Adobe Dreams

**Crow Haven** · 27 March 2005, 05:59 PM

This portrait of V3 was done using Mike Bailey's light set which he kindly allowed use of. Thanks Mike!!

Oops! File attachment troubles again! Will post the image and link to it instead....be right back!

There we go....
---Maya

**Crow Haven** · 27 March 2005, 05:59 PM

This portrait of V3 was done using Mike Bailey's light set which he kindly allowed use of. Thanks Mike!!

Oops! File attachment troubles again! Will post the image and link to it instead....be right back!

There we go....
---Maya

**Mike S** · 27 March 2005, 06:49 PM

Wow Maya that is Great! Is that a self portrait?

**Crow Haven** · 27 March 2005, 07:26 PM

Thanks Mike.S! (gotta keep the Mikes straight

) glad you like this one, but no this isn't a portrait of myself...except maybe a bit in spirit as I love the colors of the Southwest and its cultures.

---Maya

**OklaEd** · 27 March 2005, 08:19 PM

Hi Maya,
Great stuff ... the textures (especially skin) are getting sooo realistic. I have a stupid question. How much control do you have over the model? Could you actually make this model look like yourself with enough work? (You can tell I'm a total novice at 3D ... but I've seen Mike Bailey do some incredible stuff).

Just curious.

**Turan** · 28 March 2005, 01:44 AM

Mind blowing once again - it's like watching a race. First one takes the lead and then another - the heart races to see who will take the lead next, knowing all the time that every one is a winner!

Don't know where you get the time but keep it up.

Turan

**Crow Haven** · 28 March 2005, 10:17 AM

Thanks Ed! Because Poser gives you morphing abilities -- a set of head morphs allows you to change and adjust so much that, yes, it is probably possible to come quite close to modeling your own features especially when you consider there is also a face room wherein you can use photographs of your face from different angles to form a texture to go with this -- actually I think John made one of himself a while back trying it out. You also have templates that go with the models so you can paint them or use photographic textures you put together yourself for whatever coloring you'd like. (I have even combined textures from different sets -- this girl here is an example of 2 different texture sets and also some facial morphing.) You can map everything your own way with painting or photography, and many people just do textures to sell for current models -- they often work well on morphed features too. The face and body morphs you make can be saved and then you can add expressions which you can also change by dialing the features up/down, left/right or depthwise also and save these. It's really nice because the morphs can be instantly returned to their original look if you want too...so you can see where this would also be great for animating a figure, a real time saver being able to instantly adjust models and their clothing and all other objects in a scene like that. Everything is ready to go for animating -- there is also an add-on app called Mimic which animates the facial features coordinated with speech!

When it comes to human figures especially, Poser is a powerhouse and being used more and more in the film industry too. When you purchase models to use, and textures, you are buying a license with them for their use. You can do what you want from there in making your artworks and selling them, as long as you don't actually sell/redistribute the original models (their mesh designs) made by someone else as being yours. Works out very well. You can think of the basic models as tools, just as the 3D or 2D app is a tool which you have purchased a license to use.

You can also, through direct manipulation of the models as in other 3D apps, change their meshes and model things that way, or start from scratch. You can view any model made in Poser in it's wireframe, I'm sure many others have studied these models in this way then taken to modeling similar models in other apps...but there are many features in Poser you would have to pay a huge price for as add-ons in other apps when it comes to animating these models in other apps.

For the price and what it offers Poser is an incredible deal. A lot of the still images created out there for scifi and fantasy digital works have Poser figures incorporated. It allows for fairly quick realization of your imaginings for scenes, etc. You can do anything with them from there -- even turn the 3D scenes into 2D paintings if you wish. There is a sketch feature also in Poser.
For a low-end 3D app it's incredibly fun and even more powerful now in Poser6 with more lighting options and handling of shadows realistically.

The bottom line, imo, if I could ONLY have just ONE PURCHASED 3D app, considering its versatility and results with it, I would choose Poser. If you want to do basic modelling to add more objects then there are several free 3D modeling apps which would fit the bill...and for a free terrain creator you could use Terragen, and Poser allows you to import items made with them into it for use.

Thanks too, Turan!

Where do I get the time? I have to steal it for myself or I wouldn't have any at all.

Thanks again everyone -- and Mike's light set also is responsible for bringing her to life.

---Maya

**Soquili** · 28 March 2005, 05:23 PM

Awsome image, Maya. The textures are so real.

**Crow Haven** · 28 March 2005, 07:30 PM

Thanks so much Soquili! Yes, I also really do like how she turned out and how the skin looks -- I credit Mike's lights a lot for it too, it is a set which hasn't harsh shadows, fully illuminates a face or figure and you can get either a very soft matte look to the skin or a bit of sheen just with a bit of contrast which can make the skin textures really pop into life. It works with the P4 renderer beautifully -- that's what I used here instead of the firefly P5 renderer and I think it proves itself admirably in showing skin textures with a luminous quality and coloring. (Mike you ought to package this set for sale!)

Thanks again for giving this a look Soquili!

---Maya