It’s not the expense that’s the problem. It’s the lack of time to become a character animator. I just don’t have the time. I spend a lot of time helping people on the 3ds Max Forum and I’m always telling newbies that sometimes you have to just, “get in there and learn it the old fashioned way.” In this case, I’m not heeding my own advice. I am in fact trying to find some shortcuts and a workflow such that I can do half way decent character animation when needed. I can do just about everything else in 3d but lately I’ve turned away a number of projects because they were character heavy. With Covid, I can’t afford to turn away too much work…lol… Thanks for the feedback but I’m afraid the respect I have for good character animators is well founded. It’s not easy and if you are really good at it, it’s a powerful skill.