my two cents worth.., there is no country where people throw money away.

one person says something..'??'

three people say something.., 'listen.'

you will not be 'supporting yourself with maya' for at least another three years (and thats only is you use maya everyday, take note of what Jay said, theres a lot under the bonnet and its too big for one person) so the maya PLE version wont hurt.., and if you want to do renders for friends.., use maya 4. In the meantime, start saving, because/or, maybe more 'cheap' versions of maya will show up??

download a copy of maya PLE for Alias, download the free tuts from here using your friends computer :bandit:

now you wont have time to work as a security guard, but then again, your unemployed too.., how does that work.., sound a sleight of hand but whatever?!