wow thanks for all the help. I think what a part of it might be is I have quite a few custom models I have made...I would say well over a hundred. I think I might be bogging down my system by having all those so I am slowly weeding through and deleting the ones I don't use anymore. I will also try that program MaxMem and see if that helps. I have a feeling my CD-R which is external USB connecting through a USB expansion card could be a culprit in resource theft. I will keep everyone posted as to my progress. =) thanks again all!

I have 384 megs of RAM. I was running my MP3 player at the same time, but even with that closed it still causes problems.

I actually had a friend point me to grouper which has completely solved the problem. I appreciate everyone's help on this, I also get the 100% now on diffusion ambience and specularity. that is actually how I know it worked! ahahaha

yeah the calico effect is what I get too. I get hundreds of images all over the object. made for an interesting horse let me tell ya! hahaha ok so the converted TGA file from the saved poser figure is what I use to texture it right?