ChromeStar posted at 11:11 AM Thu, 27 November 2025 - #4501711

The upgrade to Cycles is also an improvement, we just haven't seen many details.

But the main reason the jump from version 13 to 14 seems small is because the development model changed. It used to be that you would develop a version of software, then work for a couple years before releasing a new version. At that point there would be a lot of new features (and bugs). The current model is continuous, frequent, smaller updates (which provides some opportunity to fix and change things based on user feedback along the way). So Poser 13 got a lot of releases, some of which were fixes but some of which added new features and improvements. But when you just have a series of smaller updates, when do you change the version number? It makes sense to do it here because the upgrade of the Cycles engine is going to be a bigger shift and create some compatibility issues, so calling this 14 better communicates the impact of this particular iteration.

I assume we will continue to see rapid updates, now of 14, for some time before there is another pause for whatever big change will be next.

This is typical of all software today. The alternative is not really fewer, bigger updates, but paying for subscriptions rather than licenses. And personally, I don't want that.

Yes, I certainly don't pay for subscription software, so I appreaciate the fact that these are perpetual liceses, and that they have to make an income on a decreasing user base.  

That's partly why I don't mind upgrading to support them, and I probably will, but as a version, I don't know, this one just doesn't seem great at the moment, especially with the removal of the cloth room and no replacement.  It feels like you're paying more for less.  We'll see how it develops.