I can't be alone in noticing there are fewer and fewer options for buying content for Poser. I've been using Poser since Poser 4, so this makes me INCREDIBLY sad. Times when model creators would make their items compatible with BOTH Poser and DAZ are dwindling away. I can understand from a creator's point of view that designing for both may be a lot of work with less payout since Poser users themselves seem to be declining, but from a user's point of view, it's just depressing. I hope this doesn't mean the end for us die-hard Poser users. I'm hoping there's a resurgence soon, before our days are gone.

Please do NOT use this as an opportunity to be negative about other software! This is about my love for Poser, not to bash anything or anyone else. Thank you!

This is the end result of a positive feedback loop - as I predicted in the Poser 9 era, when Chris fumbled the Dawn launch.

The reality is that most vendors are only interested in making stuff  that they are personally interested in - and that seems to be nothing but stuff for pin up art.

The problem is that if people want to make single image stills for pin up art in 2023, they aren't using Poser or Daz Studio.

They are going all in with Stable Diffusion.

It is easier to use, cheaper to use, and gets better results than either Poser or DS.

I'm also a diehard Poser user, but nothing lasts forever. I think this AI stuff is going to be a paradigm shift not just for Poser and DS, but for all artists and other creatives.

Aside from that...not sure there's a way out. I think a lot of Poser users have gotten used to really low prices, since so much Poser stuff is "legacy" and available at a deep discount. So even if a vendor makes a new Poser product, customers might not be willing to pay much for it.

Me, I still use V4 and M4 because there's so much stuff available for them. I use others, too, and I like LF fine, but there's so little available for her compared to V4. I don't always want to render a white college girl on date night.

The thing is - there is so much that Poser & DS can do that SD simply can not do (nor do I think it will be able to do in the future).

You aren't doing graphic novels with SD, so I think that Poser & DS should lean into that.

No chance of the vendors doing that, but that would be helpful.

I think AI might catch up enough to do graphic novels eventually. They're already using AI to write stories (one thing the screen writers are striking over). But it will be awhile, so I kinda like the idea.

Smith Micro might have been in a better position to take that tack than Bondware is. They have bunch of graphics software, including some like Manga Studio, meant for making graphic novels.

The first and biggest inconvenience for content creators is that they would have to buy a copy of Poser. So you would have to spend $250 from your own pocket and spend time learning Poser, before you start creating any content for Poser... AND you don't know if you'll ever see that money back! You don't know if the Poser content you created is going to sell. So, you wanted to create and sell Poser content but instead you lost $250 -- "No deal, my friend!"

@mescorp - Hope you feel better soon.

Most content creators are already using Poser, they kind of have to be to make content. So they would be able to use the upgrade price. All business ventures have some kind of start-up cost. Even my meager store has net more than enough to pay for an upgrade. Most vendors make what sells. If you want a vendor to make more, support them. 

What would be good is if you could create a scene in Poser and then use Stable Diffusion to make it look more realistic / atmospheric. You would obviously not need a lot of assets as the AI will invent those. AI is only just beginning, so it will be interesting how it develops in the next two years. 

Most vendors make what sells. If you want a vendor to make more, support them. 

Take "Urban Future 5" by stonemason, which is sold as a DAZ product but it includes and I quote from description:

"OBJs with MTLs and Textures Included"
"Textures Include: 166 Texture, Bump, Normal, Metallic and Transparency"

I can work with that in Poser or any other 3D software. THAT is a vendor who wants to make more money!

... and he doesn't have to buy Poser either lol

Not at our level, in my lifetime.  I have been playing around with SD over the past few weeks - after all, it isn't like there is much going on in the Poserverse.

It is impossible to keep the exact same person in each image.

"The reality is that most vendors are only interested in making stuff  that they are personally interested in - and that seems to be nothing but stuff for pin up art."

I can't talk about the other vendors, but this is VERY not true for me. I make stuff that I see a gap in the market for (like clothing basics for figures that lack them, characters with diversity, everyday hair etc) or things that seem to sell more (sexy stuff). If it were only about my personal intersts, I'd make nothing but fantasy all the time.

why not do just fantasy, if that's your passion, Maira?

aerysoul/alltheirothernames did just that and boy did they really build a huge rep for themselves by doing so...

I like guns and cars but I'm pretty sure other creators have cornered that market already so I'm just going to create cute cartoony characters or animals with googly eyes instead bc that's what I would buy.

i've never used DS, so i can only take what i've been told by vendors as truth, or at least their own truth...

what i've been told is that it is so much easier to create content in DS as opposed to Poser, first & foremost...

secondly, there's just not enough user base for Poser to justify the time/energy/costs/etc. it takes to bring a product to market if one is creating content as their primary source of income...

and to that point, vendors also seem to be pulling back their support for older items, esp. for Poser, hence all these 'Retirement" sales that have been occurring these past few months...

thirdly, most vendors that i've talked with either dislike working with la Femme, or simply do not see her as a viable figure to create for given the lack of visibility in the galleries.  some still create things for her because of money, whether by sole choice or enticements from Rendo itself...

what Rick stated about having to buy Poser has some validity as well.  as does the whole advent of typing out prompts into a box for an algorithm to create something for you, as fewer folks will invest, or continue to invest, in 3D at all...

i've said it before, but i'll say it again:

maybe Rendo should think about giving vendors a deeper percentage for newly created Poser content at the very least, if they don't want to 'grandfather' older items into the mathematics...

I would buy the living snot out of any fantasy clothing/ props you make, Maira!!

With the recent resurgence and quasi- mainstreaming of DnD... my gods, Poser is missing out on a lot of content.

I like fantasy and SF. Especially clothes normal people might wear.  People who aren't built like 20 year old supermodels.

Not that I have anything against 20 year old supermodels. I just have enough stuff for them.

I too would love more fantasy. I won't be able to buy it fast, but it would be a priority on my wish list

Giana posted at 4:04 PM Fri, 11 August 2023 - #4472367

what i've been told is that it is so much easier to create content in DS as opposed to Poser

Later on, he discovered Poser and he loves what it can do but he's still creating and selling only DS content

He recommended ZBrush and Photoshop BTW if you want to start creating content yourself. You can't create content in DS or Poser... unless you are selling lighting setups and shaders.

Afrodite-Ohki posted at 3:13 PM Fri, 11 August 2023 - #4472361

"The reality is that most vendors are only interested in making stuff  that they are personally interested in - and that seems to be nothing but stuff for pin up art."

I can't talk about the other vendors, but this is VERY not true for me. I make stuff that I see a gap in the market for (like clothing basics for figures that lack them, characters with diversity, everyday hair etc) or things that seem to sell more (sexy stuff). If it were only about my personal intersts, I'd make nothing but fantasy all the time.

We still don't have that.

The other elephant in the room is dialing out the base look of LF or LH - it is as bad as the SM G2 figures.

I think a lot of what is being said here is true. As Twiztidkidd mentioned having to pay 250$ for the program when there are free alternatives out there, is automatically going to be an issue for a lot of creators. There are a lot of marketplaces now besides Daz and Poser, you also have Unreal and Unity and a lot of others. Each requires you as a content creator to "prepare" and design your product for these, what goes in Poser and Daz, is not going to fly in Unity or Unreal. So someone that is new to content creation and wants to give it a try will look at these different options and a 250$ price tag is just not all that attractive. So that there is a decline in content creators for Poser, I think is rather logical, as some long-time creators might want to try to make content for other applications or they might simply stop altogether due to whatever reasons. But these are not getting replaced by new ones.

Another mistake Poser has made for a very long time is that they have neglected to release high-quality figures. Why they have done this is a complete mystery to me, when the whole program is based around this.

The honest truth is that Poser simply isn't worth the price they are asking in today's world when the internet is booming with free programs, which now include AI tools. Another big issue with such a price model is that they need both content creators and users to agree. If only one part decides to upgrade, they are somewhat screwed and therefore you end up with a user base, where some use Poser 9 while others Poser 13 and everything in between. I don't think that is particularly beneficial for anyone in this circle of users, creators and developers.

Another big issue is that there are too many different figures, so the majority of content will go to the most popular ones and the rest will be neglected. As a content creator myself, it takes pretty much the same time to create an outfit for one figure as it does another, so obviously you will either choose the one you like yourself or the one that you believe will sell the most. And the truth is that if the Poser figures are not popular enough, hardly anyone will care to make stuff for them for very long.

As I see it, especially since AI has entered the picture and let's just be honest about it. It is steamrolling forward at such an insane speed, that I don't think anyone knows where it will be in a year or two. They have to reconsider Poser's role in the future because, this approach they are using now, I don't think worked at version 9 or 10 and it only seems to get worse, it is simply not competitive or attractive enough, whether you are a user or a content creator.

And in all honesty, depending on where this AI circus is going, there might be a very dark future ahead for both Daz and Poser. They really have to rethink how they can make use of or integrate AI into it. 

I have a bunch of stuff waiting to be finished that I'd put on sale as soon as they were all done.  My cancer treatment is playing merry hell with my energy levels and concentration, though. It's a set of guitar effects pedals.  I have the models all finished, rigged and textured.  They need packing, documenting and testing, plus promo images making.  

So far, I haven't been motivated to finish them off, but maybe one day I'll get to it.  

It's a set of guitar effects pedals.

Like the one on the lower left on Fishie's freestuff page? lol

https://www.renderosity.com/users/FreeBass/freestuff

We're so lucky to have him here, we're going to pet him and change his water regularly

SamTherapy posted at 10:01 PM Fri, 11 August 2023 - #4472385

I have a bunch of stuff waiting to be finished that I'd put on sale as soon as they were all done.  My cancer treatment is playing merry hell with my energy levels and concentration, though. It's a set of guitar effects pedals.  I have the models all finished, rigged and textured.  They need packing, documenting and testing, plus promo images making.  

So far, I haven't been motivated to finish them off, but maybe one day I'll get to it.  

If it ain't chrome, it ain't got that tone!

ssgbryan posted at 8:24 PM Fri, 11 August 2023 - #4472382

Afrodite-Ohki posted at 3:13 PM Fri, 11 August 2023 - #4472361

"The reality is that most vendors are only interested in making stuff  that they are personally interested in - and that seems to be nothing but stuff for pin up art."

I can't talk about the other vendors, but this is VERY not true for me. I make stuff that I see a gap in the market for (like clothing basics for figures that lack them, characters with diversity, everyday hair etc) or things that seem to sell more (sexy stuff). If it were only about my personal intersts, I'd make nothing but fantasy all the time.

Let me know when either LF or LH have a week's worth of clothing that could be worn to the office.

We still don't have that.

Yes, even a lot of "normal" clothing is sexier than I would wear to the office. Low cut, falling off the shoulders, super short skirts, etc. If I see clothing that my mom might wear in public, I buy it, because there's really not much of it.

I assume most people want the pinup stuff, but I wonder if there's a way to do both. Trans maps, say, so you can make necklines or skirt lengths more modest. Though I guess trans maps don't work as well with dynamic clothing.

The other elephant in the room is dialing out the base look of LF or LH - it is as bad as the SM G2 figures.

Boss, MXR, Electro Harmonix, Alexander and Mr Black pedals, plus Whammy DT and Cry Baby wah.

Here are some of 'em.

I port clad-figures and props to Poser from a range of different formats found on DS, DA, BowlRoll etc etc.

There's an excellent thread on Rendo' forums for getting DS 'Gen' figures into Poser. Inspired by that, I've ported a then-free, sassy 'Gen_7' character who may have escaped from a 'StarWars' prequel...

Some DS props, 'under the lid', are legacy Poser format, others may be exported from DS as OBJ+MTL.

Similarly, 'MikoMikoDance' (MMD) X and PMX props and scenes may be exported from DA's free PMX_Editor as OBJ+MTL.
Several 'gotchas': MMD coordinate system is reversed wrt OBJ, so mesh exports are 'mirrored'. Though PMX_Editor has a 'mirror' tool, matching up mapped textures can be 'interesting'. These textures and their calls may be 'many', and in Asian glyphs. Unpack such using eg free Bandizip lest you get 'Dipthong Soup'. Google Translate is handy...

Rigged MMD figures other than TDA-type ('No Port' T&C) may be ported to Poser-compatible rigged FBX using TrueBones' $$ utility: As yet, seems unable to convert texture calls, which must be hand-applied. Not a problem, unless 'many'...

XPS props and scenes may be directly exported from free XNA/Lara Editor as OBJ+MTL. Scaling varies widely, finding model is often 'interesting'...
Rigged XPS figures may be exported from XNA/Lara Editor in rigged .MESH.ASCII format, which free Noesis can convert to rigged FBX. If you get many sub-rigs, parent second and subsequent to first ASAP, warily place and pose using first. Again, Scaling varies widely...

As XPS figures often have multiple clothing / accessory options, some sub-rigs may be safely deleted, reducing Poser scene complexity, increasing stability...

Note XPS 'Mods' are like 'Morphs', which cannot be ported unless base mesh is included...

SFM meshes and textures per 'MLP' and 'Garry's Mod' may be extracted by free Noesis, exported to OBJ+MTL or FBX. As textures are extracted separately to meshes, you must hand-apply them. IMHO, 'MLP' eye-mapping is often 'weird': Due Care, Please ??

"Like the one on the lower left on Fishie's freestuff page?"
That ent effects pedals TK, is bassically a foot operated keyboard. My effects board/ rack is kinda in the same limbo as Sam's: (just sittin' there 90% done & only been used in a coupla my own renders).

Nice to know yr thinkin' of me & promotin' my FreeShit, though  :D 

@FreeBass - Thank you for all the cool freebies... I'll see you next time, when you bring the cables and the bass guitar straps, my friend! Take care!

why not do just fantasy, if that's your passion, Maira?

aerysoul/alltheirothernames did just that and boy did they really build a huge rep for themselves by doing so...

I would buy the living snot out of any fantasy clothing/ props you make, Maira!!

With the recent resurgence and quasi- mainstreaming of DnD... my gods, Poser is missing out on a lot of content.

You too??? *jots down outfit ideas*

AS started off things back with V2, and the first things they did they put into Free Stuff and laid the foundation for their 3D career in that way.  i believe the very first things they did was a set of great dynamic poses.  one of their first MP items was the String Cloth for V2, inspired by Royo [i think?], and they just carried on their creating from their, sticking to fantasy creation, be it wearables or props, with pose packs interspersed. and then continued the whole fantasy line into the V3 & V4 era...

meanwhile, a good majority of everyone else in wearable content creation started filling in the gaps with basic wear and slutwear...

so i guess what you need, Maira, are more LF/LF2 content creators to alleviate the 'Basicwear' burden from you ;)

maybe LF2 will inspire folks to do just that :))

There are new products for Poser all the time! They just are packaged for DS and Genesis 3/8/9 and take a little work to convert. Every Poser user has a pro version now with easy rigging tools, particularly the fitting room. I have a long tutorial on this with specific how-to examples on this very board. 

There are new products for Poser all the time! They just are packaged for DS and Genesis 3/8/9 and take a little work to convert. Every Poser user has a pro version now with easy rigging tools, particularly the fitting room. I have a long tutorial on this with specific how-to examples on this very board. 

I have Poser from its beginning and now i use sometime Poser 12...and for now i don't plan to buy version 13 .I still have many Poser stuff  ...but i use not too much and i open them directley  iinside DAZStudio.I also  use DAZStudio  from its beginning  (DAZStudio pro wasn:t then free).. and now i use it most of time  because it have lots of stuff and the characters are very better than the one coming for Poser. DAZStudio is now free and,according to me , more easy to use  and the new stuff are constant and have an increasing quality.  

i guess i have a different perspective in terms of basicwear vs. fantasy stuff.

i think part of what aerysoul/alltheirothernames did for Poser was their stuff, going back to Vicki2, was exciting to look at, to use and play around with.  i think their stuff helped people to feel excited about rendering & creating.

i do think that basicwear is of some import, but with the lack of exciting things for Poser currently, and i'll agree w. the quality of things slipping a bit, i actually think fantasy wear is far more important.  there are several folks that can create the basics, so let them to it.

create something to die for, yanno? 

a pose set, new materials, another bikini are all fine and well, but lack a certain ooomph to the creative juices, typically...

just my perspective, tho...

We do test with DAZ Studio but, Poser is our target between the two.

Renderosity has done a very good job picking up the pieces after E-Frontier, and made a lot of vendors that used to sell through Content Paradise quite welcome. But they inherited a lot of baggage, too, and that's rough. I finally got Poser 13 but still haven't had much time to play with it.

I think Poser has some good years left. While there's some eye-catching results from AI, there's a lot of crap, too. Also, the legal status of AI generated content needs to be resolved.

RobZhena posted at 11:36 AM Sat, 19 August 2023 - #4472963

There are new products for Poser all the time! They just are packaged for DS and Genesis 3/8/9 and take a little work to convert. Every Poser user has a pro version now with easy rigging tools, particularly the fitting room. I have a long tutorial on this with specific how-to examples on this very board. 

People don't want to spend hours tinkering with an item to make it fit, they want to load an item, conform it to their figure and get on with creating their scene.

I find Poser is still strong if you want to use it for story telling but the lack of quality Poser content in the normal Poser marketplaces has forced me to look else where for enough content to stop my Poser world stagnating.  Recently I have been purchasing content that is available in Blender format which I then tweak to work in Poser.  This allows me to mix and match the both the new and existing Poser content I have.

The room has been in my Poser runtime for some years, the figure is Dawn SE for Poser with the outfit being CKV-01 from Ken 1171_Desiigns and Volpe_Box.  The engine and associated rig is a Blender convert.

Another Poser room from my runtime, with the same Dawn SE figure, populated with glass barriers, generators and test beds which are Blender conversions.

Blender converted location with the Figure, outfit, hair style coming from my existing Poser runtimes 

I find Poser is still strong if you want to use it for story telling but the lack of quality Poser content in the normal Poser marketplaces has forced me to look else where for enough content to stop my Poser world stagnating.  Recently I have been purchasing content that is available in Blender format which I then tweak to work in Poser.  This allows me to mix and match the both the new and existing Poser content I have.

Great pictures, wow

Y-Phil posted at 1:15 AM Fri, 22 September 2023 - #4475013

hornet3d posted at 12:06 AM Fri, 22 September 2023 - #4475011

I find Poser is still strong if you want to use it for story telling but the lack of quality Poser content in the normal Poser marketplaces has forced me to look else where for enough content to stop my Poser world stagnating.  Recently I have been purchasing content that is available in Blender format which I then tweak to work in Poser.  This allows me to mix and match the both the new and existing Poser content I have.

Great pictures, wow

{ Re-boots wits from speechless awe... }

Please, what scene size / render resolution are they ??

Most are 7016 X 2480, the reason for that is they were created with a A4 lay flat photobook in mind which allows the render to cover a two page spread, i just have to be careful what detail in in the centre of the render.  Here the renders are reduced in size and converted to .jpg

Here is a full sized .PNG file as an example.

Thank you.

Hmm: My render-queue's 'Box', a mere Ryzen 7 (1700) might handle a rather more modest scene, given a day or three...

Worth a try !!

Thank you.

Hmm: My render-queue's 'Box', a mere Ryzen 7 (1700) might handle a rather more modest scene, given a day or three...

Worth a try !!