I'm wondering whether any Poser animators out there have used Poser Physics, and whether they think it's worthwhile and why. The cost isn't the issue here; I'm more concerned about how easy, valuable and successful it is in doing what it portends to do. SS

I've had it for a year or so.  After an initial flurry of use, I haven't used it lately; though it is on my list to re-explore while I await P7. 

I made a pretty convincing (to me) animation involving one character punching another through a cinderblock wall, using poser physics both to make the wall blocks tumble and roll around on the floor and to make the punched figure go ragdoll.  But it took hours to get it set up and to tweak the various settings so it worked well.  I made another following scene where figure 1 flung figure 2 against a wall and figure 2 then ragdolled to the floor.  That one worked well pretty quickly, so I guess ease of use is highly correlated with scene simplicity. 

Bottom line for me:  I definitely like the program, though it can be tricky to use. 

Thanks, Tguyus. Those are exactly the kinds of things I thought I'd use it for, but does it really do anything more (other than ragdoll) than using Poser 6's normal collision feature, and is it easier? Also, I don't recall whether Poser 7 is supposed to improve on Poser 6 with regard to physics in a way that would make Poser Physics unnecessary. SS

Well, I don't know what other collision features are already incorporated in P6 other than those associated with cloth or hair simulations.  Not that there aren't any, just that I'm not familiar with them.

I can tell you that Poser Physics is very useful for animating figure and prop collisions.  You can adjust the settings for an enabled prop or figure to increase or decrease factors such as bounciness, density, and others which influence how the enabled item reacts to a collision (e.g., a non-dense object will prang off a dense object like a VW bug off a Hummer, with little effect on the Hummer).  You can also control when in the animation the poser physics is executed.  I discovered this feature later than I wish because I wasted some time trying to control Figure 2's early motions in the flinging scene.  I should have kept him keyframed until just before he hit the wall then activated the poser physics dynamic process.

I don't remember seeing anything in the 7 reasons series which would indicate P7 will embed this type of animation capability.  Again, not that it won't be there or wasn't alluded to in the 7 reasons series... just that I haven't seen or remembered anything.

Oh, and another thing I used it for was the final scene in the superheroine animation.  Figure 2 was lying prone on an altar kind of thing and Figure 1 was whaling away on his face with her fist.  Using Poser Physics, I could make Figure 2 jolt in reaction to each punch, plus by creating a collision between Figure 2 and the altar, I could make Figure 2 quiver on the altar between punches.  Now, the tricky part was that I couldn't use Figure 1's actual fist because the fist would just penetrate Figure 2's head and the collision detection was confounded (the program documentation warns about this kind of "collision omission by impalement" as I recall).  I got around this by parenting a large invisible ball to the forearm of Figure 1 and THAT is what was set as the collision object with Figure 2's head.  Similarly, for the altar quivering thing to work I had to create a similar proxy prop (in this case, a separate box) since the altar itself had too many polygons on its surface (as I recall) for the collision dynamics to work properly.  So some creativity is in order, depending on the demands and resources for the scene.

And for the record, Figure 1 did not have a sword.  She didn't need one. 

Great explanation, Tguyus. Sounds like it will help me. By the way, I'd love to see your superheroine animation if you want to share it -- my current project is a superhero feature with about 20 different characters (I know, too many). If so, post a link in your next message, and if you can't do that, I'll give you my .Mac address and you can drop it to me. If that's a hassle, thanks anyway; I'm grateful for the advice. SS

Quote - Great explanation, Tguyus. Sounds like it will help me. By the way, I'd love to see your superheroine animation if you want to share it -- my current project is a superhero feature with about 20 different characters (I know, too many). If so, post a link in your next message, and if you can't do that, I'll give you my .Mac address and you can drop it to me. If that's a hassle, thanks anyway; I'm grateful for the advice. SS

Well thanks for the kind words, and you are very welcome.  If you get the program, I hope it works for you.  My only other going-in advice is to read the instructions carefully.  There were some good explanations and techniques I missed with my first pass, and as I said it can be a powerful but tricky utility. 

As for my superheroine animation, I'd love to share it but I don't think I dare.  I literally spent months rendering all the frames in firefly until I had an animated sequence of about 2 minutes, but I used a certain copyrighted symbol on the chest of the superheroine's uniform.  When I made it, I wasn't thinking about posting it; then when I decided it was pretty good and others might like to see it, I realized I had given myself a major copyright infringement problem.  Since then, I created my own custom uniform for this character, but I haven't re-done the animation.  But if I do, or if I at least re-do one or two of the poser physics-related bits, I'll definitely give you a look!

cheers...

Good point on the copyright. Can't be too careful (I have just gone through the registering of my company's own trademark and logo after 12 years in business; quite the lengthy and tedious process, and I'd sure be bent if someone infringed on it). But I'd love to see your animation and when the right time arrives. Cheers!