Poser handles n-gons pretty well but NOT if they have concave edges. Something like a hexagonal pipe end works fine , a U shaped beam does not. Sonce Poser smooths fairly nicely it would be a matter of de3fining what smooths and what doesnt, which is already fairly well known. 

splitting all vertices in uvmapper is rarely the best solution if you have access to a modeller. 

I have been convinced that displacment maps are the way to go , and I use lightwave which quickly goes into a million polygons if you arent careful. Its really easy to get carried away with making smooth flowing curves but they eat resources.