Quote - Post 1 looks pretty good, though not like a photograph because the tables and floor's reflections are too strong and the scene is spotless (no dirt). This is obviously a universe where entropy doesn't exist. 

I'm not familiar with Vray but know mental ray very well. Posts 3 & 5 don't look much better than Firefly IMHO. Tried Body Studio but stopped using it because it seems like a waste to not take advantage of the tools inside of "more powerful" systems.

 

Thanks for the comment. None of the images posted here were intended as showpieces and were merely tests to confirm a variety of Poser models/animtions would render properly in Max. 

Regarding your final comment, I think a couple observations are worth making:

1)  Everybody will agree that Max, Maya, Messiah and other tools offer much more sophisticated character rigging solutions than Poser. However, if you are simply looking for the option of using clothed characters with a huge range of clothing/prop options pre-rigged and ready to animate, you cannot touch the advantage of having access to the Poser world. My business is forensic animation and if a client needs to have a pedestrian in a scene dressed a particular way or, say, a policeman -- well, Poser permits us to generate a reasonable character in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise simply because of the vast (and inexepensive) content available 'off the shelf' here and on other sites.

2. Being able to use the Max render environment is a huge advantage, in my opinion, because it is SO much easier to light and work with cameras than within Poser. Granted, you can do almost anything inside Poser if you are willing to take the time. But those of us used to being able to grab and move spotlights and their targets within the workspace pull our hair out using the Poser paradigm.

3. There really is no good "fast" render option with Poser unless you accept the preview mode as good enough. In my opinion, just being able to QUICKLY render fully textured Poser animations from easily controlled cameras makes Bodystudio worth the price of admission. 

So, I guess my question to you, given that you gave up on BodyStudio, would be what your alternative is? Did you give up on Poser animation completely and animate all your characters elsewhere? If so, don't you miss the huge ready-made content available in Poser? If not, don't you miss the rendering/lighting/camera advantages of Max/Maya? I'm just curious as to what part of the equation I'm missing since you didn't find BodyStudio to be useful.

Thanks!