I'm completly lost & hope someone here can answer some of my questions.

1)  I saw in one posting here that pz3 files can be imported to D|S but how do you get the files to work so you can apply them to the character after that?  I've tried using the import feature, but I can never find the file that I've supposidly just imported after doing so.  It's like the file isn't really there.  I have the V3 base character and I'd like to add on some different clothes and features so that she doesn't have to wear just a fairy costume all the time.  :)  

1. How do you go about changing things like the expressions on a character's face or their basic body build?  Do you need additional software to do it or can it be done within D|S itself?   All I have is the basic D|S software and I have a limited budget for being able to afford higher cost software and limited RAM (only 256 mb).  Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Pz3 or pz2? Pz3 is a Poser scene file, DAZ|Studio can open those but you need to have the stuff they call on (the figures and props and the textures applied to them). A pz2 is a pose - it changes the settings of the selected item; if you have a mat pose to chnage the texture of some clothing you need to have the clothing figure it applies to loaded and selected.

The base V4 has expression morphs in the head and a few morphs in the body: reshapingmorphs are in the Morphs++ add-on.           

Thanks that does help a bit.  I have the Victoria 3 base (for the present).  What I want to do is to download some files that work with her as a way of getting to know the program better before making a big investment of funds, and to make sure that when I do buy I buy the right files.  I can change her coloring (a little bit) and her ht/wt but I'm having some difficulty figuring out how to import things like clothes, and hair.  I've tried downloading some files here for the V3 but haven't been able to get them to import properly.  I see the folder with their names on it, but when I click on the folder nothing happens.    Basically I want to be able to change the characters appearance and clothes so that I can then save them in jpeg format for later use as visualization aids. (I want to create characters to help me envision people when writing fiction).  Figuring out how to pose the figure is something else I plan to work on later.  Thanks again for the help.

I would suspect the things you have downloaded are textures sets - images and the files to tell Poser or D|S where to apply them to an actual clothes model, which isn't included in the pack. If there's a readme it may tell you what model and where to find it.

You sound fairly new to Daz so I thought I would give you a couple of basic points. And I am guessing as well you don't use poser additionally.

New content you find for Daz/Studio is almost always INSTALLED into you content folder . Program files/Daz/Studio/Content is where I install downloaded items for my daz studio. Importing files into Daz is a different ball of wax and generally only done for basic object files. Because of the way the files are set up you should then open Daz and find a number of file folders. If you have any studio only files they will be in a folder called ..well yes studio. Those are files in the daz studio format and when you start saving things yourself in studio those files will go down there. Most of the files you install in daz will be in a folder called content. clicking on content will give you several more files below that. Which ones you have will depend on how much you have. Some folders will show up as you add more content. 

You have the V3 base and she is turning up for you in I am guessing either content/figures or down in studio/people. I noticed when I did an install for someone recently that files didn't turn up where mine had a couple of years ago when I did my first installs so I can't be sure where she turned up for you.

Now when you bring v3 in she is bland. Really bland. To change the bland skin you need skin textures also know as MAT files. You can find loads of free ones for v3 here in the free section and around the web. Those files will be installed in Daz/daz studio/content if you did a standard daz install. Then when you look inside studio at contents you should see a pose folder and your new mat pose will be in there under what ever name the Creator gave it. Morphs.. those pose files that change the shape of the face and body probably will require an add on product from daz. So if they don't work don't be to disheartened. Also not all free products work as expected. Nature of the beast when the word free is involved. If a free product does not work or does not install properly it may not be your fault. Once you understand more about the program it is often fixable but for now don't be stunned if something you install does not show up properly in studio. It may be the free product.

Clothes you will usually find in a file called figures. Most are conforming which I won't get into deeply but after you "load" in the clothing future your going to need to go over to parameters and click "conform to v3" in the drop down list. The same deal with hair. Though free hair is less common than clothing.  Most clothes have some morphs to move it around to fit the character better after you pose her. The same is true for hair. Sometimes to find these morphs you have to select different areas of the figure in the scene tree. Just poke around some. You won't break it honest.

We have some of this elaborated in our blog as well as some other links to free products. 
http://calida3d.com/blog.html

Hope some of this was helpful for you and if you need any other help feel free to PM me here.
Lauren

Thanks Khory_D, yep you got me.  I've been playing round with Daz Studio for less than a week.  I'm afraid I already have a terminal case of Daz addiction though. lol.  Thanks again for the tips.  My initial base did load into one directory while the pack of bases that I found at Download.com loaded into another one.  So now I have 2 Victoria 3's an M3, and the 2 anime figures to play with and aside from trying to figure out where everything is supposed to load to I've been having a ball. :) 

Did U know U can cut and past those files to other folders and make new sub folders for them, I keep all my actors in the peoples folder under subfolder with there names including cloths and hair that work with only that figure, I also get rid of all poser file except PPs so I don't have the same thing in diff vers.