hi Ted! Your stating that instance objects require less memory, because they are one and the same node in max' memory. I got used to a few tricks like that. I gathered that information over the years, so can't remember where I got them from. these are just personal rules of thumb, like: -To not use flatmirror with a lot of raytracing, because it slows down exponentionally. -Or never to use groups (but use layers and named selections and naming conventions in stead) One of those rules used to be NOT to use instances because they make the model very heavy. Am I wrong here ? Have I been fooled all those years ?! ;-) Instances take actually less memory ? Or could there be a reason why you wouldn't want a lot of instances (I'm talking hundreds of instances here). And while we're on the subject : Will the fact that an instance uses only one node for all objects speed up the raytracer? in other words : will max' raytracer have less problems with a thousend instances of an object or a thousend copies of objects ? Brings up a a third question : Are there any pointers/ articles that explain how max works ? I mean, I love the helpfile if i run into a problem but if I could only understand how max works under the hood (*) it could help me understand max so I could adjust my workflow, actually knowing what i'm doing, and the reason why i'm doing it! (*) -what nodes are and how they work, -and why it is preferable to have a lot of detail in one object instead of several small objects, -and all those other things that magicly seem to happen into the max executable; Hope I'm not bothering you too much :-) regards, pim