Attached Link: http://www.pixelmonger.com/poser_1

Got an Email from Curious Lab about update for Shade. With the Email has other info, and I was very surpised and excited to see this. Artist Creates Movies with Poser for History and Discovery Channels Artist Extraordinaire, Scott Billups and his Pixelmonger Studio have been using Poser for many years to create visual effects and compositions for movie and other film projects. He recently created literally THOUSANDS of Poser characters for two movies about Alexander the Great, both being aired this month on the History and Discovery Channel. Check the web and your local TV listings for time and dates in your area. Scott says that Poser, is the best resource for doing the kind of work that he does. He also said that he uses thousands of dollars worth of third party content which makes the value of Poser even greater. He also brags that he probably has the largest collection of Poser figures anywhere. Check out images and visuals from the HD films about Alexander the Great from Scott Billups the Great Link1.

Attached Link: http://www.pixelmonger.com/poser_2

Link 2

Looks cool. Got a link to more info? I'd like to know more about how he renders and composites the shots. In some of the stills, it looks like he's using some other software with the Poser models, but I can't quite figure out what it is just by the vidcaps.

Message edited on: 12/02/2004 17:19

Attached Link: http://www.pixelmonger.com/

Yeah..I been doing a lot of searching trying to find time and date when this will be on the Discovery Channel. I am on Mountain Time.

Also searching how he did it and what was used. I sure like to get that terrain. hehe.. :-) I only started on those two links that were given. So, I am lost just as much.

Message edited on: 12/02/2004 17:29

Attached Link: http://www.pixelmonger.com/home.html

Here we go, Robo. I guess there's a "secret" way into his site. LOL. I couldn't get in there from the index page you linked to for some reason.

Yes, I got to that page. And now I am stumped, jumping website to website, page to page.

Attached Link: http://www.pixelmonger.com/po_effects.html

From the tidbits I gathered from his page here, it seems at the very least he's using Adobe AfterEffects, Pinnicle's Commotion, and Discreet's Combustion for his video FX and probably compositing. His words: "Combustion is a 'must have' for anyone considering a future in high-end video or film production." I use Combustion for video as well, so I have to agree with him here. LOL. Although I don't consider my stuff "high end". ;-)

Nothing about what he used though to make that one film. Only what he has. Also I went to Discovery Channel looking for the show. I do not know what the title of the show is Titled. Curious Labs had me going on one paragraph and a few link. Nothing more..

Attached Link: http://dsc.discovery.com/anthology/momentsintime/momentsintime.html

I believe it's called, "Moments In Time". It's on Wednesdays at 9pm.

Here's what he said about it on his website... it's on the main page if you scroll down to about the middle.

" We worked on this TerraNova series, around the clock, for six months. In addition to stints as DP and Director, I served as Visual Effects Supervisor for the most graphically intensive episodes.

The cover article of the September issue of DV Magazine details some of the unusual methodologies that we used in the making of Moments in Time.

In addition to the latest hardware and software (much of which I can't even mention because we're still under Non Disclosure Agreements), we used artists from all over the globe to create the more than 500 visual effects shots that we supplied for the series"

He's saying they can't reveal exactly what hardware and software they used for it, but we know now he used Poser for at least some of it.

Message edited on: 12/02/2004 19:22

I saw the movie Alexander the Great, last Monday on History Channel and really the CG scenes are fantastic.

Wonder if he (They), used only the characters, horses, props only from poser, then imported em into other programs. That size of a terrain caught my eye mostly. Like to see that in poser (using Poser5), but that will be unlikely.

Robo, there's some kind of 3D world builder thing for Poser (I think Hmann made it, but I'm not sure) that could have been used for that. It's possible some of the shots were rendered in Poser, because I actually think I see the default 3-point light rig that Poser uses when you open a new scene being used in some of the renders, but that could have been just some previz mock-ups they did to show how it was done. Some of the compositing doesn't look "spot-on" so to speak. The lighting is off a bit on some things. You can easily tell it's CG, BUT - that's not to put the work down! He (they) had a deadline to meet obviously, and did what they felt was more convenient I'm sure.

I'm thinking they proabably exported the animations from Poser to another app for rendering, where they would have much more control over the final render output for compositing against the live action footage. Other apps have special G-Buffer output capability that allows you to render a scene in special "passes", which assists with the post-compositing phase. However, I don't see anything there to indicate he's done that.

Message edited on: 12/03/2004 09:59

Yeah..I agree. I only have poser (Poser 5), Now that I am familiar with its engine. I am now in the process of another (Secondary), program that can have a terrain that size and animate scenes with out much of hassle. I sure like to see this World Builder for Poser. Will do a search. I am in for huge terrain scenes. I am not into Picture backgrounds, unless if I am doing a image only.

Attached Link: http://market.renderosity.com/softgood.ez?ViewSoftgood=2949

This is the one I was thinking of, Robo. "Poser 3D Worlds Kit" by Hmann. Don't know how good it is, but looks similar to what they used there. EDIT: The link provided is to the add-on kit. You have to buy the "core kit" first I think.

Message edited on: 12/03/2004 10:36

Awesome!...wished I had seen this months earlier. In for the core. :-)

Attached Link: http://runtimedna.com/

There is also variety of macrocosm and microcosm sets at RDNA that are awesome. Follow the link and do a store search for "COSM" and you'll find Transpond and Traveler's sets. They have some outstanding land, plant and building props with tons of free addons in the free section.