IMHO, P6 is well worth the upgrade from p4 PP or below.
However it DOES take a heavy-weight machine to run it at its full potential (and even then it's quite slow at times).

If you only want an "improved P4/P4 Pro Pack", then the answer is probably no.

P6 can do everything that P4 does, and can do it without enhancing anything. If you just stick to what you know in P4 (but will do it somewhat more slowly).

BUT (and it's a BIG BUT) - the additional features are well worth the money.

With the Firefly renderer you can get true (ish) ray-tracing, including reflection (ie. mirrors etc.), better shadows (under certain circumstances) and a lot of other things. All at the price of speed of render, of course.

The Cloth room is fantastic if you are into loose-fitting clothes and/or getting skirts to look much better in the sitting position (again, tho, it takes time to learn and time to do).

The materials room leaves P4 way behind in the dust. It is a TRUE materials editor. Although you can opt for a simplified version which acts more like P4, once you get into it the possibilities are (almost literally) infinite..

Just my opinion (and I admit I am biased..) :-)) Edited to add: Another advantage of the Firefly renderer is displacement. Acts much like a bump map, except that it actually changes the mesh during render. So those bumps that didn't show up on the edges in P4 can now do so. Has to be used with care, but can give astonishing results...
Cheers,
Diolma

Message edited on: 11/25/2005 16:19