Character Modelling - Poser vs. Qui Dam vs. ?

[wwswimming]

I want to add more people characters to my scenes, in addition to the characters I've modelled during tutorials etc.

From talking to the sales folks at N-sided, it sounds like you get about 9 core/basic characters with QuiDam 'Basic', and if you model some detail you can export that detail but not additional character info, such as materials & skinning weights (to use the Maya term). That's for the 169 pound version of QuiDam.

You can pay about another 69 pounds to get an exporter that will cover Max & Maya.

The website for those guys
http://n-sided.com/store/

I also found out about Poser, which is about $499 US
http://my.smithmicro.com/win/poserpro/index.html

It doesn't say how many core characters come with the program.

What do you guys think of these programs ?

I suppose an alternative to a program like this is to buy a library of characters at Squid, Content Paradise, etc.

Anyway, I'm just curious what has worked best for other CG'ers, and also if you've found any of the Character modelling programs to deliver a lot less (or a lot more) than their marketing pages say.

 

[Modelworks]

I'm going to be blunt about it. Poser is the joke of the CG community. People in the field have little respect for it. Generally because the work it produces is very amateurish. Nsided I don't have any experience with but it looks preferable to poser.

My workflow is to use something like Silo or Mudbox to create the character. It is fast and offers the best flexibility. They both have a default human character that you can then change. Mudbox isn't the cheapest but there is a free trial on the Autodesk site. Silo also has a free trial and retails for $159 USD.
Silo - http://nevercenter.com/

If you use a program to sculpt your character then you have total control and it is easy to import into maya or max and animate.

There really are no character creation programs that produce a character that doesn't look like it was a off the shelf character.


Also check out some of the free model sites:
http://www.artist-3d.com/
http://www.3dm3.com/modelsbank/

 

[manko]

It depends what you're using it for. If they are background characters for personal work or previz, Poser would be fine. There is decent work done with it by skilled artists, but you can usually spot the Poser look a mile off and people who model and texture everything from scratch look down on it.

The basic version of Poser 7 can go on sale for $99 occasionally and the older version Poser 6 has been on sale for $29.99. Poser Pro has better features to export figures to other programs, but there are also third-party exporters/converters.

A free option similar to Poser is DAZ Studio and there are some free starter figures available, but they also sell plenty of premium models and clothing.

An open source option is MakeHuman.