here here! I agree with that totally!