Quote -
Heck, given the handicaps, I personally think anyone that can get a resonable looking render out of poser deserves MORE credit than someone using a $1000+ ablet, to sculpt a blob into a single specific shape in a program running from $20000 to $10000! Of course none of those "ARTISTS" will ever admit that.

mike

Mike, are you suggesting someone using Poser to render a reasonably good looking image deserves more credit than someone like Bay Raitt, who modeled Gollum's head from a box primative, along with all 800+ facial expression morphs?  He used the modeling software Mirai, which he also helped engineer.  So there's a guy who not only spearheaded the creation of one of the most memorable CG characters in movie history, but he also helped create the tools he used to make that happen.  Now THAT is impressive.

I'm sure you realize that a good portion of the characters you see created in high end apps (with the possible exception of zbrush) are usually done so with the idea of animation in mind.  And although the models may not be created with the notion of morphing them into 100's of other types of characters, many are designed with topology techniques suitable for the creation of possibly 100's of  facial expression morphs to fit that specific character.  It takes a lot of skill to model a convincing character that won't look strangely unlike itself  when you apply a "smile" morph, or give it morphs for various emotions or expressions.

---

Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.