*The main thing accomplished in the Vue render is proper shadows, especially as cast by the hair on the woman's face and the AO bringing out depth in her face.

This appears not to have been achieved in the PoserPro render, even though Poser is perfectly capable of it.  Yep, that would have made the PoserPro render take longer to cook, but I'd make the case that by engaging Mec4D HDRI/.exr lighting, plus AO in nodes, plus agressive settings, you could equal the Vue render.

Same for Carrara. I recently threw 8 hours into playing/learning GI in Carrara, although it was all about reaiistic sky and sunlight on the face in hyper close up, with intense strand hair.

What you need here is a universal scene that we can all take a shot at wlithout violating any copyright issues. Then, distribute that scene and let various people have at it.

*I was going to reply something along the same lines. I don't think your renders do PoserPro complete justice. In a setting like this, PoserPro could equal or even exceed the Vue render.

Imo, the Vue render is too dark and doesn't really look like a real indoor lighted scene, the PoserPro are much more closer to realistic lights in a building. Also there's the detail problem. The Vue  render destroys a lot of the details that PoserPro gives you when rendering.

As for the postworks I don't see what they really add in this case, I don't think they improve the images at all, as pjz99 stated playing with the lights before rendering would give a much nicer result.

As for the Carrara Pro render, it seems like the people have suddenly turned into plastic dolls (and the postwork enhances the effect). Personally I never liked the Carrara rendering system, it's a bit too artificial for my taste. I'm sure in the hands of a experienced person it will do great, but I gave up after trying to get used to it for countless hours and returned to Poser (and Vue) to get the results I want.
 

Artwork and 3DToons items, create the perfect place for you toon and other figures!

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=23722

Due to the childish TOS changes, I'm not allowed to link to my other products outside of Rendo anymore :(

Food for thought.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYZw0dfLmLk