The big problem is you're asking for high-end upgrades to a midmarket/hobbyist product. Cinema 4D, which you mention as a comparison, costs $895 for the basic software - if you want to have the version which does everything, then C4D v10 costs a scary $3,495!  They are also completely different types of program - Poser is a figure manipulation program, whereby everything in it is third-aprty objects (or stuff youve made yourself in another application) - there is nothing inside Poser which was built in Poser*. Cinema 4D, on the other hand, as well as most of the other packages you mention there, are primarily modelers. Sure, you could use them in the same way as you do Poser, buying other people's product and simply placing it in a scene, but it kind of means you're missing out on a huge section of what they were designed for.

(Please note, by the way, that I'm not attacking Poser or putting it down for being 'only' a manipulation package. Poser does a good job of what it does - I use it a fair amount, just as I do C4D - but it is a specialist niche, rather than a general purpose program.)

You are right that Poser COULD add in all the features that you get in Maya, C4D, or 3DS Max... but then you'd probably end up with something that costs a similar amount, instead of the much more reasonable price of $250 that they're offering a new version for now (assuming you're buying new - it's not even that if you're ugrading!).

jonthecelt.

*Yes, I now you COULD build something out of the primitive, and some brave/insanely obsessed people have done some fantastic models doing just that - but that's not what they were designed for.