Thanks for your reply. James

Part of the reason that there's more stuff (some of it really wonderful) by Brycers on display may be because it's a good program for what it does: landscapecentric still pictures. However, part of Carrara's mission is to be an animation studio, thus it makes sense that fewer still pictures would be posted. Also Carrara has a steeper learning curve. I love Bryce, and as a hobbyist, prefer it for outdoor stuff. As much as C3 adds more for landscaping, Bryce is still better for that, unless you're looking to animate. But Carrara will take you further on everything else, especially with its newest features, like HDRI. I suspect as people digest the new version of Carrara there will be more and better pics posted. But in the end it's not a Bryce versus Carrara thing, great pictures are where you find them, whether on Bryce, Carrara or any other app.

Here's a link that may answer your questions: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html

Why do you say that your work is not copyrighted? Do you mean you haven't registered a copyright, or is this a work derived from another persons work? While registration has some advantages, generally there's no need to register a work of art that you have created on your own for it to have copyright protection. Work derived from another's work is a different matter. You might want to look at discussion forums dealing with copyright issues.

If you're referring to the VTC training CDs, I liked them and thought they were worth the price. I'm one of those people who needs to see how something is done in order to make sense of what was written in the manual (I also found the Friendly Spider CDs helpful for Amapi). They cover a large range of topics, but they won't turn you into an expert. I'm happy I got them and refer to them when I'm stumped about something.

Thanks for the full explanation, I appreciate it.

Thanks, Brian. I sort've assumed that was what they thought. Still, I think having the export option would have been a good idea.

Thanks. By the way, how did Eovia let A7 out the door without the ability to import Carrara format files?

Yes, it's legal to buy from Amazon.com. This is the full retail version. If Amazon wasn't an authorized reseller, I'm pretty sure Amazon couldn't have included Poser in its rebate program. Note: if your copy is the version I got this week from Amazon (5.0.2.262), you'll have to download or send away for a CD of SR 2.1 from Curious Labs. Curious Labs aparently changed their registration requirements and no longer need a reply code for the program to work over seven days. The registration info on the program is not correct.

Thanks. I took the advice and downloaded SR 2.1 (it took well over an hour). It appears to have solved the problem. Still it would help if CL's website made it clear that they no longer use a challenge code/response code format (they still have a link somewhere on the site) and that the info in the manual is wrong. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was frustrated by this. Not a good way to create customer loyalty.

Thanks. I never heard of "getright." I'll have to check it out. Since I'm still working on projects with other 3D apps, and still going through the Poser manual (a printed manual is getting rarer these days), I'm less concerned with waiting for the disk, as I am with getting a response from an actual CL person. I get the feeling tech support isn't fully staffed--if it's staffed at all. So far this is not the support one wants when they by a new piece of software.

Thanks. I have a dial-up connection. The email suggested the cd if one only has a dial-up modem. It's odd that they were able to update the manual, but not the program that came with it.

If money's part of your concern over which to get, Amazon.Com's has a $50 rebate deal on Poser 5, bringing the net price down to $150. I just got my copy today; it looks like it could be awesome.