Generally the faster the better - thats quite obvious. The amount of Ram depends on your scene complexicity. I'd recommend 1 GB of ram minimum, better would be 2 Gig for these huge scenes. Depends a bit on what you expect and want to spend.

But Ram and processor are the most important components, thats for sure.

A Mac computer? Afaik for mac there arent any Viruses or malware, or at least it would be super rare from what i have heard. I didnt know there was a mac version for runescape. I prefer maple story though. ^_^

As long as the address bar is blinking it doesnt sound too bad. maybe its just a problem of the browser or so.

Your transparency map is probably not perfect, make sure you use greyscale maps instead of colour. Could help if you post the picture you are working at.

After importing the object, try saving it as a vue object (.vob). Do the same loading the vue object, that should work.

Here's a few:

http://www-c.inria.fr/gamma/download/affichage.php?dir=STAR_WAR&name=C3PO

http://www.3dworldclub.com/preview.aspx?ModelCode=5426

http://www.scifi3d.com/details.asp?intGenreID=10&intCatID=13&key=118

http://www.max3d.pl/show.php?id=modele_2starwars

http://sw3d.meshrooms.net/main.html (Select misc then click the figure, kinda tricky...)

I think myspace is overrated. I generally dont like the site, maybe I am too old for it, i think the main audience is around 14 years old.

I dont see why a company should join myspace, i really dont see myspace connected to 3D or business.

Maybe i just don't know myspace well enough, but i already browsed dozens of sites there. What does it help me to see some kid likes David Hasselhoff and Ice Cream? Also i hate that everyone can post annoying music on their site. I am alway listening to my own music when surfing the web and always got shocked when i get tortured with random rap songs or so on myspace. I really dont get why myspace is so popular, but as i already said - I am probably just too old (fashioned?)...

I downloaded Maya and I am surprised, it's MUCH easier then i thought it would be, i find it easier and more comfortable then Blender.

A really great idea are the video tutorials, its like turning on the TV and someone teaches you the basics. 

Thanks for the link!!!!!

Try a default spectral atmosphere, one that comes with vue. If that one render fast and Okay, it must be your atmosphere settings. Compare yours with the standard one and you might find the setting that makes problems. Never had that problem before, so i fear i can't be of much more help.

Thanks to both of you, i have downloaded Kozaburo's  Kyoko Hair and it looks very well.

FK Designs looks good, I'd like to have all of these.  =) But right now I'm broke and also i dont have any commercial models besides Aiko and michael because they're currently freebies at Daz. So I'm gonna take a deeper look into Kozaburos other designs.  :)

I tried with AA but as i got esprit it's a pain to set up. I have basically given up on strand based hair. Any recommendations for some free hair that works?

Dang, it looks so promising in poser. Gotta think of a new strategy. I thought it was some settings related problem or so. Thanks for letting me know.

Never got that error and just today i have been several times on their site. I'm on Win XP, but i dont think apache errors should have something to do with your browser or OS.

render at a ridiculous small res like 10x12 and you will get a basic impression how long it will take in final resolution (or if it even starts to render).

autostereo what?

But sounds funny. Is that 10 Dollar for one postcard? Do you print these or do you just send out that sheet?

Wow, that's really nice customer service.

8 hours... Not bad... :) But i bet my bullet scene would beat it. On my 2 Ghz Pentium-4 machine it would take an estimated 6 weeks to render in 1024x768 with standard "final" render settings. You can imagine what higher resolutions would take.

what 400 high reflective objects on a reflective surface can consume. in terms of rendering time is impressive. I finally rendered a much more simplified scene of these.