Quote - Have you adjusted any driver settings ?

I'm pretty sure one of the simple things to do was to set "Use application settings" where that option is offered.

The other possibility is that something part of Windows is interferring, so you might want to try turning off Aero (assuming Win7 has it or some equivalent).

I have not adjusted any driver setting as I dont know which settings to adjust and I do not want to cause any new problems without knowing what exactly to change.
I already have the Catalyst software set to "use application settings".

Quote - you can try running dxdiag from the start>run menu option. Its not particularly useful but will tell you if any of the directx stuff is bad. 

I just ran "dxdiag" through start>run but Im not sure what information I should be looking for in the windows that open. I ran directx and directdraw tests and those went fine.

Quote - heres a tweak from Kaibach

*edit the poser.ini file located in C:Documents and SettingsApplication DataPoser 7poser.ini and change

PREVIEW_OGL_OBJECT_BBOXPICKING 0

to

PREVIEW_OGL_OBJECT_BBOXPICKING 1*

I edited the poser 7 ini file as you suggested  then attempted to compile a preview animation and the memory usage still built up until poser crashed. =(

Quote - I do not have it up now, but there is a Knowledge Base Article on this at Smith Micro.

There are several different things.. one is some ATI cards force on certain features which are great for games, but no so good for 3D apps like Poser. Turning off some of these or changing to Application Control normally resolves the issue.

I would need more details to be sure, but that would be a good start... I can not recall what version of Poser you are using, that may also change the specifics.

I have had "use application settings" enabled since i installed the card.

I ran across a knowledge base article (which may be the one you are referring to) when atempting to fill out a support ticket at smith micro. The article is entitled "My graphics program keeps crashing or disappearing" which appears on page one of the knowledge base.
This article, while nicely put together, does not mention my specific problem and suggests basic fixes I have already tried such as:
 1) switching to sreeD (thats what I have to do now when making an animation)
 2)making sure I have the latest drivers for my gfx card ( I have the full catalyst suit released 6/16/2010)
 3) reducing hardware accelleration (which would be something I would need to change back to full for anything outside of poser....besides the fact that reducing hardware accelleration defeats the purpose of using the openGL setting in Poser)

I just created a Catalyst graphic settings profile for poser in which I turned  anisotropic filtering and mipmap detail all the way down as stated in the article but the problem remains.

What additional details would you need?

Im using Poser 7 SR3 (version 7.0.4.220)
AtI Radeon HD 5770 with full 10.6 driver suite (released 6/16/2010)
Using Windows Xp Pro Version 5.1 (build 2600.xpsp_sp3_qdr.100216-1514)

I greatly appreciate everyone's suggestions but im losing hope =(