i know small parts of 'getting around' in several apps., i haven't spent enough time in just one, to learn as much as i should/can. i don't know how long you have been trying to learn how to do stuff in poser/shade, but maybe in the modelling aspect, if you could get your head around something simpler like wings3d you could see how the process developes. things like rhino and blender have so many buttons, it confuses me, too. i was noodling around a 30 day demo of modo[ a lightwave brreak away i suspect...; ^] and it seemed more familiar than shade, i own lightwave, as well as cinema4d, amorphium, carrara, ei universe, bryce, poser and several others. strata cx has a friendly interface, renders are quite nice. it does quite a bit, and people have modelled some amazing things with it's somewhat basic modelling toolset. bottom line: find something free and easy to learn, to get a feel for what does what...