You should take a look at Form Fonts. Alan Frazer has made an enourmous collection of 3D people, in just about any pose you could want. Subscription is worth the cost many times over, plus zillions of other high quality components

Demonstrating that native SU plus some photoshop work is the way to go -- you can produce 20 or 30 stunning images in the time it would take to one render. Very nice indeed.

Still one of the best videos on the subject:

Bravo and thanks for that one Alan, How about this:
Youtube Video

I had this happen once with a laptop -- it was the inverter board. A simple thing to replace if you can get the part.
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2009/05/04/how-test-lcd-screen-inverter-in-laptop/

Try hooking your laptop to an external monitor. If you get a normal screen, then it's the inverter board.

The Canon deal from Walmart sounds great.
Check out this link and the review:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM - Dave's picks site (look at "mid size" cameras

and:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/SX130IS/SX130ISA.HTM

Thanks Alan. I have used BuzzPro 2 for years and agree with you about it's magic. All should check it out -- this used to cost a couple hundred dollars as I recall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera
Ub Iwerks, the creator of Mickey Mouse actually made the first multi-plane when he was Disneys partner.

Explorer replacement? Honda or Toyota -- good for 250 K miles at least. And they never let you down.

Since I have retired I don't use SketchUp much anymore, but I visit the forum everyday. Starting way back at version 2, I was inspired by the work of Alan and Grant Marshall. In my mind, their contributions to the community were beyond compare. I shamlessly copied Grant's watercolor technique -- the best ever by far. And made use of Alan's models and techniques everyday. And had the privilege of actually meeting Alan at BaseCamp 2005. If we had a SU hall of fame, they would be at the very top.

Me too. They were beautiful