rmeffert opened this issue on Apr 18, 2005 ยท 11 posts
rmeffert posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 7:09 PM
This is my first post, and I thank you ahead of time for helping me out. I am new to the 3D modeling world but am proficient at Studio MX programs. I purchased Swift 3D in attempts to bring some 3D elements to our website, but it was very difficult and limiting. I was wondering what limitations Poser has, I havent been able to find any books (at local book stores) on Poser and I did not know if it has been replaced with Maya. I would like to create 3D human and fantasy creatures with the ability to animate them for use with Quicktime, or possibly Flash. Is that possible with Poser? And how is the learning curve compared to a beast like Maya? Again thanks for your help!
maxxxmodelz posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 7:32 PM
What is Studio MX? You're not talking about 3dsMax I assume? It must be a different application.
Well, first off... Poser is NOT a modeling program. It's basically a way to pose and animate characters "easier" than you can in high end apps. It's not actually a replacement for Maya, 3dsMax, or Lightwave, but can compliment those apps.
In simplest terms, with Poser, you can basically load a pre-existing character or model, pose it, animate it, and render it. If the model has morphs, you can use them to customize the shape, and of course you can apply textures, etc.
There is always the option of modeling your own characters in another application (like 3dsMax, Lightwave, Maya, Blender, Wings3D, Truespace, etc. ), then prepare the mesh for export to Poser as an OBJ, where you can cut it into groups, rig it, and then do your thing. However, there's tons of characters, props, models, textures, and scenes you can purchase or download free for use with Poser. So you don't have to actually create anything from "scratch" as you most likely would do in other apps. This has it's benefits, and of course, it's downsides.
The learning curve for Poser is NOT very steep, all things considered, compared to Maya or 3dsMax, or any of the more complex 'high end' solutions. However, it's features do not run as "deep" either, obviously.
If you are just interested in animating stuff for your website, then Poser is probably a GREAT solution for you, since it can output animation as AVI or Flash (you can convert AVI to Quicktime in some 3rd party software). Maya can output to many more file formats, but it is probably "overkill" for projects like that, and the price difference is HUGE.
Message edited on: 04/18/2005 19:35
Tools : 3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender
v2.74
System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB
GPU.
rmeffert posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 7:38 PM
Wow great feedback. Thank you! Studio MX is the suite for Macromedia products it includes : Fireworks, Flash, Dreamweaver etc. So poser is not designed to create 3D animations - such as a human with a gun, but more designed to enhance your 3D creations from Maya or lightwave *if I read right =) Currently I would like to use a program to create 3D models of humans and other creatures, and eventually make them into animations and movies, but for easy character creation, do you have any suggestions?
maxxxmodelz posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 7:51 PM
*"So poser is not designed to create 3D animations - such as a human with a gun, but more designed to enhance your 3D creations from Maya or lightwave if I read right =)"
Oh, I didn't mean that... Poser can do animation just fine.. what you want can be animated in Poser.
It's just not meant to model characters or complex objects from scratch, and doesn't have some of the animation "extras" that high end apps have. As a beginner, you wouldn't miss those extras and deeper features anyway. ;-)
Using Poser's pre-existing library of models, plus all the characters and morphs available in the marketplace and for free, you can pretty much customize a Poser figure to look like anything you want. Including monsters, creatures, etc. It specializes in human 3d posing and animation, so Poser is probably perfect for your needs. Message edited on: 04/18/2005 19:56
Tools : 3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender
v2.74
System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB
GPU.
rmeffert posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 7:58 PM
Thank you very much! Thats exactly what I wanted to know. Any good beginners books for Poser that you would suggest?
maxxxmodelz posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 8:08 PM
"Any good beginners books for Poser that you would suggest?"
I don't know if there are any specifically geared toward Poser 6 yet (it's brand new on the market), but you can get a good working knowledge of Poser 6 from the manual, or with some books for Poser 5, like "Poser 5 Demystified". I think that book is available right from the Curious Labs website, or you can do a Google search for it.
Just to show you some short examples of what Poser can do in the way of animation output, here's some test animations I did using Poser 5/6 (quicktime required)...
**Vicky Walk Cycle 01**Message edited on: 04/18/2005 20:11
Tools : 3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender
v2.74
System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB
GPU.
oilscum posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 8:37 PM
Caveat: Poser can become overwhelmingly addictive. Collecting models, textures, poses, etc will consume you. If you find yourself going without sleep and/or food in order to make ONE more render, you may have a problem. Buying new harddrives to accomodate new Runtime folders is not uncommon. It is classified as a gateway application, as many people move from Poser to harder applications like LIghtwave, Maya, 3DSMax, etc. There is no known cure. Consider yourself warned. The investment far exceeds its limitations. Poser is a great program, despite its weaknesses. If you can learn to use Flash adeptly, you can manage Poser. As best as I can tell, the same obstacles apply with this application as with any others: talent and inventiveness. As maxxmodelz said, you won't be modelling in Poser, but you will have a great degree of control over posing, lighting, texturing, and animating both stock models and imported 3rd party models. Exporting animations from Poser is not so very difficult. Getting the animation the way you would like it to appear is where you may have some difficulty. It depends on the complexity of the animation. It may take a few attempts to render the results to your liking. But don't be put off by that. Start small. By and large, Poser is well worth the time (= money). Poser 6, especially!
XENOPHONZ posted Mon, 18 April 2005 at 9:25 PM
Poser can become overwhelmingly addictive. Yes. It's worse than PC games. But I like it. Keeps me off of the street.
svdl posted Tue, 19 April 2005 at 6:08 AM
Poser can export to Flash animations. It also has support for something called Viewpoint - don't know what it is exactly, but it appears to be designed for use over the internet. If you want to add 3D to your website(s), I think Poser is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to go.
The pen is mightier than the sword. But if you literally want to have some impact, use a typewriter
maxxxmodelz posted Tue, 19 April 2005 at 7:19 AM
Attached Link: http://developer.viewpoint.com/dc/index.shtml
About Viewpoint:Quote:
" The Viewpoint Platform is an application development and visualization platform that enables:
Tools : 3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender
v2.74
System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB
GPU.
rmeffert posted Tue, 19 April 2005 at 8:42 PM
I just wanted to thank everyone for the life sucking warnings! =) I am very excited, I placed my order tonight for Poser 6 and Poser 6 revealed book. I can't wait to post some of my work, so that you guys can have some good laughs =)