Posing Animals

You can pose animals using the same techniques used to pose humans. Animals have their own set of IK settings, bend zones, and limits. On the Horse model, for example, moving the hip down toward the ground does not make the animal sit, unlike a human figure. Editing tools, parameter dials, menus, etc. all work the same with animals as they do with humans. Technically speaking, animals and human figures are identical, and Poser makes no distinction between them.

Animals do not work with the Walk Designer, which is primarily designed for two-legged (bipedal) figures. However, animals can work with the Talk Designer if the animal includes phoneme morphs that support it.

Animal figures are poseable as well, but do not work with the Walk Designer.

The stock animal figures shipping with Poser use the same limb names as humans, that is, front legs and paws are labeled Shoulder, Arm, Hand, etc. This means that animal figures will not work in the Walk Designer, which was created for use with two-legged figures. To animate an animal walking or running, you need to keyframe its strides manually.

Posing Animal Heads

Several animal models have fully articulated heads. For example, you can pose the dog’s mouth and ears. Use the parameter dials just as you would for a human figure. The available parameter dials for a given animal’s head will vary depending on the animal.