So I was curious, where all the content in the store gets "made". I see that in iclone, they recommend developers should use 3dsMax for content creation. But Daz 3d has this Content Creator Toolkit which has way more possibilities than anything in iclone. So I'm just curious, if anyone has experience creating for the store, if this toolkit is sufficent for the task or do you also use a more powerful outside program for original content creation?

This is all leading back to my initial suspicions, that these programs (iclone, poser, daz) are more for plug and play than anything else?

Poser and Daz are both content-dependent, meaning that they require add-on content. You basically have 3 choices: Buy content, download free content (like what is available in Renderosity's Freestuff section) or you can create your own content. Created content can be modeled in programs like 3dsMax, Wings3d, Shade, etc Daz sells a program called Hexagon which can be used for that.

Some use Zbrush and DAZ Studio. Others use Hexagon, Carrara, Silo, Modo, or Maya. Bryce and Vue are good for environments. I don't think there is any one best answer. Ask around, read the forums here and on other sites. What do you want to make?

Other than the crudest items made from included primitives, you need to MODEL new content in a software other than Poser or DAZ Studio. The list in the above post is good, there are some FREE software out there that will work as well such as Blender.

The Content Creation Toolkit in DS and the Setup tools in Poser are used to take an object created in one of the other programs and add the programing that allows an OBJ file to be animated and posed. In some cases there are after market programs that also do some of this conversion but the tools included in either software are really very sufficient for the task. I'm not sure about iClone but it probably works the same...

@Letterworks Thanks for the answer about Content Creator!!!

Note that the Content Creator Toolkit isn't needed - all of its parts are currently available free in DAZ Studio 4 Pro, once you have entered your Pro serial number.

Sorry, I should have said that! Yes, the CCT is now comes standard with DS.

I'm most interested in creating humanoids and maybe accessories like clothing

For years I used Silo to create clothing and even dabble in figure creation. It's a good, relatively cheap (about $100.00) program with a full round of features (modeling UVmapping and basic sculpting tools, the interface is simple. Unfortunately it doesn't have the best support. Blender is free and while I have never used it, it does have an impressive tool set AND a very active supporting commiunity.

The tools for "getting" the models you make into DS or Poser aren;t hard to learn... MUCH easier that when I started, LOL!

I suggest you start off slow, look at the tutorials for your chosen programs there are plenty of them out there.

I've been working in DS for the first time in a few years, lately having focused on Poser for a LONG time. In some ways I've found it;s easier to use that Poser and certainly cheaper. In others I like Poser, particularly with dynamic clothing, Poser has the capability to create dynamic clothing as part of it;s basic tool set, even it it's not the easiest system to master. DS can USE dynamic clothing but not create it (at least not yet) but it has a better (easier) system for having comforming clothing "follow" the figure and it;s morphs, very handy and may be even better that Poser dynamics, I'm still learning it so the jury is still out for me.

Good Luck and remember donlt get frustrated, everything has a learning curve and 3D is one of the highest, but there are a LOT of good people,here and on other sites that are willing to answer your questions and help with the rough spots.