Jimco Software Reviews
Poser 7

QuickInfo

Poser 7
3D Figure Creation and Animation

Pros:
- Incredibly lifelike 3D characters
- Quality renders including HDRI support
- Renderer now takes advantage of multiple processor machines
- Packed with many extra figures, props, etc.
- Integrated access to Content Paradise

Cons:
- Some screen redraw issues
- Render quality differs between models
- No context-sensitive help available

Price: $249.99 / $129.99 Upgrade

B - Recommended

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Introduction

e frontier's Poser 7 is a unique application for designing lifelike 3D models of humans and animals. With the new version of this popular application, e frontier has added numerous features and improved the quality of the included content. While the new features are great, this version does suffer from some screen redraw issues and some models don't render as well as others. However, the improvements far outweigh any negatives, and after you use Poser 7 for a while, you will certainly not want to go back to an earlier version.

e frontier boasts a 300% increase in performance in Poser 7 compared to Poser 6 on Intel Macs. I haven't tested Poser on a Mac, so I can't comment, but given the tremendous performance increase that the Intel platform brings to the Mac in general, that claim is likely not an exaggeration.

Poser 7 adds numerous new features. Among the most impressive are lip syncing, HDRI rendering and other rendering improvements, animation layers, and powerful morphing tools.

Lip Sync

The lip sync tool is an amazing addition to Poser. It allows you to load an audio file of recorded speech (only .wav files are supported) and Poser will synchronize lip movement to the audio. Poser adds head and eye motion, blinking, and even allows you to tweak the general demeanor of your figure while he or she speaks.  

This video was created using the default settings in the Talk Designer of Poser 7.

As you can see in the video above, this feature doesn't produce perfect results. (You can get somewhat better results by tweaking the settings.) I'm sure we'll see improvements in this feature in future versions of Poser, and it's one of many features that clearly illustrate e frontier's continued innovation in an already mature product.


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