... Wow.

Talk about a post that never asked for what it got.  There are a whole lot of dead bodies in this conversation... Hitler and Caravaggio in the same pile!  Weird.

Erotic imagery is only for those people who are enlightened enough to handle it, and the enlightened people are always the ones who occupy the upper tiers of society.  Only the educated and privileged classes can be trusted to hold the keys to the doorway of the animal mind, and mere plebes must be prohibited from exposure... for their own good!... otherwise they'd all be raping rabbits in the streets, drinking blood and dancing around in the moonlight rather than working, consuming, paying taxes, watching television and going to church. This attitude is not new; in fact, it's one of the hallmarks of Western civilization.  It's stupid, of course, but it isn't going to go away because Poser got invented.  Anyone who makes art that speaks too much to the animal mind (not that the original poster was going to) runs the risk of needing to be thoughtfully corrected by those who know better.

anyway, just a word of caution to poser users: don't even think about comparing yourselves
to the great masters of the italian renaissance (in regard to cherubs, amor, cupid et al.).
it's just another of the several self-delusions peculiar to the poser subculture that have made
poser the laughing stock of the larger 3D community (users of more expensive apps).

I am one of those expensive apps users (3DS/Maya), and I get what you're saying here, and yes, there is some criticism of Poser, but... I don't laugh.  Poser is a perfectly legitimate art tool that saves me loads of time when I don't want to reinvent the wheel (body).  What I laugh at is the piles and piles of gravity-proof boobies that come out daily as guys discover that they can make their own porn.  However, I also realize that the demand for porn pushes new mediums, always has, always will, and that keeps said mediums affordable and available.  That means more artists have access to these tools.  I've seen some  art come straight from the Poser rendering engine that was so good that it makes me feel embarrassed for owning ubersoftware.

Some of the folks who argue against Poser say that it's the Fisher Price of 3D work, but not every work of digital art is about modeling.  If you're trying to make art, then the important thing is the art, not whether you used the most expensive tools.  Great art can be made with tempera paints and pencils and it is hanging in galleries every day for sale for thousands of dollars.  I wouldn't want it thought that because I use the big apps, I have no regard for Poser, when it is a perfectly legitimate tool that allows young artists to get a start in the 3D art world.  If everyone had to start with 3DS to be taken seriously, the pool of real artists would be limited to the privileged and the pirates... and, it's worth pointing out that this is something that many 3D artists would like (without the pirates, of course), because competition is threatening.

Anyway, that was off topic, sorry, but at least it wasn't Hitler.

I don't think you've really made it as an artist here unless you've had one of your works censored.  Back in my younger, less patient Rosity days (been here awhile), I had a good row with Teh Authoritahs over a series of nude women I did with the hairy bits showing because I don't agree with the idea that breasts are okay to exploit, penises can be tolerated if they aren't erect, but girl genitals are diiirty.  I lost the fight, of course, and got over it because I wanted to display my portfolio more than I wanted to make a political statement with art that was never intended to be a political statement.

Artists have to make these kinds of choices all the time, and yes, with brick-and-mortar galleries as well.  If I did a series of nakkie kids with bits showing,  they'd have to be done a very certain way or a gallerist would decline to host them due to lack of saleability.  However, if a person of color from a third-world country  was doing nakkie kids pics, the work would likely be readily accepted, because as every privileged American knowns, brown people from poor countries are savages who don't know any better, and it's fine to appreciate that aesthetically.  The art world is riddled with cultural jackwittery like that; it isn't just Rosity or the intertubes.

As long as artists are beholden to the public -- and we always are -- that's the way it will be.  Now, if you want to make your baby picture and keep it for your private portfolio, once you're famous or dead, it will become another shining example of your brilliance.  So don't let the dumb stop you from making your work, you just might want to consider holding onto it.

Hey, I agree with you.  I'm just sayin'.  First comes the baby bits, and then the lynching.

I used a nude baby figure for my Madonna of the Polygons piece, and I ran into the same problem. It's going to step on your plans, but I really doubt you'll be able to find it and the Mike gens won't translate well.  I recommend strategic posing, like I did, and perhaps throwing a drop cloth over the figure's loin area so that it isn't so obvious that you're going without.

Seriously, it doesn't matter how artful your intent is, people get very squeamish about kid-bits when they don't know you personally.  I got the gasps and lynching vibe when I asked around, and I'm a mom; I cleaned kid bits for years.  Even if you do manage to render it, your reception will suffer for the inclusion, the concern being that while you may not be a pedo, authentic pedos can use your picture For Evil.

Good luck.