Hi all, Thanks for the kind words :) Clint's right, I do this for a job as an illustrator. Sorry, no magic manual. Just some serious time in the program prefaced with a lot of, "I wonder if I did this what would happen?" type of questions. Started with RD 3 about 4 years ago. I've learned a lot by putting together shaders in response to questions in this forum and have learned a ton by just luking in here. It's a wonderful resource! As far as modeling goes; practice makes perfect. (Doncha' hate that?) I spend quite a little time looking and real world objects and trying to figure out how I'd model them. It's really a sad thing actually :) I could probably actually contribute something to society otherwise. LOL Just have fun and push the envelope! :) Mark