Whew, mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, devongrrl, you are right. Poser is an un-intuitive program to use for anyone that has used almost anything else. It is clunky and inflexible. However, that is from the point of view of someone who is used to professional development environments, both for code and graphics. I think that for people that are not professional content developers, Poser is easier and faster to learn. It is addressing a much smaller problem space than most environments and can therefore afford to be more idiosyncratic in it's UI. I still think there are many improvements that can be made, and I am sure the the folks at CL would agree. If you are just getting started with 3D, give Poser a chance. While you may feel more comfortable in an environment like 3DS MAX, the learning curve will be much steeper. When working with a new paradigm as complex as 3D spaces you are going to need the manual to get started, no matter what.