I can't decide if I need Pro Pack or if just Poser 4 will do. The only other program I have is Paint Shop Pro 7 and don't plan to get any others. I'm new to this & don't know beans. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you get just plain Poser 4, you'll be bumping into dead ends very often. Many of the figures and utilities around here depend on the added stuff in ProPack, often without stating so explicitly.

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It depends on your intended usage. I don't own Pro Pack myself, so I'm going from memory as to its features. If you don't plan to use other programs, that would be one reason to not buy Pro Pack, as one of its big features is the ability to host Poser scenes in other, more expensive programs, such as Lightwave. Pro Pack offers motion blur to create more realistic animations...but if you plan on using Poser for still pictures or more cartoony animation, maybe that's not a big selling point. Are you thinking about using some of the free 3D modeling programs to create your own special Poser characters? If so, it's easier to set them up with Pro Pack. Pro Pack allows mutiple views of a scene on screen, which is another animation friendly feature. Pro Pack also allows you to export your output to web-friendly formats like Flash. Match these sorts of considerations against what you want to do with Poser, and it may help you decide whether you want or need Pro Pack.

ockham posted while I was writing. I must say I haven't run into too many figures or utilities that require Pro Pack...but again, this may be due to differences in what ockham and I do with Poser.

I have to agree with kbade, I haven't run into anything to here or on the other sites speak of that required ProPack. The exception would be some of the utility programs written in a language called Python that require ProPack. Some of these are nice but none are really 'must haves' for basic Poser use. Many of the files now come with thumbnail graphics (the ones that show up in Poser's library) in png format that Poser 4 doesn't handle but there is a free utility P3DOExplorer here that will convert them to the rsr format that Poser 4 requires. Even without that, the trhings work, you just don't get the nice picture in the library.

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Thanks so much everybody. I don't think i'll be doing any animation, I'm more interested in still pictures. I'm not sure about the 3D modeling though. Where can I find more about it? I've been looking around and can't find many things that call for Pro Pack either, but it sounds like by getting it would cut down on a lot of confusion. Again thanks for all the help.

One free modeling app is anim8or (anim8or.com), which I've never used, but which some here seem to like a lot. Eovia.com also offeres an earlier version of their amapi modeler through various sites, such as bakhter.com. There are tutorials on these apps on the web...you could click on the tutorial link at the top of this page, then to offsite links, then click modelling to find a few of them. There's also an amapi forum here at R'osity, and I'm pretty sure folks there create tutorials. There may be other free modelers, but none leap to mind at 1:20 a.m...well, there was Blender, but i think it's gone the way of the dinosaur;-)

I have them all and still only use Poser 4...Sharen

I don't have ProPack. Since I don't make models, I have no reason to get it. Have had no trouble, except that stupid 'wrong version' error message. If I really want an rsr for a model that doesn't have one, I just save a pose. Then go into the library, delete the mypose.pz2, and move the mypose.rsr the library the model is in and rename it so it matches the cr2's name. Instant rsr, no worries. I've got too many fiddly little utility programs on my machine anyway

Wow! This is great! All this should keep me busy for awhile.Thanks again all!:)