I still think the best included Poser characters are P5 Don and Judy. The topology could have been a lot better and the eyes didn't fit in the head very well but they still had a lot going for them.

Still using Poser 7, have P8 just waiting for a couple of updates then may try it again.

I wish they would backpedal and do a 7.5 version, with improvements to the hair and cloth dynamics.  And add water dynamics.  How cool would dynamic fluids be!  They're half way there with the wind utility.

 there's something wrong with Poser 7 ? :p

I still have P5..I tried to upgrade to 7 but ran into problems with Smith Micro's download link, so I downloaded Daz Studio and bought a bunch of plugins instead....I plan on upgrading to 8 in February or March next year.....firefly is strarting to resemble Vray in a lot of ways and the indirect lighting is looking awesome. Ive seen renders from P8 that look as good as imports in MODO.

Looks like I'll be sticking with Poser 7 for a while longer.

I thought I'd be able to use their mystery Friday the 13th coupon with the upgrade to Poser 8, but the coupon isn't good on P8 or upgrade.

But they are having a $50 off full P8 for new users.

CP/SM just don't like former Poser users, it seems.

What little money I have, then, can and will be spent on content not at CP.

-- Jeff

Question, does Poser 7 have IBL lighting and how morphable are the head and body morphs how do they compare with the head and body morphs for V3?  Jan

If Poser 7 does not have IBL or IDL, when you upgrade to Poser 8, you are in for quite a pleasant surprise.  Since I have the head and body morphs for V3,  Poser 8 is on at least an equal level to V3.  Since Poser 5 can't handle V4, I don't know about that character. 

 IBL lighting has been around since Poser 6. I use IBL lighting in Poser 7 very extensively and there are some very good IBL light sets by SaintFox, Blackhearted and others. 

For female characters in Poser, you will find far more character products for V4 than all the others combined, and that is largely on account of the V4 morphs++ package.  And because V4 is so widely used, there are vastly more clothing and hair products for her. Yes, these can be converted to other figures with Wardrobe Wizard but these conversions rarely fit as well as on the original.

Still on Poser 6 & 7. The way Poser 8's coded I can't use it. To many dependencies now. I've learned from past experience that those things change and cause problems. Add to that I run past versions Poser on Ubuntu and Wine. With Poser 8 having to interact with a proprietary browser, adobe flash and VC++2008 it's all to much for Wine to handle so I'm stuck with Poser 6 & 7 forever now.

I tried Poser 7 in Ubuntu (WINE) but the way the interface worked was very awkward... did that get fixed? I would have dialogues coming up behind the main work window and the preview pane turn black and other weird stuff happen until I finally gave up and went back to Windows.

At this point, about all I run in Windows IS Poser (and rarely Vue). All my internet stuff and email and everything else I do in Ubuntu. People see how it runs and the lack of dramas with it (except of course running Windows-based apps) and they're instant converts. Couldn't tell you how many installs I've done. And tech support? Virtually nil.

We are talking Ubuntu Linux, 9.04.

What type of Operating System is Ubuntu and Wine?????? Jan

Quote - I tried Poser 7 in Ubuntu (WINE) but the way the interface worked was very awkward... did that get fixed? I would have dialogues coming up behind the main work window and the preview pane turn black and other weird stuff happen until I finally gave up and went back to Windows.

At this point, about all I run in Windows IS Poser (and rarely Vue). All my internet stuff and email and everything else I do in Ubuntu. People see how it runs and the lack of dramas with it (except of course running Windows-based apps) and they're instant converts. Couldn't tell you how many installs I've done. And tech support? Virtually nil.

We are talking Ubuntu Linux, 9.04.

Yeah. I've found a bunch of late Wine versions broke poser compatibility while I was trying Ubuntu Studio 9.04 but I found one that worked at the time. Maybe I shouldn't have recently installed the regular Ubuntu 9.04 over it...sorry I don't remember which Wine that was. I haven't had much time and haven't loaded Wine yet this time because I was thinking about trying Mint(another flavor of Ubuntu) Maybe I should have stuck with what I had. LOL. :unsure:

Edit.
@ Plutom Ubuntu is a version of Linux made for regular human beings. More plug & play than other versions plus more universally accepted than most Linux versions now. It's an open source Linux backed by a company called Canonical Ltd.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Quote - What type of Operating System is Ubuntu and Wine?????? Jan

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution, and Wine is a program that lets you run Windows programs on Linux computers.

I was typing my question at the same time that RobynsVeil was telling something about it and MyLemonBlue thanks for the definition.  Since we who have PC's don't follow Mac OS stuff too much (least I don't, learning the nixs of Vista is plenty-you should see the six inch thick manual on Vista-the one I thumb through at Books-a Million, get a quesy feeling in my stomach accompanied by a swirling feeling in my head--same feeling I got while attempting to learn Calculus, the key word was attempting.  Jan  

Wheatpenny, thanks for the added info.---Jan

Me too ;-)
I bought a lot of scripts for Poser7 and from my point of view it´s perfect. I planed an upgrade to Poser8 on x-mas, but I always read about bugs and strange things, that I´m still not certain if I really want this upgrade in the moment.
I always have been among the first buyers with Poser6 and 7, and at all Poser 7 was nearly a full year "death on my harddrive"  before it was ready to use with SR3.

Using Poser 7, and like many others may get P8 'til all the bugs are ironed out. 

Ah...  Decisions, decisions.

JB

I have been going back and forth from P7 to P8.  P8 is really nice & my use of P7 is diminishing rapidly.

In using Poser 8, most of my errors have been Operator Errors.  Poser 8 does have its quirks.  However after getting to know the software, you know how to head most of them off.  An example would be render hanging-that quirk can be handled by powering down the computer and bringing it back on line (re booting).  When the RAM fills up that happens--and it does it with every RAM heavy software.  Its like learning the quirks of Vista after finally learning XP.  Poser 8 is heads and shoulders above any of the previous Posers----IMVHO.  Jan 

What?!  Rebooting when a program runs out of memory is typical?  I don't think so.  I can put Cinema 4D at the "Out of Memory" limit on 32-bit Windows and simply close Cinema 4D and continue with whatever - including restarting Cinema 4D.  What that indicates is that Poser's memory handling is sod-off with dangling memory (memory that was never freed) which then must be reclaimed slowly by the OS.  This means that the more you do this, the less available memory off of the heap each time.  If this is actually a quirk of Vista then praise Jupiter that I never upgraded.  Hope it doesn't persist in Windows 7.

Yeah, it works and works extremely well when just rebooting the software doesn't work.  Jan 

I'll still work in Poser 7 but just yesterday started having a real play in Poser 8. I think I'm starting to get the hang of what I can do. Navigating runtimes is a lot faster!! And so are renders (using lights I'm used to in P7... haven't tried the new stuff yet), so yeah, it's all good.

Nice work, all those involved. Give me enough time and I'm quick...

anyone here besides me hanging out at a Barnes and Noble bookstore on a Saturday Night?

s a t ur d a y night.   you youngins i'm sure won't recognize Bay City Rollers.

Oh, you are such a party-girl, MistyLara... can I shout you a mocha?

I finally fixed my Poser7 problem with the library taking up too much space by upgrading my computer and getting a wider monitor.  This also meant having to move over completely to Poser 8.  Runs much faster than my seven-year-old computer did.

I understand Poser 7 isn't compatible with Windows 7 64-bit.  I had no problems running Poser 8 and it seems to be compatible.  I didn't try installing Poser 7 using WinXP capatibility because I don't want to screw up my system.  Windows 7 is very picky about everything and I've already have to do two system restores because of issues.  I wish I'd gotten the 32-bit version instead.  Remembering the conversion from 16-bit to 32 it seemed like years before the software companies came out with compatible software.

"I understand Poser 7 isn't compatible with Windows 7 64-bit."

erm, it works fine on it. I'm using it right now.... I did'nt install to the Program Folders, but to a separate Poser Programs folder and it's blindingly fast..

The Windows Compatibility website said it doesn't, but indicates they are working with the company.  I've found some wrong information on the Microsoft compatibility website such as drivers for other software being available when they're not.

I would like to try Poser 7 on my system to see how much faster it is.  On my old computer is locked up constantly and took forever to save files.

I thought 32-bit software had to go into the x86 Program folder.

just install it to say C:posersPoser 7 and it'll work just fine. (I've heard that Vista and Win7 don't like things being written to Program Files ad hoc as a security measure. I've seen some evidence of this, and since poser does not have to go in Program Files at all... (infact very very few things have to be installed in the program files...))

I've run Poser's 5 6 7 and Pro just fine on Windows 7 64 here. I just uninstalled 5/6/7 to stick with Pro actually...

the only software I've had problems with are Mechcommander and Mechwarrior 3... but thats only due to them being ancient.

everything else I've thrown at Win7's worked fine.

 That is actually the best news I've heard all year. Thanks LOADS for the tip, Kai!

useing poser 7 because poser 8 is buggy and it it's pain in the neck loading the libraries.

Still on 7 here.  Let's see I could spend out $99 to go to P8 and $199 to update Vue and have two products that don't communicate properly or stay where I am.  Don't have the $$$ anyways.
I want to wait until the major bug shakedown is done on P8 before getting into it.  From what I've seen they've gone through 2 service releases in about as many months so there are still problems.