Quote - >> "there don't really seem to be any particularly well defined or documented systems/processes for character design in Poser"

That's because Poser was never meant for that kind of work. It was designed to be an artist's tool, but not an end tool, which is why the wholesale character transformations we see as morphs have all been created in something else, like Max.

I suppose it depends on what you define character design to be. If you consider the base figure in itself as a development tool, what I mean is using the dial spins to create a certain variation from the base, then using magnets and (since P7) the morph-brush tool to refine this. Then spawning the body-parts to create a single full body morph so you can loose the development morphs from the Cr2 and save to the library. Took me an age to find the info to work through all those bits so I could end up with a reasonably light Cr2 for extensive use in graphic projects, and as time has gone on more tools have come along to make this process much easier.
You've been able to do this kind of character creation from inside Poser for some time, but I'm not sure if there are even now (m)any comprehensive and up-to-date step-by-step guides for doing this - or how easy they would be to find by the new user.

I still use Poser renders as basic painting references from time to time (mostly to get a rough idea of how light falls across a form), but it's moved a long way on from being limited to this usage now. I've exhibited pretty much un-post-worked Poser renders in small exhibitions on several occasions.

 

PoserPro2014(Sr4), Win7 x64, display units set to inches.

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