long b4 i understood the concept of the alphabet, i was drawing. my mom literally couldn't supply enuf paper. as soon as i was old enuf to handle power tools, i was making christmas decorations for the front lawn. in jr. high i discovered pyrotechnics- not bombs, painting the sky with colored fire. about this time i discovered i didn't have the patience for traditional 2d animation, but i did like moving images, so in high school i was designing sets and special effects for plays- puffs of smoke and the like-which i've continued up until now. i wanted to get into film, but that didn't work out. while working in theater, i discovered there's nothing like the visceral experience of a shared live event. anyway, awhile back i collaberated with another scenic designer who had moved to 2d graphic design and i decided to check it out. while exploring all the possibilities, i discovered that in these times, anyone with a computer and a camera can be a one-person film studio. 2 years ago a friend unearthed a series of stories he wrote in college about a futuristic pleasure city named 'nightown.' these stories have so ignited my visual imagination that i want to develop them into virtual models, illustrating them with camera fly-throughs and illustrating some of the stories in anime. they're fun and pretty dark. also, i've always wanted to design for amusement parks- rides, layout, and landscaping. i figure with the escalating costs and dimishing supplies of land and building materials, more attractions will move toward 3d simulation, like the spiderman attraction at universal studios. designing for that is really attractive. did you know there's a company that actually builds and sells a holodeck for the design industry? it's about a 10' cube. when the 3d technology that's used in industrial design moves into the entertainment business, i'd like to be positioned as a designer/content creator. so why carrara? infini-d was highly recommended to me. lightwave has proved too shaky on the mac. i like the amapi interface. it's a lot like using hand tools.