You're lucky, I wish I could afford Pro 2014, I've seen Pro 2012 for around 100 and something...But it's so hard to buy a previous version when the latest has just arrived. You end up wanting the latest version instead. I'll probably end up getting Reality 3 or Reality 4/5 if they come out with one. As for the Post work you mentioned. Yeah, I don't understand layers good enough to do it that way. 

Investing time in learning layers would be well worth the time as even the effects you mentioned earlier really need an understanding of the layers to be successful. For a start, using layes allows you to paint from the lower layer onto the top layer to blend the two together.  For example if you have a figure on the top layer and a background with a railing on it painting the railing onto the top layer puts the figure behind the railing and 'welds' it as part of the overall picture.  It has limited use with backgrounds but a real plus with smoke and flame effects. 

While I understand that I am lucky to be able to afford Poser 2014 and have a decent system to run it on it is only a tool.  Yes is very complex tool, with lots of options, but it is no good without imagination, not only with thinking of the scene you want to create but also how you are going to create it with the tools you have.  I am sure there are many out there creating art far better than me and still using Poser 5 or 6.

 

 

I use Poser 13 on Windows 11 - For Scene set up I use a Geekcom A5 -  Ryzen 9 5900HX, with 64 gig ram and 3 TB  storage, mini PC with final rendering done on normal sized desktop using an AMD Ryzen Threadipper 1950X CPU, Corsair Hydro H100i CPU cooler, 3XS EVGA GTX 1080i SC with 11g Ram, 4 X 16gig Corsair DDR4 Ram and a Corsair RM 100 PSU .   The desktop is in a remote location with rendering done via Queue Manager which gives me a clearer desktop and quieter computer room.