Poser 6, Lesson 2

Create a New Figure

Sneaky Little Learning: To change the colors of various things (foreground, background, shadow, and ground), click one of the circles in the bottom right of the Preview window (in that order, by the way).

Zero Pose

To "zero" a figure (needed for clothes to work correctly):

Select figure's body

Window > Joint Editor

Click Zero Figure.

Grounding a Figure

Figure > Drop to Floor

If, however, you have already used a ytransform on the figure, say in an "up" direction, "Dropping to Floor" will drop the figure into the floor. Reset the ytransform first, then drop to floor.

Using Limits

I know, I know — you shouldn't doubt the teacher. But when I tried this at home (using Stick Woman), it looked like Limits had no effect. So I dragged out Ben and played with his foreare. Here's the result:

With limits off, Ben definitely needs a medic. Kids, don't try this at home.

With limits on, I could not bend his arm back.

Clothing

The first thing to remember is that all of this related to CONFORMING clothes ONLY!

Conforming Clothes

The first problem I had was finding the clothing. In Poser 6, the clothing is still found in the Props library, but there's an indicator on the right side of the icon to show whether this particular item of clothing is Conforming or Dynamic.

Oddly enough, my figure of Jessica does not have the strategically placed clover. Imagine that.

Dressing a Figure

Select the dress. Not the model, the dress.
Figure > Conform to ... The Conform to window will display.
On the Conform to window, select the model from the pull-down list and click OK.

You now have a dressed model. Call the kids back from the basement.

Posing a Dressed Figure

Select the model. Not the dress, the model.
In the Library, find the poses for the model you have selected. Double-click on one.
Play around a bit. Everybody who's had any success at all with Poser has this pose. It's kind of like using Microsoft Word's clip art — everyone knows you're just being lazy. What? You can't even Google and find something?

So I played a bit. I didn't really fiddle with the model's pose, but I did move the lights around and diddled with the camera. It's not Great Art, but it will do until the King returns from Avalon. (Pssst! That's a reference. If you can do bad puns in the lesson, I can do it in the assignment.)

Bald, Barefoot Woman Runs in a Suit

Commentary

Not too shabby — for an old guy. But she's going to ruin her feet running like that. Landing on your heel is not a good way to end a stride. Orthopedists send their kids to Ivy League schools because of this.

Let's look at this more closely:

Wrong	Right

Often Used Menu items

Drop to Floor

Fortunately, the scene above didn't really have a good floor, because when I dropped Jessie to the floor, she actually rose up.

Symmetry

Pay attention to what you're doing here. The next picture shows what happens when you take Jessie running and symmetrize her left leg to her right leg. You don't want to do this in Real Life.

Jessie Runs Badly

A better way to do it would be to swap left and right legs. (I also straightened her torso, but didn't reconfigure the feet.)

Before	After

Hair Props

There's something about bald women running barefoot in business dress that offends my sense of propriety. Maybe it's just me, but let's get this woman to a stylist.

Jessie Runs 4

The hair looks a bit odd from this point of view; here's what the Face Cam sees of the Bun style (Trans Map):

Jessie with Hair

This is what the Face Cam sees of Jessie Red (Strand). This took A LOT longer to render, but lacks the lacquered plastic helmet look that once distinguished Poser characters' hair.

Jessi Red Face Cam

And here she is, running.

Jessie Red Runs

But still barefoot. Let's try some shoes. That didn't work out real well. I need to remember:

Dress the model completely (in 'zeroed' position), before posing. BEFORE posing. Adding shoes later, and then trying to 'zero' leads to this:

Zeroed Too Late

Some Rendering Options

Firefly

Poser 4 Render

The Final Figure

At least for now. This is Jessie, with heels, shoulder blonde hair, and a dress suit.

Remember to select the figure before posing.

This seems to be the workflow:

Select a model.

Zero the model.

Drop to Floor (if needed)

For each article of clothing:

Select it

Conform it to the model's body

Edit > Memorize > Figure (so if you screw up, you may be able to get back here using Edit > Restore > Figure)

Select a pose.

Play. I conformed the dress to Jessica, but when I Figure > Symmetry > Straighten Torso, she comes out of her dress. I wonder about that, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I don't have a problem with swapping either pair of limbs.

Render.

Jessie Running — Final rendered in Firefly mode

Jessie Final 1

Jessie Running — Final rendered in Poser 4

Photoshop CS3 sees no difference between the two. (Method: Select All of one, paste it over the second; change blend mode to Different.)

So that's it for now. A render of Jessie, in a dress, running so that her heel hits first, in high heels.

Daddy, when can I go to Yale? As soon as Jessie pays her ortho bill, Mary.

Direct Links to Assignment

Links to Other Poser 6 Things

Links to Other Things Altogether