Forum: Poser - OFFICIAL


Subject: Which software do I need?

thomasrjm opened this issue on Jul 13, 2002 ยท 12 posts


dan whiteside posted Tue, 16 July 2002 at 1:33 PM

"hope you can tell me some more regarding FormZ" Tommy - Very briefly, the main reasons I decided on FormZ were: 1) It's basically a modeler. No animation and other then a basic raytracer all the other renderers ($$$) are optional or plug-in. Since I wanted this for Bryce and Poser, just being a modeler was a real plus. 2) Solid, low bug programing and the Mac and PC versions are treated equally. Bug fixes posted within days of a new release. Excellent on-line/telephone support. 3) Industry leader in new modeling technologies. 4) Since it's used extensively with other apps, it has very good import/export. 5) Straight forward, no flash interface - more like you'd see in a CAD program. The caveats, as I see them: 1) Very steep learning curve - definitely would not recommend FZ as a first modeler. 2) Expensive. I think the range is $1200-$5000 depending on renderer. 3) Limited on-line resources. 4) Snooty attitude of some users toward using FZ with apps like Bryce/Poser. 5) Very basic UV mapping (but I always use UVMapper anyway) Works quite well with Poser. The hardest part for me was figuring out what .OBJ export options to use for Poser (there's about 20 options). The best part for Poser is FZ's Trim and Split functions which makes breaking up an object into Poser groups quick and easy. The above image is my second "whole nine yards" FZ/UVmapper/ProPack figure. Really a rather silly thing but I was pleased to complete it over a 4 day holiday and to keep the Poser .OBJ export down to about 2 MB (my first figure was a whooping 16 MB!) best; Dan