Poser is a graphic artist's tool with one function: to generate precisely scaled, three-dimensional human figures — a perennial stumbling block for many graphic artists. In some ways Poser represents a departure for Fractal Design, a company known for its “natural media” digital art programs Painter, Sketcher, and Dabbler. On the other hand, in combining powerful graphics capabilities with an appealing interface that’s simple enough for casual users but expands to provide additional controls for professionals, Poser is right in step with Fractal’s other products.
Although Poser is a stand-alone application, it’s really a highly specialized power tool, intended as a companion to other graphics programs. Like any modeler, it includes lighting and camera controls and several basic rendering styles, but its powers are tuned entirely for creating human figures. The lighting and surface-rendering functions are mainly visualization aids. Most professional users will export Poser models in PICT to 2-D image-editors, or in RIB or DXF format to CAD or scene modelers for more-elaborate 3-D rendering.
For a professional tool, Poser makes very modest RAM and processing-power demands; it requires either a Power Mac or a Macintosh with a math coprocessor, and 6MB of RAM. Any graphics product capable of producing complex 3-D effects performs noticeably better the more RAM you give it; but Poser’s ability to perform well with only 6MB means a digital artist might easily use it alongside an image-editing application such as Fractal Design Painter or Adobe Photoshop, or a modeling animation program such as Ray Dream Designer, Strata Vision 3d, or Specular International Infini-D. In fact. Poser’s manual devotes an eight-page appendix to recommended techniques for using Poser with other programs. The program is reasonably list priced at $199.
Positions, Everybody
You begin by selecting your model’s sex and style (body, stick figure, or mannequin) and the type of display you want to work with — from a simple silhouette or outline to the more detailed wire-frame or flat-shaded display — from the Display menu. You are presented with an upright figure with its feet together and arms outstretched. You can work with more than one model in the space, selectively hiding and showing each one. But whatever rendering option you choose applies to all figures; you can’t render individual models or parts differently.
The main Tools palette gives you access to camera and lighting controls, as well as your choice of Body or Pose mode. Four camera views show you the figure from different perspectives. (Your preferences for the work environment dictate such things as whether horizon and perspective lines appear, and what the colors of your work space and model are.)
The Body mode lets you position the figure in space — moving, twisting, and rotating the whole model without affecting the relative positions of the individual body parts.
Pose mode gives you tools for raising, lowering, and rotating parts of the body. You simply click on the part you want to move, or choose it from a pop-up menu. Several tools work to translate motion naturally: extend the model’s hand, and the shoulders shift and the waist twists. A palette of parameter controls lets you fine-tune each of the model’s 17 movable parts (the bead, neck, chest, abdomen, and hips, plus a separate control for each foot, shin, thigh, hand, forearm, and shoulder), but it’s still tricky to achieve a really natural position. It would be nice if you could simply grab a model’s elbow to raise its arm, and have the rest of the arm behave as if controlled by gravity and real muscles, but this kind of realistic motion would demand lots of processing power (and probably cost a lot more).
Poser comes witli an extendable library of poses, so, for example, you could base the pose of a female figure on a model of Rodin’s The Thinker or Michelangelo’s David.
Something in an Extra-Large, Perhaps?
The male and female figures are well proportioned — both as adults and in the various stages of infancy, childhood, and youth. The extendable Bodies library lets you slim a model down or give it more heft — all the way from 20 pounds under average weight to 50 pounds over.
These are well and good as long as you want to make realistic people. What about Batman and Catwoman? Or Barbie and Ken? Or some distorted phantasm from your dreams? Not a problem. You can select model or heroic proportions for either sex, or use scaling tools or parameter dials to make body parts as bizarre as you want. You cannot, however, manipulate or add points to a figure’s surface mesh for finer deformations of the shape.
Having shaped the figure, you can select a smooth or muscled rendering style and apply a surface texture. The program supports imported texture maps and bump maps, but you’re likely to do most of your finishing work using an image editor or a more powerful modeler. You can adjust camera views and color, and position three variable light sources, or choose preset options from the Light and Camera libraries.
The Last Word
While Poser lacks fine detail for shaping hands (beyond five supplied poses) and facial features, it takes care of some of the most difficult aspects of figure drawing — proportion, perspective, and shading. In short. Poser makes it easy for professionals to create lifelike figures quickly — and without forking out a model’s fee. With its reasonable price, relatively modest requirements, well-designed interface, and entertaining tutorial, even weekend artists will be drawn to Poser.
Baer, Marjorie. (October 1995). Poser 1.0. Macworld. (pg. 63).
Fractal Design Corporation
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poser1.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
