I end up with speed and quality improvements.
I have started doing multiple pass renders, rendering diffuse, specular, shadow and ambient occlusion seperately and then compositing the result.

Yes.   I do use Poser 7, with V4, and use the BodyStudio plugin version 2.7.02c to import into 3ds Max 9.

It gives very good results, and allows many more possibilities for rendering, however it does not do a good job of importing procedural textures or multiple shader trees.  So as one of the other posters commented, there is an element of fiddling with texture nodes before, or after transferring to Max.

Overall I think it is worth it.  However I should state that I am doing this only for my own amusement, and if I was trying to produce high quality art as quickly as possible, then I would probably find a different route.

Dear Tyger_purr
Thanks for this hint. I have just tried it and.... IT WORKS! but why, why is my graphics card hardware acceleration suddenly toxic to Poser 6, but not to Poser 5? It worked for three months with Poser 6! This suggests that my problem is not related to a corrupted Runtime file, but rather related to my graphics card? Has anybody else had this experience?

I use BodyStudio. I find the people at Reiss to be very helpful. I get the impression that they are a very small company and so they often get overwhelmed. I suggest patience and that they will sort things out eventually.

I have tested the Reiss Body Studio plugin and overall I am very impressed. Impressed enough to buy it. I am just having a few problems with getting the software to accept the updated licence file but with help from Reiss I hope that this will soon be resolved.

I would suggest that if you are seriously considering this plugin that you contact Reiss and ask for a two week testing period.

I have found that in most cases I do not have any problems with importing textures. The only exception is procedural textures.

The current UK issue of 3D Woeld magazine has a review of the Reiss plugin where they also score it highly.

I am still very new to using the plugin but my suggestion would be that it would be more powerful to use the many lighting and camera options available in Max, so just import the animation and do the rest in Max.