Do you do any tutorials? Do you do any screenshots? If so, what do you use? I've been using Corel Capture from the Corel Draw 8 Suite... It's about the only thing left from that Suite that I use at all. Many people are particular to SnagIt, since it's cheap... But you need to hit too many keys to make a capture. With Corel Capture, I just hit F7!

OK, but let's use some examples. 1.) I'm going to submit a render/picture for the 3D-CC monthly contest. 2.) I'm entering a Renderosity Contest 3.) Someone else's contest. 4.) I want to submit a great looking picture to my Renderosity gallery. Do any of these examples call for a different strategy in rendering, saving, etc?

Wow, is that an optical mouse, or just a regular one with the ball? If it is, you might at least want to get ahold of a good Microsoft Optical Trackball... I got two in my house for about $45 apiece, on sale I think.

Thanks for the prompt response. I consider you "one of the masters," judging from your excellent work for the 3DCC, etc. I am still baffled....How to do all this? Is there a good tutorial on this subject? One with pictures for illustrations, whatever? I've been frantically looking at some tutorials, and have been flabbergasted and frustrated by some. Unfortunately some folks might be great with a program, but they can't write for beans or spell. Some don't provide any pictures, etc. So I'm just about reduced to the point of blindly fiddling, and I haven't learned much that way.

This is another quote: Market research firm Metafacts estimates that the majority of machines in the US (58%) have 64 megabytes of memory. Those with enough RAM account for only 21% of all desktops. Gee, folks, who can do much of anything with 64MB of RAM or less? And memory is very cheap these days.

Look at these specs. (They are not very demanding): Microsoft recommends that anyone running XP have a computer with a 300 MHz chip inside, a 128 megabytes of RAM and over 1.5 gigabytes of hard disk space.

I hate to say it, but I think this man is wrong. Of course his job as a CEO doesn't mean he needs to know about computers.

I have to wonder about the comment that Windows XP would only work on 40%of the existing PC's. I've never read that anywhere. I had run Windows XP Release Candidates 1 & 2 for a few months... I used a dual boot since it was a time limited version of Windows XP. I never had a reason to boot to Windows ME during that time. Here is my configuration for your reference. 1.) Home-brew computer using Intel Motherboard with Celeron 533Mhz. 2.) 320MB RAM 3.) HP 7500 + series CD Burner 4.) Acer 50X CD ROM 5.) "on-board" Intel video chip (Uses 1MB of RAM) 6.) Onboard Soundblaster PCI128 (disabled) 7.) Soundblaster Live MP3+ 8.) Microsoft Optical Trackball 9.) 20GB Western Digital Drive 10.) 30GB Maxtor Drive 11.) Summagraphics SummaSketch III graphics tablet (semi-retired in favor of the trackball) 12.) Jaton CirrusLogic CLM Modem 13.) A wide variety of software. I think one thing many people forget is that you need to replace much of your software when you go to a newer operating system. The usual categories are: 1.) "System Utilities" such as Norton SystemWorks, Norton Utilities, maybe even Antivirus Programs. 2.) CD Making programs suche as Easy CD Creator Usually other programs such as Poser, Bryce, etc will work fine with your new operating system. If you are running ancient software that is more than a few years old, you probably should have replaced that long ago. As far as hardware, you will have problems if you have hardware made by a company that has gone out of business, or dumped that line of product. This is a hard fact of life, and will continue to be so. One example is the Jaton/CLM modem I got on the recommendations of my local computer shop. Jaton now seems to be out of business... (I was unable to reach their web site after repeated attempts. I anticipate this modem will need to be replaced. That is not a great priority since I use a cable modem for internet access. I am job hunting, and once and awhile I have the need to send or receive a fax. For now I am back to Windows ME, until I can afford to buy Windows XP. Then I will either replace the modem or just yank it.

I just don't understand TurboSquid. I tried several times to download, and uust kept going in circles.

Oh, now I feel like a dunce. I tried copying and pasting something onto a portion of a texture map, and just got a small picture of the original. I must have done something wrong.