I don't rate max at all, to complex and bloated IMHO..(i'll get it in the neck for that LOL)...i like Cinema 4d, nice and simple unless you want to dig deep and get complex and works well with poser.....having said all that you might try it hate it and love max...you may try both hate them and love LW so in the end you need to see what you like and use what suits you...Take Amapi as an example i have it and have tryed it but just can't get my head around the interface but i KNOW its a great app coz some folks here do some amazing stuff with it (Dolly springs to mind but there are lots of others)...Rhino also must be considered especially seeing you want something to work in conjunction with poser, there are a lot of folks working with it as a modeler and then rendering in much more expensive apps....anyway less rambling LOL whichever you pick make sure you give the demos some serious hammer before you drop all that dosh ;o).......Steve