hy! i m a poser 4.0 user and i wanna know if the poser 5 in fully compatible with the poser 4 characters (like vicki or vvicki or mike or even with the poser 3 libraries) i also wonder if there is new default characters in the poser 5.0 original libraries and of course if these are like poser 4 original characters (personally i don t like em so much so i only want to know if these are "better" than the "posette" and "p4 dork") ps :smal renders of p5 original characters will be welcome (a render tells more than any words, don t you think?) i am wondering this cause i m planning to buy it but i didn t find explanations to my questions on the web thanx

Poser 5 seems to work with everything, so far. That includes the old P4 and P3 figures, Michael and Victoria, and even the Millennium Dragon.

The new default figures in Poser 5 are named Don and Judy, along with new versions of the children (Will and Penny). Yes, they're named after the Lost in Space characters. In my opinion, they're built better than the P4 figures, but aren't quite as good as Mike and Vicky.

All of the figures from Poser 4 and the Pro Pack are included in Poser 5, so you still have Posette and the P4 Male, the old animals, the P4 clothes, the cartoon characters, etc. The P5 figures have their own unique wardrobe. This time around, there are plenty of clothes for the kids.

I don't have any renders of Don or Judy, other than a brief animation I made for my own amusement. It doesn't exactly show Judy at her best, but you're welcome to view it if you wish.

Video clip (MPEG format, 725KB)

Opinions of the new figures are somewhat mixed, but Spanki and wayneout have produced some nice results.

http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=882854

till now i had nothing that doesnt work with p5. and yes, there are new charakters in p5 but i didnt use them very often till now. They are better than the p4 people but i use viccy and all her stuff all the time. And one word to p5! In my opinion GET IT. I have no problems with it and all the new possibilities are worth the money!!!

Yup, Everything I've tried so far works. Even MAT's, etc. The new "default" charcter is Don, who's a lot more human looking than the dork. Judy however, while she may have a better mesh, has been hit with the ugly stick one to many times. Possette is "prettier" IMO, but that is a purely aesthetic judgement. If you're expecting the second comming you're going to dissapointed, it seems to be a bit balky, (which hopefully the patch on Monday will fix) but given six months, once it's better understood and supported it should be a lot more stable. later jb

Yes, they are compatible. But. You would do yourself a =very= great service to keep them -both- installed. There are some very different ways that P5 handles things, such as the material shaders, that has a learning and tedium curve. You can set up a figure in P4, save it as a pz3, then open it in P5 and see how things are interpreted. Plus you have the option of simply linking your current runtime into P5 without reinstalling a thing (Bliss......).

Here is a test render of don and judy (I tweeked judy a little to get rid of that alien look)