Poser 4

I use Poser regularly as a part of the following suite of tools: Pandromeda's incredible landscape generator MojoWorld, Adobe Photoshop and Lightwave 7.5. Since I am a creative director with a huge background and exposure to different graphics tools, trust me on this! Lightwave and Photoshop are a little pricey, but the MojoWorld is [priced inexpensive] and really takes figures rendered in Poser to the next level. Too bad they don't bundle!


The best thing that ever happened to 3d software   August 7, 2002
K. Pozin (Cambridge, MA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Poser 4 is an amazing program that pretty much does it all when it comes to 3d character animation and design. There is no other program that offers so much control over a human model with such ease. Poser comes with a stockpile of premade human and animal models which you can customize and animate, and you can get additional models for free or for relatively low prices by going to any search engine and searching for "Poser models". Poser is not only for making humans and animals; you can import 3d models in a variety of formats and put them into your scene. In fact, I've made a 3d interface for a multimedia project entirely, school yearbook covers, and a special effects scene for a school movie almost entirely in Poser.
Poser's main advantage lies in its uncomparable ease of use and small learning curve. There are some down sides, however: the animation tools are rather hard to use and somewhat tedious. Its rendering engine is slow and does not allow for motion blur, real ambience, reflectivity, and refractivity, and the bump mapping system (a texture that creates shadows and highlights on a surface to give the appearance of bumpiness) cannot used with compressed (JPEG) images unless you also have Pro Pack, thus greatly restricting texture resolution. Luckily, all or most of these shortcomings will be fixed in Poser 5, coming out at the end of Summer 2002.
If you haven't already bought Poser 4, I would recommend waiting for the 5th version, although it will cost about twice as much.


A good 3D program   July 19, 2002
Theodore Illenberg (Fresno, CA United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a good 3D program. But ,I think my version has some features missing. I bought it at a local university so I think I have the student version. I have learned a lot on my own by using this program. Much of the animation is painstating work. Sometimes you need to go frame by frame. I finally figured out how the magnets work. I wish they had a better means of sculpting these figures. I hope to purchase the full version of poser 5.

I finally realized that you can down load free figures and props off of the internet. I spent the last few days down loading many props. Now I can make more realistic images, I hope to purchase the Millenium Girls (Boys) figure. These charaters enable the user to create a wide variety of children characters. The children figures that come with Poser are very limited in what can be done to manipulate them. I plan to buy some adult figures that can be manipulated.

It is kind of frustrating that I have to buy extra figures instead of having them with the program (Of course You can download many figures and morphs and textures for free) But for the price Poser is relatively inexpensive and easy to use(The student version is even cheaper. I have made great progress in the past six months since I bought the program. I have not had any official instruction in 3D Modeling and animation except for a brief course in AutoCAD. I hope to take a 3D course next semester. I would love to have formal instruction on Poser.

You can create your own morph targets for you figures as well as make your own props , but these take advance skill and without formal instruction it can be difficult and frustrating. Props can be created in other programs such as Bryce and Lightwave (The class I will be taking uses Lightwave). The Poser Pro Pack is supose to enable the user to use Poser with these other programs. I was told that many computer artists use many different software programs using the stong points of each in combination.


Order now! ...   July 14, 2002
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

If you can afford to spend thirty-five hundred for 3DS Max, consider yourself fortunate; If you're not a spoiled cowboy from Dallas, you can save yourself over three grand and pick up Poser 4!
For beginners, the software is superb in its' user-friendliness. Fulfill your 3D character and animation fantasies on a budget. The User Guide is very clearly written. Characters can be exported to other 3D applications like Bryce 5, World Builder, Terragen, forester . . . and yes, Hopalong Ferrari in Texas - even the 3DStudio Max daddy bought for ya!
If you doubt the truly professional images Poser is capable of, check out some user galleries on the WWW, and marvel at the near-photorealistic results experienced artists have achieved.
Easy enough for beginners, advanced enough for artists. And just think of all the cool cowboy outfits you can buy with the money you save! What a deal!