I know that a lot of what distinguishes the programs is better or worse depending on personal preferences, rather than an objective standard. However, I'm interested in any differences which can help me decide which app to work with, as I suspect many people are. Since I assume most people on this forum come from a Poser or DAZ|Studio background, the ease in which Poser content can be imported and used is an important thing. I'd assume that any of the programs can import .obj files well, but how easy is it to bring in a texture map you've made (or bought) for your Poser .obj? I've been playing with Cinema and found it surprisingly easy to get started in. Ironically, I can't afford it, as their student pricing is significantly higher than Maya, Lightwave, or XSI (at least for C4D Studio, which brings it to feature parity). However, despite BodyPaint3D, I can't figure out how to get my pre-existing maps in--and I, as a Photoshop pro, have created a lot of them. This may be something fairly easy to do, but it will take time to learn the program well enough to get those things worked out. If another program makes using maps easier, than that's less I have to relearn. Trying to learn how to do that fairly basic thing for all of the contenders (Maya, Lightwave, XSI, Max) could take a months. I'd rather decide on an app, get the demo, and stick with it unless it proves to not work for me.