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When I first heard of Poser it was as an application associated with Metacreations. When the company divested themselves of their rich digital media catalogue, various titles found homes with an assortment of companies. Carrara Studio found a home with Eovia. Painter found sanctuary with Corel, and Poser found a place with Curious Labs. While I am not that familiar with Poser 4, it does look like Poser 5 is feature rich and ready for primetime.
For those not familiar with Poser, and I just had a basic understanding of the application before exploring it, Poser is a program that allows users to create life-like figures that can be animated or saved as stills. Like Carrara, both share unique interfaces and have devoted followings. While there are many products on the market, Poser takes a very interesting approach to character animation that offers power and configurability at a reasonable cost.
Many applications allow you to create images, textures and beings from scratch, but Poser is concerned with creating life-like human figures with editable features. From hair to cloth to actually movement, Poser is a powerful animation character generation program that can render a wide variety of effects. While it may take a bit of time to fully explore all of the options, and there are a plethora of them, Poser is surprisingly capable for a program that is not in the stratosphere of price points.
If you are expecting primitive animations or crude cartoons, Poser is not in the minor leagues of image generation software. Someone, I cannot recall the particular individual, once said that Poser was in essence an application that allows you to create mannequins. While this is a highly “raw” way to see Poser 5, when fully explored, can create some rather impressive, even subtle creations. You certainly can create simple figures, but this version has the power and abilities to do so much more.
The prejudice among some graphics professionals that lower priced software means average results may be in for a surprise. Certainly high powered professionals with literally limitless budgets and computing power to spare may very well need extremely sophisticated applications. That may be a fact of life in the very upper end of digital animation. For most users, and perhaps some graphics professionals, there is much here that can enhance creative projects.
Considering what Poser does, it is in perspective somewhat user friendly. Unlike graphics programs like Photoshop and Corel PHOTO PAINT, or even the vector programs like Freehand, there appears to me to be little conformity among 3D applications. The way one program accomplishes a given task can vary significantly from another. For those just diving into this area, the ability to gain a footing can be difficult. The boxed version does ship with a manual and extras CD. Online help is also available on the Web. It is important to keep in mind that Poser has a learning curve. On the positive side, this is an extremely fun application to play with day to day.
Much like Carrara, Poser also breaks down the creations process into rooms. The tabbed rooms are labeled as Pose, Material, Face, Hair, Cloth, Setup and Content. One criticism of the earlier version of Poser has been the hair feature. Apparently Curious Labs has taken those remarks seriously. I am not certain if this was available in previous versions, but the ability to take two photos of a person and make them the basis of a map that can be used to create a customizable face exists in Poser. The results are amazing and well worth the time exploring like so many other features present.
New with Poser 5 is the rendering engine, FireFly. While it does work well, the rendering is not that fast. I do suggest that if you are considering Poser, you have at the least a system that is relatively new. Like any imaging application, Poser is rather system intensive. So do keep in mind that you may need more power than the recommended in order to get the most out of the program. Even with a new processor and plentiful memory, rending is a bit on the sluggish side. I cannot imagine how slow it would be on an older system.
Concerns with any program are the number of file formats supported. Poser 5 supports VET, Viewpoint Web3D technologies and Macromedia Flash along with the following: AVI, PCT, PNG, BMP, JPG, WAV, BVH motion, OBJ, Lightwave Five, 3DS, DXF and 3DMF. The export formats include AVI, Flash-SWF, PCT, PNG, BMP, JPG, BVH motion, Viewpoint VET, OBJ, Lightwave Five, 3DS, DXF, 3DMF and RIB.
Unfortunately, Poser 5 is only available as a Windows application. I have heard that plans are underway for Poser 5 to be available in the Mac format soon. So do check in with the Curious Labs site for time frames for a Mac release.
The question of upgrading from Poser 4 to 5 may depend on several variables. As is always the case, new releases offer fixes, improved functionality and often greater support for newer operating systems. The one concern that may make upgrading an issue is the Pro Pack that is an option for Poser 4 users only. From what I have read, since I am not familiar with 4 or the Pro Pack, some of the functionality offered by the Pro Pack has been incorporated into version 5. Because of the shifting changes in applications, and Curious Labs is responsive to changes and suggestions from users, it may be worth visiting their Web site for more detailed information. I am not certain if a Pro Pack for 5 is in the works on not. Depending on your needs, 5 may already have that functionality. The point is do check in with Curious Labs for more details with regards to new options, upgrades and various new plug-in features.
For 3D users, both graphics professionals and home users, I cannot imagine a digital enthusiast not wanting to own a copy of Poser. Because of its visual nature, I can even see visual artists gaining something from the experience. There are literally a slew of creative options with Poser 5 that can open new possibilities in a way that few applications can do. I can even see high end users gaining something from Poser when time and expense are an issue. I do preface my recommendation by saying that you must invest in learning the program. This is a rather complex application and does require some considerable computing muscle. So do consider the latest OS, in this case Windows XP, XP Pro, or even Windows 2000 in order to really enjoy the application. Poser 5 is an incredible amount of fun to work with and a real bargain as well.
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