If I could do anything in the world for a living and earn money enough to survive on, I'd be a painter. Where my visual imagination could manifest itself on canvas. Where there would be no limits other than the colors from which to choose. Alas, I cannot paint so much as the wall of a house without leaving streaks. That is an excerpt from my website. I posted it here because of something said much earlier in this "tiny" thread, by geep, something to the effect of Poser giving the ability to non-artists to create (question mark) artwork. First of all, I know geep to be an intelligent and nice guy, so dont take this wrong. But his comment cut just a little bit. I realized he was talking exactly about me. You see, Ive wanted to draw, paint, sketch, ANYTHING, but I cant. When I got in the army, I took up photography to try and make images I couldnt draw. ESPECIALLY if and when I could EVER get a female subject to pose for me as I consider, have considered, and will always consider the female form to be beautiful (and, yes, sexy). I look and analyze women I see on the streets. I look at erotic pictures of women. I ogle them on TV, the movies. I look at Rolling Stone covers and sometimes even the occasional Playboy. I have never gotten tired of dreaming about painting or photographing some of the ones I see. I guess I never will. Sigh. But alas, I dont have the money or talent to pay for models (and hopes of selling art). I certainly dont think my wife would like it very much. Then I found Poser, quite by accident. And I thought, Here is a way to try (once again) to make some artwork involving the female figure. I thought, I can do this! I dont have to pay for a model, barring the initial outlay for software, and its not a real woman so my wife wont get jealous. And with the Vicki model and right textures, nearly lifelike. So, here I am masquerading as an artist. I realize making a render and posting it doesnt automatically grant me the title of artist. I certainly will never compare to the many, many wonderful works I see. But before we just lump all the people who work on a scene and post it on a gallery into the same category, testosterone-crazed teenagers, lets not forget that the conventional artist, canvas and brush people, may very well harbor the same thoughts about photographersthat they really arent artists, theyre merely cheating and capturing an image, not creating it. Yet, photography has become a widely accepted art form. I realize this is a tad off-subject and will perhaps be chided by the moderatorsso, perhaps Ill still have enough energy to write another comment more appropriate to the subject. Tks for reading (if you did, that is....grin)