There's some really good information resting within the old Smith Micro Poser Forum posts, in particular a very succinct weight mapping tutorial by Teyon Alexander. Tons of information about Superfly, etc. The Poser documentation is thorough but honestly just not enough. Not to mention it seems like many of the people that were once "poser gurus" have just... disappeared. Or became disillusioned. Or whatever.

My question is how long are those old Smith Micro threads going to be around? Hate to say it but many of the videos and tutorials that cover the lesser discussed facets of Poser just aren't available anymore and features like animated joint centers and weight mapping don't seem to be covered anywhere, at least not in depth on a demonstrational level. Not a very good indication. It's the RDNA forum thing all over again.

Users shouldn't have to appeal to cliques or in crowds on forums and such in order to learn this stuff, nor should they stumble around in the dark. Perhaps not a popular thing to say but objectively the truth. In the past there were books such as the 'Poser Revealed' series that expounded on different versions features, a sort of extended reference manual. Now there's not even that.

I've been away. Can someone tell me what happened?

I was on that forum...a lot. lol

I agree that there is a lot of info that is not in the manual..things that make for better renders and such that you HAVE to find out from a fellow Poser user on a forum.

Most of the "gurus" still post here. Honestly, the only one I don't hear from that often anymore is Vilters.

There's more to this story than meets the eye. There isn't a sudden exodus/disappearance of long time power users and forum characters like there seems to have been for no reason. By the same token I don't go to any other Poser forum sooo... I can eavesdrop on the Superfly info, that's plentiful. No biggie. Rigging and .cr2 stuff that's occurred since Poser 9? Virtually non existent.

I kinda miss Vilters. Wonder what happened?

People were shitty to him.

Yeah. I recall. He was always sort of standoffish to me. He was pretty passionate about Poser though, very knowledgeable. He did have a tendency to lecture. Still in all, he was a fixture... He pulled all his tutorials off youtube. Regrettable.

I notice that miss nancy, laurieA, and Rokket aren't around anymore either. But maybe they went over to hivewire. And not a sign of Zevo and all those argumentative Daz guys... Rendo must have stamped all that out. Man there was some vitriol flying back then.

Anyway...

EldritchCellar posted at 5:13AM Tue, 07 April 2020 - #4385627

Yeah. I recall. He was always sort of standoffish to me. He was pretty passionate about Poser though, very knowledgeable. He did have a tendency to lecture. Still in all, he was a fixture... He pulled all his tutorials off youtube. Regrettable.

I notice that miss nancy, laurieA, and Rokket aren't around anymore either. But maybe they went over to hivewire. And not a sign of Zevo and all those argumentative Daz guys... Rendo must have stamped all that out. Man there was some vitriol flying back then.

Anyway...

They still post in here occasionally. Rokket too, but I think he's on a ship somewhere.

I'm friends with Teyon on facebook ... I could ask him to post some of his tips and such here if you like.

Rokket spends much of his time at sea on a freighter, I believe. Quarantines may have affected his normal routine.

Boni posted at 5:26PM Tue, 07 April 2020 - #4385639

I'm friends with Teyon on facebook ... I could ask him to post some of his tips and such here if you like.

That's not necessary Boni but thank you. Though it would certainly be of great interest. I've saved alot of his posts on the subject. One of his posts here years and years ago actually taught me how to properly rig eyes :) He was always really helpful about that stuff and the weight mapping tutorial he posted is pretty good.

It's really only the more recent set up room and figure creation features that seem to have tutorials in short supply. I have legacy style sphericaI falloff weighting down pat, as that subject is covered thoroughly through various resources over the years.

I recall there used to be videos, Smith Micro Seminars, hosted by Nerd, that frequently covered some of the more obscure recent features. I Can't seem to find those anymore, would like to track those down.

hborre posted at 5:50PM Tue, 07 April 2020 - #4385657

Rokket spends much of his time at sea on a freighter, I believe. Quarantines may have affected his normal routine.

Oh yeah. He's a Merchant Marine I believe. Totally forgot about that... I used to enjoy his Super Hero related threads, usually some good conversations with him there.

EldritchCellar posted at 7:57PM Tue, 07 April 2020 - #4385677

Boni posted at 5:26PM Tue, 07 April 2020 - #4385639

I'm friends with Teyon on facebook ... I could ask him to post some of his tips and such here if you like.

That's not necessary Boni but thank you. Though it would certainly be of great interest. I've saved alot of his posts on the subject. One of his posts here years and years ago actually taught me how to properly rig eyes :) He was always really helpful about that stuff and the weight mapping tutorial he posted is pretty good.

It's really only the more recent set up room and figure creation features that seem to have tutorials in short supply. I have legacy style sphericaI falloff weighting down pat, as that subject is covered thoroughly through various resources over the years.

I recall there used to be videos, Smith Micro Seminars, hosted by Nerd, that frequently covered some of the more obscure recent features. I Can't seem to find those anymore, would like to track those down.

Anything, Smith Micro related to Poser was taken down by Smith Micro unless it was used as tool with another of their products. Renderosity was supposed to post the videos on their channel, but never did AFAIK. However, you can still watch the Renderosity Poser tutorials here .

Hi EClark I've watched them. They're not quite the level of depth that the seminar ones were. That's not an insult to Rendo or anything, they're nicely done. And they're useful. Mark Bremmer was very helpful on the Carrara forum. I just recall that those ones with Nerd were very... I don't know how to describe it... informally noodley? Lol. Sort of a frustrating shame that stuff is gone. Thanks for the link though.

...back to sculpting fangs for my Orc morph for V4... haven't had much time for my hobbies, work is really busy. Sigh.

@ Eldritch, Looking at the sculpting tools ,in your Autodesk Mudbox Screen cap, I see alot of brushes similar to the new sculpting tools in Blender 2.8xx.

How would you say they compare??? as you obviously have both programs.

I am still more of an old school "tweak the cage" box modeler myself (see attached pics of recent work)

Loving Modeling,and everything else, in Blender 2.8x though and have dispassionately Dumped my Decrepid Maxon C4D completely for Blender, Now that My Marvel fan film,"Galactus Rising", is finally finished and out in the wild.?

Tony Vilters was a big Blender fan IIRC.

Hi wolf359. I'd say Blender could easily replace Mudbox if it came to that. I find Mudbox more responsive and aesthetically pleasing to use though. I know that's a subjective answer.

I use wings3D for box modeling, I've been using it since I first got into 3d modeling and it's an old friend... I use wings falloff magnets almost as much as sculpting tools in other apps for morphs or deformations, it's very precise. more recent versions aren't as stable as older versions though, at least that's how it seems to me. I'm a little worried about it's future, it'll be a sad day if it falls into obsolescence.

Yes, I recall vilters was really into Blender. I also recall that prior to Blender he was a Hexagon user...

This was constructed in Wings and rendered in Poser...

Great image and model but it's crying out for subdivision!

Lol. I rendered with smoothing disabled on those parts deliberately. I think I messed about with crease angle too. So it's intentional.

If I were to subdivide that model my computer would have exploded lol. Not to mention I had to render it in pieces just to get the render to finish. It was causing my computer to run out of memory mid render... I did that image on a PowerPC Mac, about 15 years old, maybe older. Kaput now... rest in peace.

Not much in the way of control edges on the pipes, hence poly economy, rendering with smoothing in poser would have caused major render artifacts. I think that's one of the reasons why I rendered it the way I did.

Imagine having to rig all those little pipes

CHK2033 posted at 6:25PM Wed, 08 April 2020 - #4385748

Imagine having to rig all those little pipes

Yikes lol

Rigging these tentacles near about did me in... no thanks.

I bet.. I like rigging , but then always end up regretting I did whatever it was that needed so many damn bones..smh

That thing above, Cthog, desperately needs SSS... on my to do list. That was before SSS in Poser. So many new toys...

CHK2033 posted at 6:37PM Wed, 08 April 2020 - #4385751

I bet.. I like rigging , but then always end up regretting I did whatever it was that needed so many damn bones..smh

It's a magical power feeling though when the figure comes together and is complete. My favorite thing about Poser...

EldritchCellar posted at 11:56PM Wed, 08 April 2020 - #4385750

Rigging these tentacles near about did me in... no thanks.

Maybe I shouldn't have looked through this thread JUST before going to bed :(

ypvs posted at 7:03PM Wed, 08 April 2020 - #4385754

EldritchCellar posted at 11:56PM Wed, 08 April 2020 - #4385750

Rigging these tentacles near about did me in... no thanks.

Maybe I shouldn't have looked through this thread JUST before going to bed :(

Lol. My work is done here...

My guy is already rigged and being animated to render in EEVEE ?

https://youtu.be/pFY2tXDPTww

Congrats wolf359. I was always a great admirer of Galactus.

Thanks. ? Check your PM's

I never was. Galactus was almost the always the stupidest comic book villain there ever was. Overpowered like you couldn't believe, but always easily stopped by the Fantastic Four. And amazingly, as far I know at least, the Avengers never really took him on. I just don't understand that.

Well. I like the sort of tragic back story with the big G, the herald stuff. Plus KIRBY, c' mon...

EClark1894 posted at 7:30AM Thu, 09 April 2020 - #4385788

I never was. Galactus was almost the always the stupidest comic book villain there ever was. Overpowered like you couldn't believe, but always easily stopped by the Fantastic Four. And amazingly, as far I know at least, the Avengers never really took him on. I just don't understand that.

Hater. ?

https://youtu.be/oHFE7dbIOd4

Still my favorite though. Back to work...

Nice Artwork.