I have read through several threads and see a lot of references to Wings and what I am guessing are other programs (hex, gimp, etc.) Are these "companion" programs for Poser? 

Is there an explanation on a thread somewhere that describes the capabilities of add on, etc?

As always, thanks.

Wings is a free 3D modeling program. It's a companion to Poser only in that you can create content for Poser with it ;o). Very easy to learn tho, and there is a Wings forum here on the site.

Laurie

Awesome, thanks again.

To expand on your original question a little bit...

Gimp is a free image editing program similar to Photoshop. It's free.

Hexagon is another modeling program, not free, but very cheap as compared to other modeling programs...

Blender is another free modeling app. Extremely full featured and powerful, but if you haven't yet learned to model, I wouldn't start with Blender, but rather end with Blender ;o). It's complicated to use.

There are other programs out there that are useful if you make things for Poser: UVMapper, Roadkill (both uv layout programs and both free), Notepad++ (for editing text in some of Poser's files), Baum3D for making 3D trees (free), Ivy Generator for making 3D ivy (free), PoseRay (free) for file conversion and model adjustments, etc....

Laurie

Hexagon could almost be called a 'companion'.  It's designed to work closely with
Daz Studio, which has the same general requirements and rendering peculiarities
as Poser.    Some other modeling progs tend to produce meshes that Poser and DS
don't handle well.

And is Daz Studio free as well?

There is a free version of Daz Studio. It doesn't have nearly the functionality as Poser tho, so if you like it and want to use it, might pay you to upgrade to the pay version of DazStudio Advanced.

Laurie

Genetica has 2 free apps which can create seamless textures: 1 is their viewer, the other a wood work app for creating wood related floors and tiles.