Poser 8

Poser 8 is Smith Micro's consumer level 3D modeling, animation, and design software. Allowing users to create powerful 3D environments, animate their 3D characters, and edit multimedia productions, Poser 8 is one of the most user-friendly and intuitive 3D applications available though it's impressiveness is limited by the number of character models supplied.

While many 3D modeling programs are focused on achieving maximum editing power, Poser 8 is different. By prioritizing simplicity and speed, Poser users can easily create dynamic 3D models and scenes without spending years at the computer.

With over 2.5GB of included 3D design assets, it's possible to create ultra-detailed scenes in Poser without creating any new 3D models. Poser 8, the most recent edition, includes over 1GB of completely new 3D content, ensuring that long-term users will find plenty of brand new 3D items to place and customize.

One cool feature that's sure to excite some users is the ability to create new characters from your own photographs. While personalization is limited to facial photos, creating custom walking paterns and character figures is quick, simple, and allows for massive variation.

On the downside, earlier models (pre-Poser 5) allowed many character renders however Poser 8 has a limited number (usual character sets such as female, male, family etc). For 3D animators looking for maximum realism, Poser 8 allows users to import custom motion capture files, allowing for improved realism and fluid movement. While unnecessary for most consumer users, this addition proves that Poser 8 deserves a place amongst the most powerful 3D applications around.

For a high-powered application, Poser 8 requires a relatively modest computer for good performance. Minimum system specifications call for a 70MHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and a simple OpenGL graphics card. Of course, ideal rendering speeds require a more powerful PC.

Poser: What We Liked

• Significantly some user-friendly than other 3D design and animation suites.
• Powerful and highly versatile, despite requiring a relatively modest PC.
• 2.5GB of included 3D assets mean even non-modelers can enjoy Poser 8.

Poser: What We Didn't Like

• Performance is poor on low-end computers, especially during rendering.
• Users seeking several character models will be hamstrung by the lack of choice, leading to increased total project costs.

Smith Micro Support

Poser 8 is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7, and also with Mac OSX Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard. Documentation and tutorials are included with the application, and online support is available for users. Best of all, Poser 8 is available as a 30-day free trial.

About Smith Micro

Smith Micro are a multimedia, 3D modeling, and graphics software manufacturer with a wide range of products available. With software ranging from fun desktop backgrounds to ultra-detailed design suites, Smith Micro offer products for every level of expertise.

     

Poser 8 allows artists to work with avatars and all types of 3D characters, such as giant ogres and talking chipmunks that proliferate in advertising, video games, television and full-length feature films. Poser 8 acts as a virtual stage, offering eight new, ready-to-pose, fully-textured humans of different ethnicities and body types to give artists a starting point in designing their characters. The new Poser content library provides more than 2.5 gigabytes of human and animal figures accompanied by a wide range of accessories including hair, clothing, sets and real-world props and elements such as lights and cameras to produce complete scenes. With Poser 8, new users and hobbyists can create entire, professional-quality scenes in minutes that utilize automatically- generated walking, running or dancing sequences and lifelike speaking capabilities. Once created, users can post their animations to YouTube or any of their favorite social networking sites.

The new, streamlined interface of Poser 8 maximizes screen real estate and provides an intuitive workflow, plus a new search-enabled library that helps artists easily browse and organize their content. New professional-quality tools and features are included in Poser 8 such as a dependent parameter editor that lets users "teach" objects in a scene to interact with each other, simplifying complex body movement. Other features include cross-body morph brushes that permit a user to smoothly sculpt a figure across every body part, new photorealistic rendering to more accurately reproduce light and shadows, and improved character rigging for better character bending.

Poser 8 is the world's most complete solution for creating art and animation using 3D characters. With Poser, it's easy to make 3D art, whether you're an experienced artist or you're dabbling in graphics for the very first time. Poser includes over 2.5 gigabyte of ready-to-pose, fully textured, human and animal figures, basic accessories such as hair, clothing, pose sets, real world props and 3D scene elements so you can start creating 3D character art and animation in minutes.

• Generate new characters from your facial photographs.
• Add hair and clothing.
• Dress Poser's virtual stage with props, lights and cameras to construct 3D scenes.
• Automatically generate walking or running animations and talking characters.
• Import motion capture files for even more animated realism.
• Animate lights and cameras, and then render your scene into photorealistic images and video for web, print, and film projects.
• Export 3D figures to add characters to other 3D applications.

Along with 8 brand new 3D humans, Poser 8 includes an improved user interface to maximize your workspace while providing better workflow, a new search-enabled library so you can find, organize and use your content easier, a dependant parameter tool that lets you teach objects in the scene to interact with each other, cross body morph brushes to smoothly sculpt a figure across every body part, new photorealistic rendering features that more accurately reproduce light and shadows, and improved character rigging for even better character bending.

Poser 8 New Features:

• Figures - Eight new ready-to-pose 3D human characters, offered in different ethnicities and body types to provide artists with multiple starting points for their creations
• More Than 1GB of New Content - Plus 1.5+ gigabytes of previously released, ready-to-use 3D scene assets
• Enhanced User Interface - Features a more efficient tool layout and a user configurable work environment
• Dependant Parameters Tool - A new tool that allows artists to create, modify and edit parameters within the scene. Complex interactions can be created, such as full-and partial-body morphs, advanced body controls and parameter-controlled scene assets
• Cross-Body Part Morph Tool - Enables artists to easily create effects such as muscle bulges, scales, bumps, horns, veins, wounds and surface details across multiple body parts
• Content Management System - Allows easier access to content collections with the ability to search a library's content by category and keyword, providing a hierarchy list view and more detailed pop-up expanding previews
• Indirect Lighting - With the ability to combine indirect diffuse illumination with improved irradiance caching and path tracing, Poser 8 renders images with global illumination qualities that create images so realistic that they can fool an untrained eye
• Improved Rigging System - With an improved Falloff Zone rigging system, users can rig problem areas - such as hips and shoulders - with more precision, resulting in more realistic bending figures
• OpenGL Preview Improvements - Allows users to preview engine improvements to select each light that they wish to illuminate in the scene preview. This feature aids in viewing larger textures and offers more complete scene previewing when setting up lights
• Physically Correct Light Falloff - Features control spot and point lights to more closely reproduce realistic light falloff from full bright to dark
• Tone Mapping and Exposure - Helps artists control bright or dark areas within an image to produce higher-quality, final renderings with better contrast
• Normal Mapping - Allows users to transform object surfaces, making them appear more intricate without the added computational overhead from additional polygonal detail
• Wardrobe Wizard - Allows artists to re-use existing clothing assets by fitting them to the new Poser 8 character set
• wxPython Support - Enables third-party developers to create more advanced plug-in functionality that can be fully-integrated directly within Poser's user interface