Hello to everyone and trust you have all weathered the foul cimate well. Here's a question to whoever would like to respond. I am totaly fascinated with Opaque and trnaslucent spheres. I have in mind to get started early for the Christmas Holidays(I know I must be nuts) and would like to create a sphere with a frosted look that shows perhaps a santa claus on the outside surface or perhaps even something floating in the interior. I guess that's a pretty lofty goal for a guy who has just been using XaraX for a couple of months but I'm up for the challenge and I think my friends & family would be captivated by the three dimensional effect. I have gone over some of the tutorials and I keep hearing about using XaraX in conjunction with Corel Draw. I already have Adobe 5.0.2 and Ulead Photoimpact 8 and just don't know if I can justify buying another bit of software, especially considering that I'm strictly doing this as a hobby, for not profit. Anyway I would love to give creating that sphere a shot if you guys don't think it's too far over the head of a beginner. Thanks for all the help you've given me on other issues, sorry I'm just not experienced enough to return the favor.

Manny