Poser Pro 2012

Original Post: 31 January 2013
Posted Here: 1 December 2017

Cover Image Since I finally got around to my April 2012 issue of The Writer and I read the "Going Digital With e-Books" article, I've been thinking of trying to publish something with Smashwords. Because the document to be published needs to be a Word DOC file with specific formatting I've been thinking that I might be better off testing the waters with a short story. That way I wouldn't have so much time invested before I discovered that I hadn't done the formatting or something else correctly.

I may start by publishing a short story, "A Conversation with Gina Verucchio." The story involves an interview with a young Italian woman with a PhD in Electronics Engineering who is developing holographic quantum dot products.

One requirement for publication is a cover page in the form of a 1600 x 2400 pixel image. I thought that a picture of Gina would be a suitable graphic for the cover. Unfortunately, I can't hire someone to model for me. But many years ago I used a program called Poser 5 to create and pose 3D models of humans and other creatures. However, in the years since those picture were created, I've upgraded computers and operating systems several times and Poser 5 was lost along the way.

Fortunately, Smith Micro's Poser Pro 2012 is now available, so I shelled out about $280 (on-sale price)to Amazon.com and installed it from DVD to my computer. The cover picture that accompanies this post is the result of my fight trying to learn to use Poser Pro 2012. I think it came out pretty well in spite of all the difficulties.

The software comes with an 800-plus page PDF manual formatted only to be read on-screen, not for 8.5 x 11 paper (contrary to what they say). Printing it would waste a lot of paper. However, since I like to have printed material beside me as I try to do what I'm learning, I may have to do that anyway. Unfortunately, the manual is not a tutorial, at least, not for the beginner. The manual covers a lot of information, but finding what I want to know is not always easy. For example, one problem with modeling can be "poke through" (a term I found on the internet) which refers to skin of the model showing through his or her clothes. I've found no simple solution to this problem. The term is not even in the manual, so maybe Smith Micro calls it something else. One solution that I did discover on my own was to set an "Injection Channel" dial, "Community," to -1 for the offending body part. When I did a search on the manual to find out more about "Community" I got no hits. Same for "Injection Channel." What's a body to do?

Smith Micro's site does have a number of online tutorials available. But I didn't find any on "poke through," although I did find one elsewhere as result of an internet search. Except to let me know that a feature exists, online tutorials aren't really helpful to me. Watching someone going zip zip zip through a procedure doesn't do me much good. I need to be able to do each step, to try variations and see what happens, to be able to go back and do it again. I need written instructions for Poser Pro 2012: an "idiot's guide" or "something for dummies."

I've found books like these for most software that I use. But when I went looking for Poser books, the most recent thing I could find was for Poser 8! Nothing for Poser 9, Poser Pro 2010, or Poser Pro 2012. Perhaps this should have raised some red flags: Is anyone out there really using Poser? Is there something out there that's replaced or is in the process of replacing Poser?

Smith Micro Tech Support says "The Poser 8 Book will apply to Poser Pro 2012. The things that will be omitted are the items dealing with Weight Mapped Rigging and some of the Render Setting Changes. At this time, there is no specific third party document for Poser Pro 2012."

I'm not really sure what the situation is. Poser does have a rival: DAZ Studio from DAZ 3D. I found DAZ 3D while looking for additional figures and props ("content") for Poser. Gina Verucchio is Italian and I found "Ethnic Beauty Carina" at Smith Micro's online content store, Content Paradise. Carina was just what I wanted: beautiful, huge head of black hair, a perfect Gina. And inexpensive. So I ordered her. Just one catch: she wasn't a figure (3D model). She was an add-on for the "Victoria 4" model. Content Paradise didn't offer "Victoria 4." An internet search showed that "Victoria 4 3D Pro Suite" (the model and a bunch of other content) was available from DAZ 3D. So I got the suite and installed it. The Gina Verucchio image at the beginning of this post is the result (more about that in another post, too.)

What I discovered at the DAZ 3D site was Poser's rival program, DAZ Studio: for free! And their online store has hundreds and hundreds (probably thousands) of add-ons for DAZ Studio and Poser Pro 2012.

One problem with add-ons: most seem to be third party creations. If there are problems with them, Smith Micro and DAZ 3D can't support them. When I found that "Ethnic Beauty Carina" didn't come with the beautiful head of black hair featured so prominently in the ad, Smith Micro told me to email the creator. I still haven't received a reply from "syltermermaid"!

A second problem with add-ons: The creators seem to expect the buyer to know all about how to use them. Read-me files don't contain much useful information for the beginner.

I like the results of my efforts with Poser Pro 2012. I just don't like fighting with the program. If I can get some answers to the problems faced with using Poser, I may continue to use it (although I have downloaded and installed the free DAZ Studio, and "Figures, Characters and Avatars: The Official Guide to Using DAZ StudioTM to Create Beautiful Art" just arrived by UPS.) Smith Micro does have good tech support. They answer quickly with useful information. But I shouldn't have to go to tech support to solve every little problem that comes up.

I am creating a "tutorial" file for my own use. Anyone interested in seeing it can click here for the PFD file.

Since discovering DAZ 3D's free modeling program and plethora of content, I'm beginning to wonder if I've found out why there is no "Poser Pro 2012 for Dummies."

Keep reading/keep writing - Jack