Cell shaders are fun to play with. I bought the Toon shader for Carrara, and used it to make Tarot Cards. Anyway, lately I've been seeing version 5.5 Lightwaves pop up on ebay (some still sealed in the box) for an affordable, so I imagine that's the direction I'll go in. I haven't seen the same sort of deal for 3DMax (aside from -spit- warez), but then, it's more expensive to start with. Buying software on eBay can be risky, but I have had good luck by limiting purchases to things that are still shrink-wrapped. It sounds like Lightwave has nice modeling tools, and that's what I need the most help with. --Terri