88 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Secrets for Advanced Users, March 19, 2004
This review is from: Secrets of Figure Creation with Poser 5 (Paperback)
Here is how you can tell if this is the right book for you. Ask yourself three questions:
1) How much time have I spent reading tutorials about Poser 5 from online sources like DAZ and Renderosity, even though they aren't very good and are written for a different version of Poser?
2) How much time have I spent editing raw .cr2 files in a text editor to make my figure come out right?
3) How much time have I spent building characters in another 3-D application, then attempting to import them into Poser?
Sum up all three times. If the total is less than 100 hours, you won't have much of a chance at this book. If the total is greater than 500 hours, this book will likely have some useful information that you can use to good advantage. Between 100 and 500 hours, be prepared for a difficult read.
The Poser 5 community is infested with a curious blindness. Imagine you unwrapped your brand new Home Nuclear Power Plant and the user manual contained information like "The backcheck feedwater solenoid control can be used to trigger the backcheck feedwater solenoid." You might wonder what the backcheck feedwater solenoid did, and when it should be triggered, but such information was omitted from the manual. You probably even guessed (correctly) that the backcheck feedwater solenoid control had something to do with the backcheck feedwater solenoid, so the information that was provided was of almost no value. The Poser 5 manual looks exactly like this, which is why many people are looking for an alternate source of information on the program.
"Secrets of Figure Creation" contains additional information, much of it of considerable value. Here you might learn something akin to: "triggering the backcheck feedwater solenoid at frequent intervals will help the reverse cyclic pump maintain optimum pressure." You still don't know exactly what the backcheck feedwater solenoid is, and may not have any idea about the reverse cyclic pump, but hey, any step forward is progress, right?
The author of this book has clearly mastered Poser. My guess is that the author learned so long ago that she has forgotten how hard the first 595 steps in the process are, and is trying to help everyone on those last 5 steps.
People who have invested heavily in Poser will likely find this an invaluable treatment. Beginners won't learn what they want. Most novices will probably not be able to follow the book, either. Unfortunately, as of this moment, there are no viable alternatives for beginners or novices. My best advice is to check out the tutorials at DAZ and Renderosity. At least they're free!
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65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
From the Author:, November 24, 2003
This review is from: Secrets of Figure Creation with Poser 5 (Paperback)
(I won't bias the rating; I'll give it an average score.)
=====Figure Theory and Practice:
The layout of the book covers a lot of abstract theory. The "practice" sections of the book had to be cut from print and placed as tutorial files on the CD, due to space limitations. I decided to put the step-by-step instructions on the CD, because they should only be needed once or twice. After you follow the steps on the demonstration models, you can apply the techniques to any model. The theory is in the book, because whatever you are working on, you may need to look something up on how to design joints or how to handle potential pitfalls in the mesh or figure construction.
The tons of theory may be helpful if you've ever tried working on customizing figures, but if you have never attempted it before, it can become confusing.
If you need to go through the whole process of figure creation, from beginning to end, use the base Norn sample figure. There are instructions in the Introduction chapter on how to follow through the process, in order, with the Norn.
Once you are more familiar with the whole process, you can read through the deep theory sections to find out why things work they way they do, and apply the theories to your own work.
The central chapter, on the CR2 and other library files, is meant to be a reference for advanced figure designers. Don't try to read through it, or you'll fall asleep! (Or get a headache!) If you end up editing Poser library files, you may wonder what a control is, what it does, and what you can do with it. When this happens, you can consult the CR2 reference chapter.
The "practice" portion of this chapter is included in the text, not the CD, because again, it is something you will want to refer to time and time again. Whenever you need to slave dials to one another or swap geometry, etc., you can flip to that section in the book for the proper code sequence to use.
=====What This Book Covers:
This book covers Poser 3 through 5, including the Pro Pack. While newer versions add tools and methods to the figure creation process (the hierarchy editor and the Setup Room), the basic methods are still valid (and, in my personal opinion, still the best).
Topics include designing the figure mesh object. This topic is very generalized, as you could be building anything from a door to a nine-headed hydra.
There are the methods for "slicing" and "Poserizing" the mesh, creating the hierarchy, and adjusting the joint parameters.
There are some basic tips and methods of UV Mapping, although nothing really on texturing, except a foray into the Poser 5 Material Room.
Morphing with Magnets is covered in detail, and there is a general overview of morphs in general: how they work and when and why they fail to work.
Finally, there is the CR2 dissection, as discussed above.
Keep in mind that the chapters of the book flow in reverse order: morphing is covered first and mesh design last. This is to give you a feel for how latter stages of development must be planned for at the outset.
My favorite part of the book is the Trouble-Shooting section. This is a collection of the most common problems and questions I've answered dozens of times on the Poser forums. If something goes wrong, the reason and the solution are most likely in this section.
=====What This Book Does NOT Cover:
Modeling. This book will not teach you how to build 3D models. Poser is not a modeling application; you'll need another program. You need to have a separate application for that -- your Maya or your 3D Studio Max, or Lightwave, Rhino, Carrera, Amapi, Animation Master, Wings 3D, Nendo, Amorphium, XFrog, sPatch, Organica, Softy 3D, Blender, Nurbana, GMax, Milkshape, ZBrush, or whatever else more expensive or more obscure you may have. And to learn how to use those to make models, you need books or tutorials specifically for your particular program(s).
The other thing this book will not teach you is how to use Poser. If you do not know how to load a figure and put clothing on it; if you don't know how to pose your figure, add props and parent them; if you don't know how to adjust and edit lights, etc., this book is NOT for you.
=====Important Links:
http://www.3dmenagerie.com/
This is my web site. Click on "The Book" in the table of contents for more information on the book, and important "addendum:" new developments that did not make it into the book.
http://www.3dcommune.com/
This is a community of 2D and 3D graphic artists, photographers and writers. Visit the Character Creators forum if you have any questions on figure creation, any trouble with your figure, or any problems or questions with the book.
I am the moderator of this forum, and I will be at your beck and call for all your personal problems. (Well, those dealing with Poser, anyway!) In addition, other figure creation pros are there as well. If you have a specific problem, you can get personalized help.
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25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book for a specialized field, April 16, 2004
This review is from: Secrets of Figure Creation with Poser 5 (Paperback)
I make no bones (!) about it; my only regret was not buying this book sooner, and the folks I spend my time talking about Poser esoterica have the same reaction. But it isn't for everyone. If there is a flaw in this book, it is with the title.
First off, it covers Poser, period. Unlike many tutorials and CDs and other learning assets it doesn't restrict itself to "How to use Poser5 with these specific Poser utilities on a Win ME platform." This book concentrates on the Poser side, and tells you not what button to push on a third-party utility, but what is happening inside Poser. It is written by a geek, for the geek; for people who want to know what happens inside, and why it works, not just how to fake it with a $60 tool they bought at DAZ.
The bigger problem in the title is that apparently some reviewers were mislead by it. The majority of the Poser user base are dial-twisters. There are mysteries a-plenty in the Face Room, in creating characters, in the cross-compatibilities of a bewildering array of base figures and characters. This book has nothing to do with that subject. This is also not a book about modelling, figure or otherwise. This is about how to rig a mesh within the often arcane and even partially broken morass of Poser 3+. A very specialized task, but one fraught with unexpected difficulties.
If you've never created so much as a prop, you shouldn't start here. Everything is in the book -- add the tutorials on the CD and you can definately pick it up -- but it is gonna be a steep learning curve. But if you are a user who has figured out how to make a prop from scratch, customize a figure, you've opened up a cr2 once or twice already, and you are comfortable poking around the technical insides of things...this is the book.
For those technical users... We have a line-by-line dissection of the cr2, the format of ERC master and slave right there for easy reference, the best explanation of joint params I've seen yet, information on what is in an EasyPose figure, four different ways to deal with the sitting-skirt problem, the right format for unimbedding geometry... If you are building third-party materials for Poser; clothing, properties, new figures, this book should be at your fingertips while you work. And it makes a good read. It can help so much, when you are struggling to figure out why the dial sensitivity on your new morph keeps resetting, that others have been there and share your pain.
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