Just - finally? - got Carrara 2.0. I'm testing a process... is it possible to break apart an imported 3ds model so I can apply shaders to separate components?

Yes and no. Depending on how sophisticated the original modeler was in crafting the model, it may already have domain areas within it for easy shading. To see if this is the case, select the object and go the shader room. See if the shader is already a Layer List with domains. If not, convert it to a Layer List and see if you get domains. If it's No in both instances, you may have a long road ahead in the VM duplicating and deleting parts of objects to create the shader domains you need. Also you'll probably end up needing Steve Cox's Free UV mapper to effectivley create and shade new VM domains. Good Luck! Mark

thanks for the info. I've already got UV Mapper... figure I'll just take any 3ds model wholecloth through that. Plus, being a new RDS to Carrara upgrade, i see that there's more to shader application in Carrara than in RDS. More to learn! :P