I think they came across as a bit harsh, like the man said, your paying $400 for a program that competes with a $1200 plugin for another even more expensive program. I thought about getting to computer aided character animation about 10 years ago. The software was crap, (by todays standards) but the meshes were 1000's of pounds (not dollars!) per item, and if you wanted a fully textured and posable human figure, then you were looking at a second mortgage :) For what it does, and what it costs, poser is a gem, it's also fairly unique. Have you ever tried to build a human from scratch in a "full" 3D package, I haven't, but I have a friend who does this for a living for games companies, and just looked at me funny and laughed when I suggested he do it. Hell, he even wrote his own IK editor from scratch as his college project rather than try to do it via an existing program, (this was 6 or more years ago) and he'd been playing with 3D stuff for 10 years before that. I don't think you can judge Curious labs by the standards of "other" 3D programs who have massive support budgets and large numbers of staff, it's like comparing a Ferrari to a Ford pinto. Have you ever tried to get luggage into a Ferrari? Or find a qualified mechanic for that matter... :) If you want volumetric lighting try something called wordlbuilder http://www.animatek.com it's bloody amazing... later jb