Having Poser5, is it still recommended to get Propack also? What is in Propack that the latest Poser5 cannot do? pjanak

not much. only reason I can see to have both installed would be for making new content and ensuring that it will work for those that do not have p5. but since I don't, no idea if there is anything that pro pack can do that 5 can't

Poser 5 can do everything that pro pack can do, so if you don`t already have pro pack there is not much point in you buying it.

ProPack's only an add-on for Poser 4, it won't work in addition to Poser 5 (which it does with 4). - Molly

ah. Thanks for all the replies. Answers the question all right.

Attached Link: poser in C4DXL

As wolf359 pointed out, the only significant things from Pro Pack that are missing in P5 are the hosting plugins, which allow you to more easily port Poser figures and scenes to other applications.

Reiss Studio and Greenbriar Studio seem to have taken over development of the hosting plugins.

And charge big bucks$$$$ for their plugins the one from CL is free ;-)

Actually you don't need Poser 5 at all if you have Poser Pro Pack. Pro-Pack has MAX and Lightwave plug-ins that I still use- Poser 5 doesn't have them! I import most of my stuff into Vue 5 anyway, which has superior rendering features to Poser 5. The best Vue 5 feature is HDRI, which delivers very photo-realistic renders using real HDR data- not faked lighting sets that require complicated light sets and huge amounts of rendering time. Yes, the TRUTH is out there- if you go looking for it...

I didn't adjust the headlights or anything else- just wanted to see the CHROME effect in HDRI...

you know? I'd reaaly like to say something about the vue stuff that pops up.. but I can't. the TOS stops me. funny how Poser and VUE are spelt differently ain't it?

HDRI is not so great, the effect can be simulated in poser 5 it is just another newer gimmick.

Attached Link: http://www.geocities.com/pjanak2001/testrender1.html

HDRI is a subset of IBL, pjanak. Khai, TOS doesn't stop you -- it just means you have to be more creative is all. Veritas, I'm going to say it one more tme. Then I'll get ugly. This is a Poser Forum. It is NOT the Vue forum. Based on your posts of late, it appears you have no reason to use Poser at all, so why do you continue? Let's look at a certain Truth that's out there: The cost of the programs to which ProPack exports is high, and Propack exports what are now very old and feature poor versions. Essentially, yeah, ProPack can export stuff -- but it's an almost obsolete format for both of those you have noted. And neither of those applications suppot cloth dynamics and strand based hair within the base program for under 200 bucks. hmmm -- come to think of it, neither does Vue... (note: I like Veritas, and I like Vue. I'm just upset that he's not posting in the proper forum and appears to be trolling about intentionally)

I use Poser every day. Some of those out there have a very CLOSED-MINDED idea of creativity and are against anyone presenting any sort of alternative to the Proscribed Party Line that certain people are attempting to ENFORCE by means of intimidation and bigotry. Go look up INTIMIDATION and BIGOTRY and you will see that certain people are using their tactics to enforce their police-state views on who can say What about Using Poser. Poser Pro-Pack is a product of Curious labs. It has features P5 doses NOT have. Pro-Pack is still an EXCELLENT program- I use it on Windows XP. Certain people are trying to enforce a Police State mindset at the Poser Forum that the Poser Forum is only about P5. It's NOT. Just because prople use Poser 4, or Pro-Pack, does NOT make them second class citizens here! Curious Labs made Pro-Pack for the OBVIOUS reason that people wanted to import their projects into Lightwave or MAX, or other programs. But, according to certain people here, that is HERECTICAL and ONLY POSER must be used or discussed. Curious Labs has a very friendly relationship with E-on software, makers of Vue. Vue imports Pz3 and Pzz files DIRECTLY- Further it imports Poser 5 dynamic hair and cloth. People are currently working on importing nearly all Poser 5 materials- since Vue 5 can handle them. So certain people need to stop being closed minded anti-creative thinking, anti-progressive fascist bigots...

Personally I have zero objections to nn occasional mention of a non poser program. This includes the occasional render too.. Like if this thread was soley about lighting, if someone showed up with a comparison post and wanted to show how much better certain app does things than poser. Then thast is no proble, THis forum is not a curiouslab foru, Therefore, to strictly limit things to the slight mention of another app is very much the wrong way top go about things. Now if the forum was totally littered with non poser related posts then thats different. To prevent even the slightest mention of a competeing app is only what many software manufacturers do. Not peer forums. Anyway, there is a much better way to import poser stuff into MAX now. Some program by a guy named Reiss. It in the Curiouslabs store. Pete Pete

Eh? Did I just walk into a political debate? What's with all the mudslinging?

I don't think anyone's trying to bash ProPack, we're just trying to answer the question that was asked.

I almost never use P5's "fancy" features like the cloth and hair room, the only reason I use it is for the Mac OSX support... I can't run P4 or ProPack under my operating system.

If I knew how to use any of the higher end programs, I'd probably import Poser content into them... fact is, Poser is marketed as a hobby-level program, and not generally geared towards professionals as 3DSMax or Lightwave are. That doesn't mean they can't be used together, and I think CL wants to encourage that by partnering with some of the other software developers. It doesn't mean that Poser users can't just stick with Poser either, that's a choice everyone's entitled to make for themselves. Whatever someone's software preference is, I don't think there's any anti-creative or anti-progressive thinking going on here.

• Molly

YEah, thanks for the answer to my question all.

As the resident "closed minded anti-creative thinking, anti-progressive fascist bigot": I don't mind an occasional post either. Occasional being the key word. This forum is specifically intended for discussion of Poser. That doesn't mean that Vue cannot be mentioned, but that one needs to mention it without denigrating the software to which this forum is dedicated. At no point have I noted that P5 is the only program. Excellent spin. The "proscribed party line" is the forum purpose. To intimidate requires the ability to invoke fear. Bigotry is not applicable to software, only to people. There are other more accurate terms. Zealotry could be one. I also noted only that Vue does not natively support dynamic cloth and strand based hair for under 200 bucks. At no time did I say that it doesn't import them. Native support is a considerably different thing than importing. All of which is beside the point. The point is that this is a Poser related forum, and your posts of late have specifically appeared to be more suited to the Vue forum. Still rather surprised this little gal is so intimidating...

Has anyone tried the propack 3dstudio and lightwave plugins with poser 5? They might work...

Xantor -- they do. I have them installed in my setup. The material settings that mimic p4's settings translate fine, but any of the newer features (procedurals, hair, cloth) do not transfer over (of course) -- which is why they were left out of P5.

The importation and exportation to 3D Max and Lightwave were superficial features added to ProPack, not main features, since Poser already imported and exported to those programs to begin with. The reason they're not in Poser 5 should be rather obvious by now. Poser 5 is the superior program in the Poser world, hence the reason it is Poser 5. ProPack is the "expansion pack" of the Poser 4 series. Poser 3 is before Poser 4 and after Poser 1 and 2.

End of Discussion - Please Rewind Tape

ynsaen do you only have poser 5 installed? Yggdrasil, the plugins are not superficial features they import animations to max and lightwave, that can`t be done with just poser alone. (according to ynsaen they work with p5 anyway.)

On one system, yes. On another I have it and Pro Pack, but it's down right now :(

Well there is nothing wrong with pointing out Posers faults and how much it pains you. For instance, as much as I like Poser, its awful for some purposes. Like animating. I've never had diffriculty animating in other app. Just poser. I cant think of all the others it has because its been a while since I used it. But I still buy the releases, and P5 is the best one so far. I have to give it a chance before I trash it completely. But I can see that nothing has changed really as far as the animation tools. POser has been able to import 3ds OBJECTS as well as export them. But a poser scene was never able to be imported into MAX until the Propack or a plugin that came just before Propack if I recall. Maybe it came after. Anyway, now there is another 3rd party import tool as mentioned at the Curiouslabs site. Says it supports,translating of Poser materials, poser lights, and other things to MAX Pete

I personally see no reason to export light sets. But then, I rarely try to render in Poser. Indeed, the last couple things I did I exported half-done scenes because I found it easier to do the final scaling and positioning of all the props in another application. If there is a blindness, it is the "get off the road, Grandpa, and get a real car!" attitude that, quite unconsciously I'm sure, comes out of those with full time jobs that pay them in American dollars. I've had plenty of contact with people in South Africa, say, who can't come up with what Poser5 costs over there and who have to keep using "old, primitive" software (and hardware). And plenty of other people who work part-time, or who are self-employed, and for whom the cost of even something as simple as Transporter must be considered as a large, infrequent, item in their household budget.

A problem with poser has always been exporting animations to other programs, which is strange because, at least to start with, that was the whole point of it.