I've got Poser 4, and have not delved to deeply into any of the "add ons" that so many of you use. I simply use a few default characters and clothes if I need folks in my 3D creations. Without asking too difficult a question for a reasonable thread, can I utilize all the DAZ characters/figures/clothes etc. in Poser 4, or do I need P5? I have downloaded a few items from the free section, but I can't seem to make them fit the figures right. Thanks in advance.

All the DAZ characters/figures/clothes etc will work in poser 4. Some other people might make add ons for them that use poser 5 materials but they will usually say for poser 5 or poser 5 only. Some of the things you downloaded might need the body and face morphs of the character that they are made for, to work.

Almost everything that DAZ makes and/or brokers is designed for P4 and Pro Pack. DAZ seems to have taken a decidedly anti-P5 stance. The items in DAZ's freebie archives are usually designed to fit DAZ-specific figures like Victoria or Michael, not the older figures included in Poser. That said, most P4/PP stuff will work perfectly fine in P5, with little more than material tweaks. P5's crosstalk fix does cause some problems with clothing designed to take advantage of that bug.

"I have downloaded a few items from the free section, but I can't seem to make them fit the figures right." A lot of the clothing (and smart props) you find nowadays will be for Vicki and Mike, and won't fit the standard Poser 4 people right off. Look for the older freestuff, especially that marked for "Posette", "Dork", "P4F", "P4M" and similar keywords. Is there something in particular you're looking for?

always check the 'notes and requirements' before downloading..;) you can do searches (tho more than one word tends to get you a 'no match'). And in a rememberance of all those word problems we did in school..the word 'for' has a special meaning..usually 'this won't work if you don't have what's after the 'for'..;)
A lot of this stuff will automatically install if unzipped in the right place, but also check the paths in unzip (usually on the far right of each file name), sometimes manually sending a given file to that location will make it work. hope this helps.

Thank you all for giving me some needed information- I know, it's like any of the other programs- just keep at it, and study tutorials. Anyway, I find it a little difficult for my current needs, since I have been working on a '50s based image, and was trying to find "street clothes" for that era for the Poser people. Everything seems to be geared toward fantasy and sex.(?) Paul

Attached Link: http://www.poserworld.com/

"Everything seems to be geared toward fantasy and sex." You forgot sexual fantasy. ;) There may be other genres, but they don't count for much... If you're looking for a source of everyday clothes, may I suggest you consider a subscription to PoserWorld? Best Poser value on the 'net, and requests are considered if they don't already have what you want.