Wow two topics in one day I must be ill. But honestly I need some advice on Poser Pro Pack. I have had a look through the last few months of topics and not really found anything that can answer this. Im an Amateur, and proud of it (and no I havent made a Dolphin picture yet! smile), however got Poser from a sale a little while back before Poser Pro Pack came out. Now, I have looked at the webpage about Poser Pro Pack, studied it a bit however I still cant figure out if it will give me anything extra which 4.03 offers. Im going to be working on still shots only, and really am not interested in the animation side of Poser yet is Poser Pro Pack more tailored for the animation over single scenes? * I dont have 3dMax or Lightwave so those plug-ins are really a waste and since I have Bryce 4 Im a little iffy about getting another rendering program. Why didnt they offer a Bryce plugin (pout). * The export Metastream 3 files isnt really my thing either so Im not ultimately worried about this. * The multiple view ports of a scene sounds really nice (very much like Rhino which I like). Is it worth the upgrade price for this option however? * Motion blur for final rendered animations um I can do this with Post rendering in Photoshop * Python scripting environment controls Okay, this I dont really understand. What will the Python scripting offer? I have noticed a face randomizer around but other then that what else can this type of thing offer? * Pro Pack Setup Room feature Will this allow me to import 3DS models of people and then make them poseable? * New Web characters I presume from that it means that these are not real life characters just those cartoon like characters Im seeing around? What are they missing out of their features section in Curious Labs? Are their any extra figures bar the web characters? Have they improved and fixed the original models so that they dont break as much when you pose them? Then the thing Im really interested in what problems can upgrading cause? Do older models get effected by the new version? Will a lot of the free downloads I have done be useless after upgrade? If you know anything that can help educate me I would be really interested, and Im sure other amateurs would also. Thanks Tracey-Anne (WiNC)

Flash export!...Thats a great one... The motion blur is just easier to "chek off the box" in Poser, than it is to do it all in PS, especially if you are doing a large animation...

Both of which are really designed for the "Animation" field - which I'm not really that interested in - correct?

I don't have pro pack, but I know a man who does... The setup room does not allow you to import 3ds figures and make them poseable, you still have to cut the figures so that the body sections are useable, wavefront obj is best though if you intend using textures. However, it does make setting up and boning characters a snip and it really does cut down on time. The multiple view screens are cute, that's about all I can say about them. The short time I had to play with Pro Pack I actually starting hating those screens quickly. They're nothing like Rhino. You cannot dynamically resize the screens and scroll in and out, you need to constantly select cameras to move characters around - a damn pain when boning and adjusting joints - plus they all fit INSIDE the existing workspace screen. So, look at your character screen and then imagine that small screen split into smaller parts. Yes, you can hide tool bars and stretch the window out and you do get one click multi configurations but it's tedious and irritating switching between them. Bad points. Slow interface. ProPack does nothing to speed up Poser nor increase it's reliability. Same clumsy interface. No real screen benefit as everything stays the same and squishes to fit. Variety of problems with plugins (maybe fixed now with SP2 - though I've still seen some Max complaints) Good points Character setup room - a godsend that should make all Poser users green with envy of anyone that has ProPack. Text changes colour making MUCH easier to read. Rapid camera change and one click view configuration. Python Scripting. If you have a grasp of programming and can get your head around scripting easily this is an extremely powerful addition to Poser and can do some amazing things in the right hands. Oddments Plugins that are only useful if you have several thousand dollars worth of software to use them in, or in the case of metastream/flash etc, a desire to indulge in 3d web design and realistation - great for product catalogues etc... Funny little quirks that get introduced to Poser but nothing that can't be dealt with. Overall. If you intend creating characters this is a must have, it really does cut down the time and effort spent editing joints, adding bones and generally making something poseable. Don't expect too much from it, it'll bite you in the ass. Save often, very often, more often than normal, it is NOT memory friendly and increases the big leaking hole in Poser already. It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than most plugin/upgrades, and I think to be fair ProPack is an upgrade more than it's a plugin. If you are going to spend most of your time creating things that are for posing and you intend sharing and selling these creations ProPack will pay for itself in time saved. If you are thinking of buying it as an amateur with no real thought as to future direction, and only intend playing with the odd character now and again, save your money, you won't benefit much. All of this is "my" opinion and should not be taken as a professional view or review.

Questor thank you very much for all that information. Other then some old Zygote MAX models I got a long time ago I don't have any desire to start learning how to make models for poser :) So I don't think I will be using the Character Setup. I don't have 3d Max either so honestly the extra plugins there are also a little bit of a waste for me... (yeah I know I have Zygote Max models - I... um made a mistake :P) Again - I wish they had made a Bryce plugin - then I would have jumped for the buy because importing into Bryce is proving confusing for me (and I have read a lot of Tutorials on it) As of yet - I have no really future direction about poser or modelling - and just doing it as a passtime while doing Reviews for a computer hardware website, and university (thus why I'm so damn poor :P). This is one of the other reasons that I haven't been buying anything either. Poser I got cheap in the sale - and wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't because I got a big discount. Thanks again for your help Tracey-Anne (WiNC)

You actually can resize the viewports. I was able to get mine blown up to almost the height of the display.