"It's a kick-off point into CG, which is something I have always wanted to get into." Well, I personally think that poser it a great kick off place. I'm a lousy artist, but workin on it, lol. But I've been in computers and multimedia for 18 years now, primarily from a hardware and training end. There are much better 3D Programs out there, from a strictly technical viewpoint, than poser, but none of them has the sort of community and depth that Poser does (although Lightwave is starting to really come up). And they also have a much, much steeper learning curve. Much steeper. With P5, the slope to them is a little less, as you have before you, in one program, all the things they do as separate modules (sometimes costing as much as poser does, but usually more) with the single exception of actually modelling (although I've used poser to model plenty of times, and still do. More my speed, lol). "Can you really do literal animation with Poser? This is new to me! Now I'm really over the top interested. Can I make my own movie short in Poser 5? " yes, you can. I routinely make 20 to 30 minute videos with it. Part of the reason I opted to use Poser for this is that it allows me rapidity, provides me with a way to store characters that I usually have to use several times, speeds up time to production (I don't have to model, bone, and joint the figures, which you do in higher end packages), and allows me tremendous flexibility in animating. The one thing I really do want for it is a point light. With that addition alone, I'd be in heaven. lol Caveats, though: animating is hard. It takes a lot of time, and what you can never do is just start setting up the whole movie at once and try rendering it. Poser is the tool you use to create "shots" -- individual camera shots. You'll do a bazillion renders. but by doing it that way, you save time -- because you are not trying to do things your tool isn't designed for. (truth be told, if you want to do long involved shots, invest in a high end package and kiss a couple years of your life away to learn it lol) That means planning out your stuff ahead of time. Just like in a real film, you have to assemble your casts, your sets, your storyboard (critical), and your effects team. That takes time. But Poser lets you do it fast once the basics are in place and you know what you are doing.

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)