going down the page i spotted this: In related news earlier this week, it was announced that that Bob Rice, president and CEO of MetaStream, is expected to also assume the position of CEO of parent company MetaCreations Corporation later this month. This management change would occur in conjunction with the completion of the divestiture of MetaCreations' prepackaged graphics software applications, when it is expected that current president and CEO Mark Zimmer will step down to pursue opportunities that would allow him to remain in the graphics software industry. judging from the line about the line about the finalization of the sale of mc graphic programs, we'll probably find out where Poser, and other MC products are going after Rice takes over!

whenever they plan a further release of poser the modeling should change like i learned from various maya charakters there should be a real bone structure with joints ans muscled, which contract and move with the figure. Then the spaces between the muscles could be filled with conforming tissue and surfaced with skin thats how we do it in maya and thats how poser should do in the future. that would bring us realistic muscle movements, no more clipping in elbows etc., and absolutely great ways to konform clothing.... well i'm just dreaming did you know that in maya you could really make a figure grow hair ? and i moved with the wind, etc. absolutely realistic wouldn't that be great to see in future poser versions? not to mention improved animations ;-) but it's just a dream some dreams may come true some time ;) -Ede

Everyone has their own idea of what poser should be, I should know, I have posted poser wish lists in several threads. My big concern right now and until we find out for sure is this, actually it is two concerns. Who got Poser and How much is future versions going to cost. It is not unreasonable to assume that the new owners are going to make a big price hike to cover the expensives of the buy. Poser could easily zoom up over $500.00 dollars. That would put it well beyond my price range. Poser 4 is about the limit of what I can spend on the product.

How much does Maya cost? One of the great things about Poser was it was in the price range of a hobbyist and not just professionals.

Thanks for the heads up on that, Ghost. Let's hope there is a good future for Poser out there. Ede, you might want to look at Hash Animation Master if you want those advanced features on the cheap. There is an incredible number of features crammed into that program for the money, though I suspect that it's not as easy to use as Poser.

In answer to "how much does Maya cost", the answer is, around $7500, not counting the fact that to make it work to full potential it needs to be on an SGI or one hell of an NT PC...

PJF, i've taken a look at Hash, it sounds really good and i am close to purchase, but one thing i am wondering is weather it's able to use my poser work or not. Can you tell me ? -Ede

I don't think Hash imports or exports wavefront (.obj) format. That's kept me away from it. --ratta

Hash imports DXF - but it's pretty impractical to import Poser figures into it - the files get too large. However, it's great for creating new models for export into Poser - it exports 3ds and obj, if you get the free plugins - check out Sherwoods forest - http://www.hash.com/users/jsherwood/tutes/tutorials.html