How to Make Your Poser Renders More Realistic

If you work in Poser then you know that one of the biggest things many people are trying to do with their renders is make them more realistic. I've actually seen some renders that are so realistic you cannot tell the difference between the render and a photograph. While that is a bit beyond the scope of what I'm going to suggest here, many of these tips will allow you to make your Poser renders far more realistic than many others who don't use them.

Here are some things you can do to help make your Poser renders as realistic as possible:

1. Only use skin textures that are based on photographs of real skin. Some of the older textures were not made from photos of real skin and when you do close-ups in Poser, you can tell. These are the textures that look a little too perfect, meaning there are no imperfections such as a small scar, or visible pores for example. The skin textures that are based on real skin look like it on close inspection and this can make it difficult for those viewing the picture to tell whether or not it is a photograph, particularly if you have used a realistic setting.

2. Only use hair props and dynamic hair that are based on real hair colors and textures. The hair that you create in the hair room, particularly in the older versions of Poser does not look like real hair. It reminds me of shiny plastic doll hair which is still better than the helmet type hair props that used to be available with the very early versions of Poser. Using textures that are based on photos of real hair can make a big difference when you are going for a realistic picture.

3. Steer clear of fantasy eye colors and shapes. There are lots of fantasy eye colors and shapes available for free at places like Renderosity, but these will not help to foster a sense of the real in your Poser renders. Instead of choosing some of the more fantastical eye colors and shapes, choose Poser eyes for your figure that are based on photos of real eyes and that have eye reflections. Since our own eyes reflect the light, using eyes in your Poser figures that also have reflections makes the 3D human figure seem more real.

4. Use clothing textures that are based on real cloth and leather. One of the things that can easily give away that a render is from Poser is a clothing texture that does not have any visible cloth texture to it. Jeans that have a jeans texture are going to appear real whereas just blue pants are going to look like a clothing prop that has been colored blue with the paint box available in Poser. If you don't have any Poser clothing with these sorts of textures, there are free resources at Renderosity in the 2D section of their free section so that you can do it yourself.

5. One technique that I've seen used and have used myself is to use a blurred photograph for the background to give the appearance of realism. I've also seen Poser artists take a Poser render into a 2D program and blur specific parts of it, to give the feeling of distance which can also help to foster realism. In the case of a portrait the first technique helps the eye to focus on the person and makes the render appear more like a photograph.

6. Work with the lights. Lights in Poser are tricky, but if you can figure out how to get the lights to reflect the time of day, or the place that your Poser characters are, this can really boost realism. For example, let's say you're putting together a scene at the beach. If you use lights that give off warm bright colors this can go a long way towards making your render seem as though it is closer to looking like a photograph. Bright white and gray lights work well in winter or snow scenes too!

7. Use a 2D art program to add a glow to your 3D human model's skin. Giving the skin a healthy glowing look is a great technique to make your Poser characters look real. I've seen this done by some masters and the renders look very real. You can find a tutorial I wrote for how to do this in Paint.net here.

These are just a few things that you can do to help your Poser renders appear more realistic. Using even one or two of them can boost the realism of any Poser render.