If one were to purchase Poser 8 RIGHT NOW...do you still have to get the service releases or is the current  for-sale version up to date, all hotfixes and service releases in place?

I'm NOT asking about the CONTENT updates but the actual program itself.

I just picked it up about a week ago. You still have to apply the SR2.

-- Jeff

SR2 is vital to using Poser 8 without tearing your hair out.

Well, you'll probably end up tearing your hair out anyway but SR2 fixes most of the really serious problems.

I had the SR2 patch installed in my P8 but I am still having the "out of memory" program crashing issue, does any one have the similar problem?

You probably will have to download SR2 (it incorporates the hot fix and SR1).  Also download the current Flash , IE and driver updates.
 
Most of the "out of memory" errors come from too much junk in Cache created by everything.  If you have been working Poser for a few hours-close down Poser, clear your cache, another thing that can cause crashes is selecting Poser menus etc in rapid sequence,  The computer tries to follow and may stall.  That applies to all software products.  At least that what usually causes mine to freeze, not respond, etc.  When I slow down a bit, that helps a lot.  Jan

Thanks for the advice. Back then when I was still using Poser 7 this "out of memory" crash seldom happens, I can render a scene with four figures without any problem. Now however in Poser 8 I can only put two figure at max and I can still having crashes. May be Poser Pro 2010 can resolve this problem once it comes out?

I've been pulling my hair out trying to render a scene in P8 with five V4's all decked out, and I'm down to almost draft settings and still running out of memory before it finishes.  Or it finally finishes with huge black holes everywhere.  I'm not doing another render like this ever again.

I think that the problem is that Poser 8 has a lot more stuff in it  for the computer to digest eg lighting effects etc.  Have your tried billboarding for your secondary figures?  Jan

If you run out of memory you can try to:

• reduce the bucket size (switch to manual render settings)
• reduce the number of threads
• tick render in a seperate process

@ Morana: I would also re-evaluate components in your scene.  Are you running displacement maps, bump maps in all your materials?  Is it necessary?  If so, is the displacement bound set higher than 0?  Disp. bound = 0 will cripple your render.  Material room Diffuse_value should be lower than 1; reset those to 0.8 - 0.7. 

@ GhostWolf: I seriously doubt those problems will go away with PoserPro 2010.  We will be getting another variable included in the mix: gamma correction + IDL!

Thanks for the tips.  I was just trying to put together a simple Christmas render with five figures, a tree, and a few gift boxes.  I managed to cobble it together in Photoshop from the bits and pieces I had managed to get to finish rendering.  I didn't think to set the bucket size to lower than 32, and it was at two threads and separate processes.

I didn't see any displacement maps, just bumps.  But the Min Disp Bound is greyed out at 0.

Always more to learn and settings to dig through. :)

That is understandable.  I learned the hard way and quite by accident.  There is always a learning curve somewhere.

Hmmm,

I have no issues with 4 -  V4's loaded with AerySoul (Large Textures) Products and all have real strand based hair...

Bucket 32
Shade Rate .25
R/T 1
Disp Enabled
.001 Min Disp Bnds

Separate Process
4 threads

Irr Cahce @ 90
Pix Smpl @ 10

Render Time  40min +/-

"Most of the "out of memory" errors come from too much junk in Cache created by everything.  If you have been working Poser for a few hours-close down Poser, clear your cache...."

Where can one find the cache, and how can it be cleared?

Apologies if this has been discussed before.  I've tried a forum search, but mainly returned posts specifying Irradiance Cache settings.

Quote -
Hmmm,

I have no issues with 4 -  V4's loaded with AerySoul (Large Textures) Products and all have real strand based hair...

Bucket 32
Shade Rate .25
R/T 1
Disp Enabled
.001 Min Disp Bnds

Separate Process
4 threads

Irr Cahce @ 90
Pix Smpl @ 10

Render Time  40min +/-

I've always had Min Shading Rate at  .01 in my final render settings.  Wonder if that's where I'm blowing myself out.

For Poser Cache  Under Edit, General Preferences>Document.  For other stuff, use a good good cleaner like McAfee etc.  Jan

Usually , cache is emptied when you close the respective program, but not always.  Jan