Damn, I'm sorry i missed out on this!  Hope the game worked out.

A friend gave me a demo of some piece of software that uses standard video cameras.  I'm at work right now and I can't remember the software, but we did a test and works pretty damn well.  I think it might be a Maya or XSI plugin.

Anyway basically, you set up video cameras on your subject from different angles and record.  Then you load your sequences into the software, sync up a start point, assign bones and let it calculate.  You need at least two video cameras, and the more cameras you have the more accurate the software is.

We tested it with just everyday clothing, walking, hopping and such and it worked nicely.  We never tried exporting it or applying it to a mesh, mind you.  I've been meaning to play aroudn with it again, but haven't found the time yet.

We also concluded that it might be best to have someone wearing a body stalking or tight clothing of a solid colour and then to apply an opposite colour in lines and or dots (using tape) to mark limbs and joints.  Not required, but we figured it would help in getting a really good alignment from camera to camera.

This software can also be used in conjunction with green screening to record camera movement for later getting abackground to match in compositing.

Anyway, I'll have to double check what the software is.  Yeah, it sounds expensive, now to think about it.  I only played with the demo.

Cheers

Definately a "Gem Thread", thanks for the interesting tricks!  I must go play...

I agree with Tekmonk's assessment of the abundance of nudes.  Heck, a lot a newbies can't afford or justify buying clothing for their characters! lol.

As far as the UI, I do have to admit that it did take no time to learn the basics.  It really is user friendly in many ways.  I love 3D Studio Max, but it took me years of playing to learn it's interface.  Carrara make me feel like I'm playing the piano with mittens on!  I've used a dozen or so 3D apps inmy time and Poser was really the quickest and easiest to learn.

Now, that said, I can see the idea and appeal behind going to something a bit more like Photoshop, docking might be a nice feature, but I would probably letterbomb e-frontier if the UI was completely different.  Actually, opposed to being something I wanted as an upgrade, this was one of the things I feared!  I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment.

In that case, Crosstalk has been gone as of P5.  In P5 I've always had to dial the morphs for the clothing separate and I've had four of the same figure loaded and never had one inherit the other's morphs.

But now I know why I always think, "Didn't this do this automatically?" when dialing a clothing morph to match a figure.

Touche!

I've never experienced Crosstalk on P5 or P6.  Back when I used P4 I was not expereinced enough or doing complex enough things to have expereinced it.  I'm pretty sure it is out of the picture, though.

Definately sounds like Inverse Kinematics.  Try turning them off and let us know.

Never be afraid to ask a question  I've used Poser for over four years now and every now and again some "newbie" asks a question and I learn something new. lol.

You'll find most people to be very helpful.

Actually, the Poser interface is a lot more customizable than you think.  In the thread where people were guessing at what reason 7 would be, this topic came up.

I'm at work, so I can't look at it right now, but you can change your disply colours and all the icons exsist as (pngs, jpgs, bmps, I can't remember), but the point is if you don't like the icons, you could even take them into an image editting sofware and change them and then either place them in the same place witht he same name (backing up the old ones, just incase) or you could go into the xml file (again, not infront of my computer and can't remember which file off the top) and change where it is pointing to for the icons.

Set up you pose room as you like (ie: delete figure, set up two white lights, move aroudn you icons) and then in your prefences tell it to save current state.

If you are so inclined, you can even change what picture is displayed while booting up.

It is extremely customizable, you just ahve to look around a bit.

Cheers.

Actually, if you have a bunch of Max files, you should seriously consider the 30 day free trial for 3D Studio Max.  Years ago this is what I used to convince my employer to buy the program! lol.  Seriously, though, it is fully functional and all you have to do is open your max file and then export it as a format you can use.  Since it it s the latest version of Max, you should have no problem with older files. 

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5972446

Modelling?  I'm still a beginner.  I just checked it out, awesome, thanks!

Wow, very cool animation.

Oh, don't worry, I'm not knocking Shade and Vue users, I was being selfish in that statement as I spent all my 3D application cash on Carrara 5, Bryce (Yeah, purchase 5 when it cost a lot, but at least I got 6 for cheap) and Hexagon (hey, a buck ninety-nine is a buck ninety-nine!)

Actually, I've seen such great renders out of Vue I'm kinda kicking myself.

But, I have to agree the last reason should be something all users can rejoice about.  I'm still thinking it might have something to do with dynamic whatevers, though.

Boy, that soft-body sounds like a great idea, but in the end I really doubt it.   I never get what I wish for. lol.

I really suspect there will be something to do with the dynamic cloth and hair.  They haven't mentioned them yet, it's an improvement appeals to animators (and I'm with TG that they have been going after the animation side big time) and since this is e-frontier's first crack at really re-writing the code, I suspect they won't leave those areas untouched.

But, being a negativist who has already pre-purchased it sight unseen, I suspect it's going to be something I could care less about like improved working with Vue or Shade or whatever they are trying to push to get further sales.

Whatever it is, I am tired of waiting and I want it now!

Thanks for the info Tim.  I think a behind the scenes/making of section would be a cool addition to your site.  A bit more info on how you created the characters and the story plus how many other people you have involved (voice actors, etc).  Maybe some stills, before and after if you've done anything cool in post.  I think you have a really cool thing going here.  In the end, though, don't let website features take you away from making more animation! lol.

Really, I have a huge respect for you, great work.