First in a series of Smith Micro software reviews: Poser
Poser had its humble start as a mere virtual mannequin program (I’m sure there’s going to be at least one snicker about the “Poser for Dummies” book) but is now a full powerhouse 3d rendering application, and it’s surprisingly low cost for such a powerful tool. It even offers some animation to the characters (you can make them walk and talk). Be forewarned, both these applications are only tailored to people who are all ready familiar or very knowledgeable with 3d render programs. Smith Micro even makes sure to advertise them as such (they get bonus points for that…they could easily just advertise it straight-forward and not say that upfront). Poser 10 and 2014 only differ in the amount of tools one is afforded to create and edit your characters. Poser 10 is the more “lite” version and Poser 2014 offers every nuanced tool anyone could afford to have. For this review, I’m going with the 2014 simply because I like having every tool available to me…even if I might not end up using it right away. And, well, effectively, I’m killing two birds with one stone. They are effectively the same beast when it comes to form and function.
From the start, you get greeted by an insanely odd semi-creepy skeletal guy called Andy.
He seems like possibly a magic love child of Crypt Keeper (from Tales from the Crypt) and Sonny from the movie I, Robot.
It's a labor of love...
It's a boy, isn't he magical?
I see you...
You can have some initial right away fun with bending and posing this guy, and not feel completely weird when you contort him past true human limitations. I’m not sure on his exact history, and he seems like an odd introductory character to have, but that’s part of his charm. He’s just there to kind of get a feel for the program before people go to the serious work. He’s easily removed from the main screen and he’ll always be there to greet you when you come back to the program (that’s that creepy part…must get it from Crypt Keeper).
The menu structure is not unlike any menu based application out there. Obviously, the options are more to fit the programs abilities. These often will bring up dialog boxes or have instant effects depending upon the action taken.
The figure height option was one that kind of stuck out, and it was because of the names given to the body templates.
In this day and age of political correctness, and especially here in the States where political correctness on body image (particularly of the female body image) seems more mainstream news nowadays, I’m bit surprised by naming of these options. The difference in the two female body structures is more readily apparent by the instant height factor (it seems to go from a stature of 5’4” or about 1.62 meters (I’m not sure what height it’s actually going for…I'm roughing it here) of "idealness" to 6 feet tall or about 1.88 meters. This bit of stretching from ideal to fashion model also makes the more hour-glass shape even more pronounced than the shorter version, and in essence has an evidently perspective inducing slimming effect. Here, you can see the roots of the program created for a virtual mannequin dolls with the naming of these body types. I’m sure there was no intentional harm or foul (I feel bad for pointing this out as well, my review my ironically call attention to it where before there didn’t seem like there was any), it’s just these names stick to me as an odd man out right now. At the moment, I’m at a loss to suggest some other names that sound a bit more politically correct because any smart intelligent person will see right through a sugar-coated euphemism label for these body types.
Okay, enough focus on that. The many editing tools of poser are insanely intricate as well as basic. For the basics, dials for straight forward features such as eye, jaw, cheekbone, and other facial features hearken to custom character creation for many first person shooter or role-playing games (whether multiplayer or single).
That face spread on the bottom almost makes you forget about Andy for a split second...
More basic sidebar tools like cameras, editing tools, and such
The intricate layers of Poser, would possibly take a novella guide book to just tell what each and every function does, will not be focused on here. All though, it seems prudent to say that when you have tools that include the name of Pixar, you’ll have the moneys worth (the Pixar subdivision tool, which basically breaks up layers into smaller layers to an infinite degree, or well, basically crashes a computer just because it’s trying to calculate each of those divisions. Imagine dividing a freckle into 16,000 intricate layers, or editable sections. Yea, it gets that insane. Pixar sub-division is only available on the 2014 version)
As a tool, Poser is recommended for anyone with knowledge of rendering or character creation. It’s as powerful as a user wants it to be. Despite the fact that Smith Micro does a straight-forward advertisement that it’s only meant for intermediate or advanced users of render programs, that’s also its curse. It’s simply not open to a broader market, and as such could potentially prove detrimental on some level. However, it seems that given by the obvious nature that they are up to version 10, that these concerns seem negligible at best.
With that, I’d give this 4 out of 5. It’s truly a powerful tool one could use in their arsenal if they often render characters. It’s definitely worth the money for those who need this kind of tool, and great for people who may consider such rendering more of an insanely passionate hobby or true job. Without it being left open to some basic users, to me it misses a marketing point. I know that perhaps the irony of being too basic is that it would push away the exact market to which it’s tailored.
On that note, it seems odd to me for Smith Micro not to offer some kind of basic character creation program which has the simple straight-forward adjustments. It seems perhaps a lost opportunity to have a program available that can offer simple character customization, but yet not be strictly tied down by a particular game theme. I'd like to make custom marvelous wonderful superheroes along with the heroes told about in old scrolls, and have them pose together (see what I did there...). It all ready has a variety of templates that could be potentially pulled from its thriving community of creators. Barring that, it seems that even the simple templates all ready offered in Poser may actually be enough. Perhaps there’s a rhyme or reason for this to which I’m not aware for such a basic character creation program. Anyways, I’m rambling on…
I’m not done with Smith Micro. Next to review is the Anime Studio, a more in-depth animation software program that again seems like a pretty awesome tool so far...
I'm spoiling aren't I?
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The Drive-By
Hits: An extremely powerful tool for 3D character creation, and offers two versions. A "lite" (Poser 10) version for more casual and intermediate users, and an all encompassing version that's for more advanced users (Poser 2014).
Misses: It leaves out opportunities for basic users, but they do specifically market that it is only for intermediate or advanced users of 3d rendering programs.
Make sure to check out more on Poser at the Poser Smith Micro site.
