There's multiple issues where Poser is concerned, Sky. There really is. Whether we like it or not, Daz is setting the standard on the market. Unfortunately. Now, HiveWire is doing it's best to change that - and with clear, and mostly total cross-platform compatibility. But it's going to take time to fully get up there.
Another issue is that, frankly, SM's program "feature figures" are NEVER sold independently of the software. I like Pauline. I like Paul. Any idea how much I would love to make stuff for them? Problem? There's NO WAY that I am going to shell out half of my mortgage payment in cost to get P11 Pro, JUST to get my hands on Pauline, Paul, and the fitting room. By the time I have enough saved up for P11Pro, they'll be on to the next version. And at this rate, I'm not going to be willing to buy another 32-bit version of the software again, nor am I going to be willing to buy anything that isn't "Pro" because I need the content creator tools myself, as well. And Pro runs for about $500 last I checked, nor does SM offer any ability to pay with installments, either.
SM has priced itself out of the hobbyist market, with a hobbyist level product. That is another BIG problem.
And, and this is going to tick off some Poser folks as well - it can NOT make use of Daz's product types. Genesis 1 is my PRIMARY figure for artwork. I'm NOT going to fight with the DSON and HOPE that it works, just to use that figure. Whether we like it or not, Daz's figure bases are what a lot of the market drives on, because the underlying software is free and much more readily available to folks with very limited 3D budgets.
SM would need a way to natively support those figure bases in order to compete properly. At present, Poser does not and cannot without use of the DSON, and the DSON is no shining gem either.
And that's not taking into account that the G3's do NOT work with even the DSON converter, Daz has stated in the past that they have no intentions of MAKING them work, and at this point with the release of Connect-only products, an awful lot of Daz products are eventually going to not even be able to be imported to Poser without losing a LOT of their underlying functionality.
Poser is also LOADED with memory holes. Where I can set up ten figures, full clothes, full big, complicated and chock-full STUFFED with props scene, 11 different lights, all shadow casting, DOF camera, and.... render it in ONE pass in DS!!....
Poser chokes and dies on a single Dawn and Dusk with almost no background props.
All of the above is each one a striking blow on Poser. The combination is a landslide.
I ended up migrated to DS because I had no choice at the time. When I finally had a PC that COULD run Poser again, I discovered that Poser could not make use of the figure I immediately turn to for rendering, and the figure that I have so many of my story characters built on. Story illustration requires consistent appearance across the board in most cases, no matter what figure base I move to. By the time they released the DSON converter, I had just accepted the fact that I would have to stay within DS to render.
But I picked up the DSON and tried it out... and tried it and tried it and tried it, and I couldn't do jack squat without Poser crashing, or freezing, or weird bends or clothes that just would not fit the figure properly, among other things. I uninstalled my copy of Poser at that time and just went back to DS. It literally was not worth the headache at that point.
If I can't make my OC's on the new figures, I don't use the new figures. That story illustration thing is actually the BIGGEST reason I have not yet been able to shift completely over to Dawn and Dusk. They are lacking too many things that I would need for my OC's. Now, I'm using them more than I used to... but my primary figure is still Genesis 1, which Poser can't use without DSON and tons of bugs.
Now... would I like to see Poser succeed? Absolutely!! I would! Do I want to see Poser users be able to pick up content as they need to? Yes! (Why else would I still be hammering away at making Nataani Poser-compatible??)
But there's a lot that needs fixing with the software to convince me to upgrade any further beyond P10.
Now by the same token, yes, there have been some really obnoxious DS users and comments and attitudes from them. Totally, I agree! I've seen similar attitudes coming from the Poser camp though, too. It goes both ways, and it's wrong no matter which side of the fence it's coming from.
I HATE the program-war. I hate it. We're all in this hobby for the same purposes... to MAKE ART. Why the heck should it matter which canvas you use, and which canvas I use to make our art with? What the heck does it matter? It doesn't. Two programs, two flavors, two choices, everyone has the ability to pick the one they are the most comfy in and prefer. And that's a great thing. Two different tools, that serve basically the same role.
To me, there is no program-war. None. I know folks who are religiously Poser-only, I know folks who are religiously DS-only, and I know folks who use both, or at least support both. Nothing wrong with any of those groups, so long as basic respect is maintained.
Meh. I'm going to hush up here. I remember when the very first public beta of DS was released. Version 0.21-b or something like that. And the program war began. Even back then it annoyed me, because it's like two kids squabbling over toys that they don't even have to share with each other. WTF! LOL
And I'll shush there.
