Poser 6, Lesson 1
I use my LVS Online course pages for a lot more than just posting the graphic (or whatever) files assigned during the week.
I keep my notes here. I keep false starts here (so I can, hopefully, avoid making the same mistake more than 12,359,156 times). I note what I like about a particular project (and what I don't). I note what difficulty I had with the project, and how I overcame it (or not).
So, if you just want to look at the pictures (this falls under the boilerplate directive Post the DIRECT link to your files), use the Navigation Panel to the left.
One more thing. For each parenthetical phrase I use, one grain of rice is donated to the Supermodel Relief Fund, providing those poor, skinny girls with some food to look at (but not eat).
Week 1 Outline
Poser Workflow
Decide what you want to do. Outfit, props, hairstyle, makeup (present/absent, etc.), general setting, additional setting elements.
Poser Interface
Window > Document Window Size
Document Display Style (at bottom, if you haven't moved it); use the far right one (cmd-9) for Smooth Shaded. This shows color and clothing. The others are good for something, but that is Information Left Unrevealed at Present.
Resetting Stuff
| Everything | cmd-a |
| Light | shift-cmd-l |
| Figure | shift-cmd-f |
| Current camera | shift-cmd-h |
| Currently selected element | cmd-e |
Show the Parameter Dials
shift-cmd-n
Moving between Cameras
| Main | cmd-m |
| Face | cmd-= |
| Posing | cmd-, |
Create a Figure
Your Figure Library
There's a lot here; spend some time looking around and trying various things.
The Pose Room
Your Pose Library
Using Different Cameras
Camera Views
A Peek into the Face Room
Spent some time in here. Need to consult the manual to find out what several of the items means.
Selecting Elements in a Scene
Positioning Elements in a Scene
My First Render
James with Ball
Commentary
I had a bit of a problem getting the fingers to wrap around the ball; got around it by using a "long shot".
I have no idea where the shadow behind him is coming from. Suggestings and comments would be greatly appreciated.
Popeye with Ball
Commentary
It takes me several tries to learn how to do things, so I'll just keep on changing things (until I remember how to).
I need to work on the forearms and their size with respect to the upper arms. I tried the wrong parameter on the right arm, and used "scale" on both upper arms (which shortened them as it made them skinny).
Perhaps next time, I'll try some hair. (Oh, yes! I had a grand time in the Face Room; poor Casual James may never forgive me. I'll try to get over it.)
Ben with Ball
Commentary
On this one, the lighting is somewhat better, but the hair — what can I say about the hair? I like the way the ball glows at the touch of his left hand. But the hair!
I was able to apply a pattern to Ben's t-shirt (time will tell whether I'll be able to do this again). I probably should have tried to apply one to the ball … but the (you know The Drill by now).
Going for the Save
Commentary
This one was actually pretty simple. When I was making the catalog of poses that came with the product, I found the Fighting > Gun Fight 1 pose and immediately thought "That's a sports photo!" So I brought it in, changed the X and Y Orbits on the Main Camera; brought in the ball, applied a bump map in the Material Room; changed the lighting — and rendered. Dull. Went to the Face Room to try to find a way to open his mouth and eyes: no love found. Back to the Pose tab, clicked on the head and there, under the Morph listing, found what I needed.
Work is obviously still needed; I've got to get better with the bump map thing and would like to learn how to apply a pattern, so it would look more like a soccer ball and less like some hunk of concrete. I'll get there.
Dunk!
Commentary
I'm pretty happy with this one. The pose is Action > Other Actions > Jumping 3 and the ball is the same as above. But I found the Grasping parameter for the hand, and Head > Morph > Lips to get the facial expressions (without going into the Face Room, where I really don't know what I'm doing (see Ben, above)). (A double parenthetical! Who knew?)
Three renders later, I took the jpgs into Photoshop to do the compositing. There, I know what I'm doing. But all I did was crop and composit, which doesn't really count as post-processing (at least in George's World).
Atlas
Commentary
I had to do something with the Aux Camera, just to remind myself that it was there. This also taught me why there are other display modes. I needed to position the arms and hands around the ball in wireframe, because when I tried to do it in texture shaded, this big old box covered up what I was trying to move, so I could see them.
And so, ladies (and gentlemen? Are there any?), I present ... Atlas (at last). This should do it for Week 1.