Maybe it's always been this way and I never noticed, but lately it seems like Poser users in the forums spend a lot of time arguing about what is the "correct" or "better" way to do things.  Maybe I'm over-generalizing when I perceive this, but I see the tendency in threads covering Daz versus Poser, lo-mesh with displacement versus hi-mesh with morphs, preferred render options, preferred shader and materials setups, new figure versus old figure, and on and on.  I have gotten caught up in a couple of them, and I've lost my head over the matter, once or twice.  Were we always like this?  Did threads always descend into factions, trying to pressure one another into using Poser only one preferred way?

I don't think we were.  I recall the forums being places where we made discoveries, shared creative projects, celebrated one another's successes, tried to help one another in good faith (whether we knew the correct answer or not), and just generally celebrated Poser even when we were hating its limitations or problems.  Maybe things changed.  Heck, maybe it's me.  Maybe I changed, became a grouch, and now everything looks tainted by grouchiness to me.  I dunno.  Sort of looks to me like it's bigger than just me, though.  :unsure:

I begin to wonder if we've lost sight of an essential point, somewhere, and I include myself in the "we".  We're forgetting that Poser is a creative tool, a fantastic creative tool that offers a wide range of options.  Many things can be done different ways.  A user can pursue a variety of different aesthetics.  We can render (or seek to render) results which are realistic, veristic, hyper-real, surreal, abstract, comic or cartoon-styled, or any number of things... or mix and match at will.  We don't all have to do it the same way.  Poser gives us options, and I think the only time we should really start to freak out about how Poser is being or can be used is when the Poser Team starts taking away creative options.  That doesn't happen often, happily.  :laugh:  We don't all need to pursue realism, although we can.  We don't need to use Daz figures, Smith Micro figures, or any figures at all, but we can.  We don't all need to light a specific way.  We don't all need to seek the same outcomes.  Poser gives us options.

At the same time, Poser does give us plenty of limitations, and we've all spent a lot of time learning the tricks to circumvent them.  Sometimes this is an area where there is only one way to do things.  Sometimes there's no good solution.  Poser has its limits, and we collectively have a long history of applying creativity to working with them.  I think this has enhanced the creative drive of many of us, but maybe it has also played into this "one true way" idea, when a solution is discovered and we begin to apply it rigidly.  Sometimes there is only one way, but not always.

This is probably a rubbish post, and it may just sink like a stone... and maybe it should.  I'm just musing about things, not preaching.  I don't have an answer to much of anything, ultimately.  I'm not all that bright.  :laugh:  But Poser as a creative tool has allowed even a dummy like me to accomplish a thing or two, over the years.  If I have any point at all, here, I think it is: "Hey, everybody!  Let's celebrate Poser!  What an awesome, super creative tool this thing is!  Hooray!"  :woot:

(... And then tomorrow Cage comes back and his head is exploding over some new Poser bug.  :lol:)

===========================sigline======================================================

Cage can be an opinionated jerk who posts without thinking.  He apologizes for this.  He's honestly not trying to be a turkeyhead.

Cage had some freebies, compatible with Poser 11 and below.  His Python scripts were saved at archive.org, along with the rest of the Morphography site, where they were hosted.