Poser is the art of the director or the photographer-- perhaps both in one. I started in Fractals where I still do the best in pure art-- line color texture. But I missed people. Poser gives you people as Bryce gives you worlds--bit more personal hands-on creativity in Bryce. But I always imagined the power of Poser creativity is in story-telling even if that is brief and emphemeral. For the most part you don't build your people or their environment, you pose and light and combine different elements to make your image. Hence, the metaphors of Directing and Photography. If you want to have absolute control over every aspect of your work from modeling to texturing-- Poser is probably not your thing-- when would you have the time?? But if you like and accept collaborative art, Poser is easy to learn and deep enough to satisfy. Downsides, the ease is mostly in Poser 4 and PP where the render machine is crude. Poser 5 improves on the renderer at the expense of ease of use and stability. In a few years this may all be moot, but that's where it is now. You can render Poser 4 material in Vue D'esprit-- easy-- or in Bryce-- complicated, or in Carrara, quite complicated but getting a bit easier. I'm only mentioning comparably priced programs. As one gets better in Poser, the demand for a better renderer becomes insistant. Emily