Thanks, all --  it's good to see I'm in good company... I was beginning to wonder about myself there for a minute lol... :p

well it's a wonderful way to express oneself artistically; and having just seen rendered characters in movies (shrek etc) and games (xbox), it's great to be able to create wonderful looking characters and animated scenes and the rest of it on one's desktop... great artistic outlet for all of us..!
(though very addictive and expensive, I'm gonna have to some how limit myself... good luck i say.. :0)  (also there's this popular online place w/rendered characters, "second life", though I haven't tried it, because I'd likely spend too much time on it if I got into it..  )

-k