How-to: Beginner's Guide - The Drawingboard

Section Map:
1. Introduction to 3D / 2. Using Poser prt.1 / 3. Using Poser prt.2 / 4. 3D Glossary

Using Poser: Part 2
by Dudley Bryan Jr.

So, you know what 3-D objects are, you know that using Poser makes playing with them a lot easier... so now what? Well, now its time for you to create a "scene". In theatre, a scene can be simply "a stage setting". In 3-D, one person, the artist, essentially becomes the director, the designer, and all the actors in one. Basically, a scene can be viewed as a collection of figures, props, lights, and/or background pictures necessary to compose part of a story.


Now, another fascinating aspect of Poser is that you have a choice of how you want to view a given scene, as through the lens of your camera.	This is called the display style. Using the display style controls, you can have Poser's camera show your scene on a number of different levels. You can see your figures as flat silhoettes, generic curves, assorted wireframe views, basic surfaces (distinct faces with color details), like a cartoon (figure is outlined with black lines and shades are not gradated --like a animation cell), smooth surfaced (all the individual faces are smoothed over into a continuous surface), and detailed surfaces (all textures and extraneous details). These display styles, are different from "rendering" something. The styles are how your work is viewed instantly while you edit your scenes, you can also choose to "render" your creation... giving an even more polished look to your creations. Rendering a scene is a separate command that can sometimes take a long time for the computer to complete (it adds things like cast shadows, smoother graphics, and more detailed textures and other effects). For experienced graphic artists, you can even export the 3D objects in Poser into other programs to get even more sophisticated finished renderings than Poser can provide.

Lastly, another useful capability of Poser is its ability to load in existing artwork as a "background picture". Using a *background picture*, you can take a scene made in Bryce or any other software, and put it behind your figure (as if the figure and the background were made at the same time) Now, we're off to learn more about Bryce 3D!