Customer Reviews

Poser 8 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After spending every free hour for the last week with this program, I have mixed feelings about it. I don't make my living from making films, but I have made a few industrial videos with compositing, green-screen live action and various special effects. I'm a serious amateur photographer and musician. So I'm pretty familiar with complex software. My regular 'kit' includes titles like Photoshop, Logic, Final Cut, Digital Performer and so on. But I'm a novice when it comes to 3D and animation in general. I approached Poser 8 with eagerness, and looked forward to learning new things.

Poser 8 is cross-platform. I tested it on my Mac: 8-cores, dual monitors, Wacom tablet. The installation was long but uneventful. I found an update on the website and applied it with no difficulty. Normally, I'm a plunge-in and get going type, but I decided to follow the tutorials. This is where the first problems arose. It doesn't look like anyone did any serious proofreading. Many of the tutorials appear to have been written for earlier versions of the program, and have not been fully updated. There are frequent references to objects in the user interface that have changed--often significantly. There are also references to tools and palettes that have not been described. This is a cardinal sin for writers of tutorials: never use a term you haven't described. I found the tutorials helpful and frustrating in equal measure.

My first experiments with posing the stock figures were done with no one looking over my shoulder. That's a good thing. The controls are very sensitive and first efforts tended to look like accident victims. Ouch! But after a little practice, I began to get the hang of it. There are various amounts of articulation in the provided figures, with the Poser8 figures the most capable. The user can basically operate every joint in the human body. Not every position looks natural, but that's why real animation professionals are different from the rest of us. Poser is centered around building 'scenes', with user control over nearly every facet: camera position, lighting, characters and props. Dolly shots that would break the budget in a real film shoot are available in Poser with only a little effort. As in regular animation, the user can create keyframes, with Poser filling in the intermediate moves. If there are problems in those intermediate frames, you can dive in a little deeper and fix things.

It's important to note that there are a number of features in modern animation that are not present in Poser. There is no gravity and there is no wind. Hair stays in place like a TV weatherman's. Fat doesn't bob up and down as a character moves. Poser characters--although well-articulated--are still obviously mannequins.

One of the features I looked forward to was the so-called Face Room. In this window, the user can import photographs and apply them to characters. The principle is to take an image and apply it to an existing form, reshaping the form to match the imported face. I took a couple of head shots (front and side) of myself and set to work. This was a disaster. The user interface is virtually incomprehensible. I've used both morphing and panorama software in which points must be matched between two shots. Generally, this is simple to use: you set a point on a feature in one shot and then set a matching point on the other shot. You set as many points as you need. In Poser 8, you have only limited points (3 for the nose, 4 for each eye, 4 for the mouth), with none for hairline, earhole, nostrils, bridge of nose or other important features. I spend a few hours with this, following instructions carefully, and never came up with anything better than horrible. My first effort looked like the monster from 'Predator'. My second looked like Gollum. I have my good days and my bad days, but I look better than that!

I've been aware of Poser for a long time. It's been available for well over a decade. But I get the feeling that the developers have spent that decade in a cave, never glancing at other software. To call the user interface 'challenging' would be too kind. There are many types of common controls (like pan and zoom) that you find in all sorts of software. Usually you can figure them out immediately, since there's a real advantage in software behaving similarly. Not in Poser. In the aforementioned Face Room you pan around a picture by dragging on the Pan tool. In every other program, you pan by dragging the image. Poser abounds with peculiarities like this. Features that should be easy to use become arcane. Another feature that demonstrates how to do a good thing badly is the ability to undock windows and tools. Most programs of any complexity allow you to work in an integrated window with the ability to undock sub-windows for use on another monitor. This is generally a good thing. But in Poser, you find that an errant mouse click is all you need to undock a window. After that, it's almost impossible to put it back. And some features like window close buttons are so small as to be nearly impossible to click.

There are also some instabilities in the program. There is a tablet mode for devices such as my Wacom pad. Unfortunately it's buggy in multiple-monitor systems. Perhaps some of my other complaints are simple bugs waiting to be fixed. I emailed customer support to report the tablet problem. I sent the email early on Saturday morning and received a reply within a couple of hours. This was impressive.

I believe that there are many useful things I can do with Poser, but I find the program puts too much unnecessary struggle in the way. There's much hidden potential that is likely to remain hidden.

This is a very powerful and cool program. The results of a well lit render at the best resolution settings is truly stunning, verging on the photorealistic if you have a hi resolution skin on your model. But the manual is horrid, and the tutorial not much better. The good people at Poser either think everyone was born doing 3d modeling or they assume you're going to buy a "Poser for Dummies" type book. Personally, I did a lot of banging my head against the monitor and searching the internet for tutorials I could wrap my brain around.

That said, the program is fantastic. Within about a week of mucking about I finally started to "get it". I'm able to imagine something, and then create more or less what I want on the screen after much work and tweaking.

In summary, don't buy this thinking it's like playing with paper dolls. It's not. It takes a lot of time and patience. If you're short on either, it's going to be a huge frustration. But if you're willing to put in the work, you will get professional looking results that you're very happy with.

I updated to Poser 8 from Poser 7 and all I can say is that I have mixed reactions. I like Poser 8 a LOT more than 7, but the Library is a personal disappointment, and the fact that the program is extremely unstable in its current condition, makes it very frustrating to use right now.
I currently have this product rated as 3-stars, but it could easily jump up to a 4.5 if stability problems are successfully correctly within the next 2 months or so.

Compared to Poser 7, Poser 8 has better rendering abilities and a much better workspace that allows you to easily access all your windows without any problems. However, I personally find the new Library, which now uses a tree menu rather than a folder-based system, to be quite difficult to navigate through; especially if you have hundreds of content to navigate through. You can live with it, but I hope that future updates will add the option to revert to the Poser 7 Library system. The Library does include a new search feature which makes things nice when you want to locate a particular piece of clothing, figure, or pose that you seem to have misplaced or just too lazy to navigate to it manually.

The biggest problem with Poser 8 is that it is VERY unstable right now and likes to randomly crash on you (A LOT!!!!!), causing you to lose all the work you had done since your last save! I have some programming experience myself, and it seems to me that Smith Micro almost completely rebuilt Poser 8 from scratch, which would cause there to be many bugs in the programming. The good news is that Smith Micro WILL be releasing patches, fixes, and service packs to correct issues, so all these stability problems should be fixed soon.

My recommendation to anyone who is looking at buying Poser 8 is that if you absolutely MUST have a Poser program NOW, then get Poser 7, but if you can wait a little while, then purchase Poser 8 once first service pack is released, which should correct many of the major problems that has. Or, you could just buy Poser 8 now, but be prepared for some serious frustration with the user interface crashing... also save frequently.

I use Poser as a reference for illustration and graphic design when I need models of tight anatomy or cool camera angles or just about anything that has people. Poser is gold for 2D artists. I can't tell you how powerful Poser is when laying out a digital painting composition or for comic book reference. But it's not for dummies. You do have to actually learn how to use it and if you aren't willing to do so, it's your loss. I've read too many foolish reviews by people who obviously have never tried any other 3D program (none of them are a walk in the park) where people thought they could just pop it out of the box and the program would just do it all for them, so they played with it for an hour and they were pissed. Well these guys are morons. This is software folks and if you want the power you have to put in the time, just like any game, any software or any art project. But if you do learn to use it, Poser pays off massively. When learning I recommend watching video tutorials if possible, either on youtube or lynda (lynda has great tutorials). All written manuals pretty much suck as they are the slowest way to learn anything, but if you see somebody use it who knows what they are doing you can learn VERY quickly and be on your way.

Wow this software is incredible. I have never owned an animated software program before so I cannot compare this to the previous version. With that being said, I am hooked with animated software now.

Imagine being able to digitally create humans, animals or even background scenes in 3D. Being able to replicate bodily moves and even facial expressions smoothly. Create animated look so realistic that you almost feel like you reach out and touch it. Poser 8 allows you to do that and more. Figures that are included can be easily morphed to meet your needs. For example, you can increase muscle mass, add texture or even remove an eyeball if you wanted to. There are 4 female and 4 male figures to choose from with Poser 8. You can also obtain other figures from third-party suppliers. The more effort you put into making your figure realistic the more realistic they become. You can even modify your creation to have ethnic traits. Facial expressions can easily be applied, and there are so many to choose from, even the hair is very realistic. We even experimented and made come creations that I will have nightmares about! :-)

I am hooked on the Face Room. You able to upload your own personal images of a front and side view. Those images will then be applied after clicking on certain parts of the image to line it up with the avatar. Simply click "apply to figure" and you will instantly see the face image via 3D animation. There some tweaking you will have to do to line everything up correctly, but after some practice you will get the hang of it. This is a great feature to share and email your friends and family animated avatars of themselves to use.


I really enjoy using the search feature. Just type in the item you watch and choose from the list of results. The library includes a variety of motions, expressions clothing and other applications for the novice (like me) to the expert. You can just drag and drop the items. There are hundreds of ready to use features that can quickly and easily be tweaked and individualized, you can even download more than 1GB of content. The respond time can take a bit, but I guess with a program that can do so much I understand why. In order to use this program to its fullest capacity you must have an abundant amount of RAM. Working with individual figures seems to have better processing time than trying to work with more than 2 figures, which can cause issues. I installed with software on a Windows XP Operating System. There will be several options on where and how you want your content to be installed. Word of advice, make sure you do not have anything else running in the background such anti-virus, firewall or programs. My anti-virus was doing a scan during the installation of Poser 8 and when I tried opening the program it gave me an error message and to reinstall. Once I reinstalled the software with nothing running in the background, things went smoothly and the program is up and running with no issues.

One very cool feature is the Indirect Lighting (IDL). Your images will look like a real photo. The IDL allows for correct lighting and illumination giving you more of a natural result. This feature works the best on outdoor images since you can make the shadows and sunlight/moonlight look more natural without actually darkening the image.

The audio lip-syncing tool is pretty easy to use but I can see where it can be improved. The mouth does not move as the words are actually spoken.

This program is amazing. My daughter and I have enjoyed trying new things out and experimenting with pictures and figures. Animate and represent your images into photo-realistic 3D art for web videos, print or movies. Export 3D figures to add characters to other 3D applications. All you need is just a little imagination.

Since this software can be used for medical presentations as well as "x-rated" purposes, be aware that this software includes EVERYTHING to make your own figure creations. That includes breasts and a variety of genital areas. You may want to be careful when small children are watching or playing around with the software.

Besides finding tons of information on the internet to help you, here is a list recommended books you can find on Amazon:
How'd You Do That?: Poser Character Creation For Beginners
The Art of Poser and Photoshop: The Official e-frontier Guide
Secrets of Poser Experts: Tips, Techniques, and Insights for Users of All Abilities: The e-frontier Official Guide

This software was reviewed with a Mac 2x2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors running System 10.6.1.

Poser software came about in 1995 as a simple method for replacing artist mannequins within a software environment. Over the years, and through a variety of owners, the software has grown in capability and complexity to the point that it can now be used for extensive 3D rendering and animation. And here I make no claim to extensive knowledge or skills; rather, Poser and I first met with this iteration, Poser 8.

After a rather long-lasting installation process, Poser ran with no difficulties and it runs easily within my processors' capabilities. Animation, rendering, and output all took place without delay on the computer's part allowing for a good real-time experience. That said, this is not a program which quickly allows user development. This is a substantial application - think of Photoshop as equivalent in complexity - which takes time to learn. Naturally, there are books available for assistance, and extensive libraries of 3D models that are available from third parties.

The availability of advanced human forms with clothing, hair, and so on allows you to get around a lack of innate artistic skills, should that represent one of your personal descriptors. But there is still much that one has to do within the program to make an animation appear natural. One has only to look at YouTube for sample user output to see that it's all too easy to put together an animation sequence that looks unnatural.

The user interface is excellent - and I'd highly recommend the largest screen size available for your work. The interactivity possible with other illustrating and rendering programs is extensive and well described in the user materials. Included in the installation is a 565 page pdf manual. It's nicely written, but it's somewhat difficult to go back and forth between the program, which takes over the entire screen, and the software-based manual. You may ultimately decide to print this out, or perhaps view it on a second monitor while you learn the program. Note that the manual uses PC-version illustrations; while they're largely similar to their Mac equivalents, it would be nice to have illustrations that precisely match what you'll see on your Mac.

Ultimately, this program can do all they say it can do, but the skills to make that happen won't come overnight. You'll need to work at it, learn the application, and read the manual. Combining that work with a native sense of design, flow, and perspective will be critical in your developing work product that is as useful as it is entertaining.

One final note: a service upgrade for version 8 is already avaiable at Smith Micro's website, so after installation, go immediately there to download the upgraded software.

For school I bought Poser Pro at the end of July. I was unaware that a new version was coming out at that time. As soon as I purchased Poser Pro I was very disappointed with it. I tried for over 3 hours following the tutorials to get the one person to render like the box cover. No matter what I did the clothing was plastic looking and I was just frustrated. When offered Poser 8 I thought, this has a whole new engine it must be better, and in a word, it is!

The interface has totally been redone to work faster. The same "feel" for the interface is there but the speed at which things move and other aspects are quicker. It appears as if it is done in Flash now which may explain its smoother tools. As far as the models, it comes with several of each sex. The skin maps look fantastic! The nuances of each skin type be it either Hispanic or Caucasian are shown in very good detail.

When I rendered a few images it still uses Firefly but renders faster (I am using a MBP with 4GB RAM). The first thing I did was try to render the box cover and I did! It was not difficult at all.

With the ability to download more content (Pro did this too) you can build quite a collection. I am in art school so I am mostly using poser for nudes but I tried rendering with clothing and it moves more realistically, and doesn't appear plastic. I am not a cinematographer but I bet this could be used in limited productions such as crime scene reenactments and other lower end graphics, (this is not going to make movies like Pixar).

I am very happy with Poser 8 and recommend it to everyone needing to pose lifelike characters. For art students think of it as a virtual posing mannequin.

Thank you for reading my review.

I am not very familiar with video composing or animation, however, I have used many other 3D graphics simulation tools and I have also created (using Open Inventor / Open GL) 3D graphics simulation tools myself. What I have worked with is robots, conveyor belts and machines. Creating mechanical 3D simulations is different from creating figures and people in 3D. However, I have an idea of how 3D graphics tools work and how an interface should look like. My verdict is that Poser 8.0 has an interface that is harder to use than necessary. I found several bugs, and the tutorial is horrible. If you offer a tool like this to the public the tutorial must be proofread and it must be perfect. The typical home user does not expect to have to take classes to learn how to use this tool.

Overall I think this is a really neat tool. You use this tool to create 3D images of humans, animals, and other characters. Poser includes a lot of pre existing characters (created by artists), textures, a Wardrobe Wizard, designer tools, a face room, and special effects features, and you can down load more. You can create your own faces using photographs that you have. There is a lot there to help you create 3D characters and to turn them into animations/movies. I should say that to make neat 3D animations you should really use Poser in conjunction with tools that are better for creating scenery and backgrounds like Vue and Lightwave. I should also point out that Poser is in general not good enough for the movie industry (contrary to what is claimed). Lightwave is more commonly used by the movie industry.

The first thing I noticed was the unusual way you control the scene. I mean what is wrong with the standard thumb wheels from Open Inventor/Open GL or panning/moving the figure with the mouse. The next thing I did was to go through the tutorial. So I launched the tutorial but nothing came up. In fact three of the Help Menu items were missing including the tutorial. Eventually I found the tutorial on my disk.

Unfortunately it was a struggle for me to go through the tutorial because:

1. There were several actions which could not be completed because the tutorial referred to non-existing or redesigned items. For example, it tells you to click "Tracking Mode icons", however, there are no such icons. There is a small menu with no popup box that controls the tracking mode. At another point in the tutorial it tells you to save features by following steps that cannot be followed, because the interface you use for this is different from the interface in the tutorial.

2. A decent tutorial needs to provide a number of screen shots in which the different palettes, menus and tools are pointed out to you so that you know where they are located. This is not the case with this tutorial. They repeatedly ask you to use tools they have not explained or told you where they are located, so you have to guess.

3. At one point in the tutorial you had to set everything back to the settings at the end of the previous chapter before you could continue, but they did not tell you that.

OK I am going on about the tutorial because; unless you take a class, or have used previous versions, the tutorial is basically all you have if you want to learn how to use it.

Other complaints I have is,

I also found it exceedingly difficult to find and select the invisible circle that turns white/red when you find it and to select the correct body parts. I clicked and dragged, clicked and dragged, and nothing happened or the wrong part moved. OK I am not particularly good at this but the other 3D tools I've used were easy to use in this regard. I also could not find anywhere, where the current parent of an object is indicated. That is pretty important to know. When I created new libraries I always got this error message about a runtime folder.

I guess I am a little frustrated, but the tools I've used (or created) for creating 3D simulations of conveyor belts, robots, and shop floors were a lot more intuitive and easy to use, and I don't even have a good tutorial to help me.

Step backward on Poser software. The program crashes and crashes and crashes for no reason on Windows Vista 64 bits systems, no matter what service release you use. You can loose your several hours work in just a second for no reason. I upgraded and added every patch, but reverted to Poser 7 Pro, 100.000 times more stable.

I've been working with Poser since v2.

Great program - IF you save often. And have incredible processing power (not Supercomputer level, but really good, multiprocessors).
The results can be stunning. And well worth it. It's clear Poser is the industry standard.
That said, there is plenty of cleanup that could be done (code wise).

In the interim, I am working with the book Create 3D Like a Super Hero - which goes deep into how to maximize ANY 3D application. Chipp Walters takes the viewpoint of anyone working in 3D space needs to approach it from the viewer, not the illustrators POV.

Yes, Poser can get better. But the publisher has proven they will. Software doesn't come about overnight. And you and I are the best beta testers ever.