Book Description: The sixth book in the Virtual Pose series, this is the only book of its kind to feature models posed in action or motion scenes in addition to traditional stationary poses. The PC/MAC compatible CD-ROM makes studying the figure easy and convenient - it's the next best thing to viewing a live model. Each of the 35 full-figure poses can be rotated 360 degrees for a total of 1,260 views. Every full-color image can also be zoomed in on for detail shots and the use of the images in the book and accompanying CD make working with models simplier, affordable, and yet yield the same results as live models.
I'll list the positive then negative impressions I have.
POSITIVE: 1) Beautiful photography. Very well-done multi-angle turntable images of dynamic poses, with excellent lighting (good shadows without totally obscuring any parts of the model).
2) Excellent quality, high-resolution images on the accompanying CD-ROM. They're in a Quicktime format where you just click-drag on the image to manually "rotate" the model in front of your very eyes. The image is so large, it wouldn't fit on my huge 24-inch Dell monitor!
NEGATIVE: 1) It's difficult to find something wrong with Virtual Pose 4, but if pressed my one critique would be there isn't a lot of diversity in age & fitness of the models. They're all relatively youthful & in good shape.
This is generally a fine problem to have ^.^ But if you're wanting reference for old or overweight people, you're out of luck.
All in all, I highly recommend this book, and most definitely do not regret my purchase.
Wonderful sculpting resources! I am now using this book/cd as a resource for my sculpting.
While the book is very nice, the real treasure of this collection is the included CD. I am using a mac and therefore Quicktime VR is built in. There are around 36 frames per pose. Allowing almost a perfect 360 view. You can then print from Quicktime in full color.
The original size is very large and should do well for all artists. The cost of this book/cd is minimal compared to having a live model pose for you. I have found it hard to find models willing to pose and this book has rectified that issue.
Only thing I would like to see more of would be some more models. If the author combined the whole set on one DVD instead of a CD then re-release it.
All in all a great resource for artists of all sorts.
excellant book The whole series of these books are well layed out and the book is a jewel to use in the way it is set up.
body work My computer still uses Windows 98, so it could not download the newer version of Quick Time from the disc. It sounds as though the newer version makes the models even more accessible, but I use the older QT that I have. I do, however have an old 80# 20" monitor which helps. I just love it! When can I ever afford a life model? Too bad projectors are so out of sight expensive. I have not seen any of the previous versions.
A nice to have The poses in VP 4 are a bit more dynamic and so they are less "artsy" than some of the previous versions. It is a nice addition to any figure artist's library as long as they have a computer since the DVD is the true value.
The ability to rotate the figure in the viewer is quite nice and can help the novice and pro alike practice drawing the same figure from many different angles to get a better understanding of the human form.
My only complaint is that I wish they would make the images be in a much higher resolution so the zoom can go in closer. In this edition they are much higher than in the past but still much too low, especially when you compare it to the high res DVDs you can get from Ballistic Publishing or some of the sites on the web which all use the turn-table concept but don't include a viewer.
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