Hi, I intend to buy poser since I need to create many figures that would participate as the "Dark army" that the villain in my movie summons. first of all: 1. should I buy poser 4 or 5? 2. can poser 4 work on windows XP? 3. what figures do I have to get so I can enjoy a wide range of characters (with an emphasis on fantasy creatures of all sorts)? Thanks in advance, Eran - StoryO's Productions.

1. this is a matter of opinion. many P5 users are gushing about it's more advanced features, others think that it is slow & unstable. P4 is cheaper & more stable. 2. poser 4 works on all the windows versions as far as I know. the difference is in the performance, something to do with memory management. 3. I would suggest Victoria 2 & Michael 2 from Daz.com. this would give you the greatest flexabilty. You also might want the creature creation packs (collection of wings, tails & the like) don't know where to find those off hand.

I'd say buy P4, get the patch straight away (runs just fine on XP) then get Vicky 2 and Mike 2 as Shadow cat says, personally i'd get the low rez version unless your doing big poster size close up renders, then with the cash you save you'll have money for clothes etc...Steve

Poser 4 and 5 both work on XP without any additional problems. Daz also has creature paks for Mike and Vicky to expand their fantasy lives. But there are fantasy creatures available at many sites, including here, 3D Commune, PoserPros, RuntimeDNA, etc. Ask and you will get a ton of recommendations. I like Poser 5. I like Poser 4. I'm not arguing one over the other...just depends on what you want to do. Both have been stable on my computer for the last few months (if you get Poser 5, get the latest patches). Vicky 3 doesn't seem to like Poser 5...I am expecting Mike 3 to be just as stubborn, so I keep both.

P4 works great on XP. P5 ??? (maybe has too many "bells and whistles" ?) - IMVHO ;=]

I'd say it depends on what you want to do.. I personally use P4 and feel no need to upgrade.. Since I wouldn't have any use for either the hair room or the cloth thingy.. do you belive you would use it? then go with p5.. it seems to be a lottery though.. some are very happy with it.. others I know who have p5 .. still use p4.. and p4 runs fine on xp for me.. don't have any problems at all with it.. what models to get would also depend on what you want to do.. Personally I don't like v3.. unfortunately most of the new clothes and textures are for her.. My personal preference for female characters are v" with Roxanne by Capsces.. for Males I use V3..she does make a decent male...

That should be "My personal preference for female characters are v2 with Roxanne by Capsces" sorry bout that

Oh yeah, I forgot about the lo-res peoples. good idea especially if you are going to have bunches of them in one shot. (might even want both versions one set for close-ups & one for group shots, they have the same morphs so you can kinda get the same look if you use the same settings on each.) Here's a good tip - get a Daz platnium club membership first, that will get you 30% discount off of Daz created items such as V2 & M2. Also you can then buy PC items for $2 a piece. Definately go browsing around freestuff and the webring links (bottom list on the sidebar over there) Once you have poser & peolpe hold off on buying until you know what you are going to really need.

A comment on the "low res" Mike and Vickies is that alot of the morphs available may not work on them (ie My Werewolf and Devil sets in renderosities marketplace)

Capsces male morphs are good choice too for stretching a budget.

If your starting out then get poser 4, upgrade to Poser 5 when your ready. Poser 5 has a steeper learning curve (wish I had done that I only have Poser 5). Both work in XP. poser comes with some people models, and there are a lot of freebies that are out there, many are not to be used in commercial works so make sure you check any freebie for your particular needs. Sixus1 sells many monster models here in the marketplace and they really work very well. Sixus1 also has a water dragon on his site for FREE, amazing little moster www.sixus1.com Rawnrr has some great textures at Daz3d, zombie and zombie addon with bandages as well as items here in the marketplace great stuff (Rawnrr ya can't toot your own horn so I will! haha!). you cannot go wrong with Vicki2 or mike 2 there is SO much out there for them. Daz3d Platinum Club helps with discounts and there is a bunch of fantasy scifi stuff in PClub, as well as the discounts on other creatures, addon packs etc.

"(Rawnrr ya can't toot your own horn so I will! haha!)." LOL :) Thanx!

what other software are you using?

buy P4, get the patch straight away<< The version of Poser 4 they're selling now is v.4.03 and doesn't need the patch.

Thanks alot first of all. Your advice is great and it is also heart warming to see how much passion and togetherness is in the poser community. to answer the question about what do we use here, well, we use mostly after fx and photoshop. We also use other software occasionally, such as editing software like final cut pro or premiere, and recently we got digital fusion and aura - but we still have to learn to use them. I'll be in touch with more questions soon... Yours trully, Eran - StoryO's Productions.

I would like to put in a word for DarkWorld's pacs of Wings and villians-- always huge variety and great possiblke combinations. The Monster packs that were avail abe at Daz are now at Rdna, there's a horned, bony beastie one and a vile insectoid one. They work with Mike and Vickie. and probably with Poser 4 people if you push and tweak it. If you do get Mike and V, be sure to get versions 2lores for the mass of your army, otherwise, you could use Posette and dork. The main reason to get Poser 5 would be the quality of the render-- if your working with high end editors, stick to Poser 4, animation, from what I hear, is much smoother. Poser 5 animation can be done but in bits and pieces. Emily

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=480232

Wow nice picture adp001! Umm okay I'm a little confused, being new to poser and still debating 5 myself. What is it about the picture exactly that p5 will do better than p4? Now I am not being smart with you, honestly I am just too new to this to know.

If you're going to composite Poser figures with live footage in a video editing application, you can render as a series of stills in .tif format, so you get an alpha channel. HTH - Elisa/gryffnn

it is no obligation to use/buy DAZ mickey and vicky 2... So far for eityher Dork (p4 male) orDon (p4 male) i dunt know very well what are in store... but on the female side, you still can use cancan, ranran or tenten from Yamato on either p4f or judy. Also there is the Mayadoll, another free character. As for arduino characters i dont know if Eve is a separate geometry or based on p4f or V2

where can i see the difference between the hires and lowres charac.? i need them to look good for the film (video Pal) i'm working on.