solidworks is the opposite of mac or linux. solidworks just doesn't work. *I* was sitting here thinking, solidworks has been rock solid - haven't seen a CTD in months... i would welcome CTD's if i could just perform simple operations like, oh, pick vertices and maybe edges so i could place dimensions.... At least in AutoCAD, if you wanted to dimension a simple square block, you could. Can't blame the 'newbie' aspect on this. *I* have used solidworks for 7 years now and i have hated every single second of it. bob z.