Blitz and Poser

Hello,

Has anyone used Poser (from Curious Labs) to make characters to use in blitz? I've heard it's not reccomendable because these models tend to have high polygon counts, but I'd like to know for sure. I made a simple test using a Poser figure with no animation (just standing on a plane) and it moved fine (no flicker), but then again, it was a very simple test. Maybe when there are many poser figures it's a different story.

Poser figures are very high poly. Mind that's only a static character. Add animation levels, p[articles and what ever else you want in your game. Good results could be acheived with good texturing and alot less polygons. Someone did however mention a way to get poser models into blitz a while back. Involved alot of switching across different file formats though.

And IMO you are not even allowed to use the Poser meshes in games and such. You can render images and animations but that's it.

Unless they are custom models, set up in Poser, this is true. The models which are supplied with Poser may not be distributed in any form.

Oh, so what you're saying is I can't use the models that come with Poser, but if I use models made in other 3d programs and then "poserized" then it's no problem (from a legal point of view), but could still be troublesome due to hi poly count. Still, I think even "poserized" custom models may be to hi poly to be of any use.

What app would you reccomend, then, to create human figures usable in 3d games (I don't think I would be able to create one from scractch myself)?

Not only can you not export the models in Poser and distribute the exported models legally, but Poser also has no way to export models in any format that has bones.

The only way to export an animation from Poser is to have hundreds of individual 3DS files, which is obviously crazy.

One thing I have done effectively and legally beyond any doubt is to render a series of images and use them as animated sprites (billboard style).

The result is very good looking animations, with lots of details for objects/characters in the distance. Such as horses or people doing repetivie jobs. Sure they are flat but if used in some conditions these are very effective.

IPete2.

heh cool idea Ipete :), got me thinking :)

Guess I shouldn't have wasted my money on Poser then. Sure it does some pretty good renders, but static 2D pictures is not really my thing. Well, thanks for the info everyone.

You'd be better off learning how to model yourself. As everyone else said, Poser models are INSANELY high in polygons (several unneeded polys also). Think of it this way: Poser characters models are higher poly than any models ever used XBOX , PS2, and the like, and probably will be so for a very long time.

The use of that many polys is just simply impractical for many reasons. With between 1000 2000 polys you can make a really professional looking porcharacter model. The key, as noted before is always the texture.

Thanks Nmuta. I AM learning to model myself, but I'm still a beginner. A human figure is still a looong way for me :). Well, guess I'll keep at it. Guess I'll need to start by making spaceship type games first (where you don't need human figures :) )

Regarding speed, I did a test a while back with 8 Poser figures, each being resized via vertex deformation. The results were pretty good for the lower-complexity ones:

1.4 GHz Athlon, GeForce3 Ti200:

	Debug on	Debug off	Triangles ea.
P3	 5 FPS		11 FPS		28,820
P2	 7 FPS		16 FPS		17,538
P4Lo	29 FPS		69 FPS		 4,410
P2Lo	33 FPS		74 FPS		 4,170
P1	39 FPS		85 FPS		 3,436

Of the low-poly ones, P2Lo looks the best.
The overall shape of P4Lo is perhaps better, but it seems to have less visible detail.

To get a feel for total polygons for all 8 figures in the scene:

Name	Tot. Polys	FPS
P2	140,304		16
P4Lo	35,280		69
P1	27,488		85

Regarding Poser models not being distributable in games, I have Poser 4 (from MetaCreations, pre-Curious Labs) and have never seen anything in its docs about that restriction. I can understand why they'd be touchy about giving out their original models, but mine will be modified from the originals, converted into a different format, and Moleboxed.

As for getting animated Poser models into a game, I've just ordered a Carrara 4 Pro upgrade that's supposed to be able to import Poser figures and animations. Carrara uses bones, so I'll be interested to see how well it integrates the Poser stuff and how well that can be exported in standard formats.

SkyCube: you could try Psionic's excellent tutorials with Milkshape3D...

http://www.psionic3d.co.uk/tutorials.html