Good post, Darth. And an interesting read, with some good extrapolations and questions. Poser... ? Maybe, maybe not. Even without getting into the P5 release and associated debacle, it's entirely possible that the base P4 code has been pushed as far as it can be in reasonable functionality without major revisions at the engine level... things such as dual cpu and open gl functioanlity, for instance. However, I strongly suspect that for 90% of the hobbyists, Poser 4 and Pro-Pack will continue to do what they need for some time, wether P5 proves to be a viable upgrade or not. For the non hobbyist, and for people who are edging into the professional character design and ghraphics/animation industries, that's just an indication it's possibly time for a number of us - myself included - to grit our teeth and make the step up in price and learning curve to a package like Messiah Studio that does offer the functionality and interface capability with other pro tools that's needed. Getting kicked screaming out of the nest and told to flap. ;] Or choose not to, and accept that we're deciding to work within the limitations of poser and pro-pack. Np. It's a viable choice. Re: "The Community". Naw... not dying. But I'm going to suggest that there's still a certain arrogant myopia inherent in believing that the Poser Community is the center of the online 3D and graphics communities. Last I looked, the other application areas of the graphics communities were still thriving and growing, and Poser and it's attendant birth and predicted demise is barely registering. ;] Now, if you meant that to be the poser community specificaly, shrug who knows. Quien sabe? I seriously doubt even the life of the poser communities will hang on wether Poser 5 survives or CL finishes shooting itself in the head. We're not that fragile, and not nearly as dependant on CL, Renderosity or any other company or site as either CL or various site owners would like to hav us believe.

"I am a good person now and it feels... well, pretty much the same as I felt before (except that the headaches have gone away now that I'm not wearing control top pantyhose on my head anymore)"

• Monkeysmell