For those of you who have been posing forever, I was wondering what you see as a common thing which you wish all newbies would learn when creating their images. You know...such as "I wish they would all take the time to light the scene properly" or "I wish they would do something with the faces like......". Simple things that newbies may overlook when they are overwhelmed by the seeming complexity of all this program offers. Rawn

Change the camera settings away from that weird fish-eyed default. Why is 38mm the the default setting, anyway? I could understand 35mm, like a 35mm camera, but 38? Second is use white light unless there's a reason not to. It makes life easier and usually looks better.

By no means am I a Poser pro. But composition is my beef. And that means pre-visualising. Once you have that, the rest of the basic technical problems solve themselves (camera angle, lens, lighting, render size, dynamics...) My two cents. Q

Hey, Fyrespiryt...35MM cameras have 35MM wide film... not 35MM focal length! I'd say (again, no pro by any means!) another important part not to be overlooked is hands and feet. Esp... feet touching the ground!! Also... Does the pose look natural?!? Personally, I spend ages getting a natural pose without forced or uncomfortable joints. It's hard. H:)

This stuff is great, I know I am taking my notes :) Keep em coming :)

Basically, customize everything you can for the better, and leave as few things as you can at their default settings. This includes the figures, camera, lighting, textures, etc.. Poser does not produce stunning renders right out of the box, you need to set it up manually just as you would a real photo studio.

1. Focal Length. I also think focal length is still one of the most overlooked issue by newbies, despite conversations about the 38mm "problem" which have been coming up regularly since as early as 1998 as far as I remember participating. Using something around 50-80mm for body shots and 85-135mm for headshots will drastically improve a lot of poser work.

2a. Shadow Maps. I don't know if this has come up before, or recently, but shadows deserve some attention. Firstly, be sure to increase the size of your lights' shadow maps. 256px is the default, and it produces shadows with nasty looking edges from lack of resolution. Make the shadow maps at least as big as your canvas dimensions.

2b. Shadow Intensities. Adjust shadow intensities. Don't make all your lights cast shadows of 100% darkness unless you are after hard shadows. For realism, I don't believe in turning spot light shadows off entirely (you can't do this in the real world), but you can lessen the intensity of spot light shadows to give the impression of more diffuse lighting.

3. Spot lights - Use them. Real photo studios mix spot lights with diffused "fill" lighting, and so should you! Consult any of the hundreds of photographic lighting tutorials on the internet.. most of what applies to real-world lighting also applies to 3D program virtual lighting.

4. Posette Lastly, use of the default P4 woman "Posette" with flat-yellow or red plastic-looking ponytail hair is also one of those things that makes a render instantly identifiable as newbie work. Also, a lot of times when you see work in magazines that is identifiable as poser, it's because of this.

Hope this helps!

-Adam

38mm referrs to the focal length of the lens and has nothing to do with film size(except to alter the focal length for a specific effect). 35 mm is a perfectly usable focal length for medium-wide angle in a 35 mm camera. "Standard" focal length for a 35 mm camera is around 50 - 58 mm. Be aware that facial features tend to flatten out above 135 mm. I use 200 mm most of the time and it works for me. Jim

Well i'm probably guilty of most errors here ;o) but one thing that does bug me is scale, like when i see a chair thats to big or too small, get the tape measures out folks and measure the stuff you have in the house, stand next to things or in doorways and get a feel for how wide they are and tall compared to you....then use these as guides to how big your objects should be....my 2 pence ;o)..Steve

I'm not a pro, but here's my big beefs: Straight, fully symmetrical poses. Almost no one stands or sits that way, even with good posture. Hips angle one way or the other. Shoulders drop. Feet angle outward at differing amounts. Eyes looking right at the camera. Most of the time, it looks artificial. Eyes that don't crinkle. When you smile, your cheeks move up and that forces your lower eyelids up just a tad. If the smile is wider on one side, then the lower eyelid on that side moves up farther. (Vicki's Wince or Wince 2 works wonders.) The adjustment is minor, but it can really make a big difference between a believeable smile and a plastic one. (Remember the cliche: the smile didn't make it to the eyes?) Static eyelids. When you look down, your upper eyelids go down. Looking up opens the eyelids up. The brows will also affect the eyelids. Ignoring gravity. Just try standing in some of those poses and you'll see what I mean. If you're interested, I have 2 tutorials on these issues at my site: http://www.fallencity.net/lore

Well, I'm a fashion photographer by profession, and you can take it from me.....38mm sucks! The closest lens to human vision (in 35mm camera format), is 58mm. I mainly use 100mm in poser, but anything over 50mm is good for most things, and 80-100mm for head shots. Wide camera angles have their uses. They can be very dramatic...but not for head shots! Lights - Yep! Set the map size to 1024 and the Shadow dial to 0.100 for soft shadows. Don't use weird colored lights, unless you want a weird colored effect. I use a slightly warm pink light, similar to afternooon sunlight (as any photographer will tell you, the best light EVER!). This gives nice skin tones. Skin Color - Try setting the Ambient color of the skin to a warmer color. I use RGB 54/27/20 for good skin tones, but it depends on your monitor. Why the default black is still in use, beats me! It makes skin grey. Background color - No one has mentioned this and it's one of my pet hates. DON'T use the default vomity-green-grey background color! There are 16.7 million colors to choose from....pick another one! Other than that...you're already doing it. Ask questions! And read tutorials too. Just try not to get carried away with too many things at once. Poser is a long-term project and it's sometimes best to concentrate on a few aspects of it. If you want to do good renders, stick to improving your technique or maybe working with textures. Don't start reading tutes on the Grouping Tool or conforming clothes yet. mac

I am NOT a pro, but here's my imput--- Move the camera. I use the Main because it's the easiest. Play with x rotation, get above or below the figure, go to the side. Select body-- if your doing a one person shot-- and rotate. An interesting POV can make the simplest render wonderful. Please adjust the canned poses. I use them myself, because I prefer to start somewhere and then adjust. But please adjust. And if I NEVER Again see the pose that came with Vicki-- hand on hip, arch fingers pointing to the side-- it will be too soon. Use the negative values in working with expression and make the expression asymmetrical. You can be very conservative and simply lift an eyebrow, use a slight negative value on frown left and a teensy bit of phoneme O, adjust the eyeblink-- slightly differently for each one. And you've got an expression, not a model on quaaludes. Oh and mixing and matching costume elements is a big plus for interesting renders. Props, props, props. A wall, a plant, a wierd thingie. It all adds up. Emily

Not a pro either, but i know what bothers me....first off....default victoria eyes...if we are alive, we look up, down, etc....so many renders have the crosseyed "default" vicki look....second....composition...a vicki in a standing pose smacked plop in the middle of a huge temple just does not catch my eyes....no matter how slick the texture of the temple may be...camera angles...i love pictures with a pov that is not the "standard" main camera that i see so often...hooters, and the lower bits....i know they get hits...but, when they are too outrageously huge, they really aren't attractive....lighting....i can't light in poser very well...that's why i render in bryce...sorry, had it longer, know it better....but, i love the images with dramatic lighting....like archangel gabriel's work....his stuff is an example of what i like about poser art. my 2.75 pence Pop...Pop...Poppi!!!

heh ok here is my input on poses. Most poses don't look natural due to the poser not understanding the mechanics of the body. Some Basics: Most people have a predominate foot and they put most weight on this leg. In doing so, this leg i sthe straightest, the other leg is very slightly bent. This causes the hip to drop slightly to this side. This gets balanced out with the upper torso that bends back towards to predominate leg, bringing the center of gravity closer to the center line. This gets more obvious as you place more weight on the predominate leg and you will see the curve of the torso. Now more detial: Shoulders are raised and lowered not by just the arms but also when we turn our head. Try it out, look over your shoulder and pay attention to what your shoulders do. The simple act or turning your head will offset your center of gravity so the shoulder you are looking over raises slightly to compensate. A more extreme turn of the head starts affecting other portions of the body even to the point of tilting the hips to compensate for the tilt of shoulders which in turn adjusts the legs. Try stripping down to a swinsuit, or just plain nude and stand in front of a full length mirror and try placing yourself into the pose you envision just to see what changes your body makes without you realizing, move in and out of the pose slowly while paying attention to the entire movement. This practise alone will help you in making more realistic poses.

Thank you all very much for your wonderful insights :) Rawn