>>(Except Sybex's Mastering Viz) which I have and have nearly finished the first read of.<< Hi Peter, Thanks very much for letting me know the tutorials are helpful to you. I should be back at them next week. There is a book by George Omura on VIZ, but it's a market that's a bit too small for most publishers and a topic that's tough to write without being too focused for general consumption. I'll have some DVD/online content soon available through http://www.CADLearning.com that will be the style these blog topics and I'm trying to keep the exercises functioning in both max and viz. The modeling is fine, but materials will require a few adjustments on the viz side to disable the "helpful" presets like Real World mapping and Exposure Control that get in the way of learning the fundamentals. Thanks again Ted