Why upgrade to Poser 6?

BillyBob · Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:15 am Post subject: Why upgrade to Poser 6?

I have used Poser 4 for years and stubbornly refused to move to Poser 5 and 6. However, the chance to get Poser 6 for $99 seems almost irresistible. Before making the plunge, I want to ask a simple question: Why get it? In the past, I've used Poser to do basic posing (duh) and clothing, but then exported the figures to Bryce for rendering. (I like assembling scenes in Bryce: far easier to look around and change views, the camera views are easier to use, you actually have sun/moon/clouds/atmospheres, etc.)

With this in mind, things that I hope people can answer:
1. If you render everything in Poser, how easy is it to create big scenes and not just pin-up type art?
2. If you render in another program, why do you use P6 in the first place? What advantages do you get by using P6?

Thanks in advance for the help

Hasdrubal · Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:56 am Post subject: Re: Why upgrade to Poser 6?

To answer question #1, for big scenes in Poser, DAZ has some nice cyclorama outdoor and urban environments sets. They're now easier to use in P-6 than the earlier versions. Poser 6 allows you to see transmapped props in display mode without rendering. Transparencies couldn't be seen properly with the earlier versions. The improvement in transparency mapped displays is unquestionably the sweetest new feature in the program.

To answer question #2, If you're doing still renders instead of animation, it probably doesn't matter which program you choose to render in. If you're doing animation, you won't need to re-rig the figures joints or bones if you work exclusively in Poser.

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 615

If you render outside I might stick with P4. P6 has nice bells and whistles but it is really only compatible with itself for those. You might be able to do somethign with dynamic cloth etc. The transparancy view is nice though. I still use P4 for a lot of my stuff since it is just faster. I am using P6 more now but I often whish I was using P4 more about halfway through the project

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 548 Location: NYC

2 Major reason I'm actually going to pay for Poser 6....

#1) Better library managment over P4PP.
This was actually the single usefull advance of P5. If you have half as much cantent as I do you'll still have hundreds of Runtimes. Or you have a single Runtime SO packed that nothing works.

With P5 and P6 you can seperate all your content into seperate runtimes, and just add what you need.

#2) OpenGL acceleration.
If you have a graphic card from the past 3 Years, you probably can make use of the OGL acceleration. Definatly worth it.

Xena · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:36 pm Post subject:

I bought Poser 5 and got burnt and was really iffy about every getting another version. But I bit the bullet when I could get P6 for $99 (when they stuffed up and left the special running LOL) and I'm honestly quite happy with it.
As Rattler says, library management is excellent. And you can use your scroll wheel to scroll your unending lists

AO and IBL are looking to be terrific once I figure them out, and dynamic cloth 'may' have potential yet.
I don't do big scenes but I'd say Bryce would still be a better bet for those.
Apart from Bryce, I've never rendered in anything other than Poser, and I'm still mostly rendering in ProPak until I can figure out P6 more.

I think P6 is worth buying at the low price tag

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 548 Location: NYC

I ussually render in Lightwave if it's serious. That's another reason I don't bother with any of Posers default render, or more "advanced" features.

In fact. I use Greenbrair's pluggins to bring the characters in with maps and morphs. Then I chop out any polygons unseen cause they are covered by clothes, and make my own rigging to pose an animate them.

digitalmagi · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:29 am Post subject: Re: Why upgrade to Poser 6?

Having recently come into the P6 love myself i can say this.
99$ is totally worth it.
Library managment (although i am still getting the hang of it) is great.
The P6 rendering engine is awefully nice if a touch slow at times, but options like the toon shader are very neat.
Render output settings are excellent, and being able to render a bit at a time to see how it will look is also handy.
If i exported to anything to render i would probably export to Max7 to render as i have a special passionate hate for Bryce (although bryce 5 wasnt too bad)
As far as rigging and boning. . uhm outside of max im a little lost when it comes to rigging and boning. . thats one reason i havent turned out any poseable props/figures. i need to sit down and have someone show me how. (visual learner)

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 615

For my use I honestly can't see any need for the new multiple runtime system but that is me

I just hate dealing with the "back" button, etc.

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 548 Location: NYC

I don't know how much stuff you have in your Runtime folder, but my combined Runtimes are well over 10GB and I don't even have 1/5 of my freestuff installed yet.

All that in a single Runtime would choke it solid and make it unusable.

I actually started breaking up my runtimes under Poser4PP because they just got too unweildy.

I would install common products to Runtime, and rename it to "Vicky" "Vicky's Clothes-Future" "Vicky's Clothes-Modern" "Vicky Clothes-Past" "Vicky Clothes-Fantasy"

When I started a project, I would copy the Vicky folder and rename it back to Runtime. Then I would copy the other content I needed into that folder.

It was a pain, but it was better than trying to sort through a single runtime that lwas organised about as well FEMA.

The only reason I grudgingly adopted P5 was it's runtime enhancment.

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 615

My Runtime is probably about 30GB and it doesn't really choke. The Mac doesn't have the folder limit that the PC does but it has always seemed to work. I just don't like going "back" everythime I want something. Right now I basically dump everything into my P4 Runtime even though I have P5 and P6. I just hate it when I have to go to the P6 one for one of the few things that is in ther ethat I might need. If I used it more it would be worse and if I had a ton more figure runtimes it would drive me nuts. Since I don't have the limit issue I don't see much bonus to it.

Ratteler · Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2002 Posts: 548 Location: NYC

I wasn't aware the slowdown problem was PC only.
Hey if it works for, more power.

GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 615

I am not sure if it it PC only totally but It still works. I am not exactly sure where it slows down and since I have basically had the same runtime for about five years (with additions) I haven't noticed a dip in speed for the normal usage. But again, I am not sure where it drops.

Aremis · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:24 pm Post subject: Re: Why upgrade to Poser 6?

Actually, I personally experienced the slowdown using OSX 10.1 and Poser 4. I upgrded to Poser 5, as they guaranteed it would run beautifully. Most times, with even multiple runtimes (I had 3 runtimes going, for a total of nearly 60Gigs of data), and most times, I would launch Poser 5 before I would leave for work in the morning, or launch it when I go to bed on Friday, because it was known to take up to an hour to open. Once it was open it was fine, but it was very slow, even on a dual processor Macintosh.

When I upgraded to P6, all became perfect.
I still have Poser 5 installed, but now, I have Poser 6 set to load both runtimes. My P6 runtime library is just the default, no additions. When I purcahse anything, even if it it wants to install into P6 (like DAZ products), I just switch it to P5. Less than 10 seconds to launch, seconds to switch from one runtime to another, and ever so stable.

I highly Recomend 6 for everyone.
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GhostofMacbeth · Forum Member Joined: Sep 21, 2001 Posts: 615

I just thought it was because Poser 5 stunk LOL I rarely used it. But I run P4 and P6 all the time in OS9 and 10.2.8 respectively.

Sharby · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 8:04 pm Post subject: Re: Why upgrade to Poser 6?