Jason,
>> For Spline Modeling, what would work better, the IPAS disk #7 with Skin.axp
or the patch modeler that's going to be released? <<
well since the patch modeler hasn't been released yet, that gives you
no other choice. Even if it was released I'd vote for skin and have
found it incredibly useful since I can still use the tools I know and
love that came with 3ds.