yeah that is true. just wasn't sure if I could create a curve right on the surface so then I could edit.. just from the picture it looked like he had smooth curves but it was just the split tool. I know a 3D cad program... Rhinoceros and its based on Nurbs curves so I did lots of lofting in my time but it seemed to create tons of polygons so my files weren't so small and sucked up CPU. So initially i have fear of Nurbs curves in anything.. but that was possibly just bad modeling on my part. Anyways.. thanks for the help, I'll continue on with the tutorial and hope for the best. So far Maya seems pretty fun and I enjoy it more than 3D studio max.