Content library
On the right hand side of the Poser 7 interface are the Content Libraries. It's here that you can select or change figures, pose, hair, hand poses, facial expression, lights and cameras. So you can select whatever figure that you want from an extensive library, add some cloths and set up a pose with just a few mouse clicks. You then export the figure out to C4D to use in your scene. You can of course render out the figure in Poser 7 itself. And if this content isn't enough there's probably more resources for Poser available on the Internet than for any other software program. Some free. If you're like me and get the 3DWorld magazine, there's often top quality Poser Characters, clothing etc included on the magazine CD for free. Poser allows you to add this external content to your content libraries. This then allows you to visually select props and clothes. Using them is pretty easy and I'll show you how shortly. The image below shows what the libraries look like. Using them is very easy and I think MAXON could learn a thing or too from the way Poser libraries work as the CINEMA 4D Content Browser is too hard for some people . The easiest way to add / use something is to double click on the image. In the image I've expanded the library from the default so that you can see both the images and the content sections. Normally the content library takes up less room as per the image in the Interface section of the review.
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Content library |
The Add to library button allows you to your figure, prop etc in whatever it's current state is into the library. You can then use this again. You can even add animations / walk cycles to the library for later use.
The Content Library is really easy to use and it takes just a few clicks to load a up some of the presets to create the character below. The easiest way to show how to do this is by a short 3 minute video.
Click here to watch a 3min 38sec 6mb streaming Flash format video or click here to download a zipped version for offline / repeat viewing (6mb)
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Using the Content Library |
I'll show you later how to get the character into C4D.
Just by using the presets you can generate animations. All you have to do is advance the frame number and change a pose, facial expression etc. Here's a quick Preview Animation made by just using the expression presets for the James character. Preview renders like this are quick to generate like they are in C4D.
Animation generated by facial expression presets |
As mentioned, Poser 7 comes with a lot of content. Below is just a taste of what you get.
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Some of the figures from the Content Library |
There are thousands of included poses. You get full body poses, hand poses, facial expressions. Here's a few of the full body poses from the more than 100 poses for the James figure.
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Some of the poses for the James figure |