"I just do not want to do this any more. I can thank DAZ for killing my artistic interests. This is suposed to be enjoyable but it has gotten far to frustrating to be enjoyed."

If it's any consolation I feel exactly the same, have done for many, many years.  I think the main problem is the way these software companies are structured.  It's just not conductive to a healthy product and it seems there are no laws against the sheer incompetence the purchasers have to put up with regards bugs in a software product because I know of no other industry where a company can charge for a product and not deliver what was advertised, in full working order.

The only way to avoid it is to go back to traditional media; draw, paint, airbrush or whatever, and you'll even have a physical peice of art to show for it.  No companies, no manipulation, no file format restrictions, no bugs, no compatibility to worry about.  Draw, and the only thing you need to concern yourself with is sharpening your pencil.

Although I still mess around with 3D, I've already gone back to drawing traditionally now and then, started slowly getting back into it a while back.  I reached your current level of unbearable dismay a long time ago.  You're so right, and I know for a fact that these companies destroy artistic passion because they well and truly destroyed mine for every waking moment I was dependent upon their products.

As you would expect, creativity is reignited since getting back into traditional media - in fact it never left.

But you'll never drop 3D no matter how pissed-off you get with the software vendors.  Trust me, pick up a pencil and draw, and if you can't draw, learn to draw, visit YouTube and you'll discover it's actually the 3D market that is the minority, traditional still rules and there's masses of stuff out there on YouTube and the web teaching it.  Having something else to keep you occupied means that you can take it all in your stride, they can't effect you because you're not dependent upon their product anymore.

If this were a few years back, I'd very likely be mouthing-off about the state of Carrara, but because I'm back into the traditional stuff, I couldn't care less.  The reason I couldn't care less is because my creativity isn't at the mercy of a company anymore.  If inspiration strikes, I pick up a pencil.  Nothing, no company and no person can stop me.

It's their product, Stan, and they'll either sort their programs out or will go out of business eventually because people will only stand for a finite level of instability and problems.  The dumbest company of all is the one that thinks it can treat customers to bug ridden software when there are free alternatives out there that actually work

It's like tsarist said, don't let them grind you down.  They got me down, they even turned me into a whiner.  I'm a totally different person since I started using forums, because although I've made friends over the years I feel like I've been subjected to a massive wave of stress that should never have existed.  It's been a constant struggle to either get the tool I want, to have it do what it's supposed to do - and both.

It ain't ever gonna happen mate, and the only thing that'll ever result in all of this for both you (and I) is that eventually we'll be banned from the communities we like being a part of.  Already neither of us can visit DAZ anymore, but the fact that our tempers are the result of their own incompetence, has no bearing in any of it, and it never will.

Companies hate being told what epic failures they are, it never did go down well.

Visit a forum for 3D software and you'll notice the topics are almost entirely about bugs and problems and how to get something to work.  It's a rarity these days for it to be about "art" or "creativity".  Visit a forum for traditional media though, and you'll find yourself transformed into another world.  It's all about art and creativity because none of that other crap exists in the world of traditional media.

See what I mean?