I don't know about anybody else, but before I invest in a new piece of software - or upgrade - I want to know everything about the new features and content before buying. CL's site offers very little if any info about the actual features and content of P5. For instance, besides Don and Judy, what are the "new figures and animals and clothing" etc. And just how does the new "morph putty" system work? What are the enhancements to the library navigation like? I downloaded the manual, but that really didn't help either. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to see a more extensive overview or in-depth review of the enhancements in P5, but can anyone suggest where? Thanks alot, Eric

Here... read the threads... full of praise, bitches, examples , and features. This is the best place to look. Niles

Where? Right here. Browse through the Poser forum's postings for the last week and a half. Plenty of hands-on reports, praise, criticisms, tips, finger-pointing, blame-shifting, etc. With illustrations.

Although full of vitriol (both pro and contra) the forum postings for the past few weeks contains much important information about the workings/misworkings of P5. I'd browse through them. hope this helps, --lb

You could just download the manual from the cl site and read that.

I personally am somewhat intimidated by a lot of Poser 5's new features and wish that I had mastered Poser 4 Pro Pack better before I had taken the plunge. There have been a lot of reports of P5 bugs, but there is no indication of how long it will be before any patches will be release. If I had it to do over again I would have waited a bit longer to upgrade. This is especially true due to the fact that Daz 3d is coming up with it's own character and figure animation application. Maybe it will have a lot the features that people here really wanted Poser 5 to have but didn't. In regard to the content that's included. There is a new family of human figures (still not as good as Micheal and Victoria as far as I can see), clothes, and hair, but no one has found any new animals. Someone suggested we will be able to download new animals once Content Paradise is up and running. I certainly hope so! Some farm animals would be nice, CL are you listening?

Tomsde, the patch, as stated in another thread entitled "Curious Labs to release patch for Poser 5", is due on Monday. Tori cl

Tomsde, I bought P4/PP in May which was my first Poser experience. Having Bryced for several years, it was not all that hard to get started with. Of course, mastering in that little time is not going to happen, I was familiar with the interface and some of the stuff after having lurked here for a couple of years. The transition to P5 is perfectly timed. I know my way around well enough that I don't feel totally incompetent, and i'm new enough that I'm not trying to apply advanced P4 procedures in P5, which means P5 won't be fighting bad habits. I suspect you may find yourself in this same boat, and its a good boat to be in. You won't be bringing bad habits with you to unlearn and you will be able to use what knowledge you have. SO DAMN THE TORPEDOES AND FULL SPEED AHEAD!

Blade,

I'm a jack-of-all-trades in the video and animation realm. I don't have P5 yet because they haven't released a Mac version. However, I've been keeping track of the threads here. I've come to some preliminary conclusions.

First of all, the potential of P5 is excellent. A lot of the gripes I've read end up being the result of people learning software that is a step up in complexity from what they're used to. I work in Lightwave. P5's complexity has gotten much closer. I think that has been a bit of a shock for some. Even exhaustively reading the manual won't help everyone for the simple reason that people learn and communicate differently. If you look at the threads over time you'll see that people are starting to post tips and tutorials. That's good. It's getting figured out.

Some people have had things go smoothly. Some have had very legitimate problems. Curious Labs has announced it's first in a series of patches coming out next Monday (9/30). Basic human nature is such that we're more likely to be outspoken in our griping than our praise. Thus there's some pretty rowdy posts around here. Different perspectives, different preferences, different interpretations of what's happened (or not). We're like a real family. We have good days and bad days. And the excitement over this release has raised many people's blood pressure. Keep that in mind as you read the posts.

I've seen some excellent renders. I know it can be done. I know that this is version 5.0. An old V.P. of mine always used to say "never buy version X.0 - they won't have the bugs out until version X.1." We're in that stage now. It'll get better as time progresses. FWIW, I plan on buying the Mac version when it (and the Lightwave plug in) is out.

I, too, encourage you to read on...