I want to buy Poser, and i just got my tax return and decided that is what i am going to do with it, my question is should i buy Poser 5 or go for poser 4 with the pro pack? Also, can you use the P4 figures in P5? Thanks

The answer to your last question is "yes". As far as the first goes, it seems to be a hot topic around here. My $0.02 says that if you don't need the export capabilities of the pro pack, go with P5. You might want to search back for a few weeks, and you'll likely find many similar threads.

I would take a good look at the Poser4/Vue d'Esprit combo...really nice price on it right now(about the same price of your two options). SWAMP

It depends on what you want to do. If you wish to create outdoor scenes, get the P4/Vue combo. If you have a slower computer (anything with less than 1 gigHrz proceessor, and under 512 RAM), get P4. If you already have something like Bryce or Vue, and want to utilize the human figures in Poser for your art, get the P4/PPP combo. If you have the latest & greatest computer with graphics oriented hardware, and want to work with the cloth features available in P5, go ahead and take the plung. Just so you know, I have the slower computer and jumped back to P4 after trying to run P5 on my machine. Not enough patience to wait for it to chug through minor tweekage. Then I bought Vue, and haven't thought about P5 since.

Poser4 and the ProPack is probably a better choice than Poser5. The extras in P5, if they worked as advertised, may make it a little more desirable, but you don't have the plugins and rendering speed of P4 & PP. Definately do not go with P5 unless you have a "top of the line" PC at your disposal. Take a look at DAZ's upcoming application before you make the decision.

I think another big consideration is your computer. If you have a pretty new and powerful computer, Poser 5 might be ok. I have an older computer, and Poser 5 pretty much bogs down on my computer. Poser 4 runs very nicely, and it is much easier to learn. I've been fiddling with Poser a few years now, and much of Poser 5 still eludes me.

I'd echo the sentiment about a "fast" computer. I've never tried Pro Pack, but one of the things I like about P5 is it's multiple pane view, which Pro Pack has too. But you may want to go for the Poser & Vue pack if you want to do more than simply render figures. You can animate in Poser, but you're limited to the size of your memory as it won't render to disk, you'll need to render then save 'n splice. P5 has a far longer learning curve than does P4, you may be better off spending that on a different app, it really all depends on you computer's spec. I've got a 2Ghz P4 and 1Gb RAM and P5 still bogs down with more than 2 characters + props, on screen. Welcome to the madhouse :) later jb

I think the Poser4 Vue combo sounds good, as does the Poser Pro pack. And I have a big computer-- is 2.4Gproc still big?-- with 2Gs of memory and no huge problems with Poser 5-- no huge bugs. But it still drives me crazy. Too slow, too many random freezes, too many memory leaks. Doesn't handle V3 that well--she's a bit too much dame for the system. The pluses with P5 are not as many as you would think. Most people don't seem to render with Don or Judy who are the only models that work with the Face room. The Cloth room has some enthusiasts, I'm not one of them, I think it's too darn hard to learn. The dynamic hair I buy and like but I wouldn't want to make it. I like the Materials room and the Firefly renderer when they work and the renders don't freeze. They do freeze often. They probably will for you too. The renderer is slow. For everyone. It's better than the P4 renderer but so is Vue. Emily