Ok I feel like an idiot for asking this but..

There are several programs out there to help you get started, but DazStudio is free and has the base models you're going to need anyway. I personally use Poser but it costs 180+ right now.

Check out the dazstudio link to get started. =)

Im pretty biased, but I think Daz is great, and it is , for me at least, a hundred times more user friendly than poser.. ><

I was given a box of poser 4 from a friend but got yelled at by my art director I need 6 or higher? any idea how much that is running right now? Best suggestion on where to find it for the best price? I absolutely know nothing about the 3D world, that's where my sister shines. I am more 2D than anything else.

Any 3D tuts for dummies? hehe I really feel like i'm back in elementary school asking this :P

I cant read a tutorial without my eyes going crossed, or I would, definately not for dummies though!

I'm not sure if you can purchase a newer edition of Poser that is not the newest edition of poser? Maybe.. but I don't think so. :(

I haven't been able to find anywhere to get P6 but P7 is really easy to get into. I got P5 and it's a clusterfuck but not sure on P6.

I'm not sure you can upgrade to p6 anymore. Few years back they were giving p5 away for free with a really cheap upgrade to p6 so they could get people to upgade to p7 which was coming out. Honestly, from what I hear, Daz has the better render engine, and with all the add ons (which do come for a price), daz is much more user friendly. Poser takes a lot of patience - hell it took me a good year before I could really sit down and mess with it with some sort of decent result. It's just not intuitive enough.

Well if you are just looking into getting into making art part of 3D then poser 6 or higher is nice. They sell for about 200USD .
The newest version of DAZ Studio is wonderful and very user friendly. they have a prop bundle that sells around 150 (http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/daz-studio-3?item=8969&_m=d) They have a free trial download as well (http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/daz_studio3/daz_studio_advanced?_m=d)
Now if you are looking for something to learn starting from scratch and not messing with premade model/figures then I would suggest looking into Maya (only cuz it is most reconized with many companies) Blender, Wings are also nice to learn as well as Zbrush. Hope it helps

I am at a complete loss here. I have uninstalled this reinstalled this about 5 times now. I had it working this morning and then now it won't work.

I get the following picture when I open it every time.



Nothing loads past that - I have attempted loading everything I can think of. I have blown out ghost drivers. I have completely deleted all my content and daz and re-downloaded everything reinstalled.... mind you i have been going at this since about 11 am this morning - I got 3 renders off my first time and then that was that :(

Help please! I feel like a newb :(

what did the log file say?

It wont open ><

It is worth noting that this new version is a big change from old ones and from the daz forums looks to be pretty buggy still. Might be worthwhile going with the last 2.xx version until they sort it out. I haven't bothered downloading 3.0 yet, for that reason. Everything still works fine for me, just without the new bells and whistles. I think you can still download older versions of daz at their page, so that might be worth trying.

I can't stress how awesome this package is. Since you're just starting out you won't have most of this, it takes a bit to get to you by mail, but it's so worth the money! The training book will also help you out and get you started. :)
http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/training-materials/figures-characters-and?item=9166&cat=943&_m=d

Thanks so much !

PS : Tami you are AWESOME let me tell ya - I installed 2.3 last night between Tami's suggestion and Lesse working with me we have it working ! - TY TY TY

woot! You know where to find me if you want any more help too :)

:) Dontcha love waiting for the beta'd version of software to be fixed.

lol true true