DOWNHILL?

I was just on the Smith Micro website and also payed a visit to Content Paradise where Poser content is sold. Is it just me, or has there been a severe drop in quality in Poser since the new company took over? I was half expecting that there would be new material that could compete with the latest offerings from Daz3D but it seems that is far from the case. I haven't seen anything that inspires confidence in the 8 new figures that come with Poser 8. In fact, looking at the best selling material on Content Paradise, it would seem that people still prefer the older G2 characters done under the original company. Of course, that is not counting the vastly greater amount of content for Daz characters.

I have not yet upgraded to Poser 8. I hadn't seen a reason to thus far. In fact, I was looking for a reason to do just that and did not find it. This is not at all helped by Smith Micro's website. Gone are the days of the E-Frontier site, full of great, realistic character images and little demonstration animations. There are no more cool samples that illustrate just how great Poser can be. Now they have just a quick list of features and benefits in text only as though the product has been, or is about to be, sidelined.

I am not at all worried. Poser 7 does all I need. I remember the days when I first got into the Poser world. I was shocked to find that people hated Poser 5 and 6 so much that many diehard fans were sticking with Poser 4. Now maybe I will be in a similar situation for some time to come as I see no reason to look past Poser 7 anytime soon.

THE TRAINING CONTINUES

As far as Luxology modo training is concerned, I just completed my 4 part modo Character Training series where you learn to model a stylized, human, female figure from the ground up. I guess it's really from the head down, but you get the idea. Of course, that's only the beginning. I learned so much creating this series that I want to do more in the world of 3D animation and training videos.

As you may know, I also started on Vue Infinite training videos some time ago. The last few nights, I have been playing with some new ideas on creating awesome scenery in Vue, and now I wish I had recorded what I was doing. I not only created some cool stuff, there is so much that users could benefit from as far as Vue training videos are concerned. I may have to go through some of those motions again and record it this time.

I also had another thought, as I have gearing up to create some actual animation for a while now. What would make the best animation training videos? Naturally, just start making the show and record what I am doing. It seems that some of the things I do when I am working are actually cooler than when I am trying to make a training video. To that end, I think my future training videos will be a little more natural and spontaneous. Look forward to some amazing stuff coming your way soon!