I have one "low end of the high end" app called Lightwave 3d.It is used as a part of the professional pipeline- even on Avatar. It's a mix of cutting edge and not so cutting edge-or so I've been told by pros that use Maya, 3DMax, etc. But it is rather full featured-and many of the functions of Maya require plug-ins that cost more than PoserPro2012

As a hobbyist I've not had time to learn all it's abilities. PoserPro2012 can export scenes-animated even- to LW for render. Up until PoserPro2012 I did all of my rendering in LW. It is still far faster if I want global illumination, Radiosity (a more advanced form of IDL). I have 9.6.1- and I think the SSS in Poser (BB versions) look better than what I muddled through with in LW using maps for dermis, subdermis, and epidermis-which looks like Daz SSS

. It appears that the current version has greatly updated the skin shaders-but I'm unemployed and should not spend the $695 USD to upgrade.

Just before I got Pro2012 I was playing around with modeling again. Here is an example of caustics- something Poser does not have.