Poser

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Product Description

Poser 9 is the world’s easiest way to create art and animation using 3D characters. Poser’s simple to learn tools and included characters let you focus on making art, whether you’re a professional artist or dabbling in graphics for the very first time. Poser includes over 3 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. With Poser 9 you can start creating 3D character art and animation in minutes. With the Face Room, customize Poser characters using facial photographs. Add dynamic hair and clothing. Build a3D scene on Poser’s virtual stage with props, lights and cameras. 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 scenes into photorealistic images and video for web, print, and film projects.

Along with 8 brand new 3D humans, Poser 9 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 dependent 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. To save time, Poser 9 has been performance optimized so you can pose your characters and render them faster on today’s multiple processor systems.

Poser 9 includes advanced Weight Map Rig support to generate better performing 3D characters that can be more easily posed with natural joints across the body. Hybrid Rigging supports both traditional Poser Sphere and Capsule zones to be used in combination. Poser 9 also supports both traditional grouped body part figures and single mesh figures. Weight Map Support for third party figures is delivered within our native poser file format, the PZ3, an open, well documented format that has been at the heart of the creative Poser community for over 15 years.

Poser 9’s improved Firefly render engine now supports Indirect Lighting with Irradiance Caching for Global Illumination effects and even supports rendering with Ambient Occlusion. New Shader nodes enable SubSurface Scattering for luminescent skin tones, FastScattering for bioluminescent effects and a Tri-specular Hair Shader for more appealing trans-mapped hair highlights. Poser’s physically correct light fall-off produces more photo-real final renderings. Even share final content via Facebook with our direct upload to your Poser gallery.

Other new features include multi-select drag and drop from Poser’s Library, Expanded Context Menus for better workflow, new camera modes to focus on your selected area, pressure sensitive tablet support in the Morph Brush, improved Content Management system with drag and drop, auto conforming, search, meta data support, zone strength display for figure rigging, parameter change indicator and the Recent Render palette.
Whether you’re a serious artist, illustrator or animator or simply dream of playing with 3D characters, you’ll love getting creative with Poser 9!

Real-time OpenGL Scene Preview
With Poser Pro’s OpenGL improvements, you’ll see accurate, real-time previews of Spot, Point, Infinite and IBL (Image Based Lights) Lights, Soft Shadows, with Ambient Occlusion, Normal Maps and Back Facing Polygons in a Gamma Corrected scene. The Light Properties control allows the user to toggle specific lights to preview in the scene, with accumulated brightness for each selected light. MIP Map support improves performance when previewing large textures. Our OpenGL hardware improvements preview textures more efficiently, with reliable onscreen display of lights, shadows, and color, for smarter interactive scene creation.

SubSurface Scattering
Skin, wax, and marble are just some of the materials that are translucent when struck by light. To recreate this subtle yet crucial effect when rendering these materials in Poser, we’ve incorporated a set of easy to configure SubSurface Scattering Material Nodes. New Nodes include SubSurface Skin, Fast Scatter, and basic Scatter. The Scatter Node includes a number of optimized pre-sets for Skin, Marble, Milk, Fruit and Vegetables. With Poser’s new SubSurface Materials, you’ll transform your scenes into rendered masterpieces with lifelike translucent surfaces.

Rendering Performance Improvements
Poser’s FireFly Rendering Engine keeps getting better with numerous improvements in reflections, transparencies, depth of field and motion blur quality, netting visibly smoother results without significantly impacting render times. We’ve invested time in Indirect Lighting (IDL) which now supports Ambient Occlusion (AO) with faster transparency rendering. We’ve also enabled Light Casting Objects to be invisible in final renderings yet still contribute illumination to the scene. In addition to our new SubSurface Scattering Nodes, we’ve included a new Custom Scatter Node to support effects such as bioluminescent skin.

Weight Map Rigging
High-end professional 3D applications like Max and Maya have set the standard for Weight Map Rigging, and now both Poser and Poser Pro provide the most open vertex Weight Mapping support available to Poser users today. Weight Map Rigging offers several benefits including smoother bending folds and bulges with vertex by vertex control over every bend or bulge. Weight Maps can be added to any joint bend, to twist and scaling channels and can be used to control bulges. Plus Poser takes the standard of Weight Map Rigging several steps further with support for Hybrid Joint Rigging (combining traditional Poser Sphere/Capsule Zones with Weight Maps), using either single mesh geometry or traditionally grouped geometry, and enables Weight Maps or zones to affect any number of body parts beyond the current joint. Poser’s new Weight Map Rigging provides a platform that will support third party figures that use Weight Mapping, by expanding the open, well documented and easily editable Poser PZ3 file format, to encourage creativity and user driven enhancements to Poser figures.

Grouping Objects
Need a way to move, scale or hide a bunch of objects in a Poser scene, at the same time? Now you can simply add any number of scene elements, from figures and props to lights, into a Grouping Object. They can be moved, rotated, scaled and animated or even hidden and revealed. Create multiple Grouping Objects to hold different areas of a scene, or related props and figures. Adding selected scene elements into any Grouping Object is easy using our powerful new Context Menu controls. This significant new feature will change how you manage your scenes, providing you plenty of control over whole groups of objects in that scene.

Expanded Context Menus
Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make the biggest difference. Poser’s expanded Context Menus will vastly improve interaction and scene creation, and change the way you work with Poser forever. Six unique Context Menus have been developed for Figures, Actors, Objects, Lights, Cameras and Backgrounds to provide quick access to the most useful menu operations including selecting, toggling IK on/off, copying symmetry in poses, pointing lights, conforming clothing, setting parenting, changing light types, and even hiding/revealing all items in a Grouping Object. Once you start using Poser’s new Context Menus, you’ll enjoy working and playing with Poser all over again.

Full Scene Category in Library
In the past, if you wanted to re-use a Poser scene with that perfect environment settings, lights, cameras, props and dependencies and even render settings, you had to build it, save it, then find and import it. With the new Scene Category in the Library you simply add that full Poser scene with lights, cameras, all props and figures in place, and with all dependencies right into the Library. From there your new scenes can be dragged directly from the Library into the Poser workspace. For Poser content developers this new feature will enable you to deliver fully constructed scenes with dependencies and optimal render settings that require less user support and are far easier to use.

Multi-select drag and drop from Library
When we introduced Drag and Drop support in Poser’s Library, our users found it so much easier to apply materials, or conform clothing, or drop a pose right onto a figure. With the Library’s new Multi-select feature, you’ll be able to select several items of clothing and drag them right onto a figure and auto-conform them in one step. But it gets even better when working with multiple categories of items in your Favorites; Multi-select a hairstyle, several clothing items and a pose all at once, then click and drag them right onto your target figure. Poser will automatically apply the items. It doesn’t get much easier.

Morph Tool Tablet Support
If you own a Wacom pressure sensitive tablet, Poser is going to make you a very happy camper. We’ve engineered Wacom tablet support into the Morph Tool so you can have much finer control when creating morphs. Vary brush strength with pressure for any brush size you’ve set. The Morph Tool is powerful, but with tablet support, it’s gotten even better.

Constraint Channels and Constraint Objects
For our animators that have been looking for a way to animate a ball being throw or caught, we’ve introduced Constraint Channels and Objects. Basically, the Constraint is an animatable handle for an object that will allow you to parent it to a figure’s hand as it winds up for the throw, and then have the object leave the hand and fly through the air as if it’s being thrown. Constraints are a simple to use feature that will permit all kinds of cool animation effects.

Light Casting Objects
We changed the face of rendering in Poser when we introduced Indirect Lighting (IDL). And it became obvious when Poser users discovered that IDL enabled objects with high ambient values to cast light that with a few tweaks we could open up a huge array of lighting effects. Now you can toggle off visibility in rendering for objects, yet still enable them to cast light. This will allow the creation of light domes, environment domes and large area lights to cast ambient light without being rendered in the scene. Combined with our new Poser Scene Library category, this feature will be a great way to deliver a fully lit IDL environment.

Frame Object Camera
In complex scenes it can be a little challenging to keep your camera focused on an area that you’re working on using Poser’s original camera controls. To help out, we’ve introduced the Frame Object Camera. With the click of a button, your current camera will zoom in on the selected object, allowing you take a closer look exactly where you’re working. This will make it easier to navigate in and out of your deep scenes and help you save time when creating them.

Rotate Object Mode
A companion feature to the new Frame Object Camera, Poser also includes a new Rotate Object mode.  Simply toggle on the Rotate Object mode and your current camera will rotate around the center point of the currently selected object. This makes it even to focus on a selected element, and view it from every direction by spinning Camera trackball.

Faster Dynamic Hair
Our engineers spent time under the hood to speed up Dynamic Hair. Now Poser’s powerful Dynamic Hair calculates collisions faster and renders it faster as well.

Pre-render Texture Caching
We’ve heard your requests for faster pre-render texture handling and delivered two new methods that will save time the first time you press that Render Now button. Poser now preloads all scene textures in the background when your system is idle, in prep for that first render, and can cache those textures session to session if you desire.

Python 2.7 Support
Poser keeps improving and so does Python. We now provide Python 2.7 support to take full advantage of improvements to the scripting language.

Mac OS 10.7 Lion Support
Poser Pro 2012 and Poser 9 are now fully supported on Apple’s latest Mac OS 10.7 Lion.

Basic Features

Over 3GB of Poser Content

Poser 9 includes a complete collection of well organized, easy to find content supplied by talented third party content artists as well content created by the Smith Micro team of 3D artists. Fully articulated human skeletons that match the male and female figures body topology are included along with artist manikins, animals, dinosaurs and a dragon, robots, vehicles, toy and cartoon characters; over 70 ready to pose figures total. Various new poses, animations, light sets, props, and accessories to help new users get started are included in the Poser 9 content installers.

New User Interface
Poser 9’s clean and easy to master user interface presents all the tools you’ll need in a concise layout that takes full advantage of various screen resolutions. The interface layout provides a clean work environment so artists can focus on the project. All controls are contained in floating palettes that can be docked for consistency, session to session, or floated to free up space.

Dependent Parameters
Unlock an advanced user secret with the Dependent Parameter tool. Poser 9 lets the artist create new Master Parameters or turn any existing Parameter into a Master Parameter that can drive any other editable parameters in the scene. Complex interactions can be created such as Full Body Morphs, Partial Body Morphs, Advanced Body Controls, Joint Controlled Morph Targets, Joint Controlled Deformers and Parameter Controlled Scene Assets. When a Master Parameter has been created, its Dependent Parameters can be edited or added to, and all Dependent Parameters are displayed with both their Natural Value and their Master Parm Driven Value. A mouse click on either a Dependent or Master Parameter Options will reveal the Master or allow Dependent Parameter editing.

Content Management System / Library
Poser’s library provides easy access to your collection of content. Poser’s  Library presents content by category, but with a tighter list view with expanding previews and additional data for each content item. The list is persistent by category, and can be scrolled through with cursor keys for convenience.  Content items can be loaded into the scene using the traditional Poser UI controls or can be dragged directly from the Library into the scene. To make it easier to find items in your library and online, the Poser Library supports keyword search. Simply type in a keyword to find exactly what you looking for.  Add any selected items to your favorites,

Cross Body Part Morph Creation
With Poser 9 comes a significant improvement in the current Morphing Tool. Now users can dial in a Morph Brush and paint morphs across body parts.  Save that set of individual body part morphs as a single Full Body Morph channel in the figure’s “Body” Parameters. Easily create effects such as muscle bulges, scales, bumps, horns, veins or wounds; it’s only limited by the imagination of the artist.

Indirect Lighting
Poser 9 offers indirect diffuse illumination by combining improved irradiance caching with path tracing, producing rendered images with Global Illumination qualities. By bouncing light and color from object to adjacent object in a scene, Poser 9’s  Global Illumination system can render images that appear so realistic they can fool the untrained eye into thinking the images are photos rather than 3D renderings.

Physically correct light falloff
For Spot and Point lights, Poser 9 lets users attenuate (control) fall off to more closely reproduce real-world light behaviors. Constant falloff replicates the legacy behavior, and Inverse Linear and Inverse Square add two new methods for getting light to appear more realistic.

Tone Mapping and Exposure
Tone Mapping helps control very bright and dark areas in an image to produce better, less blown out final renderings with deeper contrast. The feature helps to bring the brightest areas back into a reproducible range. Two modes of tone mapping are available for differing effects: Exponential Tone Mapping and HSV Tone Mapping. Exposure values are editable when either Exponential or HSV Tone Mapping is selected.

Normal Mapping
Normal Mapping is a resource-efficient technique to add the appearance of complexity and surface detail to 3D objects. It can transform object surfaces, making them appear more intricate than they actually are, without the added overhead of polygonal detail. This saves designers valuable time and offers increased creative flexibility by allowing faster and more light-weight computation of rendered results.

Wardrobe Wizard
- Third Party Licensed feature in Poser 8
- Permits existing clothing items to be re-fit onto new Poser 8
- Adds value by re-using existing clothing assets a user has invested in

Queue Manager / Network Render Queue
Save time and cut production costs by using additional computers to render complex scenes and lengthy animations. The standalone Queue Manager allows you to set-up and manage a Network Render Queue, distribute rendering jobs across that network, and manage those rendering jobs to suit your schedule. With the Queue Manager, distributed renderings can be paused and resumed, or fully rendered on slave machines so you can keep working in Poser Pro on your master machine..

Background Rendering
Increase personal productivity with background rendering in Poser Pro 2012. Work on 3D scenes in the foreground, while rendering images with the Firefly render engine in the background. When rendering in the background, you can open or close other scene files, save your project, and continue working without interrupting the background render.

64-Bit FireFly Render Engine
Poser Pro 2012 lets you take advantage of high performance 64-Bit Macintosh and Windows Operating Systems and hardware with the new 64-Bit FireFly Render Engine. The 64-Bit render engine efficiently uses all available system memory to render even the most complex scene files in the shortest possible time. Distribute 64-Bit rendering jobs via the Queue Manager for even greater time savings at render time.

High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) Export
Create vivid, life-like images with HDRI output. HDRI accurately represents a full range of intensity levels in real world scenes, ranging from the brightest sunlight to the deepest shadows. High Dynamic Range images can be exported in Radiance (.hdr) or OpenEXR (.exr) format giving you greater control over the luminosity, opacity and reflectance range of your work. With HDRI optimized output, you can take advantage of the extra precision, flexibility and physically correct image operations in post-production that standard image formats don’t support.

PoserFusion Hosting Plug-ins
PoserFusion lets you use Poser Pro 2012 as a character animation solution for 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D and LightWave. The included PoserFusion plug-ins, allow you to open and host Poser scene files and 3D content within these powerful 3D production applications. Integrate static or animated Poser scenes to add pre-built and rigged 3D Poser characters into your projects.

Gamma Correction/Linear Rendering
With Gamma Correction specify gamma values and apply those values to textures, or choose gamma values that will be applied to exported images. This allows you to perform linear rendering for increased luminance accuracy. Gamma Correction gives you the confidence that what you see is what you’ll get because input and output data will comply with your selected gamma values.

Gamma Correction on the Texture Manager allows you to specify gamma values per texture, giving you the ability to exclude certain textures from scene-wide gamma correction for maximum flexibility when dealing with displacement or normal maps. 

Benefits

• Powerful, yet easy to use 3D Character Animation solution
• Integrate pre-rigged characters and content into 3D projects and production pipelines
• Provides both 3D character tools and over 3GB of ready to use character content
• Quickly pose and animate pre-built 3D figures to save time
• Poser doesn’t require character modeling or rigging skills
• Render images and animations across your network of computers
• Weight map rigging system provides better bending 3D figures
• SubSurface Scattering renders more life-like skintones
• OpenGL Realtime Preview makes it easier to light scenes and cast shadows

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Poser Reviews & Ratings

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Editor's Review

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.

Reviewed by Software.com

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