taking the other view for a second, and trying to be objective... if you looked through the entire Poser gallery, what percentage of it do you think you would consider of a high quality, top-level artwork? Whilst I'm not about to denigrate anyone's work in particular, there are countless pieces in there which really have just been thrown together without proper consideration for composition, lighting, texturing or so on. Lifeless eyes which gaze nowhere - void expressions - we all know that these exist, and are not exactly rare, either. So because of these slapdash efforts, Poser tends to get a bad press.

In part it's because of the way it was sold - the very strengths you guys have just been praising. Tell the masses that they can create beautiful works of art with a few clicks of the mouse (as Poser's marketing strategy claims), and you'll have people taking them at their word and producing pap. 

Another reason Poser is looked down on is its, er... seamier side. Like it or not, there is a faction of Poser users who look at the naked figures on their hard drive and begin to conjure up images which make the mind boggle and the eyes water - and there is a good proportion of the populace who consider such work to be inappropriate for public consumption (as to where I fall in that spectrum - well, that's my own business). Combine these two factors - crappy qaulity porn images strewn across the internet - and it gets some people's danders up. And as with so many other things, it's the irksome minority who cause the rest of the user group/subculture to e looked down on.

Just a thought.

jonthecelt