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Poser Pro
Pack
at a Glance
Maker:
Curious Labs
Price: $149 (requires Poser 4, not included)
Platforms: Macintosh and Windows
Demo Available: No
URL: http://www.curiouslabs
.com
Overall
Impression: The Pro Pack, like Poser 4 itself, has
a slick interface that makes working in it a snap. The
features are robust, though support for models with very
high polygon counts isn't really there. Nevertheless,
this is a great tool for graphic designers who need to
create animations in Flash (or other formats).
Key
Benefits: The Pro Pack expands Poser 4 well beyond
its previous role as a ... well, pose maker for predefined
3D characters into the realm of versatile 3D animation
tools. Its "Setup Room" allows you to add bones
to models created in just about any 3D program with extreme
ease and lets you export to a broad variety of formats,
including Flash. These exports can be rendered in a number
of styles, from cartoon shading to texture-mapped images.
Disappointments:
I was put off a bit by the slowness I encountered when
working with my own 3D model that had a very high polygon
count. I didn't expect it to be speedy, but working with
my model in the Setup Room proved to be seriously time-consuming.
With lower-count models, including the ones that come
with Poser 4 and the Pro Pack, the process is quite quick.
Recommendation:
Strong Buy
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Curious
Labs Poser Pro Pack
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For the
most part, the speed of Poser is also pretty impressive, both
in terms of the interface and output. If you import your own
models with high polygons, however, you will see some serious
slowdown, regardless of the type of display you're using (wireframe,
cartoon, shaded, etc.). This is my only gripe about the Pro
Pack because one of its big selling points is that you can bring
in your own models and add bones to them; but, if you bring
in detailed models, the process can become cumbersome. The program
can even become bogged down in screen redraw, which can cause
bones to be placed in the wrong area.
One of the
other major selling points of Poser is its ability to create
animations very easily. And in this area the program excels.
To create an animation, you can simply move parts of an object
around and add a keyframe. Move forward in the timeline, change
a position or camera angle, and Poser handles everything in
between for you. You can also select animations from a modest
library of moves, as well as a couple of libraries for designing
walks for your characters.
Poser 4's Sketch Designer allows you to customize the appearance
of your output to resemble hand-drawn sketches.
In terms
of output, you couldn't really consider Poser to have a terribly
sophisticated render engine. But it compensates for this with
a few pretty useful output options. For example, it does a really
nice job with cartoon shading, allowing to to select the number
of colors for larger or smaller files and even for creating
duotone, tritone and quadtone effects. It also has a "Sketch
Designer," which allows you to render in one of several
preset sketch styles or styles that you've created yourself.
The presets include things like soft charcoal, pastel, pencil
and even pencil and ink. Unfortunately, you can't render sketches
as Flash animations, but you can output them as QuickTime files.
The reason for this is that each stroke is drawn individually
and differently on every frame, creating a look that suggests
hand drawing.
The bottom
line
The Pro Pack is an essential expansion set for Poser 4. The
functionality it adds to Poser not only enhances the program,
but really turns it into a whole new tool—one that will
undoubtedly benefit designers who need to create character animations
in Flash. Couple it with a competent modeling tool, and you
have just that. Personally, I think the combination of Amorphium
Pro for modeling and Poser with the Pro Pack for animation
would be tough to beat for price and performance for designers
looking to make the transition from 2D to 3D for the Web. I
give the Poser Pro Pack a strong buy recommendation.
The Poser
Pro Pack is available for Macintosh and Windows for $149. It
requires Poser 4, which is available for $219. (Upgrades from
Poser 1, 2 or 3 cost $99.) For more information, visit http://www.curiouslabs.com.
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