I created a complicated video to test the dynamic hair function in Poser Pro 2010 (64 bit).  I am using a single computer with an Intel Core I7 990x 3.46 G six core processor and Windows 7 64 bit.  When I render an image I am showing 100% usage of the processor, but when I am calculating collisions for the dynamic hair I get a very different result.  When calculating collisions for the hair I am only using about 12% of the processor’s power and it seems to run very slowly.  I wrote to SM about this and they said that was normal but they were trying to make the hair collisions work more efficiently.

I have noticed that in the Poser Pro 2012 list of improvements, they list dynamic hair as one of the improvements.

My question is whether anyone has heard about this improvement and if so, what the new usage might give as a processor percentage.  I didn’t find any useful information on the SM site.

I guess the real question is whether switching to PP 2012 from PP 2010 is worth the time and money.  Any input on any of the differences you may have noticed between the two would be helpful.

Worth the time? The time to install? It took a couple minutes, but my actual time getting and installing it, since I didn't stand around, was maybe 8 seconds. So it is worth the time.

As to the money - well we can't answer that. For some, like me, Poser is thousands of hours of entertainment, and at the cost equivalent to a couple restaurant meals.

But maybe you're on a tighter budget than I. So how would any of us answer for you without knowing your financial situation?

If your processor reflects your financial situation, then this is easy. Yes it is worth it. It's 20 to 30% faster at everything. It's hundreds of times faster at blurred reflections. (Well it seems like it anyway.)

Even if hair sim was the same, if a couple hundred bucks means pretty much nothing, then it's hugely worth it.

And - have you seen my renders in it or no? I mean, there is no comparison - at all. Scatter is a huge thing.

Thanks bagginsbill

Your renders are great.  My only concern was whether differences between 2010 and 2012 were significant.  It looks like the scatter is very effective.

Coming from someone with a world of difference of understanding the basis of those differences between versions (which Bagginsbill is blessed with) I can still unequivocably state that in rendering time and quality alone, PP2012 is like nothing you've experienced before. Scatter is the big difference, as BB said, but to be honest I haven't really played with all the possibilities this incredible node/node set offers.

PP2012 pretty much stands alone as a Poser upgrade: I've been with Poser since P5 and this is easily the most significant.

And I haven't even begun to mess with weight-mapping yet.

Thanks RobynsVeil

Like you, I’ve been using Poser for quite some time.  I’ve been through Poser 4, 5, 6, 7, and now Poser Pro 2010.  It looks like Poser Pro 2012 will be a worthy upgrade.  I decided to skip Poser 8 because the reviews just didn’t seem to be that good, but I will begin the new download of 2012 later today.  It will be interesting to run 2010 and 2012 side by side and see the differences.

I have to agree I started from version 1, although I have only played around, never gottten serious this is the best version I've seen yet. Now I am getting serious about Poser and having a blast although there is sooooo much to learn, but that is part of the fun. Still need to get my head around BB's posts but I'm keeping the manual up on my second monitor and just following along this time.