I just posted my wishes for Poser 12 across two posts in another thread, but I wasn't aware of this thread at the time. I might as well condense them both into one and post it here as I really hope the bosses here will read it ...

For starters, animation has fallen far behind. It's not that Poser cannot be used for animation, it's just that it really needs updating in that department. The animation editing in Poser is far too clunky compared to iClone or even DAZ Studio, and it really need not be like that if only they would take clues from iClone regards the sort of animation features that allow people to generate and edit animation quickly and efficiently.

Poser, like DAZ Studio, appears to be throwing the majority of its eggs into the stills basket, which sadly leaves the animation side of things looking a bit worn and dated. Reallusion on the other hand, have realised that the key to everything in 3D, is immediacy, which is no doubt why it does both animation and stills in realtime.

If I were manager for Poser, this would be my plans for her:

• Replace Poser's viewport with the realtime EEVEE viewport used in Blender.
• Upgrade Poser's animation editors and add some form of procedural motion and walk designer.
• Commission Shane to do a realtime-friendly lower-poly version of his figures and include them.

The difference these three key elements would make to Poser across the board, are quite significant. The reason being that everything you do in Poser will all of a sudden, happen in realtime due to having EEVEE. With this in place, along with specialised lower-poly animation-figures to work with, and a more productive animation system in place, Poser would blast through three hurdles:

• The holy grail of working in realtime would be present for both stills and animation.
• The lost animation market would be catered for and attracted back to Poser.
• The performance would be the biggest draw for selling an upgrade, that Poser ever had.

Well designed, animation-friendly figures that were truly designed with the future in mind, along with a realtime EEVEE viewport and upgraded animation tools, would have Poser truly strutting her stuff again, and would genuinely deserve the slogan ...

POSER IS BACK - BIG TIME!

Poser also suffers with far too much 'legacy' getting in the way of things, but providing the scenario I mentioned above was actually realised, here is how Renderosity could 'shake' the legacy, increase their profits, be left with a clean slate, and they could do it while still catering to the legacy crowd for those who want it.

• Remove all current content from Poser's default program download, all of it.
• Remove the old walk designer, it would no longer be needed in view of the procedural animation generator.
• Supply only one default animation-friendly male and female by default.
• Package all legacy content into separate legacy downloads for those who want it.
• Increase Renderosity's profits by encouraging new content using PBR textures for the new EEVEE viewport.
• Increase Renderosity's profits by encouraging animation block sales for use in Poser's new animation tools.

Shake the waste, new slate, bang up-to-date!

UPDATE: I was just looking at the topology on Shane's figures again. They're so efficiently designed and well topologised that I doubt they would even need a reduction in poly to become animation friendly. What a shame they are not the default figures, especially if the scenario I described above could be realised.

The only thing I don't like about them are the names given to them. Personally I have always thought the names "Alpha" for the male and "Delta" for the female would make sense, especially as they're software figures. The name "Alpha" is also used as a way to describe a dominant male, and "Delta" is genuinely also a female name (Delta Goodrem for example).

The names "Alpha" and "Delta" also have a very nice ring to them, so just in case these ideas ever see the light of day, I hereby claim the names "Alpha" and "Delta" for my own figures. I have no wish to create such figures, but I'm protecting the names in case Renderosity every do this, in which case, they are most welcome to take them and use them.

So anyway, I reckon Shane's meshes going by the names Alpha and Delta, are the only human figures that should be included in Poser 12's default download. Because those figures, when used in the sort of Poser I described in my previous post, create a sensible, completely viable framework, in which Poser would expand with great success.

It means that finally, Poser would have worthy figure bases that can be kept and added to with each new release of Poser. It means that instead of ditching Alpha and Delta, they become Poser's permanent default figures, and on each new release, a brand new character set could be included for Alpha and Delta. This ensures that Poser develops it's own figures that would eventually exceed the popularity of V4 and M4.

The current method of constantly replacing the figures is never going to work, it is the very reason DAZ have hugely popular figures and Poser does not. I truly believe that my suggestions are the way forward, and should they ever see the light of day, I sincerely believe we would all be in a better position for being Poser users, not least Renderosity.