Creating a scene with Bryce 5 and Poser 4

Getting Started in Bryce 5
Part 1: Creating a scene in Bryce 5
Part 3: Importing the figures from Poser 4 into Bryce 5 and making the finishing touches
Keyboard Shortcuts

Part 2: Creating two figures in Poser 4.

Before you start, you'll need a copy of Poser 4. MetaCreations has a free trial version of Poser 4 on their website. Although Poser 5 is the latest iteration of the Poser series, we'll be using Poser 4 since there's a trial version available.

Open Poser. By default, you'll a pretty nondescript male figure standing in a neutral pose. We'll create two figures with Poser but I'm going to be moving pretty quickly and won't be explaining as much since we already laid the foundation in the previous lesson.
Just a quick introduction to Poser: The camera views are located on the left of the screen. Editing tools are located directly above the document window, while the object and figure selections are found by clicking the flippy arrows directly under the document window. Attribute modifyers are located at the right. These modifiers are slider bars that you can click and drag in either direction to change the value OR you can simply click on the value and enter a new one. The libary is accessed by clicking on the abacus looking thing on the far right.
Click on the library at the right and select Figures. If People are not already being displayed, select People from the flippy arrow menu. Notice that there are plenty of other figure libraries-- including a library for animals, robots, and even just clothing. But we're just interested in the People library right now.

Select the 'Casual Man'

Two message boxes will come up--just click on OK to both of these without checking any checkboxes.
Now you'll have a bald boxy looking guy in your document window. We're going to tweak his body to make him look more natural. Close the library so we can get to the attribute modifiers.
Remember the three axis that we worked with in Bryce: X, Y, and Z? We'll be using those here too. When you want to make changes to the width and depth of an object, you'll change the xScale and zScale. When you want to change the height, you'll change the yScale. Ok, we're going to bulk this guy up. And it's a lot easier that using steroids and spending two hours in the gym everyday! Click on his chest.
Under the attributes, change the xScale & zScale to 105. Make sure that you don't increase the yScale! We want to make his chest bigger but not taller.
Next, let's make the same changes to his neck. Change the xScale and zScale to 105.
Click on his right shoulder. Since he's looking at you, his right shoulder will be on the left as you're looking at him.

We have to handle arms are a little differently. Their dimensions are calculated as if the arms are straight out from the sides. So, we'll be changing the yScale & zScale and leaving the xScale alone so we don't make the arms longer.

Make the rest of these changes:

Right Forearm
yScale:	105
zScale:	115
Left Forearm
yScale:	105
zScale:	115
Left Shoulder
yScale:	105
zScale:	105
Hip
zScale:	105
Right Thigh
xScale:	105
zScale:	105
Left Thigh
xScale:	105
zScale:	105
Right Shin
xScale:	105
zScale:	105
Left Shin
xScale:	105
zScale:	105

Your guy should now look like this:

Let's give him some hair! Click on the library tab again and this time choose Hair:

I'm selecting Male Hair 2. Notice that the hair is applied to his head. If we had changed his height or altered his head, we would have to make modifications to the hair but we don't have to do anything this time. Click on the barely visible head under the camera controls to view the head up close.

You can use the trackball if you'd like to look at the hair from all sides.
This guy needs to have some sideburns. We want him to look like a 80's brawler, so we need some hefty sideburns. Go back to the library and choose Props. Select sideburns.
Rotate the trackball so that we can see the side of this guy's head. Notice that the sideburns don't quite fit. Click on the color tool at the top that looks like a paint bucket. Click on the sideburn. It wil bring up the color palette. Click within the main hair to get a sample of the hair color there. The colors match now but the sideburns and hair aren't even with each other. Under the attributes, change the xScale to 104 and the Origin Y to 0.735. This will make the burns come out from the head more and line up with the hair line.
We won't worry about the eyebrows for now. You can use the color tool to color the eyebrows now if you want though. Click and drag on the camera selector until you get the man holding his legs. This will bring us back to the camera view from before.
Go back into the library. This time, choose the Poses section and select the Sports sets.

Choose "Put your dukes up!"
Ok. Our first character is done. We'll be using this same pose for the second character but in reverse. Save the composition by Selecting File>Save from the top menu or by pressing Ctrl-S.
Now select File>Save As from the top menu and name the composition something other than what you called it before. We're creating a second figure from the work we did on the first figure.
Select the Figures library again, making sure that you have the People set. Choose Business man this time.

Make sure that you don't check any of the checkboxes as you OK through the two message boxes.
Select the hair library and choose Male Hair 4, which is a ponytail. You guy should be looking like this:
Let's give this guy a scowl. Select the Faces library and choose the last face named upset. Great!
Now, we need to flip the figure so that he's facing the other way. Since we want to have our 80's brawler fighting this guy, we need to have them facing each other. From the top menu, choose Figure>Symmetry>Swap Right and Left.
Move the camera around so that you can see him from the other side and we are finished with Part 2. Make sure that you save your changes!

Continue to Part 3: Importing the figures from Poser 4 into Bryce 5 and making the finishing touches.