Quote - Thank you so much for taking time to respond to me!  Very helpful too... as for the book, since it is for Poser 5 and as I said, I have 8, is it still worth it?  Or will things just get more confusing for me?

Oh, yes, it's very much worth it.  Many things-- such as the basic .cr2, the way props are created, etc., have not changed at all.  In fact, the book's extensive explanation of what all the "stuff" in a .cr2 file is and what it does is worth the price all by itself.  In addition, the book comes with a CD of additional material, including practice pieces that you can work with while studying the book.  Very much worth the money!!

Quote - Second question, you said in Daz you can't do dynamic clothing, and that it must be, conforming... will the Poser book you recommend cover that as well?  I do use both, but for now, I'm kind of using Daz a little more as I'm finding the layout a ltitle easier for me to work with.

If clothing conforms in Poser, then it will also conform in DAZ Studio on the Mil 4 and earlier figures.  For instance, if you make an item of conforming clothing for V4 and it works fine in Poser, then it will also work fine in DS.  The big departure in DS is in DS4 and Genesis and the new technology involved.  However, the Mil 4 and earlier figures work just the same as always.

Quote - Lastly (for now), I see that UV Layout which you recommend is $300 for the pro version... would the hobbyist version do the trick?  Is there any other program that are free or cheap that you (or anyone else) has heard of or could recommend?  And what exactly is the "UV mapping" for?  This is where you apply your designs/textures, do I have that right?

I don't know about the hobbyist version; that would depend on whether the license says you can use it for commercial projects.

UV mapping is basically taking a 3-D object, cutting it up, and flattening out the pieces onto a 2-D "template," which is then used to create the textures.  Once the object is mapped, it is saved out (in .obj format), and the texture template is also saved out, usually in .bmp or .jpg format.  The best way to see how this works is to open up the texture maps for, say, a V4 character in a paint program.

Once created, the texture maps are "wrapped" onto the model within Poser or DS, using the UV coordinates that were created when the UV mapping was done.