Wow, you guys have been busy.

Placing DS and Poser into a "Budget" category is quite misleading to say the least. The word budget usually carries a cheap substance as well as price connotation imo. I would call this budget software an offering from Smith Micro. There is no reason to have to create everything in DS or Poser from scratch to get the most out of the software. It's like with Photoshop for example if you were to use some of the included brushes as oppose to making your own brush sets, is it cheating or not getting the most from the app, should you learn to write your own filters to. I don't see why as all of these apps are simply tools. The intention of DS or Poser is to be a specific tool and to compare Max or Mudbox is similar to comparing a hammer to a spirit level. Try banging in a nail with a spirit level and then exclaiming "this tool is useless compared to a hammer". Seems more user error than any problem with the tool tbh. If you're using DS or Poser to create reference images as an illustrator why in the slightest would you be interested in learning how to rig or paint weight maps for figure development. The whole notion that you need to create your own content to get the best out of an app is inherently flawed, it's kind of like saying if you want to drive your car you need to make your own tools to fix it with or it's just cheating. A car's job is to get you from A to B, the level of technical expertise or the amount of petrol that flows in your blood doesn't actually affect the effectiveness of the car as a transportation tool. Despite what some may say.

I would prefer Daz to focus on software development rather than writing old fashioned biblical manuals. Which may be okay if you release a new version of software every few years. But at the rate that DS is upgraded it would be an exercise in chasing your tail at best. And really with active forums, it's quite unnecessary for the majority of users these days.