Operaguy, I'm thinking you can get it down to perhaps the same (80 seconds) or maybe even 60 seconds with the same quality, apples to apples, if you really learn the ins and outs of Carrara like you do Poser.

You seem to be looking for exactly half the time, and I'm not sure you'll get it, being that you're using an imported PZ3 with Poser's dynamic strand hair. I hope I'm wrong, we shall see.

My point is, the BIG difference in rendertime won't come from a minimalist apples to apples comparison like this one. That's not where the real benefit of Carrara is. The big difference will be noticable when you try to get MORE out of the scene than just the same level of detail.

For example, if you wanted to really enhance the realism of that image, you could add some nice raytraced reflections in the eyes, AO for contact shadowing, perhaps some volumetric lighting to give it some drama, a detailed interior or exterior environment to fulfill the background visualization, etc. That's where Carrara's features and render speed will blow Poser away, and that's why I'm wondering if what you really want isn't just best done in Poser itself. I guess your test results will tell you if you're on the right track. I'm interested to hear them myself.

Message edited on: 01/30/2006 23:56