2 stars (Poser 6 is slow and Curiouslabs is not responsive) - This review refers to the PC version
Pros:
1. Great fun to work with Poser.
2. Nice renderings.
3. Neat new features including taking advantage of your graphics card.
Cons:
1. Animations take much longer than Poser 5. They take so long that you really can't consider making a film with this program unless you have a super computer.
2. New company name and attitude, Curiouslabs is longer the company that supports Poser. EFRONTIERS no longer has a phone number that you can reach them at except for sales.
3. They have refused to fix a problem with Poser 5 that prevents it from running on Windows XP with Service Pack 2.
4. They had a lag time of over a week responding to an email.
5. Poser 6 feels like it was designed by 6 different people. What I mean by that is each area of the program requires a different approach to master it.
6. Since they finally wrote back to me I'd give them 3 stars but this program won't let me.
4 stars (great but did not receive Shade LE with my purchase) - Poser 6 is great.
Being a beginner it would probably take me weeks (or more) to be able to model a 3d human (and then it still would look bad). But with Poser I can just use their models and morph them with its preset dials -- or I can add my own custom made morph targets.
Plus Poser 6 can do a lot more...
It deserves five stars in my opinion.
Meanwhile Amazon did not also ship Shade LE in this "Poser-ShadeLE Bundle". However I don't believe Shade LE is worth my time to deal with, so I never followed up on the transaction. (It's probably a nice program if its cheap or free, though.)
The price was good for Poser alone, but since Amazon screwed up, I'm subtracting a star from my rating.
4 stars (Not for the casual hobbiest) - Poser is hard. Extremely hard. The manual that comes with the software is poorly written and virtually useless. I recommend the VHS "POSER 5 Demystified", which is relevant to Poser 6 as well. This will help get you started.
But even with this, Poser, like all 3D animation programs, is going to require quite a commitment from you. Its VERY TIME CONSUMING. There's just no way around it. Even after you've figured out how to use the software (it took me 6 months of trial and error...and I'm certainly no expert), it can easily take you 8-10 hours to produce a 5 second animation.
The problem is that no one can show you "how" to make an animation with Poser. They can only show you how the various tools work (which, as I stated before, the manual fails miserably at). You're going to have to decide what you want to see on the screen, and figure out how to use the software to make that a reality. Example: there are 3 different methods you can use to animate, which give you wildly different results. While the manual tells you what these are and identifies the controls for each, it doesn't tell you which to use and under what circumstances to use them. You're going to have to figure it out on your own. I literally thought the software was broken for the 1st 6 months, because the figures kept moving in unexpected ways. Actually, the software was behaving exactly the way it was supposed to. I understand now that its an asset rather than a liability, because once you learn what you're doing, Poser can add a level of realism that is sorely lacking from a lot of other 3d animation programs.
So what do I think of Poser 6? Its amazing. Simply amazing. I would give it 5 stars, except for the crappy manual that comes with it. Curious Labs should design a manual like "The Art of Animation Master", which was brilliantly tailored for the beginner.
The downside: content. If you plan on making a contemporary film, this is not a problem. But if you plan on making any kind of period film, or a Sci-Fi or Fantasy film, be prepared to shell out at least $200.00 for extra content. You're first stop should be to DAZ. Get version 3 of both Michael and Victoria, because 99% of the clothing and morphs on Content Paradise is geared to fit these two models. You're going to find virtually no content geared towards the models that come with the Poser software (James, Jessi, Don, Judy). Its a rip-off...pure and simple...but if you want to use Poser, there's really nothing you can do about it, unless you're a talented enough modeller to design your own clothes. Before you go spending all that money though, take the time out to learn the software. See if you're willing to make the commitment or not. I would recommend a short 3-5 minute film using the content that comes with the software. Allow yourself 6 months to a year to complete it. I'm not kidding.
Lip Synching: You're also going to need "Mimic" from Daz, if you plan for your film to contain any dialogue. That's going to cost you at least another $200.00, unless you can find a free version of the software. Check out the magazine 3d world. Every month it features free software for all sorts of 3d platforms. I was lucky enough to obtain a free version of Mimic for the price of the magazine. You can probably obtain the back issue from their website.
Other than that, study the masters (Harrihausen, etc.). Computer animation is really not that different from Claymation. Its just done in a virtual environment, and you don't have to animate each and every frame. Also, its relatively simple to check your progress and to make changes, once you know what you're doing.
If you read the review section of Poser 5, many of the reviews are extremely negative. While some of the complaints are justified, in my opinion a lot of the frustration comes from the fact that the people reviewing it haven't spent a sufficient amount of time to know what they're doing. They think the software is "broken" because its not giving them the results they expect, or their computer lacks sufficient RAM and a fast enough processor to handle it. The requirements on the side of the box is the MINIMUM required to run the software. If you want it to run smoothly, I would recommend at least a gigabyte of RAM. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches.
What about Shade? Its a piece of crap (see my review). That's why their giving it away with the purchase of Poser 6.
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