I know what you mean nomuse - I'm trying to decide where it is I'll be heading with a 3D hobby...I seriously doubt I'll end up doing anything professionally. So have kind of moved into the mindset of just having something I can enjoy doing, make some scenes, take my mind off of a hard day at work and maybe - use the scenes I make in a story I have fluttering abut in the back of my head, and see where I head from there. Animation is currently not on my learning agenda right now - it can wait until after I know how to model... 3D packages might be expensive but then I've spent more than what lightwave would cost on hobbies that have faded away - not to mention computer games (my other hobby :P )