Quote - First question: how old is your graphics card? Does it support CUDA? If so, that will have an impact on materials, since you will then be able to use Cycles, which employs a different set of materials to Blender Internal.

And there is only one reason i can think of to not download the latest version of Blender - after all, it is free - and that is bandwidth. The current stable version is 2.63a. It has dramatic improvements over 2.61. Download size is roughly 35 meg, IIRC. Be sure to download for your OS and OS type (32 vs 64 bit).

I'm looking to download the 2.63a version, but before I do this, I would like some questions answered.

Do I need to uninstall any previous version first, or does it auto detect the previous version and prompt you on what to do when it is downloaded and installed?

Will I be able to transfer my existing Blender files to the new version? How is that taken care of?

Is the interface still like it is in the earlier versions of 2.6?

The reasons I am asking these questions is because at least the DAZ 3D software will  detect the older versions and help you to make the transition from it to the new one smoothly. Also, any files and content that you have in the earlier versions of the DAZ 3D software will be automatically transferred to the new versions. I'm hoping this is the case with Blender as well. I do a lot of file rearranging on my PC already to help me keep things organized and easy to find. Any help I can get that will keep me from having to do some of that work is most welcome. It allows me to spend more time doing what I enjoy; creating art.

Stay awesome!

Agent 0013.