I mentioned this in another thread, but didn't really go into any detail.  I personally think Renderman being free for non-commercial use is only really any use to the company that produces it.  The idea behind it is no doubt so that you learn it, and then maybe in the futre, you'd need to pay them for a commercial licence if you want to use it commercially.  Nothing wrong with that, it's a good idea, something they all should do, but I think there's an evolutionary bad side to all of this.

It's bad because it's not realtime, yet a free to use "cinematic quality" realtime renderer already exists.  DAZ have their shiny new GPU renderer built right-in, and congrats to them for such an excellent implementation.  However, this means SM are up against a free DS with a free GPU renderer built-in, so how can they possibly pull any potentially lost customers back from DAZ, and gain a whole bunch of new ones besides?

I think the answer is obvious, and it's called "Unreal Engine" which is a 'Cinematic Quality Realtime Renderer'.

The four clips below shows Unreal Engine (which is free) in action.  This is what Poser needs running in "realtime" in the Poser viewport, this is a much better proposition than bridges to renderers that are not realtime.  Poser already has a raytracer, a damn good one, but neither DAZ or SM have a "Realtime Renderer" in their products, so if SM were to licence this product for use directly in the Poser viewport, I think people would come flocking back to Poser at an alarming rate.  See, Poser already beats DS in the usability and interface design, and if Unreal Engine was running in the viewport, Poser would beat anything DAZ have added to their system.

Nothing is more enjoyable to use than something that runs in realtime.  Movintg an object or figure around in Unreal Engine means it's already rendered.  Developing for a game engine would be a dream, because your Poser viewport would be the same as that used in games, so when you develop in Poser, you're effectively developing in the same engine, you know exactly what it will look like.  No compatibility problems, instant renders, realtime rendering, this is the future ... now!

Unreal Engine needs licencing for the Poser viewport before 'someone else' beats them to it.  Unreal are open to enquiries, so assuming SM use their noodle here, here's how this system could be implemented perfectly into the current Poser system.

• Put an option in the Poser Preferences where the user can select between "Firefly" or "Unreal Engine".
• Choosing "Firefly" will put the Poser viewport into standard mode, and the Material Room would show the usual Firefly material nodes.
• Choosing "Unreal Engine" will put the Poser viewport into Realtime mode, and the Material Room would show the Unreal Engine material nodes instead.

Simple, selective, productive ... mindblowing productivity would await you with such a setup.

So you see, Poser would still have it's raytracer for if/when it's needed, it would still have it's Luxrender and Renderman plugins, but it would also be capable of working in realtime, and realtime is what the future is all about.  Unreal Engine is the best out there, it's cinematic quality, physically based rendering, and all in realtime!  There's no renderer out there as attractive as Unreal Engine, simply because it does what it does, all in realtime, and that's important for maximum productivity and enjoyability.

The following videos are just a selection of many available, and remember when you're watching them, that everything you see was rendered in realtime.  I say that because it's so good it's often hard to believe, but these are all realtime, no more waiting for renders:

Unreal Engine is truly beautiful, isn't it?
And free!
And Unreal Engine are open to licencing!
Waiting for renders is a thing of the past!
It would be the most amazing Poser release ever, to have that renderer running live in the Poser viewport!
So what on earth is SM waiting for? :-D

BTW, just noticed Copy/Paste is fixed and that YouTube embedding is back - thanks :-)