My personal experience with Shade goes back to Shade 7 standard. It was impossible for me to model in and learn(what I did learn was it was hard to use). I should have never purchased it. I bought Lightwave and within hours I was modeling with ease. I could understand the tools and there was plenty of support and tutorials in launguage that I could understand. Personally I don't think they'll ever sell a version of Shade that attracts me again and (right now) 80 bucks for Carrara 5 with upgrade to C6 for free (plat club). All the new features in it. sounds like a good deal.