Poser Applied: Creating Poser Animations for Applied Behavioural Analysis Teaching and Demonstration Purposes

In the present day, where access to video technology for teaching purposes may seem all but ubiquitous, video is not necessarily the best tool for all learning activities, in all situations.

In the teaching of Applied Behavioural Analysis, live-action video examples
are not always available and neither is it always ethically sound, to use real-life videoed case studies for all teaching situations. Live-action video sequences may be cast, scripted and recorded, but the process is often prohibitively expensive and it is difficult for the therapist to maintain control over the production to ensure the result is fit for purpose.

Poser, an application from software developer Smith Micro, offers users an application for the development of dynamic 3D CGI content that may serve as an enhanced economical alternative over its live-action video counterpart.

Canny use of the software, when coupled a knowledge of classical animation technique, can afford users the ability to generate animated scenes of specific behaviours, of a near photographic realism, whilst maintaining complete ethical control over the content developed; something that is often difficult to achieve with live-action video.