Poser Pro for Mac

User Reviews

• Congratulations! Version 8 is a great upgrade.

  me256September 24, 2009

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Excellent upgrade from Smith Micro. It took some time but version 8 adds a much needed cleanup of the interface, without alienating existing users. Personal favorites are the new indirect illumination for much improved rendering quality and the highly improved content manager. Seems like it's stable under Snow Leopard, no crashes so far.

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• Very good price point and they've made improvements...

  ~AntonioJanuary 8, 2009

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  ...to the interface and stability<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Version 7 is definitely a step up for Poser. I had issues with the stability up through version 6 on fairly high-end PowerPC hardware, in the past. It would crash while executing fairly simple tasks. I'm currently working on an Intel C2D, and it's running without a hiccup. I'm not sure if that makes a difference, or even if it should, considering, if software is released for a platform, it really ought to perform as reliably on that platform as it does on the others for which it is released. I can't really judge how the current version performs on PPC architecture, though maybe I'll fire up my PPC tower and find out. While I do wish they'd overhaul the camera view controls (which are anything but intuitive and really need a redesign), there have been some decent tweaks made to the rest of the interface. Things feel a little less clumsy. Along with the camera views, the editing tools along the top are my primary interface options. It would be nice if these stood out more, if the icons were a tad more representative in some cases of the intended use, and if, maybe, these were even something different completely from the web 2.0-style buttons they now seem to mimic. Come to think of it, representation is the same issue with the camera views- the hands and arms really don't represent the tools well, though the trackball comes close. An odd comparison though it may be, the trackball might be a bit better if it were something akin to the gradient angle control in Freehand, or something which moves like a desktop USB trackball, and is a simple color sphere with a focal dot which moves with the camera angle. come to think of it, something similar could replace at least three of the current camera view tools. It would seem much more straight-forward (just because we're working with the human figure doesn't mean we have to have tools modeled after human parts, especially if it only serves to obfuscate their purpose). And then there are the weird, plain white dots for scale, focal length, and roll (a shame, considering how well the tools themselves work). Why there is such a striking disparateness between certain portions of the interface and others is bewildering. I sometimes think it was designed by several different UI designers, each with his or her own agenda. The only tool which makes direct sense is the light controls tool: primary light source, core shadow, reflected light, each which are manipulated around a globe for direction, amount, and angle -simple enough and quite well done. The saving grace to all of this is that there is text annotation for each tool as you hover over, and it's large, crisp easily read text which happens immediately and in the same spot just over the icons. (as compared to other software which uses tiny little popups). Also worthy of positive note are the tabs at the top and the folding library, which snaps into existence with a click and is gone just as easily, allowing Poser to include as many features as it does and still keep them well organized and from becoming as intrusive as so many features could be when they're all accessible at the same time. I can't comment on any animation features Poser may have, as I use it primarily as a tool for figure modeling for illustration and the like, which it works quite well for. And, I think, I've written enough for now ;o)

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• No problems

  Martin Turner--2008January 5, 2007

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I've only had Poser 7 for a couple of weeks, so all I can really comment on is the improvements and the stability. This is an incremental upgrade in most respects -- better rendering, better models. There aare some things, such as lip-synching, which are new to the product, but as I don't use Poser for animation, I can't really comment on them. Despite what the nay-sayers say, the interface is fine. True, it doesn't match the classic OS X look, but neither, for that matter, do Apple Logic, Avid or DVD Studio Pro. This is nowhere near as off the wall as Bryce or Amapi. In terms of stability, I never had any problems with Poser 6, on any machine, and I haven't detected any with Poser 7. This is by sharp contrast with, say, Poser 3, which was dangerously unstable. Poser has evolved over the years to become a general graphic tool. We use it for medical illustration, graphic novels, comic art, and various advertising and marketing applications. We don't touch its animation capabilities â?? not because of quality, but because the degree of commitment it requires to animate with any tool goes beyond what we are able to put into any single project. For a fairly low upgrade price, this is a good upgrade. However, the relative paucity of clothes and hairstyles for the new G2 models is disappointing.

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• Superb

  Martin Turner--2008August 26, 2006

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Forget what others have said: Poser is superb. If you want the proof of this, just look around at the high-end 3d applications that are now including Poser connectivity, or are offering to sell Poser connectivity for -- well -- almost the price of Poser. I've been using Poser since version 1, on a variety of machines, from OS 8 to Tiger. It's true that earlier versions were buggy (especially version 3, which ate my hard disk once) but I've never had any issues with Version 6, neither on my G4 Powerbook nor our G5 Quad. Poser can produce fairly simple, basic cartoony type drawings if you want it to, or it can produce photorealistic massive resolution art if you have the time and patience to take it there. Check the gallery at www.renderosity.com for examples of some simply astounding work. There's also a massive amount of support, both commercial and free, in the form of other figures, clothing, props, lighting, expressions, scenery, animations and utilities. It's true that you can create impossible poses with Poser. But, then, if you want to illustrate broken bones, abnormal skeleton, or, indeed, an alien life-form, you need to be able to do this. I've never yet discovered a genuine position that I could not create in Poser. But, if you did, you can actually edit the models including the Inverse Kinematics without leaving the Poser application. Will Poser create art for you automatically? No. But, if it did, would it be art anyway? Are Poser renderings sufficient to use without any Photoshop adjustment? Probably not, but neither are images straight out of a high end digital camera. Does Poser offer an incredible level of power and control which takes you an enormous distance along the path to creating inspiring, gripping artwork? Yes it does. At least, it does for some people. No tool is right for everyone. Poser is a medium, just like airbrushing is a medium. Not everybody has to like it. But the proof of Poser is in the artwork that many have been able to produce.

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• Version 5?

  virtualshiftJanuary 1, 2006

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />The download is for Version. 5.4. Why would they still be updating an old version when the new has more problems than the old? What ever you do, do not pay money for the software.

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• Unusably slow rendering

  Handycam2004June 9, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I have to agree with other posters that this app is virtual useless for production work. The renderer is unbearably slow, especially for lights with shadows. And although they keep updating the hair and cloth capabilties, the rendering with hair is EVEN SLOWER. Fortunately, 6.0 includes figures with trans-mapped (textured) hair. There is still no other app like Poser, to easily create realistic people and pose them for use in your 3D scenes. However, the best thing you can do is create, dress, and pose your figure and bring it into another app (it's well-integrated with Carrara, but exports to most apps) for rendering. And note this workflow is best suited for still images, although some apps (e.g. Carrara) allow for animated figure imports. Just don't think you can do animations within Poser, especially not with hair or other dynamics. And I'm using a dual G5 2Ghz with plenty of RAM, so it's not that I'm on a low-end Mac.

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• Ridiculous Labs

  ADLITALYFebruary 15, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This software is completely unuseful for a Mac user. A turtle runs faster than the rendering engine of Poser. Menus and figures selection is extremely hard and too articulated. For example, you need up to 2 hours to make a SWF flash animation of 60 frames at 250 colors (256 is not allowed!!! ahahah!!). The application's folder grows and grows and grows everytime Poser is started. Did you ever see .tmp files on a Mac? Well, here you can have a lot of fun in discovery them and erase them. This stupid Poser 5 makes my G4 1,2GHz scream revenge...lol. Guys, it's wasted money: &lt;b&gt;please don't buy it!&lt;/b&gt; ...Curious Labs.... lmao...!

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• Great app, shame about the Mac port

  Alastair_Houghton_882February 9, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Poser is a great application, really useful for adding figures to 3D renderings, logos etcetera. The PC version runs quite smoothly. Unfortunately, the Mac version is pretty poor. It is even slow at starting up (and the machine I'm using is no slouch), and manipulating figures is very difficult due to the extremely sluggish UI (even selection is difficult!). I also wonder what they're using to do their UI, because the OS X lookalike dialog boxes are just strange (the buttons are the wrong size/shape). All in all, it's a shame to have such a poor Mac version as the PC version is really quite good. If Curious Labs did a Mach-O version with OpenGL support, I'd probably give the program a much better mark. As it is, I find it hard to recommend buying the Mac version of this product.

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• See comments below

  ADLITALYJanuary 10, 2005

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />See comments below

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• Well worth it!

  Knitted Air DirtAugust 8, 2003

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Yes it was a long wait, BUT... The program seems very stable. I'm sure that was a major goal of this update to OSX. The $99.00 I paid for the upgrade was an incredible bargain. Their are tons of useful new features and some excellent new models. Poser is VERY easy to use and can create fabulous results, particularly if you're more familiar with working with 2D graphics programs.

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