Well, I guess I am excited for everyone thirsting to get on the V/M stream.....more power to you and to Daz, who are coming out of the 2005 gate with an obviously aggressive marketing plan. You have to admire the establishment of the V/M brand and identity, the great community of support that has grown up around it, and the wealth of vendors developing product into the stream.

And thank you Daz for the voucher for everyone who purchased V and M. I will be taking advantage of that myself.

That having been said, with all sincerity....

Here are the numbers. Under standard pricing, it has taken $210. to get to the ground floor of V/M.

base $40
head morphs $20
body morphs $20
hi-res textures $25

Times two, to get both characters. That's $210.00.
Now, you get the bases free. that saves $80.00, a fundamental roll back of 38%.

And here is my two cents worth contrarian viewpoint, take it or leave it...
Getting to base camp only gets you INTO the V/M world. Then the spending can really begin. I simply have to say that. There is nothing wrong per se with the V/M path, I am just suggesting new people have their eyes open on the way in. The only difference, then versus now, is $80.00 (and yes you may temporarily get the morphs on sale upcoming). All other budgeting to be IN the V/M world has not changed.

Another path is to learn tools. You will get a great education including marketable job skills, get free of the constraints of the Unimesh/V/M stream, save money and get control of your artwork. Remember, the unimesh characters all have deformed shoulders/upper arms and absurd inside elbow creases, and they are a heck of a nuisance (that was euphemistic) to animate because of the high poly count.

Two related threads on this subject, here and here.

::::: Opera :::::