My work comes more from an architectural/industrial design background, so it should come as no surprise that I am a long time AutoCAD user. I've been a big fan of 3D design on the computer for a long time. My first start in 3D was Turbo Silver on the Amiga. That latter evolved into Imagine on the PC. Imagine was a fine program for it's time (1993), but would be considered archaic by today's standards. The follow is a list of 3d programs that I have used professionally in chronological order. Turbo silver Imagine AutoCAD 3DSMAX and Rhino 2.0 I played with the demos for Truespace, Amapi, Cinema 4D and FormZ. Of all these programs the one I'm most enthusiastic about is Rhino. Coming from AutoCAD, Rhino was extremely easy to pick up. I really like working in NURBS. I can make the exact geometry, not an approximation of it. This precision allow for predictable results while trimming holes or doing Booleans etc. The commands work the way they should and the tutorials that come with the demo are easy to understand and really show the strength of Rhinos modeling abilities. Adding a fillet between the intersection of two curvilinear surfaces is one thing that Rhino can do easily. Ive been browsing through the application boards here at Renderosity on a regular basis for the last year and a half and the Rhino group seems to consistently generate high caliber work, followed closely by the Lightscape, and Cinema 4D group. This would lead me to believe that people are finding it easier to create complex 3d models in Rhino than any other program. Also Rhinos import/export functions are top notch. I dont have any problems getting geometry into or out from Rhino. I guess that is enough to say about PROS of Rhino, how about some of the CONS. Well, first off Rhino is a NURBS modeler, some applications, like game character design, may be better suited to a polygon modeler like Wings3d. Rhino is primarily a modeling program and as such it is intended as a companion to another software package, i.e. for rendering and/or animation. Rhino has the mirror command, but lacks a true symmetry feature. This would be useful for tracing cross-sections from a bitmap. Rhino needs clean geometry to perform some of its advanced operations; sometimes it wont let you blend a trimmed surface and requires you to rebuild it among other things. This might force you to build you object in another way to allow for certain types of editing. Rhino isnt a parametric modeler, so that may be a concern if you are used to designing in a program such as Solidworks. And now for some completely bias opinions of some of the other programs Ive used. 3DSMAX: I like the interface and material handling of this program, but the modeling features are somewhat clumsy. There are a lot of modifiers like, twist, bend, etc., that are probably useful for animation, but not for modeling. I saw a demonstration of 3DSMAX 5. Its rendering engine is much improved, looked as good as Lightscapes. If youre into character design, they had some pretty need modeling tools for that as well. Truespace: Tried the demo, but I couldnt make much sense of it. I couldnt get fast results, so I got frustrated and deleted it of my hard drive. Cinema 4D: I downloaded the demo and while I liked the interface, I was still lost for the most part. I didnt find it intuitive and ended up erasing it as well. FormZ: Architects are supposed to love this program, so being an Architect, I decided I should try it out. In the 2d area it seems a lot like CorelDRAW, and as such fairly easy to pick up, but jumping to 3d seemed to require a few extra steps that I wouldnt need to take if I was modeling in Rhino. There may be a good program in there, a little more time with it would probably answer that question. Lightwave: I havent tried the demo yet, but Im very impressed with the work Ive seem coming from the LW users. I would like something for animation/rendering and Lightwave would be a cost effective way to go for me. But Im more familiar with 3DSMAX, if I could get 3DSVIZ and Final Render that would probably meet my needs, but that is a little out of my range at the moment. Also, seeing pictures of the Lightwave interface leaves me cold. Im hoping that I dont find it to sterile. I like programs that give you a pull-down menu, icons and a command bar. Havent to switch apps to render seems like downer as well. Amapi: Tried to do a revolve shape and it took me an hour to figure it out. Then it hung up and crashed. Oh well, I already have an app that can do revolves. Here in Kansas City, the number one used application is 3DSMAX, then Maya and followed closely by Lightwave. 3DSMAX seems to be dominant in the architecture / product field. Maya is dominant in the film/television commercial field and the freelance types use Lightwave. -Rhettro