Do you all remember why Poser was created? To help the traditional artist draw correct figures, right? I know we have gone well beyond that with the program nowadays.
However, my mom is an artist. She loves to paint. When I was showing her what I could do with Poser, she got excited about being able to pose the human and animal figures to see just how that hand really looks from different views. Especially viewed up close.
So we started looking at the different versions of Poser available. I'm looking for your experiences with the different versions to use as an electronic artists mannequin.
Some considerations: She really liked the completeness of the millenium figures. For example the bone structure showing better in the hands.
We looked at Poser Artist. Only $109. She was comfotable with that price, but will it do well with the Mil figures?
On the other hand with the changes in Poser 6 comming out, would it be better? Although she thought $250 was a little steep.
What do you think?

Hi mikebres,

With the increased capability in Poser6, re: lighting, et al. I would highly recommend Poser6.

Think of it as an investment. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Think about it ...

If you buy Poser Artist (P4) and then look more closely at Poser5 and wish you had gotten it ...

= or =

If you buy Poser5 and then look more closely at Poser6 and wish you had gotten it ...

Why not just "go for the gold."

I don't believe you'll have any regrets.

That's just my very humble opinion ... I could be wrong.

cheers,
dr geep <---------------- been usin' Poser since '95 (that's 1995)
;=]

Why not just get an upgrade for P6 from your existing copy? Keep P6, and give her P4.. ;) Honestly, I think buying P4 is not a good idea any longer. If price is the most important thing, just download Daz Studio for her, and spend the rest on some props or figures.

I'd get P6 for her as a gift...birthday, Mother's Day and Christmas combined maybe? A lot of good things are said about PP (Poser Artist) but I've never used it so I can't really suggest it. I have P5 and love it. Lot's of other people think it's the pits. I guess in the end, the choice is up to the two of you. Kristta

I'd say get her Poser 4, now being sold as Poser Artist, I think. Poser 5 (and I assume Poser 6) has a lot of advanced rendering capabilities that she probably isn't going to need. Poser 4 will fully exploit the DAZ millenium figures, they actulaly work better with it than any newer version. P4 is also easier to learn, I think. I started out using Poser for exactly the same purpose, got hooked on it later. If she gets hooked I think Curious Labs will have some kind of upgrade from Poser Artist to whatever is current then.

Geep, don't be a fibber now...you know both of us bought upgrade copies of Poser in 1895. Guy that sold them to us kept saying silly things about going to the moon also...what was he thinkin'! ;-) -jay

I use Poser Pro (it's 4 beefed up) I purchase Poser 5, but its too advanced for me, so I uninstalled it. Poser 6, I'm afraid of...if you're mom is a tech head....go 6, but if she's like me...non techy Marine...4 is easy enough and you still can do great things with it...don't believe me check out my gallery (not a plug)

I think the Open GL Support of P6 and DAZ Studio make those better suited for posing and watching from different angles than Poser Artist/PP... Maybe try DAZ Studio before wasting money?

I can give you a really GOOD price on my Poser 2 CD :-)

I started with a magazine freebie of Poser 3, and then jumped to Poser 5. And was intimidated by the Firefly rendering engine for a long time. But it does have the p4 render engine as well. Right now, I'd say Poser 5 (with SR4) is the way to go. I wouldn't take a chance on P6 until I hear from serious users who have been using it long enough to get past the goshwowoboyoboy phase.

I'd say go for Poser 6, unless she is using a really old computer that can't run it. Poser 4 is ancient. I suspect CL will shortly not be supporting it any more. It doesn't run on older Mac systems, and isn't tweaked to take advantage of newer Windows systems, either. Poser 5 will probably become Poser Artist soon. If you do decide to stick with Poser Artist or Poser 4, don't pay too much for it. Either wait until "Poser Artist 2" comes out, making Poser Artist cheap as dirt, or buy a used copy.

My 2 cents - Download DAZ Studio and let her look at it. If she likes what it can do, then help her get it and get started (it's pretty easy to use). Keep a watchfull eye on what she does, and how much she uses it. If she really gets into it, you can either get her P5 or P6 as a present, or help her with the cost as a present. DAZ Studio does most of what P4 can do, and with the $$$ she saves she can get some nice add-ons to V3, M3, or what ever she would like.

Right now, DAZ Studio is no replacement for P5/P6, but for someone just starting out, it is a great intro to figure posing on the computer. If it turns out that she really likes creating computer art, then P6 with the improved render engine would be a great present for her in the future.

I think most of you guys are missing the boat by recommending P6 or even P5. What mikebres is looking for is a tool to help his mom draw human and animal figures, not a tool to make final images. Draw, like with pencil, brush, paint, paper, canvas and stuff, you know - traditional, old fashioned, hand made art, not electronic, CG art. Poser Artist (or Poser 4) is propably the best choice for that. It'll allow mikebres' mom to use the millennium generation DAZ figures as electronic artist's posing dummies without a very steep learning curve. Just my opinion...

I think the learning curve is about the same for all the options. D|S perhaps a bit steeper, if only because it's still in beta. What concerns me is that with P6 coming out soon, P4 will probably no longer be supported by Curious Labs. As it is, it doesn't work on current Macs.

Thanks for all the great feedback, folks. Guslaw is right. She's not interested in creating computer art itself. She was interested in using it as an artists mannequin. When she has an idea for a picture, but she can't get the shape of the hand just right, or when she paints the face from a slightly different angle. When we looked at my Poser 5 the rendering really didn't give her what she wanted as much as just looking at the preview figure did. Dont' get me wrong she appreciated the various computer generated portraits in the gallery, but she justs wants something to help her with her oil painting. Thanks

Well, in that case, I'd say start with D/S and go from there. You can easily use it as a simple posing tool. There are plenty of free figures to play with too: DAZ has several, Sixus1 has quite a few and so on.

I think you have to consider the quality of the various models. Pser 4 has the narrowest range in the box, and the male and female figures, Posette and Dork, have some odd behaviour at knee and elbow joints. Poser 5 figures have largely sorted this. Paser 6 has even more figures. But the Base Vicky 3, Mike 3, and Aiko 3 are all currently free downloads from DAZ 3D, so that's less of an issue than it might be. Does Poser 6 still include the Poser 4 render engine? I agree that it's fast, and you don't need all the fancy stuff for the basic painter's guide approach. (All versions have the traditional jointed-mannequin figure, if that matters.) If your mother wants different faces, there's not really any free options. Maybe a few free figures, but DAZ make the mecessary morphs paid-for extras. DAZ Studio for free and the 3D Starter Content, currently in the Epic Fantasy Sale, looks like a pretty good start. The 3D Starter has the reduced resolution versions of Mike and Vickie, which have a fairly complete set of morphs, and several animals, plus some scenery and props and stuff.

Just to add, I was forgetting how good some of the non-DAZ free figures are. But if you want a horse, and quite a few other animals, Poser 4 may be the best low-cost option. The Poser 4 horse is the base for a lot of free stuff, but I don't know of a free horse. If you want some basic props, such as a chair to sit on, check Gerald Day's stuff.

D|S might be enough, and the price is right. With its OpenGL preview, she may not even need to render, assuming her computer can handle it. (Ditto Poser 6, I guess.) It sounds like she's most interested in anatomical accuracy, so that probably means the DAZ figures. (Unless the P6 figures prove superior.)

Poser 4 is perfectly serviceable (unless she has a Mac running OS X). But it's such an old program, and likely to vanish or become really, really cheap soon. We're talking about a program that was designed to run on Windows 95 here. I really cannot recommend buying software that outdated, unless your computer is similarly outdated, or said software is throwaway-cheap.

Done in Poser 4, natch. I found Poser very intutive when I first started using it (which actually was Poser 2, but all versions build on the same interface). I don't find that to be true of DAZ Studio, though, which is why I wouldn't suggest it.

Message edited on: 03/20/2005 11:38

Agree with guslaw -- Poser 4 or DAZ Studio. You want to be concentrating on the painting and drawing: Poser5+ and the whole Mil Figure thing will just suck you into playing with Poser, struggling to get better renders, buying new figures and textures... But one caveat. If it were easier to use, dynamic cloth would be a lot better to work with in getting the basic drapery folds in. With conformers, you are stuck with only those folds the clothing creator built in -- and they do not naturally follow body shape or movement.

Since your mom does not want to "make art" with poser but just use it as a reference, then I say P4 or Poser Artist. I don't find Daz Studio difficult to use. That is jut me though. Kristta

For the purpose stated, Poser 4/Artist. It's cheaper, it will do everything she wants, it will require fewer hardware resources. As for the issue of support, they haven't really "supported Poser 4 for some time in the sense of updating it so I can't see that as an issue. If we're talking Windows, it runs on the lastest version and Longhorn's still a ways out. Now if there is any chance she might want to get into CGI at some point, Poser 4 will certainly serve as an adequate and probably an easier introduction. By that point, Daz Studio may well be the best choice. Just because P4 is old doesn't make it a poor choice depending on what someone wants to use it for-that's the key issue. If you only want to watch the news, but a 19 inch television, not a home theater system.

I guess I just had a bad experience with P4. It was never stable on my system. PP was much better, but they don't sell PP any more.

Thank you all. Your input has help me make a decision. I'll be giving her my old Poser 4. Then if it works for her and she finds it interesting, Dad and I will buy her Poser 6 for her upcoming birthday. I appreciate all the help with this decision. Mike

I don't think I ever had Poser 4 lockup or crash, even under Win98 except with a one or two quirky files. If you could get a copy of ProPack it would offer the advantage of multiple views which would likely be helpful for this use but hardly essential.