Poser - Program History

Program History

Poser was created by artist and programmer Larry Weinberg, as a software replacement for artist's mannequins. Versions 1.0 and 2.0 were published by Fractal Design; in 1997, Fractal Design was acquired by MetaCreations, and Poser's interface was redesigned by MetaCreations' Phil Clevenger for release as Poser 3 in 1998. This interface has remained as the basis for all subsequent versions. In 1999, MetaCreations sold Poser to egi.sys AG, which established the subsidiary Curious Labs, with Larry Weinberg as CEO, to handle Poser development and publication. Curious Labs and Poser were sold to the publisher e-frontier, in 2003. On 15 November 2007, Smith Micro Software announced the purchase of Poser, Anime Studio and Manga Studio from e-frontier.

Early versions of Poser were bundled with fully clothed humanoid figures specifically designed for the then-current version of Poser. Next, add-on packages of human figures were sold by the manufacturer of Poser. Soon, third party companies began creating figures which work with Poser. As clothing became separate from the humanoid figure, collections of 3D garments were created for specific models which conform to the shape and pose of the Poser figure. 'Poses' for figures were packaged and sold by the software vendor and by third parties. 'Morphs' allowing customization of body or face shape or other features are also for sale. Different skin textures, frequently combined with settings for morph technology, are marketed to allow one base model to be customized into many different 'characters'; similar 'texture' packages allow one garment to take on many different appearances, an animal to represent different breeds of the same species, or a vehicle to show many different colour schemes.

In September 2011, Poser 9 and Poser Pro 2012 were simultaneously released. 2011 marked the 16th year of Poser as a published software product.

On January 24, 2012, Poser Debut was released for the Mac App Store.

Version	Release date	Publisher	Improvements / Notes
1.0	1995	Fractal Design	First release
2.0	1996	Fractal Design	Ability to add props Animation High resolution models
3.0	1998	MetaCreations developer	New user interface Facial posing and animation Human figures with jointed fingers.
4.0	1999	MetaCreations	Natural-media sketch renderer Figure sculpting via deformers Transparent mode for materials Conforming Clothes Transparency (which lead up to TransHair that increased the quality of hair sold today)
4.0.3	September 1999	Curious Labs	Markup path names made to use relative paths Currently sold as entry level Poser Artist
Pro Pack	February 2000	Curious Labs	Add on pack for Poser 4 Implementation of Python scripting, Custom figure rigging Ability to host Poser scenes in 3ds max, Lightwave 3d, and Cinema 4D. No longer available
5.0	2003	Curious Labs	FireFly Reyes/ray tracing renderer Dynamic hair and cloth Collision detection
6.0	March 2005	Curious Labs ; e-frontier	OpenGL Hardware acceleration Image-based lighting, Ambient Occlusion Cartoon outline rendering effects Inclusion of "Primitives" Zygote Props Binary Morphs (allows you to load the morphs for a characters in a separate file linked to Cr2 resulting in faster load time in Poser) Inclusion of male and female genitalia
7.0	December 2006	e-frontier	Simon and Sydney (new AdultG2 male and female figures) Wildlife including eagle and wolf Updates to Ben and Kate the Poser Child figures with new morphs, textures and rigging New motion capture data, light sets, poses, and materials Talk Designer for lip-sync animation Multiple Undo/Redo Multithreaded rendering High dynamic range imaging Brush morphing Animation Layers Universal Poses for bipedal figures, with automatic conversion of Poser 1-6 poses Streamlined access to Runtime libraries Universal Binary
Poser Pro	May 2008	Smith Micro Software	Poser Pro was released adding COLLADA support and plug in support for Cinema C4d and Maya.
Poser 8	August 4, 2009	Smith Micro Software	8 new characters New User Interface New Content Management System Cross body morph tool Global illumination Improved OpenGL performance Tone Mapping and exposure control Normal Mapping Wardrobe Wizard Performance optimisations wxPython support
Poser Pro 2010	March 10, 2010	Smith Micro Software	Enhanced User Interface 8 new human figures with advanced rigging Full set of legacy figures Over 2.5 GB included content Keyword and online content search Parameter change indicator Joint strength indicator Recent render palette StuffIt Connect image export Facebook image export Professional Art and Animation Tools Full body part morph import Auto-conform drag and drop Conform with scaling Updated PoserFusion Hosting plug-ins Dynamic cloth and strand based hair Improved OpenGL real-time scene preview Face Room WalkDesigner and TalkDesigner Dependent Parameters Tool Improved joint rigging system Cross Body Part Morph Tool Wardrobe Wizard Tool wxPython support Refined Lighting and Rendering Tools HDRI Export Gamma correction for linear rendering Normal mapping PSD layer rendering Network rendering 64 bit render engine Indirect Lighting for Global Illumination Physically correct light falloff Tone mapping and exposure
Poser Debut	February 13, 2011	Smith Micro Software	80 fully rigged, fully posable, 3D characters Includes 2GB of content In-app Project Guide teaches how to use Poser with video Drag and drop content from Library Poser FireFly rendering engine. Poser 8 rigging system OpenGL real-time scene preview Supports spot light lights, point lights and infinite lights
Poser 9	September 21, 2011	Smith Micro Software	Subsurface Scattering Vertex Weight Map Rigging In-app Project Guide Expanded Context Menus Multi-select Drag and Drop from Library Grouping Objects IDL and AO Rendering Support OpenGL Scene Preview with Real-time Normal maps and Soft Shadows Constraint Channels and Constraint Objects Light Casting Objects Tablet Support for Morph Tool Rotate Object/Frame Object Camera Controls Pre-render Texture Caching Python 2.7 Support Mac OS 10.7 Lion Support
Poser Pro 2012	September 21, 2011	Smith Micro Software	Includes all new features in Poser 9 Vertex Weight Map Creation Tools Weight Map Auto-Transfer Weight Map Creation Weight Map Painting with Tablet Support Poser Fusion Plug-ins Lightwave CINEMA 4D Autodesk Maya Autodesk 3ds Max COLLADA import/export Import Full Body Morph

Famous quotes containing the words program and/or history:

“The almost unexplored Everglades lay close by and with a half- hour’s start a man who knew the country was safe from pursuit. As one man cheerfully confided ..., ‘A boat don’t leave no trail, stranger.’”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)