Practical poser 6

Practical Poser 6 teaches Poser artists the tasks you want, and need, to learn so that you can get up to speed quickly and achieve your best results. Whether you're a hobbyist or professional, you'll learn how to create Poser scenes, how to add realism to your Poser characters, and even how to make your own Poser clothing. You'll learn practical, real-world tasks that will help you reach your goals and, most important, you'll have fun learning. In the first part of the book you'll get a quick overview and review of what you need to know in the Pose Room, starting with the Poser 6 interface and progressing, in a logical manner, to building scenes. You'll also learn how to use lights and cameras, and how to create and save your own light and camera sets to the Poser library. From there, you'll learn a plethora of practical skills including how to: * Work in the other Poser rooms * Prepare photographs in the Face Room and create and save custom faces * Use the Hair Room to add hair to Poser clothing or props, and how to pick up hair colors from underlying textures * Work with various types of Poser clothing, and learn the differences between conforming clothing and dynamic clothing * Decipher materials in the advanced Material Room view * Create and customize Poser clothing * Use magnets to create morphs in Poser * Export and import morphs to and from an external morphing program * Model a simple piece of clothing, create UV maps for common clothing articles (shirts, skirts, and pants), assign materials in clothing, and group them correctly * Save different types of Poser content into the Poser libraries so that they work properly * Enhance your Poser renders so that they look their best by learning how the render engine works

Reviews 1

Library Journal Review

Poser allows users to create 3-D animations of human characters, or avatars. For beginning to intermediate users, Practical Poser 6 walks users through topics from work space basics to hair and clothing to rendering; step-by-step tutorials throughout help with self-study. Its CD contains tutorial files, sample Poser figures, textures, materials, demos, and images; an appendix contains a handy FAQ. Unfortunately, the book is printed in black and white (with only a color insert), when it would have benefited from color throughout. Some screen shots are fairly dark, which obscures detail. Still, the content is useful. Appropriate for larger libraries. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Preface	p. xix
Chapter 1 Poser 6 Overview	p. 1
The Poser Workspace	p. 2
The Poser Libraries	p. 4
Undocking and Resizing the Library Palette	p. 4
The Figures Library	p. 5
The Poses Library	p. 6
The Expression Library	p. 8
The Hair Library	p. 9
The Hands Library	p. 10
The Props Library	p. 10
The Lights Library	p. 13
The Cameras Library	p. 14
The Materials Library	p. 15
Tutorial 1.1 Customizing Your Interface and Document Window	p. 16
An Overview of the Other Poser Rooms	p. 20
The Material Room	p. 20
The Face Room	p. 21
The Hair Room	p. 21
The Cloth Room	p. 23
The Setup Room	p. 24
The Content Room (Content Paradise)	p. 24
Conclusion	p. 25
Chapter 2 Using Third-Party Content	p. 27
Where You Can Find Content	p. 28
Content Paradise	p. 28
Other Poser Sites	p. 28
Poser Library File Types and Where to Find Them	p. 33
Maintaining Your Libraries	p. 35
Tutorial 2.1 Creating Runtime Folders on Your Hard Disk	p. 36
Tutorial 2.2 Adding a New Runtime Folder to the Poser Libraries	p. 37
Tutorial 2.3 Installing DAZ Poser Content	p. 39
Installing Poser Content from ZIP Files	p. 40
Conclusion	p. 40
Chapter 3 Building Scenes	p. 41
Tutorial 3.1 Replacing and Renaming-Figures	p. 42
Tutorial 3.2 Turning Inverse Kinematics (IK) Off	p. 45
Tutorial 3.3 Using Python to "Zero" a Figure	p. 47
Tutorial 3.4 Adding Conforming Clothing and Hair	p. 49
Tutorial 3.5 Applying and Balancing Library Poses	p. 52
Posing Controls and Parameter Dials	p. 54
Improving Poses	p. 55
Using Figure Limits	p. 58
Using Inverse Kinematics	p. 58
Preventing Accidental Changes	p. 60
Faces and Eyes are Poseable	p. 61
Hands Can Be Expressive	p. 62
Adding Scenery	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 69
Chapter 4 Using Cameras	p. 71
Camera Overview	p. 72
Tutorial 4.1 Using and Selecting Multiple Camera Views	p. 74
Using the Camera Controls	p. 76
Tutorial 4.2 Adjusting Cameras	p. 77
Tutorial 4.3 Creating and Saving Cameras	p. 82
Tutorial 4.4 Pointing and Parenting Cameras and Objects	p. 86
Conclusion	p. 88
Chapter 5 Mastering Lights and Shadows	p. 89
An Overview of Lighting	p. 90
Poser 6 Light Types	p. 90
Poser 6 Shadow Types	p. 91
Lighting Controls	p. 93
Light Parameters and Properties	p. 95
Tutorial 5.1 Deleting Lights	p. 96
Tutorial 5.2 Creating Three-Point Studio Lighting	p. 98
Creating the Key Light	p. 99
Creating the Fill Light	p. 101
Creating the Back Light	p. 104
Saving the Light Set	p. 107
Tutorial 5.3 Using Shadow Light Cameras	p. 108
Tutorial 5.4 Using Photos and Image-Based Lighting	p. 110
Adding a Photo Background	p. 112
Matching the Render Dimensions to the Photo	p. 113
Positioning the Camera	p. 114
Creating and Placing the Image-Based Light	p. 116
Conclusion	p. 118
Chapter 6 Creating Custom Faces	p. 119
Face Room Overview	p. 120
Photo Lineup	p. 121
Tutorial 6.1 Preparing Your Photos	p. 122
Texture Variation	p. 127
Tutorial 6.2 Matching Ethnic Textures to the Body	p. 128
Face Sculpting and Face Shaping Tool	p. 131
Texture Preview	p. 133
Action Buttons	p. 135
Tutorial 6.3 Saving Multiple Faces in One Figure	p. 137
Tutorial 6.4 Randomizing Faces for Third-Party Figures	p. 139
Conclusion	p. 141
Chapter 7 Working with Poser Hair	p. 143
Types of Poser Hair	p. 144
Tutorial 7.1 Using Prop Hair	p. 145
Conforming Hair Revisited	p. 147
Styling Prop and Conforming Hair	p. 149
Dynamic Hair	p. 151
Basic Steps for Dynamic Hair	p. 151
Area 1 Hair Growth Groups	p. 152
Area 2 Growth Controls	p. 153
Area 3 Styling Controls	p. 153
Area 4 Dynamics Controls	p. 154
Tutorial 7.2 Creating a Fur Coat	p. 155
Creating the Hair Groups	p. 155
Adding the Hair	p. 157
Changing the Hair Material	p. 159
Tutorial 7.3 Creating A Feathered Quill Pen	p. 161
Conclusion	p. 165
Chapter 8 Working with Poser Clothing	p. 167
Types of Poser Clothing	p. 168
Conforming Clothing	p. 168
Dynamic Clothing	p. 168
Props and Smart Props	p. 170
Common Clothing Problems	p. 171
Clothing Doesn't Conform Correctly	p. 172
Fixing Poke-throughs	p. 173
When Body Shapes are Different	p. 175
Posing Skirts	p. 177
Using Body Handles	p. 178
Posing Shoes	p. 179
Clothing Doesn't Load from the Library	p. 181
MAT Poses Don't Load Textures Properly	p. 183
Cloth Room Overview	p. 184
Creating and Saving Dynamic Clothing	p. 187
Tutorial 8.1 Loading the Content	p. 187
Tutorial 8.2 Adding the Materials	p. 189
Tutorial 8.3 Creating Multiple Simulations	p. 194
Tutorial 8.4 Calculating Multiple Simulations	p. 198
Conclusion	p. 201
Chapter 9 Assigning and Creating Materials	p. 203
Material Room Views	p. 207
The Simple Material View	p. 208
The Advanced Material View	p. 215
The Anatomy of Nodes	p. 218
Using Nodes	p. 220
Customizing Materials	p. 223
Tutorial 9.1 How to "Read" the Hair Shader and Reduce Complexity	p. 224
Reviewing the Diffuse Color	p. 225
Reviewing the Bump Channel	p. 225
Reviewing the Transparency Channel	p. 225
Reviewing the Specular and Alternate Specular Channels	p. 226
Reducing Complexity	p. 227
Tutorial 9.2 Reducing the Eye Highlights	p. 228
Tutorial 9.3 Improving the Head Materials	p. 230
Tutorial 9.4 Matching the Body Materials	p. 232
Tutorial 9.5 Creating Nice Teeth	p. 234
Tutorial 9.6 Fixing the Shirt	p. 236
Tutorial 9.7 Improving the Background Texture	p. 237
Conclusion	p. 240
Chapter 10 Creating Custom Morphs	p. 241
What are Morphs?	p. 242
The Anatomy of a Morph	p. 243
Creating Morphs in Poser	p. 244
Tutorial 10.1 Creating Morphs with Poser Magnets	p. 245
Tutorial 10.2 Saving a Magnet	p. 249
Tutorial 10.3 Mirroring a Magnet	p. 250
Tutorial 10.4 Spawning a Single Morph Target	p. 252
Tutorial 10.5 One Magnet Affects Multiple Body Parts	p. 253
Tutorial 10.6 Creating Full Body Morphs	p. 258
Creating Full Body Morphs with ZBrush	p. 260
Tutorial 10.7 Importing into Zbrush	p. 261
Tutorial 10.8 Importing a Morphed Figure into Poser	p. 265
Tutorial 10.9 Spawning Multiple Morph Targets	p. 265
Tutorial 10.10 Exporting Body Parts	p. 267
Tutorial 10.11 Importing Morphs to Your Figure	p. 271
Distributing Morphs	p. 273
Avoiding Problems	p. 274
Conclusion	p. 275
Chapter 11 Creating Your Own Image-Based Textures	p. 277
Maps in General	p. 278
Texture Mapping	p. 278
Image Map Templates	p. 279
Texture Map	p. 280
Bump Map	p. 280
Displacement Map	p. 281
Reflection Map	p. 283
Transparency Maps	p. 284
Creating Your Own Maps	p. 285
Image-Based or Photorealistic Textures	p. 289
Painting Your Own Textures	p. 294
Scanning	p. 298
Seamless Tiles as Material Textures	p. 298
File Types	p. 302
Lossless File Formats	p. 302
LZW Compression	p. 303
Lossy File Formats	p. 304
Copyrights	p. 308
Fair Use	p. 308
Not-For-Profit and Personal Use	p. 309
Derivative Works	p. 310
What Copyrights Mean to You	p. 310
Conclusion	p. 311
Chapter 12 Modeling Your Own Content	p. 313
Popular Modeling Software	p. 314
Tutorial 12.1 Decompressing Your Figure's OBJ File	p. 315
Modeling Clothing in LightWave	p. 317
Importing the Figure	p. 317
Starting the Clothing	p. 318
Conclusion	p. 328
Chapter 13 UV Mapping	p. 329
Why You Need UV Maps	p. 330
Types of UV Maps	p. 331
Using UV Mapper Professional	p. 334
Tutorial 13.1 UV-Mapping a Skirt	p. 334
Tutorial 13.2 UV-Mapping Pants	p. 338
Tutorial 13.3 UV-Mapping a Shirt	p. 345
Making Templates	p. 351
Conclusion	p. 353
Chapter 14 Assigning Groups and Materials	p. 355
About Group Names	p. 356
Decompressing an OBZ File	p. 360
Tutorial 14.1 Grouping with Auto Group Editor	p. 361
Tutorial 14.2 Groups and Materials in UV Mapper Professional	p. 366
Tutorial 14.3 Using Poser's Group Editor	p. 371
Tutorial 14.4 Exporting an OBJ File from Poser	p. 376
Conclusion	p. 379
Chapter 15 From Modeler to Poser Library	p. 381
Importing OBJ Files	p. 383
Tutorial 15.1 Saving Props to the Library	p. 386
Tutorial 15.2 Removing Embedded Geometry from Props	p. 393
Tutorial 15.3 Fixing OBJ and Texture Paths	p. 396
Tutorial 15.4 Creating Smart Props	p. 399
Creating Conforming Clothing	p. 405
Making a CR2 File	p. 406
Removing Morphs from a CR2	p. 408
Tutorial 15.5 Using a Donor CR2	p. 410
Tutorial 15.6 Using the Setup Room	p. 413
Cleaning Up the CR2	p. 418
Conclusion	p. 422
Chapter 16 Rendering	p. 423
Fundamentals	p. 424
Raytracing	p. 424
Raytraced Reflections versus Reflection Maps	p. 425
Refraction	p. 426
Subsurface Scattering	p. 428
Aliasing	p. 428
Rendering Rules of Thumb	p. 430
Render Preview and Render Compare	p. 431
Area Render	p. 431
File Resolution-DPI-Dimensions	p. 431
File Resolution	p. 431
Resampling	p. 433
Tutorial 16.1 Setting Render Settings and Aspect Ratio	p. 434
Production Frame	p. 436
Poser 6 Rendering Environments	p. 437
The FireFly Render Engine	p. 438
Poser 4 Render Engine	p. 444
Sketch Render Engine (Sketch Designer)	p. 444
Preview Render Engine (OpenGL and SreeD)	p. 449
Rendering Animations	p. 450
Tutorial 16.2 Converting BUM Files	p. 452
Tutorial 16.3 Controlling Outlines	p. 453
Tutorial 16.4 Quick Toon Shaded Images	p. 454
Tutorial 16.5 Using Depth of Field	p. 455
Conclusion	p. 456
Chapter 17 Post Work and Other Things to Consider	p. 457
What is Post Work?	p. 458
Solutions to Common Problems	p. 459
Post Work and Compositing to the Rescue	p. 460
Helping Poser Shadows	p. 471
Poke-throughs	p. 472
Masking Help with Poser's Preview Renderer	p. 475
We Don't Need Clothing Meshes!	p. 475
Alpha Channels	p. 479
Quick Render Adjustments	p. 482
Conclusion	p. 485
Appendix A About the CD-ROM	p. 487
Folders	p. 487
Content	p. 487
Demos	p. 488
Images	p. 489
Tutorials	p. 489
System Requirements	p. 489
Windows	p. 489
Macintosh	p. 490
Installation	p. 490
Appendix B Frequently Asked Questions	p. 491
General Interface Questions	p. 491
Building Scenes	p. 492
Cameras	p. 500
Lights and Shadows	p. 503
Face Room	p. 504
Hair Room	p. 504
UV Mapping	p. 505
Materials	p. 506
Rendering	p. 509
Index	p. 513

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