Quote - Thanks for the info. I just got a free copy of Shade8.5 Standard from 3DArtist magazine. I gave myself a fright when I first ran it and saw the user interface.

Can anyone say whether it would be better to use Shade or Blender to begin modelling -- for someone who is completely new to it?

Thanks!

If I were completely new to modeling, blender would meet all of my needs.  It's a mind-blowingly powerful application and the seemingly red-bull fueled development pace means significant updates are never more than mere months away.  Unfortunately, I'm not a beginner and every new program I try always invites mental comparisons to other programs I've used (perhaps a decade before) that did things more intuitively.  The difficulty people have in learning blender has a lot to do with what programs you are familiar with (and perhaps even which OS you have used most).  If you are used to pointing and clicking, dragging and dropping, it can be a bear to come to grips with.  If, however, you are the type of person who prefers a keyboard to a mouse and has no trouble learning different key commands for every tool you use, then you will probably be just fine.  And there's a lot to be said for never having to pay for an upgrade.