Poser

In every way DAZ Studio is kicking Poser's butt. DAZ is an offshoot, and now wholly separate company, of Zygote, the original creators of Poser's model content back in the early days of Poser. DAZ eventually created its own Poser-like customer platform and ceased making Poser-compatible content. So Poser was left to do for themselves what DAZ's modeling creators did so well. DAZ's model creations are far superior to that of Poser, not only for the sheer volume of what DAZ creates, but for the quality and variety of their extensive model library. Poser's latest male and female models look like hobbyist, rather than the professional creations that DAZ's does so well. It's just an obvious fact. The shame is that Poser's UI is way more intuitive than that of DAZ. Poser needs to step up their game. Bottom line: better content.

Can anyone suggest why this might be superior to the free DAZ Studio? Why is it worth paying for in light of DAZ Studio being wholly and completely Free, as in "FREE", meaning 'free' ?

Was once a good idea - and then went nowhere. Looking at rev 8 - it doesn't seem like a big step forward. The PRO version is the one you'd want, if any - though there are cheaper versions which make creating your own characters a problem. I can't see spending this kind of money for the Pro version for what you get. I got the version 7 at a discount & don't feel that was money well spent. Its horrifically slow. It uses triangles vs the the quad meshes supported by Blender & some other programs, which then make them frustrating to use, though the core Poser models are pretty well made. If you are going to drop any human model into an industrial scene to represent people - you kinda want them clothed. At least Poser gives you this option with some rudimentary clothing. In a lot of ways, some of these applications feel like you are a teenage gamer playing with Barbies, instead of being a tool that any serious animator or designer would wish to use.

What a convoluted hunk of junk. Wow, I was sure that after 15 years the engineers who created this application would have conquered so many of the issues with posing characters, but oh no. This application won't even recognize its own file types. The "tutorial" is nothing more than a lame review of features completely out of contextual paradigm of actual learning. Buttons with clear names simply blink your screen and do nothing. Really? It's 2010 guys...think you might create a program to pose characters in your software? It's been a really long time since I've had to trudge through a mess like this. AVOID.

Speaking of changing hands, i see Poser 8 is being sold by Smith Micro. Anybody know if it has improved?

I've also been a user since 1.0 when it was first created as a drawing aid. Since then, the program has switched many hands (fractal, metacreations, efrontier) Not really good (of course) and ever iteration has added more lumpy sacks of coal for a mule that was never designed for this. Features have been packed onto a legacy core. Its knees buckle and its spine has grotesquely ruptured discs. First thing you'll notice is that it's slow. dead slow. Loading certain figures can take over a minute. The library's format and structure is ancient and is a serious PIA when you begin to install third party content. (DAZ, Renderosity) Expect countless folders with names beginning with !!! because content developers are fighting for dominance within your installation. You'll shake your head in disbelief and spend countless hours reorganizing folders. The content community however, for clothes, characters etc. is very much alive and active. There are legions of fans, and I for one atribute this to the programs relative ease of use. While definitely sporting an unconventional/proprietary UI is of much debate, i found it easy to use. Though, the more serious you become with it , the more you'll realize it's limitations. It was designed from the ground up to be a simple application, and this is no longer in it's favour. It feels as though the core program has aged and introduced hacks as a means of low-budget feature evolution. MATs, python scripts, etc. Thanks to e-frontier for continuing to make a mac version, but this is one program that's due for a MAJOR overhaul or complete rewrite. (ha good luck)

I've been using Poser since 1.0. It's not easy to learn, taking years of dedicated study to master. But the software is very powerful, despite being held back by PC compatibility. There are hundreds of gigs of content available online, and the commercial grade content is considerably less expensive than top-tier, and in many cases better. The community is a very sharing one, and there is lots of free stuff to be had. Most of the negative responses I see here are no doubt by people who expected to learn the process overnight. I see people complaining about using it in manners that aren't the correct way to use it. Plus it's directly compatible with Vue if a more powerful rendering engine is needed (lighting, 3D geometry, etc). With 7.0 out, it is UB and takes advantage of multi-core processing. It's great piece of software if you want to take the time to learn it and set it up correctly. If you want a quick study in 3D that takes care of itself, look elsewhere. Poser is just too complex for those seeking instant gratification.

Great application. Free models from DAZ are cool: Victoria and Michael. Some commercial models are truly amazing: Yaara (by As Shanim), Alina (by DM)... The main problem is that it is so slow that it is close to be unusable even of a powerful CPU. It is slow on Panther and slow on the dog Tiger. Windows version is a bit faster, but still a pain to use. Ease of use 1/5 is for that: too slow.

Removing the Divx 5.2.1 codec from your Quicktime library might just fix the problem. It did for me!! Go to http://www.e-frontier.com/article/articleview/1441/1/595/ for details.

try the FREE poser like software from http://www.daz3d.com/program/studio/ hopefully it'll put a boot up poser to fix some bugs!

the "trapped" file dialogs is a known issue on "some" tiger machines,it's a disaster, if your save dialog opens behind your view window...you have to force quit and lose the lot!

Once installed on my G5 dual 1.8Ghz the thing took for ever to open. And even if you get it started the whole way of working with Poser is a pain in a certain place where the sun rarely shines. The GUI is very mid 90s "innovative". It works in a way, but it's very cluttered and takes up too much screen real estate. The file structure is a total disaster and installing new files, and finding them, is a test of patience. Poser 6 is also very unstable, unresponsive and slow, and should never have been released in this state. It's hardly even a beta. This is all a pity, because Poser is a lot of fun - or rather it used to be, therefore I'll stick to Poser 5. Buying Poser 6 is a total vaste of money.

unusable on MacOS X Tiger (10.4.1-2) the SR1 does not solve the dialog and screen/window display errors, even i can´t save any document :-)) ... absolutely rediculous IMHO !!! not for resale! Did anyone test this app on MAC before they shipped it to the customers ???!?!?!?!?!??! really disappointing.

Worst UI in the history of computers; nearly impossible to use. Crashes constantly. Not worth paying for.

Poser 6 STILL crashes in Tiger after this update!!!!! WTF???

Demo? Wheres the Updater for Poser 6 to use it on Tiger!??!??!

Yeah the link to FileStorm and the word "alternative" were meant as an alternative to whatever installer they're using now, my apologies for the wording.

Poser 6 blows...and I am bummed about it....I really wanted to be blown away by this version...since the last update was years ago...but it still has the same crappy issues...horrible animation controls....and it seems to be as slow as ever...what a shame...they should sell the rights to adobe or apple.... this update has NO new features of worth to offer...for $125...I would expect something new....Curious should get out of the software biz altogether.... zero stars..

I have Poser 6 installed after purchasing the pre-release offer. I think it's a great program, and whilst expensive for me, much cheaper than other programs that create similar quality of image. Yes, the directory structure isn't very mac-like, but it's legacy. At least they're offering to the mac market, and have supported it with every version at least since 2. The figure manipulation is difficult, but this is due to the huge precision afforded in the posing. Most figures have lots of pose presets. Just grabbing with a mouse cursor might seem intuitive to you, but what on earth is that meant to mean in 3D? Poser 6 is sufficiently inproved over previous versions to deserve being called a new version. I know I've shelled out for less change in Word, like long file names for example. Anyway, I had to say something because some other reviews seemed fairly ignorant to me. I get amazed at some of the slamming I see around here - you'd think the programmers weren't other human beings the way some people pontificate on their hard work.

A Classic installer? The 80's called. They want their outdated operating system support back.