Poser By Design has spent the last 48 hours testing this software creating renders and looking for bugs while trying to really see if it was worth the money that we spent on getting it. We were able to get a pretty good feel for this software so for our readers who only want to know if it's worth your money then the short answer is Yes, any Poser owner would have to be out of their mind not to get Poser 8. We have used poser since Poser 4, and little improvements were made that could even justify the other versions Poser 5, 6, 7, or Poser Pro. Yes we have just put down the older versions of Poser in celebration of Poser 8, but to be sure that Poser 8 is a great as it has been for us at the moment, we are going to dedicate an entire 2 weeks on reviewing Poser 8. If this is all you need to know then definitely buy it. Otherwise read on to see what makes Poser 8 so hot. We'll have tons of screenshots for you so you can see exactly what you'll be buying within this week.

OK now let's talk about the details of Poser 8. Poser 8 has done a great job by sticking to the most important rule of creating new software; make it user friendly.

Improvement #1: Very User friendly

Poser 8 is very user friendly and previous poser owners will be able to use the program as if nothing has change. The big improvement in regards to Poser 8 being user friendlier is Poser 8's layout of its work area. The work area makes better use of the space by positioning the controls in a tight and very organized manner that will allow you to easily find what you are looking for. Poser 8 also takes into consideration that people have larger computer monitors with better resolutions. All of this results in a better rendering area in which to create your art. Poser 8 even has a Quick Start Guide with video showing step-by-step on how to do basic things with Poser. So now all Poser newbies will be able to learn Poser 8 without any problems at all.

Improvement #2: Faster Rendering Time

This is one of Poser 8's biggest improvements. In our opinion it's even bigger than the new content management system. We were able to render images as quickly as 1 minute rendering times for default rendering settings. Even the Final rendering time is incredible at 10 minutes. These times are based on a computer that has 2.5 GB RAM. Newer computers should have faster rendering times because of their faster processors and larger RAM. The 10 minute rendering time is a big improvement in two ways; 1. Start’s faster and 2. Poser 8 now has better and more complex lighting capabilities. To give you an example of the improvement of rendering times, Poser Pro on the same computer took twice as long and even longer for the same tasks. There is definitely improvement when it comes to rendering time.

Improvement #3: Better Quality Lighting System

This is another one of Poser 8's major improvements. Poser 8 has a new and improved lighting system that allows you to do more with fewer lights. You no longer have to deal with longer rendering times and overkill on the use of lighting to create good lighting effects. One of the improvements that you'll notice right away is the use of indirect lighting. Poser 8’s use of indirect lighting means that your shadows won't completely darken objects within the shadows. You'll no longer have to create additional lighting in order to see objects that are positioned in the shadows.

Improvement #4: Better Quality Image Renders

Poser 8 will give you a better image render and requires less work to create great lighting. Poser users who had trouble with zombie looking characters or bad lighting will be able to create computer generated art like a professional "right out of the box." The rendering is just that good. There is little need for extensive lighting adjustments. Those who are really good at creating Poser art will be even better with the new and improved rendering on Poser 8. Let's just say that it'll make advance Poser artists want to redo some of their older works of art.

Improvement #5: Content Management System

Poser 8 is every Poser Artist's dream come true for the simple fact that there is now an easy to follow searchable content management feature available. It took us a while to really understand how the searchable content manager works on Poser 8, so we'll give you a tip on how to really get it to find what you are looking for. Searching 3rd party content (like DAZ3D) on Poser 8 can be tricky but if you understand how files are named within DAZ Studio and Poser, then you'll be able to get accurate results when searching. For example, searching for the term MAT will list all files that are named with MAT and material files for characters. You can also search within categories and by 3D content name. Searching for the word cloak will bring up all of your cloak related content. Searching A3 Cloak will give you cloaks associated with Aiko 3.

These are the big 5 improvements that we noticed right away. We have about 10 or 15 more improvements that were made and we'll be posting those throughout the 2 weeks we’re spending on reviewing Poser 8. Initially we had 2 program crashes when we first installed Poser 8, but after restarting the computer we haven't had anymore issues. The most that we can tell is that it was a problem with our computer and not the software. So far things have been bug free for us.

A Closer Look : into Workspace Layout Improvement

When we first start Poser 8 we are greeted with an improved layout area and a much larger workspace that made good use of our 22" monitor. Everything was neatly organized and easy to find.

Letters A - E are features that are present on older versions of Poser. This is a big plus for past poser users because there is less to learn as far as learning how to use Poser 8. If you are a new Poser user then you'll be able to take advantage of Poser 8's Smart guide that shows how to use the software through video as well as text instructions. Letter F is were we are going to focus on. Letter F is Poser 8's new content management system.

A Closer Look: into the Content Management System (Letter F)

Poser 8's 3D content management system allows you to search for your 3D content and provides previews of your 3D models. The best part about the preview system that we didn't cover on page one is that the content that you are using stays open in the preview until you decide to collapse the folder. For example, if I'm working on a character and I'm using clothing with many pieces then I'll just leave the folder open so that when I come back to my figures, pose, hair, or props category, the pieces that I'm using are the only ones that are shown in the preview. This makes it much easier to find the content that's associated with the character. The search feature also works well provided that you put in the right term. For example if you are looking for tennis shoes, you'll have to search for the general term "shoes" unless you have content named "tennis shoes." The content search bar isn't Google, so be sure to keep that in mind. If I'm looking for a Bun hair style then the best way to find it is to go general and type the search term "hair," unless I know that I have a 3D model named Bun Hair. Below is a short video of the content management system in use.

Content Managment Missing Previews for Older Content
One of the things that we noticed with the content management system is that it wasn't creating any previews of the 3D models. Instead we got the "No Preview Guy." From what we know, there was a decision made to make the software run more efficiently and in order to do that Poser 8 staff had to cleanout things that slowed older versions down. It was nice to hear that Poser 8 was being optimized.  One of the things that made the software run less efficiently deals with the files that created the previews of some older content. Don't worry if you get a "No Preview" guy. There is no bug or problem with Poser 8's previews.
In addition to that there is a software that will allow you to easily generate new previews to replace the No Preview guy. Any content made around the birth of Aiko 3, Victoria 3, and before will result in getting a No Preview Guy. We'll have a tutorial later showing you how to generate new images to replace the "No Preview Guy." Closer Look: into Better Quality Image Rendering When we first tried Poser 8, we were very happy and very surprised at how well the rendering improved. The image was so good that we wanted to know if Poser 8 could improve our older content that we were neglecting. The good news is that Poser 8 will breathe new life into your older 3D clothing models. We wanted to give Poser 8 a really good challenge so we picked out the worst 3D clothing piece that we had. Why would you care if Poser 8 made your older 3D clothing look good? Because now your older 3D clothing models can look like the image below. Ignore everything that you see on this image and focus on the red one piece clothing that is covering our Aiko 3 model. The red clothing is called CanGal Suit and it was created sometime around the time when Poser 4 or 5 was the best, so right away we are dealing with a very old 3D model. The car is much newer than the CanGal Suit and serves as our comparison. As you can see the suit rendering is perfect with Poser 8. So far we haven't had any problems with Poser 8 yet, but there is a hotfix available to correct an issue that's going on in the area of the program that we haven't gotten to yet. Remember to check this site often for new reviews on Poser 8.   Below is a list of Poser 8 Rendering Times that are based on our computer specifications and models used. Rendering times will vary depending on computer capabilities, 3D models used, the number of 3D models used. With this in consideration we have listed rendering time range based on various types of models we use. We rendered on full body using the main camera (not portrait). Medium rendering quality was used with only Poser 8 running (not including background programs like McAfee virus scan). All rendering Sizes were 1200 x 1000 Our computer Specifications: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz / 2.5 GB RAM / NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Program # of Models # of lights Render Setting Rendering Time Poser Pro 5 3 Default lights setting color white Medium 5 -7 Minutes Poser 8 5 3 Default lights setting color white Medium 2 - 4 Minutes Poser Pro 10+ 3 Default lights setting color white Medium 15 - 25 Minutes Poser 8 10+ 3 Default lights setting color white Medium 10 -16 Minutes Poser Pro 10+ 3 Default lights setting color white Final 1.5 - 2 hours Poser 8 10+ 3 Default lights setting color white Final 1 We tried various models during our rendering tests to find the ranges. 3D backgrounds, clothing, props, and base models were used in our testing. It's easy to notice the rendering time even without the chart. Bugs that we encountered - Without the hotfix. Our first couple of renders with Poser 8 was incredible because we actually had to look for bugs and glitches in the program. It wasn't until we started pushing the program a little more, that we began to notice that some things weren't working quite right. Some of the bugs that we encountered were: Screen jumps where Poser 8 would jump from the posing screen to the rendered image screen and back to the posing screen. This doesn't happen too often and we haven't seen it happen in about a week. But since it happened we have to list it. Crashes during library refresh. For 2 weeks straight we had to deal with a few crashes after refreshing the library. After two weeks we just stopped clicking the library refresh. Not the best solution but it did stop the crashes. Textures not applying. None of the Millennium Dog textures were applied to the dog after clicking on them. We reinstalled the Millennium Dog bundle multiple times with no luck in the textures working. Eventually we gave up and applied the texture manually in the materials room. We havent installed the hotfix for Poser 8 but hopefully that will solve this issue. These were the only bugs that we encountered doing our testing of the software. Other Poser 8 users have had bugs that we didn't have but in all fairness there are some Poser users that have had limited bug issues that weren't big enough to make them regret purchasing the software. Because this is a Review of Poser 8 we want you to have all of the information including bugs that other users have had (located in Poser Forum). Final words Overall Poser 8 is still a big improvement of the past versions of Poser and even with the bugs that many people have experienced, Poser 8 is still a must have. If you are still unsure about purchasing Poser 8 then we would recommend waiting until the service release 1 comes out where many of the bugs that others have had are fixed. This way when you purchase the software and still have problems with the software after installing the service release you'll be able to get a refund within the specified time set by Smith Micro. Like many first version software there is always bugs on the .0 version. Poser 8 is definitely not the exception to this rule.