hey dudes, im mainly a terragen kinda guy but i saw poser a few hours ago and was wondering(after searching the web with no good results) what is poser? what does it do....how does it work.....do you have to buy all the skins or can you make your own....what system spec is nescessary etc.... any help would be greatly appreciated!

Poser is a 3D rendering and posing package which specialises in using posable human (and other) figures. It has extremely limited modelling capabilities, but relies on its own or 3rd party models to create renders. You can create your own skins for the figures, and there are also a lot of free ones available in Rosity freestuff, and also at RuntimeDNA, Renderotica and others. There are 3 flavours currently available, Poser 4, Poser 4 Pro Pack (which adds extra functions to Poser 4) and Poser 5. Poser 5 is somewhat idiosyncratic, or so it's said. I use P4 Pro Pack. System requirements can be very modest for Poser 4 and Pro Pack, but the more models you use in a pic, the more memory is needed. Assuming you're using a PC, I'd recommend at least half a gig of RAM and as much HD space as you can spare. A fast processor is pretty much a given for 3D apps, no matter what you're using. Poser will work with Windows 98 but it's much better behaved on XP/NT/2000. I wouldn't recommend ME for anything other than using the CD as a coaster. :)

damn...so i guess a pentium 2 333mhz with 128mb ram and a 9.8 gb hard drive with 3gb free is a bad idea? ah well off i go to Maplin elctronics to buy parts for a new system (too risky to upgrade with the amount of mods i have on this machine)

Yep, I reckon a new system would be a good idea. As for HD space, give some serious consideration to 120 GB or thereabouts. You won't need it at first, but believe me, you will eat it up at a rate of knots.