See if you can get a demo for Carrara. It is a fairly inexpensive program (a couple hundred bucks is better than the thousands for the higher-end packages) and it has at least 3 different ways to create models! You can try out nurbs, metaballs, polys, whatever, and see which approach you like best. Then, if you need something more, you can look at Lightwave or Maya. Note: I used to own 3DStudio (precessor to Max) and hated it so much that I sold it and officially transferred the license. $3000 buckaroonies and no product support from the most uncaring bunch of bastards you'll ever find in a software house. That price was just the beginning. I'd have had to shell out another $5000 for the plug-ins to make it do what it should have done in the core package. Yost managed to make the plug-in idea a real money-stream, though. I will not recommend Max. :ptui!: Carolly