I have just finished downloading Poser 8 and thought those who are undecided as whether to buy or not might be interested in my personal experience so far... bearing in mind that it is aimed at those with the same or similar systems as my own...

I am using a Core i7 975 Extreme 3.33 GHz... 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM... 2GB ATI HD4870 X2 Dual GPU.

Most importantly... I am running the latest pre RTM release of Windows 7 64 bit.

I say most importantly as I am sure many Poser users will be concerned as to whether or not Poser 8 will run on Windows 7.

The Smith Micro site makes no mention of Windows 7 under system requirements and my request for confirmation that Poser 8 would run in Windows 7 from the dev/beta teams in other threads went unanswered.

The short answer is... YES... at least on my particular system. But I see no reason why it wont run in Windows 7 on other systems if it will run on mine.

I chose to install just the Poser 8 program and have not as yet loaded in the new Poser 8 or legacy content.

Installation was a breeze... connecting to my existing Poser Pro runtime was a breeze.

So far I have not tried out any of the new bells and whistles in Poser 8 as my main concern was to see if it would run on my system with Windows 7.

I have loaded in several heavily populated PZ3 scenes previously put together in poser Pro and they rendered flawlessly and appeared exactly the same as when rendered in Poser Pro.

The good news is... that they rendered much faster in Poser 8 than they did in Poser Pro even though Poser Pro has a 64 bit renderer and Poser 8 doesn't. Probably due to the fact that Poser 8 is using all available cores more efficiently.

As I have said... I have yet to try out all the new features in Poser 8 but so far... I love the new UI and the responsiveness of the parameter dials... controls... etc.

Just my 2 cents worth so far :-)

The GI works nicely. Looks decent even on low settings, and renders FAST. I haven't tried higher settings yet, but it looks like we have a winner.

I said in the DAZ|Studio 3 thread that Smith Micro would need to bring their A-game, and they did :)

-Someone could tell if Poser8 have the same bug than Poser7? (at least I have it):  when you have a HUGE amount of libraries, they don't appear when loading, but after an additional and boring 'Build folder menu... -> This operation will take several minutes (or whatever)'

-Finally it support a REALISTIC and SMOOTH hdri render? Not a IBL AO Firefly Render full of spots? Not a hdri render full of sploths? Finally Poser owners will finish our envy against 3DMax, Carrara, Vue, Lightwave...?

@ziggie get you any information about the Poser Pro 2010 Beta test??

Mazak

Library problems: gone :)

I'm loving the new rigging enhancements! This is without a doubt the best Poser update yet. Completely smokes Poser 6 and 7.

Quote - @ziggie get you any information about the Poser Pro 2010 Beta test??

Mazak

Only the following:

1. PERMISSION TO JOIN THE POSER PRO 2010 BETA PROGRAM

2. A BIG DISCOUNT OFF THE UPGRADE PRICE FOR POSER PRO 2010

Those details were included in an e-mail encouraging existing Poser Pro owners to purchase Poser 8 until such time as Poser Pro 2010 is released.

Considering the full name of the future Poser Pro and the fact that it still has to be beta tested... it doesn't look as though it is going to be out in the near future as many had hoped / anticipated.

I get that e-mail too, so I asked.  thx :)

Mazak

Sheeesh... I am being bombarded with e-mails from Smith Micro encouraging me to buy Poser 8.

@ Smith Micro: Check you data base / mailing lists.... I have bought it already..!

With the Poser8 update it's possible to install Poser8 without upgrading or deleting Poser7? It's possible to have both Poser7 and 8?

Unless I'm mistaken, a Poser upgrade has always been a full install of the newer version in a separate folder that doesn't touch any previous version installs.

The only version that was different was Poser 4 propack as that installed directly over Poser4.

Correct. Poser 8 will install next to Poser 7 and coexist peacefully. Just as with previous versions, it is recommended to link your old runtimes instead of copying them.

Yeah don't for the sake of your own sanity try copying an older runtime into a newer version of Poser, I did & ended up with a non working Poser until I reinstalled it.

Can also confirm that Poser 8 does not touch other versions of Poser you might have on your system.

As stewer says... just link to your other runtimes. Sooo easy in Poser 8. I currently have my (now older) Poser pro and an even older Poser 5 runtimes connected to Poser 8.

The new library features in Poser 8 are very good... I am finding that switching backwards and forewards between runtimes is virtually instantaneous.

Thank you for your impressions. I would love to see some renders of the included content.
Is it possible to rename items in the library and move them into folders?

Quote - Thank you for your impressions. I would love to see some renders of the included content.
Is it possible to rename items in the library and move them into folders?

Personally... I can't show any renders of the included content... because I haven't got it yet... its still downloading.

But... the Poser 8 program itself is running fine and I can confirm that you can move items around in the library... by adding them to Favorites where you can name folders and sub folders within the main folders, but... you can't rename items.

Items that are added to favourites remain in their original locations within the library.

Personally... I love the new library features... much more instinctive to use than previous versions of Poser... small icons to start with which become larger when selected and include the size in MB of the item... the date it was installed and the date last modified.

Adding runtimes is a breeze and you have the option to have one... or all runtimes on display at the same time. Switching between runtimes is virtually instantaneous.

Edited to add: It would probably be a bad idea to rename items within the library as textures, poses, etc., would be looking for specific item names, I would imagine.

Thank you!

In Poser 6 you can rename everything in the libraries folder (or put it in sub-folder structures) as long as you stay away from the geometries and textures folder.

The new flagship figures really poke my "Ick" button.  Breathtakingly unappealing.

Quote - The new flagship figures really poke my "Ick" button.  Breathtakingly unappealing.

WHERE is the 'Ick' button located. I can't find it anywhere. I want a refund..!

Anyone having trouble getting anything at all to show up in the library screen? Any ideas?

I have flash player installed and the windows search 4 thing, still nothing at all. I've uninstalled and reinstalled 4 times. Ugh!  I upgraded my video drivers.  I'm running Win XP X 64, quad core, ATI radeon  HD4870.  I dunno.

Quote - > Quote - The new flagship figures really poke my "Ick" button.  Breathtakingly unappealing.

WHERE is the 'Ick' button located. I can't find it anywhere. I want a refund..!

It's a bit below the Neck, and has an ERC control that connects to a gag reflex morph.

so, um when da Poser 9 gunna be comin' out?

Quote - so, um when da Poser 9 gunna be comin' out?

Poser 9 Basic..? or Poser 9 Pro... which will prolly be called Poser Pro 2012..?

Quote - The new flagship figures really poke my "Ick" button.  Breathtakingly unappealing.

I would be interested in the content BESIDE the new base figures.

Hi
Will you receive a printed manuel by post or have you only a PDF manual.
And, is it still possible to receive a box version of Poser 8 ?
Thank you

There is a box version, and if you want a printed manual I'd expect that's the only way to get it.

Quote - Anyone having trouble getting anything at all to show up in the library screen? Any ideas?

I have flash player installed and the windows search 4 thing, still nothing at all. I've uninstalled and reinstalled 4 times. Ugh!  I upgraded my video drivers.  I'm running Win XP X 64, quad core, ATI radeon  HD4870.  I dunno.

Almost the same rig, but with an HD 4850. No problems on my end. Still, the first time I did have a problem with flash player. As I use pretty much Firefox exclusively for internet browsing, I hadn't updated my flash player in eons (if ever!) in Explorer.
So I just fired up explorer and went to adobe to get the latest flash player, and the problem went away.

Thanks manoloz, I'll try it and report back in case anyone else has the same trouble.

Yup, that was it. I originally was installing the version of flash player included in the P8 extras and got the blank library.  But as soon as I installed the one from the adobe site the library started working.  So if anyone else comes across the same problem, thats the solution.

Is there a demo?

The system requirements looks very reasonable, but I'm a little worried about the "recent NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon preferred" part.  I have a Radeon, but it's several  years old.  

I am planning to buy a new computer soon, but like a lot of people, I'm waiting for  Windows 7.

Quote - With the Poser8 update it's possible to install Poser8 without upgrading or deleting Poser7? It's possible to have both Poser7 and 8?

It should be...I have both Poser 6 and 7 running on my machine now.

Laurie

Quote - Hi
Will you receive a printed manuel by post or have you only a PDF manual.
And, is it still possible to receive a box version of Poser 8 ?
Thank you

There is a Box Copy, but no Printed Manual will be included.

I loaded up a scene in p8 that had taken p7 two and bit episodes of Babylon5 to render, (sorry I can't be more specific). P8 rendered it in 35mins. I have a quad core, but beyond that I couldn't say.

I mostly like the new UI. It'll take a bit of getting used to but that's ok. Not at all sure about the teeny tiny thumbnails in the library though. Is there a setting you can change to get them back to a better size? I know you can click each individual thumbnail to get a bigger one, but seriously, that's going to be a huge pita.

Quote - Is there a demo?

The system requirements looks very reasonable, but I'm a little worried about the "recent NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon preferred" part.  I have a Radeon, but it's several  years old.  

I am planning to buy a new computer soon, but like a lot of people, I'm waiting for  Windows 7.

Poser your Card and maybe one of the Beta Testers can let you know if they have it and it worked. I suspect it will, but not knowing which card, I can not say. (If you want, contact Tech Support at SM and they may be able to tell you if there are any known issues with your specific Card.

In most cases, if you have the latest Driver, it should work if it is a newer (not newest) generation Card. I am using a 6000 Series nVidia on one machine and have no issues.

On the UI, play around with the docking and Windows.. you can set it up the way you want it, pretty much completely.

Does anyone have a "packing list" of the content that comes with Poser 8?

Quote - Yeah don't for the sake of your own sanity try copying an older runtime into a newer version of Poser, I did & ended up with a non working Poser until I reinstalled it.

The quick and easy way of doing it is to move the new Poser runtime somewhere else, copy the old Poser one to the (now empty) place, and then copy the new runtime back over the old one.
That way you make sure the new Poser will have all the essential files it needs to work.

It works, at least it did work for P6: I did that when I decided to uninstall P5, and didn't want to have a lonely runtime sitting there in the middle of nowhere.

Quote - Does anyone have a "packing list" of the content that comes with Poser 8?

Sorry, but I wouldn't even attempt to make one at the moment, purely due to the sheer size of the 'packing list.'

People are complaing about the upgrade price of $129.99... well... being quite serious... at average market place prices in general across the various stores... there is well in excess of that amount in content alone.

The renders are nothing special, in that everything came 'out of the box' and are 'bog standard.'

The figures are Alyson and Ryan casual (pre-dressed) with just hair textures.

The only thing altered slightly were the supplied sitting poses for the figures.

Used a standard supplied AO light set and the renders took around 2 mins each on my rig.

Please don't judge the capabilities of Poser 8 based on these renders, I am just trying to show what things look like out of the box. Poser users with more skill than I have (which is pretty limited) with posing, lighting, etc., will have a ball with Poser 8 and its content.

First impression:  It doesn't work.  I added the runtime I'm currently working in,
and the figures show in the library.  But there's no way to load any of the figures.
Tried the Create Figure button, the Change Figure button, double-clicking,
dragging the icon into the scene.

Nothing.

 Hm I don't like the sound of that, Ockham.

Are your content compressed or not? I hope it won't matter, but just in case...

Quote - First impression:  It doesn't work.  I added the runtime I'm currently working in,
and the figures show in the library.  But there's no way to load any of the figures.
Tried the Create Figure button, the Change Figure button, double-clicking,
dragging the icon into the scene.

Nothing.

Thats... strange, ockham... I have 2 older runtimes attached to Poser 8 and haven't experienced any problems loading figures, props, etc., from them.

Can't help with your particular problem, but I don't think its a Poser 8 problem.

Edit: It acts like nothing at all is happening.  The buttons don't appear to press,
and the drag-n-drop action doesn't drag anything.   Main menu actions do seem to work.

In Poser 7, one could make a Windows shortcut for an item from one runtime, and locate it in a folder in another runtime. The shortcut would load just like the original item. Short cuts take a lot less memory than all the files that might be associated with a specific item.

This also worked in Poser Pro "the first." Does it work in Poser 8?

lmk

Quote - Not compressed.  I've never used the compressed options.
Here's a screenshot of the relevant area ... maybe something is obviously missing?

Edit: It acts like nothing at all is happening.  The buttons don't appear to press,
and the drag-n-drop action doesn't drag anything.   Main menu actions do seem to work.

Looks pretty much the same as mine, except... you don't have the... Remove Library icon alongside your Add Library icon (little guy with plus sign).

Edited to add:

Okay... just moved my library menu from 2nd monitor back into its normal docked position and I lose the Remove Library icon as well, but everything is still loading without problems, using click to add and drag and drop.

I like the GUI, and so far all installed without a hitch.  Just took my time and read the instructions first.  Pretty clear also have added my other runtimes, no issues.....likeing this a lot.  Sharen

Just bookmarking ...

Quote - First impression:  It doesn't work.  I added the runtime I'm currently working in,
and the figures show in the library.  But there's no way to load any of the figures.
Tried the Create Figure button, the Change Figure button, double-clicking,
dragging the icon into the scene.

Nothing.

Have you tried Highlighting that library and then using the refresh button on the right????

Are they actually in a Runtime "Figure" or "Props" Folder?

It seems to be highlighted, and I don't see a refresh button.

Edited to add:

I think you might be missing the reset thingie because your Library pallette is too narrow.

I just narrowed mine and the reset thingie goes out of view.

Think I'll reinstall from scratch and try again.