"Soulhuntre makes some interesting points but forgets that the single biggest cohort in the Poser customer base is that of people that do not own, use or have access to Max, Lightwave, Maya or any of the other high-end tools and are probably unlikely to go that route."

Actually, my most important issues would be equally or more usable by those who were using Poser only :)

• Real collision detection for clothing
• Better joint bending
• Optional automatic mesh smoothing for renders
• Better resolution on the models from Daz (or anyone else - as long as it can wear Vicki's clothing/textures and looks as good as V2)

It is always true that a loyal fan base will resist change to a system... this is to be expected. But it is hard to argue that the above is a bad thing for poser in any way.

"The most common use for Poser is for still or single frame artwork. Animation has always been a minority interest in the Poser customer base (my opinion)."

With good reason. Without a reasonable clothing/joint system the animation abilities of Poser are basically impossible to use for large scale work.

"Now while it is nice to expand the customer base (and make more money) no company should ever lose sight of where its' core revenues come from and are likely to continue to come from."

The current Poser user base is not the best source of revenue. A higher priced professionals version that did NOT limit the lower end customers usage would add significant $$$ to curious labs cash flow. It would also do a lot to gain respect for poser int he 3D world at large and significantly expand the market for the items sold by our poser community vendors.

This cannot be a bad thing.

"Targeting high-end software users can be easily achieved through plug-ins as CL has already demonstrated with the Pro Pack. This is a very fine business model that allows the company to gradually grow a high-end customer base without making the ordinary customers pay for it or alienating them. Long may it continue."

Obviously it would be best is users didn't have to "outgrow" poser. If they could learn it to start and keep it with them when they go pro. The 3D animation/modeling field is the fastest growing technology sector around these days - it will be THE hot technology of the next 10 years. Imagine the revenue stream Poser could get as being the "must have" beginners application for that time period?

It can happen - but only if they really get their act together.

BTW - I did say I don't mind if this stuff was an add on... but if it isn't there then a lot of young up and coming artists will start to realize they are better off simply starting to work in Max or Lightwave. Especially as there are  good packages for free that allow avatar building.

The current plug-ins are a good start - but they also show a lot fot he weaknesses in Poser right now - if your going to put your hat into the high end ring (and the pro pack did) then you better be prepared to become high end.

"Now I want more insider tips, come on Steve lower the guard a bit and tease us a little more. :0)"

Teaser tips are nice - but they don't really help me much until they have some numbers and dates behind them. "Poser 5 is coming in the distant future and it will be cool" is not much help :) I knew that.

"Dynamic cloth timeline? great work is being done now, one of the best cloth systems I've ever seen, for the next rev of Poser."

This year? Next year? Next decade? Any clue at all? I Like Poser, it will be nice if we can stay with it... but in order to make those choices we need to know what's up.