well, finally i finished this tutorial and project, i know, its not the best result as far as kurt did his final rendering. but i'm satisfied with the result and the tutorial helped me so much to get into maya a lot more.
and i learned another important fact: organization!
one last question, my grass looks still so animated with regard to the smooth grass kurt has done, any ideas?
anyway, kurt has done a great job with this tutorial, i understood everything and he didn't skip any detail!

edit: i forgot, in one section kurt has done clouds in the sky and the sky itself, and he link-deconnected it from the light (the sky) so the sky didn't project a shadow on itself, but alter on he created another sky withoug doing this light-linking-thing. so, is there a way to set the background to not cast shadows but still to be lighted? you can still see the sky, the clouds and the moon cast shadows on the sky-sphere!

(sorry for my english)