Customer Reviews

The Poser 3 Handbook

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I purchased this book about two months ago. I was not impressed with the volume and span of information covered, but nonetheless, this is a fine resources for all artists who are considering using Poser as a mainstay in their program skill sets. Particularly noteable: keyframe animation and lip-synching to WAV files. Also, (and in my opinion, this was worth the price of the book alone) there is a section on handshaking protocols with other 3D programs (RayDream Studio, 3DS Max, LightWave, Infini-D, etc.). Poser's interaction with MetaCreation's other very powerful mid-price-range vehicle, Ray Dream Studio 5, makes for unbeliveable effects for practically pocket change.

If you're going to use Poser for serious reasons, you need this book.

This is an odd book at best. In reading this you can garner the information you most wanted to know and that's the strength of this book. However be prepared for 2 things. No. 1 the writer has an odd style of writing and the examples border on the grotesque side. In fact that is my biggest complaint he spends much time in the book creating many examples of mutant figures (male heads with horns). This may not bother you, I just didn't see a need for it. My personal use for Poser has always been for realistic modeling. Now the good news. this is the Second part. No.2 To his credit he does tackle the tougher issues invovled in creating additional figures and props. I waited along time for a resource to describe whats involved. One thing to note Poser 3 is an incredible program. In the 3d arena few programs match the style and ease of using Poser3. Perhaps the best thing I found out was the incredible resources from other poser users.

Bottom line is be prepared. If you find the book look through it and see if it answers your questions. In my opinion it does answer the toughest questions there bye making it worth while. Also of note is the information on human studies in motion as well as Animals in motion. These are included on the cd and should be interesting reading in itself for anyone interested in more realistic animating. I'm not a profressional animator bye any means so I love being able to learn from others. You can spend Hr's learning what takes minutes to read. This the best reason to buy any book and there is alot to learn.

I have not yet bought the Poser 4 handbook, and it is THIS book that assured I never will! When I was still working with Poser 3, I was looking for a good resource to teach me how to use it's advanced (at the time) features. Heh, the cover art should have showed me that this book was NOT it. After reading the book (a waste of time), I realized that if THIS was the best he could do, then I was already far more advanced in Poser 3 than he was. Since, thanks to online tuts, I am an advanced Poser 4 user, I think I'll be once burned twice shy and avoid it. My advice to you about the Poser 3 handbook? Well, if you are a rank beginner that wants to make weird figures, this is your book. If you want to learn to use Poser 3's features to make lovely, realistic characters and scenes, use the online resources as this book's price tag is not nearly justified by the mediocre and sometimes bizarre infomation in it.

If you have even the slightest experience with computer graphics you will find this book (like all the R. Shamms Mortimer books) to be useless! Not only does he appear to have no real skill with the product his examples consist of page after page of mindless repetition. Ex: here's how to make a man with a fish head, and now here's how to make a man with a dog head, and now here's how to make a man with a horse head, etc, ad nauseam. Instead of giving master advice on how to make the most of this tool (as part of a greater software toolkit) Shamms simply plugs pieces together mindlessly and passes them off as lessons. There are maybe ten useful pages in the book and ALL of them are almost directly from the Poser manual. Avoid this book at all costs.

In agreement with other customer previews, Shamms Mortier has written a book not for the general Poser user, but of his own likes and dislikes. As his own graphical skills don't appear to be very polished (I am being kind here!) he shows his limitations by crude examples. By far, the largest drawback to this book is the fact that if you do not have other software (ie: Ray Dream Studio - as the author MUST have!) then the book is next to useless to a Poser (only) user.

This is the third and FINAL book I will ever read by R. Shamms Mortier. This is the only book dedicated to Poser3 and sadly it has to come from such a wretched author. There are so many great features about Poser3 that could be discussed that are only merely 'touched upon'. His "I don't like this feature so you MUST NEVER USE IT" attitude bothers me. His work is pittiful -My non-artist friends make better pictures than he does and they do it with Poser1 ! To R. Shamms Mortier- stay out of the graphics resource documentation business!

This is one of the best books of it's type. first of all, it is the only book on poser 3. it has given me insights into poser 3 that would have taken me possibly months to get. it gives you so much. and the cd-rom that's included, gives you everything that's in the book, including projects to make. it also gives you templates of almost all of the poser characters, and their clear too! anyone wanting to paint texture on their models know's how important that is. i have no regrets about buying this book. if i had to pay $20.00 more for it, knowing what i know now, i would do it in a heartbeat!

i expected this book to bee more profeshinal , you can see that the Writer (most of the time) just playing with the program and not teaching you important things, they could done better please e-mail me for replay

Why did "Top 50 reviewer" Angel Lee feel compelled to rate this book TWICE and give it five stars each time? Without those two gushing, unrealistic raves, the book ends up with the one-star rating it deserves.

If you like creating silly, useless morphs, this is the book for you. If you're serious about learning Poser, visit Renderosity and the other great on-line resources for tutorials that will really teach you something useful.

Why? Cause he poses as a professional, when clearly he is not. I mean shouldn't you know something about the subject before you start teaching others. I have the manual I can look through it. I have the program I can play with all the different buttons, this literature brings me no closer to learning the program.