Poser Pro - Who's the customer?

Many times the software development process starts with a simple idea. In the case of Poser Pro however it began with numerous feature requests (and complaints), a few drinks, and a lot of arguing. About 5 of us here tend to debate all things Poser sometimes endlessly. Most of us, myself included, are always right. 110% of the time. Put that many highly successful, good looking, power house software geeks in one room and there's bound to be a fight.
So when an alternate version of Poser was proposed the melee ensued. "Imagine cloning your child, and then adding attributes to make the clone better than the actual child...." was one argument I heard. "Why not just Poser 8?" 

 

Image by "hybel" DeviantArt.com
That's me on the floor..

Well, let's talk about Poser Pro first. The argument was, how do we fund development of features like network rendering and support for host apps, that will eventually exceed anything currently out there. And how do we do this when the product averages somewhere around $140 a pop? And how do we do this when a good portion of our current customers don't need these features, or at least don't need all of them, yet the future and reputation of the product may very well depend on them. Do you make customers pay for something they don't need? For most companies the answer is a resounding yes. Although I do use the camera in my Cell Phone daily. (Sarcasm Alert).
But not in this case. By separating the product line we can please those customers that need the features and who will realize the value in them. Not everyone in the Poser community will need them and we understand this. I know there will be those few very vocal members who, no matter what I say, will filet me like a fresh fish. And on top of this any co-workers reading are now sweating bullets. Although I do enjoy that.

The reality is we are pressing forward with a version of Poser not targeted to the majority of the current user base. The rendering features are valuable to anyone doing more than casual work with Poser. For example if you're rendering single images at 72dpi for use on the web, why would you need network rendering or a render queue? If you are integrating your work into Photoshop or After Effects for print or video, you will find the export to HRD very helpful. COLLADA is becoming indispensable, and the ability to distribute animation frames on multiple machines is an amazing time saver. Again these might not be things the majority of the current user base will need. Likewise if you're using 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, or Maya, and YES LightWave, you probably don't need the rendering features but they're there if you do. You'll likely be more interested in content and animation features.

The bottom line is there will be an inexpensive side-grade available for Poser 7 owners, that will cover the render features including the ability to render in the background, which allows you to continue to work during the render. There will be a slightly more upity side-grade that covers the hosting plug-ins as there are many out there using Poser 7 with similar functionality through 3rd party apps already. In many cases struggling with incompatibilities with the host app and antiquated solutions. And of course the full actual everyday version of Poser Pro that has it all.

Now about Poser 8. We have big plans for Poser 8 but we're not convinced that everything under the sun needs to be available in Poser. Poser 7 hasn't even been out for a year, and the application is still hands down the best at what it does, and for the price it just can't be beat.  

Once again, thanks for reading....