its downloading right now so figured I would talk about it.
Download speeds are VERY slow. hours to dl the content, on a 10meg dl line ...but its only coming down at 150-200kb/sec.
Content
legacy content
installer
SR2
CP free content
pretty good grab of stuff to start with...and then add in my 25gig of content or so :)

I'm on P6, so this should be a pretty good jump of features for the upgrade price. I thought maybe SM would have some specials, but nothing, so I couldn't take it anymore. Probably will sell it for $69 or something soon now.

downloaded..and now trying to install..the zip extractions are going slowwwwwwwwww....

The gui looks really busy when it first loads.
Getting used to the new library is going to take some time. I did not and do not like DAZ Studio library and this is very similar.

Rendering : very fast compared to P6 ... wow..this is nice. Full firefly seems like its about half as long as rendering in P6. Using even HDR IBL lights

so ... my FIRST P8 render ... she's shocked too :)

Happy Rendering...!

Here's another one using
Maria ...straight out of the box ...  using the P8 backlight canned setup.
I still wonder why no one supports the Poser figures. They're really not that bad, and I actually like them. BUT NOW .we have Phil's Wardrobe Wizard, so we can take all those clothes we bought for Victoria 1-4 and port them over .... yee haw !

look into my eyes ... Maria Maria 
 need to play with the lights a lot more..this setup just doesn't do it. bad render :) but its number 2, so it will do. I pulled the plug on it ...
And I won't be putting up all my renders I do in P8 this weekend, so be relax :)

a resume render would be nice

Quote - a resume render would be nice

Ditto to that...!

Quote - The gui looks really busy when it first loads. Getting used to the new library is going to take some time. I did not and do not like DAZ Studio library and this is very similar.

Rendering : very fast compared to P6 ... wow..this is nice. Full firefly seems like its about half as long as rendering in P6. Using even HDR IBL lights

Rendering is fast very fast indeed. The UI is crowded indeed, I prefer the old one. As for the library, there are excellent alternatives available, which should have been incorporated into P8, instead of the one SM choose.

Quote - a resume render would be nice

That would be very very nice indeed.

 The good thing about the new gui is that you can easily rearrange and turn off the things you never use. (well you could that in previous versions as well, but IMO it's easier in P8. Takes a little getting used to of course, but isn't that always the case with new software? :)

The first render you showed looks like there's no shadows, the inner mouth is glowing which surprised me, P8 usually does a better job than that.

As for the hair rendering. If you want a REALLY pleasant surprise, try loading one of the dynamic hair and trender that. It both renders a LOT faster than transmapped hair, and finally actually looks like hair, too. It has certainly re-sparked my interest in dynamic hair. I hope some hair makers are listening ;)

And yes, a Resume Render would be awesome. But I'm not holding my breath for it... :)

One thing to try if you have not found it so far, use the hiearchy dropdown menu and click on body.  You will get hundreds of FBM to play around with--and they are nicely grouped.

One other thing, in the sticky Making Alyson unique, put some of your renderings there.  Okay a shameful plug-I want to see other folks Poser 8 stuff, I need ideas.

Your first pictures are pretty good by the way. Jan

I give up.  What is ATE?

ATE = 8

Thanks linkdink.

yay! great can't wait to see more of your renders :)

you know..sort of word play ..bit and ate go together ...
8 is correct.

You know I could not find a single acronym that would fit, but my mind just would not make the connection to eight=ate.  I really need some oxygen in my blood.