The doctor reference in my question seems a bit confusing... I'll never want to be a doctor! It was merely a very bad comparison.

It seems I was a bit overwhelmed with the idea of a major career change in the near future. Which was a bit silly. It's true, you need a passion for it and forget about all the other nonsense. Thanx.

Anyway, I'm still scratching my head quite a bit around the program. Especially around the Hypershade area. I've orderd two books:

INTRODUCTION TO 3D GRAPHICS & ANIMATION USING MAYA

MAYA FEATURING CREATURE CREATIONS WITH CDROM

Does anyone know anything about the second book? I get a lot of mixed opinions. He approaches the subject first from physical modeling and then over to CG. I think it is great... but we'll see when the book arrives. Not many good books in our country...