My tips and advice for using Metacreations Poser. Part 1

Lots of pro's & semi pro's poo-poo Poser. True it's renderer is rather basic, it's interface odd but these can be adapted to. The main criticism for me is the number of unlabelled buttons. Why do we have to wait for the tool-tips to pop up - the buttons should be labelled in the first place. Bryce is even worse in this respect.

Poser is an animation tool. Use it to learn the craft of animation. If you want real quality, then get the Poser Pro Pack then you can export to your fave renderer - Lightwave or Max (at the time of writing). Also seriously consider compositing. Many video editors will allow poser generated matte channels to controll posting poser video footage over scenes rendered elsewhere.

This is an area that Bryce could be considered for if you are willing to spend time match lighting in Poser with extra fill-lights.

This set of tips is intended to supplement the manual and fill in to some extent, the lack of working practice needed to put the tools to relevant use.

User Speed

I suspect this is what the trends term "workflow" means in the CG press. Learn techniques that reduce the time spent using the interface and more time "on task" - thinking around your animation. This is the key to not getting confused.

Keyshorts
Learn the keyboard shortcuts; sadly the current versions of poser do not allow customisation which is a pain for users of other software who want to rationalise the shortcuts used in different packages. Other software can be customised to suit posers keyshorts, which may be worthwhile if you use both packages in a lot.

Named actors
Give your actors, props lights and the rest relevant names. If you work with figure 1, figure 2 etc. then expect some confusion sooner of later. Make sure you name the lights as well (under properties) with names such as "Sunlight, Fill light, Rim light"

User Interface
Make good use of the User Interface "Dots". These are pre-sets for your screen layout. It is the quickest way to change views & move your palettes out of the way at the same time.

Preferences
In Poser they are not set in the usual way. The dialog box for this has only a few buttons. However, if you set the parameters in the interface for your work , then you can "SET PREFERRED STATE" in preferences. For example, if in Europe, then set the frame rate to 25fps, and go for a reasonable clip length, like 100 frames (4 seconds) for a typical clip.

Eye targets:
 place an object in the scene which is to be out of view.
Name it "Eye target" in the properties for that object. I normally use a cube.
Select each eye in turn & use the -
Figure>point at command.
Choose from the list "eye target"
Make sure that the parameter "point at" is set to 100%, otherwise the eyes stay pointing where they are- then this rig has no effect.

Now when animating you never get that ridiculous effect where the eyes don't look in the right direction. Also both eyeballs converge on the right distance depending on what you are doing.

Animation

This is the tricky bit. This is the area the pro's get wrong sometimes. My main tip here is to maximise your mental agility when you are animating. Make sure you are not tired, you have enough to eat (avoid fatty/high protein ) foods. No one is to distract you, but take breaks in line with your concentration span. then it's down to meticulous planning, observation and acting it out in your work-room. You'll look stupid, but your animations won't.

Sketchbook
Good if you can at least draw decent stick men. Personally I prefer to draw with ellipses making up the figure. Make the joints clear (with a circle), and various reference lines may help such as an horizon line, or a path for the motion (top & bottom to envelope the whole figure).

Dont forget- it's shift-click to get rid of a preset dot.

Poses library.
Make use of the Pose library when assembling a sequence. Used in conjunction with the animation palette (ctrl/shift+V) you can rough out your animation and adjust the timing after watching the results. The Pose Dots may have been intended for This role, but I can never remember what poses I've put in which Dot.

Spline curves:
sometimes when you add new keyframes for the object, parameters spring way out of position elsewhere on the timeline. Watch out for This Check the graph editor ctrl/shift-G and pan back & forth on the timeline for bowed out interpolation.

Break spline : USE THEM !! For example where a foot is placed on the floor, use the break spline to keep the foot from attempting to push below the floor for example. Only when walking on snow does the foot slide backwards- otherwise - break-spline.

Notice in the above examples, the second one has a keyframe set close to at f35, This has swept the curve way out of line at frame 40 and before frame 33. The solution was to break the spline at frame 34

Inverse Kinematics:
Try to keep the IK targets near the extreme of the limb concerned. This gives a more natural movement & avoids strange twisting further up the IK chain. Below is the IK end effector some distance from the limb. Keep it as close as possible, ideally you should try to hide the end effector altogether- it will flash as a white cube at moments of stress when you click play preview..