So…I got iClone 2.1 Hooray! I have yet to do anything substantive with it, though. From what I read, I should probably just wait until the 2.5 patch, released later this season, which will make manipulating characters, props and other elements much easier.
Any developers with brains would have programmed in the capability to edit characters, props and other elements via mouse right in the real-time render screen. But no, despite the almost universal use of WYSIWYG GUIs, the elegance, ease and familiarity of these apparently did not register in the first major or second major iteration of iClone. It took until 2.5 for this basic interface to be incorporated. I wonder if the programmers tested the program on real amateur users?
Oh yeah, and on a positive ranting note, I find the site Renderosity a great source of free 2D backgrounds and textures. I downloaded some creepy/industrial/Gothic/night scenes for possible use in LHF 2.0. The only disappointment I have with Renderosity is that it contains many Poser and 3DX files that I cannot use because I do not have the software. But the thumbnails sure are pretty to look at.