Hello, I'm new to CG and I want to buy Poser for personal use (for the time being). However, I don't know which version to buy. Should I buy Poser 4 or Pro Pack or Poser 5? I understand that Poser 5 has additional features over Poser 4, but that it also crashes a lot? And what are the differences between Poser 4 and Poser Pro Pack? In short - which version should I buy?... Thank you. (By the way, I'm using Pentium 4, 1.8 GHz with 384 mb of RAM, Windows XP)

P5 is just P4 with a few bells and whisles. If i was starting out I'd get P4 with propack- propack adds a little stability. the extras in P5 arn't working well enought to justify the extra price. Also P4 has an easier learning curve.

Poser 4 is easier to learn, Poser 5 may appear somewhat daunting in the beginning, even though it's easy to learn compared to many other CG applications. The crashes with Poser 5 are more or less history with the latest Service Release, so that is not an issue. It's pretty stable on XP. And, Poser 4 can crash too... I like the new features in Poser 5, I can't live without them after I upgraded: Dynamic hair, dynamic cloth, the material room, the FireFly rendering engine, better possibilities to organize the libraries... If you go for Poser 5, I would recommend a RAM upgrade. Not necessary with your system specification, but the application will run smoother. ProPack has a few things compared to Poser 4 that also appeared in Poser 5: Multiple views in the document windows, the Set Up room and a few more. There are also some ProPack unique features: the Plug-Ins for 3D Max and other high end 3D apps. If you're not into professional CG work, I doubt that you will miss them. So it's a question about how giant a leap you feel that you can take: Poser 4: Get into it quickly, but you will feel a need for an upgrade when you are more comfortable with the application. Poser 5: More of a challenge in the beginning, but also more rewarding.

I would go with option number 4......the Poser4/Vue d'Esprit bundle for $320.00,then download one of the free modeling programs like Wings3D or Amapi. You'll have a much greater range of artist options,programs that will work,and alot of fun.Check out the Vue d'Esprit gallery to see how people use these two programs together. SWAMP

I have also noticed that there are a lot more things for Poser 4 (yes, I was looking in the free stuff section) than to Poser 5. Do those things can work with Poser 5 also? Are the characters the same in both versions? I saw the Poser4/Vue d'Esprit bundle for $320.00, but it seems like it's only for norht/south America, and I'm not from America.. Sorry I have so many quations, but my budget is strict, and I want to make the right choice.

Anything that works with P4 will work with P5, though they might require tweaking. The characters in P4 are different from P5. Personally, I use DAZ's characters anyway. (DAZ is a seperate company which sells models for Poser.) That said, there are a lot of free morphs and textures out there for the P4 people, and a few for P5, though the P5 people can use the same texture maps (with a few tweaks) as the DAZ characters. P5 runs well on some systems and is a dog on other systems. No one has found a common denominator yet. CL has said that they're working on another P5 patch, which might be out in a week or two - but no guarantee, so if you can wait a bit you might want to see what other people's experiences are with the upcoming patch. Poser is a bit weak on lighting and making backgrounds. If you like to do scenes, the P4/Vue bundle might suit you better. If you want to do character-based art - pin-ups, etc., then either version of Poser is fine. (There are various ways to fake backgrounds, and there are background models such as houses, trees, etc. available for Poser, but Poser was not made with complex scenes in mind.) Hope this helps, Cres

All things for Poser 4 will work in Poser 5. The contrary is also true with the exception of products that use Poser 5 specific features such as Dynamic hair and Cloth. The character are the same with the exception of Don and Judy (and the kids whose names I have forgotten), they are Poser 5 only.

You type fast, Crescent... cross posted :-)

I am thrilled with POser 5. The hair room and material room are great. Features like reflections and ray tracing are included as are boning and displacement maps. It really is miles more advanced than Poser 4. Everything in Poser 4 is included in Poser5 - all the people like Posette and the animals. There are also the Poser 5 people (Judy & Don) who can use the amazing face room and some cute cartoon characters. If you want Poser Pro Pack you need to buy Poser 4 as well - it is an add on not a stand alone.

If you can afford to up your RAM to at least 512, I would recommend 1G, then Poser 5 is about as stable as Poser 4 in most circumstances. There are a few tips to watch out for-- you cannot cancel renders to a larger window, that's an automatic freeze. Some rooms are problematical. I don't use the Face room, though it's possible just not what it was made out to be, a bit more of a toy. If you plan to do animations, get Poser 4. Poser 5 is not animation ready for most people. However, I love the FireFly engine and would not readily give it up, I also adore the library system and the abilty to have more than one runtime linked to Poser, not to mention embedded folders that you can arrange as you like to give you a better notion of what you have to work with. The material room is involved but gives you a lot of control over your settings, including reflection, refraction and much better water scenes. However, if you plan to use Vicki3, I would again strongly suggest a Ram upgrade. She is right at the margin of what the Poser Engine can handle. Other than that-- some people can get large scenes out of Poser 5, I can't, have to do it in sections. I bought Poser 4 with Vue,and ended never quite understanding Vue, so that was not such a good buy for me. I am a bit older, I learn somewhat slower, and I had poser 4 for a year before I bought Poser 5. I did not find much of Poser 5 difficult to understand. I still don't know how to clothify but I'm lazy.:)) Emily

If money's part of your concern over which to get, Amazon.Com's has a $50 rebate deal on Poser 5, bringing the net price down to $150. I just got my copy today; it looks like it could be awesome.

I have P1,2,4,5...no Pro Pack...buy P5 As someone else mentioned above, but perhaps hidden a bit...PRO PACK is an ADDON to P4...so you have to buy both. The Pro Pack features are included in P5, other than the plugins to export your Poser work to 3DMax and Lightwave, and I believe those are being worked on for P5. P5 has a lot more to offer than P4, even with the problems, and the problems are being fixed. P4 has numerous bugs and problems as well. I still have P4 on my system, but have not used it since installing P5. Check that amazon price and save yourself some money....unless you can pick up P4 at Ebay or something. Another option not mentioned..P3 is being given away free on several magazine CDs...it is a big step back, but much of the concepts are the same, although not nearly as good end result as P4 or P5, but it may give you an idea of what the product is all about.

go for p5... its less that $200 on amazon.com right now... and youll be better off in the long run...

Thank you for all of your replies. Is it legal to buy P5 on amazon? And is it the same thing as in Curious Labs? What about registration?

Yes, it's legal to buy from Amazon.com. This is the full retail version. If Amazon wasn't an authorized reseller, I'm pretty sure Amazon couldn't have included Poser in its rebate program. Note: if your copy is the version I got this week from Amazon (5.0.2.262), you'll have to download or send away for a CD of SR 2.1 from Curious Labs. Curious Labs aparently changed their registration requirements and no longer need a reply code for the program to work over seven days. The registration info on the program is not correct.