I’ve recently discovered the DAZ Studio line of products and become quite distracted and consumed with its potential. In a nutshell what DAZ Studio does is continue the legacy of Poser.
See the wikipedia entry for greater detail.

Poser is a product I largely ignored because it seemed to allow for bad 3-D art, making human figures available for 3D Artists unable or unwilling to craft them from scratch, and resulting in a lack of uniqueness and the possibility for all 3-D art to look too similar.

I am re-thinking this at this point in time for a couple of reasons:

1. Time does not permit crafting a complete, posable figure in Max or Maya and then composing my desired scenes complete with clothing
2. Coupled with reaching into my own archives of fantasy sketches from sketchbooks over twenty years old, I could spend the dwindling free time with important and challenging issues like facial expression, body language, mood/atmosphere, lighting, narrative, etc.

I have already purchased the My Lin model from DAZ, as well as a costume. I’ll likely post a case study here when my first composition is ready. Additionally I have created an Artzone profile, which was needed to get a free Victoria Base model. I aspire to publish finished pieces on that site as completed and see if this is the social networking site for me.