Hi guys, Thanks for making this forum available, I'm from South Africa and the backup and support we have here for 3D art is none existing to say the least. Hope I can get some creative and motivating critic from this community. I have started self training on mostly 3ds Max(on hold now) and Maya(Actively using/learning) for 3D modeling, and hoping to in the future move to rigging, texture and animation. I'm currently making use of Lynda tutorials(e-learning). After I read through a couple of your forum post, I realise maybe I'm using the wrong packages. I would like some guidance into which packages I should use for what aspect I'm currently busy with(Modeling). I read up on Mud box and Softimage and both of them also seems good for modeling and adding materials/texture to the characters, and there is Zbrush as well, should I make use of these packages for modeling and detailing? The proses(stages) I would like to end up with is drawing the character in plane view(2D-This I can go), produce and 3D model for "still" purposes but move it into different posses this includes texture adding(This I would like to master before I move on) and then finally be able to make a 5-10min animation, this includes rigging and animation. I would pref to stick to max 2 packages as it takes a lot of time learning a 3D packages, and if possible stick to only one. I have started with human modeling but was thinking maybe i should stick to basic shapes to get the hang of it. If anyone could give me some guidance as where to start I would appreciate it. Thanks for the input and hope the year goes well for everyone. Vortexx