Even though its no secret that Poser's market value might be at a deep lull, I don't think Poser would ever really be finished, there are still plenty of folks using it successfully in a professional setting (incl me) and since Poser basically started this while figure-based art thing, and has a fairly solid application to back it up. It delivers a fairly good tool set for the small price it asks for (and don't come with the free DS argument, most DS users spend WAY more on Genesis products than anything). You can render very awesome things in Poser, you just need to know what you're doing... which is incidentally a common requirement throughout CGI...

I was showing off Poser, not myself :D

That said, SM must not beat around the bush any more. Poser does have its flaws, some to infuriating degree, and they do need to get addressed a.s.a.p. I personally think that the creators of Poser never realized what they created, and it shows in their kind of laid-back approach to the development of the app and perhaps less than super-hot sexy figures... and DAZ saw the marketing value of it (and they're certainly milking the crap out of it). But I think this is where Poser shines, its not hell-bent on making a killing, its not trying to control your artwork, its not controlling the quality and since I've been playing around with DS more lately, Poser is definitely more designed for DIY CGI than DS is, which IMHO is the entire point of art (creativity, invention, innovation etc). Sure in DS you can do that, if you really want to... but never before have I witnessed such creative helplessness since DAZ has started taking things over. There are a lot of people out there that are totally clueless to the basics of CGI, and they expect everything to be done for them. I find that truly depressing, that some folks are incapable of expressing themselves with such amazing packages as DS available, for free.

Since I'm in the UK things have become better for me infrastructurally and now I can actually focus on my Poser figure for you. I know that a lot of people must have given up on PE by now but like I told a friend recently: it is what it is, but I cannot give up, I've come a long, way I just need to finish her. If and when PE does come out, I somehow hope that it will inspire people to try and release themselves of this total dependence on prefab figures and content. There is so much content out there already and all you need to do is teach yourself a tiny bit of rigging and you can recycle it instead of forking out hundreds of dollars for the same old crap every time some company in Utah needs money. Expression should not be controlled by money, but money should be controlled by expression. We are free to do what we want. Of course we should definitely support our vendors, but ask them to make what you want, they'll probably just do it.

The only reason I am still bothering with my Poser figure is that I am frustrated that my friends and colleagues are so hung up about this DAZ/Poser thing. Yes I might come across as a snob with that I can model my own stuff, but I just helped a buddy artist with my old hybrid V4-PE figure to work in his scenes. He was frustrated that he might have to start using Genesis and DAZ Studio, when all of his career he's been investing in Poser + V4. So I sorted something out for him. Its basically a V4 but then high-res and with lots of detail in the very right places. The dude is as happy as a pig in sh*t. Now I cannot do this for the masses because DAZ will sue me to hell and back. But yeah, my figure is finally on its way. If that won't work, then I have no idea what will. But guys, I've released myself from this figure circus friggin years ago my making my own figure and when you do that you'll find there's no need to even consider DAZ Studio. I'm not saying DS is crap. No, its... different. VERY market-oriented. I still prefer Poser, its closer to C4D and Max in terms of degrees of freedom, in my experience. This is why I considered C4D, because its way closer to Poser in terms of being a true CGI package, no materials are bound to one model, for example. Yeah Poser does have its shortcomings but that's what email/forums are for: bang them over the head until they fix it. And they do. I was a massive pain in the butt for Nerd3D, but he fixed a LOT of things in the time he ran Poser. Like I said, I think they stumbled on a goldmine and their biggest flaw is not realizing it. They're now catching up with their own success.

So no, Poser is not finished, its just not dominating the content market as aggressively as DAZ is.

"The fool is not the one that does something foolish, but the one that does nothing at all."