I think one reason some Poser users find the DS interface off-putting is maybe because they approach it as another version of Poser. I've used Poser for 12 years and DS for 4 (? - since the 1st alpha) and I slowly became familiar with it along the way.  But now I'm so used to all it's conveniences, that I find Poser very limited (in terms of it's UI, I mean).

In DS, I can build my own toolbars, add my own icons, assign shortcuts to almost any command or UI element, add folders as shortcuts to a menu (Poseworks free Favorites script), create my own 'rooms' and populate them with the tabs I want, and a bunch of other things.

What I'm saying is, DS isn't Poser, and if you expect to find a lighting trackball, you'll be sorely disappointed. But it has many compensations, and my workflow is way faster in DS.

And btw, you don't need to buy DS Advanced. There's a free version too. It doesn't have a lot of the advanced capaibilites, but it can use them. For example, Shader Mixer presets work fine in the free version.

Another thing I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is DS 64-bit, which (so I'm told) is a 'true' 64-bit app. I'm still on 32-bit so I don't know the ins and outs of this, but I believe Poser doesn't utilise the full 64-bit capability? If I'm wrong on that, I'm willing to be corrected. I'm only going by what I've heard.

One thing's sure. If Poser gets sold off to yet another owner, (and believe me, I hope that won't happen!), I take comfort in the fact that I already have a good alternative.

mac