Hi Brian, I'd go for Carrara 2 if i were you . First, you get modellers to make your models for Poser (vertex, spline, and even Amapi 5) . Second, you also get a good and fast renderer, for stills at least because there is no animation import from Poser . Carrara is much more easy to learn than Amapi, though less productive . Its modellers are good enough to make lots of things . But take note that i'm a bit biased because i only use Carrara and i can't get anything from Amapi :P litst