Quote Originally Posted by Kelli
Wow that looks awesome. Now if only I had $219 to spend on it Anyone know any free trials or cheaper stuff I can use to practice with? Once I get good, then I will think about spending the money, but for now, something more inexpensive will have to do.
You might try to find Poser 3.0, they turn it free some times ago.
It's not as good as the 4.0 or later, but at least there is some naked people in the standard library. Worth exporting as a mesh once you set up the position, to include in a real raytracer.
For raytracing, there is a lot of selling-stuff, alas most human model must be payed additionnally...
For stuff:
If you like mouse-modelling, there is plenty of it... most are not cheap
I do not like mouse-modelling...

If you can cope with script modelling, have a look at www.povray.org
It's free, but can take time to master (and it's not a WYSIWYG interactive program, rather something like Latex), and it lack any good people-model (but you can have poser export for that, with a bit of tuggling).