Cool sight, but I already have most of the products.

When you creat the terrain the height can be determined by the 'Feature Size'.  Select the terrain, and go into the model room; you'll see 'Feature Size' on the left hand side.

Excellent artist with dynamic sci-fi themes.  I love the tones, motion, and subjects.

I've tried installing Carrara to an external drive and a dedicated partition.  I've also adjusted my scratch disk to an external drive and a dedicated partition.  It works fine, the technique worked with a wide assortment of software.  It also allows for creating, and maintaining multiple folders for content.  Another benefit is it makes defragging and running scan disk practical.  I can run disk utilities on my 3d related partitions and watch a movie or use another app while it runs without loss of performance.

The down side is installing content or plug-ins.  For content it works fine.  Plug-in require installation in your root drive and may be difficult to troubleshoot.  Another issue is the external interface speed.  I use my primary USB port for speed.  Another warnining is if you use the app and the external drive isn't connected the app will reset the scratch disk location to it's default path.

I use this technique because I've migrated from desktops to laptops for my computing.  I got tired of trying to upgrade hardware and have resolved to maximize what I have.

I can sympathize with solodon.  When I first started buying content I ran into the base product requirement.  Some of the texture artist work is so good that they're actually beautiful.  In some cases it made me re-evaluate the base product, and the purchase was made based on the texture artists work. solodon could have very well requested a refund.

For new users, there should be some sort of introduction when they activate their account.  Some sites even list a placeholder indicating compatibility with a product not provided by the site (especially for Photoshop stuff). 

After buying content for several years, I'm glad they still sell textures for discontinued products, especially for AerySoul. 

I may be incorrect, but it looks like one of the M4 Elite texture sets at Daz3d.

Based on one of the reviews, the body shapes may be from Daz3d.  They have a fair number of morphs (Elite++, muscle, creature, ethinic faces and elite body morphs).  If you have the whole collection, it's fairly comprehensive.

You could also try e-mailing the vendor through rederosities 'contact' feature.

The crowds can be done with M.O.M Crowd generator (PowerAge) here at renderosity. 

Daz3d has a Gore and dirt shader script.

RuntimeDNA has DirtyShaders scripts for fire and dust.

The modeling wouldn't be difficult.  But the texturing would be a hassle.

I had similar intermitent problems.  I had to reinstall but did the following changes:

Only installed specific content that needs to go in the Poser directory (Daz3d figures and their collection of morphs, Poser Python Scripts, and Effects that used scripting).

All other content was installed in separate runtime folders.  I have content from various Vendors ( I need a database to keep track of my stuff).  Also, when I have a problem with textures and morphs it's easier to troubleshoot.  Use 'Collections' in Poser if your tired of manuevering through directories.

Routinely rutinely run Hard Disk utilities (Defrag & ScanDisk) on a weekly basis or whenever I transfer large batches of files.

Daily scan and update anti-virus.

Daily run OS updates.

Leave a large portion of your hard drive free for virtual memory (cache). You can also set an external drive for your cache, but Pose still leaves some files on your C drive.

When I run a large batch of renders, I'll manually check Poser Cache to delete the old unused files.  When poser renders it leaves files on your pc, similar to caching for web sites.  I've had those files corrupted before and had Poser crash and act funny.

It's a two-fold process.  Maintain the OS/Hardware, and maintain Poser.  PS. AVScan all downloaded content no matter how trivial or small.  I've caught a couple of suspect files already.

How about checking out the video tutorial samples for some of the sofware. For example:

The GnomonWorkshop

GeeksAtPlay

Lynda.com

Digital Tutors

VTC

Dream-Lounge (DazStudio Only)

InfiniteSkills

They have sample video's for the basics of the apps.  You get a feel for the workspace and workflow.  Plus, if the tutorial is to your preference, you already have an edge to using the app.  Even though your retired, you can go back to school and takes some fun couses and qualify for student discounts on the software.

For envrionment software I tried Bryce then went to a couple of versions of Vue but went to Carrara and Poser.  For modelers I went from Shade to Maya to Rhino to Hexagon.  As a fellow hobbyist, I don't work in the industry so opted to user freindly.  For software, it boils down to personal preferrence with the GUI and the tools available in the app.

For hardware, the 'common' hardware available is better than it was years ago.  My old custom rigs (QuadCore, 12+ GB RAM, with dual graphics cards) are out dated compared to the new basic stuff.  The new 64-bit versions of the software are significantly faster than the older 32-bit versions.

PhilC Designs has a site at www.philc.net/. 

I've tried his Clothing Designer, OBJ2CR2, and his Scissors tools.

Clothing Designer allow you to create simple clothing in Poser.

OBJ2CR2 allows you to create the body groups on your mesh to correspond to the body groups that it sits over on the model in Poser.

The Scissors tool allow you to perform boolean cuts on the meshes in Poser.

As far as ZBrush, Gnomon Workshop has a tutorial for Character Modeling for Next-Gen Games.  It show you how to create in Zbrush, export high mesh object to Maya, create low mesh object using ZBrush obj model as template.  It's geared towards modeling for games (low poly count) and controlling what areas should get additional geometry.

I was wondering if you could try a technique for me.

For high boots you need to have a 'bodysuit' that covers the feet and up to the knee.  I've found that the box method with 8 vertices works well for the ankle upward. UV map this portion.  Apply a bizarre texture of swooshes or swirls (black and white) that wil serve as a template for the design.  Retessilate the mesh using the texture as a template. Delete all unused faces. Smooth the mesh. And make a boot from that mesh.

I believe that's how some people are creating the body forming metal braces or armlets.  I just haven't had the time to experiment this technique.

By the way PhilC Designs has a boot template.  I've used some of the items from his clothing designer as well, but prefer to custom build my own meshes.  Also Gnomon Workshop has some useful tutorials as well as Digital Tutors.

You might want to try finding a tutorial by Alex Alvarez (Intro to 3d Modeling with Maya).  He creates a Grey Alien figure that is good exposure to topology.  Especially when it comes to weight maps.

Also Alphaseed (formerly part of AerySoul) has a tutorial floating around for the details like buckles and straps.

I've had some success with copying the faces of where I want the laces, pasting those faces in place.  I hide the original object, leaving my partial selection.

Then I retesselate them to what I want, for example 'x' for the laces. Then select the lines going along one axis, copy, paste, the apply thickness. For the laces that will overlap, I select the lines going in the opposite direction, copy, paste, readjust the vertices so it will go over my existing laces (cylinders), than apply thickness.  Warning, you may need to be careful of what vertices you delete by reshowing the original mesh and seeing what intersects back into the model.

Then again you can just 'free hand' the lines then apply thickness or extrude the lines.

For buckles, I've made the metal portion and the part that loop through it separately , then positioned them in place where I wanted them.  Then I connect them to my clothes.

Hope this was useful,  good luck.

I've had reasonably good result having a dedicated hd for my 3d apps.  I have the apps installed on an external hd drive.  Core components are stored on you C drive, while the bulk of content is stored on the external.

It makes for easier housekeeping.  My downloaded content is stored on one partition, primarily for backup.  My installed content is installed on another partition.  My resources, textures, brushes, obj files and so on are on a third partition.  I also have another partion that is hidden from the OS that stores my system backup.  My primary partion is for OS and virtual memory (cache).  This allows me to control how much space is needed for each aspect of my computing.

The primary benefit is when my system crashes, I can 'nuke' my system partion with a hard disk utility, use my recovery disks for the out of the box state, then restore my system from my hidden partition.  This allows me to troubleshoot Bios, HD, or OS problems.  The separate partitions makes it easier to run routine utilities on a regular basis quickly.  Also when I upgrade to a higher capacity hd , I clone the partitions in stages rather than one huge mondo process.

The bad part is when I have to re-install my plug-ins.  There are two Carrara directories, one on the root (OS) partition and a second one in the partition that Carrara is installed.  The manufacturer will specify what directory to install.  I normally leave a text document to my self for future reference when I run across a  problem.

Don't forget to try Marks tutorials at VTC.com.  Even the older Carrara 6 tutorials are useful for the basics of using Carrara.  For the cost conscious, the monthly subscription is good since you get to checkout tutorials for other apps.  The do have sales occasionally.

The CarraraCafe is also good.  With Mark's tutorials, I feel as if I had a classroom instructor.  With Cripeman, it's like I have a buddy beside me showing me how to do stuff.

By the way there is a cloth simulator for Carrara 8.  I believe it's been there since version 7.  Check out infiniteskills.com or the daz3d channel on youtube.  They use a flag on a flagpole tutorial, but its basically introduces you to the feature.

The documentation that comes with Carrara makes sense if your already familiar with the program. 

Don't overlook the shader tutorials that can be combined with the surface replicator to create better layouts for your city.  You can even put streets with cars.  I did have a problem with street lights, but I think I can figure it out now.