One of the more frequent questions I get asked is 'Where do you get all those nifty toys!?!' Well here's the long and drawn out list of all my favorite software toys ;) WARNING some of em are really pricey!!! Some aren't though... Not all of them are necessary to poser work but I use alot of em on a daily basis for the broad range of work I do.

POSER & ADDONS:

Poser - Poser is available directly from its maker at e-frontier.com and they frequently have specials so its always a good idea to check there. However if you frequently shop Amazon.com and are in the US you can more often than not get a better discount and free shipping through them. I highly recommend upgrading to Poser 6 if you haven't. Outsid of being more stable it has fixed several key problems that were present in earlier versions and is a much more supportable piece of software.

Modeling:

SoftImage's XSI - Modeling, Rigging, Render.... This is my primary modeling work horse, and I'm bloody fast in it. Very powerful tools, very customizeable... 3 price settings for beginner, intermediate and advanced... and the beginner is very affordable.

LightWave - Modeling, Rigging, Rendering... This used to be my modeling tool before XSI... now I only group in it.

Modo - Getting to be much more powerful as a Modeling software though much more expensive too...

Silo - Modeling and only modeling but their new version is something to watch out for. This is by far the best bang for the buck in modeling software.

UVMAPPING:

Deep UV - Relaxing tools for UVMapping. Pretty darn nice, been using em for years, however, I really don't recommend it to someone just starting out. Two years ago, this was the only product on the market... Now they're pretty much abandon ware and there are WAY better products out there for half the price. Save your money.

UVMapper Classic/Pro - The Classic verson of this is free... the Pro has some relaxing capabilities... nothing on par with the big dogs as yet but its getting there and for the price it can't be beat. Quick and dirty learn how to map. Pretty good all around program.

UVLayout - You know when I said above there were Way better products, well this is the one I was talking about! Once they get an undo button hooked up on this thing the only competition will be that new version of Silo everyone is waiting for. Absolutely incredible and at half the price of Deep UV, twice as fast and so incredibly easy to use.... go get the free demo right now and fall in love! And did I mention their Tech support is positively incredible?

Texturing:

Deep Paint 3D - Well to date they're the only one outside of Body Paint that works in Layers like Photoshop... However, if you don't already have this product, don't get it. It's abandon ware as well... we've been waiting for almost 2 years for a CS2 fix so that you can use the Photoshop to Deep Paint link up functionality that makes it so great without locking up and/or crashing the program and when last asked the answer wasn't hopeful that there would ever be a fix released. Save your money and go somewhere where they are actually attempting customer support rather than customer avoidance.

Zbrush - Yes, you heard right, Zbrush can actually do textures! Better than that, it can do them darn well... just haven't discovered a way to do layers yet but good heavens you need to visit Zbrush Central and take a look at the tutorials. Heavens some of the work people are doing is just incredible!

Bodypaint 3D - Don't actually have this one yet but if you're looking for a better alternative to Deep Paint 3D that is keeping up with current technology and not falling down on customer support, look no further than Body Paint. These folks are hugely motivated to get you the best product for the best price and make sure everything works really well for you. If you really need layer support with photoshop, this is the way to go.

Photoshop - Of course this one. I don't go anywhere with out it.

PaintShop Pro - Cheaper with alot of the same functionality of Photoshop.

Painter - An incredible program for natural painting. Also has some very good tools. If you already have a Wacom tablet, you're gunna fall in love and get a discount on this one, see your Wacom account for rewards.

Morphing:

XSI and Lightwave are both decent at morphing before you render out to polygons but after it can be a bit of a pain.

Zbrush - This is by far my favorite with all the intuitive clay like tools that you could want!

BlackSmith3D - This one I haven't used myself but one of my frequent partners in 3d madness swears by it. And with a lighter price tag it may well be the way to go for someone starting out.

Rigging and CR2 Editing:

I do most of my CR2 editing inside Poser 6 these days though be aware that Poser 5/6 has corrected a number of errors that were present in Poser 4/Pro in its interpretation of joints. Please, if you can afford it, upgrade. I will eventually be stopping support of P4/PP as supporting the bugs in the old version and making the new version bend a little less than perfect will eventually no longer be the better option. This said, here's some tools that make my life easier.

EasyPose Underground - Heavens I could not live without this product now. I live and die by ERCs and this product makes them so simple that anyone can do them... JCMS, JCJs, Geometry Switching, Easy pose set up, its all there.

CR2Builder - This one is free and I love it! Has its odd quirks but you can do everything from ERCs to editing it down to a Mat Pose if you like.

Poser File Editor - This one is okay but takes some getting used to. Make sure you are careful when you 'repair' and use extreme caution on the renaming of joints. I've had some extreme problems created for backwards compatablity by using this fuction. However, beyond that one warning, its a rock solid program and has lots of functionality.

MAT Poses etc

MatPoseEdit - This is another freebie that is just incredible in functionality and usefulness. It can make P4/PP compatable Mats as well as P5 readable versions of the same Mat poses. Can make Poses and facial expressions and characters all out of the settings you've saved into a cr2. Very nice little piece of software.

Shader Spider - I'm only just starting to learn the power of this little gem. This is for P6 only but wow, it really does help with making Poser Material Notes so much easier as well as making the P4/PP/P6 mat poses a snap all in one window.

P-Wizard - I honestly couldn't live without this one doing my packaging of product. Indespensable.