hmm, with my preffered apps there are two options, create a tube the size of the holes you want, and cut it out of the uprights. or select the actual vertices and delete them. ( rhino and max in order of posting the solution ) the problem in rhino it then you have a gap between the front and back of the upright. as the nurb is not solid, it's a hollow shape. the solution to that is to copy the tube into each hole and leave it there, sized to fit perfectly. then hole in upright, no gap appearing in what is supposed to be a solid object., and with nurbs, you mesh before exporting and control the density of the polygons. the problem with max is selecting and getting a round hole, not an odd shaped hole.