i've got a lot to learn in a short period...so i'll take advantage of your knowledge here: within carrara any problems with dynamic or conforming clothing (and what is the difference for my minimal animation needs?)

Kinda, but there's workarounds,... Use transposer if you can and stuff stays put. If you have to use native, try not to conform the stuff in poser first.

so your saying i shouldnt/cant use dynamic?...granted the rendering time is absurd for the dynamic but then the conforming is so "computerized"

For dynamic cloth/hair you need to use Transposer2 (included in C5Pro, an additional plugin for C5 Standard), which imports your .pz3 poser scene, but does not allow you to adjust your figures pose in CS. You can keep an open link to the pz3 file (an option available when you import) which allows you to adjust and save the pose in Poser, then simply update the pose in CS without the need to re-import (select your figure, go to the modeling room, and hit update).

The native poser importer, available in CS5 standard and pro, does not support dynamic cloth/hair, but does support conforming clothing/props (use suggestions above).

If your looking for fast, simple, and need dynamic cloth/hair, the Transposer import is the only way to go. If you want to animate everything in CS, and don't need dynamic cloth/hair, then the native importer would be your choice.