All very good advice given here from people who know their stuff. Not sure if you are starting out with Poser 4 or Poser 5, but I would suggest getting familiar with the program and the feel for using the characters that come with it b4 spending a lot of money. There are not a multitude of free items for the basic Poser 5, but if you are starting out in Poser 4 there are more available free and store items than you could ever use in one lifetime.