Blade,

I'm a jack-of-all-trades in the video and animation realm. I don't have P5 yet because they haven't released a Mac version. However, I've been keeping track of the threads here. I've come to some preliminary conclusions.

First of all, the potential of P5 is excellent. A lot of the gripes I've read end up being the result of people learning software that is a step up in complexity from what they're used to. I work in Lightwave. P5's complexity has gotten much closer. I think that has been a bit of a shock for some. Even exhaustively reading the manual won't help everyone for the simple reason that people learn and communicate differently. If you look at the threads over time you'll see that people are starting to post tips and tutorials. That's good. It's getting figured out.

Some people have had things go smoothly. Some have had very legitimate problems. Curious Labs has announced it's first in a series of patches coming out next Monday (9/30). Basic human nature is such that we're more likely to be outspoken in our griping than our praise. Thus there's some pretty rowdy posts around here. Different perspectives, different preferences, different interpretations of what's happened (or not). We're like a real family. We have good days and bad days. And the excitement over this release has raised many people's blood pressure. Keep that in mind as you read the posts.

I've seen some excellent renders. I know it can be done. I know that this is version 5.0. An old V.P. of mine always used to say "never buy version X.0 - they won't have the bugs out until version X.1." We're in that stage now. It'll get better as time progresses. FWIW, I plan on buying the Mac version when it (and the Lightwave plug in) is out.

I, too, encourage you to read on...

Before they made me they broke the mold!
http://home.roadrunner.com/~kflach/