If, like me, you mainly work with still images - not animation - is the Pro Pack worth getting ? I saw DAZ had released a bunch of stuff this week for the pro pack to improve lighting control, all of which looked fascinating. Does it really make a big difference to still images ? I do find controlling the lighting in Poser 4 a real headache sometimes, is it easier with the Pro Pack ? Any replies much appreciated. dariop

I haven't had a chance to play with them much, but what I've seen makes me real happy. I got the Pro Pack so I could use the setup room, and didn't realize until recently just how easy it makes it. I personally am very happy with the Pro Pack. There are python scripters out there working hard to make tedious chores as simple as a click of the mouse, and as I learn more I realize just how powerful this makes Poser. You need to check out the Pose Python Scripting forum here and ask some them about the Pro Pack. I would do a lot of research as it is a chunk of change to spend...but worth it if you plan to go any deeper into Poser. Marque

If your building your own figures a fair bit then yep its worth it, i personally use python a lot (bought scripts not my own) and use the plugin to render mainly stills in Cinema 4D...So i think its worth it, and one of the biggest bonuses is no RSR files so no need to shutdown and reload everytime you edit an obj :o).......Steve

Poser Pro Pack itself isnt any different to Poser 4 with regards to lighting, same set-up, same problems. The Python scripts however do make lighting a hell of a lot easier to experiment and manage. PC Bos, whos responsible for the enviroment stuff at DAZ did release some other lighting scripts which overlap these new ones and they are very useful for setting up and editing lights, and not only his own ones. The most useful is the delete lights, a godsend after loading a 30 light "global Illum" set-up. I do stills only and Ive not regretted getting Pro Pack and as more clever people release Python stuff it gets more useful. A few examples of scripts are a MAT file creator, a render script for rendering the seperate figures in a scene, a blink and twitch randomizer, a multiple prop copier etc. Pro Pack doesnt add a huge amount of functionality unless you are doing advanced stuff (Figure creation, high-end rendering) but I`m rich and stupid anyway, I hope you are too B)

Well, let's put it this way... there are some obvious advantages with Pro Pack like python scripts, multi views and the like. But are there any DISadvantages? I'm still wondering whether I should buy it.... :] FishNose

Two i can think of, 1 there are no rsr files in the librarys so you can't do the render and paste trick to get the nice thumbnail.......i'm not sure if thats coz of the png's but its annoying anyway...2 the models take a bit longer to load coz there is no RSR file in the geometries..or rather it doesn't read them...but see above as to why thats good too ;o)...Steve

I work mostly with animation, but Pro Pack has features that should appeal to non-animators, also. In addition to what everyone else has already mentioned: There's 2D motion blur. Even if you aren't rendering a movie, you can still add motion blur to still-frame renders, in addition to antialiasing. Eliminates some postwork, and is more accurate, also. There's support for additional image file formats, like PNG. And you can use JPEG files as bump maps without converting to BUM, which saves a lot of space on your hard drive. The downside is that you can't save to Poser's uncompressed BUM format, but I've never understood why anyone would want to, other than as a convenience for non-Pro Pack users. The thumbnails are in PNG format, so you don't need the render-and-paste trick to get nice thumbnails ... just render to a 91x91 PNG, and place it in the Libraries folder. I personally have a love/hate relationship with the Setup Room, but having read the tutorials for conventional figure creation, I wouldn't try to create figures any other way.

Oh wait, I just thought of a reason for saving to BUM format ... MAT poses may need them. But you can hack the MAT files with a text editor and tell them to look for JPEGs instead.

Not worth getting it alone, but I love being able to choose up to four views to have on screen at once. Setting up animations, checking morphs, etc. is so much easier when you don't have to keep switching views.

I jut bought my pro pack from Daz...I think it's great with the Python scripts....you can now do what people have been doing on SGI machines for a long time. You can even buy plugins that give you particle sprays at daz. Also Poser Arcana has some great tutorials to get you up and running and the Poser 4 Pro Pak Book give great insight.

It looks like I'm gonna have to buy the darn thing after all. I believe it can compress PZ3's on the fly, which sounds fine to me. Most of my PZ3's are 30MB and up and I can generate any number of them....... Thanks for the advice, people. :]FishNose