Hello everyone! I've just oredered Poser 5, and after reading several tutorials, and looking through the multitude of plugins and content availible for it, I have to admit Im a little overwhelmed. A little about me: I have an extensive 2D graphics background, and Ive been fooling around with Maya PLE on and off for about a year. Im an avid role-playing gamer and game master, and Im looking at starting up a new Cyberpunk 2020 campaign in about two months. I was going to draw & photoshop all of the portraits for my players & NPC's, but then I discovered Poser and figured it was the perfect solution! I would like to ask a few questions of you more experienced folks: 1- Are there any 'typical newb mistakes' or pitfalls I should be wary of while attempting to learn the software? 2- What add-ons would you recommend given my planned use for the software? 3- Is it possible, or are there any availible distributed computing rendering solutions compatible with Poser? (I have a buddy with a small rendering farm he uses for Maya) 4- Any other advice for a new user?

1- Are there any 'typical newb mistakes' or pitfalls I should be wary of while attempting to learn the software? Oh, yes. Lot's of newb mistakes can be made. Two I've made are that stupid double clicking of icons. When you have a female character loaded and double click the shirt...the shirt appears and girl disappears. Use the check marks at the bottom of the menu. Also, Dynamic hair doesn't seem to want to render in anything but Poser. 2- What add-ons would you recommend given my planned use for the software? Daz. Go to Daz and look at the store. They have great sci fi stuff and even have some wonderful models. Vicky3 and Mike3 are pretty popular. They are Amazon size if you ask me so I use Stephanie Petite 3 and David 3. You can find free stuff and pay stuff for them all over, including here. Also, you may want to look into buying some architecture sets. I do mostly outside scenes so I got Cyclorama at Daz. I like it but you need to look around as there are lots out there for doing cities. 3- Is it possible, or are there any availible distributed computing rendering solutions compatible with Poser? (I have a buddy with a small rendering farm he uses for Maya) I use Bryce 4 sometimes to render but a lot of the time I just use Poser. I've not had any problems so far. 4- Any other advice for a new user? Get a credit card. It's gonna cost ya! I'm about ready to submit my order for $150 worth of models and crap that I need for various reasons.

Attached Link: My Homepage

Some of the basic stuff is covered on my Beginner's Tutorial (on my Homepage) where you can see really basic stuff as to how to dress a character and more important what NOT to click. Bare in mind that Poser is NOT a modeling software (in case you didn't know :o) ) Unless you're doing animations you won't need a renderfarm for Poser. You can export stuff to Vue Pro (without a plugin) or to programs like Lightwave and dStudio Max. Not sure about Maya. In any case, this sort of export requires an external bought plugin.

welcome to the club, Hullbreach (I heard about you a lot in various Star Trek's..;) tho I'm only on 4..you might look for Correct Reference, the Tailor, and mebbe Uvmapper and Wings 3d, in various forums and Freestuff (and Marketplace) locations around this site.

you're not giving yourself much time to learn the program, 2 months is way too short a time to really get to grips with any version of Poser.

Poser5 has the steepest learning curve of all the versions available & you'll need the manual in front of you for the first couple of months at least.

Before you start filling your HD with Daz goodies get the basics of poser straight in your head, it comes with a suite of figures built in which while not as sophisticated as the Daz figures will get you ready for the more complicated models out there.

Lastly visit all the poser forums & ask questions, even if you think you'll sound dumb ask anyway as most people who've used Poser for a while will have seen or done what you're asking about & will be able to help. ps welcome to the fun world of Poser art ;)

Message edited on: 07/14/2004 12:27

One big mistake is the Poser manual (Poser 4 or Poser 5). The manuals are just too full of mistakes to bother with them. One great education is to spend some time reading in this forum. Skim through some of the subject lines. Just about any question you could ask has been asked and answered here. You can save time by looking at the Poser Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) link at the top of this page. DAZ is a great source of Poser stuff. Renderosity has many things I like that DAZ doesn't have.