Fractal Design Corp has a graphic design tool for creating human forms based on the fractal algorithms made famous with Benoit Mandelbrot’s mathematical pictures. Fractal Design’s Poser is a Windows95 modeling and rendering application aimed at graphic designers, illustrators, multimedia authors and animators. According to the company, Poser enables users to create an infinite variety of human figures which can be posed or rendered with features such as textured surfaces and multiple lights. Poser works as an extension to all popular two- and three- dimensional design packages such as Adobe Systems Inc’s PhotoShop, Corel Corp’s CorelDraw and Fractal Design’s own Painter. Figures can also be exported in DXF or RIB formats for applications such as Autodesk 3D Studio, Caligari trueSpace and Pixar Renderman. It provides male, female and stylized geometric models that can be moved, modified and shaped into a variety of poses, then spun to view from any angle. Once a Poser model has been shaped, multiple light sources, as well as bump and texture maps, can be applied to create a fully-rendered model of the human body. The final composition is then exported to the image- editing application. Poser for Windows95 is available now, and is $100 until the end of next month, and $200 thereafter.
