Review by RLC

Firstly, I am a complete Poser newbie. I have always wanted to use the program but have just not had the time/opportunity to undertake learning the software…or so I thought.

For the newbies out there, I was up and running with a character in about 10 minutes, with the caveat that I completed the two things in the paragraph below first!nnThe package contains PC and Mac DVD-ROMs. I have a blazing fast PC with 18GB of RAM, striped drives, and an Intel 990x processor. So, installation was fairly quick and painless. I took the opportunity to read the included quick reference card while the software was loading so that I could have a basic familiarity with the software interface. Also, I did a little picking/choosing of some tutorial videos at Lynda.com that covered an older version to have a basic understanding of what exactly Poser is and does before the software arrived.

The background work was quite beneficial and as stated I was up and running with a basic character in about 10 minutes. Poser is a program in which you create, pose, and animate 3D characters with pre-built libraries of characters, props, clothing, hair, ad-infinitum. You also have control of lighting and cameras as one would expect with anything 3D. Then you pose them as you wish or animate them to use in various other software programs to create art of all sorts. I found the interface to be fairly intuitive and is like so many other tabbed interfaces in software I currently use. You start with a fairly featureless character in the main window then start adding features, lighting, body type, etc. One can then start to pose the character. Of course this is the 10,000 foot view as there are many controls to fine tune everything and are out of the scope of a review.

There are many sites that sell characters, props, clothing, hair, and the like to help you create just about anything having to do with a character! This is quite helpful, especially for those under time constraints or that may not be savvy enough to create their own in other content creation programs such as a 3D program or Photoshop. I see this as no different than using stock photos/illustrations/characters in the art one creates, so it didn’t bother me.

I have not animated a character yet, but that is on the agenda for the near future. Having never used the program before I cannot speak to whether it is a worthwhile upgrade from an earlier version, but many professional reviewers think so. I think the price is reasonable. SmihMicro has three levels of this program: Poser Debut, that while being less powerful and feature packed is quite a bit less money and may serve as an entry level into the Poser family; Poser 9 which I am using/reviewing here; and Poser Pro 2012 which has all of the features of Poser 9 and many more pro-level features.

I think because I was able to be up and running so quickly, though at a basic level, that Poser 9 is a great asset to any artist or hobbyist wanting to add 3D characters to the art they create but have nothing to create said characters with. If you are a 3D neophyte that has wanted to try Poser but have been holding back on getting it because you thought it would be overwhelming or you felt you just plain didn’t have time to learn it…I say go for it!