Lets forget the word "character" for a moment and call all the human forms you can use figures. When you start poser, the default window had a figure in it (the P2 man I believe). Select him and hit delete...he sucks! Open your figures library and load Posette (the P4 Nude Woman). Select her head and use the morph dials to change her face. Do the same with her body. Add clothes, textures, lights, props, etc. Now you have two choices: 1. Save the file from the main menu. This creates a pz3 scene file. This scene will include EVERYTHING you've done to the document window (lights, figures, props, etc.). When you want to work on it again, just open the scene from the menu and it will be exactly as you last left it. This is how you will work with 99% of your images--make new scenes using the items from the libraries, saving the whole things as pz3. 2. If you want to save ONLY the figure so you can use her over and over again in different scenes, select the figure with your mouse, open the figures library, and click the + button and call it "Sally". This will save Posette, naked with only the morph dial changes you've made and the textures you have applied, to the library as "Sally". In essence, you've just saved a new "character" that you've named Sally. If you have conformed clothes to her, Poser will ask you if you want to save those too ("multigroup figure" or something like that). Most of the time you will just want to save the figure nude so you can put different clothes on her each time, but there are times when you may want to keep all the clothes in place. === A "character" can be anything really. Vicky is a character, Posette is a character, the Lion is a character, etc. Many people here sell characters they have made; DAZ sells characters they have made. Sometimes they have new morphs on them (or even new geometries), but very often they are just the base figure with the base dials set a certain way and custom textures applied. For instance (and I'm not trying to plug any particular package, just using an example) search the store for "Bevy of Beauties". This package comes with several "characters" based on Vicki2, as well as a variety of textures for different skin tones, makeup, etc. When you install it, a variety of things get added to your libraries. It is different from just saving figures from your library though because you use it by loading the base Vicki2 figure, then you click on faces and poses to load the character's and textures you want to use on Vicki2 for that scene. These premade packages are very convenient because they can be used right away in your own images, and the textures can be applied to other characters based on the same figure (i.e. any texture made for Vicky will work on any character based on Vicky). I have bought several things just to get the texture to use on something else...making textures is an art all in itself! Michael and Victoria (especially the ver 2 figures) are advanced figures with better meshes and many more morph dials allowing you to create a wider variety of characters and to get more realistic looking ones. Starting out with Posette and the Dork (the P4 Nude Male) lets you get used to using Poser. Its better to practice with those and get comfortable with the program interface before moving on to Mike and Vicki. ===== The "charred" look with Vicki (or Michael) is the result of applying a .jpg file instead of a .bum file in Poser 4. Pro Pack can use .jpg's for the bumps, Poser alone can't. Vicki comes with different figure names in your library...you want to load the one that has P4 in the name. OK, I rambled on longer than I thought I would, so I hope some of that's helpful! Using Poser takes a little getting used to, but I'm sure you'll be just as addicted as the rest of us in no time!