I think Poser can do realism too - an it's not a difficult objective. However, I just think in order for image output to compete on the level of other software packages would take an enormous amount of time and patience, which most artists don't have much of either. By the way, Deecey, that's a very cool image you linked to, but there are elements in there that keep it from being convincingly photoreal. I'm sure the artist wasn't going for PHOTO realism there anyway (there's a difference between PHOTOrealism and realism), so I won't bother to point out why it falls short of that. I think what we're confusing here is the difference between realism and photorealism. Realism is something you can achieve quite easily in Poser and almost any other 3D package out there. Photorealism (where the image is almost completely indistinguishable from a photo) is a LOT harder to do, and is better tackled with the assistance of GI lighting. There's no disputing that fact. But I agree, it takes an artist to make the art... you gotta have the skills and talent to make a picture look it's best regardless. :-)

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.