I am so disappointed in the Poser animations I make because the render is soooooo bad. I know that you can export animations to other software programs for better quality but the flip side is that you then have to buy second software package just to get decent results in the first one you bought. And then of course you've got to put the time in and learn the ins and outs of that new software so you know what you're doing. Somebody here recomended 3Dmax which I am fortunate enough to have but don't know how to use and I know that with the little amount of time I have available to this hobby I'm going to get in way over my head and just walk away frustrated. So people, I ask you all for what would be the best renderer for animations in the areas of simplicity, quality, easy to learn and price. I have to say that the deeper I get into this new hobby of mine it seems that there's always another obstacle to overcome, software to buy or add'l hardware like more ram to get. For the last 2 nights it was learning about codecs, divx and all the new terminology surrounding codecs. You people here have been a big help to me though and it makes me want to give something back to this community.

Are you sure Poser animations are bad? Or is it just the default compression Poser chooses for you? Try rendering with no compression.

Attached Link: http://sotos-digital.cjb.net

I think that people should face the terrible truth. Poser's renderer sucks. Humans look ok (sort of) but other things such as glass, metal and REAL WORLD things look simply horrible. I don't know if I could find a worst renderer. Well, maybe bryce could be mentioned too. Talking about photorealism, of course. If you like the computer look on the images that's ok with me.

I get in trouble a lot for saying this, but here goes: "It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools". No offense intended to anyone here, but I hear waaaay too many people blaming the software for their short comings as artists. I do a lot of rendering in both Poser4 and Bryce5 and I get very good results most of the time. I don't blame my machine or my software when I don't. I also don't expect a $200 to $300 application to work like one costing $4000 to $8000. You can export your Poser models and motions to Lightwave for rendering, but you'll have to spend several grand to do so. Lots of people are producing high quality animation using Bryce and Poser. Just because you are not does not mean the "Software sucks". It is what it is, a good inexpensive way to do animation. Is it Maya, Lightwave or 3DMax? Of course not, but then you "get what you pay for". Poser has some idiosyncracies that you have to learn to overcome to make good anime with it, but it is far from impossible. I'd suggest you learn a little more about the software before proclaiming yourself an expert on the subject of it "sucking". Also, with regards to "photorealism" in 3D animation. I believe "Final Fantasy" proved that 3D animation will always "fall short" of reality. A little "cartoonyness" is not always a bad thing as opposed to "hyper-reality". "Final Fantasy" flopped at the box office and the critics panned it, "Shrek" however, was an instant classic. So don't be so quick to wave the "photorealism" flag as a victory banner, because the majority of viewers don't really like or appreciate it. IMHO.