The Poser 5 Handbook (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) [Paperback]

R. Shamms Mortier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1584502290 | ISBN-13: 978-1584502296 | Edition: 1

Discover the power of the latest version of Poser, the ultimate 3D character design and animation tool for artists and animators. Whether you're just beginning with Poser and 3D design or are an experienced designer, you'll find a wealth of ideas and techniques for harnessing the power of this fantastic tool. The new, innovative interface makes figure design, posing, and animating fast and easy. Using the practical examples and tutorials packed throughout these pages, you'll dig into the new features and really learn how to maximize Poser for your own projects. Beginning with a detailed review of the new interface and a discussion of how to use the Poser 5 Rooms, you'll find all the instruction you need to get up and running quickly. Next you'll explore Poser's animation features and tools, and gain new insights from the Poser masters. From there it's on to more advanced topics, including creating articulated poseable models, smart props, articulating props, editing clothing, and the art of composition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

R. Shamms Mortier has written a number of successful books, contributes to a variety of industry magazines, and is a regular contributor to the Graphics Resource Club (http://www.graphicsresourceclub.com). He resides in Vermont and can be reached at [e-mail]

Product Details

• Paperback: 468 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; 1 edition (December 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584502290
• ISBN-13: 978-1584502296
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,252,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Dreadful, October 7, 2003

By 

jd (Harrisburg, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Poser 5 Handbook (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

Absolutely Dreadful

Sometimes ya gotta wonder how someone gets picked for a job. The author of this book is a horrible CG artist (click on the book cover photo for proof) and not a particularly good writer. He spends 4 sentences saying something that could be said in one, and then, in the following step-by-step example, he will leave out a crucial step or two. If you do manage to figure out the steps he forgot to tell you about and thereby finish the exercise, what you are left with is an image that looks like one of his - i.e. horrible. Wow, now that's bad.

I only bought this book because, after six months, I got tired of waiting for the Peachpit Press's Poser 5 Visual Quick Start book to come out. The Visual Quick Start series is a wonderful series. I have a least half a dozen of those books, and they've all been good. As for Charles River Media, the publisher of this book, all the books of theirs that I've seen or purchased have been highly doubtful.

The only reason that I don't give this book one star is that if you do fill in the missing steps yourself, and if you come up with your own parameter settings, you can make some pretty cool stuff. Poser 5 is an exciting, powerful "new" program, and this book will give you just enough information to just barely make it over that "newness" hump. Which is more than I can say about the manual that came with the program. It is even worse than this book (how's that possible?).

Bottom line - if Peachpit Press's Poser 5 Visual Quick Start book is available (now due October 21, 2003, but don't bet on it) - buy that instead. If not, and you really want some info now - buy this book and live to regret it. What a choice!

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Aim Higher, December 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Poser 5 Handbook (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

Do not waste your $$$ on this book. The other reviews here are accurate when they say it is amateurishly written and the visual examples are even worse than the writing. You can gain greater inspiration and learn far more FOR FREE by perusing online resources such as renderosity.com, poserworld.com or any of the other poser community links at Curious Labs' website. There you will find complete tutorials and beautifully done CG artwork to feed your mind and imagination.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average at best, July 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Poser 5 Handbook (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

I found myself lost several times in this book, as the author left out key points in the walkthrough that I had to look on the web to find out what he was asking (how to save a material/cloth for example, he just says "now save the material" - ok how?). Not for a beginner, in my opinion, and more painful than anything. The book does help you get an understanding of the fundamentals, and I especially like the fact that instead of just giving you a bunch of settings, he gives you the settings then explains what they each mean. However, dont expect to walk away an expert, some of the exercises are a struggle and will leave you backtracking steps to find out where you went wrong. The end-product examples weren't all that impressive either, they looked very amateurish and crude.