Poser for 2D Isometric people?

[BantamCityGames]

Hi, I was looking for a tool to easily create people with walking animations and Poser looked like the way to go. Before I make the purchase, can anyone tell me if it can be used to render out the walking animation to a cell sheet (or worst case to individual images) at a specific camera angle (Isometric 45 degree top down)?

Thanks

[DaveGilbert]

Sure can!



We used Daz3D but the effect is much the same. We were trying to make an isometric RPG engine but it proved to be too much work for one person to do. If you plan on doing something similar, definitely keep us updated.

-Dave

[defanual]

Yep, as Dave said you can. I own poser, you basically render out the images as png's then use a program like graphics gale (it's free, just google it) to create the sprite sheet. Also you should note that Daz3d is offering it's pro editions of 3 of it's software for free (including Daz3d Studio pro 4) for a limited time, so if you can get to grips with the software you might not have to buy poser & save yourself some money (although I've only really used poser so I can't do a comparison of the two). https://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/fr...tware?cat=1486

[Arkadesh]

Sure, as Dave mentioned, it can. I can only add that you can automate the process using python scripts, so you don't have to turn the characters manually, change their poses etc. Not sure if you can script Daz3D though. Could someone more experienced confirm that?

[BantamCityGames]

Great! Thanks for confirming guys!

Arkadesh, do you have any more info about the scripts for turning the models? That sounds perfect

[defanual]

If you go with the poser option you can setup the camera in position (via properties panel for accurate position) and then use the camera memory dots to traverse from one angle to the next at the click of a button and render quickly. I don't know much about python scripting but I'm sure google can help if someone here can't.

[Arkadesh]

I've been using Poser somewhere around '99 so my memory is rather blurred, but it was definitely possible (and easy as I knew nothing about python then). Probably many things have changed since then.

[infocyde]

I did all the rendering of 2d sprites using poser for a demo of an educational game done in Flash (I didn't do any of the Flash coding though). Poser worked well, we also used Mimic (which is a lip sync plugin for poser) and 3D Max with a poser plugin that could import poser characters into Max. It worked. I had a default poser scene setup with lights and the proper angle for rendering walking positions and a green screen (we did four directions, then reversed them so we covered all 8). The actual close up dialog screens we did with Max and the Poser/Mimic plug ins. Creating characters was a little difficult, you might have to spend some dollars for props to get what you want. Poser and now Daz3d have come a long way since then, Mimic might not be necessary now, and you could probably skip using Max.

So it works.

Check out what this guy was doing with Poser and games. Click through the post (there are only a few) for inspiration. I think some company snatched him up as he hasn't blogged in a bit though.

http://www.rivtind.com/

[Bad Sector]

A few years ago I made an isometric 2D drawing test. Initially I wanted to use hand-drawn sprites, but I changed mind quickly since it was a lot of work - instead I decided to do 3D models rendered with Blender. With the exception of the fire thing and the walls, every other object in the shot is a 3D object render via Blender.

I wrote a Python script in Blender (that I unfortunately forgot to take a backup of, although it wouldn't work in modern Blender anyway) that puts a camera properly aligned around the selection to be in isometric perspective, does a render and does a bit of post-processing to remove half-transparent pixels (that is, the sprite will contain either fully opaque or fully transparent pixels).

It shouldn't be hard to do in modern Blender either (it might actually be easier thanks to the new API) and you may not even be interested in getting rid of the alpha channel (which was 80% of the time I spent making the script).

[BantamCityGames]

Ok, I bought Poser 9 and only put a few hours into it so far, but I can definitely see this working once I get the hang of it... my only enemy is lack of time... gah!

[Sysiphus]

I've done with Blender. Isometric 8 direction anims is a clear case where 3D , rendered does make a lot more sense than hand drawn. BTW, if you were to use it as 3D models, the 3D model output, not a render, you would not be able legally at least in previous versions of Poser. Right now I don't know. There was a way to export the 3D data, but there was that legal barrier. With renders as you plan to use, no problem.

I much prefer Blender for flexibility and as I know it well, but Poser is a real time cutter in this case, if the models are the usual ones.

Both for isometric and just side view renders, what I have done when using 3D (blender) for some casual projects, is to use Gimp, Adobe and some other tool with macros (image magik is quite cool for this) to do things like treat the alpha, the semi transparent pixels, adding a dark outline for contrast against background (or as the sprite visually needed it) , faking motion blur (with a Photoshop macro you can really do nice effect with some macro tweak), adding in the batch things like sharpening, etc.

Beware the render setting in most softwares tend to add too much antialiasing. While is good for general usage, the default method (Box, etc) adds too much blur. 'Mitchell' works nice in most cases, but it will depend on the case. In certain company I worked at, we even did the full procedure: using as base poser models, for cutting time, mixing renders to add detail, using macros, and indeed rendered with no antialiasing method, as final resolution was really low, and the pixel edgy problem would not be noticed.

There are several utilities you might find useful:

Irfanview : Allows several batch processing works, with not much hassle. Irfanview.com

Imagemagick : more advanced batch editing. www.imagemagick.org

GlueIt: for making the sprite sheet if I remember well.. Dunno where's the oficial page, but you can find an old version here. Is free like all this. http://www.varcade.com/blog/?p=206

I love this one. Was very useful for me, indeed I knew the author a bit: http://www.bottomap.com/Software/A4B/A4B.html

great for convert to and from animation/frames <> frames/sprite sheet. Combined with Irfanview is even better.

In case you end up working with Blender, the isometric camera with some touches worked for me, but it will depend on the cases and what'd be needed. Even you can use the regular camera with certain settings.

[electronicStar]

Hi, I was looking for a tool to easily create people with walking animations and Poser looked like the way to go. Before I make the purchase(...)

Use DAZ3D, free software and most poser models are available for DAZ (actually the catalog of DAZ compatible models might even be bigger).

[EDIT] OOps, didn't read the whole thread

[ManuelMarino]

DAZ3D is great, while I'm not a graphic guy, I relax with 3d art, and it's a wonder for a 3d newbie like me.