Oh great...this'll probably mean I have to create my science fiction space 'movie' in a combination of Blender and Maya because I don't think I have the dough to get a new graphics card right now (yep, I'm a hobbyist). That snow blizzard I did in Blender looks just great...can't understand why I can't build an even 'better' blizzard in award-winning Maya but I guess it's : go get a more savvy graphics card first!

Anyway, thanks NextDesign...I'll take your advise and try to change the particle shape with a '_sw" at the end and see how it goes in Maya.