Okay, here's the story. I'm an art director (designer/web developer/Flash programmer/etc.) at a manufacturer. I've been tasked with a long term project: to be able to model our product (refrigerated display cases) and (1) composite the render with actual photos of customer environments and (2) animate figures to illustrate human interaction with the products.

I've been a long-time Carrara user, and have dabbled with Poser. But I need to make major strides in my skills.

Could anyone recommend any books and resources? Obviously Poser modeling but also Carrara lighting, animation, and compositing with Photoshop.

Thanks in advance!