I am a game design artist; been using 3ds Max for the past 5 years or so. I am very comfortable with character modeling, texturing, etc. in 3ds Max. We are licensed currently with 3ds Max version 8. 

I am starting to make cinematics for a game I'm currently working on independently. I need models in a very nice natural environment with sky, clouds, etc. and lots of foliage.

Vue D'Esprit seems like the best solution for this. There is a plug in for max but it's very expensive and Vue is a better tool I think.

So if I go with Vue, then it may make sense to make my characters in Poser. My main issue is time. It looks like with Poser, I can get hair, clothes, and several different types of characters made and animated in at least one fifth of the time it would take me to do it all from scratch in Max.

SO MY MAIN QUESTION IS THIS...... How much control do I have over the customization of my characters in Poser? I've toyed with it some, but I don't know what it's full capabilities are. For example, if I want to make a character with a Rabbit's head and rabbit's feet but human looking body for example, is this even possible in Poser?  Am I stuck with the base model types it comes with ?  What about clothes?  Can I design my own clothes in Poser?  Lastly, can I tweak my models in Poser so they don't look so "POSERISH"? Most of the models I've seen made in poser look very STIFF and almost like mannequins. How much control do I have over making them look more relaxed and natural?

Thanks in advance.