"So what does Poser 5 offer that I can't get in Cinema, Lightwave, Max, Carrara etc.?" If you can afford these high(er) end apps, what are you doing in a Poser Forum? I'm sorry but from what I know of these High End apps, P5 isn't really able to compete across the board. And from what I can gather it never really was meant to - if it had been a bucket load more development and a higher price tag would have been put into it. I don't mean to be rude of confrontational but seriously - you're talking way different leagues. I've installed P5 on what constitutes as two diff machines and have yet to encounter a serious issue. I like P5 for what it allows me to do. I chose P5 coz I had the cash to spend and thoguht it looked like a good investment over P4/PP Poser whatever version fits nicely into a niche alongside Bryce, Vue and others in that price range, and because of that it holds its own - P5 is not perfect, but it's got new features to offer over P4 - but show me an updated/newer version of a software package regradless of price tag that doesn't offer newer, shineier, better features.