Michael 2.0 review

Michael 2.0, the upgrade to Millennium Man, looks rather like Ralph Fiennes.

He can also resemble Lieutenant Worf, any number of aliens and the entire cast of Baywatch. Men modelled in Poser can now look so much like real people that it can be hard to tell the difference at first glance.

Daz3D, which made the original models for Poser under the name of Zygote, has been hard at work perfecting its new figures and adding a huge range of new controls with detailed new fleshtone maps that greatly enhance the realism.

The number of body morph controls has now reached nearly 350, from figure-wide parameters, such as Muscular, Young, Emaciated and Heavy, to more localised effects, including BellyOut, HandMuscular, NailsLong and LoveHandle.

For those who want to control individual muscles, there are separate morphs for Biceps, Triceps, Pectorals, Deltoids, Trapezius and almost every other visible muscle on the human body. There are even 18 Gluteus morphs and five separate genital controls. Modelled figures outlines are now smoother than ever, and very little tidying up is needed to generate convincing bodies.

Most interesting of all, however, are the face and head morphs, for it's here that you add character to your Poser models. The list of 230 controls begins with full head morphs, including HeadAsian, HeadTroll, HeadAlien, HeadYoung and HeadOld, which determine the gross physical characteristics of your figure. Of course, all of these controls are set using Poser's standard variable sliders, so you can set the degree of withering age or emaciation you need.

Then it's on to the more detailed settings for each feature. The 15 eye morphs are complemented by eight eyebrow morphs and five lash controls. There are 18 ear morphs, 40 nose morphs, 18 lip morphs and even 12 different teeth morphs.

The expressionists

After building the head, you can add the expressions you want. Brows can be made to arch, frown and worry. Eyes can wince, blink and wrinkle. Mouths can pucker, part, purse, yell, smile, frown and snarl.

Texture maps, which are purchased separately, offer realistic skin tones with built-in flexibility. These textures are applied using the Poses panel, from which you can choose fair, medium or dark skin, smooth or hairy. You can even set the colour of the eyes. A textured model will take longer to render, but the results are oustanding.

Michael 2.0 is the most fully featured and convincing Poser model yet. The choice of standard and high-resolution texture maps enables you to render models at the resolution you need. Never before has it been possible to create figures of such realism and flexibility. If you own Poser, you need Michael.