Hello there.

The goal of my learning Poser, Ray Dream, Amapi, bryce etc. is so that I can eventually make   animations in Carrara... but, as said, I'm trying to learn a solid basic foundation first.

In Carrara, one can obviously do Poser animations, landscapes, vegetation, fluid animations , particle effects & physics ... all in one application.

I was wondering, "Is there a 'physics engine' for Poser (perhaps in newer versions)... either built-in to Poser or available as an add-on for Poser? If yes, what is its name, please? If no, can a 'physics engine' be coded for Poser, perhaps in Python?"

I've seen (but not yet used) a Python script which 'simulates' gravity, like a ball being dropped & bouncing on the ground ... so the idea seems possible (I'm not sure of the amount of work required to make something like that, or how it might impact the performance of Poser by adding a load to posing & processing animated renders).

This is from memory, as I'm out of the Poser loop at the moment.

There was "Poser Physics" think early Poser5/6/7/8 and then "Poser Physics2012" for Poser9/Pro2012.

With Poser10 and onwards you have built in "Bullet Physics", with soft/rigid body dynamics which would also translate to strand hair etc.

Pre Poser10, if you could not afford "Poser Physics/2012", you would have gone for one of the python scripts being sold at the time or even free adding gravity to your scripts library.

Oh that's cool, so things like velocity & momentum are available in Poser for rigid body dynamics. I imagine then that it is possible, with some work, to simulate a car crashing into something (deceleration & bouncing upon impact) if one assigns values like velocity & momentum to a 3D object on a timeline in Poser.

  Now I have further reason to learn Python scripting.

Thank you kindly !

I don't have much information on this topic, but if you're interested in Python for Poser, Ockham's page is a good start.

-> http://ockhamsbungalow.com/

Wow, awesome , thank you very much    !

By the way,   can Python scripts be harmful - like malicious code - in Poser?

Wouldn't want to download just any script, not able read & understand how it does what it does, only to find it locks things up, is spyware, ransomware or any other type of malware    .

How would one know if Python code is safe to run ?

There have been no malicious python scripts reported.   To date the python method in Poser is not true python, just a version that relates to Poser.  So a malicious script is unlikely to come from external sources outside of Poser using a version of the standard Python available.

You'll find the python method scripts are all by users in the Poser community and it's such a small one, that any user who makes a malicious script will not be here long and users would flag any malicios code.

With the different iterations of python method for Poser you're more likely to get a script that does not work for your version of Poser which will become your main worry (unless you have many versions of Poser).

From memory the Poser python method families are:
Poser4/5/6
Poser7/8
Poser9/10/11

However sometimes depending on the routines, you can get a script to work in a version of Poser it was not intended for, or if you understand python and can make the changes to the code.

Should have mentioned the animation palette and working in key frames, worth understanding if animation is your objective.

Care: Reading between the lines of the first and, IMHO, 'rather coy' news-letter from Renderosity / Bondware about forthcoming Q4 P_12, they *may* be removing support from *some* older script versions.


I don't use Poser Python, although I *did* briefly play with a free, PC version. It was near-enough like the many dialects of BASIC I'd used pre-Windows that I soon crafted a program to trawl the Hipparchos astronomy database sub-set I'd down-loaded. My glee evaporated when I found a better version of my 'nearby stars' on-line...

FWIW, tau Ceti's 'detected' planets have come and gone like dawn dew, but several *have* been confirmed. IIRC, 'f' is a 'super-earth' whatsit in the 'extended habitable zone', think 'Mars-ish orbit'. But, without knowing the precise tilt of tau Ceti's orbital plane to our 'line of sight', the Sine(i) 'Doppler' data can only estimate 'f' to ± 30% as ~4 ± 1½ Earth-masses...

Upside, next generation of space and/or mega-telescopes *may* be able to nail the orbit's tilt !!

"From memory the Poser python method families are:
Poser4/5/6
Poser7/8
Poser9/10/11

However sometimes depending on the routines, you can get a script to work in a version of Poser it was not intended for, or if you understand python and can make the changes to the code."

Thank you kindly !


"animation palette"

This is the first I've heard of it , my learning has a long, but hopefully fruitful at the end of it, way to grow .


"FWIW, tau Ceti's 'detected' planets have come and gone like dawn dew, but several *have* been confirmed."

I understand that we don't know everything about the universe, not even our own little solar system, so the astronomical models we formed from our limited knowledge & theoretical opinions will morph over time ... changing as we, piece-by-piece, gain a bigger & better picture of the universe.

What confuses me sometimes   is how we - in our limited knowledge - already came to the conclusion that there is 'no Intelligent Designer' Who made this 'intelligent design' which works so seamlessly & wonderfully in an apparent choreographed & symbiotic synchronicity.