No clue about the other forums, but activity here must be at an all time low....

I don't think it is, people are definitely buying more content, at least where I'm at. What I think is happening though is the overall negativity where certain dead horse topics were posted over and over... and were allowed to fester with misinformation and personal attacks, unmoderated, until they boil over and get locked. That drove a lot of people away that were looking for information on how to use the software, get tips or just have a nice conversation.

So they're just buying the content and avoiding the forum altogether.

This forum has not been too busy for a while but there is plenty of activity at other poser sites.

RDNA seems as good as dead too.

pperhaps there are more things working now so we don't have as many questions, and perhaps it is also because we're not allowed to mention great sales at other sites anymore.

i was feeling the absense of some of the crowd just the other day, like Les Bentley (smoking goblin?).  haven't read LaurieA around lately, or millighost, ...

it does feel harder to find helpful advices when you're not on the latest and greatest versions of poser. 

turn off ic? whah?  lol

maaybe Les is in the vue forum?

Quote - pperhaps there are more things working now so we don't have as many questions, and perhaps it is also because we're not allowed to mention great sales at other sites anymore.

you mean like the DAZ3D March Madness sale going on right now at _____.com?  tee hee

David5Pro bundle is on sale today.  and i have no money today *woes. 

didn't know there was one. I haen't tried genesis in poser lately to know if it is useable.  Last time I tried some months ago it was way too slow.

Funny thing about Genesis, I recently installed Genesis/Genesis2 and experienced the dreadful library slow down whenever I loaded either figure.  After spending a couple on nights thinking about it, I changed my PP2014 Library settings to external (utilizing Adobe Air rather than Flash) and the software picked itself right up to its old self.  This is under WinXP 32bit environment  Go figure. 

As for myself, it's that conversations have become so specialized, centering on and around figures that I don't use (Genesis, V4, and the very latests Posers), that there is little reason to join in!

Does anybody still use Posette, or Judy?  If not, then there is nothing for me to talk about!

it doesn't help i can only be on this forum a few minutes at a time from my dayjob.

"

Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

The exact error encountered was: Too many sessions from IP address

"

finally figured out the IP address is my dayjob's firewall.

this is the only forum i have this problem.

Hey, hello David? ? ?

Glad to hear from you.
Long time no see man.

yeah, Gene, Dawn, V4 and Rex and Roxie.

Posette and Judy are out of the picture.

Do you use Judy also?
I thought your main figure was Posette.

I use everything except the Genesis stuff. Legacy figures back to Poser 4 and Victoria 2, through all the versions up to and including V4, Dawn and some others from independent vendors.

It's not a dying art for me. I am just finding my feet and putting Poser to work - it is finally becoming part of my real world and not a separate hobby activity. Need an image? Make it in Poser. Need an item for an image? Make it in Blender. Nope, alive and well.

The hobby isn't dead for me;  I now have six used rack-mount server blades for use as render slaves.  They each have dual HyperThreaded hex-core processors (24 rendering threads each!)

     But I have been busy plowing snow with one or the other of my rock crawler Jeeps, and shoveling walks and porch steps for my parents, my aunt, and some neighbors.

@vilters;

Shalom my friend, it's good to hear from you too!  Long time no see, because I really didn't have all that much to say!  I remapped Judy too, to take V3 skins, and since she comes with a ready made wardrobe, just like Posette, she's become my 2nd figure of choice!  I like Judy's more full bodied figure, and have used her in several of my renders!  I especially like the morphed figures developed from her by Ken1.

As fpr Gene, Dawn, Rex, & Roxie, I've never heard of those!  V4 I don't like too much, as it's too high density for my taste.  If and when I DO use Poser, it's Poser 7, and Poser Pro 10.  But as I said, the conversations here have become way too complex and specialized for me to take part anymore.

yours truly,

dph

I haven't been around much the last few months cause I've felt like crap. And when I'm not feeling like crap I'm working on commissions and other projects to pay the bills. But I usually still lurk if only to keep up to date on what's going on, which has been nothing lately.

I don't think the diminishing forum activity has as much to do with debates or arguments as it does with competition. There have always been heated debates that spring up, on topics new and old, and it rarely had any affect on how much activity continued in the forums. But that was back when there was little to no competition with Poser, and that's not the case anymore. 

Poser's popularity has always been content-driven. So it only makes sense that without new, cutting-edge, quality content to compete with everything else that's available, its bound to diminish in popularity as people migrate over to where the new shinies are.

Where is the content that utilizes all of Posers newest features?  The way I see it, without some serious effort on SMs part to put resources into some major content development that rivals its competition, the silence around the various Poser forums is just going to continue to grow. The best they currently have to offer is Rex and Roxie. They've been out for nearly a year now, but SM's own site doesn't even offer much of anything in the way of content for them. 3 or 4 items? Business suits seems to be the only official content they've done. In a year. Nothing official for developers to use to make character sets, nothing. 

So yeah, pretty much I think that's why the two biggest Poser forums are mostly crickets chirping lately. And this isn't intended to start another debate, it's just an honest observation. Poser needs new content. Without it, its users go elsewhere.

~Shane

Plus so far as new Poser figures go often they're only available with Poser. That's a lot more limiting than the Daz figures that you could always just go and buy, or get for free. So although I use Poser 2012 I don't have access to Rex and Roxie unless I upgrade.

It's got a lot quieter round here since the discussion of new and potential new figures died down, but I'm sure it's just cyclic and something will start up the discussions again.

Quote - Poser needs new content. Without it, its users go elsewhere.

 ~Shane

Good luck with that.  Depending on vendors is an exercise in futility.

From what I have seen and heard from vendors over the past decade, they aren't interested in "new" anything; they just want to continue to make variations of what they have made before.

What is worse, vendors have sown the seeds of their own destruction by taking a "I'm an artist, I only make what I am interested in." attitude towards the potential customer base. They have no interest in making content for any figure not named V4.  Herein lies the problem.....

My V4 Clothing runtime is over 51Gb, why should I buy your new hookerware?  What does it do better?

My V4 figure runtime is over 25Gb, why should I buy your new 20 year old white girl - that looks just like the last half dozen that you have released?

My Hair runtime is almost 35Gb, what makes yours better than what I already have?. (In the case of 3Dreams Master Skull Cap series, the answer is "I got character fits for every figure you have ever heard of, and quite a few that you haven't." - Which is why I am buying them all.

So, just what should I be buying?  Genesis?  Characters - over 90% of them are young Caucasian girls - don't need those (See V4 above). The only vendor I know of that has made more than 1 or 2 ethnic characters for the golum is Male3dia.  Clothing for the golum is the same as V4, hookerware, high medieval fantasy & SF fantasy.  Been there, got that already.

Non-Daz figures?  If vendors refuse to support a figure, I put the fitting room to work, and the money that the vendor could have gotten goes to dollarshaveclub.com

SM's response to vendors ignoring any figure not named V4 was adding the fitting room to Poser.  Ruh-Roh, Shaggy.

This is why I have invested in products like Netherworks Hair Control System, Batch Material Converter, and products like Texture Transformer & Texture Converter 1 & 2.  I am also busy with Poser web seminars, where I can learn more about how to make content. I am looking to leverage content I already own, because vendors don't want to make content for any figure not named V4.

In addition to this, every month I add vendors to my "DO NOT BUY FROM" list because of their aggressive unwillingness to let Poser 4 & DOS go.

Why?  Because I am tired of having to spend anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours unscrewing products that I have purchased.  My mantra is "If you make your products hard to use, I am less likely to buy from you in the future."

Quote - > Quote - Poser needs new content. Without it, its users go elsewhere.

 ~Shane

Good luck with that.  Depending on vendors is an exercise in futility.

From what I have seen and heard from vendors over the past decade, they aren't interested in "new" anything; they just want to continue to make variations of what they have made before.

What is worse, vendors have sown the seeds of their own destruction by taking a "I'm an artist, I only make what I am interested in." attitude towards the potential customer base. They have no interest in making content for any figure not named V4.  Herein lies the problem.....

My V4 Clothing runtime is over 51Gb, why should I buy your new hookerware?  What does it do better?

My V4 figure runtime is over 25Gb, why should I buy your new 20 year old white girl - that looks just like the last half dozen that you have released?

My Hair runtime is almost 35Gb, what makes yours better than what I already have?. (In the case of 3Dreams Master Skull Cap series, the answer is "I got character fits for every figure you have ever heard of, and quite a few that you haven't." - Which is why I am buying them all.

So, just what should I be buying?  Genesis?  Characters - over 90% of them are young Caucasian girls - don't need those (See V4 above). The only vendor I know of that has made more than 1 or 2 ethnic characters for the golum is Male3dia.  Clothing for the golum is the same as V4, hookerware, high medieval fantasy & SF fantasy.  Been there, got that already.

Non-Daz figures?  If vendors refuse to support a figure, I put the fitting room to work, and the money that the vendor could have gotten goes to dollarshaveclub.com

SM's response to vendors ignoring any figure not named V4 was adding the fitting room to Poser.  Ruh-Roh, Shaggy.

This is why I have invested in products like Netherworks Hair Control System, Batch Material Converter, and products like Texture Transformer & Texture Converter 1 & 2.  I am also busy with Poser web seminars, where I can learn more about how to make content. I am looking to leverage content I already own, because vendors don't want to make content for any figure not named V4.

In addition to this, every month I add vendors to my "DO NOT BUY FROM" list because of their aggressive unwillingness to let Poser 4 & DOS go.

Why?  Because I am tired of having to spend anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours unscrewing products that I have purchased.  My mantra is "If you make your products hard to use, I am less likely to buy from you in the future."

Unfortuately this doesn't mean much as vendors will only make what people will buy and use. So you can't put it really on the vendors. People want sexy clothing, vendors will continue making it. People want ethnic characters? Well vendors would make more if they actually sold as well as the others. Vendors still using old formats? Yeah,  maybe it's because a good chunk of people are still using older version of Poser, so they're maximizing their sales to reach those people that haven't upgraded.

Which really goes back to Ambientshade said... content drives sales. You want people to upgrade, then you need to give them content that uses the new features and formats. You don't, then they'll stay where they're at. Using converters doesn't cause the majority to upgrade and definitely doesn't drive sales... and when you don't have sales, no one makes what you want.

It is true, unfortunately bad people as (names deleted by moderator) and many others who scream at the sky "I do not use Poser" but always say about him. they have been successful of distorting the forum, creating conflicts attacking and molesting people who do not use their software and no moderator hit them a kick in the ass, on the other hand is not very nice to spend some time to write some input and that after that entry disappears, things like this eventually takes away the desire to come and participate

Read it before it is deleted in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ......

Aldebran40, if there are people in the forum who annoy you, just use the Ignore button.  A lot of people lobbied real hard for it.  I find it makes the forums much more pleasant if one uses it sparingly to adjust a thread's signal-to-noise ratio.

I don't think that the activity in the forum can accurately reflect how much art is being produced in 3D software Poser or otherwise.  Thise that use forums are always only a small part of those using the software.  I do think some of the flame wars and personal attacks did mean some people left the forum but that is my own personal view.  I did not like many of the posts but I have found by using the ignore button on two contributers has had a mojor impact on that. 

I check in on the forum most days but mainly to lurk rather than post.  That has partly to do with my limited expereince of Poser, so there a few subjects I can help on.

I am happy to talk about my use of Poser and setup if I think others may find the information useful, if only to decide my way is not the way to go. 

Mind you, most the time I am on the forum is when I am waiting for a render to finish.

Quote - I don't think that the activity in the forum can accurately reflect how much art is being produced in 3D software Poser or otherwise.  Thise that use forums are always only a small part of those using the software...

Indeed.  People who post regularly in the Forums are the rounding error of the number of users out there...

Quote - > Quote - I don't think that the activity in the forum can accurately reflect how much art is being produced in 3D software Poser or otherwise.  Thise that use forums are always only a small part of those using the software...

Indeed.  People who post regularly in the Forums are the rounding error of the number of users out there...

But if everyone brings a friend to the forums, we could possibly reach the goal of being 1%ers.  (Of a sort, maybe).

But if everyone brings a friend to the forums, we could possibly reach the goal of being 1%ers.  (Of a sort, maybe).

Most my friends do not understand my art work, or why I do it, and think, because I buy content, it is all very easy.  I guess that is why I do look at the forums just to make sure I am not the only one playing with Poser and the like.  Mind you, those that do not understand computers think what I do is PFM, Pure Flipping Magic. 

While my first post was a general remark, for the general slow down of this and RDNA's Poser forum, I see a lot of new and older members posting.

Posering from Poser1, and having been on the older and newer renderosity, I have never seen so few "new" topics a day.

Lately there have been days with NO new topics at all between me going to bed and getting up in the morning. (Central European time) That has never happened before.

OK, we are in an "in between period", Poser10 and PP2014 being out for some time now.

But? ? what wonders me most.

Some users are digging back into older rooms and asking questions. (face & hair rooms from 2006)

But the "new" features, like the fitting room, or the physics, or subd, get hardly any attention at all and questions are extremely rare and far between.

I do see some new "freestuff" releasers, I see some new vendors on the road, but all in all, it is extremely calm these last weeks -months.

And?
I also see a lot of users with older Poser versons.  ( Doing great things BTW. )

Thanks for all your input. And thank you all for the mature answers.

Happy Posering,
Tony

DAZ basically split with Poser, and I was moving into Blender anyway.
Plus I didn't like how DAZStudio changed to move away from Poser compatibility.

I have a HUGE investment in V3M3 family of figures, and felt no need or desire to move to V4M4.
Genisis went Crazy with the DSON stuff.

At this point I can model a figure from scratch in less time than it would take me to figure all the polotics and treaties involved with making everything work togther in Poser/Daz, and I can use that figure however I want with no fear of violating some one's TOS.

So between my growing more advanced, their growing apart, we just outgrew each other.

3d hobby = growth business here.  guys renting out 3d printers, making money, hanover fist.  but don't try printing NVITWS on those  genl. public not receptive to that.

Quote - But the "new" features, like the fitting room, or the physics, or subd, get hardly any attention at all and questions are extremely rare and far between.

Happy Posering,
Tony

Well, as someone who uses those new features in 2014, I trumpet them at every opportunity.  The only thing I could ask for with respect to the fitting room is for Lyrra to make fitting room magnets for more figures.  They make a 10 minute job a 2 minute job.  Subdivision is another tool I use at every opportunity.  It, along with the improved weight mapping makes legacy figure new again.

If anyone is sitting on the fence, come on in, the water is fine.

Quote - I don't think it is, people are definitely buying more content, at least where I'm at. What I think is happening though is the overall negativity where certain dead horse topics were posted over and over... and were allowed to fester with misinformation and personal attacks, unmoderated, until they boil over and get locked. That drove a lot of people away that were looking for information on how to use the software, get tips or just have a nice conversation.

So they're just buying the content and avoiding the forum altogether.

I don't think there's an overwhelming amount of negativity, dead horse topics or not. Some of the people who were responsible for much of the alleged negativity still lurk around and they come out in full force whenever someone starts one of their favorite type of threads. You know who they are for the most part because you never see them posting unless it's to say something negative. You rarely, if ever, see them posting to ask a question or give an answer. Or to post a simple off topic comment just for fun. Others simply have gone to other forums. I know of several people who use to post here all the time who have moved almost exclusively over to the Hivewire forum. You rarely see them post here anymore unless the subject of Dawn comes up. I only tend to lurk there myself, and even then only occasionally. But then, I don't use Dawn, and I don't use Genesis, so I'm rarely over at the DAZ forums either.

Hornet3d said:

"Most my friends do not understand my art work, or why I do it, and think, because I buy content, it is all very easy.  I guess that is why I do look at the forums just to make sure I am not the only one playing with Poser and the like.  Mind you, those that do not understand computers think what I do is PFM, Pure Flipping Magic"

I so agree. Mostly I get a blank look from people when I show my Poser work to them. They just can't relate to it. That is why I come here.

Tony,

I think we are just hitting a slow time (and yes it has been slow for a while).

People have been sick - a LOT of them.  Many of those same people have gotten sick, recovered and got sick all over again.  I got the flu, recovered, and immediately got Bronchial Pneumonia.  Sucks.  Felt like I was breathing shards of glass.  I'm not the only one by any stretch.

There has been several spurts of horrible weather here in the U.S and its been going on since December.  Cold flashes, cold fronts, weather knocking out power, breaking water lines, all of that.  We JUST got our hot water back on after 3 days without and we live in the deep south.  If a single snowflake falls here, folks act like armageddon is coming.

I have been working on a lot of projects and tending to comment more in private areas.  I don't show WIPs any more for the most part.  I wait until cusp of release.

When I'm not burning the midnight oil, I'm playing a game or modding a game to break things up.  I've posted here and there about it but not much response so I stopped because I fear it was making folks go to sleep.

Still excited about Poser and Posery things.  Still doing Posery things.  Exciting Posery things.

The newer tools have been very welcome, I use them, especially the improvements to the morph brush. But I don't have a lot to say about them. They help me get the job done.

I am one of those exploring the hair room again, for these reasons:

• It is underutilised because it has not been properly documented.
• It is a real advantage for Poser users over other software.
• Now that I have more control over it, I am having fun.
• Stuff I make with the hair room can be used by any Poser user since version 5.
• Dynamic hair is no longer slow to render on modern computers.

I'll also talk about it in the forums because I think people are unnecessarily scared of the hair room. If I can do it, anyone can. All you need is patience.

Quote - The newer tools have been very welcome, I use them, especially the improvements to the morph brush. But I don't have a lot to say about them. They help me get the job done.

I am one of those exploring the hair room again, for these reasons:

• It is underutilised because it has not been properly documented.
• It is a real advantage for Poser users over other software.
• Now that I have more control over it, I am having fun.
• Stuff I make with the hair room can be used by any Poser user since version 5.
• Dynamic hair is no longer slow to render on modern computers.

I'll also talk about it in the forums because I think people are unnecessarily scared of the hair room. If I can do it, anyone can. All you need is patience.

Frankly, i'm glad you do. While I've had no time to explore the hair room more fully, it was your thread that told me they hair room had styling tools already. Who knew? and here I was asking for styling controls in the next version of Poser.

I dont post much, apologies, besides since i dont know how to use like 70% of the Poser commands/menus, most of the time i dont have much to add to any topic about Poser... yea, i procrastinate a lot...

Quote - As for myself, it's that conversations have become so specialized, centering on and around figures that I don't use (Genesis, V4, and the very latests Posers), that there is little reason to join in!

Does anybody still use Posette, or Judy?  If not, then there is nothing for me to talk about!

I am using the figure I feel like using at the moment ... old ones, new ones ... but I am lucky. I like Poser AND Dazstudio.

Judy, rendered in December 2013:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2498804&user_id=422036&np&np

a lot still here use others app's
but somes left for DAZ Studio ,Max ,zBrush etc etc.
it add's up.

Quote - No clue about the other forums, but activity here must be at an all time low....

Maybe the awful site redesign was the final straw which caused some people to look for other places to hang out.

Hobby 3D isn't dying at all, but these forums have been for a while now. But if you think  this section is bad, check out the Vue section, hardly anyone there at all.

After all these years perhaps we've just asked what we wante to ask, discussed what we wanted to discuss and it's time to move on?

For me it's just focuss.... I've just got less time to spent in the forums then I used to have, there are so many demands these days. Kids growing older, having grandkids, started my own business and all that comes with that, learning new technologies, expanding my art vision and toolbox. I also spent more time in the galleries, posting there, commenting on artworks, it's a bit of shift for me, going from the forums to the galleries.

I also find that most of the regular and simple questions have been answered and a lot of questions asked now are so specific that I wouldn't even know how to answer them at all. Some other things I don't dare to answer, since my solutions (while working fine) have ticked of some of the over-technical people, somehow making them angry and that didn't always ended well. So, I'll keep my mouth shut on purpose at times.... if people only want complex solutions fine with me.

Of course there's Hivewire.... if I have questions or want to participate in some discussion, I'll post there. I'm moving my store from here to Hivewire3D due to constant partially show to certain vendors by the store staff at the expense of others. Hivewire just is a lot friendlier site then this one is. Rendo somehow has become cold and unfriendly.

Adding it all up means less activity in the forums for me.

Aeilkema, time after time I look at your stuff and think your toony style is really the best way to go with 3d art. I am too far committed to the semi-realism style.....But I love the simplicity and the storybook quality you get with your toons.

Quote - Aeilkema, time after time I look at your stuff and think your toony style is really the best way to go with 3d art. I am too far committed to the semi-realism style.....But I love the simplicity and the storybook quality you get with your toons.

If I want realism I'll use a camera. You never see a person taking a picture with a camera to see how toony he can make it look.

I like BOTH Poser and Daz and am always open and interested to all new software. Also I am a long time user of forums in which I never in 20 years ever have had a warning. I'm happy at the Hivewire forum where I have become a CA, a long time ambition. But in this forum I already have had 3 warnings just for trying stave off the most negative crannies from the old school who bash people away from all things new loving to nitpick the most insignificant unimportant details. The combination of old school negativism and a Soviet Commissary moderator protecting them is deadly.

Quote - I like BOTH Poser and Daz and am always open and interested to all new software. Also I am a long time user of forums in which I never in 20 years ever have had a warning. I'm happy at the Hivewire forum where I have become a CA, a long time ambition. But in this forum I already have had 3 warnings just for trying stave off the most negative crannies from the old school who bash people away from all things new loving to nitpick the most insignificant unimportant details. The combination of old school negativism and a Soviet Commissary moderator protecting them is deadly.

 

What's a CA ?

CA=Contributing Artist

Outside of Poser-related communities, I've definitely noticed a slowdown.  I used to have a large circle of aquaintences who used Poser or D|S, and now I rarely see new renders from the majority of them.

3D renders used to be infectious in my RP communities.  One person would start posting images, others would want to know how to do it and jump on board with their own fledgling images, and we'd all share tips and tricks and how-to's.  Now it seems if you're not actually sketching or drawing it, no one wants to see it.

I guess everything goes in cycles.

The times demands to work heavily in order to manage life...i see this often and a lot...im working 12 hours a day on 3d stuff and have almost 0 time to post into forums..for what i have understand is that life has become more demanding than ever...

Quote - Aeilkema, time after time I look at your stuff and think your toony style is really the best way to go with 3d art. I am too far committed to the semi-realism style.....But I love the simplicity and the storybook quality you get with your toons.

Oh, thanks for the compliment :) I'm the other way around then you are, I'm so far into toons with Poser, that it's hard to me to break free from it. Even my realistic stuff somehow turns toony in Poser.

I do more realistic stuff as well, for that I do use Vue. When it comes to realism, Vue and I are just good a match as me with Poser and toons. I'm happy with having these 2 apps, when it comes to toon look, Vue can come close, but it can't beat Poser and I do think when it comes to realism it's the other way around.

Don't be fooled though by the simplistic looking toon style. People often think it's easy to accomplish, but in this case looks are deceiving :) It took me a while to get it all as I wanted it to be and with a lot of my sets I make sure the customer does get the same light sets I've used for it.

Quote - If I want realism I'll use a camera. You never see a person taking a picture with a camera to see how toony he can make it look.

Actually I do.... not kidding but I do take photographs with a toon filter on my mobile phone once in a while. Just to get a different perspective on things and see who I can use it in my 3D art. Not often, but there are times I do that. It's not something common to do though :)

Forums in Rendo are  not represative the characters that frequent them so those characters might be just not bothering. E.G.  I saw a thumbnail in the gallery that looked interesting so I looked at the picture. It had a very long list of attributions to modellers so I copied the list and pasted it in comments and asked what the 'artist' had done for himself.

I receieved an email from Rendo' admin telling me they had deleted my commet because I  was a troll.

This place is so bland that you canot even call a maker of porn a pornographer.

I don't come here much now.

luckybears,  "I receieved an email from Rendo' admin telling me they had deleted my commet because I  was a troll."

As you are trolling now. Poser/Daz content are in no danger don't confuse Poser content with this forum. Content is selling better than ever. And the future looks bright as you can pose you Poser content in Marvelous Designer and export to max,Maya & company. 

 Edit: I also observe that as usual with supercilious comments like that that the author has no gallery or portofolio anywhere so we can compare his stuff with Poser stuff.

I am burning up my computer generating renders for some stories I illustrate for friends. I don't have as much time to visit the forums as I used too. Working longer hours with a group of staff trying to help the company generate new sales and get growing again.

The ecoonomy isn't exactly stellar. Lots of layoffs announced the last 2 weeks here in the US: Radio Shack, Disney, Staples to name some big ones. I think the economy has to get better before the hobbiest flourish here again.

My 2 cents, less inflation (means it's not worth much)