CompuServe Messages

Sounds like my applications for modelling are similar to yours. I'm an architect and have the need to model the small bits of hardware as well as the large bits of midtown Manhattan. As I mentioned in a previous note I'm using a solid modeller for creating most of my geometry. The problem with this approach is that the editing capabilities suck. Its often easier to recreate the piece than to modify the existing one. 3ds shines in its editing capabilities. What I miss in the 3ds shaper/lofter/editer is the ability to align already create meshes by the center of a surface, by the midpoint of an edge and frankly I didn't have any early success with moving a mesh by a vertex and moving it to align with another mesh's vertex. Give me some pointers on the Vertex snap if you will. I can't get it to behave predictably. I don't use autocad yet at all but if you can convince me its a great modelling tool I'll give it a shot. Also, I have a decent site modeller on the workstation side but its output is difficult though not impossible to port over to 3ds. I'd be interested in any comments you might have on Vista Pro or other PC site modelling software that creates files in a format friendly to 3ds.