Customer Reviews

The Poser 4 Handbook (Graphics Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I waited for this to arrive via special order at a local book store. It's really too bad this is the only book available for such a great piece of software. The front and back covers state, "Comprehensive/Complete Guide for Poser Users" - not even close. The other reviewers have summed this book up by stating how dysfunctional it is. I got the impression that the author sat around and played with a few dials, took screen shots, and pasted this mess together for an ignorant publisher to sell to unsuspecting buyers. Amazingly there is more reference to older versions of the software than to ver 4 which is the cover title for this book! And I do have to repeat this from the other reviewers since it frustrated me so much - there is soooo much reference to Zygote that they must have compensated the author. It's unbelievable. Poser already comes with a great wealth of props, clothing, and poses that it was incredible to see the author using Zygote models and props in the books tutorials. And then arrogantly suggesting that the reader purchase these models from Zygote to use in the books tutorials! Amazing. Spend $200 on the software, $50 on the book, and about $30 per model at Zygote.

Just by human nature we are curious about things, but please don't let your curiousity get the better of you when deciding to purchase this book. If you are fortunate enough to find a copy at a book store, spend just fifteen minutes browsing through 550 pages of wasted time. Luckily I didn't open the CD and returned it a week later....

I'll steer my review away from the text itself, since the other reviewers have already touched on its strengths and weaknesses. I must point out, however, that the cover of the book proudly announces the inclusion of a CD "packed with over 500MB of Animations, Images, Sounds, BVH Motion Files, 3D Props, and Demos". With the cost of motion captured BVH running into the tens of dollars _per frame_, and the considerable amount of time required to keyframe animations by hand, I was eager to see what was offered. Alas, this book has a blatant lie on the front and back covers.

There are, in fact, _no_ BVH Motion Files anywhere on the CD. Instead, the animation directories are filled with rendered Quicktime movies -- a fairly useless inclusion, since anyone who already owns Poser 4 need not be sold on its animation capabilities. As for the "Sounds" they mention, don't go looking for those, either. There aren't any. Additionally, The Motion Factory Demo directories on the CD contain files with truncated 8.3 file names, so you won't have much luck loading any of their HTML files. The installer still seems to work, but it's name was also changed, and doesn't match what's referred to in the 'readme' file.

There are a few morph targets, a demo of Media Cleaner, and some props, but the entire CD weighs in at a meager 283MB, a far cry from the promised "Over 500MB". Incidentally, when I contacted Charles River Media about this, and asked if I had a defective disc, they informed me via email that the "other 200 MB are on the Macintosh side of the CD. It's a hybrid." Unfortunately, this is also not the case. I've since tested it on 2 different Macs, and there is no additional content on the disc.

For those who don't already know, there _are_ an additional 3.7 MB of files for downloading on the Charles River site, but they don't contain any of the missing file types either. While I appreciate the effort to make some additional files available, they're going to have to do a lot more before they'll come close to keeping the promises they make on the cover of this book.

Of course, a sticker on the CD sleeve declares, "If the seal on this pouch is broken, product cannot be returned." Let the buyer beware!

Mike Morrison (mike@singleflame.com)

While I'm not necessarily sorry I bought this book, it is disappointing in many ways. It is poorly organized, carries a lot of hash from previous editions that's poorly integrated with the new material, and worst of all the tutorials require you to buy models from a third party vendor, rather than being supplied on the CD as the promotional copy leads one to believe. By the time I finished it, I felt like model supplier Zygote should have subsidized the healthy price tag, given the books total reliance on their expensive models. To make matters even worse, the included CD is poorly matched with the book, and doesn't contain what the books says it does. There aren't many alternatives to this book for the poser student, but ... I expected better.

This is the first computer book I regret buying. It is the most useless use of paper I have ever seen. The author has no teaching ability and no skills at Poser. I had some prior experience using poser, and was hoping this book would fill-in the holes for me. Unfortunately, this "guide" creates far more questions than it answers. Mortimer merely instructs the user to play with the knobs until something utterly useless, and ugly has been created. Anyone with a moderate amount of computer experience doesn't need this, and anyone new to computers is far more likely to be scared by Mortimer's art than learn anything from it.

I burnt my copy of this book camping, and no it isn't even very good at starting a camp fire. Crumpled newspaper works much better. And reading random bits of crumpled newspaper is far more likely to improve your Poser skills than this pile of garbage.

This book is a complete waste of money. Having owned Poser since version 1, I was looking for this book to contain in-depth data on advanced topics such as: Morph Targets, Textures, Grouping, etc...

Well forget about it. This book breezes over these topics in a paragraph or two.

Instead, the reader is treated to entire chapters on "wacky animal creations" or, as a previous reviewer wrote, turning the dials to make useless distortions.

Please, until there is a writer who is intelligent and serious about the software, don't waste your money on this book and go online to get better information.

The book is awful! The artwork is hideous, and the "lessons" are useless. Mr. Shamms Mortier is a con-artist, and every book he has written is scam. If you don't believe me, take a look at the reviews of other books he has written; he's left a trail of destruction behind him on Amazon. Thank goodness for free speech!

Mortier's use of English in this book is extremely poor. His understanding of the Poser is extremely poor, and his understanding of how to teach is also extremely poor. What I can't understand is why any sane publisher would allow this man to write books. Poser 4 Handbook is basically a republishing of the online material, only more confusing (Shamms can't even plaguerize well). To anyone who wants to learn Poser 4, just read the online documentation for now, and maybe someday there will be a more useful book on Poser available.

I am not one to trash books or criticize, but I have bought many, many computer arts books and I am inclined to agree with most of the negative comments made by other reviewers. Let's just look at the facts. First off Shamms Mortier does have some good ideas, some. It is his choice of how to use the space in the book that is baffling. He has an entire chapter on "customizing" animals. His idea is to select a section of the animal and then turn the knob real hard. By doing this one can have a horse that has it's midsection abnormally small. Or a Raptor with a really really big bottom jaw (more knob turning) He goes on to illustrate how one can take a Poser figure and make the neck really long (evidentially one turns the knob...hard) What he never tells us is why? Why should I want a disfigured horse? Why should a person have a really big head? Is there a demand for this? Rather then give us a more detailed tutorial on how to make the hoarse walk, just walk, Mr. Mortier tells us how to make some man/hourse thing A "monitor" or something. In one inconceivable section he puts a sharks head on a skeleton? Are there drug tests for authors? Apparently not. Then there is the "handshaking" chapter, it is fine except that it is hopelessly out of date, many of the programs he mentions are owned by other software companies or have been orphaned outright. He spends a disproportionate amount of time and space giving instructions on how to manipulate animals that don't come with Poser, a bear, chimp, shark and deer. In every one of his chapters, it seems, he just can't resist making some ridicules hybrid, in the hand chapter he shows us how to put human heads on fingers, in one simply unbelievable section he makes a totem pole out of dogs heads. I'm not kidding, he writes underneath this abomination "here is a very interesting totem pole" It is a post with three dogs heads on it. This man needs help. Two headed Raptors, babies riding bears, cowboy mermaids, Zebra textures on people. Why Mr. Mortier, for the love of God why?
Most of the characters he has come up with look as though they have been in some sort of train wreck or were dropped from a high place, the cat he "customized" by making it's head flat looks like it has been run down by a car. In the advice from Poser masters, one is told, I guess, to buy 3D Studio Max or some other 3D software program to make more models. I don't hate this book as much as some, it is worth having if only for the fact that it is the only one (there is another one out now about Poser Pro-Pack, buy that one and leave this one alone). Eccentricity is good, I like abstract art stuff, but lets not put the cart before the mangled horse.

What is so amazing, well it's obviously not the book according to the one star I gave it. What is amazing is that Shamms is able to write one low quality book after another and still get publishers and people to buy his books. Some how he has been able to get away with writing over 20 different books with only the most basic knowledge and very brief experience of the programs. I would like to know how he pulls it off, I mean if he can write a book on Poser then I should easily be able to write a book on well, anything I know nothing about and still make money off it.

This book is filled with the childish scribblings of a total poser novice whose idea of testing the program was twiddling the knobs. Why anyone would buy a book that tells them to do something they probably already did before they bought the book is totally beyond me.

My advice : go buy Richard Schrand's far superior book (Poser 4 Pro Pack f/x & Design) at least with that book you'll learn something, I did.

It seems to be very popular to put down Mortier's books, but let's get real: this book is a very useful reference for the program. I may not personally like the type of projects that Mortier uses as examples, but that's not the point --Mortier's art and style are not what you're paying for: how he attains his effects is the purpose of the book, and he does cover the methodology of Poser very well.

Mortier covers everything from morphing, lighting and multi-figure composites through hierarchies and spawning props with a lot of useful info which greatly augments the relatively sparse user manual.

Aside from Poser alone, his sections of 'handshaking' (using Poser with other applications) is invaluable. Poser is a tool that works best when used with a number of other applications such as UV mappers and texture creation programs. Mortier's lists and descriptions of programs that work well with Poser is worth the price of the book alone. His 'Hints From Master Users' includes great tips from some of the most well-respected names in the Poser community.

As a successful 3D and special effects artist, I use Poser about 4 hours a day, and have probably spent thousands of hours with the program since its first release; Mortier's book was invaluable in learning the ins and outs of what is a fairly complex program to use well. I still refer to the book on a regular basis, and am constantly finding some useful bit of info that I missed in earlier readings.

So, get past the silliness of some of the projects and look at the methods Mortier uses to get his results. If you use the book in this manner, you will most definitely learn Poser, and you will learn it well!

(By the way, as far as 'handshaking' goes, Bryce and Amorphium Pro are two programs often used with Poser, and are mentioned in 'The Poser 4 Handbook'. Mortier's 'Advanced Bryce Creations' and 'The Amorphium Pro Handbook' are excellent reference books for these two programs. Again, you might not like his example projects, but you will learn an amazing amount of very useful techniques for getting the most from these other programs.)