Hello, I am new to the world of 3D and I am what everyone would call a "Newbie." I have recently been seeing some excellent characters which I was told are created in Poser. Is there a good book for the beginner that will take one through all the uses of Poser 5.0 and also help me to create a figure before I am completly done with the book? I just don't want to have to purchase 3 or 4 books to get the results of one good book. I know there are not many out yet on 5.0, but I wanted to start out with the latest version so I am not upgrading in 2 months. It seems though that the only book out is by an author named Shamms Mortier, who from what I have read, is not a reliable source for the topics he writes about. Any help from you all would be appreciated! Thank you Thorrax

Thorrax wroye: "It seems though that the only book out is by an author named Shamms Mortier, who from what I have read, is not a reliable source for the topics he writes about." I haven't read any of Mr Mortiers books, but those who have will probably consider that a very polite way of describing his books... They are usually described in harsher words than that by angry and dissatisfied readers ;-) The best way to pick up knowledge about Poser 5 is to hang out here and in the forums on other Poser related sites (PoserPros, RuntimeDNA, 3dcommune and others). Ask any questions you may have, and people will usually answer quickly. There are also numerous helpful tutorials on various subjects written by people that makes the lack of Poser books easier to cope with. Just ask for a specific subject here, and someone will hopefully give you a link to a tutorial. We are all pretty confused with all the new features in Poser 5, but if we help each other, we'll figure them out :-)

Thank you Kelderek for the quick reply. I will do that, I will first ask here if someone would by chance have a tutorial that they would recommend for the beginner and then take it from there. Tutorials are an excellent way to learn anything. My main concern was really learning the screens, the lighting, the toolbar etc. But I am sure that once I get started with a tutorial or 2, everything will fall in place as to the understanding of what each operation does. Thank you again! Thorrax

I can vouche for at least one chapter in the upcoming Shamms Mortier Poser 5 Handbook. I wrote it. It covers the ins and outs of creating photo realistic character textures and touches on the face room. As for the rest of the book, I know he has caught a lot of flak for the last book. I'm sure this one will be more sound on the fundamentals. Whereas he wrote the last one himself, in the new one I know he has relied on content from some notable artists within the Poser community.

Hello Greybro, Thank you for your honesty on the subject. Not knowing this author, I guess if I buy this book, I will at least get something out of the first chapter then (Lol). My real main concern was the fact that since these books have a hefty price on them, I did not want to buy a book that took me to a place that had errors in it or incorrect information and I was now searching to find the solutions too. Would it be best (in your opinion) to purchase a Poser 4.0 book? Or is there to many changes in the 5.0 software? Thank you Thorrax

Hmm - don't know if you know it ... But the whole Poser5 - Handbook was (can't find it right now - but I think it must be there somewhere) available at CuriousLabs Website as pdf ... there are also some tutorials ...

Oh forgot ... if you want to read about Posing ...: http://www.schlabber.org/html/tut00.htm Not so much changed for Poser 5 there ...

Well, your copy of P5 comes with a very nice manual. i'd start there for learning the tools etc. Regards, Brent

and yeah - geeez - once again ... http://www.curiouslabs.com is the website of CuriousLabs ...

Too many changes in Poser 5. Plus, sad to say, P5 is still being worked on. There are bugs and pitfalls that you will not find anything about in any book, but the people here have screamed about them plenty. If you run into a problem, odds are you won't find out how to fix it in a book, but someone here has probably run into the same issue and figured a way around it. But meanwhile, if you are new to 3d and CG in general, and you need a grounding in the basic poser concepts?... Well, I cannot speak to the new p5 book as I have not seen it, but I would not waste my time with the p4 book. That is the only book I have ever returned in my life. Meanwhile there are some great and not-so-great tutorials available here and thru places like Poser Arcana at DAZ. And the people here are great at answering questions. Cheers, -G

The main problem with the Poser 4.0 Handbook that I saw was that Shamms focused more on creating whimsicle comic book types of characters and not enough on creating photorealistic humans. I think that's what inspires the ire of many Poser users. Since I haven't seen the new book I can't vouch for him changing his approach (the cover looks like more of the same). If I were you I'd try to see a copy of it as Borders or Barnes and Nobel's first if possible, then you can decided if it's worth the money or not. PS: I often wait a few months after a graphics title is released and then search Amazon.com for used copies. I've saved 50% or more on the cover price of the books and if I don't like them then it's not any skin off my nose.

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