I'm thinking of returning to the Poser community and I last used 8, so I need to get a new version. Which is the suggested best version to use? Widest sets to work with, while still staying relevant and supported in the future.

Thoughts?

P13 is the latest version, supports both Superfly and Firefly rendering. The two methods diverged enough now that materials made for one don't work well for the other, but all versions since P11 have both. If you like PBR rendering, go for P13. If it does not matter to you, anything from P2014 up may work, except many figures that use more advanced materials and rigging may not work.

It will, also, of course, depend on what type of art you're creating.

I personally still use a lot of old content, just rework materials, it's worth my time since a lot of content built up through the years. If the model is solidly built and has good material zones, assigning new mats or converting it to physical based is possible, it only takes time and/or the right scripts.

What is also important is that there have been at least 2 Python versions since Poser 8, so scripts that worked in Poser 8 bought third party will not work on anything later than P2014. 

(that was the dollar answer, hope it helps a bit)

I would go for the latest version in order to produce content and images that are more modern in look (rendering, shaders, camera, HDRI lighting, etc)

If you have an RTX type graphics card, P13 gives you very fast PBR rendering and obviously is the version that is most 'future proof'.

The Smith Micro license servers are no longer running. Bondware servers support Poser11 and up. Installing any version older than  Poser 11 may be difficult.

Poser 11 was the last version supporting the now obsolete Python 2. Old scripts may not work as they are. Sometimes this can be solved by some simple edits. Poser 12 and 13 use Python3. New scripts may not work in Poser 11.

Seems the best option is to bite the bullet, buy 13 and discard all my old stuff and start over

Thank for the answers and help

acgreen posted at 11:22 PM Wed, 31 May 2023 - #4466853

Seems the best option is to bite the bullet, buy 13 and discard all my old stuff and start over

Thank for the answers and help

I would agree that the old stuff can certainly be used in Poser 13.   I purchased Ironstar shown here in back in 2011 

This was much later, purchased in 2019 

There was a lot of work to do on this one, none of it complex there was just so much of it.  In this case I did use the Go-Physical script from Ken1171_Designs, it is marked to P12 but works in Poser 13 and allows the use of the Physical Surface in multiple materials with just the click of a mouse.  It can give materials a metallic look in the same manner.  The Physical Surface replaces the Poser Surface if you are using Superbly as it is just easier to use in many cases.  Go Physical is a great script that saves masses of time but you can do all that it does manually, but a good buy if you are looking to use a lot of old content.

Don't discard anything, seriously. I have things from 2009 I still use, it just needs retexturing, as the above examples demonstrate.

I agree with the others, save your old content. Most is usable without much work to tweak it.

To give old content a new life in P12/13: check out Snarly's Poser scripts, in particular EZSkin.

https://cobrablade.net/snarlygribbly/poser.html

EZSkin and GoPhysical are two scripts in P13 I cannot be without.

Thanks, I will dig out my old files.

Love the images you created with Poser 8! Your art is beautiful and your style is really outstanding!! I've never seen anything like it! You are very talented with Poser. I don't think your amazing artistic talent has anything to do with the version number you are using

There's a 21-day "try before you buy" deal on the latest versions of Poser, to help you decide for yourself.

Try the latest version, the installer is only 400 Mb in size: https://www.posersoftware.com/downloads

Looking forward to see more of your artwork

Thank you very much. I take my influence from Larry Elmore.  That man makes amazing work.  I was lucky enough to meet him once and get two signed prints and even watch him sketch a request for another person.  A truly gifted artist.

A lot of the backdrop photos are ones I took myself that I use to fill in the spaces between the background items.