The world of Poser figures is an odd one, but since it sort of came up in the "Renda" thread I'll comment a bit.

Over the years I have picked up just about every female Poser figure that came close to the mainstream. I admit that my needs are fairly specific in that I am looking for a few good, base figures that I can build a "stable" of items, clothing and techniques around for constant re-use. In the end, these are what I have in my tool box that I actually do or will >use<.

Apollo Maximus

Mike never did it for me, even as M3. I needed a figure that was more flexible and since most of the $$$ to be made is in rendering hot women it wasn't important to spend a lot fo time on a male figure that didn't love me back.

Apollo has changed all that... the flexibility of the figure is awesome and made it useful to start rendering men.

Victoria 3

For all her flaws, the amount of support makes her a must have to me right now. However the add on's are so numerous that it is worth listing the ones I actually keep "on deck". For character work? 99.99% of everything I need from V3 is do-able with the International Beauties set morphs and textures. That set has almost single handedly reduced my need to buy more stuff for her other than props / clothing.

Aiko 3

A great figure. The support is good, her looks is perfect for the situations I need a Anime style figure in and the crossover between her and V3 means often one purchase can cover both girls.

The Girl

A strong look, but in those circumstances where she is called for there isn't another figure like her.

Ingenue Vicki

It's such a great little body, she is much in demand for pin-up work.

Between those five, currently I am all set. I don't really need many other morphs or figures right now. I will be purchasing the female companion to Apollo though - if she is as great as he is then that will probably be the end of V3 in my toolbox.

Anyoen else have an essential figure? This is not to say that there are not GREAT others out there ( Glam Jessi looks awesome BTW, as do some of the other Jessi upgrades ) but I am thinking of those models that, in general cover your bases.

Who are your "go to" guys / gals/ Models, textures and morph kits? Sound off!

Apollo Maximus Aiko3 Hiro David YoungTeens (as opposed to any of the Poser kids and MilKids)

David and SP. And the Millennium Housecat. :-)

Don & James - the best poser males as far as I'm concerned. Both of them play major roles in my comics. Judy & Jessi - often used as sidekicks I'm also using M1/V1 & M3RR & V3RR, just because there's lot's of clothing for them. Since none of them look realistic at all (they're crap when it comes to real life models), they fit my comic projects just perfect. Most often used as not main figures. Poser 4 Male & Female often used as background figures. M3/V3/Apollo Maximus and the rest way to expensive to even be considered. (body) Textures I don't use at all, spoils the comics big time.

Michael 2 - I find that it's quite difficult to break away from the Daz look with M3. M2 is just a more versatile figure for facial character work. David - for some reason, much easier to animate than M3 Freak - when used in conjunction with the M3 Head Morphs, the Freak is also great for character work

A3 & Hiro - They are SO versatile! David V3 M3 and all the rest of the Daz family Anime Doll Maya Doll The Neftis family. Elle, Neftoon Gal, Pal I can't wait to get my paws on the new Girl & Guy she's working on. ^^ Lady Littlefox Koshini & Friends Many other toons like Staci

V3 and V2 espeically the La Sombra morph with the Goddess Skin, David, Apollo Max.

Mike 2 but I'm getting used to Apollo Max, which has great potential. Stephanie, the original version. I usually use Stephanie Max, which has tons of extra morphs. Victoria 2. Easy to create characters and I have lots of clothes, textures and accessories Victoria 3. Not really my weapon of choice but there's so much content which is V3 specific. Stephanie Petite. My favourite of the Unimesh females. David. Much better default look than the great lumpy Jessie that is Mike 3.

Mike & Vicky 2 forever and sometime the freak for unreal brutes Mike2 IMHO is the most versatile Male figure ever especially for creating NON caucasion males and despite his lower poly count his muscle morphs put M3 to a pitiful shame. besides I hate morph injection with the deepest passion.!!!! and now that i have wardrobe wizard , clothing my classic Mil-2 figures with thier morphs in place is a breeze :-)

I normally use a Mike 3 with David morphs injected into him. I have a pile of morphs for Mike 3 that I hope to get out one day so that is part of the reasoning but his anatomy is better proportion wise ... David is normally too skinny for anything I do even though he can morph up the clothing often leaves them out. M2 has proportion problems so I have sort of left him alone for a while. I mostly have to do guys in my illustration work but for female I normally use Vicky since she has the most clothes.

The MVPs of my Runtime are: 1) M3 I use him 99.9% of the time. Great model, great support, great morphs, but could use an update to bring him up-to-date with A3, and H3. 2) V3 The most supported figure of all time. Nuff said. 3) Aiko3 I love her, so cute! 4) Hiro3 I love him, so cute! 5) Mill Dog My favorite critter! I also love SP, but she got bumped off the list by Aiko and Hiro. And Matt goes not support and was bumped off the list by Hiro. I never took to David. I adore Rosy Cheeks Lina, but don't use her much. Apollo is too new to say, but it is safe for me to say Apollo will not be knocking M3 out of the number one spot. bB

1. House Mouse - somehow I end up using this little critter in one of every three or four of my projects. I know it's not a human figure, but I always put it in human situations and/or sceneries. I guess I love toons & fluffies too much. 2. Posette - very light on my system, still have too much stuff for her I haven't used yet. 3. A3 - so cute. A perfect anime girl. 4. Furrette & Furraldo - I told you I love toons & fluffies :D 5. Vittorio - very versatile for such a cheap guy.

1. Apollo Maximus 2. Bert Wacky World Bear 3. V3

I like James too. I think he's a great default figure, and much more than that. BTW, that's one GREAT render, Maxxxmodelz! wow.

1. V3/M3- so far, just can't find enough clothes for her/him
2. Maya Doll- have the goods, just wish I could modify her face a bit more..;)
3. Dina - on occasion
4. Her/Him/Sixus 1 crew- quite handy. I need to load up the Project Human files, just haven't gotten around to it.
5. Vicky Lo-res (V-lo), and Mike Lo-res (Milo), have more luck finding duds for these 2..
6. Posette/Dork/Casual Guy/etc- the Poser regulars. Good for distance shots, etc.
   Heaven knows I've got another 50 or so characters I haven't mentioned, but these are my stock in trade.

1. ApolloMaximus & Elle 2. Unimesh figures 3. Project Human/Sixus1 figures 4. James/Jessi 5. Don/Judy

Elle Apollo David Michael 2 Natalia Neftoon Pal

Male: David Female: V3 I find V3 ridiculously versatile. I've made V3 into the spitting image of friends in both the face and the body. You simply can't do this with any other figure, period. V3 does have some posing problems, but nothing that can't be corrected easily with lighting or postwork. I also imagine that the next V3 will fix these problems easily enough as they're fairly well dealt with in YT Laura.

Mainly A3 & V3 But I'll always have a fondess in my heart fer Posette...I learned so much by usin' her. And I'm also a bit non-plussed by all the newbie posts askin' "What do I need?" which invariably lead to answers of "Buy Figure X". I purdy sure that I ent th'only one who blew my budget when I fisrst bought Poser & had to rely on freebies fer years to do anythin'signifigant. Even though she ent the "perfect shape", with the amount of free morfs, character packs, textures, clothing, accessories, etc. I'm still surprised the "Buy Figure X" reply still comes out...every bit of knowledge I gained in using her I've been able to adapt/ apply to "Figure X", & I believe she should be everybody's starting point. (I rant because I know those newbies are gonna see this thread & overlook what they already have, then rush out & buy sumpin' they'll never use) OK...I'm done..I off to make a NVIATWAS

What is it again? Nude Vicky in a temple with...

To say the truth, Im most using V3 and M3 only. Althought Im working/playing with characters only,I cant see the need of an new base-figure. I love to get so many different character-sets for V3 that I can change her to all types of persons.If I need more, Im using the features of the sculp-pack (250 morphs plus).

Before I started the NEA project I used to play with those people:

1.Natalia
2.V2LoRes&M2LoRes
3.V2-M2
4.AnAn-Don

I also like MayaDoll a lot but never used her much...

Unfortunatelly I don't have Apollo though he looks one of the best figures I've seen and also wait for the Zygote figures to be rigged...

Till then all my time goes to Nea,Simeon,NeJa & Dorus!

pitklad

Nigel a.k.a. The Freak. He's so much more versatile than people generally give him credit for, especially in the "face" department. Check some of the stuff in my gallery if you don't believe me. ;)

I have tried just about every figure out there including some you probably haven't heard of(no budget here) but I keep going back to V3/M3 and the V3/M3RR figures. M3 is a real resource hog but the RR version is great. As for V3, there is just so much out there for her, morphs, magnets, textures, hair you can create virtually any character (in either gender)and clothe it any way you like. I am currently awaiting Renda despite the obvious debate about problems, and have a mild curiosity about Apollo Max, but I'll wait on Apollo until I've played with Renda a while. One anime figure that just fasinates me is MDP. She is a free anime figure that comes with some basic clothing items, not a lot but she's just so much fun. If you want to check her out here's a link: http://mdp.s18.xrea.com/DL/DLpage.html

I use the poser 4 figures and judy and don the most. I don`t like v3 much because of the file size.

SP with the head of V3, blackeyes, umutov's legs and blackhearted's bodymorph. And lots of postwork for shoulders etc.

Dr. Morpheen by Syyd Raven. Lotsa morphs and sooooo easy on the processor. And he was FREE. Sara by Dark Whisper. Darling cartoon look and continuous supply of freebies from 3DSC. And she is FREE.

There will be more freebies for sara from 3dsc coming soon.