I'm thinking about buying poser pro today for the 64bit support.  Only thing I'm worried about is that poser pro will still be in a beta or alpha state and I would be paying $500.00 to beta test their product.  Poser 7 is extremely stable on vista 64.  I'm able to get a lot of work done.

Questions

1) Will poser pro install over poser 7 or does it install to a separate folder? 

2) If it installs to a separate folder do I have to copy the runtime folder from poser 7 to the poser pro directory (thus doubling the amount of hard space taken).

3) If poser pro installs over poser 7 is there an uninstall feature that will let me revert back to poser 7?

4) Is poser pro stable on vista 64bit?  I currently have no problems with poser 7, no crashes, nothing.

5) is it true that poser pro renders faster because of the 64bit support?  I've made a series of 3d animations but I noticed that rendering each frame takes a long time. I'm hoping poser pro will help increase the speed of outputting 3d animation movies.

Zanzo

1) Will poser pro install over poser 7 or does it install to a separate folder? 

Nope, installs to a new folder.

2) If it installs to a separate folder do I have to copy the runtime folder from poser 7 to the poser pro directory (thus doubling the amount of hard space taken).

No, you don't need the P7 runtime at all.. if you want, just link to is adding it as an external runtime.

4) Is poser pro stable on vista 64bit?  I currently have no problems with poser 7, no crashes, nothing.

Never crashed here once... and they already have an sr1 update availabel for it with some nifty hair room and dynamic cloth room speed ups.

5) is it true that poser pro renders faster because of the 64bit support?  I've made a series of 3d animations but I noticed that rendering each frame takes a long time. I'm hoping poser pro will help increase the speed of outputting 3d animation movies.

If you use the background 64 bit renderer, YES.. I see almost a 40% increase in rendering speed here, but much depends on the scene, what's in it ect.. he it's hellafaster.

NOTE: you DO need a 64 bit OS in order to take advantage of the render speed increases.. so you'll need some version of Vista installed, or XP64.

I bought the Poser Pro upgrade and my day was going well and then i got news my sisters baby who was due to be born now has died.... total shit.... i cant even be bothered at the mo to install pro, im sure its good but i have more on my plate...

When did PPro come out? I'm under the impression (via rumor) that Poser 8 is due out before Christmas.  I cannot substantiate the rumors and have come up with nothing in searching the Internet.  

However, Poser 7 will be two years old as of the end of this year, and with the change of ownership to Smith Micro there may be a new release.  

If you're happy with Poser 7, it might be a wise course to wait until the end of the year before spending that hard earned cash.

Dave. 

Poser Pro came out about 3 months ago.. and the sr1 release for it was released about a month ago... so by your accoiunt, they could write a whole new version of poser in about 3 month's time? Somehow I highly dobt it. They haven't even made an announcement they are even doing a poser 8 yet, to my knowledge, and haven't said anything even about any possible new features either.

I'm guessing well see some new version of poser come out sometime NEXT year by Christmas, but I doub very much we'll see anything before next springtime at all.

 Also, another great feature is the Network Rendering feature. If you do animation work, then you can put your old PC's or Mac's to work rendering frames for you to get your work done faster!

In my opinion, Poser Pro is JUST if not MORE stable than Poser 7, and Poser 7 was pretty good!

-hOss

You're correct about Poser Pro. I was talking about Poser 7 being older.  Is Poser Pro considered Poser 8?  I'm being educated here too, so go easy.

Dave. 

No Poser pro is more a side grade. It adds a few extra options for use with higher end apps and the 64 bit render and the net rendering and background rendering. I agree that it seems more stable.

Are you sure you have to pay $500, I thought it was still on sale from my last news letter.

 If you already own Poser6 or Poser7, you can side-grade to Poser Pro for $249. They had a special for $199 until 8/31/2008, but unless they extended that offer again, the normal upgrade price is $249.

-hOss

Just bought the 'sideways-grade' from Poser 7 for $199.

 When I bought it, I took them up on their offer to get the Space Navigator 3D mouse for $59. BEST $59 I ever spent! It makes working in Poser SO natural and intuitive!!

-hOss

BIG space navigator fan here.. btw, it's even cooler in photoshop as well!

Now if only we could get pixologic to support it in zbrush...

Quote - BIG space navigator fan here.. btw, it's even cooler in photoshop as well!

Now if only we could get pixologic to support it in zbrush...

Amen to that!!! ZBrush would be SO cool to use the Space Navigator with!!!

-hOss

Well guys I got poser pro. I'm having the following problems.

1) I don't know how to get the poser pro to use the poser 7 runtime.  

2) Poser pro is rendering slower than Poser 7.

3) Poser pro background renderer just sits there with cpu 0% for fffrender64.exe

1) I don't know how to get the poser pro to use the poser 7 runtime.  

You just add the p7 runtime as an additional runtime, just like you did with poser 5,6,and 7.

2) Poser pro is rendering slower than Poser 7.

You weren't using the 64 bit background render engine you should have been using.

3) Poser pro background renderer just sits there with cpu 0% for fffrender64.exe

Sounds like a bad install to me, or possibly not applying the recent sr1 patch.

I'd uninstall, and then reinstall, apply the sr1 patch, and then retry your test.
 

You just add the p7 runtime as an additional runtime, just like you did with poser 5,6,and 7.

How do you do that?  Poser 7 was my first version of poser.

You weren't using the 64 bit background render engine you should have been using.

So the default renderer is broken now?

Sounds like a bad install to me, or possibly not applying the recent sr1 patch.

I applied the patch. But I will try what you said. I'll uninstall and reinstall then apply patch.
 

**"You just add the p7 runtime as an additional runtime, just like you did with poser 5,6,and 7.

**How do you do that?  Poser 7 was my first version of poser."

When you click the little + symbol at the bottom of the runtime list, that's where you add the folder above the runtime you are adding, then Poser does whatever it does and you can browse the new runtime.

The poser pro renderer could be slower, if gamma or hdri are also being used.. since they add additional "work" for the render endgine, then render time is increased.. just like if you dumbe the renderengine down without raytracing, it's much faster.. but also poorer quality.

Quote - **"You just add the p7 runtime as an additional runtime, just like you did with poser 5,6,and 7.

**How do you do that?  Poser 7 was my first version of poser."

When you click the little + symbol at the bottom of the runtime list, that's where you add the folder above the runtime you are adding, then Poser does whatever it does and you can browse the new runtime.

The poser pro renderer could be slower, if gamma or hdri are also being used.. since they add additional "work" for the render endgine, then render time is increased.. just like if you dumbe the renderengine down without raytracing, it's much faster.. but also poorer quality.

Are you talking about the + symbol at the bottom of the "Categories" window?  You say I have to add the folder above the runetime you are adding?

Damn I don't get it lol

Yes. Keep goign th ethe top with the folder with the up arrow. when you only see your poser pro runtime folder, select the + sign, and browse NOT to the new runtime folder, but it's parent folder. That way, it'll have the name of where it's located at.

Quote - Yes. Keep goign th ethe top with the folder with the up arrow. when you only see your poser pro runtime folder, select the + sign, and browse NOT to the new runtime folder, but it's parent folder. That way, it'll have the name of where it's located at.

Thanks man. That worked. I appreciate it! :) 

Hey I use this site for textures. Just in case you need a texture library.

http://www.cgtextures.com/

Glad that worked. Hope you get your render issues resolved.. since I create commercial poser content, I don't touch any resources at all.. everythign I include in my stuff is 100% my own work.

It's the only way to be 100 % safe.

 Thanks, Zanzo, for the link to that texture site! It looks really amazing!

I'm using Poser Pro on a Mac, so I'm not sure about the trouble you are having with Render to Background. Perhaps it's got something to do with Vista 64 and its security permissions? I would just contact Smith Micro support and see if they can help you. All the previous owners of Poser have been very helpful to me with support.

-hOss

Quote -  Thanks, Zanzo, for the link to that texture site! It looks really amazing!

I'm using Poser Pro on a Mac, so I'm not sure about the trouble you are having with Render to Background. Perhaps it's got something to do with Vista 64 and its security permissions? I would just contact Smith Micro support and see if they can help you. All the previous owners of Poser have been very helpful to me with support.

-hOss

It was my firewall.  For some odd reason the background renderer and the network have a relationship. 

Quote -

It was my firewall.  For some odd reason the background renderer and the network have a relationship. 

uh uh.. Poser sends the data to be rendered by the external process (FFrender.exe) by a port on the system... your firewall reads the access as network activity... it's not.

Zanzo, you'll probably find this tweak guide for vista VERY useful!

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2238

OK, just installed Poser Pro.

I know in the past I have heard some mention of Render - Gamma Correction Settings.
Is there a basic number that i should be using?

Tks

Typically gamma correction should be set at 2.2 although threads here concerning this t opic recommend not using gamma correction at all.  Especially if you are using IBL with 2.2 gamma corrected HDRI images. 

Textures used from other sites should be regarded as copyrighted material unless specifically stated in writing that set material can be used for private and commercial content.  Many individuals lose sight that such property are really exclusive to the originator and they legally decide how it should be distributed and used.

Quote - Typically gamma correction should be set at 2.2 although threads here concerning this t opic recommend not using gamma correction at all.  Especially if you are using IBL with 2.2 gamma corrected HDRI images. 
.

Thanks for the information.