Was it just last year that a Maya seat cost $12,000? And the 2 most needed plug-ins (cloth and particles) were another $5,000 EACH? This is besides the hardware with required multi-processors. A couple of years back I was looking at between $30-40,000 to set up a functional Maya workstation, and simply couldn't justify the rip-off. A colleague had a belly-up computer which had to be replaced. A/W charged her $1,000 for the "privilege" of transferring the Maya license from the dead beast to her new one. The base price is just the start. And you thought bleeding the victim went out in the Middle Ages? Carolly