Quote - ... but no word about system requirements ...

I doubt there'll be much change apart from variation in the supported OSs (I'd guess (and hope) that XP will be the minimum supported).
For Macs it's difficult to speculate what will be supported probably nothing to old (for some value of old).

Quote - ... or price ...

I don't anticipate a price increase, but I guess for most people are only interested in the upgrade price and what (if any) pre-order deals there may be.
I wouldn't be that surprised if they give some indication at (or just after) SigGraph.

Of what I seen so far, it all looks good.

Quote - > Quote - My big question: Are the figures anatomically correct????

Huh? Huh? ;=D
DPH

Ryan has quite a "package" should you need it. I didn't peek at Alyson's naughty bits.

Ther are several Morphs for Alyson.

Quote - Support for new P8 Ryan and Alyson figures is included in the Poser 8 installer.

Are you permitted to say whether the support files for any other figures (Posette, James G2, etc.) are included?

Quote - no softbody collision/physics. did not expect it.

Anyone have a scheme to fake this in Poser for animation?

Your only option to "fake it" on figure bodies is by manually animating the morphs
Poser Physics will handle hard body, prop collision stuff of course.

Cheers

Yep. Hi Wolf. I am beginning to circle back to the animation world. Not Cinema or DazStudio, though....first I am trying Lightwave.

::::: Opera :::::

Quote - Yep. Hi Wolf. I am beginning to circle back to the animation world. Not Cinema or DazStudio, though....first I am trying Lightwave.

::::: Opera :::::

Hi John Welcome  "back"
I remember Lightwave having a very decent soft body deformers for characters  way back when I was a LW user( Version 7.5)
I imagine its pretty good these days.

Cheers

oh yes that aspect is dandy! i am curius about HairFX, however, as I've heard a few negatives about it. I'm in trial now.

Interesting, but I expect any improvement in cloth room  and especially in the hair room. About the interface changes, I need more information .

On the current Wardrobe Wizard page you'll see "The Poser "families" ............. Always free with WW2 " So yes the legacy Poser figures are included plus the new P8 Alyson and Ryan.

can one add the support files for figures other than the poser ones? (just checking!)

The current full list of supported figures is available at http://www.philc.net/store_WW_Extra_Figs.php

Sold!

Quote -
I remember Lightwave having a very decent soft body deformers for characters  way back when I was a LW user( Version 7.5)
I imagine its pretty good these days.

Cheers

It's funny, really - with all the improvements in the world of 3D, the competition, so to speak, a lot of what used to seem pretty strong in Lightwave now seems comparatively weak.
And the natives are restless, demanding more..more.. and better.

There really hasn't been much improvement on the CA or dynamics side of L-wave in several years. People like RebelHill have taken CA in Lightwave way beyond what seems possible, but out-of-the-box LW 9.6 is no contender to Maya for character animation.
Its strengths are in its VFX capabilities and, of course, its amazing render engine, but even its dynamics are starting to feel really dated and awkward.

Quote -

It's funny, really - with all the improvements in the world of 3D, the competition, so to speak, a lot of what used to seem pretty strong in Lightwave now seems comparatively weak.
And the natives are restless, demanding more..more.. and better.

There really hasn't been much improvement on the CA or dynamics side of L-wave in several years. People like RebelHill have taken CA in Lightwave way beyond what seems possible, but out-of-the-box LW 9.6 is no contender to Maya for character animation.
Its strengths are in its VFX capabilities and, of course, its amazing render engine, but even its dynamics are starting to feel really dated and awkward.

Well they do seem to be attempting a total reboot of the Aging Lightwave
Not relevent to me as I am a C4D  user enjoying Full poser support Sans poser Shader of course which i dont care about anyway

Cheers

http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/core/

MikeJ, without knowing if you are right or not....for someone moving from Poser to a more powerful app for character animation with expressions, dynamic cloth and hair and brilliant rendering, I believe I am finding LW not oldish-feeling at all.

And at $800 for unlimited nodes, 64-bit, Please....It is up to Maya to explain how it is worth $5000.  And....what is the cost of the Maya learning curve and discovering what you "Dont' Need To Know" from within the Maya universe?

I'm into it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKH9T1tpt4s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO4Ev6LGctE&NR=1

**
**

Oh no, you got me all wrong.
I get into trouble all the time here for mentioning Lightwave in a Poser forum. ;-)
No, I love it, not complaining about it at all. If there's anything that bugs me though it's that they're going to Core this year, so it will be a few more years before we have another complete Lightwave release.
I would have liked to have seen one more major release before Core, with some updates, especially in the dynamics department.
Don't get me wrong, Lightwave has excellent dynamics.... once you have it figured out thoroughly. Which I don't. ;-)
I've asked how to do certain things and gotten answers I never would have thought of or expected, and as it turns out, one way or another, everything is possible in LW, if you know your way around it.
No, I'm not complaining, I love LW, been using it since version 7.0.

BTW, I thought you used 3ds max?

i have been on hiatus from 3d for half a year and in the meantime two of my major reasons for being in 3DSMax disappeared.

[quote

I'm into it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKH9T1tpt4s&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO4Ev6LGctE&NR=1

**
**

I Love a good dynamics system!!
there are some good Ik examples on the same guys  Youtube page also

Cheers

But can it make coffee? lol.

Quote - But can it make coffee? lol.

You'll need Cinema4D for this. You can even get Mocca and Cappuchino .

Xpresso you mean ?

Quote - I didn't see it but where is it stated that there is not a 64-bit version? If this is true I find it hard to believe all the new stuff looks great in this version but if it's not 64-bit then you are right back to the same memory limits as before which kinda robs, what looks like a great upgrade, power from the application.

Maybe a 64-bit version of PP8???

Vendors never ever leave out significant features from their advertising blurb. If it doesn't say "64 bit" in flashing neon then it ain't 64 bit.

...mores the pity.

Oh, and Poser Pro (no such animal as Poser Pro 7)  is a standalone product according to Smith Micro so the new version will be "Poser Pro 2"... does anyone have any idea when it will be out?

Quote - > Quote - I didn't see it but where is it stated that there is not a 64-bit version? If this is true I find it hard to believe all the new stuff looks great in this version but if it's not 64-bit then you are right back to the same memory limits as before which kinda robs, what looks like a great upgrade, power from the application.

Maybe a 64-bit version of PP8???

Vendors never ever leave out significant features from their advertising blurb. If it doesn't say "64 bit" in flashing neon then it ain't 64 bit.

...mores the pity.

Oh, and Poser Pro (no such animal as Poser Pro 7)  is a standalone product according to Smith Micro so the new version will be "Poser Pro 2"... does anyone have any idea when it will be out?

Poser Pro's only been out about a year. You're more likely to see a Service Release at this point rather than a new version.

How compatible will the P8 Python be for existing P7 scripts?

According to those in the know, it is backwards compatible. 

I don't think SM buys all the 3rd party add-on Python scripts and tests them. Certainly I didn't. :)

So there's no answer born of experience and actual evidence for the entire body of work that exists. We can only guess.

There is a new version of the core Python interpreter, so there may be small differences having nothing to do with Poser 8, and everything to do with the new version of Python. But, by and large, Python is Python, until you get to Python 3.0. Then most everything breaks. Poser 8 is not using Python 3.0.

There can be changes to the libraries, as for example the Tk changes that broke face_off's scripts. These usually are minor changes to get them to work.

Semidieu and PhilC should really be able to answer this better than I. I haven't yet done any Python scripting specifically in P8. I can tell you that VSS and Matmatic are working as is, no changes. However, my Parmatic utility is very unhappy, waking up far too often, and Paser is bringing the computer to its knees - good thing I never released that one. There seems to be some changes in the event callbacks, or their frequency.

Now i dont know weather i will buy into P8 due to the lack of 64 bit support,and wait till the new version of poser 7 pro. should this have been a feature of P8 after all most processors now are 64bit as standard and P8 will be out for some time, and be getting more dated before its time.....could this lack of support loose them money as maybe afew people will think like me and say "why should i spend money on this when Poser Pro will be out next, i'll wait"

That's not exactly a great bargaining position, since the "Pro" version is certainly going to cost more money than the - ah - "amateur"? version.  I'm sure SM accounting people grin every time they read a statement like that.

Quote - That's not exactly a great bargaining position, since the "Pro" version is certainly going to cost more money than the - ah - "amateur"? version.  I'm sure SM accounting people grin every time they read a statement like that.

I don't think shadeofjoy is "bargaining" with anyone, just being realistic. If s/he wants 64 bit rendering, as I do, then the only option is to wait for Poser Pro 2.

Oh, it's not your only option - you can pay for the same software twice, and buy both "amateur" and "pro" versions (sadly, a lot of people will do exactly this).

 If you're selling a "pro" version of a software, but the "Amatuer version is more advanced AND cheaper, why exactly would you want to buy the "pro" version?"

Would be like DS3 selling the full package for $250, and having the free version with everything in it as well. Which one would you get?

Quote -  If you're selling a "pro" version of a software, but the "Amatuer version is more advanced AND cheaper, why exactly would you want to buy the "pro" version?"

Would be like DS3 selling the full package for $250, and having the free version with everything in it as well. Which one would you get?

P8 is only more advanced in some areas. It can't render in background. it can't render in a queue on other machines, it isn't 64 bit. True P8 will have nice things that Pro doesn't have like the library ("Advanced Library for poser" gives you a nice library now for P7 for free) and things like Gobal Illumination but they will no doubt be in Poser Pro 2.

Quote - Oh, it's not your only option - you can pay for the same software twice, and buy both "amateur" and "pro" versions (sadly, a lot of people will do exactly this).

Very true. Some people have more money than sense and then moan they can't afford things...

What makes Poser Pro a "Pro" package is not GC (an approximation of which will be in Poser 8), GI (which is available in Poser 7 and Poser Pro through Python Scripts - some editing required), normal mapping (which is in Poser 8), and I dare say 64-bit rendering. The "Pro" is because of the rendering queue to render on other machines, and the ability to export work to higher-end programs. If one owns one of these high-end applications (don't they all have 64-bit rendering now) and can export work to them, why would one need 64-bit rendering in Poser?

Some people may buy Poser 8 while they wait on an upgrade to Poser Pro. I doubt many people, who already have Poser Pro (1), will downgrade to Poser 8. I don't see myself doing so. I have gotten used to the extra room in 64-bit rendering. I already have Wardrobe Wizard. Before anyone gets too excited about improved rigging and wxPython, remember that normal mapping has been available since Poser Pro (1), and I don't know of a single product or piece of content that uses it.

In the past, the only complaints I have had for soon to be released versions of Poser were too little information, and/or no idea of when they would be released. With Poser 8 I am genuinely disappointed.

lmk

Quote - ... remember that normal mapping has been available since Poser Pro (1), and I don't know of a single product or piece of content that uses it....

http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/the-streets-of?item=9264&_m=d has nornmal mapped versions for Poser Pro and for DS 3.

Quote - > Quote - ... remember that normal mapping has been available since Poser Pro (1), and I don't know of a single product or piece of content that uses it....

http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/the-streets-of?item=9264&_m=d has nornmal mapped versions for Poser Pro and for DS 3.

So there is one item, at least :-)

Quote - I'm bound by an NDA so I can only confirm those details that have been made public. Yes it is the Wardrobe Wizard you know and love, fully integrated into Poser 8 incorporating wxPython.

What does this mean for current WW2 users that don't plan to upgrade to P8? Will we be left with an abandoned version that doesn't support the newest figures or upgrades for current figures that still lack support? There have been many request for certain figures (like ToonBoy Sam and others), will we not see new plugins for those figures for WW2?

I've asked the question in my previous post (editing time seems to pass very quickly) since I don't see anything in the feature list that will justify it for me to upgrade. New content? Could care less, hardly every use the stuff that came with Poser 2 through Poser Pro. New interface? Please no, I love Poser the way it is now and it never comes in the way of my projects at all. The new interface leaves me very very unimpressed. New content management? Will I still be able to open my old scenes if everything is aranged differently? From the screenshots shown, the library images look really small and cluttered now and all kinds of information I don't need. Way too much focus on test instead of images. More realistic lights settings and rendering to make it look like photos, don't use Poser for realistic at all, I do have a video and photo camera for that purpose. Don't rig, don't use normal mapping, tone mapping or whatever. Dependant parameters, no clue what it is, it will be one of those many features I don't use at all.

I'm interested in the Performance optimizations for posing and rendering improvements on multi‐processor systems, but I doubt it be anything close to justifying the upgrade price.

Quote - > Quote - I'm bound by an NDA so I can only confirm those details that have been made public. Yes it is the Wardrobe Wizard you know and love, fully integrated into Poser 8 incorporating wxPython.

What does this mean for current WW2 users that don't plan to upgrade to P8? Will we be left with an abandoned version that doesn't support the newest figures or upgrades for current figures that still lack support? There have been many request for certain figures (like ToonBoy Sam and others), will we not see new plugins for those figures for WW2?

PhilC said that the only change to WW2 in P8 is that it uses the new GUI capabilities and therefore all figure expansions and DAT files will be usable and interoperable with WW2 standalone.

Good to hear, thanks!

AND the reason for me not buying P8 and the new Pro when it comes out is that im NOT made of money.......as im sure alot of people are not, so it's not a bargaining postition im taking just a money one.....
If it wasn't for the fact that i get married in 6 weeks and im expecting my first child in february i may well get P8... but my money is going elsewhere...lol

Double congratulations shedofjoy :D

Quote - AND the reason for me not buying P8 and the new Pro when it comes out is that im NOT made of money.......as im sure alot of people are not, so it's not a bargaining postition im taking just a money one.....
If it wasn't for the fact that i get married in 6 weeks and im expecting my first child in february i may well get P8... but my money is going elsewhere...lol

My condolenses for both your upcoming loss of freedom and your loss of sleep.  8^)

Heheh. Gonna be a lot more than P8 you do without. Congratulations.

Seeing that SM has not announced pricing yet for upgrades, or the full price for the application, it is possible that many who assume they cannot afford the program will be able to do so. I hope so. I would love to see Poser sale very well, and fund more developement.

I also appreciate SM's allowing their developers and beta-testers to give information about Poser 8. I think it can create effective pre-sale hype, and stimulate interest in the program.

Thanks to BB, and others who have answered qestions as well as they have, and shared screen shots and renders.

LMK

I wonder if poser 8 will have a totally redone manual that can be understood.

That sounds more like a Pro feature. Or even Poser 9.

congrats, shed!
but seriously, everybody always badmouthin' them manual writers.
it's a difficult job and unfortunately the coders can't do it all.  the tech writers hafta do most of it.
but if they spelt everything out in infinite detail, there would be no need for these forums, nor any market for deecey's or shams' book(s) and that.  and just look what happened to one of their lead tech writers who useta post msgs here.  the trolls attacked him mercilessly IIRC.

I remember Anthony Hernandez (he who wrote the Poser5 manual) used to post & got seriously mauled after the release of Poser5.