There was quite a lot of debate on the Forum yesterday about Pozer and Warez which set me to thinking. Poser is an expensive program. Yes, I know that it's not nearly as expensive as say 3d studio, but for some, it can be pricey, especially if you aren't even sure you'll like it in the first place. And sure, there is a demo, but to be honest, I tried the demo, and wasn't all that impressed. There wasn't much I could do with it that I wanted to. Changing the Figure for one. This all led me to an idea. Let me know what you all think. What if Curious Labs put out a vesion of Poser, similar to what Adobe does. They released a 50 dollar (sometimes free with scanners) version of Photoshop called Photoshop LE. Could Poser LE be a feasable item? For instance, you could take away the ability to do Animation, not allow exporting or importing, even perhaps have a simplified lighting system and whatnot. Basically, by taking away some of Poser's more powerful things, while still allowing Newbies and Others who may not have a need for animation and such to experience Poser for a lot less than the full edition. What do you all think? Dragontales

Sounds like the free trial version.

Dragontales, there was a free full version of Poser 3 on the cover CD of 3D World magazine a couple of months ago. You probably could order a back issue of that. It's a full version that you can keep. Unfortunately, I believe the upgrade offer is only good in the UK, but it would give you the opportunity to try the whole program for just the price of the magazine, then you could make a better decision whether or not to buy version 4. Also, you don't get a manual with it, but there are a lot of very knowledgeable folks here who can answer your questions if you get stuck. Melanie

Thank you, but I already own the full version. This posting was just some thoughts I had on a topic that ran yesterday on Warez, the price of software, and things of that nature. Sorry if my posting was unclear. Dragontales :)

I dont want to come off as some wealthy elitist but POSER is NOT an expensive program when you consider all of the content and features that come with it. At slightly over $200 it virtually freeware!! compared to the $2495 my seat of lightwave 6.5 costs Mocap

In an article In I think it was 3D World they suggested giving away the programs and making the money on support ware like plug in's and meshes. Sounds like a good way to get others addicted then sell them what they crave!

I'm not angry at Curious Labs for charging so much for the software. Poser IS worth it, and besides, CL has the right to charge whatever they choose for the program, but an LE edition would probably open them up to make lots more money from the people who just can't scrape up $200. I imagine that for every 1 person who can afford Poser at $200 there are at least 4 who couldn't, but COULD afford $50. Four copies of the LE version at $50 equals $200 for a full version, and that's four sales that probably would have gone the warez route or not used Poser at all. Makes some sense, I think. :)