Before the inter-personal render wars start to flame too high, let me interject a quick question to liftan, if you're still tracking your own thread. While everyone is taking the time to write out their explanations to your questions, what makes these densely packed paragraphs more readable than the manual? Don't get me wrong. I hate wading through complex bulky blocks of text too but if you're at the beginning why not start with the manual. It has to be faster than waiting for someone to reply and regurgitate the same info from the book. I agree it is worth it when a friendly voice can distill a chapter into one wise sentence but you still eventually have to put your time in. Wishing someone could save me from the GIANT Lightwave 7 manual and just pour the info into my brain, deci6el.