Everything that i see at DAZ and other Model-Websites is, that you don´t have a chance to get another high-resolution textures or other characters for Poser anymore. It´s only about genesis for DAZ-Studio. The same is with the iray render.

Is Poser dying? There is not much "support" left for only poser users

I speak my mind finally. Poser is not for passive consumers of content. It has a powerful set of utilities and functions which provide a launch-pad for original character creation and animation. It is very well and good that buyers who are not interested in creating digital assets to flip over to Daz Studio and use ready-created assets. However, Poser has moved in the direction - rightly or wrongly, time will tell - of allowing its users to create and customise original content. Therefore, I for one, expect to see less off-the-shelf Poser digital assets. I am not punching up anyone or any software. It is just a case of two very different software at this point in time. I do use DS for some things, and I use Poser for others.

Infinity10 really has a great insight on this. Also, DAZ makes things for DAZ ... Not for Poser. That is their focus. Their software. It makes sense. If you go to the SM forums for Poser you will see an active community that compliments our community here. They don't make things for DAZ, they concentrate on Poser. Some thing. They make Poser therefore their main focus is on Poser.

@Boni "Also, DAZ makes things for DAZ ... Not for Poser. That is their focus."

I'm not sure what you mean by this, as DAZ 3D has plenty of content for Poser available in their store. Even current New Releases and Superfly shaders for Poser 11. There are also plenty of DAZ PA's that create for Poser alongside of DS. If the market is there to purchase that Poser content, then I don't see why that wouldn't continue as Daz3D is primarily a content marketplace? That said as the OP has pointed out it's hard to deny the current trend across the entire market is for an increase in products for Genesis 3 and Daz Studio.

@Infinity10 "It is very well and good that buyers who are not interested in creating digital assets to flip over to Daz Studio and use ready-created assets"

Daz Studio has fairly comprehensive set of tools for content creation in my experience also, as well as modification of existing assets and cross figure asset movement. Their are plenty of creators that use DS exclusively for their content creation professionally and otherwise. Actually I would be curious what you're referring to that Poser has that Daz Studio doesn't as far as professional content creation goes? To me your logic seems a little off, Poser has better tools for making content, therefore there is less content available for Poser users. Wouldn't a better software package for creating content end in more content being available for other users to purchase?

In my opinion, there is not less content for Poser than DS, it is a wide world of Poser content apart of Genesis content, not only for other figure, Daz 4 figures, apollo, antonia, native poser figures,but vehicles, sets, props... are also content. The "trap" of Daz3d is made to believe everybody that everything related with "poser world" begins and ends with Genesis figures, and that's not true. ( I have to add that I have nothing against Genesis figures )

The bulk of materials released at Daz (not counting re-releasing previously released content from the RDNA merger) is Daz Studio specific. Some will work with DSON, while others not so much. Exporting from D/S to obj works well. Poser 11's fitting room can resize some D/S G3 content that's been exported as an obj then imported to fit V4. That said there are still lots of tweaking and the functionality of the D/S item I tested this on lost some features so it's not an easy press one button task. There are other smaller shops that sell poser items. Daz does release a ton of content, almost too much. If you miss something, finding it can be difficult due to the lack of good advance search filters. I do try to support items that offer combined Poser/Daz Studio releases more than either specific only content.

<--- As you can see from my picture, I AM a genius. So this is practically gospel. Smith Micro released game developer version 2014 and now Poser 11. If Poser is going away, nobody told them.

I love your picture :) All praise the mighty hypnoto... I mean Homer... :)

Ty, there was a little photoshop work on the wrinkles, but otherwise, I'm gorgeous!

20 years a ago there was Softimage ,Max ,Lightwave and Poser "Bryce, Carrara, not owned by DAZ " TrueSpace n Blender that was difficult to use they gave it a way for free n still no one used it but a very few programmers to sharpen there 3D coding skills.and a few others CGI App's that's been forgotten.

No zBrush ,Maya ,C4D ,Houdini ,DAZ Studio ,Unity ,Unreal.

to day Softimage once the King of 3D is gone, Truespace is a free un supported out dated app. LW ,Houdini is affordable ,Blender is now usable.

Poser ,DAZ Studio ,Truespace are simple limited app's that are stepping stone to the more advice App's. seems now a lot of Poser users step up to Blender.

Poser was considered a simple app compared to main app's like Max 20 years a go. Poser ,DAZ Studio is considered a simple app compared to main app's to day.

Poser ,DAZ Studio is such a very small part of the CGI Universe. if Poser ,DAZ Studio both where gone tomorrow.The CGI Universe would shed a tear for them but keep rotating .but it wouldn't effect The CGI Universe.

Eventually all CGI softwares fades a way but we have a complete CGI Universe to take care of us :)

Here's the problem with your question. You're not really asking about content. You're asking about the application. Only SM can really answer YOUR question. Go ask them and see what they say.

I've owned all but three versions of Poser, 1, 3 and 5. Even if SM went out of business tomorrow, I'd still use my versions of Poser. Either that or move completely over to Blender.

Poser is used in the "CGI" universe more that you think and many "professional artist" admit i , because it is frowned upon to do so, a ridiculous thing, because a good artist professional or not, use all the tools in his hands to make art. It is clear that poser is not a primary creation tool, but it is a great tool get things "cheap" and easy.

adh3d posted at 2:44PM Wed, 02 November 2016 - #4288634

Poser is used in the "CGI" universe more that you think and many "professional artist" admit i , because it is frowned upon to do so, a ridiculous thing, because a good artist professional or not, use all the tools in his hands to make art. It is clear that poser is not a primary creation tool, but it is a great tool get things "cheap" and easy.

Actually, from what I've heard, both Poser AND Studio are frowned upon by "professional" artists. But I have seen Poser used in television shows, magazines, books, movies, etc.

adh3d posted at 2:47PM Wed, 02 November 2016 - #4288634

Poser is used in the "CGI" universe more that you think and many "professional artist" admit i , because it is frowned upon to do so, a ridiculous thing, because a good artist professional or not, use all the tools in his hands to make art. It is clear that poser is not a primary creation tool, but it is a great tool get things "cheap" and easy.

adh3d remain come ,all I was doing was reassuring Robert_Ripley that every thing will be OK no matter what happens in the future .

No, Poser isn't dead, it just smells funny. :D

RorrKonn posted at 3:00PM Wed, 02 November 2016 - #4288637

adh3d posted at 2:47PM Wed, 02 November 2016 - #4288634

Poser is used in the "CGI" universe more that you think and many "professional artist" admit i , because it is frowned upon to do so, a ridiculous thing, because a good artist professional or not, use all the tools in his hands to make art. It is clear that poser is not a primary creation tool, but it is a great tool get things "cheap" and easy.

adh3d remain come ,all I was doing was reassuring Robert_Ripley that every thing will be OK no matter what happens in the future .

That's great, I'm calmer now too

@SamTherapy haha

I think it is a great tool for what I do and am not planning on leaving it.

Robert, I am curious to know what websites you are looking at that you only see content for use with Genesis. Care to share the names, because honestly DAZ is the only store I know of like that.

Is Poser dying? Inasmuch as you can say that it's currently "alive," it is almost certainly dying. Everything that isn't already dead is dying. How many organizations that were around 2,000 years ago are still going today? 100 years ago? 10 years ago?

My only concern is how long I will be able to use my vast library of assets. As long as there are ways to convert them for use in one of the evolving apps (Blender comes to mind), I won't worry.

EClark1894 posted at 11:45AM Thu, 03 November 2016 - #4288656

Robert, I am curious to know what websites you are looking at that you only see content for use with Genesis. Care to share the names, because honestly DAZ is the only store I know of like that.

Well from what I can see both Renderosity and Daz 3D seem to be leaning predominantly to Genesis 3 Content these days. These two stores are by a long shot the major players in the DS/Poser content market according to traffic volumes and rate of release of content. (Traffic data from Alexa.com)

For example the Hivewire3D store so far for November has released only a single product (A Genesis 3 Product BTW), CG Bytes a handful of products (90% are for Genesis 3) and most are non exclusive content that is available through other stores. Content Paradise hasn't released any new products so far this month. DAZ 3D and Renderosity combined have over 50 New Release products in the first few days of this month. With a clear majority of those products at both stores being exclusive and for Genesis 3/ DS. This is a fairly normal release rate for all of the stores currently.

Maybe I am missing a major Poser store somewhere? If so it would be great if you could also share it?

Razor42 posted at 9:44PM Wed, 02 November 2016 - #4288679

EClark1894 posted at 11:45AM Thu, 03 November 2016 - #4288656

Robert, I am curious to know what websites you are looking at that you only see content for use with Genesis. Care to share the names, because honestly DAZ is the only store I know of like that.

Well from what I can see both Renderosity and Daz 3D seem to be leaning predominantly to Genesis 3 Content these days. These two stores are by a long shot the major players in the DS/Poser content market according to traffic volumes and rate of release of content. (Traffic data from Alexa.com)

For example the Hivewire3D store so far for November has released only a single product (A Genesis 3 Product BTW), CG Bytes a handful of products (90% are for Genesis 3) and most are non exclusive content that is available through other stores. Content Paradise hasn't released any new products so far this month. DAZ 3D and Renderosity combined have over 50 New Release products in the first few days of this month. With a clear majority of those products at both stores being exclusive and for Genesis 3/ DS. This is a fairly normal release rate for all of the stores currently.

Maybe I am missing a major Poser store somewhere? If so it would be great if you could also share it?

Well, as the OP never said it was a "MAJOR" store, I was simply asking him to tell me which ones he was talking about. Did I break some kind of rule again?

@ EClark1894

Lol, no of course not your opinion is entirely as valid as the next man's/woman's. And I appreciate hearing it.

"Care to share the names, because honestly DAZ is the only store I know of like that."

I was just addressing this part of your question.

So far, for November store new releases from CGbytes, Hivewire3D, Renderosity and Daz 3D all have a majority of their new content supporting Genesis figures. So it seems that Daz 3D are not the only store following that trend.

Razor42 posted at 11:21PM Wed, 02 November 2016 - #4288685

@ EClark1894

Lol, no of course not your opinion is entirely as valid as the next man's/woman's. And I appreciate hearing it.

"Care to share the names, because honestly DAZ is the only store I know of like that."

I was just addressing this part of your question.

So far, for November store new releases from CGbytes, Hivewire3D, Renderosity and Daz 3D all have a majority of their new content supporting Genesis figures. So it seems that Daz 3D are not the only store following that trend.

Fair enough, but the OP said he didn't see any new stuff for any other figures at the stores except for Genesis. I don't dispute that Genesis dominates at MOST of the stores, but DAZ is the only one that is pretty much ALL Genesis. And the majority of Hivewire's new content is hardly Genesis oriented or dominated. Also, I'm not sure i would call CGBytes a "MAJOR" store. But we can dicker about the semantics.

Poser is still being developed. Poser 11 released just about a year ago and has been consistently updated through the entire year. There's no indication that this will be changing any time soon.

Content sales are not an accurate measurement of how well Poser is doing. Too many other factors to consider that have no reliable means of measurement.

I'm still excited in Poser and I'm still in the game, so to speak. Well, honestly, it took me some time to get back to things but I'm putting my best foot forward. I don't think I have ever, even for a moment, took making things for Poser for granted but I can tell you that while employed elsewhere for over a year, I missed it terribly and I believe that counts for something.

I'm going to do my part releasing some new products and freebies for Poser, the best and most interesting stuff I am able to design and put out. I'd like to continue, and have always enjoyed, helping out fellow users and artists, be that teaching, helping to solve problems or demystifying Poser's little nuances.

I know I'm just one person but maybe I can help inspire others the way that others have inspired me.

I'm speaking to the spirit of the OP's post. Not everyone is leaving for DS or Genesis or what-have-you. I also have zero issue if others want that. I just know what moves ME as a user, artist and designer.

@Netherworks As someone with the majority of your products in my scripts folder all I can say is keep em coming and keep up the great work.

DAZ built there empire buy selling Poser Characters. DAZ left Poser ,leaving a grand opportunity for anyone to replace DAZ n build there own Empire. For a moment it seemed HW3D was going to take the Crown but apparently they don't want it. When Poser gets a motivated Character creator all will be as it was.

Thank you for pulling in the reigns when the wagon could have been a runaway. Keep up the good work ... and remember, we all have our preferences and there is no one right answer for everyone.

RorrKonn posted at 7:22AM Thu, 03 November 2016 - #4288706

DAZ built there empire buy selling Poser Characters. DAZ left Poser ,leaving a grand opportunity for anyone to replace DAZ n build there own Empire. For a moment it seemed HW3D was going to take the Crown but apparently they don't want it. When Poser gets a motivated Character creator all will be as it was.

Okay, NOW you're going to make me step in here and defend Hivewire. Trust me, it took me a while to warm to Dawn. For the longest time, I was all about Roxie. I still like Roxie, but I didn't abandon her, SM did when they came out with Pauline. And next version will be whoever. THAT's why there's no competitive Poser figure. They change up every two or three years. Every time the next version of Poser comes out. As for Dawn, as far as I can tell, there seem to be two reasons she's not as popular as Genesis and most of that has to do with how she was perceived and received with her initial roll out. A number of content creators were behind her initially, but when the customers decided not to leave V4 to get behind Dawn, most of those initial content creators decided to go back to making things for either V4 or Genesis.

Create what sells. It's been happening since the beginning.

I tried to use D/S early on, but found the UI too confusing and just stuck with Poser. I've only had 3 versions of Poser: 8,9 and 10, and none of them pro versions. I still haven't learned about 60% of what it can do. I tried animation for a short time with Poser 8 and dropped it. I started modeling because I wanted things for Poser that I was unable to purchase. I don't usually get in on the Poser v D/S threads, but I just wanted to chime in and say, if Poser is dying, it's taking me with it.

rokket posted at 10:44AM Thu, 03 November 2016 - #4288720

I don't usually get in on the Poser v D/S threads, but I just wanted to chime in and say, if Poser is dying, it's taking me with it.

Heh, well, I like it a lot, but let's not get crazy about it.

Yes, Poser is dying, but not if I can do anything about it. LOL.

I am building a new Poser figure as can be seen here => https://forum.smithmicro.com/topic/813/new-poser-figure-in-the-making-initial-feedback-request-nsfw/61

What to do? Dig her grave? Buy a tombstone? The poor girl is not born yet?

Now what if her poly's unglue from fear? ;-)

I like Dawn n HW just fine ,I really like there anti corporate hippie attitudes. So there's no need to defend them. My bad if that came off judgmental ,I'm just saying it seems they don't want the Poser Character Creator Crown. Seems like there going after the Animals Crown ,Which is fine buy me ,I'm not judging. I like animals.

DAZ names Vicky 6 n Vicky 7 even thou there both named Vicky there different meshes. same differents as naming Pauline Roxxie 2.

If where talking morphs DAZ released morphed characters every several months. there's what 25 give or take a few 7's released every few months.

So 25 pro bundles rounded to $100.00 = a lot of MickyD's burgers n fries.

So all you need to get Poser Character Creator Crown. Is to have a babe so hot that Rokket would die for her ?,n some killer morphs. and be here for you customers. always working on stuff for her n releasing stuff for her constantly.

This is what DAZ gets ,releasing stuff for her constantly.

What to do? - -Make Poser ready to use unbroken one mesh *.fbx friendley figures. -Get a reasonable dense figure, with hi polies where details are needed. -Make figures realistic and at least not ugly on default-at least once. I like Miki1020, her base shape is pretty realistic. Too bad she bends so terrible. -Important : make her bend realistic. A figure, that doesn't bend well is useless. If it doesn't work without JCMs, then use JCMs. -Make nice promo pics for your product. Looking at Hivewire the render quality of their pics make you think, you're looking through the DAZ-shop from 2001 there. (really, nostalgy and progress just doesn't go together well) -Get V4 out of your head. If you need to use V4 stuff, you'll can use every Poser from 6 to 11. Poser has now a pretty huge toolset, what more does it need? Oh, an UV map editor, maybe. Besides I don't see any reason for a die hard V4 user to upgrade. If your aim is to use high quality, realist 3d figures, that can be easily exchanged with other 3d apps, than Poser need to make a big leap.

I've tried both like DS or Poser and I prefer to render in Poser,in some renders Poser is faster and in some DS is faster If Poser is dying,in my view not,at least not in short or longer therm and if would,then I always will be using Poser like for posing etc and exporting to other SW like is 3DS MAX,its very easy to export from Poser to other SW I use most of my time FBX or other formats and no issues at moment,only thing what I would want is instancing and few other things

To OP,depends what you render and what are you looking,I still use mostly V4 and sometimes G3F,regarding G3,some their models I wouldn't touch,some do looks awesome and most of them use same maps which is same or similar like has been with V4,clothing some are just converted from V4 repertoire to G2 or G3,hair some looks good

Thanks,Jura

Curious to know what people think of the state of the market Poser sits in (outside of Daz content support - don't need to ask about that side). For example the growth of indie game devs, game modders (eg Skyrim) who need to rig and animate characters and have even seen pro 2D concept artists pushing for the use of 3D figure apps for the initial design. There seems to be a growing demand for what Poser does or am I misreading the scene?

ironsoul posted at 6:18AM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288835

Curious to know what people think of the state of the market Poser sits in (outside of Daz content support - don't need to ask about that side). For example the growth of indie game devs, game modders (eg Skyrim) who need to rig and animate characters and have even seen pro 2D concept artists pushing for the use of 3D figure apps for the initial design. There seems to be a growing demand for what Poser does or am I misreading the scene?

You can tell by the OP's question that he only has one aspect of what Poser can do in mind. Point, click, render. If that's all you know or think about, then yes, Poser's use to you is limited. However, even there, it's only limited by what new content you can buy to put in your scene that's already usable by Poser out of the box.

EClark1894 posted at 4:50AM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288723

rokket posted at 10:44AM Thu, 03 November 2016 - #4288720

I don't usually get in on the Poser v D/S threads, but I just wanted to chime in and say, if Poser is dying, it's taking me with it.

Heh, well, I like it a lot, but let's not get crazy about it.

All I meant was I am not going to run out and panic buy the next 'big' thing because I think Poser is out the window (there's a pun in there, I just know it). I will stick with whatever version of Poser I have installed when it goes and keep that until I am too old to see the computer screen and too senile to care about it anymore.

Earl, I read what you posted over at HW, you can see my response there.

RorrKonn posted at 4:55AM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288741

I like Dawn n HW just fine ,I really like there anti corporate hippie attitudes. So there's no need to defend them. My bad if that came off judgmental ,I'm just saying it seems they don't want the Poser Character Creator Crown. Seems like there going after the Animals Crown ,Which is fine buy me ,I'm not judging. I like animals.

DAZ names Vicky 6 n Vicky 7 even thou there both named Vicky there different meshes. same differents as naming Pauline Roxxie 2.

If where talking morphs DAZ released morphed characters every several months. there's what 25 give or take a few 7's released every few months.

So 25 pro bundles rounded to $100.00 = a lot of MickyD's burgers n fries.

So all you need to get Poser Character Creator Crown. Is to have a babe so hot that Rokket would die for her ?,n some killer morphs. and be here for you customers. always working on stuff for her n releasing stuff for her constantly.

This is what DAZ gets ,releasing stuff for her constantly.

I like Dawn, especially with some of the morphs Tempestra3D has come up with for her.

But Miki 4 is still my darling. I have been creating stuff for her since I got her with Poser 9, and I am creating something for her right now.

For Users who only render stills poser will live forever.

for people who want to create complex character animation poser has been "DEAD" for over a decade.

the future of cg characters is in games.

Game industry revenue. will top out at 100 billion in 2016 crushing. movies & music.

so far neither. SM. nor DAZ Inc. have shown me that they understand the game content market; particularly in the area of licensing.

that said the poser native content. market is a sad anachronistic wasteland .. and "superfly" has done nothing to improve this state of affairs.

i wouldn't consider poser as dead, still happy with PP12 and Poser7.

I like the setup room in poser 7 better, PP12 seems to have changed setup room behaviour, i can't get used to it. end up losing my work. and i get nostalgic for the poser7 library.

mebbe if the next poser pro is truly offline compatible. get rid of the content paradise tab. and is reasonably priced upgrade from pp12. or competitive priced with carrara. or included content i would really want. like a really, really kewl poser dragon.

mebbe if they made a Poser7 and a half? P7 library, setup room, but with sss, idl, and be able to mix the poser type files like in pp12, it's nice to deep the clothes textures in a subfolder of the clothes figures.

wolf359 posted at 12:02PM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288865

that said the poser native content. market is a sad anachronistic wasteland .. and "superfly" has done nothing to improve this state of affairs.

It wasn't supposed to, particularly for someone who has no real use for it.

MistyLaraPrincess posted at 12:05PM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288870

i wouldn't consider poser as dead, still happy with PP12 and Poser7.

I like the setup room in poser 7 better, PP12 seems to have changed setup room behaviour, i can't get used to it. end up losing my work. and i get nostalgic for the poser7 library.

mebbe if the next poser pro is truly offline compatible. get rid of the content paradise tab. and is reasonably priced upgrade from pp12. or competitive priced with carrara. or included content i would really want. like a really, really kewl poser dragon.

mebbe if they made a Poser7 and a half? P7 library, setup room, but with sss, idl, and be able to mix the poser type files like in pp12, it's nice to deep the clothes textures in a subfolder of the clothes figures.

For the record, Poser Pro 12 has not been released yet. It is the NEXT version of Poser Pro. May I assume you mean Poser Pro 2012**?

I don't think of Poser as a stand-alone app, its power is in supporting other apps, for example if I wanted to create a version of the Battle of Hoth in Vue. Take 1 x base figure add 1 x Storm trooper outfit in Poser, create a simple animation to give some pose variation, import in to Vue, link animations to eco system instances and then render - 10,000 storm troopers running across a Snowy waste (+100 AT-ATs if you want), 2-3 hours work say. Ok, I wake the next day and decide I want Santa's and not storm troopers, go to ShareCG and download Santa outfit. Reload same Poser scene, replace storm trooper outfit with Santa and save (keep same animation), load Vue, refresh eco system and render - may be 1-2 hours work. Please explain to me what other app can do this.

wolf359 posted at 11:18PM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288865

For Users who only render stills poser will live forever.

for people who want to create complex character animation poser has been "DEAD" for over a decade.

the future of cg characters is in games.

Game industry revenue. will top out at 100 billion in 2016 crushing. movies & music.

so far neither. SM. nor DAZ Inc. have shown me that they understand the game content market; particularly in the area of licensing.

that said the poser native content. market is a sad anachronistic wasteland .. and "superfly" has done nothing to improve this state of affairs.

DAZ has Morph3D your see there stuff at the Unity store.

OctangeRender real time render engine can be used with Poser ,Blender ,etc etc.

It's a lot more difficult to make a game character then a SubDed mesh.

Half to be able to sculpt in zBrush .then you half to get ya normals to work in multiple app's n good luck with that.

Can't say Poser or DAZ has killer normal tools.

rokket posted at 1:27AM Sat, 05 November 2016 - #4288851

RorrKonn posted at 4:55AM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288741

I like Dawn n HW just fine ,I really like there anti corporate hippie attitudes. So there's no need to defend them. My bad if that came off judgmental ,I'm just saying it seems they don't want the Poser Character Creator Crown. Seems like there going after the Animals Crown ,Which is fine buy me ,I'm not judging. I like animals.

DAZ names Vicky 6 n Vicky 7 even thou there both named Vicky there different meshes. same differents as naming Pauline Roxxie 2.

If where talking morphs DAZ released morphed characters every several months. there's what 25 give or take a few 7's released every few months.

So 25 pro bundles rounded to $100.00 = a lot of MickyD's burgers n fries.

So all you need to get Poser Character Creator Crown. Is to have a babe so hot that Rokket would die for her ?,n some killer morphs. and be here for you customers. always working on stuff for her n releasing stuff for her constantly.

This is what DAZ gets ,releasing stuff for her constantly.

I like Dawn, especially with some of the morphs Tempestra3D has come up with for her.

But Miki 4 is still my darling. I have been creating stuff for her since I got her with Poser 9, and I am creating something for her right now.

What can I say I'm in love with Posetta ,Jessi ,A3 ,Roxie . ;)

EClark1894 posted at 3:50AM Sat, 05 November 2016 - #4288878

MistyLaraPrincess posted at 12:05PM Fri, 04 November 2016 - #4288870

i wouldn't consider poser as dead, still happy with PP12 and Poser7.

I like the setup room in poser 7 better, PP12 seems to have changed setup room behaviour, i can't get used to it. end up losing my work. and i get nostalgic for the poser7 library.

mebbe if the next poser pro is truly offline compatible. get rid of the content paradise tab. and is reasonably priced upgrade from pp12. or competitive priced with carrara. or included content i would really want. like a really, really kewl poser dragon.

mebbe if they made a Poser7 and a half? P7 library, setup room, but with sss, idl, and be able to mix the poser type files like in pp12, it's nice to deep the clothes textures in a subfolder of the clothes figures.

For the record, Poser Pro 12 has not been released yet. It is the NEXT version of Poser Pro. May I assume you mean Poser Pro 2012**?

yeah 2012. . . 2112 lol

RUSH 2112

It's eerie how true a 1976 Album is for today.

The high textures don't really matter unless you are looking at pores. Bigger doesn't actually mean better when you take into account the resolution of both your image and your monitor - it just means you need more memory for your scene (a 1Gb swim suit? Yes, it does exist).

If you read the forums, Poser has been dying for over a decade now. I was seeing the exact same type of threads back in 2004 (Poser 5 era) when I started using Poser. For years, people in the forums would also have you believe that no one has purchased any copy of Poser since Poser 4. The reality is that most folks here (90%+) are running Poser 9 or later. What is happening is that the Poser community is spread out among more than 1 storefront, so there isn't the concentration that their used to be.

If you are using Dawn or Dusk, why on earth would you shop here? Your time would be better spent at Hivewire3d. The same can be said for Pauline & Paul. Just about everything sold here for Paul and Pauline is also sold at Content Paradise and the SM forums are picking up. If you are using the genesis figure (any iteration) in Poser, you will have a better selection at DAZ, and the forums are more useful.

There is less and less new V4 (or anything else) content sold here - that isn't a reflection of Poser, it is a reflection of the vendors that sell here. There are a lot of vendors here that came in during the V4 era and are hell-bent that they aren't leaving October 2007. They are going to continue to make products for Poser 7 as opposed to a modern version of Poser - and they are going to whine about shrinking sales rather than leave 2007 and Poser 7 behind.

An additional factor is that too many vendors here are only interested in making content that they are personally interested in. They can't be "creative" and make something they are not personally interested in. It shouldn't be a surprise that most users aren't actually interested in that 382,734,957th version of an early-twenties Caucasian woman. The same can be said for that 829,484,734th version of "clubwear". Vendors here have an issue understanding the concept of diminishing returns. Of course, they could take the novel approach of converting their V4 content to newer figures - that happens over at DAZ - Dx30 for instance has been recycling the same shoes for the past decade, and the folks making "fix" products for genesis are doing the same. And there is nothing wrong with that - it's being responsive to your customer base - which doesn't happen that much with the vendors here.

Another thing to realize is how one's workflow changes when running a modern (Poser 9+) version of Poser. I don't have to go and get a new wardrobe every time a new figure comes out (well, except for shoes - shoes are problematic due to how each figure has their feet rigged.) This changes how (and what) we purchase.

As a Poser Pro 11 user, I have the ability to move almost any asset from 1 figure to another. Hair (200+) is converted from V4 to many other figures via Netherworks Hair Creation System. No need to purchase new hair. Great for me, not so much for vendors.

Skin Textures (400+) can be transferred from figure to figure via Texture Transformer (sold right here at 'Rosity) or with Texture Converter (for legacy figures). I can then use EZ-skin to make those legacy skins look great in Poser 11. Great for me, not so much for vendors.

No need to buy new characters, especially when one considers how generic most of them look. Dynamic clothing for V4 will also fit Dawn or Pauline (or any other figure for that matter). Conforming clothing is converted via the Fitting Room if one is running Poser Pro 10 or 11 (even easier when using Lyrra's Fit Room Magnets - Go get them all!); Wardrobe Wizard or Xdresser if you aren't. Great for me, not so much for vendors.

Still want to use legacy figures? Poser allows you to add features such as Sub-D, Weight-mapping, and even the equivalent of facial bones (control surfaces - pg. 290 or thereabouts in the Poser manual). No need to purchase a new figure. Great for me, not so much for vendors.

So, what am I buying? Clothing Merchant Resources. In a perfect world Renapd would make texture sets for every clothing product I own. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. After years of being told by vendors here that if I didn't like something, I should make it myself. Challenge accepted - I rarely buy texture sets for clothing anymore, because I know how easy they are to make. Great for me, not so much for vendors.

I'm also buying prop sets. Not buying as many as I would like to - I'd really like real homes, with interiors or just home interiors - real ones that people actually live in, not the crap that is being released here. I would love to buy ranches, cape cods, Arts & Craft style homes - homes with 2 & 3 bedrooms, Farm houses, etc, but no one is interested in that (Yeah, I know about Dreamland models - I have almost everything he made - but he didn't make interiors, and was uninterested in making working class homes.). So, I am having to learn how to make them myself, which will mean that there is one less thing I need a vendor for. Great for me, not so much for vendors.

So what does this mean as a Poser user?

If you are a new user? Get a Prime membership and look 'Rosity - there is a lot of great, cheap content available here, and it is easy to move it to the figure of your choice. Go to DAZ & get a PC+ membership and go wild purchasing really cheap products that you can use with the figure of your choice. Got a hankering for genesis? There is a lot of inexpensive (or free in the case of Wilmap Digital) content available and it isn't difficult to get them working in Poser. With just a little bit of work on your part, you too can have a genesis figure running in Poser that looks exactly like the V4 character made by the same vendor.

If you are an old timer, you are only buying content if it is better than something you already own. I.e. Any new "Clubwear" outfit needs to be better than every "Clubwear" outfit out there (Economic value of the 2nd item). Pity that vendors aren't upping their game, but that is on them, not the end-user. The same can be said for characters, hair, etc.

Poser users are going in one direction, DS users in another and vendors in a third. Whether or not 'Rosity comes out of it's death spiral, I'll be getting the next version of Poser.

Poser dies for the people that lose interest in the software and stops using it... like me...