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As artists look for reference material for their work, photos are often the first choice. It's often quite easy to find a photographic reference of something that comes close to what you're looking to recreate. While they're a good option for use as reference material, it does have a few drawbacks. If you're looking for a particular angle, scene, or specific pose, photos can not only be hard to find as they become impossible to describe, there may simply be none that satisfy your requirements.
This is where pose makers come in handy. Where artists previously had to use real models to set up a reference scene, they can now simply create one online in a fraction of the time it takes in real life. As these pose makers are virtual, they can also replicate angles, poses and effects that are simply impossible to recreate in the real world.
These are some of the reasons artists are now using pose makers to create reference material for their art. One of these three dimensional online pose makers is called PoseMyArt. PoseMyArt lets users add 3D models into a scene where each part of these models can be adjusted to their liking. This way you can create intricate poses and, when combined with various props and other models, create full dynamic scenes to use as reference material.
While PoseMyArt can be a good option to create poses for some artists, it has a few downsides. A main complaint about PoseMyArt is that it's quite hard to use. This comes down to the models having a lot of movable parts which can each be rotated on all three axes. When there are so many interactable elements, the interface quickly becomes cluttered and hard to navigate. Working with multiple models at the same time only exacerbates this issue. Besides that, the models in PoseMyArt also do not have any limits to their movement. The problem with that is that poses quickly become unnatural-looking, it can create issues with the 3D model getting stretched or crumpled into itself, and a body part can get stuck inside another.
SetPose addresses all these problems in a light-weight and intuitive interface. SetPose works differently to most other pose makers which is why some many artists use it to quickly create reference poses.
SetPose completely separates the axes controls to the side of the screen, meaning the 3D editor stays free of distractions. While keeping the essentials, it still allows you to quickly create any pose you can imagine. By default, the 'bend'-control will be selected. As the name suggests, this lets you move joints by bending them like the bending of the elbow or knee, for example. The other controls include the 'tilt'-control which will let you move joints and body parts from side to side and the 'rotate'-control which allows you to rotate the joints around their own axis. Hover over them to view an example of how they're used or simply try them out yourself!
As you play around with the controls, you'll likely encounter another useful SetPose feature which are the biological constraints. While using other pose makers like PoseMyArt it's easy to get your model into unnatural positions, making it hard to find natural angles when creating poses. By default, SetPose comes with 'Biological constraints' turned on. These are limits of movement the joint can make that reflect the real life natural limits of the human body. This makes it a lot easier to create poses as you're less likely to overshoot the angle of the joint. If you are looking to create some more 'unnatural' poses or don't like these limits, you can always turn them off in the model settings.
Adding props in PoseMyArt can be quite a hassle. While adding a prop to the floor of the scene doesn't take too much work repositioning, positioning a handheld prop precisely inside the palm of the model's hand can seem near impossible. Besides that, after adjusting the model's arms, you have to start all over again. This is also where SetPose differs greatly from PoseMyArt. In SetPose, props are separated by type. There are floor props that can be added by simply dragging and dropping them onto the scene floor, and there are hand-held props. These can be found in the scene menu under the prop button. There you can pick a handheld prop for each model in the scene. The great thing is that these hand-held props stay attached to the hand, regardless of how the model is manipulated, making it a lot easier to combine poses with different props!
SetPose also lets you try out an unlimited number of poses from the pose presets menu. In PoseMyArt you can use five poses per session which means that it can be hard to find the right pose without reloading the page. While PoseMyArt has a large library of preset poses, it can be very hard to search through as they aren't labeled like the preset poses in SetPose. As the SetPose presets are made by us ourselves, they are all unique and precisely fitted to the SetPose models and props.
A good lighting and camera setup is crucial when creating reference material. SetPose makes it easy with easy-to-use controls and essential features. There's no need to reposition the lighting manually as you can simply drag the light position pad to change the angle of the lighting while the subject stays central to the scene. Using the other settings like field of view and camera position, you can create effects that are not possible to recreate in apps like PoseMyArt such as an isometric projection:
Those are the main differences you'll notice when using SetPose instead of PoseMyArt but there are many more! For example, when you've made your pose, you can easily share it with a friend by pressing the share button and sharing the link. They'll then be able to view your pose and edit it.
For pro users there's even more to enjoy. When you upgrade to SetPose Pro, you'll not only be able to save your poses and scenes, your pose editor will also be automatically synced on all your devices, allowing you to seamlessly continue your work. You'll also get access to all preset poses and models like the dog and horse model!