WCSally,

I think what you need to first do is to fully understand what sort of work flow you are going to need to achieve the results you want. From reading your posts, it seems somewhat haphazard in your approach and I would advise getting the workflow down first. It can take years to learn high-end 3D programs and you build on your skill level as you go along.

What you want to do sounds like a good combo of Vue Extreme and C4D is the best and what I would go with personally. When you start working with other software and importing your OBJs plus the Poser/Daz figures, you will see just how limited Poser is in comparison. Doing it all in Poser is no where remotely close to what you can achieve with something like C4D and Vue. Also, keep in mind there is a VAST difference in the Vue packages and you want either Vue Infinite or Extreme versions which cost at least $1-2K. Make sure to invest in their plans because the updates that come out are much cheaper that way and you will always be current.

As far as post work in Photoshop, keep in mind that programs like Vue and C4D have all kinds of options for rendering with maps that can be used in Photoshop and many other useful outputs. That is why I state you really need to understand most of these programs well because you can go about this different ways. One way is to render ZDepth, multi-masks, g buffers, etc for use in your renders. You can also create a map in Photoshop that you can use in another program like Vue to layout your areas where you want certain things to go, stop at, paths, etc. One thing too that is very important in Photoshop besides learning to use "Layers", "Selections", etc. is "Masks". They are very powerful and can be used to do a great number of things.

Regarding a new computer, for me, it is a MUST that I have a high-end system for the work I do. Most of these programs, especially high-end ones are 64bit and can eat as much power as you and throw at them. If you want to PM me about specs I can tell you what I did, but it does cost. A duel-Xeon 5580 with and EVGA SR2 Motherboard, 24GB of RAM is going to set you back quite a bit. But if you are a serious artist, it is the difference between night and day, especially when you get into heavy scenes and/or animations.**
**

Jeff

Development on: Mac Pro 2008, Duel-Boot OS - Snow Leopard 10.6.6 & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon , 10GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT.