The answer is STARING YOU IN THE FACE. 

Right.

You're still using the term 'render' in a context that makes no sense, but we have established that Poser is working as it should.

The problem seems to be file type association. You need to associate the .pz3 extension with Poser. 

Choose any file with a .pz3 extension. Right-click on it. *Open with > choose default program, *navigate to where Poser Pro is installed and click on PoserPro.exe as described a few posts ago.

All .pz3 files should now have the Poser icon and automatically open with PoserPro. 

OK, that's definitely a Poser scene file (PZ3).

I think you're using some of the terminology inaccurately, which is incredibly confusing.

"character rendered in poser 2014 and saved to my character (Frankie Baywatch) folder"

Explain what you mean by "rendered" - if you render something in Poser you end up with an image which you export as a TIFF, JPEG, PNG or PSD file. You can't save a render as a PZ3.

Did you add whatever it was to a folder in your library (by clicking on the + at the bottom of the library window)? Or did you save the scene (PZ3) to a folder on your system?

What happens when you launch Poser by double-clicking PoserPro.exe? Does it launch OK and run normally? If it works as it should, can you open a PZ3 file using the File > Open... menu dropdown?

If anything goes wrong, make a note of any error messages or warnings and advise us.

Your problem seems baffling but I've looked through the whole thread and need to ask you some questions. Going back to the top:

Quote - I transferred some saved poser renders from my Win XP to my Win7 comp...

When I open the folder asked what program should open these files? When I try and add poser.exe nothing happens.... Tried several times.  What am I doing wrong?

Did you actually mean 'poser renders' or did you mean 'poser scenes' ?

Are you 100% certain that the files you're trying to open with Poser are .pz3 files? Because you originally had file extension display turned off...

...now that you're displaying the file extension, do the files you're having trouble with have the .pz3 extension?

Have you ever, when saving a render as an image file, manually typed in the .pz3 extension?

Open one of the files you're having trouble with in a text editor, then cut and paste (into a reply here) the first few lines so that we can determine what kind of file it really is.

I see that you're using CS6. Open up an EXR file and slap an 'Exposure' correction layer onto it. Leave the Exposure and Offset sliders alone and play with the Gamma slider: this should give some idea of why you'd want to use HDR images. Then try using all the sliders in combination to get an idea of how powerful this could be (and what a pain it is to use).

I use HDR images a fair amount for solving challenging imaging problems, but hardly ever for Poser renders. To be truly useful, the source material has to be created - i.e. at the capture / scanning / rendering stage - with a High Dynamic Range workflow in mind.

For most image editing purposes EXR (and HDR) is hopeless, there are loads of Photoshop features that don't work with these formats. 

EXR is quite expensive (in terms of memory footprint, additional steps in your workflow) as a way of avoiding the hassle of going through the 'Export Image...' routine. Consider setting up a keyboard shortcut for doing that in one step. Or use the D3D FireFly render script, which lets you automatically save your render to a pre-defined location and file name.

.exr is one of a handful of high dynamic range image formats: if you don't know what it's for, don't use it.

HDR formats, unlike things like JPEG, TIFF, PNG etc. have no Gamma bias (in other words, can be considered to have Gamma = 1): if you don't know what that means, don't use such formats.

The 'washed out' appearance is exactly what you'd expect to see if you casually open such a format in Photoshop. If you don't know why that is, don't use such formats.

You're in the USA, you could 'phone them...

Plug all that into Ambient Color rather than Alt Diffuse, set Ambient Color to white and the ambient value to something higher than 1.

When making a buying decision for a large format printer you have to consider a number of factors; the current offerings from Epson, HP and Canon will all produce beautiful prints, but you'll need to consider ink costs, paper handling, quality of included software, cost and ease of servicing, and so on. You'll need to balance up these factors based on your own needs.

Personally, I think that Epson are the best in the market. Not perfect, but - especially with the newer 9900 / 7900 / 4900 series - they've got most of it right.

Quote - I am unsure what resolution such printers can offer. In the cases of, for example, a "30cm x 40cm" or a "50cm x 70cm" print, what would be the max size (number of pixels) of the graphic file in order to make full use of the Printer's capabilities and that of the paper it is to be printed onto?

Or perhaps, if it is an easier question; what DPI can these printers print at?

This is where using DPI (Dots per Inch) and PPI (Pixels per Inch) interchangeably becomes a problem. Inkjet printers typically print at up to 2400 DPI (HP, Canon) or 2880 DPI (Epson), but throwing images at them with corresponding PPI would be crazy. The high Dot density allows convincing continuous tone reproductions: each pixel of an image will require at least 4 *dots *to reproduce.

The maximum you'd need (apart from a couple of very exotic applications) would be 300PPI to 360PPI, you'd be fine with 200PPI - 240PPI most of the time, and you'd get away with 150PPI - 180PPI. These PPI figures are all at the printed size. So for a 50cm x 70cm print (approx 20in x 28in) you'd need a minimum of 3000 x 4200 pixels.

Quote - Out of sheer curiosity (and some self interest as well), what printers do you use to print? I'm looking at printing my own cards & posters, an art line of my own, so I'm interested in what others use to print fine art. I've been looking at an Epson 3880, seems affordable in buying and printing costs, yet has good output.

Our fine art prints are produced on an Epson Stylus Pro 9900: you'd get similar results from the 4900 desktop version, but have a look at equivalents from Canon and HP.

Great, it's the weekend, and I get to put my business hat on...

I have a commercial fine art printing business. I don't create, publish or sell the art, I just print it, but here are some observations.

• Prints are doing well at the moment: people want art to hang on their walls but can't afford to buy originals
• I've been in this business for many years and it's impossible to be certain about what will sell and what won't, so you should research your market. Go to a few art fairs and see what's grabbing the punters' attention
• Don't print too big or too small: the 30cm x 40cm to 50cm x 70cm range seems to be where the action is
• Present your work as if you were proud of it: it'll add any thing from a few pennies to a few pounds / dollars to your costs but can make all the difference
• Price your prints properly: there's no point in losing money, but over-eager pricing will scare off buyers. Rule of thumb: total up all your costs per print then mutiply 3x or 4x (depending on how desperate you are) for an approximate selling price. Remember, this might have to cover other costs (rental for your 'pitch', commission, publicity fliers etc.)

Good luck!

1. Have a look in your main (default) Poser runtime - assuming you're P7 or later and installed all the content that came with it, you may find something.

2. Try ShareCG (search for android, robot etc.)

3. Load up the human figure of your choice and apply some sort of metallic or plastic material

Quote - It just takes a little effort.

Yeah, what are we, your search engine bitches? ;)

Bullet time: that weird slow motion effect from The Matrix

Bullet Physics: that new thing in Poser 10 that nobody* can get to work the way they want

*and by 'nobody' I mean me

What you're asking for is a mask; it's probably possible to produce one using procedurals, but it is much quicker to use an image.

Scripts > Utility > collectSceneInventory

then use the 'Copy all to folder' option.