Poser Pro Pack 4 has added the ability to export to .swf format. This tutorial will explain the process of creating a simple walk cycle with Poser Pro Pack 4 and bringing it into Flash. You'll also learn how to keep the resulting file size low. Poser, like all 3D applications, has the potential to export massive file sizes. By the end of this tutorial, you'll know how to create the Flash animation shown below. The total file size is only 18k!
Creating the Walk Cycle
Creating a walk cycle in Poser is incredibly easy. We'll use the default figure which appears when launching Poser. If you'd prefer to use one of the naked figures, feel free, but don't get too distracted! The walk cycles in Poser are preprogrammed, so essentially, all it takes is a click or two and your figure will walk.
1.) Open the Libraries by clicking on the handle on the far right edge of the screen (or Window : Libraries ) .
2.) Click on Poses. Inside the Poses Library, click on the black triangle which pops down a submenu and choose Walk Designer. Scroll down and choose Walk.
3.)On the main canvas, change your camera angle from Main Camera to Left Camera.
4) To play the animation, use the controls at the bottom left of the screen.
That's all there is to it! Now you're ready to save the walk cycle as a .swf.
Saving poser animation as .swf
You're now ready to export the animation as a .swf. Go to Animation: Make Movie. A dialog box will appear.
1.) Select Macromedia Flash from the drop down menu labeled "Sequence Type". In order to keep the file size low, I've chosen to reduce the size of the original file by 1/4 by going to the drop down menu titled Resolution and choosing "Quarter". Choose "Full" if you'd prefer to retain its original size.
2.) Click the Flash Settings button. Here, set your color number to 4. Deselect all checkboxes (Overlap Colors, Inner and Outer lines).
3.) Select OK on both dialog windows and your file should start to export.
After naming your .swf file, it would be a good idea to also save your Poser file for future alterations.
Importing the animation into Flash
In your Flash file, we're going to place the animation into a movie clip. This will then allow us to tween the walk cycle, giving the figure the appearance of walking from one point to another.
1.) In Flash, create a new movie clip by going to Insert: New Symbol.
2.) Within this symbol, import the .swf file you've just created by going to File: Import. This will create 30 keyframes on your movie clip's timeline.
3.)Return to the main timeline and drag the movieclip you've just created out onto the canvas.
4.)Motion Tween the movie clip so that it moves from the left side of the screen to the right.
5.) After testing your movie, adjust the tween until it looks like the figure is taking natural sized steps.
See how easy that was? Now that you've got the basics, you can go back to Poser and play around with different figures and walk designs.
Download the files used in this tutorial. Download (75 kb)