Although I have been using Poser for some years now and get good results from time to time, my main problem still seems to be the act of POSING a character. I especially wipe over crippled looking shoulders, arms and ellbows when using the millenium figures and I just don't get better at all... does anyone have a brainy advise how to become better, or are their any witty tutorials out there? "How to Pose for Dummies" would be cool...

There are several things you can do... Learn anatomy. Honestly, learning about how the body can move is an invaluable aid to any artist, digital or traditional. Watch people. Study how they move, which bits go where, then equate it with "why", which is the anatomy bit. Search for Schlabber's tutorial. You'll find a wealth of information there. In fact, search for everything "schlabber". You really can't go wrong.

I concur with SamTherapy about Schlabber's aka the posemeister comprehensive posing tutorial. Eventho I am no beginner in the posing I still use his tutorial to improve my posing. I even use some of his poses as bases for most of my work. Here is the direct link to his tut : Schlabber's Pose Tut JV

You might try adjusting the joint parameters. It has helped with some of my shoulder and elbow problems. Check out Dr Geeps tut in this forum.

For sure get Schlabber's posing tutorial as JVRenderer suggests, it should be subtitled the "Poser Poser's Encyclopedia".

Here's what I do: Turn on IK Place the feet and hands where I want them Turn off IK Untwist each limb, working my way down. (If I place the right foot, I'll then smooth out the butt, the thigh, then the shin.) I'm sure other people have other work-flows, but this works for me. Hope it helps, Cres

Attached Link: http://www.schlabber.org/

Hey, how about doing things the *easy* way?! Visit Schlabber's web site and download all his "canned" poses. If that isn't enough, go and buy Schlabber's pose collections at DAZ3D.

Sure downloading all of Schlabber's poses will help.. but it won't help you to LEARN to pose, which was the question. If I wanted to learn how to make my own bread, would you point me to a baker where I could buy it "the easy way"? ;o)

There are no real shortcuts here, the only thing to do is to learn how he body works and moves. When I work on a pose, I spend quite some time in front of the mirror moving my on limbs according to the poser dials to help me get a feeling for the pose in question. Schlabbers poses are excellent, study them and move your own body according to them. That will give you a feeling how the pose dials corresponds to real body movements. Also remember that most poses are snapshots of movements. Many poses I see I see in Poser pictures looks like the person is standing still, even though the creator wants to give the impression of movement. Always try to picture in your mind what the pose will look like if the render was done a fraction of a second later. Try to capture the pose so that is looks like it's heading in that direction, try to get the feeling of the movement.

Thats what I do: 1)Turn IK off 2) Start from hip which is the center of the figure,use dials to adjust basic position-direction,never use body because it is not included on the pose file... 3) Use front,right,left camera and using the Rotate tool move body parts to create the base of my pose. 4) Use tha main camera and every body part dials for more accurate control,Mostly use bend,side-side and then twist for adjustments. 5) Use Hand cameras to adjust hands with detail. 6) Use face camera to move eyes and create an expression to suit the pose.Get rid of the default look.Even little amount of expression morphs like 0.2 gives a more natural look to your pose... 7) If I want to put something on my figures hands I use again the front,right,left cameras and looking the shadow of the object also helps...Then again hand camera... (*) I like asymmetric poses-expessions I think those give a more natural look... (*) You can create a new pose from 2 other! Put the first pose on the first frame and the second on the last.Poser will connect the frames and the poses.Sometimes this gives good results.Use the same thing for expressions... (*) Every figure poses with a different way,the same dials may be more sensitive from one to another.Playing with a figure will help you understand the parts that need more care... Hope this helps!

Actually, the original pose did not say Totoro3D wanted to poser "from scratch." I know how many people insist on doing everything "the hard way," so I posted an easier alternative.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1701743

A few words as I'm often mentioned here ;-): For the "process" of developing poses I can't say something more then I allready mentioned in my little tutorial. Crescent: An interesting way to do poses - surely different from the way I "develope" my poses but it is the result that counts. You can't do anything wrong if you're satisfied with the result. So - of course - this method is 100% OK :o). I know the tutorial (as complete as it is) lack a bit on the artistical side. I "tried" to be as understandable as possible. If you want to understand more about the "poseability" of a figure you have to read or ... well wait (lol). Currently I'm working on the 2nd chapter of this tutorial (yup - there will be a 2nd book available). There I'll try to explain more about the "feeling" of an image. I just called it "eXpression". You can read a bit more about it if you follow the link. I hope to get it done (in German) until end of this year. So the English version will be available 2 or 3 months later (Translating 200 sites is a bit more complicated then 5 or 10 sites). Followed by the tutorial will be a "total" (and I mean that) poses construction set to get the expression you want. But you'll see then (although that construction set won't be available for free)

Thats fine, looking forward to the German version :) Thanks everyone for your advise!!! :)