3DS Max is a bit like Photoshop on steroids...the interface has a LOT of stuff in it, so it's a bit intimidating at first. However, if you get a good book to go with it, you can manage to figure things out relatively soon. The key is learning how to customize the interface a bit so it isn't quite as overwhelming.

If any of you are students, Autodesk has a 3-year student license that allows you to download and use the latest version of 3DS Max absolutely free. I realize this may not be useable by a large portion of the Guild, but I am an older returning student (already got my BA, just going back to school for training in a new career) and I qualify for it. So who knows, this might be useful info for some of you.

There are free programs out there also: Bryce is one, Daz3D is another, and I think there are one or two other fairly good quality ones that are free.

Good luck!

Wisemoon