Poser Trial Download

[Gary Childress]

OK, I finally decided to give Poser a serious try. I downloaded the Poser 7 Demo today. Of course the Demo version is the most lame, limited, watered down shareware I've ever come across. Basically I can't do anything but look at the pretty screen. Fortunately I downloaded some Poser stuff from CFC and was able to fool around with it a little. Can't do much else. However, I'm looking at Utah Jazz's Tutorial and it looks promising. I think I may just dip into the kids' college fund and get a copy. (Fortunately I don't have any kids.)

Question though, where is everyone getting all their Paperdoll props? I've seen a few in the download database but I haven't seen any German helmets or much in the way of firearms. Is there a good site for getting props that are compatible with Kinboat's paperdoll? Are any props compatibale with any model or do you need to make props especially for certain models? Is there a way to create my own props in Poser? The trial version won't allow me to export anything anywhere but I'm wondering if I get the full version would I be able to export Bryce or OBJ objects into my Poser scenes?

Thanks,

 

[Bjornlo]

I can't speak to everyone else.... but I generally make my own stuff. I am pretty sure Utahjazz does the same. But, there is a ton of stuff out on the net. renderosity.com has a huge free catalog.



Byrce 6 created objs can be imported in to Poser. Alternately you can find stuff and import it in to Bryce in some format like COB, or what have you and export it in one Poser understands.

 

[Plotinus]

Accessories in Poser come in two kinds - props and conformable clothing. The latter is character-specific. So, say, a pair of trousers that are designed for Michael 3 won't fit the PDM, and vice versa. I made a tutorial explaining how to convert things like that, but it's not something to try until you've really got the hang of Poser.

Props, by contrast, are pretty much interchangeable. For example, a hat doesn't have any moving parts, and it will probably fit pretty much any character you want to put it on. Remember that it's easy to resize things or squash them a bit in various directions to get them to fit. So anything like hats, weapons, perhaps shoes or boots, and so on is easy to get hold of and apply to the PDM. You can search Renderosity or other sites for these things and just give them to the PDM.

 

[Gary Childress]

Are the regular Poser figures not very good for creating Civ units? Everyone I know of swears by Kinboat's Paper Doll and yet Poser comes with some very realistic figures already plugged in. I saw part of Zulu's tutorial about Michael 3 and there he mentions something about Michael 3 being inadequate for unit making.

@Bjornlo, what programs do you typically use to make good Poser props. I know you have some excellent props out there. I've downloaded all the WWII ones.

I also went to Turbosquid last night and downloaded a few freebies. A couple of them were actually very nice models for free.

 

[Plotinus]

Kinboat designed the PDM to have the same proportions as the Firaxis units. Michael 3, like the figures that come with Poser, is supposed to have normal human proportions, but the Firaxis units are slightly cartoony by comparison, so units made with Michael 3 don't blend in quite as well. Also, the PDM has less detail, which doesn't show at civ-scale but makes posing and rendering a lot easier.

The idea of Zulu's tutorial is to morph Michael 3 so he has the same dimensions as the PDM - then he fits in better, but with the advantage that you can use widely available Michael 3 clothing for him (which won't conform to the PDM).

 

[Bjornlo]

I do around 80% of my modeling these days in Cinema 4d. My older stuff is divided more in to Lightwave and Truespace. I prefer bools, and C4d is the best in this area. LW is the best if you toss out bools. (where is blows).

Truespace is "ok". It does bools just like Bryce, only better. I prefer the older versions of Truespace to the newer ones. I made a lot of stuff in Truespace 3.2 (free at downloads.com).. I would then import the COB into Bryce and export as a 3ds. I got the chance to upgrade to Truespace 4.3 for 19 bucks and took it. It was better. Among other improvements, it exports directly in to 3ds.
So, I tried v5.2 and it was worse. More features, sure...but they hid all the ones I actually used. I looked at 6.6 and 7.0 but did not care for them. They recently offered me a helluva upgrade price for 7.5. I am tempted, but I will probably save my money and get the current version of C4d instead.... or buy a new dongle for LW (I lost mine) so I can get the latest version of LW and FPrime (best render engine ever, just amazing!!)


M3 is not ideal for units. He is too tall and skinny for most units. Freak is fine though... big, lumpy and over sized just like PDM.