Nicholas, you're right Blender is a great piece of software, i've tried it with yafray, also it have a good conjunction with wings files. The community is very active and i can have only good words on Blender. But, my problem is: can i be competitive on the 3d market with it? The answer is no, because all the best plug ins and new technologies are not available for Blender, because it's a free open source software. The only pro software on the market (in no particular order) now are: -3DS Max (probably the best of all, but i'm on a mac) -lightwave -maya -cinema 4d -XSI It's possible that during a years of work i need a fluid effects plug in, so i will buy realflow for example. If i need an advanced character tool, i can find something good for all these software. Same thing regarding body paint that is also a plug in for lightwave or maya. Blender is very good, but is out of the professional market. The mentioned softwares can resolve the problems that you can encounter in every situation. As always, you need the right tool for your needs. Now i really need the best on the planet (earth, don't know on mars for example) for my work;-) -TOXE