Attached Link: ???

Hi. I'm brand new to renderosity. I didn't even know there was such a thing until a few days ago. Anyway, I just purchased Poser 5. I haven't received it yet. I used to play around with Poser 2. It did not seem very capable, and I've pretty much done figures the hard way (at least I think so) for a long time now ... (I've done mostly 2D work), but if I can judge by the Poser images here on renderosity, I'd guess Poser 4 and 5 are a lot more powerful. Hope so. Anyway, while I'm waiting for delivery, I'm wondering if anyone would care to enlighten me about all the 'kits' and 'figures' and stuff I see all over renderosity for Poser. Back in the day with Poser 2, I never saw such things. What exactly do these things do? Are they actual 3D models? Replacements for the stuff that comes with Poser? Or? And are they necessary to get good results? And, if so, which ones would you recommend? I am primarily interested in fantasy illustration, but want fairly (though somewhat idealized) natural figures. I will also probably being doing an awlful lot of work in PhotoShop and elsewhere as my background is with natural media and I doubt I'll be entirely happy with the very computer-generated look that Poser often seems to impart. Anyway, that's about it. If anyone would care to educate me about Poser and all the 3rd-party stuff available, it will be very, very, very appreciated. Thanks. Bye. Party on.

Goodness me where to begin. Just imagine that you are a small kid standing in front of the fire place Christmas Eve ..... and ..... you have been very, very good! Download everything, don't hold back. By the time you've got your 5th helping of barbarian swords and leather thongs you'll soon figure it out.

Welcome to Renderosity, I'm sure you are going to have a blast :)

Well, you have a couple of choices. You can stick with the figures that come with Poser 5-- they are considerably more complicated than Poser 2 as is the program-- and work hard on learning that first. It has a slightly higher learning curve than it used to. But there are plenty of people around her to help. Or you can check out daz3d.com. It would be fun to do so anyway, even if you choose to go with the first option. I'm not sure if Zygote was making the figures for Poser by 2 but Daz is Zygote's heir to the higher quality models, the millenium figures, used in Poser and yes, they are all purchased seperately. I think they give a better frame for painting and posing but only you can really judge that. Take a look in the galleries, most people use the millenium figures but it is still a narrow margin as everyone new to Poser starts with the standard figures in Poser, now Don and Judy, then Dork and Posette-- almost everyone, I bought Mil WomanVicki2 and Mil Man Mike2 before I started because I already knew I wanted the variety. That seems the quickest way to check out the 3rd party-- Daz, who makes the base models, Renderosity Galleries to see how they are used, and them, maybe plunge into the bottomless depths of Renderosity Market place. I would suggest using the categories in the Poser Products Marketplace. You can see the varieties of hair-- you can do your own hair in Poser 5 but it's modeling and not easy-- clothing, and, very important, settings. DO not forget that there is an emormous amount available for free. Before you buy anything-- except the Millenium figures-- check the many Free Stuff places, I cwould recommend here, Runtime Dna, and 3D Commune as having great freebies. Also Lannie's 3d Modelworld and Sams3d for sets and animals. Then there are the subscription areas Poser World is the first that comes to mind, that for a small fee has a great deal of value. There's no lack of third party content, there never has been. Welcome to posing, again. Emily

Where to start! Well since your getting Poser 5. It come with figures far beyond what you used in Poser 2 and has many features that will make the renders far more natraul looking then Poser 4. With the Cloth room you can make the clothes fit so they look like they natauly would. With the Dynamic hair that comes with it as well as more that is sold and that you can make yourself right in Poser 5. The hair is very possible, even down to move single strands. As far as the models you see being used. Yes they are 3D models and you can find alot of that stuff here in "Free Stuff". There's a link to it on the top of the page. For sale in the MarketPlace here, also a link at the top of the page. As well as many other sites that have stuff for free and others that sell. Down at the bottom of the sidebar you will see "Web Ring" there are many web sites that you can find things on.

Dang! I type to slow. ;D

Best advice I can give you? Don't be a dolt like me when purchasing the Victoria and Michael figures from Daz3D... if you decide you do want to take the step forward and get the 'Millennium Figures', buy them in the CD format (about 69 bucks US) this comes with hair, clothes, textures and the model itself, you save yourself a ton of cash vs. buying each thing individually. The CD's are also available in the marketplace here now.

Also try Poser Pros website. Welcome.

Welcome to our little corner of insanity. ;-)

I'd hold off a little bit on getting Vicki. DAZ is supposedly going to offer up Vicki version 3 before Christmas, so the price of the Vicki 2 CD may go down in price. I really prefer Vicki and Michael over Don and Judy - they're so much more customizable, especially with ethnic and body morphs, and a lot more people have Vic and Mike than have Judy and Don.

A lot of people here use Photoshop to enhance their Poser images. Some people take pride in doing Poser only, but most use at least a bit of postwork. There's some tutorials on the web about how to create realistic clothing and there's also a few commercial books you can purchase and download as well.

Get UVMapper. (There's a free and a commercial version available at uvmapper.com.) Some of the items that you download will not come with a template, so it can be difficult to customize them to your needs. You can use UVMapper to create the template so you can create your own textures.

Search through the forum for questions posted, read the FAQ, and ask away.

Cheers!

Advice: 1) Take your time. P5 is SO different from P2 that it'll take you a while to learn anything. Don't buy anything until you reach that first roadblock on something you want to do. With me it was the limitations of the Dork in morphing. The first money I spent on 3rd party stuff was Daz's Michael. 2) Go through freestuff using searches for things you need first. Why pay good money on a barbarian costume or armor when you can get a free one to start with here. 3) Watch for deals and shop around. The best deals I've found are the good subscription and discount sites. Daz's Platimun Club discounts, PoserStyle, and above all PoserWorld. Before you get one, ask here what people think about them. If you do decide to get Daz's Victoria and Michael, buy a Platinum subscription first. Subscribers save 30% on Daz produced goods, so Vicky and Mike will cost much less. Also the CD with all the content is a MUCH better deal than just buying the figures by themselves. 4) Watch your budget. I've gone hungry because I've had to have that one little thing for a piece I'm working on. I'm an idiot. The candy store will be here tomorrow. Having said that, I should point out I just got the Penguin from Daz for no good reason other than it looked neat. Like I said, I'm an idiot. 5) Make friends here, and ask for advice. We're a pretty helpful bunch. Post your pics, and be prepared for some criticism. Take what you can, and let the rest go. There's always someone who'll object to something. 6) Read the tutorials here. There's some great ideas in them. Post to the forums. Please. We need as many viewpoints here as we can get. I check the P5 beta test forum, the Poser forum, and the Product Showcase everyday. God, I not only am an idiot, I need to get a life (grin). 7) Check the version of P5 you get. Make sure it has all the updates available. If not, get them right away. There are some bugs in P5 that can be VERY annoying, and the 2 service pack releases go a long way to fix them. Get the content update too. Hope this helps! I look forward to your first post in the galleries. Have fun too. And be careful, there are Pink Ponies out there just waiting to get you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. Some response! And in just a few short hours. Much more than I expected, and much more helpful and informative than I had any right to expect. I appreciate all the advice so far. It looks like I'm going to have to save the web page to my hard drive just so I can be sure I don't ever lose it. This is very helpful. You all make it sound very exciting, fun, etc. I'm looking forward to the learning curve, which I'm sure it will be since I have limited time to mess with things these days. Think I should I post something? If so, can I do it here as a preview? I don't feel quite ready for the gallery thing. Too big a step I guess. But I've got a thing or two in progress -- not quite finished, and definitely not done with Poser -- but would give all a sense of what I'm about. And I could definitely use some advice. What I feel I really need (beyond, in the near future, lots more Poser advice, I'm sure) is lots of feedback on design and composition. I have never really felt like I understand that stuff very well. And thanks again to one and all!!

One or two posts here are fine to figure out if you are gallery ready. I've never understood Composition much and I feel Poser with its cameras really gave me a much better ability to play and learn what I like in a composition. I used to complain I had been an Iconist in a former life cause everything I painted was head on staring out out of the canvas. Emily

buy lots of ink cartridges. You may want to print out the tutorials and save them in binders and folders- i have run across excellent tutorials, bookmarked them, and went back to them later only to find that the site was no longer in existence. ;(

Great point on the tutorials. About the only nice thing with IE is that you can save the web page and it will save all the images as well. I have a ton of tutorials on my hard drive as I don't have anywhere to put more binders.

Okay. Here's what i'm working on at the moment. I call it 'The Next Frontier' -- that's my 'working title' anyway. This was all done in PhotoShop. No Poser. It has been an unbelievable amount of work, but that's just because I have to try to make up for a lack of talent. The original is very much larger. And, obviously, it's not finished yet -- (her hair needs work, her reflection needs work, her right leg needs work, etc., etc.) -- though I hope I'm getting close. Anyway, I've toyed with the idea of a series, and, thus, am hoping Poser might be of some use. This is, of course, Copyright (c) 2002 by Richard D. Farley, All Rights Reserved. (Thought I should say that since I read in this forum that some thieves from other sites think the artist has to say that.) Oh, and I usually lose perspective and think what I'm working on currently is the best I've ever done, so be reasonably gentle ... ha! Thanks for any *constructive* criticism in advance.

Minor detail here- her head reflection does not match the "real" her. Look at the way her head is twisted. Also her reflected forearm is in a diff position than the *real* one as well. Get your GF to stand in that pose in front of a mirror. Look at how it looks. Also the hair on the reflected image doesn't math either. The lighting and coloring is excellent. I like the hues and the lense flare effects, and the composition. Might want to touch up her lower back, there is a *circle* on it. Nice Job.

er doesn't match even ;P

Thanks for the kind and helpful comments. I know the reflection needs a lot of work. It used to match a little better but I changed the figure (and her hair) since then and this not being based on 3d modeling, I still have to get the reflection back in sync. The GF suggestion is a very good one, as soon as I get one who can deal with the fact that I have virtually no money and spend nearly all of what little I do have, as well as nearly all my time and energy, on the computer ... (I know the ex-wife didn't care for these tendencies too much.) ;*( Anyway, I hope, when I get Poser, I'll be able to set something up and get a little better feel for the reflection. I didn't quite get the last comment about the 'circle' though. The lower back and especially the buttocks are not fully rendered yet. Maybe that's what you caught? Or do you actually see a circle? Anyway, maybe I'm on the right track. Hope so. Thanks again for your comments.

can always use the " but , I'm an art student" line ;P LOL

Attached Link: The cover art sucks, but please check out my book.

Yeah. Okay. I see it. It's not really there, but I see it. The 'art student' line cracks me up. Actually, I met, once (circa late 70's or early 80's), a very well known advertising industry illustrator who did a lot of figure work who put one or two circles in most all his work, in apparently random places, for no apparent reason. It was kind of like his trademark. Can't think of his name now ... Anyway, believe it or not, it's actually just an illusion of how things were rendered; there really is no circle there. But I do see it now. Thanks.

Already did (check out the cover art)and loved it! very dynamic. Why do you say it sucks? What don't you like about it?

Well ... thanks. I guess I felt the figures are sorta comic-bookish and that it would be better for sales if they were more photo-realistic. It's a truism in the publishing industry that lots of folks really do judge a book, especially fiction, by its cover, whether they think they're too sophisticated to do that, or not. Also, though it's hard to see at this resolution, the figures are not very finished. They're pretty rough in fact. The man's left hand is transparent (almost nonexistent), and both figures' feet and legs are not very well rendered. I also feel I got a little heavy on the red channel. Of course, my excuse is that I needed to go to press, I felt I was running out of time, and I thought it was more important to get the book out than it was to get everything perfect. However, now I'm not so sure. I've had several critical remarks about the cover, mostly about the figures, and, ergo, figured if the cover were better, sales might be better -- which haven't been anything to brag about. Finally, the cover might not be entirely appropriate for the book. Although it is fantasy in the S&S vein, it is of a more serious nature than most novels in this genre. I won't go so far as to say it is more literary, though it may be, but parts of it are fairly serious in philosophy and tone, at least a little more than most. A cover that reflected that might have been better. Maybe. I don't think my readers have been getting exactly the book they thought they were getting, and, partly because of the cover, I think more serious readers are overlooking it who, perhaps, shouldn't be. Anyway ... I very much appreciate your vote of confidence all the same. I may even stop dissing myself about it for a while ... ;*)