CompuServe Messages

I think your first mistake is mixing Autodesk up with a company that gives a poop. It's been 2 years now since I went through almost identically the same runaround. I'm still miffed. I didn't have a modem originally, and ended up going so far as getting ahold of the magazines where I read about 3DStudio, contacting the editor, and talking personally to one of them on the phone. She contacted an official at Autodesk who promised her he would look into it all, and contact me personally. Well, it's 2 years, and I still haven't received that phone call, so don't hold your breath. You may end up turning blue, or worse, before you get anything out of Autodesk. The only thing that has changed is after lots and lots of ragging that Autodesk had no technical support, some genius cooked up this $3000 idea, which is basically only a way to shut critics up, because any question you ask one of the $3000 people, if they don't know, the question will only get posted on this forum. So I'd personally recommend strongly against wasting $3000. Compuserve time is a little cheaper. <g> A warning about being too critical: After hitting them with a couple too many questions and criticisms they either couldn't or wouldn't answer, they gave up answering my questions altogether, and just leave me little nastygrams in email. But don't worry. Your best sources are from volunteers and the Yost Group anyway, so who cares? All this is probably little consolation for the fact that you thought that you were buying a quality product from a reputable company and now they tell you to go hang out on a bulletin board. And I also feel that bulletin board support is no substitute for a company personally standing behind its product. But until somebody wakes up and screws their head on straight, or their competitors start using this fact against them, it's probably all you're going to get. I've been using the product for 2 years, and if there's anything I can help you with feel free to ask. I know how you feel.