You've come to the right place...
Poser and Daz Studio can use many of the same resources, and will get you to the same destination (a finished image) - but the workflow is different. Folks who are used to one often don't like the other. I like Daz Studio, myself; I know there's at least one regular here who likes Poser.
Unless you have a powerful computer, you won't be creating epic scenes with either program (there's a reason it's called "Daz Studio" instead of "Daz Back Lot"), but that doesn't appear to be a concern for you.
As you've already said, Daz Studio is free. Poser comes with a much larger initial content library (more figures, more textures, more poses), but, again, that doesn't appear to be a concern for you.
The downside to Daz Studio is that it doesn't do dynamic clothing as well as Poser does, because there's so little of it that works in DS. Dynamic clothing drapes and falls more naturally that conforming clothing does, which may be an issue for you.
I'd still recommend Daz Studio for your needs, even given the superiority of dynamic clothing in Poser.
DS comes with three generations of free basic people figures: Genesis, Genesis 2, and Genesis 3. If you're going to get into morphing the figures, then you'll need the head and body morph add-ons, which are not free.
If you want to make pictures of specific people, then I'd suggest stepping back a generation and going with Victoria 4 (V4) and Michael 4 (M4), with the Morphs++ packages. You need to buy these figures from DAZ3D nowadays. V4 has been the most widely supported figure on the planet for nearly a decade; there are plenty of add-ons out there for her. All of these Fenspace characters are morphs of V4, rendered in Daz Studio 3:
If you're going to do older-style anime images, I'd also suggest getting Aiko 3 and Hiro 3. (I (heart) A3 - she's easy to pose and easy on the system resources.) However, that isn't essential - there are free alternatives to them.
Which brings us to free resources for Poser and Daz Studio. I have a "little" list: http://poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page. We know of literally hundreds of free poses, free clothes, free morphs, free hairdos, even entire free figures (animesque, toon-style, and realistic).
We also have a list of morphs that turn the figures into recognizable famous people, from Aristotle to Kate Middleton: http://poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org/w ... ous_People. (Do you want to do a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Star Trek" image? We've got you covered.) This is one reason why I suggested getting V4 and M4 - the vast majority of these morphs are for those two figures.
Going to the other extreme, there's Stick Guy. When it comes to artist's models, you can't get more minimalist than a stick figure.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Poser and Daz Studio can use many of the same resources, and will get you to the same destination (a finished image) - but the workflow is different. Folks who are used to one often don't like the other. I like Daz Studio, myself; I know there's at least one regular here who likes Poser.
Unless you have a powerful computer, you won't be creating epic scenes with either program (there's a reason it's called "Daz Studio" instead of "Daz Back Lot"), but that doesn't appear to be a concern for you.
As you've already said, Daz Studio is free. Poser comes with a much larger initial content library (more figures, more textures, more poses), but, again, that doesn't appear to be a concern for you.
The downside to Daz Studio is that it doesn't do dynamic clothing as well as Poser does, because there's so little of it that works in DS. Dynamic clothing drapes and falls more naturally that conforming clothing does, which may be an issue for you.
I'd still recommend Daz Studio for your needs, even given the superiority of dynamic clothing in Poser.
DS comes with three generations of free basic people figures: Genesis, Genesis 2, and Genesis 3. If you're going to get into morphing the figures, then you'll need the head and body morph add-ons, which are not free.
If you want to make pictures of specific people, then I'd suggest stepping back a generation and going with Victoria 4 (V4) and Michael 4 (M4), with the Morphs++ packages. You need to buy these figures from DAZ3D nowadays. V4 has been the most widely supported figure on the planet for nearly a decade; there are plenty of add-ons out there for her. All of these Fenspace characters are morphs of V4, rendered in Daz Studio 3:
- http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Fi ... a_Clay.png
- http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Fi ... unslow.png
- http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Fi ... yakawa.png
- http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Fi ... oulkes.png
- http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Fi ... ridges.png
- http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=File:Kohran_Li.png
- http://fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Fi ... wansen.png
If you're going to do older-style anime images, I'd also suggest getting Aiko 3 and Hiro 3. (I (heart) A3 - she's easy to pose and easy on the system resources.) However, that isn't essential - there are free alternatives to them.
Which brings us to free resources for Poser and Daz Studio. I have a "little" list: http://poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page. We know of literally hundreds of free poses, free clothes, free morphs, free hairdos, even entire free figures (animesque, toon-style, and realistic).
We also have a list of morphs that turn the figures into recognizable famous people, from Aristotle to Kate Middleton: http://poserdazfreebies.miraheze.org/w ... ous_People. (Do you want to do a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Star Trek" image? We've got you covered.) This is one reason why I suggested getting V4 and M4 - the vast majority of these morphs are for those two figures.
Going to the other extreme, there's Stick Guy. When it comes to artist's models, you can't get more minimalist than a stick figure.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012