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Reading all of you 3D tech geeks bicker about rendering apps is making me want to stick to creative writing...

For a hobbyist like myself, who's still relatively new to 3D modeling, and just wants to bring some ideas I have to life in a virtual environment, how does Poser 8 stack up against Poser 7?

We 3D geek tech types LIKE to to bicker. Is that ok with you? ;-)

There is at least one very recent thread here that has a huge amount of info regarding Poser 8 improvements over Poser 7, along with a whole slew of Poser 8 renders.
www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php

And there are other recent Poser 8 threads too, plus of course what Smith Micro has to say about its new features.
Short answer, Poser 8 appears to have quite a bit of improvements over Poser 7.