Hi All

Still pretty new to the 3D world so please excuse my question.
First of all, I'm not a designer or model creator.  Basically just someone who enjoys the 3D experience.
This far I only own Daz Studio, but constantly get more and more frustrated by the amount of products that only work right in Poser.
Up until now I guess I have been slightly intimidated away from Poser by reading about the program being non user friendly in comparison to DS.
So my question is; Can anyone actually explain in laymans terms the benefits if any of purchasing Poser and its capablilities vs DS as far as scene creation, lighting and rendering etc..

Much appreciated!

Most of the stuff you see made for Poser also works DS. Support is other issue. Me have found not many limitation but ok. I can not help you with Poser since me dont use it

I have not found much that does not work in Daz Studio. (I have vers 2 and 3 Advanced)

I think the only issues you might have are related to Poser-specific shaders used in Daz Studio, but that's an issue that any other 3D app would have including Carrara, Maya, C4D or 3DMax.  Daz Studio 3 Advanced has a shader tree that you can "roll your own" shaders (similar to Poser)

Using bitmap textures is no problem though.

The other issue is with Dynamic clothing. Again, 2 different animals. Poser has it's own version, D|S it's own. Neither are compatible.

Hope this helps?

Your question: Can anyone actually explain in laymans terms the benefits if any of purchasing Poser and its capablilities vs DS as far as scene creation, lighting and rendering etc.

Poser has a different interface, that comes from it's roots when Bryce, Poser and Carrara were owned by the same company (MetaCreations) Some of the interface elements are still somewhat similar in those 3 apps. The interface can be a bit intimidating at first, but like anything else, you will get used to it (it hasn't changed much in all the years since V1 of Poser)

Scene Creation:
As to scene creation, they are both somewhat similar. You import a figure or prop and move it into place where you want it. Only the tools to do this are slightly different (but not that much)

I personally have found D|S to be easier to work with in terms of scene creation and it's interface is much more straight forward (similar to other 3D apps)

Lighting:
Both similar in the creation of lights. You place them, you move (or translate) them, set intensity, spread, etc.  Poser and Daz both have similar lighting models.

Rendering:
Firefly vs 3Delite - both good. D|S 3 has more potential in that area. Depends on what you're trying to do.  Rendering times for me are better in Daz than Poser.  Your mileage may very depending on what you are rendering, how many lights you have, what is in your scene, etc.

Animation:
Both are good, but when you add a plug-in like AniMate Plus to D|S, you have the ability to use pre-made animations that can be modified or you can roll your own.  (This plus the render speed is what moved me to using D|S over poser)

Get the trial version of Poser and see if you like it.

Thanks for your detailed answer.  Very much appreciated! 
Does the trial verison of Poser have any limitations during the trial period?

Thanks

As others have pointed out, Studio and Poser are heavily compatible. The main area of incompatibility is the "Material Room", aka shaders. Studio, up to version 2.3 could not use the same level of sophistication for shaders but that has changed drasatically with Studio 3.
Some types of magnets are also incompatible but in my experience those are pretty rare.
I own both Studio and Poser ande I stopped at Poser 7 and will nto upgrade to other versions unless they bring some major improvements including a complete re-write of UI. I find Poser inetrface atrocious, clumsy and very in-the-way of the artist. Studio's UI is much more streamlined and usable, IMHO.
When in doubt contact the vendor of a product and ask about Studio compatibility, which is also a good way of letting vendors know of your interest in Studio products.

Quote - Thanks for your detailed answer.  Very much appreciated! 
Does the trial verison of Poser have any limitations during the trial period?

Thanks

AFAIK, No. I beleive it's still a 30-day trial. Check Smith Micro's site for more info.

I love Daz but I'm about to buy poser only because of certain dynamic clothing styles I would love to use.

I have Studio as well as Poser and seldom use Poser at all. One of the great things about Studio is that you can see through lights as if they were cameras- absolutely marvelous if you are setting up a scene. Poser just seems a bit antiquated now. At least with Studio you do not have to throw money at it unless you want to. IMHO I would still rather pay for Studio Advanced, although the basic one is more than adequate for my needs as an intermediate user. It seems like you can really add to Studio as it is very modular, something that Poser really seems not to be.

Quote - I have Studio as well as Poser and seldom use Poser at all. One of the great things about Studio is that you can see through lights as if they were cameras- absolutely marvelous if you are setting up a scene. Poser just seems a bit antiquated now. At least with Studio you do not have to throw money at it unless you want to. IMHO I would still rather pay for Studio Advanced, although the basic one is more than adequate for my needs as an intermediate user. It seems like you can really add to Studio as it is very modular, something that Poser really seems not to be.

Hear, hear! I barely use Poser, save for custom morph injections, and it's dynamic capabillities.

Working in poser's enviroment is like sculpting/Illustrating while wearing boxing gloves! ;^D
With Daz, all you have to do is click on ~Any~ part of the model's bone-stucture, and with the camera's Various modes you can center, and pivot on that body-part (Including The finger-tip!) thereby making the**"Chore"** of posing a thing of beauty, and perscision!

Not to mention the library-structure, scene editior,Superior Open GL panning/Orbiting, and much-much more elegant features, makes triing to navigate poser's clumsy, and clunky interface a grueling, and highly frustrating chore!

As soon as I get employment, I'll be taking a trip over at Daz3D, and purchasing tyhier add-ons, and say farewell to my {~Last~} poser version...Until they actually step into the 21rst century, and change that archaic interface!

I use both Poser and Daz Studio. Much like the other replies here, both programs are good. Some have advantages over the other. I Like both.

Many items simply haven't been tested by the makers in DS and so they don't list them as being DS compatible when in fact most of them will work with the limitations already mentioned, dynamic hair and cloth and Poser shaders being the main ones. I still use Poser 4 and while almost everything these days specifies at least Poser 5, it is extremely rare to find an item that doesn't work (with the same limitations as for DS) in Poser 4.

The shaders will probably be the thing that you will encounter most often. A dress for example may have a texture that uses a one or more bitmap images (.jpg files), those should work just fine. It might also use a shader perhaps for a metallic look on the buttons - that you would have to recreate in DS, using Studio's own shader system. As suggested, it's always best to contact the maker and ask if in doubt before plunking down your money, but don't be surprised if they don't use DS and may not necessarily be  able to give you definitive information :-)

I have Poser 8 and I'm planning to get Daz Studio 3 Advance in the  near future. For a while Poser has had more features than Daz when it comes to handling materials and lighting. When I read about Daz Studio 3. I like that the program was becoming more advance.  I'm a Poser user at heart but I have recommended Daz to many people who really aren't sure if they will like making computer generated art. I myself started out with Daz First and then purchased Poser.

If your issue is having limitations with being able to use content then I would recommend Poser.  I haven't had any problems using any of my Daz Content with my Poser. I even made the mistake of using the DazStudio installer for my Poser and it still worked fine.  The more features that Daz starts to include the more interesting Daz Studio becomes to me. Over all I like Both.

Frederick
Poser By Design

There really is no Daz vs. Poser debate. Daz is getting better and now compares all the way across the board with Poser 8 (with the all the plugins of couse) Poser is the all in one package ,DS is the modular approach. I like them both. A 3d hobby has proven to be quite expensive and very addictive, so just go ahead and buy DS3 advanced and Poser 8 because eventually you will anyway if you stick with it. :) Im current ly working on getting a copy of 3dsMax so I can render Daz characters with Vray..see what I mean!!!

 wespose, our 3d hobby may be expensive but i'd rather spend my money ( which i dont even have much of ) in 3D stuff than night clubbing and being a player like other guys are, not creating anything . 

josterD, How right you are my friend!! Most of my friends smoke $300 a month away on MJ and pay $120 dollars a month to watch reruns on Comcast ..Id rather be rendering my money away too.

thks all. it always good even with small things to have fun playing and rendering in 3d I like it also

P8 has a new GUI which is quite different from the old one and is more user friendly.  One advantage Poser has is python scripting but many products utilize it like Posemagic, PoserPhysics, D3D PerfectSkin and the VSS skinshader system (which is free).  I find posing in Poser much easier then in DS but that's probably because I´m more used to it.

Poser 8 comes with fully functional Dynamic Clothing system and there is a lot free clothing you can download for it. DS has it's own system and to fully use it advantages you'll need to buy the $50 plugin.  The system is more sophisticated then the P8 one but the disadvantage is that at this time only Daz3D and OptiTex can create clothing for it and each clothing set costs about $20 - $25.

Poser also comes with dynamic hair that is greatly improved in version 8.

There has been a lot of debate about the new indirect lighting in P8 but I find it quite easy to use and it renders fast in simpler scenes.

Lastly, it is also possible to look through lights like cameras in Poser and it has been so for a long time.

Hope this helps.

 The one thing poser has that is better is that it's more stable, less crashing.

But hey, DS is free so that's why they' dn't have enough money to make it perfect. However, if they just fixed the crashing it would be the perfect package

Hey!  What about the skiers and golfers.  They're paying thousands of dollars for equipement plus lift fees or greens fees.  Hobbys cost money.  You could play hockey and pay as much as $800 for a single glove. ;)
     Poser more stable?  Hate to disagree but it always takes 6 or 7 trys to get a scene reloaded into Poser due to Poser 7 abending without message.  Poser has serious issues with Vista!  DAZ is a much more stable program on that platform.  I don't think DAZ/Studio v3 has abended yet.  I won't be buying Poser 8 until I know that it's much, much more stable.
     I've tried a number of 3D programs and I seem to love each for what it does best.  I prefer the render engine in Poser to that in DAZ/studio.  It's slower but I like the results.  That being said the best program I've found for rendering isn't either.   It's Carrara but is that ever SLOW.
To save you both time and money I think you should stick with DAZ/Studio until you've built up both a good working knowledge of the program and process and a passable library of people, characters props etc.  Give yourself time to figure out what you like and dislike in DAZ/Studio before trying out something new.  I've found very few items that work in Poser that won't work in DAZ/Studio. (Miki 2. has a serious elbow problem in DAZ)
This is only a suggestion but I think your money would be better spent at the moment on buying a good book or books on photography.   More specifically ones that go heavilly into lighting.  Creating 3D scenes has a lot in common with photography and lighting is probably the biggest challenge in any scene. 

 DS seems more able to handle bigger files than poser.  Poser getsvery sluggish and more crashy than DS with multiple fully dressed mil figures in a scene.
Love esther

Oh, one more thing.  The ability to see the view through lights actually works in DS.  Although it's supposed to be there in Poser every time I've tried that Poser has abended. :(