poser 3: importing realistic figures into other programs

Now that the dust has settled from the merger of Fractal Designs and MetaTools, the emergent company, MetaCreations, is striving to make all of their 3D programs work in harmony with one another. Take for example the new figure creation and animation tool, Poser 3. Objects created in Poser 3 can be exported for inclusion with scenes created in Bryce 3D and Ray Dream Studio 5.02.

importing a poser 3 figure into a bryce scene
When MetaCreations created Bryce 3D, they added the ability to import 3D objects in the WaveFront .obj format. Objects created in the .obj format enable the 3D artist to create a detailed image map in a program such as Detailer or Painter 3D, apply it to the 3D model, import it into another program, and apply the image map with all coordinates aligning perfectly. Poser 3 objects can be exported in the .obj format, thus enabling the 3D artist to add realistic detailed figures to any 3D program supporting the .obj format.

To create the Bryce scene with the prowling raptors, Poser 3 was launched. From the Figures menu, Animals was chosen and the Raptor preset was loaded. Once you have a figure loaded in Poser 3, you can select a body part and modify its position. Poser 3's Inverse Kinematics links are related body parts as part of a hierarchy, which means that moving one body part will cause realignment of an attached body part. For example, latching onto the last segment of the Raptor's tail and pulling it causes the entire tail to move.

To prepare figures for our Raptor scene, the preset model was manipulated and exported in the .obj format. As animals don't march in formation like soldiers, different iterations of the model were created and exported in .obj format.

To finish the scene, Bryce 3D was opened and a Raptor figure was imported using the Import Object option from the File menu. Poser 3 figures are very detailed, therefore high in polygon count. Depending on the speed of your computer, you'll have time to fix a drink, do the dishes, or listen to a Beethoven symphony while the figure imports. Once the Raptor object is in the scene, selecting the "E" button to the right of the model opens a sub-menu allowing you to "Edit The Mesh". After Smoothing The Mesh, it's time to apply our texture map.

To apply a material to the Raptor, click on the "M" button to open the Bryce Materials Lab. Once inside the Materials Lab, load a texture by selecting one of the empty dots in column A. Select the Image Texture button to load the Leo figure which enables you to apply an Image Texture. Select the button atop the golden Leo figure to open the Texture Source Editor. A new window opens which allowing the "Raptor Texture" to be imported from the Poser 3 Textures folder. Close the Load Pictures window by clicking the check mark. The Materials Lab window will reopen. Click the Check Mark to apply the material to the Raptor. The finished render shows the Image Map aligned perfectly with the Raptor's coordinates.

The scene was finished by importing the other Raptor models and applying the textures as outlined above. Add a few mountains, a river, a tree and a brooding sky to create your own version of Jurassic Park.

poser 3 and ray dream studio
In addition to producing a highly detailed figure, Poser 3 can also produce animations. In fact Poser 3 can produce incredibly realistic animations thanks to its ability to import Motion Capture files in the .bvh format.

To start an animation, launch Poser 3 and select one of the preset figures. In this case the Casual Woman preset was selected and a hairpiece was applied. A new tool to Poser 3 is the Paint Bucket which enables the 3D artist to change to colors of the model. For this tutorial the model's clothing, hair, and skin colors were modified. To animate the model, a .BVH motion file was imported. At this point a background could have been imported and the animation could have been rendered in Poser 3. But thanks to a Poser plug-in for Ray Dream Studio 5.02, the complete animation file can be imported into Ray Dream Studio and rendered there, taking advantage of Ray Dream's sophisticated camera and lighting controls to create a sophisticated animation.

The tutorial animation was saved as a .PZ3, Poser 3 file, Poser 3 was closed and Ray Dream Studio 5.02 was opened. The Poser 3 plug in gives Ray Dream Studio 5.02 the ability to import Poser files complete with texture and all animation key frames. The animation file was imported into Ray Dream and aligned in the center of the studio using the Properties window to set the X,Y, and Z coordinates to 0. The file imported into Ray Dream Studio complete with the Poser camera and light settings. These were deleted before proceeding. Imported Poser files are very large. The tutorial file was resized to 50% of its original dimensions and rotated 180 degrees, which left the figure facing the looking straight at the left preset camera position. To complete the animation, three lights were added and aimed at the Poser model. The timeline was lengthened to accommodate all frames from the Poser file. Key frames were added to change camera and light settings at critical points during the animation. A floor was added, textured, and aligned to the bottom of the Poser scene. Additional walls or objects could have been added to the scene at this point. For the purpose of the tutorial animation, a colored backdrop was added and the scene was rendered using the Adaptive Renderer at its best settings.

Click here to download the movie created in AVI format.


Doug Sahlin is a writer, freelance graphic illustrator, and digital artist living in Lakeland, Fla.  You can E-Mail Doug at das001@earthlink.net or visit his Web site, Doug's Digital Domain at home.earthlink.net/~das001/.


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