Thank you all for the replies so far. I have plenty of HD space, and 2 gigs of RAM, so hopefully the hardware should be fine - I'll try to exercise restraint on the 'buy' button, but that one seems a bit sticky at times... I'll certainly check out all of the freebies mentioned first. My intention for images is to use the figures as props in landscapes and other renders, but I have a sneaky suspicion I might get somewhat addicted and the landscapes become props to the figures ! I think I have UV mapping and texturing covered soon (Modo 201 will rock for that) and file conversion isn't too bad (I do also have Cinema4D which handles a lot of formats). The Daz Platinum club is another one one my list (I have the content paradise passport) and I was also looking at the poserworld subscription deal, but I missed that one by a couple of days. Anyway, thanks for all the advice !