What the flyin' cat-hair is it and what is it good for? I dont see any changes from one turn to another and all it does is make my figures disappear in pre-render, but they show back up afterwords....Is hither placed in it to annoy and amaze, or is there a grander cosmic plan for this little turnable dial? Thanks all!

Yes all it does is make your figures disappear in the preview window. In other applications its called a clipping plane. It is there so that you can see objects that are being masked by other objects in front of them. It would come in handy if you were positioning furniture within a room and the final view was from the outside looking through the window.

Hither is exceedingly useful for precise placement and posing when other stuff is just getting in the way. For example, say that you are placing fingers on a keyboard but the side of the piano obstructs your view? Just set the hither (as PhilC says it is a clipping plane) and remove the obstruction from view. Then rest the fingers on the keys and not through them. If you have two figures dancing or someone hiding behind a column or whatever, especially when you have scenes with a lot of stuff happening, using hither is a good way to check that everything is properly placed and posed. This becomes critical if you have cast shadows! The view may look right through the camera, but if the figures aren't right, the shadows won't be either. Carolly