I don't have any more information than anyone else about what "Artist" will be, but I certainly can't see it as being just Poser 4 with a different name. If that were the idea, they would be better off ditching the "Poser" part completely and calling it "Figurama" or something. If anything, I think it will be a "Poser Lite." The name "Artist" would seem to imply no animation support. Stripping out the most unused parts of the application, grouping, magnets, phi editor, 3d import/export, etc. would leave something that would seem to be more appropriate for folks who simply want to do still images with standard characters. Of course, that's all idle speculation. If it were me, I'd be thinking, Poser 4 sales have peaked out. Poser 5's reputation is irreprably damaged. Poser 6 is a long way off and will require a fundamental refactoring of the application. Studio is looming. How do we survive to ever be able to do Poser 6? The only answer seems to be trying to capture new group of users. It's really just the opposite of the ProPack strategy The problem with ProPack is that it really appeals mostly to Poser users who wanted to move up, a limited number, since most of us can't afford, justify or even want to use Max or Maya. Those using just those products generally seem to disdain Poser as a toy, so no big gains there either. If you start with the (relatively) stable Poser 4 base, trim the fat and add things like multiple views and jpg bump maps from ProPack that are useful to everyone and sell it for well under $100, that's a product that might sell.

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