I have Poser 7.  Is it worth it to upgrade to Poser 8?

Also, are there any issues running Poser 8 with Windows 7?  It says XP and Vista are supported, but nothing about Windows 7 at the Smith Micro web site.
 

Poser 8 has two SR's and is still a little bug infested..  Having said that.  IMHO Poser 8 is worth getting for the lighting alone..

I agree with Noel. For the (upgrade but even full) price, Poser 8 is a pretty amazing package. Once all the quirks have been ironed out, it will definitely be The Definitive Version of Poser. And it's getting there. You'll clearly be amazed at the renders.

Unlike NoelCan, I haven't any major problems.  Whatever cropped up, I managed to isolate and correct.  And Noel is correct, the lights alone are worth the leap.

I upgraded from 7 and II think it was worth the price for the improved lighting...

 I upgraded from Poser 7 about a week ago and for me it was very well worth it, although not bugfree, it's much more stable. The library's search function is something I really really miss every time I open Poser 7. Now I know a lot of people say you can get a search function using an external library manager, but I prefer to have things built in instead of relying (and spending money) on external applications.

I like the interface a lot more too, docking pannels allow me to have just what I need, and have more workspace overall.

The render engine, even tough is 32 bits, is faster than Poser Pro, at least on my experience, but I've seen a lot of people say the same here.

Its worth to upgrade. The lights are magnificent and the interface is friendlier than earlier versions..
I had problems at first but the people here helped me solve them and now it works beautifully. I was a poser pro user and was used to 64X speed but this babe - in spite that its a 32X app - is even faster. 
I can hardly wait until 2010 pro comes out. Now that will be really fast.

Very much worth the upgrade.  
If one has a quad core (or better!), P8 will also give a nice performance boost to rendering speeds due to support for up to 32 CPU threads.

Yes, it's really worth it. Llighting, renderspeed even the new GUI makes P8 worth even the full price IMHO.

Definitely worth it. No going back for me.

Additionally, the stuff you get with it (over a gig) is not the usual  "okay, now how do I delete that junk".  IMHO the stuff is very good.  Prepared doors, windows, wall blanks to make your own rooms, a very nicely modeled Mini Cooper (front wheels turn, hood and doors open, front seats move, top comes down or up), etc.  Jan

Thanks, all, sounds like it's worth the upgrade price. 

I installed Poser 7 on my new computer with 64-bit Windows 7 last night, and it seems to work, so I guess Poser 8 will as well.

posers 5, 6, 7 and Pro work fine.
there maybe an issue with UAC if you have it enabled if you install posers to the Program Files (UAC protects Program Files from changes) - this is easily fixed by disabling UAC or not installing to Program Files in the first place.
Poser 8 would be subject to the same UAC issues but also the same fixes. plus I've read it has the option not to install the Runtime into Program Files and therefore avoid the UAC restrictions.

Quote - I installed Poser 7 on my new computer with 64-bit Windows 7 last night, and it seems to work, so I guess Poser 8 will as well.

With SR2, Poser 8 is formally supported under Windows 7.

It's possible to disable UAC?  I gotta do that.  I didn't know what it was called, but I've already run into it, and it's a pain in the butt.

I went straight from XP to Windows 7, bypassing Vista, and all the security stuff is new to me.  I'm the only one who uses my computer, so having to type in a password for everything was beyond annoying.  (I figured out how to turn that off.) 

Then, last night, it wouldn't let me install Poser or Vue.  Googling revealed the problem - I had to "run as administrator."  The error messages generated didn't really give you any indication that that was the problem (and they were different for each program). 

FYI I saw they have a p8 demo now, so if you want to check it out you can.

 I don't recommend you turn off UAC, I know it's a pain, but it's  the only way for windows to have an extra layer of security, turn it off and you'll go back to XP's security level, every malware would be able to run automatically without you knowing. 

It was anoying at first but then I got used to it, and never had a problem running programs with it.

On my Vista OS computer,  Poser 8's default is to load its Poser Content to Desktop/Public/Pubilc Documents/Poser 8 Contents.  You will want to know this if you are going to change figure textures etc.  You can turn UAC off, however I certainly agree with Hioushi--better off not to. 

If you REALLY want to, click on Windows  MS Logo, then Control Panel, then User Accounts, turn User Account Control on or off.  When you disable UAC, Windows will immediately notify you that it has happen and will continue to bug you until you turn it back on. Jan

But I'm perfectly happy with XP's level of security. 

I don't even use anti-virus software.  More trouble than it's worth, IME.  I've been online for 15 years now, and never had problems with malware.  I don't use Outlook or Internet Explorer. I do use a firewall...and basic common sense when it comes to e-mail attachments and the like. 

It  would be different if I had kids using the computer, or even my parents, who can be a bit clueless.  But it's just me.

Quote - When you disable UAC, Windows will immediately notify you that it has happen and will continue to bug you until you turn it back on.

LOL.  That would be just as annoying, if not more so.

I bet there's a way to turn that off, too.

When I turned off the Windows firewall, it bugged me until I found the box to check to turn off the nagging.

erm I turned mine off and it's never nagged me to turn it back on... shrug

Quote - erm I turned mine off and it's never nagged me to turn it back on... shrug

Ah ha, then there is a way then to turn the nagging off---might be very useful --Jan

all I did (in Windows 7) was set the UAC slider to 'Off' (I'll put back to minimum later. I'm doing some heavy work with Freecommander/Terracopy which UAC keeps asking questions about)

After reading this thread about upgrading to Poser 8, I'm contemplating on purchasing it but I need to know why the lighting alone is worth the upgrade?  What makes it different than Poser 7?  Thanks in advance.

Poser 8 adds Indirect Lighting. It makes light setup much easier. See it as a superior way of IBL without the hassle of providing an IBL map
In outdoor scenes you often need only one light (sun) throwing shadows without adding other lights to "soften" the shadows and light. You also need a skydome to provide the indirect light source if you do not have one.

In indoor scenes you only need to add the "real" light sources and IDL will provide the rest reducing the need to add fill lights.

But there are some caveats - it increases render time - how much depends on the type of scene (reflections, RT shadow blur,  Shadows rate, RT bounces, etc)  - but even at relatively low settings it often gives an acceptable result without adding too much to the render time.
And of course lighting depends on the artistic effect you want to create, so you might still want to adust lighting to fit your needs.

If I load older scenes (created in P7 or earlier) I usually delete most (if not all) of the lights and just add or modify the main lights, then I turn on IDL and it looks much better.

Quote - But I'm perfectly happy with XP's level of security. 

I don't even use anti-virus software.  More trouble than it's worth, IME.  I've been online for 15 years now, and never had problems with malware.  I don't use Outlook or Internet Explorer. I do use a firewall...and basic common sense when it comes to e-mail attachments and the like. 

A good trojan/virus makes sure you don't even notice it's there, and trust me, they are plenty on any unprotected system. You don't need to download email atachments to grab some, if you are online that's enough for a trojan to scan your opened ports (on windows xp without a good firewall, that would be all), and get in and do it's stuff.

Quote - good trojan/virus makes sure you don't even notice it's there, and trust me, they are plenty on any unprotected system. You don't need to download email atachments to grab some, if you are online that's enough for a trojan to scan your opened ports (on windows xp without a good firewall, that would be all), and get in and do it's stuff.

I understand that, and I don't mean to discourage people from using Windows' built-in security stuff. But I, personally, don't need it.  I said I use a Firewall, so my ports are protected. It's just not the Windows firewall. 

I have my own security stuff installed.  For example, WinPatrol (free!) has been doing what UAC does for years, and, IME, does it much better, with a lot less hassle. 

Is Poser 8 worth it? That depends what you're looking for. For me the library and new UI aren't worth any money at all, they're just annoying. I use both Poser Pro and Poser 8 on a regular basis and when going from P8 back to Poser Pro it's a relieve. No library and UI annoyances at all.

Rendering is a different matter, that's really worth it, P8 renders fast..... almost as fast as Poser 5 does. Every version after Poser 5 was rendering slower and slower, P8 almost set the record straight again. I've been testing a product lately in P5 for compatibility and noticed that with the same settings, P5 is still slightly faster then P8 when it comes to rendering. But compared to P6, P7 & Poser Pro, P8 renders really much faster.

IDL is worth it, if you use it. I don't, can't stand the increased rendering time, even with SR2 it's still not up to speed for serious work. Besides IDL the light hasn't really changed. I've been rendering the same scenes in P8 and Poser Pro (scenes set up in P8), but there's no difference. Poser Pro, due to the ability of having Gamma Correction and other options still renders nicer. But P8 is pretty good as well when tone mapping is used, but not as good as Poser Pro is.

The rest of new features, like rigging and the new content, I don't really care for, not using P8 content at all.

If it's worth it or not really depends on what you're going to use.

Quote -  I don't recommend you turn off UAC, I know it's a pain, but it's  the only way for windows to have an extra layer of security, turn it off and you'll go back to XP's security level, every malware would be able to run automatically without you knowing. 

It was anoying at first but then I got used to it, and never had a problem running programs with it.

Quote - Is Poser 8 worth it? That depends what you're looking for. For me the library and new UI aren't worth any money at all, they're just annoying.

Why do you dislike them?

Quote - Rendering is a different matter, that's really worth it, P8 renders fast..... almost as fast as Poser 5 does.

Remember when Poser 5 came out, and everyone complained about how slow it rendered?  :-)

I haven't noticed that Poser 6 and 7 were slow.  Though I confess that I usually use the P4 renderer until the final render.

I decided to bite the bullet and make the jump.  Poser 8 is downloading now.  (And jeez, they sure don't make it easy to give them your money.)

 Well, P4 renderer is gone in P8, there's just firefly now, but I don't use it since P5, with the right settings you can render a draft really fast, it's just a matter of getting used to.

Quote -  Well, P4 renderer is gone in P8, there's just firefly now, but I don't use it since P5, with the right settings you can render a draft really fast, it's just a matter of getting used to.

I just found it convenient, since it had its own tab.  You could set up the P4 renderer for quick drafts, and Firefly for a high-quality final render, and easily swap between them.  I wouldn't have to worry about forgetting to change something for the final render, like I do with Vue.  (And there are so many settings I usually do forget something.)

 That's true. But P8 comes with a cript by Dimension3D to have better control of the render options and what gets saved in the render presets, so you can save several presets, one for testing shadows, another for drafts, for final renders, etc, and it includes render dimensions and a few other things that the standard render option's presets don't. 

Poser 8  has realistic render times.... much much faster than Poser pro, and is significantly cheaper .. whole look and feel is much better.

Bad points : Still unstable as any previous posers ... hopefully will get better with updates .

Quote - > Quote - Is Poser 8 worth it? That depends what you're looking for. For me the library and new UI aren't worth any money at all, they're just annoying.

Why do you dislike them?

They are the 2 failings of P8 in my book too. The docking elements aren't an enhancement in my opinion, in fact it really winds me up every time I open, for example, the hierarchy editor and it auto docks rearranging my layout. I then have to float it, turn off auto-docking and then I can carry on. If you turn off auto-docking and float every window it then ends up looking a right crappy pig's ear of a display. The old interface was fine and customisable. I'm not a fan of the colour scheme either, and can't change it.
The library (when it works properly for me) is ok, but I can leave P8 idle for a while, switch Runtime for example and then the library wont refresh. Or after a few renders. Or after a few new scene starts. Restarting P8 doesn't help, in fact elements of the libraries don't always show up after a restart, it takes a reboot of Windows for my P8 to work properly again.
And all because people can't remember what they've bought and organise things better. Oh well. If i could of had P8 with the old interface and library, that would have been fantastic.

But they're just my opinions, feel free to ignore them, I'm not trying to start a squabble, just airing my experiences :)

Quote - [for example, the hierarchy editor and it auto docks rearranging my layout.

For me it remembers its position and doesn't dock automatically...

Do you keep it open and have you set that as a preferred state? I ask as I don't keep it open, and every time I open it from the menu, it always comes in docked under the library pallette, so I have to float it, un-enable auto-docking (or as soon as I move it and let go it takes a place in the display..arrrgh! ) and resize it.

Hmm, I have to add a correction to my above post. It seems that now that my hierarchy window is now opening undocked and floating. I swear it used to keep opening under the library palette. At least that's one less bugbear for me! :)
Bloomin' Poser foibles :)