He posted this today... Hi- Thanks to all of the folks who contributed tutorials, images, CD content, and helpful criticism to the next Poser Handbook. Those of you who didn't bother to contact me with your wishes and helpful remarks, yet still spend all of your potential creative energy complaining will sadly not be heard. The gates are closed to further submissions except from those already contacted. In my estimation (thoughwe alwayswant more, don't we) Poser 5 is one of the best 3D applications on the market,.. eriod. It does what it says it does, and in a high quality manner. I have been with Poser, like many of you, since Poser 1, and I loved it even then. Thanks the gods that Kewp and company extricated themselves out from under MetaMiscreations, or we'd still be working with Poser 2... or worse yet, it would be a horrid Poser 10. CuriousLabs deserves all of the plaudits it gets for this one! So does DAZ, Renderosity, PoserWorld, and the dozens of developers who have given so much content for others to use, and are still at it. Did you know that you can freely download over 10GB of Poser files from Renderosity and other Poser developers? That is truly awesome, and then there's all the content that some extremely creative folks are marketing at bargain prices on top of that. It's a good thing fat Firewire drives are inexpensive these days, as is RAM and very nice Mac and Win systems. On another matter, I write a monthly newsletter at Charles River Media's site (check it out at www.charlesriver.com) For August, I have started a Poser section that will reference a lot of the Poser stuff being marketed. many developers have sent stuff for review so far,l and more are yet to be reviewed. If you are a Poser developer and would like to see your stuff in the newsletter, contact me off the listat rshamms@adelphia.net Shamms Mortier

Where was this originally posted?

On the Poser list at Yahoo.

I sure hope he's got a good editor.

Well, my stuff will have gone through a professional copywriter prior to going to him.

OK, I need to put my 2 cents' worth in here. Please note, this is my PERSONAL opinion, which is no way connected with my being employed by Curious Labs. As you all know, I am a technical writer by day. What you may not know is that I'm a sci-fi novelist by night. To this end, I'm working very closely with my agent and publisher and have learned a few basic truths about writing and the publishing industry. First of all, writing a book of any type, be it a Poser 5 Reference Manual or STORM OVER EDEN, is hard work if for no other reason that typing 75K+ words is no launghing matter. Then come the inevitable edits, rewrites, cover art, in-book images, etc. For fun, let's add deadlines. So no matter what anyone thinks of Mr. Mortier's books, he did put lots of effort into them. Second, publishers make 90% of their money from 1% of their authors. This means that about 99% of a publisher's titles lose money. This simple fact makes it damned hard for a new writer to break into the field. There is only one thing worse than being a new author and that's being a failed author. Your title not making money for a publisher is the kiss of death. Sadly, most authors fail to realize this, thinking that fame and fortune will rain down upon them just because their novel was printed. But I digress... Had Mr. Mortier's first book failed to recoup its investment and then some, there never would have been a second one. He's written and published several books and is coming out with yet another one. That means that he is consistently profitable for his publisher. How can that be? People are buying his books. And, given what he writes about, it stands to reason that a good chunk of his audience is repeat sales. Therefore, the only conclusion one can make is that there are a number of people who for whatever reason like his work or can't/won't/don't find anything better. Notice that I am NOT commenting about the quality of said books! Honestly, I've never read one of Mr. Mortier's books and couldn't make any public comments if I had for obvious reasons. I'm simply discussing the economics of the matter. As for Shamms' message itself, the man has an extremely valid point. Instead of complaining afterward, why not add input beforehand? You might actually contribute to making something better. How cool is that? But if, given the chance, you opt not to speak out, then accept what comes and either buy the book or not. If you think his work sucks to the point where you can and do flame it, that by necessity means you think you can do better. So do it! What are you gaining by making post after complaining post besides fanning emotions and wasting your irreplaceable time and energy? Write a book- and if it's really better than what's out there, you might just land a publishing contract and see yourself in print. When that happens, don't forget to stop back and see your own hard work being ripped. Personally, I much prefer changing things when I have the chance over complaining afterward. Yeah it's more work but far more rewarding in the end :-). Again, the preceding was my PERSONAL opinion.

Generous, but that doesn't answer the key question of whether he has an advanced copy of Poser 5 - and a close, ongoing relationship with the development team, as for example, Dan Ablan of the valuable Inside Lightwave books does. OR will he get the PC version at the same time as the rest of us and frantically start adding the P5 stuff to a boilerplate Poser manuscript? I'm still betting on the manual that Anthony fellow has been slaving away on... :-)

confidentially, gryff... so am I ;-)

Anthony, I admire your defence of Mr Mortier, but I have to point out one thing I think is pertinent. You say 'Therefore, the only conclusion one can make is that there are a number of people who for whatever reason like his work or can't/won't/don't find anything better' I think this last point is the clincher. 'can't/won't/don't find anything better' I've never read any of his books and I have no stance whatsoever on whether they're good, bad or indifferent. What I have read in the posts is that a lot of people a) bought the books and gave them or threw them away. b) that a lot of people bought the books for lack of a better alternative. This, I think, is the whole problem. If there's no decent alternative, what are people to do? Especially newbies who don't know Mr Mortier or his reputation in the poser community. The reason I'm posting this is a simple one. I feel that CL has in part, an obligation to it's customers in this area. Certainly not to stop 'iffy' books being published, (heaven forbid ) but definitely to attempt to provide some kind of official poser book other than the manual. Is it out of the question for CL to commission and collaborate on a decent poser book? There's another reason for CL to do this other than helping people to really get the best out of poser. Someone in another thread said something to the effect that 'If someone considering buying poser saw Mr Mortier's books, they wouldn't bother'. Don't you think it's CL's duty to show poser in the best light? mac

Hey Anthony... good luck with the Sci-Fi book, and congrats for hanging in there with the new P5 manual.

With all due respect, (and I mean that sincerely) I tend to agree with gryffnn. His example of Dan Ablan's "Inside Lightwave" being commended for being an extremely worthwhile book points to a willingness to praise good work as well as be critical of work that isn't as useful, our flame awful efforts. (Cases in point: Shamms Mortier insert title here) The notion that if we, as purchasers can do a better job compiling a manual for any given program we should publish our own misses the mark. We are buying the books because we presumably (at least in my case) do not have a working knowledge of the program and are actively seeking it. Chances are that if I felt I had sufficient knowledge of a program, I would not be be purchasing introduction handbooks at all. In fact, in Mr. Mortiers case, his publications actually do a disservice to the software they represent by not providing any useful information for users to constructivly explore it's true potential. People buy these books with perfectly good money expecting help, and they should get it. I am a CG newbie. My graphical explorations bite, and bite quite badly. But I will not misreprepresent myself and publish a book. In my opinion, neither should he. Posting opinions is one way to to help form a consensus to assist others make an informed decision before opening their wallet. Just another opinion, with no disrespect to your statement.

Excellent point, mac, however there is a flip side to this. If Curious Labs collaborated or in any way endorsed one person or entity's pet project above another, there would be a firestorm of protests about favoritism, conflicts of interest, etc. It's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

Don't endorse it.....just publish it! An 'official' Curious Labs book. What's the problem? You wouldn't be the only company to have an official guide to the product. mac PS You may even make money on it! LOL

Yeah Anthony, I'd buy it!! ('ala Adobe "Classroom in a Book" series)

Ah, hmatienzo, ::Thanks the gods that Kewp<--- is this your typo or his?

In opposition to Mortier's book of highly debatable usefulness I'd take this book - Poser 4 Pro Pack f/x & Design by Richard H., Sr. Schrand, Steve Cooper, Chad Smith any day. from the entry on Amazon.com : About the Author Richard Schrand. has written numerous books including Canoma(R) Visual Insight, GoLive(R) 5 f/x and Design, Photoshop(R) 6 Visual Jumpstart, LiveMotio(R) n Visual Jumpstart, 3D Creature Workshop-2nd Edition, and The Macromedia(R) Web Design Handbook. Richard spent 28 years in the broadcast industry as Writer, Producer, Reporter, News Anchor, News Director, General Manager and Publicist receiving three Emmy awards, and numerous BPME (Broadcast Promotion & Marketing Executives) awards for writing and producing. Recently, he has created GRFX byDesign, a company specializing in 3D design and animation. Anyone with that kind of background on his resume will get my $$ over someone who's one step above a hack writer

Charlie... I posted this as I got it in the mail.

I own Mr Mortiers first book. I stand by my original post (On Amazon.com) that I would rather have Mortiers book then none at all, as for his repeat sales I am at a loss to explain this, the opinions on his book come from varied sources from very different perspectives, one can see that by the writing styles, but the facts are the facts,

1. His book had many animals not included in the program, a bear, a deer a monkey and so on.
2. His rendering advice consited of telling people to buy other software packages, this was prior to pro-pack and therefore it is doubtfull animated scenes could have been rendered in this way.
3. His tutorials were beyond the scope of common reason or sanity, I give these examples: A sharks head on a skeleton, human heads on fingers, a squashed cat (cat haters, no doubt, found this helpfull) a mangled hourse and on and on. It is his right to make such abominations, but to put them out as a tutorial, to have a project that, in essance, would be a mistake if made properly, a dogs head totem pole, yes you read correctly. 4. His many, many inacurate and outdated refrences to orphaned or non existant software, he says that "posemation" cames with a leatehr bound two disk set, this is horse hockey and the Posemation people told me this themselves (granted they had a promotional item a long time ago, but it is long gone. Hid advice from the "poser masters" consisted of "buy 3D studio max" for the most part. Regarldess of how hard he worked, others have clearly worked harder and deserve our hard earned money more then this man, Susan Kitchens comes to mind. It is not complaining when warns a prospective buyer, one on a budget, that they need not spend $50. to learn that one can make a jaw really really long by turning a knob (one of his many tutorials). I do not wish him ill but he is not a good example of a Poser auther, chck out the pro-pack book instead.

heyas; i'm writing a poser book (and now, before you get all excited, it's ONLY about figure creation, not a general poser how-to), and i've come across some resistance in finding an agent or publisher. why? they feel that the poser user base is too small, and there isn't much of a market for a poser book. i happen to think the poser user base is huge, but then again, i spend all my time here, and almost no time in the real world, so my perception is undoubtably skewed. ;) btw, i don't know if it is official, or even if it is true, but i THINK richard schrand might be doing a p5 book. MAYBE. it's a RUMOR. an unsubstantiated rumor! (he might be busy doing his vue book :/ )

anthony's comments are the most rational I've heard for a while. Kudo's to you. Fact is, the poser/bryce community is spoiled...very spoiled. We can buy expensive, high quality models for next to nothing...we can ask a small question and get answers from the simple to the very advanced. Answers that in many cases surpass the knowledge of those who created the programs themselves. I have never read any of s. mortier's books. I've never even seen one in a book store to browse through. I do not know if they are good or bad. All I know is the that he is writing books, and they must be selling or like anthony said, there'd never have been another. and as for other tutorial books...I too own susan kitchens book on bryce, and tho I do believe it is an essential tool for those learning bryce, I myself was very disappointed in it. In fact, I would have rather spent my $50 on beer or pepsi. So, its all a matter of perspective. That said, I myself have personally contributed pages and pages of info to the next poser handbook. Granted, I have made a conditional statement that I see the final version of my parts before it goes to print (just wanting to be sure that editing doesnt lose valuable important info)...in addition, I have also GIVEN well over $100 worth of posable models for the content cd. Why? I find that rather than bitching about how something doesnt suit your needs, take actions to change it. S Mortier, I, and others, are trying to help make the next book very useful for anyone who purchases it. My models alone will more than cover the price of a $50 book...not to mention all the other things that'll be on the content cd. nuff said, I'm doing my part to make help it better, and all I get is my name and credits in print. I have a printer, and I can spell my name..so I can see my name in print as much as I want..all day long. So is that any kind of compensation for the work I myself have added? What are you doing? BT bloodsong, have you filled out the thing for newriver books to see if they'd be interested?

Bad books should be vigorously criticized if only to warn people NOT to waste their money. That's what forums like these are for. It takes very little effort to write the required number of words to fill a book if most of it is silly crap - as is the case with Shamms Mortier. I also make a living as a writer and I have no respect for people who don't do their homework. And if you know ANYTHING at all about Shamms Mortier's books and the software they purport to cover, then you know he hasn't done any homework. As for why he gets published, the publisher probably gets him cheaply -- so cheaply that they can make a decent return on their investment with very little fuss. Somebody who actually KNOWS something might be a bit more expensive. He writes so many books for them that they must have him under some sort of overall deal. They're undoubtedly paying for bulk and not quality. Do his books sell? Well, in the case of the Poser book, since it was the only one out there for a good long time, that would account for many sales. Also, when you're a complete newbie and you're afraid to do much of anything, Shamm's books are probably very comforting because they require very little intelligence and they do produce SOME (albeit weird) results. And maybe what he does in his books is what the new Poser (or Max or Lightwave) user thinks is the full range of the program. We more experienced users see that as the crime that it is, but to the new inexperienced user, maybe his books, dumb as they are, make you feel competent. All the more reason why we must take on the tedious responsibility of trashing him all to hell and back. It's a tough job, Nosfiratu, but somebody's got to do it.

Bloodsong, let me know how you go. I'll buy a copy for sure :)

Yes Bloodsong... put the PDF of the book on CD and sell that :-)

heyas; newriver? no, what is that? i did land an agent, and we're in negotiations with two publishers, so the book will be done; all that remains is how much i get paid ;) jeff, i was going to do that, but only if i failed to find an agent and failed to interest any publishers. but since i didn't, it's going to be a real book. on the other hand, i'm thinking of starting a poser figure creation class over at eclectic academy.... two, in fact. one based on my book, and then an 'advanced' figure workshop, where i help people create their figures. dunno yet, just toying with the idea....