Wow. Quite a lot of responses. I'll try to address some of the replies in general. The overall welcome and understanding of almost everyone was very nice. I understand these topics have probably been raised before but I DID say I was a "super newbie".

First off thank you to the people that put me on to some of the products I had no idea about. Secondly a BIG thank you to the people that put me onto the tutorials. I downloaded over 70 of Dr. Geeps tutorials in Adobe format, as well as a few others. As soon as I get my new printer/scanner/copier installed I will print them up and I guess you guys won't see me again until Spring.

Regarding the anti intuitive nature of things I realize that the program is constantly evolving. I can only hope that the new company that owns/makes Poser either reads the forums or gets some non graphic artist beta testers. I understand that some things are static and others are dynamic. Still it seems that with hair for example you could have a hair folder with sub folders for the type and in those sub folders would be the style, textures, colours etc. You can extrapolate this to any other thing you want, models, backgrounds, sets, etc. It would require all of YOU to learn new terms but if done correctly it should seem very natural.

While a "make art" button would be very nice when I referred to a room designer I guess I should have said set designer. If you scour the freebies you already have walls, and props. You could create your urban street set, your bar, stripclub, portrait setting and add the props as necessary. You could even save these as some sort of preset and tweak them as necessary. The nice thing about this(and this is coming from a background in television) is you can get a lot of the basic lighting done in advance. You either understand what sort of program I am talking about and "get it" or you don't.

Celebrities-Yes I guess I figured there would be some sort of legal restriction. I like the idea of recreating the "diner painting" with Bogart, Marilyn and James Dean. I rather liked a knock off painting that was done with an X-files theme. Same diner but it was Mulder, Scully and an alien having a cup of coffee. I can see other great possibilities pairing dead and modern stars. I HAVE seen a few characters that strongly resemble celebrities. Seems a designer would never have it perfect and could call "Uma", Ima or Oma or add a really ugly hairy mole or wart that was easily removed. Some way to slide around the laws. I'd love certain political figures to be available as well. Not to engage them in perverse acts but to make a statement. Anybody got a Dubya?

Giant breasts and bee stung pout. I realize that beauty sells and I wasn't suggesting a flood of ugly characters (though a few would be nice). I guess what I was getting at is that there is a much greater range of of beauty. I see a LOT of characters and their designers talk about how wonderful, detailed and unique they are but when I look at them next to two or five other products I can't really see much difference. Sometimes it is the bump in the nose, the crooked smile, or some other imperfection that makes a person stand apart. Women are my inclination but a good example in men would be Sean Connery and Mel Gibson. Many women I know find them both sexy as hell yet they look nothing alike.(I don't find them sexy but they have a certain "charisma". At least in characters they have played I would follow Sean into battle and want Mel fighting at my side)
It is much the same in body types. Some like waifs others go for the voluptuous. They are very different yet still beautiful. I suppose this could be debated endlessly.

Ethnic characters. While the vast majority of Poser users may be Caucasion and I suspect judging from the Japanese sites, Asian, didn't any of you "cross over"? Perhaps it was my going to a mixed high school. A beautiful girl is a beautiful girl regardless of race. I have no doubt a number of beautiful characters of these races would sell. I was directed to a couple of nicely done black characters. Much better than one of the characters I had found early on that I laughed at. Looked mostly like a white woman that had been in a coal mine. I also found a character that I am considering purchasing that looks hispanic to me. Very cheap, I think it may have been marketed poorly.

Very dark skin. It seems that a lot of the problems, solutions, etc., from photography bleed over to this medium (especially if you are trying to create photo realistic renders). My background is in video not photography but I know from talking to photographers that there are special problems capturing dark skin tones. I also recall a magazine interview with Ike Turner that included photographs and he said, "Now don't you make me look too black.". The article went on to explain what he meant by this. Apparently at its worst you wind up with white eyes and teeth and a uniform darkness without highlights or sheen.

One of the things that rather interests me about all this is that it combines elements of art, anatomy, body types, photography, lighting, etc. Some of these things I know a good bit about others not so much. I have been looking at pictures, poses, people faces on the street and shadows since I started playing around with this. My life experience has been quite varied, as well as my interests so I bring my own skill set to the table(as do we all I would reckon). I did learn that despite having worked behind(and occasionally in front of) the video camera and at another time having worked with strippers, I am absolutely CLUELESS when it comes to women's make up! Mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, lipstick, nail polish, how to make the appropriate choice, sexy versus tarty, how to make it compliment the outfit... Its maddening!

To the developer's that chimed in about how much work it is to design a program my hat is off to you. I imagine it IS labour intensive. But as a consumer I still have to ask for what I want. To those that made "shameless plugs" for their own items, good for you. I'm new and its likely that I could miss your product when it is possible its something I wish to own.

Finally a few questions and wishes.
Someone has to come out with a complete African hair package that includes natural, cornrows, dreadlocks, etc. Right now I think you can put this stuff together with maybe a half dozen packages but an all inclusive package specifically designed for the black model would be very nice.

I really wish someone would make my black, suede, 3 quarter length, fringe jacket. Pretty much like the one out of the movie "Easy Rider". Its a cool coat. And I have seen other designs often shorter for ladies.

I am going to be going through my closets this winter and getting rid of stuff. Some will be sold, some will be trashed. But there are unique stripes, patterns and plaids. Should I put the fabric on the scanner to save the textures for future use? If so what is the best way to do this?

I have a picture of a model in a very sexy outfit that includes a hood and cloak but opens to a simple open to the navel lace up short dress. Perfect for goth, Halloween, or vampire clothing. Anyone want to take a crack at it and I would be happy to share the picture. If you manage to make it for sale I would ask for a copy.

I have six jpgs I found some time ago on the net. They are called "Photographing the Girl". The same model is used, she is nude but no more explicit than anything else here. In each it shows an over head view of the lighting and camera placement relative to the model to get the desired results. There is text accompanying each picture but it is in Russian. If anyone has any interest and/or can translate Russian either tell me where to post it or contact me and I can email them to you.

In the same vein I have a couple of pages of html I saved that explained how to achieve the "Maxim" style photography complete with the Adobe work they did afterward. Not sure if the link is active. I don't want to violate anyones copywrite. I can either post the link (if active) or somehow post the html files if anyone is interested. Again either tell me the proper place to post or feel free to contact me.

Well thats about it for now folks. Thanks again!
Cheers,
RWB64