the new Poser version came out recently and it is Poser 11.   i was interested in the learning curve when compare to Iclone.   i did a search in this forum and it gave me a thread that was years old which compare a much older Poser version.

anybody familiar with Poser?   the learning curve when it comes  in Iclone is not big and you can catch on quick..especially with animation.   im interested in Poser because its render has raytrace and produces much realistic results.   

You can bring a character into an Iclone project and choose 'Edit Motion Layer' to pose it.  You can change a character's proportions using sliders in Character Creator.

Essentially these manipulations of characters are what Poser was designed for - as well as adding clothing, hair and prop items before rendering them in a scene.

Now, there is much, much more to Poser than the above but it isn't primarily an animation program - even though some absolutely wonderful animations have been created with it.

I like Poser very much, though I'm still pretty much a beginner with it.  I recently bought Poser 2014 - the Pro version because Poser 10 was 32-bit but I'm too new with it to wish to move to Poser 11 just yet.

I can't speak for Poser 11 but the versions I bought came with an excellent manual, tutorials within the program itself, a quick-start guide and there are tons of tutorials online.
Just as in Iclone you need to know about imotions, iprops, etc. there is a whole world of Poser terminology relating to file-types for poses and so on and also for the composition of the characters.

Many people seem to dislike Poser, which I haven't understood - although the free DAZ alternative has many attractive features and generally better figures.

Both DAZ and Poser have huge content markets catering to every genre.  It's possible to spend a lot but prop items bought can be used in Iclone via 3DXchange.

At one time Poser and DAZ Studio, as well as Carrara could use each others' figures with only a few texture tweaks needed (so I believe).  Now Poser's newest figures don't work well or at all (?) in DAZ Studio.  DAZ's figures are seemingly becoming very difficult to use in Poser (I believe, but stand to be corrected).  To use Poser, Carrara and DAZ together, it is probably best to stick with the older Generation 4 figures.

Poser figures can be used within Bryce landscapes for static renders but can be Posed for animation in some versions of Vue. Vue's landscapes are probably second to none but it takes a lot of computing power to use, it can get to be very expensive and can only be used with Poser if both (memory intensive) programs are open simultaneously.

When alternatives to Iclone are explored, it has to be said that Iclone has a lot going for it!

Lastly, it seems that nothing new has been added to Poser's animation tools over the last few releases.  Perhaps you could pick up a copy of an earlier version than version 11.  That new version will have teething problems, for sure, until service packs are released.

One of the main DAZ programmers recently hired-on at Smith Micro. He is the one revitalizing Poser.

I would find as many video tutorials on the animation features as I could. I do know that the timeline is actually pretty good, and has both a dope sheet and curve editor. Poser has physics, but is not real-time.

I wanted to play with the new version, but they do not have a demo available. The specs say that GPU rendering for Cycles is only available with "Pro". Basic can still use Cycles (they call it "Superfly"), just not GPU accelerated.

Hi Rampa,
I really enjoy animating characters in Poser - somehow there is an 'ease of use' in adjusting poses that I don't find in Carrara, or DAZ Studio but which is comparable to Iclone.  The difference isn't great but for me it's real enough!  The walk designer works well and there is a new, third-party program being written for Poser that will transform normal dynamic clothing into physics-enabled cloth comparable to Marvelous Designer output.  The program will turn Poser mesh-based hair into moving, colliding hair also. 

Personally, I've always wanted to get the best I can both out of Carrara and Iclone and Poser sits somewhere in the middle.  If I ever embark on my Great Work, I'll be hard-pressed whether to go for Iclone or else Carrara with Physics clothing exported from Poser.  (Perhaps you could guess that I recently checked out Vue and rejected it for the reasons given ).  This being Reallusion's forum, I want to say nothing negative about Iclone.  I'm buying into it as much as I can afford and am loving what people are doing with it.  I'd recommend it to anyone starting out in 3D. 

PS I read so many of your posts from the sidelines - your help is much appreciated.  The same could be said to a good number of others who are much more frequent posters than I am.  Thanks all! 

so it is still limiting in its animation.   i am shocked that the fan made video Dead Fantasy was created in Poser....a much older version.   How the hell was he able to do this in Poser...I AM TALKING ABOUT THE ANIMATIONS!!! sweet lord.  this is the level i want to achieve in Iclone.

it cant be that limiting when creating this.   this same author who is name Mounty Oum has created his own series called RWBY...it has the anime cartoon look that is from Poser 11. 

.

Yikes! The comments say he died recently. Very sad to read that. :crying:

Poser has had a pretty good animation from early-on. It is certainly capable in capable hands, as is iClone. There is probably a lot of BVH, and mocap going on here. It is wonderfully dynamic. It's the blending from motion to motion that is really critical. Of course, the motions need to be well made to start with as well.

Well, I did say that amazing animations had been done in Poser and that I personally appreciated the ease of use of the animation tools.  In another (Poser) forum it was said that no new animation features had appeared in several Poser releases.  But, even so, the features present are pretty good.

You can buy and import BVH motions for Poser and I think there are Mocap solutions.  Poser has Bullet Physics.  The tools are there for anyone to master but I think the learning curve is probably harder than Iclone's and I think Iclone probably enables users to get results more quickly even if there is a lot of room for improvement as the user learns his/her craft.

That's about all I wish to say since this is Reallusion's place but, just as there are great Iclone animators, there are also great animators who used Poser. 

This first animation below was done with Poser Pro 2014 and took three months and the second one shows one of the older DAZ figures being used with the new hair and cloth program:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcaiA5OE4iU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0NCytVI35M

Hi Rampa, we cross-posted.
My reply was to genao87

Correction about the first video.  In the Youtube conversation the creator said it was done in Poser Pro 2014.   Further down he says Poser Pro 2012.  It would be the latter, I'd say.

OK, I think this is worth seeing since it shows how a brilliant animator works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS-Jq_yYPnQ