I'm trying to decide whether to buy the new Millenium man. There's no question he's better than the standard P4 man but is he better than Protomorph, which I have. It looks like Protomorph has more morphs than Michael, although it seems Michael has some wrinkle morphs and a more high-resolution face. I'd appreciate any additional info you can give me about Michael. For example, what kind of body morphs does he have? (I emailed Zygote for info but all they said was that he had a total of 100-120 morphs and that the morphs were similar to Victoria. Unfortunately, I don't have Victoria to compare with.) Thanks in advance. Aurelio

I initially contacted Beth to see if she would be interested in creating some morphs for me based on some figure artwork that I had. She took it much further and the end result was the Protomorph man. As much as I want to like Michael I still prefer Beth's creation. I can't help but think that she helped spur Zygote along to come up with something better. For all of the improvements Zygote has made there still are several things that strike me as being rather odd about this guy. Of course I don't own Vicki so I am not aware of the initial problems with her and these days she seems to be looking pretty good...

Michael has many morphs, 3 main body ones in order to make him stronger, heavier and thiner ( look natural, not muscle man ! ). The facial expressions are really impressive and really natural too. Some ethnic morphs ( amerindian, asiatic and african ) plus some more : old man, yeti like... The best is that the model looks really photorealistic. So bad Zygote don't sell him with a low res texture map. But they did not make the same mistakes they did with vickie : he got a cuter face than his girlfriend, he's really detailled ( you can even morph the Adam's apple to make him swallow... ) and customizable, and I find the joints work pretty good though I know people got problems with the hands... Having bought Victoria and Michael, I think he is quite perfect... just waiting for a He-Polyette to make him more suitable for a rendez-vous... joelegecko

Can you be more specific about what's odd about Michael? I've noticed that the shoulders look a bit strange.

The shoulders got the same problem than the other Poser figures, if your make the arm up too much, you have a flying squirrel... Otherwise, there is no major problem you can't touch up in Photoshop.

where can I get protomorph? this is the first I've heard of him

Caspaces Digital Ink: http://www.capsces.com/default.htm

Protomorph is at www.capsces.com.

As a delighted owner of ProtoMorph, I can give you a little insight as to why he works so well for me: ProtoMorph is based on the P4 Nude Male. The P4NM clothing, poses, textures, etc. work with ProtoMorph. Also, the wide variety of existing morphs work with the figure as well. ProtoMorph comes with some pre-defined body poses/characters: aged, bodybuilder, overweight, young and a default (model) body. ProtoMorph comes with a library of posed faces: 5 African, 3 Asian, 5 Caucasian, 3 Native American and 1 default face. ProtoMorph has more morphs than the standard P4NM, including body morphs and body part morphs. The head has some nice morphs giving much more control over the face. I'm constantly amazed by the versatility of this figure. Beth has done a remarkable job on him. Her morphs seem "smoother" to my eye than other figures/morphs that I've used. Of course, being based on the P4NM, ProtoMorph is subject to its limitations: low vertex count (as compared to Michael) and some joint parameter issues, for example. From my observations, it appears that Michael has a very pleasing "common man" look to him. A big attraction for me would be his enhanced facial morphs. I love what I've seen of them! I'm sure I'll purchase him in the future, but may wait a little while until more add-ons are available for him (morphs and clothing being the primary ones.) You may want to consider both characters if that's an option for you. I'm sure Beth will be able to answer any questions you might have. She and I communicated several times via email before I purchased ProtoMorph. Just a little feedback from the ProtoMorph side of the house. :) Lee

First, I would like to thank my customers for their patronage and support. I am very glad they are pleased with their product:-). I think Michael is a great model. Obviously, I think ProtoMorph is good for what it does, which is add versatility to the Poser 4 man. However, Michael has more geometry and therefore the potential for more variety, which I intend to fully exploit. Whether you need him, Aurelio, really depends on whether he will serve a purpose that ProtoMorph does not. As for differences, the transparencies for the brows, pubic area, and eyes certainly add versatility to Michael's mapping options. He has some great beard morphs. And most important, the new cut used at the hip/buttuck/thigh joints definitely improve bending in that area. The only problem I have with Michael and Victoria is the new cut of the shoulder joint. For some reason I like the old shoulder joints. I'd say if you want him, go for it. He is definitely worth the money. Beth

The authors of this figure (ProtoMorph), unlike Zygote, are either unwilling or unable to create a version for the Mac platform. Makes my choice a no brainer.

I should have mentioned in my earlier reply that I'm using a Mac (iBook SE.) ProtoMorph converted perfectly using MartinC's excellent Poser Maconverter 1.1.2 utility. Conversion and installation of the PC formatted Poser files probably took about a minute. Most of that time was moving a few folders into the appropriate Runtime subfolders. It was a completely painless process. There was nothing at all unusual with getting the files onto the Mac and into Poser. ProtoMorph works perfectly on my iBook. I hope this helps! :) If you have any Mac/ProtoMorph questions, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. Lee

Add Bobby to the mix :o) See my thread on him.

Good to know, Lee. Thanks for the info.