The one feature I want more than anything in Poser 6 is the ability to create my own characters and rigg them. I get so frustrated at how difficult this is to try and do in Poser 5. I had hoped that Peachpit were going to bring out a visual quickstart book on Poser 5 and have some of poser 5's mysteries revealed, but the publication was cancelled. I feel stuck at the moment and can't do what I would really like to do. I want to create more cartoony/stylised characters and be able to rigg them and be able to make facial morph targets. I tried making a stylised character recently using magnets but the eyes lost their ability to point at objects and some facial morph targets were impossible to achieve: getting the mouth to look like it's whistling (also a raised ridge, down the middle of a face, sometimes appears as well). Anyway here's hoping Poser 6 removes this wall.

That'd be nice. How about a "cancel" feature that actually works? Or a fully functional Undo? Those of us who "stutter" with the mouse spend massive amounts of time fixing mistakes because you can't smak the computer in the back of the head and say "stop that, you idiot! Now, put it back the way it was!!"

Poser's Setup Room is perfectly serviceable for rigging, once you get the hang of it. Admittedly, that last bit took me several years ....

Combined with the Hierarchy Editor, Joint Editor, grouping tool, and magnets, you have everything necessary to create your own posable, morphing figures from a custom mesh, within Poser itself. But third-party utilities can make the process less painful.

Yes your right, but it isn't easy - I do make tiny inroads towards understanding the whole process, but boy, is it tedious. I made a simple figure once and rigged it but the mesh kept breaking in strange places. I don't know if you're meant to make an all in one figure and rigg it or if you're meant to slice the figure up into separate parts, forearm, shoulder, etc. Trying to find info on the subject is like trying to get blood from a stone. I take my hat off to anyone who has managed to create their own characters from scratch. Why is their no decent books on the subject? Why did Peachpit cancel the book they had planned? The thing is I have so many ideas for animations but I can't start them.

bloodsong's book, Secrets of Figure Creation with Poser 5, comes highly recommended.

I don't know if you're meant to make an all in one figure and rigg it or if you're meant to slice the figure up ....

Ultimately, the mesh must be sliced (or grouped) into body parts to work in Poser; the groups need the same internal names as the figure's bones. You can do this in another application (modeler, UV-mapper, etc.) before importing the mesh into Poser, or during the rigging process itself with the aid of Poser's grouping tool. Some people detest and/or just can't get the hang of the grouping tool, which is why I mentioned third-party apps.

Hi, Is there a Poser 6? I have only seen Poser 5...Sorry extremely new.

Not yet. Rumours suggest P6 may be out next year .. or not. P5 is the current version.

Hi, I found Renderosity by accident one day.I was looking for backgrounds for my Ebay auctions. I browsed through the site for days looking at the Renders...I got hooked. I bought Poser 5 and have been stumped. I can't make heads or tails of it!.I don't know about it being user friendly but it's not "me" friendly! I get frustrated!I wish I could find someone in Tennessee (close to me) to tutor me.

If I had to select only ONE new feature, it would be 3d video card support. I could live MUCH easier with Poser, if it just had faster response. If I had to pick a second feature, it would be clearing up the material room node render bugs.

Poser 6 should be an update to make Poser 4+5 compatable. It may be "great marketing" to make earlier programs obsolete, but it's a pain in the butt for users!

starwalker38; You're in the middle of one of the biggest tutor sites out there. Do a search in the Poser Forums for Dr. Geep. He has done....quite a few....illustrated tutorials that deal with Poser and functions. All the tutorials that are numbered 0XX deal with Poser basics, and apply to P4, P5, and so on. The ones numbered 1XX deal specifically with the new toys in P5. Where in TN are you, BTW? I'm East TN.

I wish Poser would remember where I put my stuff. I mean if I go to save a PZ3 file, It's probably not supposed to go where I last ran a python script, or loaded a texture from. I would love to set default places for actions.

Definitely a better user interface for the library, file-manager style, with the possibility to move the files and create directories from inside poser to reorgainze it better. Then a renderer with radiosity, or at least a more 'complete' ray tracer (ever tried to reflect a ray of volumetric light? It just does not appear in the mirror surface), and the refraction node suffers some serious limits now... Last... better documentation in the box ;)

"The one main feature I would like in Poser 6?" Ability to drag-and-drop Poser assets into a scene from a usable interface or other programs, like P3dO.

Point lights (and an overhaul of lighting generally).

I spoke with Larry the creator of Poser at Siggraph and he told me that there is a Poser 6 in the works and there will be a lot of fine tuning of current features.

What I want to see in Poser 6 is better looking defult characters so that you can get awsome immages with them, unlike Poser 5 and before.

I'd like to see the ability to use python scripts anywhere in the app, especially material room.

I gotta agree, point lights and drag and drop ability from a program like p3do.

Hi, Maybe Larry the creator of Poser at Siggraph should get users input to make it better...and make it more friendly for beginners like me that are totally oblivious as to what to do first,next...and so on. Hope he is subscribed to these forums!!!!!lol

If I had to pick ONE feature... just ONE feature I would most want to see in P6... N E T W O R K R E N D E R I N G in Firefly. Nuff said. ;-)

The one feature I want more than anything in Poser 6 is the ability to create my own characters and rig them . Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen . If you dissect the original characters, you will notice lots of non standard structural data . I think editng them in Poser would likely break the already fragile system; so they can only be safely edited in a seperate utility .

how about something simple - having the dials light up a different color when they are modified

The ability to create custom figures by mixing and matching parts from others. Hands that can automatically adjust themselves to grasp an object. Hair that flows and doesn't look like a blob. A true Cel-Shaded mode, not just a "Sketch Mode." A place in which to create conforming clothes for your characters with ease. Eyes that don't look stoned. Okay, maybe that's a lot more than one extra feature. :)

Poser 6 is going to be very limited on additional features as they focus on smoothing out and tightening up current processes. Don't expect much in the way of new features that expand the capabilites of Poser in Poser 6, which will be out in 2005. I base my statements on posts herein and at the site from Curious Labs -- nothing more, nothing less. I'm inclined to believe that you'll many of the suggestion given above in Poser 7, however -- which I think you can safely say will likely try to blow your socks off...

Lighing (including point lights) is really the only thing DAZ studio does better than P5, so I really hope CL will give some serious consideration to that one. Other than that, I'd be happy just to see workflow improvements and bug fixes.

Particularly if those bug fixes involved the collision issues with hair and other geometry. I want my long, flowing fantasy type dynamic hair to go with the minimal loincloths!

I'd really like to see all of the tools on a floating window so I can put them on a separate monitor (like the morph dial window). I use multi-monitors all the time but the main Poser interface is too clutered up with all of the dials and tools. Put them all on a floater and I'd be happy as a clam

Enough included base content to depict a teacher in a classroom, a housewife in a kitchen, a family in a car, a patient in a hospital bed, and a secretary in an office. Take it as a loss leader. Promise more specific scene paks (sets/clothing/props/lights) and charge for them. Zygote was interested in supplying general purpose props/accessories for professionals; in this regard DAZ may as well be an acronym for "DAZ Ain't Zygote." DAZ currently caters to the renderer of fantasy content; DAZ|Studio could have come with an office scene but it didn't. Whether the application is still renders, animations, advertising material or online porn comics, the needs remain consistent: the ability to depict contemporary scenes quickly and cheaply. Don't assume we like to spend hours combing Renderosity, SAMS3D, DAZ, etc. for content. Until professionals see an app that comes with the equivalent of the practical clip art that comes with Microsoft Office, "Poser = Nekkid Vicky hobbyist app" in the popular imagination. Trust me on this one.