At first the new version of Poser by
Curious Labs appears very much like the Poser 4. That's just because they kept a lot of the user interface the same. But what's under the hood of this new power house is really amazing.
The models are much more detailed then they were in Poser 4, and now in Poser 5 you have complete control over the face from lips to eyes to cheek and bone structure. The really neat thing in Poser 5 modeling now is the ability to mesh a face (your own for example) in a digital image unto the Poser 5 model. This really opens up new vistas in creativity. This has to be one of the best new features as far as I am concerned in Poser 5 -- Total facial control.
Poser 5's next improvement over version 4 is the hair. The hair is fully controllable. From the color of the hair, to the length, the amount of curl in the hair, etc. This is really an amazing improvement. The hair is also dynamic, in that it responds to gravity in a natural way.
Poser 5 is compatible with a lot of the old Poser 4 extras, like models, and props and lights. So if you've invested a lot of time collecting extra's for your Poser 4, Poser 5 should still support most if not all of your addons.
As far as drawbacks for Poser 5 there are a few. Working with hair is not quite natural and as intuitive as it could be. The "mat" hair (that is the hair before rendering) doesn't look like the hair after rendering. The controls for arranging the hair are somewhat clunky and non-intuitive. Although there is a help system which guides you through a lot of the procedures required. I think the interface could be improved at little in the hair sub-section of the program. It's a powerful new tool even despite these inconvienances.
My only other complaint is that the object manipulation controls seem to suffor from a lack of coordination. For example you've selected one figure, and the wheels on the controls effect a different figure in your scene. This is extremely annoying as it cause you in some cases to reposition the effected model/prop.
Other than these problems this package is absolutely top notch! It brings new power to consumer/home graphics. While keeping what was good in the older Poser, Poser 5 unleashes amazing new features in this package. (approx price $389/USD).
Alyssa
