hornet3d posted at 7:52PM Tue, 24 March 2020 - #4383632

I think the other point is that it takes quite a while to understand a figure well enough to get the best out of the figure, another reason why I understand why so many have stuck with V4. It must be really hard to gain that level of understanding if you are jumping ship each time a new figures is created.

I think that's a very good point. I didn't even start using V4 until a few years ago, because up until then I'd invested all my time in pushing the limits of what I could do with Cookie and Krystal and a few other toon figures. I found V4 confusing and frustrating at first, but I persisted when I realized I could do so much more with her than I would've been able to do with the toons. Now I know her so well (or rather, the Sasha-16 version of her) that it's somewhat jarring to load any other human figure and find myself without all the helpful dials and features I'm used to, organized in a way I'm familiar with. (I can't wait until Karina releases an improved version of M4!!)

I've also grown very familiar with V4's geometry and rigging as well as her material zones and textures, so I feel comfortable making various kinds of modifications. I don't feel like going through that whole learning process again, with another "base" figure (by which I mean the kind of figure designed to be transformed into multiple characters.)

Nursoda's figures don't work like V4, but they're not designed to be "base" figures, so they're also not very complicated -- certainly not the way the more recent V4 competitors are. And I'm so delighted to have such charming and stylized characters to play with that I don't mind putting a little effort into making them more usable (though I wish more of them shared the same UV templates for eyes and mouth).

The fact that some Poser users may not feel the need for a new "base" human figure in no way suggests that the marketplace for Poser content is doomed, as my own purchase history can well attest! There's so much more to buy beyond clothes, hair, and skin textures, unless, I suppose, your only goal is to make portraits!

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TOOLS: MacBook Pro; Poser Pro 11; Cheetah3D; Photoshop CC

FIGURES: S-16 (improved V4 by Karina), M4, K4, Mavka, Toons, and Nursoda's people

GOALS: Stylized and non-photorealistic renders in various fantasy styles