operaguy opened this issue on Nov 12, 2008 · 81 posts
operaguy posted Wed, 12 November 2008 at 12:57 PM
NOTE: the following is slanted for my needs as a story-teller/film maker. So it is for animation, not primarily modeling or still renders. YMMV.
I have been moving toward translating my 3D work from Poser to a new primary application. The main reason I am moving out of Poser: a) limitations of Posers dynamic hair module; b) seeking better animation tools; c) lighting and render power; d) joining a pro community.
There remains deep respect for Poser. It was intended to be an artist-assist reference application and has grown up tremendously to be nearly a pro application and the entryway to 3D for a zillion people.
I have been looking at 3DSMax quite seriously, but am now more inclined towards LightWave. Cinema with Interposer is still sitting there as an option, certainly.
One of the reasons, quite frankly, that Lightwave is attracting me is price. If my plans go forward, I will need multiple seats. The root license structures for Cinema and Max are in the $2800 - $3400 range by the time you are done. XSI is also 'sitting there" in the same price range. Not only is the street price of Lightwave under $1000, but NewTek's strong license transfer policy means that you can legally and smoothly obtain packages from other users for less than that.
http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/
I am not leaving Poser. I want it as my character setup room. The tremendous asset flow, both free and paid, I would not be without. I can spin and morphbrush my preferred base human mesh, V4, into any character I want in Poser, male or female. Obviously this provides maximum choice of skins, since with the texture transfer tools from DAZ, everything for V3, V4, M3, M4 and more is at my disposal. With the wealth of clothing mesh/texture, also, these assets hopefully will be importable into Lightwave to surround my character and get the native Lightwave ClothFX treatment. Since there is a lo-res version of V4, the "heavy mesh" issue is minimal.
So, how to get content over?
Breaking it into two categories,
"Hosting" which means that you perform most of your work in Poser and then 'get it to open' in Lightwave for lighting and render only. Any changes have to be made in Poser and re-opened in Lightwave.
"Transfer of Assets" which means mesh, textures, rigging and morphs actually end up in Lightwave as Lightwave assets, and you go from there. Mostly, I just am pushing for mesh and texture maps and possibly facial morphs. I believe I will be tossing out any transferred Poser rig and rigging fresh in Lightwave.
I have not yet explored these options directly. I have a big Poser project to finish first. So, all I am doing right now is reading forum threads and product pages. I hope to install Lightwave on a trial basis within 10 days and get serious.
Transfer of assets:
"Hosting"
Comments welcome
::::: Opera :::::