OK, maybe I'm just a skeptic but usually when something sounds too good to be true then it usually is. The new dynamic clothing and hair with collision detection is what should make the industry really stand up and take notice of Poser 5. Its no coincidence that these features are only included in plug-ins to high end graphics packages, they are extremely hard to make! And even when they are available they don't work very well. Just try out Cinema 4D's "dynamics" and you'll see what I'm talking about. For that reason I find it very strange that Curious Labs is not showcasing these features more than they have been or discussing them more with us.

I saw demos of the hair and cloth dynamics and collision detection in Poser 5 at DragonCon. Those features do seem to exist. As for why Curious Labs isn't showcasing them and some of the other new features... I'm sort of curious about that myself. (I suspect that they are busy making sure the program gets out the door on time.)

....and we've just paid umpteen quid on pre-orders that have been charged..... you don't think it's a great big con do you? and that they're toasting their toes in Rio as we speak???? It is odd though that we haven't seen more demonstrations I suppose we should be grateful for what morsels they deign to throw our way. It might be that these high-end features are so high-end they can't actually be used at the same time.

I'll admit, what alarmed me was when I looked in the manual, and there's no good pictures of the dynamic cloth in the chapter on it. Unless I just missed that page somehow.

There won't be any good pictures. In another post here, it was said that none of the good demonstrative images were able to be placed into the manual, because they didn't make it in time for printing, so they are on the CD. Brian

Besides, there's little point in looking at still images of dynamic cloth; you have to see it in motion to properly appreciate it. I'll happily render some animations for you after I get my copy, assuming that my machine doesn't blow up in the process.

I just came back from the Poser/LW and Poser5 Workshops at Dragon*Con by Joe Grover and from what I saw the dynamics and cloth work and are as dynamite as the face/texture, hair and materials rooms. Joe did show some issues with the cloth functions, trick and hints from the beta tester. This is shaping up to be an incredible package with the content (Paradise) room yet to be seen. Joe was very positive about the Content room, which apparently will include a variety of users, including Renderosity merchants. From what I am hearing and seeing, this is going to be a lot of good to fantastic stuff and a few things not addressed, as is always the case with such things.

I think the strenght of emotion driving the whirlwind of paranoia surrounding this package is only going to be equalled by the pleasure that will be felt soon after you slam the P5 disk your CD-ROM drive...and just go with the flow on the security process. I imagine that any defense that CL chooses for Poser5 is driven by a true belief it is worth the effort to safeguard the investment. It may be required for the CEO's liability insurance (typically CEOs and even Board of Directors obtain insurance to cover a lawsuit alleging mismanagement for any company failure... which may mandate "industry standards" for product theft).

To me this is an incredible product at an incredible price...However I grew up with a slide ruler...remember those ancient artefacts! Enjoy Poser 5, I truly feel that all of this anticipation jitters will past in about 10 days and personally I do not want to do anything to slow this delivery process down.

MGlant
...just off the road from Atlanta...Thanks Joe, enjoyed the hints, enthusiasm, sharing lunch and a peek at what I wanted to see and now can not wait to get my hands on.

Attached Link: http://www.size8software.com

I don't WANT animations. I don't DO animations. And they take too long to download. I want to see how this stuff looks just draped over something.

I certainly agree that Curious Labs could and probably should be doing a better job of showing off the new features in Poser 5. Personally, I'd like to see what can be done with the Toon node in the Materials Room. Maybe they should have had the beta testers creating demo images and animations as part of the testing process. The situation will take care of itself though. I'm certain that within a week of Poser 5 being shipped to people this place will be filled with images and animations showing off the cool new features.

actually, if that's the stuff they have in P5 it should be quite good, it does seem to crack on extreme bends, (check the pants dance avi) but it seems to move fluidly enough. later jb