How to Learn Posing from Scratch

echristopherclark

I'm wondering if anyone has any best practices—tips, tutorials, etc.—for learning how to pose figures from scratch. I've been using Daz for a few years now, but have always relied heavily on a pre-made/bought pose to get me started (and usually just leaving it at that, with only minor tweaks) but I do realize the limitations of that approach. Thanks in advance for any help!

Richard Haseltine

Assume the pose yourself and note which joints bend.

chris-2599934

This tutorial is great: https://www.daz3d.com/the-art-of-posing ;

mding

DAZ Shop:

https://www.daz3d.com/posing-fast-track

https://www.daz3d.com/simply-posing-for-genesis-8-and-81--video-tutorial

https://www.daz3d.com/creative-posing-making-it-your-own

https://www.daz3d.com/prime-poses--community-tutorial

https://www.daz3d.com/poses-that-stand-out

https://www.daz3d.com/natural-female-posing--daz-studio-video-tutorial

https://www.daz3d.com/powerful-poses--how-to-create-dynamic-pose-sets

https://www.daz3d.com/3-2-great-art-now-posing-102-tools-tricks-for-easy-posing

https://www.daz3d.com/expression--a-masterclass-on-facial-expression-and-body-language

https://www.daz3d.com/the-art-of-posing (Thankyou @chris-2599934)

https://www.daz3d.com/eye-catching--tutorial-on-character-eye-expression (only related to subject)

 

Youtube:

Daz Studio Posing Tutorial - Advanced - 

How I Created The Ultimate Yoga Poses Set

Daz3d Beginner Tutorial Part 5 | Posing Basics

Getting Started With Daz Part4 | Posing Without Limits

 

 

CHWT

I personally think that pre-made poses are good starting points - they save you lots of preliminary work. I usually choose from my library the pre-made pose that's the closest to my desired pose and then make adjustments, especially to the hands and feet as they make or break the render. I find t helps to do the hand pose myself and copying it as much as possible to my figure, and I adjust the foot and toes to make sure that my figure does not look like having sprained ankles.

echristopherclark

Thanks for the help, everyone!

richardandtracy

The process below is what I use.

1. Pre made poses help a lot. There are hundreds of freebies that can act as starting points on Renderosity. Bbarbs, OneSix & Itazura produce really good ones. Ravenstone (once known as 'Rarestone' here) has a limited number of spectacularly good freebie poses there too. I seem to do the everyday, boring, poses the others forget and have them as a few freebies on Rendo too. Set limits on, only switch off if you really need it, and try everything not to need it.
2. Next thing, once you have a pose that's close is to what you want, drag the feet & hands the limited distance to where you need them. If it's not a small movement, adjust the position by using the main bones instead.
3. Now pose the feet & hands & once satisfied, pin in place. 
4. Adjust body to get limbs and torso just right. This can be by selecting the hip & moving the sliders or adjusting the sliders for the torso & main limbs.
5. Unpin hands & feet to do final tweaks if needed to make it look comfortable.
6. Now concentrate on the character's head make pose comfortable and direct both eyes to the focus point by moving the camera to that point and look at each eye as you direct the eye. Getting the eye to look at a camera works OK right up to the point you next open the file, and then it's not updated to look at the camera.
7. Happy with the pose? If so, act it out yourself for real. How comfortable is it? Legs too bent? Arms too bent? Hands in odd positions? Chest/bottom sticking out like a cat on heat? Amend the pose as necessary.
8. Now do the expressions, just be gentle with the sliders, don't over use them. Few people get criticised for subtlety. I tend to use Powerpose rather than expression sliders.
9. Final check: are the feet on the floor or in/above the floor? Adjust if needed. Is the centre of gravity over the feet (if not they'll be unstable, and you need a dynamic pose to make it believeable).
10. Final Final Check. Try the pose yourself again. Be prepared to realise it's not going to work & go back to step 2.

Just my tuppence on how to do it.

A good way to practice is to start with an image (that you like) and a 'zero' ose, and try to make it right from scratch. Doing that once or twice will show exactly why a good starting pose is so useful!

Regards,

Richard

Unseen

You can also have a look at this website even if he author uses Poser characters (it's an old tutorial but the author was creating very nice poses):

http://www.schlabber.org/

Some tutorials are available there.

He had a very complete 150 pages tutorial but it doesn't seem to be available anymore..Perhaps if you contact him (link on the website)?

Fauvist

Take a selfie of yourself in the pose, then just pose the figure to match the selfie.  It's almost impossible to create a convincing pose from scratch without copying a photograph, or another render.

echristopherclark

Thanks again, everyone. I appreciate the tips about reference photos or doing the poses yourself, which are already part of my process (but which are great to be reminded about in any case).

What I really need to do is work on the mechanics of the various posing tools. I get flustered by how slow and tedious it feels to manually move every bone into place, but more advanced tools (Active Pose, Power Pose) seem to be beyond my dumb brain's ability to understand. It may be that starting from a pose that's close and then tweaking from there—the method I'm already using—is the best method for me. I don't know. Maybe with more practice the other tools will make more sense to me.

richardandtracy

Posing is long and slow. Getting a good pose takes a great deal of time. I consider it a win if it takes less than an hour. A longer one may take four. Beyond the mechanics listed, practice, practice and more practice is what will speed you up. To counteract the speed increases, you'll end up being more precise and realistic in your poses, so you'll probably end up taking similar lengths of time as when you start. However, the poses will be 'better' in some indefinable way. Sorry that I can't offer more than that. Regards, Richard.

nicstt

Use references of what you want to create.

Use yourself or family members.

carrie58

echristopherclark said:

Thanks again, everyone. I appreciate the tips about reference photos or doing the poses yourself, which are already part of my process (but which are great to be reminded about in any case).

What I really need to do is work on the mechanics of the various posing tools. I get flustered by how slow and tedious it feels to manually move every bone into place, but more advanced tools (Active Pose, Power Pose) seem to be beyond my dumb brain's ability to understand. It may be that starting from a pose that's close and then tweaking from there—the method I'm already using—is the best method for me. I don't know. Maybe with more practice the other tools will make more sense to me.

The best way to learn is try ,and practice  sometimes it's just play too  until it is more comfortable ...

Linwelly

I suggest you have a look through the New User challenges with the topic posing, where a lot of good ideas, explained by how to do it and links are exchanged

here is the one that took place this year in March, but there are years back of those

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/554081/march-2022-daz-3d-new-user-challenge-posing-and-posing-ii/p1