I see you've come a long way with Poser's render engine, but your next step is a Loo-Loo! Max is where you are headed, but it's price tag is there for a reason, because with it you can acquire really high end Render Farms, and Networks, to do your actual rendering. Daz3D has a plugin to import Poser to Max, but i still wouldn't expect things to not get as much more intricate as Max is definately a Modeler's tool. Maya is the same deal. Vue is really nice because it imports Poser really easily, it renders faster/larger, and adds environmental aspects to your archives. It is also the only application your not buying to "Modeler" with. This is where your other listed applications get much of their price tag, though you say you'd prefer to stay away from that. Carrara is another option that will alter your render Power, but, as is the case with view or any other render engine foreign to Poser, masking between the applications will prove rather difficult. Your Poser learning curve lends toward Carrara. Carrara was owned/raised, in large part, by Metacreations. At that time they also owned Poser. Both applications were really introduced to the mainstream at this time. So, Carrara is really the closest relative to Poser.