Show HN: I made a 3D pose maker for artists

(setpose.com)

53 points | by augustvdv 5 hours ago ago

26 comments

  • raincole an hour ago

    If you want something out of box for free you can use Blender and download rigged models here: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/rigged-characters-482b7772d3.... Or find poses and animations from https://www.mixamo.com.

    Or you can use Houdini's free version, it comes with a fully-rigged mannequin and a realistic proportioned human. You can't export them in free version but if you're a 2D artist you can just screenshot and use it as a reference.

    Houdini has everything from full-body muscle simulation to writing a OpenCL image processing kernel there. All free if screenshot-as-export is acceptable in your use cases. If you need actual rendering it's $25/mo billed annually.

    This website's pro plus subscription is $15/mo.

    (Not saying there is no room for another tool. Just stating the alternatives.)

  • miguel-muniz 4 hours ago

    As much as I would like to use this, $7/month seems like a lot when Clip Studio Paint has similar 3D pose tools[1] and a marketplace full of free models/poses for $4.49/month. Plus you get an entire professional art program...

    [1] https://www.clipstudio.net/en/characterart/#:~:text=Learn%20...

    • Joel_Mckay an hour ago

      A permanent Clip Studio Paint forever license with quality pen input devices can be a good option.

      Blender also offers free rigged 3D base models that offer similar functionality too. Render a png of the 3D pose in 4k, and have fun in free Krita. ymmv with pen-pressure sensitivity features, as some devices are better than others. =3

      https://studio.blender.org/characters/

      https://krita.org/en/

  • virtualritz 4 hours ago

    No inverse kinematics?

    That is the most important feature this would make me use this over the good old wooden puppet, which is small (10cm). I.e. it travels with me with my drawing utensils.

    I guess I am asking: what exactly is the value proposition?

    • progbits 4 hours ago

      It's a checkbox in the "..." menu. Off by default for some reason.

    • majiy 4 hours ago

      What exactly is inverse kinematics? A short search tells me it is something like "if the hand goes in a certain position and a certain angle, elbow and shoulder must go into these angles", is that it?

      • rootlocus 4 hours ago

        Imagine placing the feet on the ground at some location and then pinning them there. Now you can move the hips and the upper and lower legs as well as the knee orientations change to keep the feet planted in the same position.

      • embedding-shape 2 hours ago

        This image explains it pretty well, you typically chose between Forward Kinematics, or Inverse Kinematics, depending on what you're trying to accomplish and how you want it to look like: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ebrahim-Poustinchi/publ... (imagine the robot parts are human limbs, same thing applies :) )

      • numpad0 3 hours ago

        regular kinematics derive coordinates from joint angles

        INVERSE kinematics derive joint angles from coordinates

        it's useful when you have a chain of joints and a mug to grab with it

      • progbits 4 hours ago

        Yes. Instead of having to figure out the bone angles one by one you can drag eg a finger and the rest will follow as much as constraints allow.

        • steezeburger 4 hours ago

          Does it just make it easier to get in a position you want or does it give you more natural looking positions as well or any other benefits? It's pretty fun to play with!

          • dagmx 4 hours ago

            It means that you can lock the end point to a position and figure out the rest of the pose.

            Imagine a character walking with forward kinematics. Every time you move the characters hips , you’d have to rotate the leg joints and make sure the foot doesn’t slide. Remember virtual characters don’t have friction.

            IK lets you lock the foot in a spot so you can animate the body above it without having to spend time matching the foot position.

            In a real world, this is like if you tried to put your hand on a door handle while jumping up and down. It’s easier to keep position when you hold the handle than if you were to just touch it.

            • wang_li 3 hours ago

              It also means you can move the point and the rest of the joints adjust. Want to make your model walk? Just figure out the foot motion and the rest of the details are calculated based on joint range of motion and limb length.

              • dagmx 3 hours ago

                Without some extra solving most full body IK systems won’t give you walking motion. It’ll just be like pulling a doll by its limb or QWOP

                You need a proper motion controller on top to actually have realistic walking motion driven by steps.

  • Fraterkes 2 hours ago

    Looks really polished. My one point would be that I would consider making the default model a realistic mannequin (or ecorche if you have it). I get you're saving that for pro, but I think that would make it more obviously appealing for people studying anatomy / perspective (which might be a bigger market than pros looking for pose-reference for illustration work).

    Having the abstract mannequin as a default may make people feel like they might as well just buy one of those wooden posing dolls (https://www.amazon.com/wooden-mannequin/s?k=wooden+mannequin).

  • delichon 4 hours ago

    Though the internet is for porn, this does not seem to support genital or secondary sexual characteric contributions to a pose. I respect the bold approach but doubt that it will discourage much use of this tool by that community.

    • NordStreamYacht 4 hours ago

      There was a Mac app called Poser which is probably what you want.

      • ndr42 12 minutes ago

        It was Windows first for some time, now it's Windows only.

  • felooboolooomba an hour ago

    What about male genitalia and woman's breasts? That's a perfectly valid and much drawn part of the human anatomy.

  • marknutter 34 minutes ago

    The range of motion seems very limited. These dummies need to take a yoga class or two.

  • lagrange77 4 hours ago

    Very cool idea, congrats on the launch!

  • islammidov 3 hours ago

    look interesting, but not sure price make this worth that

  • GlacierFox 4 hours ago

    What's up with the pricing? $7 per month for 'pro' or 20 for pro +. You can buy an actual real life manekin you can use forever for 10. Who's going to pay monthly for this? Who even is the target market.

    If you're comfortable enough with 3D meshes to make use of the 3D export function in the paid subscription, you could just download a manekin into Blender and do all this for free.

    • amelius an hour ago

      The internet was great at first.

      But then companies figured out they could use it to force per-month payments down our throats.