i need to catch up from all my days being gone, really feeling to pose something, but im drawing a blank, no creative mind today;(

need ideas guys, request something, and i'll (to my best) do it

either comment it or just pm me, really lookin for some interesting scenes/ideas!

so, many people have told me that they either want to pose, or they think they are not good at it, or it's too hard. posing in gmod is not very much so hard, more like time consuming, requires a lot of determination, and patience. im going to share some tips i use, and many others use to get the best out of your scene.

step 1: design your scene

this step is mostly in your head. now while you'll be designing a lot in game, this differs. Before you go starting up a map, think. what kind of scene am i making? 
is it going to based off a certain game?
horror?
silly?
serious? 

there are endless ideas that you could come up with. try to come up with scenes that are popular. for instance, team fortress 2 is a very popular subject in the posing community. however, remember, you're not just doing this for others to enjoy (even though it's a big part) you want to enjoy the experience, and your final product as well. 

step 1.2: picking the right map/environment

this is an essential part in the process. this is your background for your character, your world to say. it is very important that, if possible, the map matches the same universe as your character. an example, if you're going for a tf2 scene, you want the tf2 characters to be in a tf2 map. let's say you put some characters from the game into original map, like gm_construct, it's going to look weird, unfitting, as it won't be the same art style. so you would have the wacky cartoony characters, in a bland, more realistic looking world.


tf2 characters, check. 
tf2 map, check.

now, none of this applies, if you're doing a crossover between too subjects. 



crossover

the workshop has many things, but not everything. if there is no map on your subject created, try to find a map that the subject would take place in, a plausible scenario. 

*one important reminder is to find a area in the map that has good lighting, some areas in some maps give bad lighting, and make your character look crappy*

step 2: posing

now that you have the idea, the map, and the characters, it's time to start the main part; posing. now, i've heard this so many times, it not even funny, but posing can be a long, frustrating task. there will be many times where the ragdoll will glitch out, or just won't want to cooperate. stay calm. don't exit out of the game in anger, give some time, work on other parts of the character. sometimes, the part that was giving you trouble, will be fixed, from other parts being moved around a bit. 

now, i have heard a few times, that some people can't even make the character stand up. i have two propositions for you.
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1: when you spawn the character, grab his head, and pull the whole body upwards. freeze the head when the whole character is standing, or facing, upright. freeze the characters head, back up, see how far the feet are off the ground, and unfreeze the head, slowly lower the character downwards, till the feet hit the ground..
                           
   
                                        confusing, right?

2: get the Standing Pose Tool: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles…
this is a very useful tool, that automatically puts character into a neat, clean standing pose. i don't use it much (have more experience posing bare) but when i do, it proves useful.

speaking of tools, if you are newer to posing, it would also be wise to download the Ragdoll Mover Tool: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles…

like the standing tool, don't use it much, but has become helpful when i do.

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moving on. a important thought to keep throughout the process, make every hand movement, leg position, realistic. look on google images for real life poses if you need to.

Camera Tricks
the camera tool is your best friend in posing. without it, most scenes would look horrible. something i do when posing, is frequently use the camera, and move to the position you want the scene to be at, and go back, pose some more, go back to the camera, ect. it helps your piece come alive faster, and you'll get a real clear picture before it's even finished.

another trick i use is, if the character is only being shown somewhat in the picture, only pose the that part of the character that is being shown, don't waste time posing a character's legs, if you're only going to see his upperbody. it saves time, and no one will ever really know. (unless you use this tutorial, then i will. whoops.)

step 3: making the scene come alive

this is one of the most important parts in scene making. this is what is going to make your picture pop. 

after all is done with posing, it's time to take out the good 'ol camera. the camera is very useful, it allows you to tilt the view (something i frequently do in my pictures), zoom in and out, and much more. if you want the most detail and cinematic look into your picture, move far away from your characters, and zoom in very close to them with the camera, as it will shut out a lot of area around the characters, but still show your background nicely. 

now, when all is posed, camera is positioned in the correct angle, wouldn't it be logical to just take the picture? 

WRONG.

after all is done (or seems to be), right angle, great poses, then its time to upgrade your picture.

first thing you want to do is go into your settings in game, then go to video. set your resolution the HIGHEST it can go. then go into advanced settings, and set everything to its HIGHEST settings. turn on antialiasing, all that fancy stuff. you are going to want your picture to have the best resolution, and graphics. even if you have a slower computer, you should do it, as all you would need to do when you set the settings, is take the picture, and it will look amazing, no matter what computer you have. then, after you're done with everything, just set your graphics back. i did that for a long time before i got a new gaming pc. i've seen so many low resolution pictures with lower graphics, and it just doesn't look good folks. 

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there are also some hidden (but VERY IMPORTANT) tips and modifications you can make to make your masterpiece look even better, and it all relies on your console.  

if you don't know what the console is, it's a command center, that's in many games. if you type a right command, for instance, "spawn_npc1" it would spawn that npc in the game. but it also does other stuff too, which we will use for improving your work. here are some commands you should put in the console to help your picture.

*to access the console, hit the ` key* 

jpeg_quality 100
this improves the quality of your picture, as its originally set to 90.

"devshots_screenshot"
this one is pretty important. this is a screenshot tool developers use to take screenshots in there games. it differs from regular screenshots, as the picture doesn't compress after it being taken, unlike regular screenshots. so you'll get the same quality you got ingame, i'd recommend using this tbh.

however, you need to bind the command to a key, so you can take the picture while ingame. use this command to bind any key. 

bind "anykey" "devshots_screenshot"
this will allow you to hit the key you binded in the command, and it will take a developer screenshot, ingame.

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i also recommend to stay away from the post processing tab in gmod for editing pictures. i would use another program (as i use photoshop) but if that's all you have at the moment, then go for it.





and that's basically it. if you follow these steps, and tips, you will surely be on the road to making better poses. but remember one thing, it's never going to be perfect! mine aren't the best, but i try harder and harder everytime, and see improvements. posing is all about practice. 

here is some motivation.

this was my first pose ever.


nostalgia..


..and here is one of my more recent ones. 


woah.

3 year difference. i just started posing again a month ago, before that, i hadn't posed in two years. 
what did i do? followed those steps and tips. and now i have fun doing it, and that's another thing. ALWAYS enjoy your work, don't make it a hassle.

but anyways, i hope this helped many people. if you used some tips off of this tutorial, or lived off it, please show me your work in the comments below, or link it to me. it would love to see what kind of work comes out of this. 

in the meantime, cescutti out

have fun posing!