Well, first off, it really looks pro. I mean, nice splash screen and all.
And, it really acts pro. I mean, we know how finicky some of these pro apps can be, and all.

But then , you get down in it, and it bears a strong similarity to good ol', regular Poser 7. Oddly enough, even the "Pro Fusion" plugin for 3ds max still bears the name of e-frontier, if you examine its properties. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, Smith Miro-dudes! I mean, come on, couldn't you have at least taken a moment to insert your own name in there?

Aside from that...

Well, unlike many other Pro apps, I couldn't help but notice we still get only OGL, and have no option for the much faster DirectDraw. Y'know, that's a shame, really, 'cause the Quadro retailers are gonna have to hear about that, I bet: "Blah blahblah, I thought all pro graphics apps used... ..blah blah blahhhh"

Well, it's nice that this particular Pro app can use a Pro-rated quad core CPU for rendering. of course, I'd have to question just how "Pro" it is to make it where each core just has it's own little region and just sits there idle as its buddies finish the task... but.. I guess if I wanted THAT kind of "pro" I'd just use max or maya.

Oh, right, silly me, I missed the whole point - the PRO part is where you can import your stuff into said pro apps, thus removing Poser from the loop entirely. The quicker you get outta Poser, the quicker you have a chance to really do the pro thing.

But... what am I saying? What did I expect? Poser Pro really is only Poser 7, with a few added ultr-ugly, ultra lo-res characters, and an enhanced fear of modern graphics cards.

Oh, and did I forget to mention the LWO export still lacks UV data, in spite of it claiming to be "LWO2"? (just like all previous versions). First thing I looked for, actually. I just KNEW there was no chance it got fixed, but I figured I'd give them the benefit of the doubt, but.... well, no dice.

Well, there are a couple of nice ZBrush tutorials that come with it - if you can get past the errors and the fact the author went out of his way to use figures that were very simplistically UV mapped. Forget about tryibng that with V4, for example.

I have to say one thing for it though - it can crash pretty damn quick, I mean, FAST, like it barely needs to think about it. it's possibly the only time your entire CPU gets used, actually.

Poser Pro - 500 dollars worth of Poser 7, with a nifty new splash screen, and a thoroughly inefficient render engine... BUT, with the ability to export to real Pro apps.
Of course, if you really wanted to, you COULD have done that with the traditional OBJ export..... but, well, advertising that wouldn't sell copies of it, I guess.

Well, I suppose I shouldn't have expected much from a company who makes... hmm... what? Ring tones or something like that? Buys failing products, maybe hoping for the tax write-off?