Lets see here. First off, I don't use Max. I have played with it, but don't have the $$$ to get it myself. Friends have let me play around and such, but until I get the bucks, I'll stick with the program I use now. And even when I get the bucks... who knows, I might just stick with trueSpace, since I know the interface and location of all the stuff. The reason I haven't done my own humaniod meshes is, well, purely talent. I still have to have the time to sit down and learn the ropes when it comes to a good humanoid mesh. There are a lot of little details that have to be taken into account. This last year has been... hard.. on me. Both in terms of getting time to work (play) with graphics, and time to just explorer and learn. Poser does offer Magnets, and a few other things, like Morph targets and such, but again, you remove those, and you're back where you started generally. (I believe some advanced things will allow you to modify a mesh ?!?, haven't dug THAT deep into poser). Rhino is a great modeler, but unless they've added something recently, it's strong point is NURBS. The Poser models are pure Polygonal. You'll need something eith a strong set of Poly editing tools. (Max, Lightwave, Maya, etc.). Even though I don't use Max, I do have the "Inside 3D Studio Max" book. Many of the techniques used in one application can be carried over to another. As long as you know what each one calls their tool. Then you can pretty much 'translate' them around for your needs. Best suggestion is to get a demo copy of anything and everything you can get your hands on. From there, see which interface works for you. Lightwave kicks my backside. Maya, I have yet to really play around in. 3D Studio comes close... but trueSpace really works for me. And it happens to be one of the cheaper ones out there. While many consider it "lower class", we trueSpacers' do pretty well with it. ;)

The doctor says I have way too much blood in my caffeine system.