Gave the matter some more thought... While I agree with mickma that the Poser 5 renderer isn't exactly an outside product, I will say that it does have several advantages over Poser 4 -- primarily in the area of splashy effects and such that give you an "edge" in these sorts of contests. But then, that is why they added it to Poser in the first place, lol. My understanding of the topic thus far is that we are talking about Postwork versus No Postwork (the eternal debate?), not Toys versus No Toys, or skill levels (though I may have fogged that a bit). The point of the challenge is to display your talents -- artistically AND with Poser. Since the challenge is specifically a Poser challenge, I believe, and always have, that postwork sort of defeats the purpose of using poser in the first place. Much of what is derided about "poser art" is based in the tendency to use it for a bit too much NVIATWAS and also the fact that Poser artists are considered little more than the merest step up from 2D artists because much of the good stuff is so heavily postworked as to be unrecognizable. Meanwhile, the "serious" 3D art community strives for a purity of render within their chosen specialty (the fact that poser artists seem to outnumber the serious group is subject for another friendly debate) -- in other words, postwork is a sin beyond the signature, and I've noticed a strong trend among many of them to even work that into the actual render itself. So it's possible that encouraging no postwork could bring to the community as a whole a bit of recognition (not to mention a whole lot more "how the hell do I stop my character from disappearing when I add clothes" questions...). And thanks, fido13 -- that was very nice of you :)

thou and I, my friend, can, in the most flunkey world, make, each of us, one non-flunkey, one hero, if we like: that will be two heroes to begin with. (Carlyle)