I have been a loyal Poser user, having migrated from the earliest to its latest iteration, version 7.  It was my understanding that, at least prior to the recent company acquisition, PoserPro was to be released during the recent fall season that has so quickly passed us by.  Has it been tabled or merely delayed?

http://graphics.smithmicro.com/article/articleview/2308

Seems the release date is "soon".

Thank you for your instantaneous response ... I'll be on the lookout for the release.

soon means : Don't ask me - don't know either.

We have several forum members here who have tacitly admitted to being beta testers for Poser Pro.  So it's coming.

Frankly, as frustrating as I know that waits like this can be: this sort of apparent delay isn't unusual when it comes to software development.  Writing a complex piece of software -- one that's as bug-free as possible, and that'll (hopefully) work on just about any conceivable PC configuration (not to mention Mac) -- writing such a piece of software can take awhile.  With a LOT of "back to the drawing board" moments -- that is to say: "back to the CAD terminal" moments.........some people might not know what a "drawing board" is (was). 

Not to mention the fact that Poser was purchased by a different company during the development cycle for Poser Pro......which hopefully will work out to be a good thing: albeit yet another delaying thing.

And so: I'm inclined to give them some slack.

It's only been 16 months since Poser 7 was released, we had to wait 3 years for Poser5, but if it's at the testing stage I'd predict we can look forward to it's release by Christmas. ;)

Why be in a hurry anyway ? If past releases are any indication it will need at least a couple of service packs before you can use it with any degree of confidence.

I say let em test it, then let the gamma testers, errm i mean 'customers' test it, and then when it seems fine, then you can buy it :P

LOL do you really want them to go out of business? if everyone waits for Poser to be fine it'll never leave the shelves in the warehouse. ;)

I think they are pricing themselves out of the hobbyist's reach. I don't plan on updating since we will only get a break on the basic version. So much for product loyalty.   8^)

Well i suppose they think that if they call it 'pro' then they can price it like Autodesk prices their apps, ie by throwing darts :P

But yeah i agree it doesn't really have that much going for it. A lot of the features that are supposedly 'pro' are already available in other apps that support poser import. So the only real reason to get it is if you want to work solely in poser... Which is fine i guess but i don't think too many advanced artists care about that cause they already have a workflow of rendering in Vue or Carara or whatever. And hobbyists wont want to spend that much money on it anyway.

Ah well even if this does flop, hopefully the tech will trickle down to poser 8+

s'okay... I can load it at the same time I install Duke Nukem' Forever.

I kid, I kid...

In all seriousness though, software release dates can be a royal bitch to accurately predict at times, esp. when you stumble across an unexpected bug or three.

The only time a company can accurately give a release date (and even then only a vague window) is when they already have the core features working stably, and are only working on the bells and whistles.

/P

Methinks that it may have behooved them just not to make any mention of a release date until the build was pretty solid and well beta-tested (i.e.: just about ready for release).  I've learned my lesson on making predictions about the timing of future features because one doesn't know the full extent of misery until you've been at it for a while. :)

Sigh.....Duke Nukem Forever.....been waiting forever but when, if, it ever comes out I will be in line to buy it. Gonna kick a$$ or chew gum and just ran out of gum....lol

FYI

It was supposed to be introduced at Siggraph 2007 which was July of 2007 then Fall of 2007 then winter of 2007 and now...soon.

Don't worry it will be released...... when almost everyone has lost interest in buying Poser completely.

I still don't really see why people are excited to buy it at all.  The major chunk of function they're adding is bundling Reiss BodyStudio, which is imo a good reason to avoid it.

LOL - c'mon, it wasn't that bad... back when I had a working academic license for VIZ, I was able to get it (sorta) working (but that was understandable given that VIZ damned sure ain't Max).

kuroyume, I feel your pain...I've done a solid job of biting myself in the ass with an overly-optimistic release date - once. It was enough.  I've also seen project managers @ work who have had to fend off a full-tilt lynch mob whenever they got overly optimistic about release schedules as well ( e.g.  "...you told them we'll have full HDMI driver functionality ready and stable by when? ...are you fucking insane!? " , as the lead coder reaches for the nearest blunt object... )

/P

I wish they would hurry up and finish PPro so they can fix P7 to render as a separate process on a Mac 10.5+. Getting sick and tired of errors on semi complex scenes that choke with an error message that say switch to render as a separate process, which doesn't work at all and locks up P7. I have the memory and the horsepower to render at a decent bucket size. Shame they have crippled their software by forcing Mac users using 10.5 to back their rendering settings in P7 way down to get P7 to work at all. Somebody at EF-SM has to be stuck on stupid as Mac CPU sales in the first quarter where something like double from a year ago.

Is the collada done through BodyStudio or is that on it's own?

COLLADA is separate from the BodyStudio hosting.

You're kidding me. Duke Nukem Forever sill hasn't been released? How many years has this been in production now!!

Being a Vue user I can't see much I'll need from Poser Pro so I won't be forking out on it.

I use Vue too, and plan on getting it (barring major trusted sources bearing bad news). The network rendering alone would be worth it, particularly if I can parallel that with Hypervue. Of course, if E-on implements full on COLLADA support, that might make it even more attractive, as you could bypass the Poser SDK and (maybe) avoid the issues that exist there. But just being ablee render two scenes at the same time would be one hell of a time saver; admittedly it would take some serious planning to limit the Poser renders to those where the lighting changes wouldn't be a terrible clash with Vue's, but any shortcut that helps......

I would at least like to see a development update to re-assure people that the product is actively being worked on. 

Having no news at all as to what's going on gives less credence to the possibility of release.  Especially given that Smith Micro just bought these assets.

C'mon SM give some examples of these new features!  Give us some renders, some animations, render node setup examples,...etc.

"
I would at least like to see a development update to re-assure people that the product is actively being worked on. " very good Idea Better still :a continuing development update.So either that way or they keep their development completly secret .That's fine too.But announcing Poser "that fall" and now soon - maybe soon for the next year is really unaccepteble to me.

In the past, most new Poser version releases have come in as something of a surprise when they arrived.  No fanfare just prior to release.  The new version was just suddenly there - perhaps with a few warning rumblings from resellers who let the cat out of the bag a little too early.  Don't know if SM will handle it that way -- but we'll see.

Heh - I recall reading lots of threads with "it'll never come" comments a day or two before it came.  I'm not saying that it'll happen that way this time: but it wouldn't surprise me if it does.

I don't blame outfits like SM for keeping these things close to the vest.  Best for them if they do -- for a number of reasons.  Discussing commercial software development in public can be risky.

The Jack has been out of the box to early. E-Frontier made a mistake that time.

Quote - I don't blame outfits like SM for keeping these things close to the vest.  Best for them if they do -- for a number of reasons.  Discussing commercial software development in public can be risky.

I don't believe that is a constant in software development (e.g. Adobe), but some companies obviously employ that philosophy.

To me, the greatest danger for a software developer doing their work 'in the clear' stems from customer fallout when proposed improvements & suggested new features don't pan out, for whatever reasons.  A certain percentage of the customer (or potential customer) base won't ever let the developer forget it.  "But you said that you'd make it compatible with Lightwave.........!!!!!!!!  Grrrrr!!!!!!"

Edited to add: it's also true that people tend to hear what they want to hear.  A hint of a suggestion is often taken as a set-in-stone promise.....a "promise" which enrages some when their own particular much-sought-after new feature doesn't happen.  A "promise" which was never anything more than a trial balloon -- but which the person who wants that balloon tends to regard as a binding contract offer on the part of the developer.

Another possibility is that SM is extending the development cycle this time (as in maybe EF was about to rush another version out the door; or they noted the number of 'pro's' who asked 'where's the pro beef?' in P7P). Let's face it. If SM has been handling distribution since P5, then they have had an intimate look at the behaviors that the Poser community has evinced. Blowing their first official release would be akin to wandering into a leaking gasoline storage facility with a lit flare. When Vue put the price on the latest version of Infinite, they had the ecosystems instancing, auto post processing, and Photoshop layer output options, and a few other high end capabilities. P7P is kind of knocking on the pro level options....sorta. But more importantly, it will have to be a stable release to get off on the right foot. And we all know that there will -have- to be changes to rigging and UI sooner or later, just to keep the app useable.

The sale of Poser was a big letdown for me. Just some time before the sell we had the CEO of E-Frontier hold a wish list & Q&A for Poser right here in the Renderosity forums. It seemed that E-Frontier really cared about Poser plus they were a 3D software development company. After seeing how the software seems to never stay with an owner I wish DAZ would finally buy it so we can have an owner that really cares and is not going to part with it.

*After seeing how the software seems to never stay with an owner I wish DAZ would finally buy it so we can have an owner that really cares and is not going to part with it.

*I do hope that never happens, DAZ doesn't really care about it's software at all (just look at Bryce & Carrara), all they use software for is to push their content. If Poser will ever end up with DAZ, it will be it's final burial.

I do doubt Smith Micro will sell Poser at all. Even if they will not release anything beyond P7 Pro, they'll still keep it on and sell if for a long time. They tend to sell very outdated software for years.

I think anytime you put "pro" in the title of a 3d app, they (the developers) have to understand that you are committing to making a piece of software that will be part of a pipeline. 

This is a serious commitment.  I've worked for several companies where this is true. 

When a feature is not working as it should, you get a call, not from a user/hobbyist, but from the technical director of a MAJOR production.  I guarentee you, these calls are not friendly and if the issue(s) cannot be resolved, the entire app can eventually get blackballed by the industry (news travels fast in those circles).

If Poser Pro needs to be expensive to meet those industry needs, so be it.  I VERY much look forward to seeing poser reach that pro level.

I agree, Curious :).  Although my plugin is slated as 'Pro' in name only, it is used on 'Pro' software and has expectations of being useful in 'Pro' situations.  So, I take my users' interests seriously even if solutions aren't easily resolved or quickly forthcoming.

We'll just have to wait and see how this pans out.

Quote - They tend to sell very outdated software for years.

shudders.  Well that makes me nervous.

Attached Link: http://www.amazon.com/Smith-Micro-Software-Inc-PSRPROHBXW/dp/B0017U7TQ0/

cough $439US  cough

.... no thanks for me, someone else can have my copy :)

4/28/08

I hope sharing this information will not get my hand slapped.

A forum member at CP points out that Amazon.com is advertising Poser Pro for a pre-order price of $429.99 (with a pre-order price guarantee) to be released on May 6, 2008. I have looked, and as of 6:47 PM EST (USA) the add is still there. Amazon has a picture of the front and back of the box, and lists an item mobel number of "PSRPROHBXW" and an ASIN number of  "B0017U7TQ0". The shipping weight is advertised as 8 ounces. The Amazon site says this deal has been available since April 15, 2008.

This is, I think, the full version, not Poser Pro Basic, which is supposed to be released as an upgrade to Poser 7 at a reduced upgrade price.

Searching on Altavista for that ASIN I found a site (www.stewartmc.com ) that had advertised a release date of April 29, but that page got pulled, the site now advertises the same deal and date as Amazon.com, but adds a UPC number of "717103856396" and an EAN number of  "0717103856396". Part of the back of the box from this site can actually be read.

A search on the ASIN number in Google leads to another site with the same information.

Amazon miss reported the release date of Poser 7 by 1-2 weeks as I recall, and they are famous for getting these kind of details wrong, but getting a peek at the back of the box was interesting. I would quote the box, but anyone can go and look at it for themselves. The paragraph on rendering is particularly interesting. By the way, what is an REYES renderer?

LMK

lk, reyes means they're still trying to bludgeon FFRender into shape.
drag it kicking and screaming into the 21st century.  at least regular
folks will be able to use indirect lighting now, no matter how slow it is.

Firefly is already a Reyes renderer.  Nothing new to see here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poser

Do a browser search of 'Firefly' on that page.

4/28/08

kuroyume0161:

I looked up REYES on wikipedia, and like you point out, it sounds to me like what FireFly already does. The article does explain buckets, which I found interesting.

The picture of the interface on the back of the box looks to be about the same as what we already have. That will probably be a disappointment to several folks.

LMK

one other tip: when e-f put poser on the market, daz bought carrara instead,
hence daz won't be buying poser.  IMVHO carrara pro is intended as a replacement
for poser pro (for advanced users), whilst D|S is a replacement for PFA (beginners).

Interesting that they list the platforms as **"**Windows Vista / , Macintosh, Mac OS X".

No XP?

Coldrake

Quote - Amazon lets the cat out of the bag (again).

snort  Perhaps I should repost my brilliant post from above.

(You can't see me, but I'm reaching around to pat myself on the back.......owwww!!!!!)

:lol:

sigh  When will they ever learn to listen to what I say...........?

Quote - > Quote - They tend to sell very outdated software for years.

shudders.  Well that makes me nervous.

Don't be.  Doomsaying might be de riguer in the forums, but it's rarely accurate.  Almost never, in fact.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - They tend to sell very outdated software for years.

shudders.  Well that makes me nervous.

Don't be.  Doomsaying might be de riguer in the forums, but it's rarely accurate.  Almost never, in fact.

I'm not doomsaying just my first impressions. What happened to the inclusion of Quidam? As far as new features that was supposed to be it; besides the compatibility with high end software. Does hosting within other packages grants doubling the price?

It's here! Anyone been to CP lately?

Hmm. I see no mention of Quidam in either the base or pro feature lists...... The upgrade prices are not too bad, though...