Bikermouse, RE "Freebees are a crutch...." Adding to what you said. All of this 3d "art" stuff to me is about getting an image or feeling in my head, out of my head. I found out pretty early that there was never a freebee that actually fit perfectly what I would want to do in an image - even just for a simple castle image. Thus the final image would be not as close to the image in my head or convey the feeling exactly as I wanted it to be, which I found sort of unsatisfying. Being able to make my own models, allowed me to get my idea out far closer to how I want it to get out, rather than having it constrained or modified by what I can find. On the other hand, as mentioned, there is stuff I can't make yet, so thats where freebees are so handy - they get me closer to that final desired image. Something else - a friend of mine (who I make the odd model for) who uses poser as her 3d weapon of choice has said to me that she likes having unique models that no-one else has - because it sets her pictures apart from a lot of the other commercial or freebee driven images... it gives them their own unique style. Some people (thinking of ocddoug as an example) are also good enough to generate style with their lighting and overall mood they inject into their pics (I can't yet - lighting and texturing are two other things I'm trying to work on along with organic modelling techniques). I guess those are the main reasons I hope everyone gives modelling a go at some stage - firstly - it can help get you closer to the image in your head, and secondly it can help set your work apart from other images and can give it its own unique flavour. (Disclaimor - its not the only weapon in the arsenal of 3d that can do this, but its certainly one of them). If you find out that you don't like the act of modelling, fair enough - I can easily see how shuffling vertices and subD surfaces isn't everyones idea of an enjoyable afternoon. If you find that it just doesn't work out for you, like my friend did, then so be it - at least you gave it a go. Anyways, enough rambling... off to look at the use of lighting and shadows to frame an image and other scary things ;)

Dreams are just nightmares on prozac...
Digital WasteLanD